Saturday, August 21, 1999
Expert gives city schools credit
Reforms headed in right direction, professor says
BY TOM McCANN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Cincinnati Public Schools are among the national leaders in education reform, says a policy specialist from the Brookings Institution, a liberal think tank based in Washington, D.C.
In a talk with CPS board members and senior managers Friday, Professor Paul Hill discussed the progress of education changes in cities such as San Francisco and Seattle, which he identified as leading cities in school reform. But Cincinnati is keeping pace if not outdoing them, he said.
Cincinnati schools are “really doing promising things to fix their failing schools, they're giving schools more freedom with their money, and the commitment to change has always been strong here,” said Mr. Hill, who teaches public affairs at the University of Washington in Seattle and is a senior fellow at the Institution.
“If I had had a chance to study this city before I wrote my book, I would have been here in a minute,” he said.
When classes start Aug. 31, each individual school in the city will have control over its education budget for the first time, a policy Mr. Hill endorses. Sixty percent of CPS's budget will be decided at the individual school level. Before this year, schools had to petition the central office if they wanted to buy new classroom materials.
The Clifton and Parham schools, branded as ineffective by board members, were closed in the spring and re-
designed, CPS public affairs director Jan Leslie said. This year, the schools will have all new teachers, lesson plans and administrators.
On Monday, CPS is hearing proposals to create charter schools, and it has hired Mayerson Academy to give teachers training in teamwork and career development.
“Hearing a national perspective makes me realize how well we're doing, but there is definitely more we can do,” CPS board President Lynwood Battle said. “We have real money going to the schools and standards in place, but we have to figure out how to implement the standards, how to make teachers and students want to improve.”
“Some people don't think we're in the greatest shape, but we've made lots of strides for an urban school district,” board member Sally Warner said. “Compared to five or six years ago, we're in amazing form.”
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