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Commentary: It's change or die for DPS
Robert Bobb's vision for radically restructuring Detroit's failing education system is validated by the decision of Kansas City to shutter half of its schools.
Bobb intends to tear apart the Detroit Public Schools and rebuild the district on a foundation of small, nimble schools that are responsive to the needs of all children and fully accountable for how students perform. Everything will change, from how schools are managed to how teachers teach, and schools that don't perform will be quickly shut down.
His proposals are raising howls from the special interests that benefit from keeping things as they are, as well as from some parents who aren't willing to endure the sacrifice -- closed schools and more rigorous standards -- to make the changes possible.
They'd prefer the Kansas City approach. In that Missouri city, school officials dumped $2 billion into the status quo. The spending was ordered by a federal judge who ruled that racial discrimination resulted in an underfunding of the schools, causing poor student achievement.
The same argument has been made in Detroit, most loudly by the dissident wing of the Detroit Federation of Teachers, whose answer to calls for reform is "Just give us more money and everything will be OK."
It isn't OK in Kansas City, despite the massive infusion of taxpayer cash. KC spends more per-pupil than any other major city district, on a cost-of-living adjusted basis. Student test scores are abysmal. Parents who can are seeking alternatives for educating their children. The school board was forced to close 29 of 61 schools to
From The Detroit News: http://www.detnews.com/article/20100321/OPINION03/3210310/1444/OPINION0369/Commentary--It-s-change-or-die-for-DPS#ixzz0ip2bt2Nk
