The conventional wisdom, voiced by everyone from Bill Gates to
Education Secretary Arne Duncan, is that public schools are so
terrible that simply reforming them won't do the trick. Instead,
they must be "transformed," blown up and then rebuilt, if they're
going to offer students a good education. We relish stories about
electrifying teachers like Jaime Escalante, who made math whizzes
out of no-hoper teenagers in East LA, or inner city charter schools
like the KIPP academies. But success in the public schools of an
entire city-a poor, crowded city, with more than its share of
immigrant Latino youngsters, the kind of kids who elsewhere will
likely drop out or flunk out? That sounds as elusive and improbable
as the Loch Ness monster. But no school district can be all
charismatic leaders and super-teachers. It can't start from
scratch, and it can't fire all its teachers and principals when
students do poorly. Great charter schools can only serve a tiny
minority of students. Whether we like it or not, most of our
youngsters will continue to be educated it is in mainstream public
schools. Improbable Scholars shows that there's a sensible way to
rebuild public education and close the achievement gap for all
students. Miracles aren't required-instead, we need to make smart
use of what we already know can work. This is precisely what's
happening in a most unlikely place: Union City, New Jersey. What
makes Union City so headline-worthy is its ordinariness, its lack
of flash and pizzazz. The school district has ignored trendy,
blow-up-and-rebuild reforms in favor of old school ideas like
top-drawer early education, a word-soaked curriculum and hands-on
help for teachers. When good new strategies have emerged, like
using sophisticated data-crunching to generate pinpoint assessments
of the help that particular students need, they have been folded
into the mix. A generation ago, Union City's schools were so bad
that state officials threatened to seize control of them. But the
situation has entirely turned around. Here's the reason to stand up
and take notice-from third grade through high school, Union City
students' scores on the high-stakes state tests approximate the
statewide average. In other words, these inner city kids are
achieving just as much as their suburban cousins in reading,
writing and math. This is no one-year wonder-year after year, from
1990 onward, the students in Union City have steadily improved. In
2011 every senior passed the state's exit exam and received a
diploma, and nearly 60 percent of those graduates enrolled in
college. The best students are winning national science awards,
Gates Millennium Scholarships, and full rides at Ivy League
universities. These schools are not just good places for poor kids.
They are good places for kids, period. They pass the Golden Rule
Test- you'd be pleased if children you love were educated here.
Improbable Scholars will change your mind about the possibility of
reviving public education.
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