Patricia Brantley: DC needs to look beyond recovery and set a vision for excellent schools
It’s not surprising that so much of the conversation in education right now is focused on recovering from the academic damage that students sustained over the past few years, especially our students of color and students deemed “at-risk.” That is a reasonable conversation — there is no doubt that schools have to rapidly accelerate learning in order to ease the blows that COVID-19 inflicted upon classrooms.
But it seems to me that a bigger question — a more difficult question — is what lies beyond that recovery.
On Dec. 7, education leaders from across the city gathered at a meeting of the DC Council’s Committee on the Whole to discuss the crisis of student test scores. While much of the discussion focused on the next steps for academic recovery, we also heard clearly from leaders that to be truly excellent for students, we must not only see the immediate need but also look beyond it. And to do that we must acknowledge and address two long-term barriers to making every school in DC an excellent school: people and money.
Let’s start with people. For us to provide an excellent education for every child, we have to make DC a place where educators can sustainably work and live. At present, more than half of teachers in the District can’t live here affordably. Teachers must choose between two bad options — an unreasonable commute or unaffordable housing. And, on top of financial barriers, data continues to show that the pandemic and the increased politicization of education are leaving teachers managing a slew of mental health challenges that are driving them away from the profession.
Yet data also tells us clearly that the most important factor in student learning is the person standing in front of the classroom. Excellent schools require excellent teachers. And if we want excellent teachers to come to our classrooms and stay there, we cannot brush aside the factors that are pushing them away.
Next, of course, is money. While the federal government’s Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER) provided a massive influx of funding to address the pandemic’s impact, it also brought an increase in what’s asked of schools and educators. More than ever before, people began to see schools as what they are — essential centers of our communities that can provide not only education but also care and support for students and families.
But living up to this expectation comes with a cost. As ESSER funds begin to expire, all too many schools will face a mounting crisis: We’ll be expected to continue to do what we have always done, yet also provide accelerated academic recovery and increased wraparound support for students — without the additional resources necessary to do all of this well.
Recovery is possible. But it is not a job that will take one to two years. It is a long-term term commitment that requires long-term funding.
At Friendship Public Charter School, that is exactly how we’re thinking about the road ahead. Our plan, for recovery and beyond, is focused on a targeted set of priorities. These include a hyper-focus on improving literacy skills; a deep commitment to collecting, analyzing and leveraging data; and critical investments in growing and developing our staff. As we press forward on these tasks, we know that the path toward excellent education requires urgency, innovation and long-term dedication.
We have to think differently about what defines a school and what kind of investments result in equitable, excellent education. We’ve been careful with our ESSER dollars, knowing that the increased funding we received needed to be used in ways that would allow us to sustain new investments even after the funds were gone. That’s why we’ve used some dollars for additional staff but also intensified our focus on the partnerships we’re leveraging, the talent we’re growing internally, and the culture we’re building across our staff. But even with the care we’ve taken, we need more resources if we’re truly going to provide the excellent education our students deserve.
What comes next for our schools absolutely has to take into account the last few years of disrupted learning. We also have to get serious about the long-term costs and make investments that help transform education for the future. Yes, it’s critical that we focus on academic recovery — but we can’t stop there.
As DC moves into budget season, we need to make smart investments that spread excellence and support the long-term work ahead. That means being willing to invest in excellent teaching, but also in teacher well-being, support and compensation. It means allocating the funding necessary to make sure every single student has access to an excellent education. It means being willing to look beyond recovery and invest in the schools our children so rightfully deserve.
Patricia Brantley is CEO of Friendship Public Charter School.
About commentaries
The DC Line welcomes commentaries representing various viewpoints on local issues of concern, but the opinions expressed do not represent those of The DC Line. Submissions of up to 850 words may be sent to editor Chris Kain at chriskain@thedcline.org.
Comments are closed.