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By Tom Chorneau
Friday, August 16, 2013
The state’s list of the 1,000 low-achieving schools subject to open enrollment was released earlier this month, absent for perhaps the first time the collective groan the announcement has prompted from districts in the past.
Adopted in 2009 as part of an effort to convince federal officials judging the Race to the Top competition of California’s commitment to changing the culture around failing schools, the Open Enrollment Act gave students attending one of the targeted sites the option of enrolling in a different school anywhere in the state with a higher performance record.
The original bill sparked significant controversy after the formula used to identify target schools also captured a large number of high performers. Although some steps have since been taken to limit the better schools’ exposure to the program, a quick review of this year’s list shows a reasonably large number with good test scores.
Indeed, the 2013 Open Enrollment list includes 84 schools that achieved the state’s target score of 800 or better