jonetta rose barras: Another education promise from DC officials

When DC Mayor Muriel Bowser took her victory lap the day after the 2018 general election, she identified education as one of the primary issues for her second term. She promised to provide District children and youth the quality education they need and deserve.

Residents have heard a similar pledge before: Who can forget an Alice Deal in all eight wards? That was made in 2014. That may have been impossible, but a comparable achievement has yet to be realized.

Instead, the results of public education reform in the District have been mixed and often uninspiring: stagnant academic achievement among the city’s lowest performers, a misrepresentation of the high school graduation rate, and a huge achievement gap between white students and those of color, particularly African-Americans. Even the bright, sparkly buildings that cost DC taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars are beginning to fade — the result of inadequate maintenance.

Should anyone take the mayor’s second-term promise seriously?

The week she made that commitment to do better, Bowser’s nominee for deputy mayor for education, Paul Kihn, presented himself to the public and the DC Council’s Committee on Education. An education consultant and former deputy superintendent of school in Philadelphia, he is no superstar. His prepared testimony was filled with platitudes, as well as imaginings long held by parents and advocates:

“We can be a Washington of great public schools — for every neighborhood, complemented by citywide DCPS and charter schools,” he told the committee. “We can be a Washington without an achievement gap.”

All that aspirational language is fine, and DC parents have heard it since 2007 when the council approved mayoral control of the public education apparatus. What they have not seen on paper is the road map for getting there. They also have not had, since DC Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee’s departure in 2010, an education leader who is bold, aggressive and creative enough to push a sluggish bureaucracy to make the journey to that destination.

I see nothing, thus far, to believe Kihn is any different. Bowser has yet to name her new chancellor; most advocates hold no hope out for anyone who can excite and produce extraordinary outcomes.

Consequently, incrementalism likely will rule for the next four years.

Even the recommendation advanced by the State Board of Education’s High School Graduation Requirements Task Force for the implementation of “student learning plans” — to be revisited at key points during elementary, middle and high school — promises a slow walk through the system. The school system’s plan to introduce them just in high school is even more incremental.

This week DC Auditor Kathy Patterson released a report that embraced the idea of learning plans, asserting that her office is “happy to partner with” the state board and academic leaders from George Washington University’s EdCore, which conducted the review of best practices in other states and ultimately produced the report.

EdCore also “interviewed District parents and school staff while examining options that should be considered,” explained Patterson. The report advocates for the plans and offers several options to get the process started.

“I really want to figure out ways to institutionalize the practice of school preparing students before they get to high school,” said Markus Batchelor, who represents Ward 8 on the state board and co-chairs the graduation task force. “We shouldn’t want to [introduce] learning plans in the ninth grade. We should start in the second grade and set up a benchmark so each school [along the way] has a record of a student’s progress and where there are gaps.”

Currently, “there is no way to systemically pass on information about a student from school to school or from sector to sector,” said Batchelor. “The personal plan should be more than academic; it should also deal with social and emotional learning issues.”

Everyone likes the idea. However, the Office of the State Superintendent of Education, DC Charter School Board executive director Scott Pearson and DCPS interim Chancellor Amanda Alexander just aren’t ready to implement student learning plans at all grade levels, even as a pilot, according to their comments in the report.

Alexander’s statement seemed to capture the sentiment. “DCPS agrees that personalized learning and individualized planning are effective instructional practices toward accelerating student outcomes,” she wrote. Then, she noted EdCore’s comment that developing and implementing them can be a “heavy lift.”

“While we are interested in exploring ways to start learning plans in the elementary and middle grades, DCPS is investing first in developing a solid foundation at the high school level,” continued Alexander. She said they are “excited about the personalized graduation and postsecondary plans rolling out to all high school students this spring.” She called that approach “A Student Future Map.”

Translation: We are already doing our thing; we don’t need any interference.

So, Batchelor and his state board colleagues, who would like a pilot next year, will be left dreaming about an individualized plan for everyone, the way parents of middle school students are still imagining an Alice Deal for all.

At least there is some consistency.

jonetta rose barras is a DC-based freelance writer and host of The Barras Report television show. She can be reached at thebarrasreport@gmail.com.