Los Angeles
When teachers at the Capistrano Avenue School were considering last spring whether to sign on with the reform initiative known as LEARN, there didn鈥檛 seem to be a whole lot of reasons to say no.
Granted, they knew from the hundreds of other schools here that had already joined LEARN that the process meant work, mainly in the form of extra meetings and training sessions.
But the payoffs seemed worth it: a stronger say for teachers, parents, and support staff; the chance to hire their own principal; new ideas for improving instruction; and greater access to grant money.
A year later, second-guessing that decision has become a popular campus pastime.
鈥淭his has been a horrendous year,鈥� said Frances R. Weiss-Zamir, the principal of the 478-student elementary school in the western San Fernando Valley. 鈥淭his staff is exhausted. If they were asked if they were to vote to go LEARN again, they would probably say no.鈥�
The Capistrano Avenue School is not alone in wondering what it has gotten into. Four years after the Los Angeles school board formally embraced LEARN as the district鈥檚 road map for reform, second thoughts about the initiative are surfacing across the city.
Observers differ on what the future holds for LEARN, which draws its name from a school reform coalition known as the Los Angeles 91制片厂视频al Alliance for Restructuring Now.
But most agree that the closely watched program is entering a new and potentially perilous chapter in its history. How events unfold in the coming months may well determine whether LEARN ends up as just another fizzled urban-reform effort or succeeds in sparking a renaissance in the country鈥檚 second-largest school system.
Recruitment Falls Short
When the school board adopted the program in 1993, it declared that all schools would 鈥済o LEARN鈥� in five years, a pledge that has become official district policy. At the same time--and at the insistence of the teachers鈥� union--participation is voluntary and must be approved by three-quarters of a school鈥檚 faculty.
To date, about 45 percent of the system鈥檚 540 regular elementary, middle, and high schools have voted to become LEARN schools. If preschool centers, adult schools, and other special programs are included, about 325 schools will be in the LEARN fold by fall.
But with the 1998-99 target just a year away, the pace of new recruits slowed dramatically this spring, plummeting from more than 100 schools in each of the past two years to 28 this time around. The drop-off has forced officials to concede that there is virtually no chance they will meet the 1998-99 target, at least as long as the threshold for participation remains the same.
The situation has reopened the question of how the district will resolve the contradiction that has been inherent in its approach to LEARN from the start.
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 have it both ways,鈥� said Judy Ivie Burton, the assistant superintendent in charge of implementing LEARN. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 be voluntary and mandatory.鈥�
If the program is to maintain its credibility, she said, the board must address that paradox.
鈥淲e are at a transitional point, where we have to reconvene and consider what should our next steps be,鈥� Ms. Burton said this month. 鈥淲hat is the plan? The plan isn鈥檛 there at this point.鈥�
Outsiders Promote Change
LEARN鈥檚 greatest champion is a nonprofit organization of the same name that was set up in 1991 by a coalition of groups and individuals that had been active in efforts to reform the 670,000-student school system.
Spearheaded by lawyer and philanthropist Richard J. Riordan, who has since become mayor, and Helen Bernstein, the former president of United Teachers Los Angeles, who died this spring, the coalition saw its efforts as an alternative to proposals to break up the district or to provide public vouchers for private schools.
Since its inception, LEARN has been run day to day by Mike Roos, a former high-ranking Democratic state assemblyman who has acquired a reputation for keeping LEARN in the limelight and keeping the heat on district bureaucrats.
The 31-member LEARN board is a roster of heavy-hitters: top corporate executives, the head of the local teachers鈥� union, university administrators, a representative of The Los Angeles Times, and African-American and Hispanic leaders. It also includes the director of the Los Angeles 91制片厂视频al Partnership, a local reform group, as well as the school board president and the superintendent.
Synthesizing the work of committees involving about 600 community members, LEARN produced a reform plan in 1993 focusing on eight areas: student learning and assessment; governance and accountability; professional development; parent involvement; social services; the school-to-work transition; facilities; and finance.
