How much slack should a big-city district cut its schools to maximize student performance? That鈥檚 the question that New York City school leaders want to explore with an experimental governance model they are calling the 鈥渁utonomy zone.鈥�
Started this month with 30 secondary schools, the pilot project sets specific performance targets for schools to meet in exchange for removing them from the bureaucratic hierarchy governing most of the city鈥檚 1,300 public schools.
鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to create as much space as possible for good people to do good work, to be able to learn from the work they do, to figure out ways to generalize it across the schools, and then hold ourselves and the schools accountable for what actually happens to kids,鈥� said Eric Nadelstern, who is managing the autonomy zone as the 1.1 million-student district鈥檚 chief academic officer for new schools.
With 91 new schools opening this fall alone, the nation鈥檚 largest school district is in the midst of a major, multiyear push to increase its ranks of small, more personalized schools. (鈥淚n N.Y.C., Fast-Paced Drive for Small Schools,鈥� June 23, 2004.)
Half the schools in the zone are brand-new this fall, and most of them are small. A notable exception is a Brooklyn high school with more than 3,000 students. Also accepting the district鈥檚 invitation to take part are three charter schools鈥攐ne that just opened and two that had been district-run but converted to charter status.
Begun with little fanfare, the zone is drawing some barbs, especially from the unions representing the city鈥檚 teachers and principals. Their leaders are upset that they weren鈥檛 asked to help formulate the policy, and are voicing complaints about its substance.
鈥淭hey鈥檝e done one more unilateral, top-down experiment on autonomy,鈥� said Randi Weingarten, the president of the United Federation of Teachers.
Genuine Freedom?
The head of the union for principals and other supervisors in the city is questioning whether the schools gain genuine autonomy in exchange for signing performance agreements that could come back to bite them.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to see principals hang themselves,鈥� said Jill S. Levy, the president of the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators.
District officials say educators in participating schools have little to worry about for the first year, anyway, because the chief consequence of failing to meet targets would be to drop out of the zone. If the initiative continues beyond this pilot year, schools in the zone will be asked to sign performance contracts agreeing to shut down if they fall short after five years, Mr. Nadelstern said.
For the initial year of what the district is calling a 鈥渟trategic planning and research project,鈥� schools in the zone have agreed to meet or make a set amount of progress toward achieving specified goals. The targets for all schools include attendance rates of 90 percent and course-passing rates of 80 percent.
For existing schools, the goals include an 80 percent passing rate on the state Regents examinations in core academic subjects; graduation rates of 80 percent of 12th graders and 70 percent of entering 9th graders; and a college-acceptance rate of 90 percent. Instead of those benchmarks, new schools agree that their students will make 鈥減ositive growth on value-added assessments鈥� in English/ language arts and mathematics.
Whether schools achieve their targets will not be used to evaluate principals鈥� performance beyond what is specified under their collective bargaining agreement.
Schools in the zone will be outside the 10-region bureaucratic structure that resulted from a major reorganization of the district carried out last year by Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein. They will also be exempt from the district鈥檚 mandated English and math curriculum, officials said. They will not be excused from current rules in such areas as teacher hiring or union-negotiated working conditions, however.
鈥淟onger term, we鈥檙e working with the other members of the chancellor鈥檚 senior leadership team to try to figure out how schools could have greater decisionmaking authority in such noninstructional areas as food services, purchasing, and transportation,鈥� Mr. Nadelstern said.
Still, Ms. Levy of the principals鈥� union argued that schools in the zone 鈥渁re going to gain nothing鈥� in such areas as budgeting, staff hiring, or testing. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know what鈥檚 innovative about it, frankly,鈥� she said.
And Ms. Weingarten of the city鈥檚 affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers said district officials had rebuffed a proposal she made this year to grant greater autonomy to schools where teachers volunteered to participate. She said many teachers at schools in the zone were unaware their principals had signed up.
鈥淪ome think it鈥檚 a great idea, and some think it鈥檚 a terrible idea,鈥� she said.
Looking for Protection
For David C. Banks, the principal of the newly opened Eagle Academy for Young Men鈥攖he second small high school he has founded and run in the Bronx鈥攇etting out from under layers of bureaucracy 鈥渋s worth the price of admission.鈥�
鈥淔or example, if you want to hire two parent coordinators instead of one, you can do that and you won鈥檛 have a superintendent above you telling you, 鈥榊ou can鈥檛 do that,鈥� 鈥� he said.
For his part, Louis Delgado hopes that the autonomy zone might help his 400-student Manhattan high school gain greater independence in hiring decisions. The 11-year-old Vanguard High School uses the district鈥檚 鈥渟chool based鈥� option for hiring teachers, which allows a committee of teachers and administrators at the school to screen candidates and offer them jobs. But those candidates can be bumped by more senior teachers who are laid off elsewhere in the system, the principal said, a situation he hopes the zone can help change.
鈥淩ight now, there鈥檚 no protection,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what I鈥檓 looking for.鈥�
