No evidence mayoral control led to D.C. schools' better test scores, report says
Friday, March 4, 2011; 11:06 AM
The District has made a good faith effort to implement the 2007 law that placed public schools under mayoral control, but there is no evidence that the change in governance has been a factor in improved standardized test scores, according to the first major independent study of D.C. school reform.
The National Research Council, the research arm of the National Academies, said in its report Friday that it is premature to draw sweeping conclusions about the effectiveness of school reform under the Public Education Reform Amendment Act (PERAA). But the report is likely to reignite a simmering debate about the test-centered culture of D.C. schools and other systems across the country.
Researchers issued a strong caution against using what they called the "modest improvement" in test scores over the past four years as evidence that mayoral control had improved learning in District schools. They said such a conclusion required more rigorous analysis of students' socioeconomic status, along with a better
