Academic Gains in NYC, D.C., and Chicago Overstated, Report Contends
(Members of the groups ACTION United, Youth United for Change, and the NAACP will be holding a press conference to discuss the report at the District's headquarters on Wednesday, April 17, 4 p.m.)
by Lesli A. Maxwell
The school improvement strategies highly touted by leaders such as U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and former District of Columbia schools chancellor Michelle Rhee, have produced overwhelmingly disappointing results for the poor and minority children in Chicago, New York, and the District of Columbia, a forthcoming report written by a national group that favors a more holistic approach to improving public schooling, contends.Each of those leaders—including Duncan, who was the head of the Chicago school system before he was appointed education secretary by President Barack Obama—have exaggerated the success stemming from policies such as using test scores in teacher evaluations, opening more charter schools, and shutting down failing schools, the report argues.
And at the same time, the report suggests that these same leaders have largely ignored the positive benefits of other strategies used to counterbalance the effects of poverty on children in their cities, such as early childhood services, extended