The nation has been looking at Georgia's education system recently, and not through a favorable lens. Why is that?
- GA received the lowest grade in the United States on the strength of its proficiency standards.
- Citing cost issues, Georgia decides to pull out of the consortium that was developing assessments based on the Common Core (PARCC) and instead, while NOT sharing any details on how it will get there, states that it can develop similar quality tests at a fraction of the cost. The tab? Approximately $30 million, a rounding error as a percentage of the total state education budget.
- The GA DoE has been warned by the U.S. Dept. of Education that at least $10M in RT3 award funds are at risk because it did not live up to certain obligations outlined in its grant proposal about the timing of the implementation of a new, accountability-based teacher evaluation system.
With all of the backpedaling on Common Core, the current State Superintendent, John Barge, decides his job performance was so stellar that he feels capable of running for Governor against the incumbent in a primary!
With all of the challenges facing public school systems related to school governance, academic achievement, the Common Core and other key reforms, the microscope continues to shine the brightest on Atlanta Public Schools ("APS"). Crippled by a major cheating scandal, and graduation rates for certain minorities still below 50 percent, the school board decides to spend nearly $150 million on rebuilding one high school - North Atlanta High School. Plenty of education reformers and public policy officials have question the wisdom of this move, which was featured in a major NY Times story, on whether this will truly transform public educaton in Georgia when it reaches less than 1,500 students.
With this massive cloud continuing to rein over the sixth largest school district in the state (~50K students), it was recently announced that the school board had not only fired its original search firm leading the search for a permanent Superintendent, but that it hired two search firms to take over the effort. Both of these firms are well respected firms, but they are not known for making waves or finding visionary leaders. They are skilled at finding leaders who fit PRECISELY into the box laid out for them by the client.
So the question I raise is whether APS is not only capable, but positioned to attract a skilled, visionary, progressive administrator to fundamentally reform this school system, which is one of the largest employers in Metro Atlanta. I am very concerned that at this critical moment for Atlanta's public schools, that Atlanta will not find the leader they sorely need. Why is that?
- They are bringing the public into the process. The taxpayers elected a school board to make these decisions, with the input of key stakeholders from private industry and city and state government. I fear this is a terrible move by the search committee and will only add to the chaos.
- What will the role of politics be in this process? Will the process be circumvented by political favors and referral candidates?
- Will the search committee be able to attract serious candidates with the cheating scandal trial not taking place until 2014?
- Should APS try and lure a "rising star" with progressive leanings and some experience in urban school districts, versus an experienced administrator who will command major dollars a la Dr. Beverly Hall?
- Will APS find the best candidate regardless of race or ethnicity?
- How will APS address the perceived disconnect between the goals of the school board and what actually occurs? A recent article outlines the difficulties a prospective candidate will face.
Running a major urban school system in the current toxic environment of public education is a daunting task for any leader. APS would be wise to look at best practices and identify those administrators who have successfully turned around failing urban school systems (e.g., Nashville) and try and poach key members of their team. Find a candidate who has been trained in a successful environment - just like the Falcons did when they hired a young, but very smart member of the New England Patriots organization: Thomas Dimitroff, to become their General Manager. Seems that hire has worked out pretty well.