What's been tried already
10 notable efforts at school turnaround in Philadelphia, 1967 to the present
by Dale Mezzacappa and Lynne Blumberg
School "turnaround" is not a new concept. Faced with evidence that schools weren't working well, especially for impoverished Black and Latino students, educators here have tried many things to "turn them around."
Over the past 40 years, as racial conflicted roiled and poverty deepened -- and as pressure grew to turn out a better educated workforce -- school leaders in Philadelphia proposed and enacted a long list of "reforms." They revamped school governance. They overhauled curriculum and schedules. They created entirely new schools. They tried to start over with all new teachers in particularly problem-ridden buildings.
Almost all these initiatives courted controversy and left their mark. A few showed impressive results. All were limited by constantly tight budgets, and many faced either internal or external resistance.
We collected a brief history of some watershed reforms in Philadelphia that can be broadly described as having their roots in "turnaround."
Comments (1)
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 02/23/2010 - 11:59.
We are looking at what has already been tried. If we turn around and say what has not been tried we would open up new ideas and increase change.
I would love to see a mandate put on parents to meet with the teacher's and principles in an assemble addressing serious issues within the school. I have seen parents who don't return important documents, won't contact the teahcer, won't sign student agenda. The only reason they come to the school is when there is a conflict going on with their child.
Society is changing, everyday is different than the day before, children are changing, families are changing, parents are changing, laws must change.
We must parent the parent to parent the child.
Also, the classroom must change. Is the student entering into a welcoming classroom. I asked students did the teacher take time out before class to talk with them just to see how everyones morning is going so everyone can be on the same page. They said "no". I asked a teacher if they did that they said "no there is no time due to a master schedule that has to be followed".
We must look at what truly need to be done in order to make a difference. It's not the books or the information because 1+1 will always equal 2. But a student will endure struggles and trials which will hinder their academic perfomances.
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