October 15th Posting

In testimony before the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday I cited this study from November 2009:

Turnaround Schools That Work: Moving Beyond Separate but Equal

11/12/2009

Nov. 12, 2009, Washington, DC — Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s far-reaching efforts to transform the country’s lowest-performing schools into successful ones don’t reach far enough, according to a new report from The Century Foundation. In “Turnaround Schools That Work: Moving Beyond Separate but Equal,” TCF Senior Fellow Richard Kahlenberg details why “turnaround” approaches that focus on changing principals and teachers but fail to address issues related to parents and students have fallen short of expectations. In the report, he also looks at charter schools, such as Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) schools and the Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ) Promise Academies. He finds that, while these schools have been highly successful with low income students, the models would not likely be successfully employed to improve student achievement in the nation’s five thousand lowest-performing public schools, which are the focus of Duncan’s current efforts.

http://www.tcf.org/publications/education/turnaround.pdf

This morning’s Washington Post featured a related study just released:

Washington Post 10/15

Study of Montgomery County schools shows benefits of economic integration

By Stephanie McCrummen and Michael Birnbaum

Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, October 15, 2010; 12:26 AM

Low-income students in Montgomery County performed better when they attended affluent elementary schools instead of ones with higher concentrations of poverty, according to a new study that suggests economic integration is a powerful but neglected school-reform tool.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/14/AR2010101407577.html?hpid=topnews&sid=ST2010101407853

Here is a link to the study on the Century Foundation’s website:

Housing Policy Is School Policy The education reform debate is dominated by efforts to make high-poverty schools work better, but a new report released by The Century Foundation suggests that a more promising strategy involves providing low-income families a chance to live in more-advantaged neighborhoods, where their children can attend low-poverty public schools. Housing Policy Is School Policy, conducted by Heather Schwartz of the RAND Corporation, compares two strategies being used by Montgomery County, Maryland, that have shown promising results for their public schools. Read the report. A related event is being held on Oct. 15. View the press release.

http://www.tcf.org/publications/education/schwartz.pdf