Vincent Gray beats Adrian Fenty: What does it mean for school reform?
With Mayor Adrian Fenty鈥檚 loss to D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray in Tuesday鈥檚 mayoral primary, all eyes are on what will happen to some of the most aggressive school reforms in the country.
Backers of the reforms in the District of Columbia hail it as a model for changing teacher evaluation and tenure procedures so that measures of performance, including student gains on test scores, hold more weight.
While the election didn鈥檛 hinge solely on education, a large part of the mobilization against Fenty was prompted by the hard-edged way in which Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee pursued her strategies 鈥� including closing schools and firing teachers and principals. Fenty has given Rhee unwavering support since he appointed her in 2007.
鈥淭here鈥檚 not a city that has embarked on more ambitious and thus more controversial reforms,鈥� says Patrick McGuinn, a political science and education professor at Drew University in Madison, NJ. 鈥淸A schools chancellor] with a different temperament [than Rhee鈥檚] might be able to sustain the reform by building greater consensus, but that probably slows the timetable down.... That鈥檚 the tradeoff.鈥�
Gray, who is likely to win the general election for mayor in the heavily Democratic city, has not ruled out asking Rhee to stay. But their clashes in the past suggest that a new chancellor will be brought in.
Several members of the D.C. Council said on Tuesday that they hope Rhee鈥檚 tenure could be extended through the 2011-12 school year to help ease the transition, the Washington Post reports. That鈥檚 also the year the council plans to review the law that set up mayoral control of schools in 2007.
Mayors currently control the school system in a dozen cities, including New York, Chicago, and Boston. For those cities and other hoping to move in that direction, 鈥渢he DC story is that it is important to focus on engaging the stakeholders along the way,鈥� says Kenneth Wong, chair of the education department at Brown University in Providence, R.I.
Defenders of Rhee say that although her no-nonsense style may not have been politically popular, it鈥檚 not a good reason to ditch her or slow down reforms. 鈥淭he crisis in our schools is so gigantic, it鈥檚 like a burning building ... and we don鈥檛 ask a fireman to run in and say, 鈥楶lease, can I help you?鈥� 鈥� says Ellen Winn, director of the Education Equality Project, which promotes principles for school reform that Fenty and Rhee have taken up.
But Rhee鈥檚 departure wouldn鈥檛 necessarily mean a reversal of her policies.
Some of her initiatives, such as dramatic action to improve the worst-performing schools, overlap with requirements tied to the US Department of Education's Race to the Top competition, which recently awarded the city a four-year, $75 million grant.
Reform advocates fear that the new teacher evaluation system could be in jeopardy, however. After a long battle, Rhee reached a collective bargaining agreement with the teachers鈥� union earlier this year. It includes a sophisticated evaluation system that incorporates student test score gains. And rather than just using seniority in assigning teachers or allowing them to continue teaching, it takes those evaluations into account.
Gray was supported by unions that challenge the new evaluation system. The contract will be up for renewal in 2012.
The majority of parents with children in public schools seem to believe there鈥檚 been progress during Rhee and Fenty鈥檚 tenure. Sixty-two percent of that group said they supported Fenty, according to a WashingtonCityPaper.com poll.
During Rhee鈥檚 tenure, the test-score gap between white and black students has narrowed.
"I imagine that Gray will stay the course ... 鈥� pushing for teacher and principal accountability, and [improving] the process of assessing tenure,鈥� says Professor Wong. But Gray will also create more transparency in the system and host more community forums 鈥渢o make sure [residents] understand the changes and the benefits they鈥檒l get as a result of the reforms."
