Commentary: Making sense of what's happening in the School District
by thenotebook
This week's guest commentary about changes in the Philadelphia school landscape is from James M. "Torch" Lytle, a former Philadelphia administrator and Trenton superintendent, now a professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Education. The Notebookinvites guest blog posts on current topics in Philadelphia education from its readers. Conact us at notebook@thenotebook.org to make a submission.
_________________________________________________________________
As the School District of Philadelphia deals with leadership transition, budget cuts, funding shortfalls, declining enrollment, school closings, charter school waiting lists, and the most turbulent period in its history, it’s easy to get focused on the turmoil and lose sight of the big picture.
I am a longtime District administrator and former superintendent in Trenton who has watched with dismay the development of policies, starting in 2001 in the Bush administration, that have been designed not so much to raise standards and improve student achievement, but to promote privatization.