D.C., Detroit, and School Autonomy
Michigan governor Rick Snyder announced Monday that the state would take over the worst of Detroit’s public schools beginning in 2012. But instead of dictating what these schools should do to improve by, say, mandating one curriculum or taking over schools’ hiring and budgeting, Snyder is planning to give these schools–the lowest performing of one of the lowest performing districts in the country–more control over their operations.
As Roy Roberts, the current emergency manager for Detroit Public Schools, says of the new “Educational Achievement System”: “It will allow principals to hire the best teachers; place, train and support them; therefore providing continuous improvement based on student need and nothing else.”
Or will it allow these schools more space to crash and burn? Does granting more flexibility to the lowest performing schools make sense?
I tackle this question and others in my new ES report, The Road to Autonomy, which examines how the District of Columbia Public Schools has used autonomy to improve school performance and pulls out lessons for