NYC Loses Its Schools Chief

by Collin Hitt The head of New York City’s schools is leaving after eight largely successful years. Replacing Joel Klein as Chacellor – that’s what they call their superintendent in NYC – will be publishing exec Cathie Black.  During Klein’s tenure, the percentage of poor fourth graders scoring as proficient in reading on the Nation’s Report Card...

by Collin Hitt

The head of New York City’s schools is leaving after eight largely successful years. Replacing Joel Klein as Chacellor – that’s what they call their superintendent in NYC – will be publishing exec Cathie Black.  During Klein’s tenure, the percentage of poor fourth graders scoring as proficient in reading on the Nation’s Report Card jumped from 13 to 26.  Nationally, and in Illinois, that number was flat for low income youngsters (hovering at around 15 percent).

Native New Yorker and director of Democrats for Education Reform Joe Williams lays out a vision for NYC schools for Ms. Black:

If Black wants to finish what Chancellor Klein started, she must work to make parents, teachers and the public feel invested in the process.

Chicago’s Renaissance 2010 plan is an excellent example of this: It let the city’s leaders explain to Chicogoans exactly what they hoped to accomplish, and then frame each reform, like closing schools, in the broader effort to improve the system.

Since 2002 – the year in which Ren2010 was launched in Chicago and Klein took over in New York – Chicago’s low income youngsters have moved from an 8 percent proficient rate in reading to 13.  Perhaps Williams is right, New York needs an explicit reform initiative.

But there’s a lot Chicago can learn from New York, too, like having multiple routes to opening charter schools and issuing “A through F” grades to all schools.