Timing is Everything Especially for School Improvement
States across the country are somewhere in the process of identifying the schools that will be eligible for a share of the $3.5 billion in School Improvement Grants (SIG). Making this type of investment in turning around the lowest performing schools in the country is long over due. But, the current disregard for the planning and implementation time that some of these reforms take puts the entire investment at risk. The Department of Education should rethink this crazy timeline, and extend the time requirements by a year to give these reforms a chance to actually have the intended impact.
The stakes of these reforms is high, and much of the theory of action of the administration’s agenda hinges on these types of reforms being successful. I believe that any of these four turnaround approaches can be successful, but implement details are critically important to the success of any school turnaround effort. And, if these reform efforts fail, it will not only waste a lot of money, it will also damage the creditability of school turnaround models, and damage the credibility of the overall school accountability movement. So the stakes are high, and a rush job will do more damage than good. The federal government should create the space for schools and districts to take their time and get it right. This program should not be so focused on spending money quickly to create jobs and fuel the economy, the other $90 billion of the education stimulus funds was to meet that goal. For these funds, let’s take our time, do the planning, fix the collective bargaining agreements, and other preparatory changes to give these reforms every opportunity to succeed.