The plan lays out a process more than a specific reform model. Among other steps, it calls for a panel of parents, teachers, and other 鈥渟takeholders鈥� at each school to work with the principal to map a plan for boosting student achievement. It also aims to shift power over funding and staffing from the central office to the schools, and provides training and guidance on how to carry out those responsibilities.
New Chief鈥檚 View
While critical questions about the program鈥檚 direction remain in flux, district officials have started to signal a change of course.
As fate would have it, the steep drop-off in recruits coincided with the board鈥檚 choice of district veteran Ruben Zacarias to replace retiring Superintendent Sidney A. Thompson in July. (鈥淰eteran L.A. Educator To Succeed Thompson,鈥� May 14, 1997.)
LEARN did not endear itself to Mr. Zacarias--or his many supporters in Los Angeles鈥� politically up-and-coming Latino community--by pressing the school board to search for other candidates and to require finalists to take part in public forums.
Despite the resulting hard feelings, Mr. Zacarias professes support for the program. But he also is in no rush to expand it.
鈥淟EARN is at that traditional crossroads that historically all reform movements have to cross,鈥� the 68-year-old administrator said in a recent interview. 鈥淏etter to stop for a moment, consolidate, and then move on.鈥�
The incoming superintendent also makes clear that he does not see LEARN as the only game in town.
鈥淟EARN should be the mainstay but not to the exclusion of any positive contributions of other reform efforts,鈥� he said.
Consistent with this view, district officials are rethinking who gets access to the training and support that are central to LEARN.
Since creating an in-house LEARN office, the district has assumed most of the program鈥檚 costs, including the outside training of principals, teachers, and parents. The district鈥檚 LEARN budget is now about $8 million a year.
Plans call for taking some of the money originally earmarked for new participating schools next year and giving more help to schools that have already joined. Some of that money will also be used to train dozens of central-office staff members, a step that LEARN backers say is overdue given the resistance to the program among many administrators.
Perhaps most significantly, the district for the first time is proposing to extend LEARN training next year to many schools that have not mustered the requisite 75 percent support, including those that continue to pursue an earlier district reform model, school-based management.
鈥淲e need to be respectful of schools that have engaged in reforms outside of the LEARN program,鈥� said Jeff Horton, the school board鈥檚 president. 鈥淲e need to not let the symbol get in the way of the substance.鈥�
鈥楤rick Sprayed Gold鈥�?
Detractors, meanwhile, ask whether such substance exists.
鈥淟EARN should be dismantled,鈥� said board member Barbara Boudreaux, a relentless critic of the program. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going into the fifth year and we haven鈥檛 seen any marked increase in test scores. I鈥檓 not willing to sacrifice children year after year for a program that鈥檚 really a brick sprayed gold.鈥�
A dissident group of teachers鈥� union leaders shares that view. During the past year, the group made the rounds urging teachers to reject LEARN. District officials say these tactics contributed to this year鈥檚 drop-off in new schools.
Among the group鈥檚 complaints is that LEARN encourages schools to compete for grant money, promotes merit pay, and asks teachers to take on broader decisionmaking duties. Moreover, they say, it leaves unaddressed the real problems of public education in the city: underfunding and overcrowding.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not reform,鈥� said Joshua Pechthalt, a Manual Arts High School teacher who is a leader in the anti-LEARN faction. 鈥淭his is an attempt to basically squeeze more work out of teachers.鈥�
Such attitudes tend to be strong in inner-city schools, especially high schools, that serve more disadvantaged students, LEARN supporters say.
鈥淎ll of those middle-class, ready-to-change schools have taken that step,鈥� said William G. Ouchi, an administrator at the University of California, Los Angeles鈥� management school who was elected chairman of the LEARN board this spring. 鈥淣ow we鈥檙e dealing with a group of people that have been frustrated throughout their careers and who have learned to become cynical.鈥�
As in other urban school systems, one source of that cynicism is the well-founded sense that reform efforts come and go like designer fashions.
Based in part on that perception, strong opposition to LEARN has come from educators involved in Los Angeles鈥� other reform programs, especially school-based management. Some observers believe district officials must do a better job of reconciling these efforts if they hope to achieve systemwide progress.
