The International Observatory on Academic Achievement - Documentary search

File number :
POEE-ISC-04e

Bibliographic reference :
Corcoran, T., & Christman, J.B. (2002). The Limits and Contradictions of Systemic Reform: The Philadelphia Story. Philadelphia: Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE), University of Pennsylvania.

Abstract :

The Children Achieving Challenge
From 1995 to 2000, the Children Achieving Challenge, funded by the Annenberg Foundation as well as corporations, foundations and federal grants, was implemented within the Philadelphia school district to promote the academic achievement of students with difficulties. This pool included 215,000 students, most of whom lived in poverty with their families.

This systemic reform was developed through eight strategies: fair allocation of financial resources, establishment of standards to assess skills, development of an accountability system, decentralization, training and support of teaching and administrative staff, more effective coordination of human resources, community engagement in change, and the capacity to address all these elements at once.

The report discussed here has shown that the reform did not generate the expected effects, with the exception of improved reading skills in elementary schools and literacy development in kindergartens.

Lessons to Be Drawn from this Failure with respect to Teaching and Learning
1) Providing standards and accountability measures will only be effective if teachers are given the required time and support to develop the curriculum and change their teaching methods.
2) Provide continuous professional training to teachers.
3) Implement measures to recruit and retain new teachers in schools.
4) Too many different reforms can overload schools and teachers.
5) Secondary schools require their own strategies.
6) Win over teachers to the reform, as its success depends on their commitment.
7) Train personnel to prepare them for their new roles and responsibilities.
8) Early intervention is essential to promote the teaching of language skills as early as kindergarten and the first years of primary school.

Lessons to Be Drawn from Systemic Reforms
1) The systemic reforms must allow for a compromise between autonomy and the alignment of implementing agents with a reform. To this end, the researchers suggest that schools have a common curriculum, but that each be allowed to manage its own budget, professional development, and so on. Another possible solution would be to develop a common curriculum up to a certain degree, while giving schools and teachers the opportunity to work out the rest of the curriculum themselves.

Flaws in the standardization of criteria can make school staff view these more as a constraint than as help to implement new measures in schools. Criteria are based on experience, whereas regulation is simply the operationalization of policies.

For more information on this topic, see file POEE-ISC-03.

To know more about the Annenberg Challenge, log on to the following Website: http://www.annenberginstitute.org/Challenge/index.html

Links :
http://www.cpre.org/index_js.htm

Key Words :
Systemic Reform, School Reform, Accountability, Assessment, Standardization, Regulation, Annenberg Challenge, Children Achieving Challenge, Preschool Education, Primary School, Elementary School, Secondary/High School

Monitored Countries :
United States