Progress Called Uneven
Another key, LEARN鈥檚 supporters say, is to earn a track record of superior performance in the schools.
A study released last June by outside consultants found that the first schools to join LEARN had seen gains in test scores between 1992-93 and 1994-95 that slightly outpaced other schools鈥�. See 91制片厂视频 Week, Aug. 7, 1996.)
But the study by the Los Angeles-based Evaluation and Training Institute also cautioned that the jury was out on whether LEARN was producing significant gains in achievement. The district has hired the institute to conduct an ongoing evaluation of LEARN.
A broader study by the institute released in January found uneven progress in areas ranging from governance to parent involvement and said it was too early to judge LEARN鈥檚 overall success.
On the whole, though, it concluded that the program was enabling 鈥渟ome schools to develop a collaborative learning environment which, in turn, has positive spillover effects on student achievement.鈥�
Teachers鈥� Opinions Mixed
In the participating schools, where principals, teachers, and parents have put their own stamp on LEARN, the uneven results are evident.
At the San Miguel Avenue School, a crowded elementary school in the Southgate section of Los Angeles, Principal Evelyn Bostwick credits LEARN with allowing the school to spend $200,000 for an on-campus health clinic and other improvements.
Yet while some teachers say the program has improved morale and classroom conditions at the school, others are skeptical.
鈥淭eachers have a lot of input in the decisionmaking process,鈥� said teacher Sue Treadway. 鈥淭he negative part is there are a lot of meetings and sometimes it鈥檚 difficult to come to consensus.鈥�
Across town at the Capistrano Avenue School, there is similar ambivalence.
鈥淭eachers are saying, 鈥業 don鈥檛 see anything different,鈥欌�� said Kristine Valentine, the school鈥檚 UTLA representative. 鈥淔or all the hours we put in, nothing seems to come of it.鈥�
Both Ms. Valentine and the school鈥檚 principal, Ms. Weiss-Zamir, voiced hope that the skepticism would break down as the fruits of their often acrimonious planning process appeared.
Moreover, no one is blaming all of Capistrano鈥檚 problems on LEARN.
Personality conflicts have played a role, as has the sheer magnitude of other changes affecting the school this year--the push to reduce class size, revamped curriculum standards, and new standardized tests.
鈥淢y biggest frustration is that if you really want us to be successful with LEARN, how can we do that with all the other things you鈥檙e asking us to do too?鈥� said Ms. Weiss-Zamir, who is completing her first year as Capistrano鈥檚 principal.
Ms. Burton, the district鈥檚 head of LEARN implementation, said such sentiments are common.
鈥淭here are a zillion things going on in our district,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd all of them are being described as the most important thing.鈥�
Keeping Pressure On
Aware of the competing priorities, Mr. Ouchi, the LEARN board chairman, said its leaders will continue pressuring the district to keep the program high on the agenda. Crucial to that effort, he said, will be to push the central office to cede more control over spending to the schools.
鈥淎ll the sitting around and going to meetings is just that--it鈥檚 decoration--unless they have budgetary decentralization,鈥� he said.
Given the high stakes involved, both Mr. Ouchi and Mr. Roos tend to see the controversy besetting their efforts as par for the course.
鈥淚f we weren鈥檛 surrounded by critics, controversy, and a quiver of charges, we would be making no headway,鈥� said Mr. Roos, LEARN鈥檚 president and chief executive officer.
Mr. Roos also believes that district officials would be tempting fate to relegate LEARN to the back burner--however peeved they may be by the group鈥檚 stance in the superintendent search or how loath they may be to relinquish central control.
Letting the reform effort fade away, he argues, would only draw support to the movement to break up the system.
鈥淚f they say, 鈥榃e鈥檙e walking away from LEARN,鈥� then they are essentially drawing the line and challenging the community to go out and do something much more reckless,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 would remind Dr. Zacarias ... to remember the saying: If I had killed all my enemies yesterday, I wouldn鈥檛 have any friends today.鈥�
