Giving Compass' Take:

· Writing for Education Dive, Eugene Butler Jr. addresses the shortcomings in urban school reform and provides his own opinions on how real change can be implemented successfully.

· What main steps does Butler suggest for successful education reform? How can districts follow this model to improve their schools?  

· Check out this article to learn more about education reform across the US.

Substantial education reform in urban public schools has been on a hamster wheel since the late 1980s, and the shortcomings are still evident. This assessment serves as an observation and not as a criticism. Providing greater autonomy to public schools in urban communities is critical to both strengthening valuable social-emotional skills and improving student achievement outcomes for all students — but especially minority learners.

Autonomous leadership at the school-site level is the antithesis of the one-size-fits-all modus operandi approach to addressing the academic disparities between students in urban neighborhoods and their peers in suburbia.  Moreover, anecdotal evidence as well as peer-reviewed research show that measurable gains can be achieved when instructional leaders and classroom teachers are empowered to work independently, but with the support of district office personnel.

Now, this is not a call for schools to operate in silos outside of the purview of school board policies and without any fiscal oversight from their respective central offices. Obviously, there must be a symbiotic relationship and collaboration to ensure the interdependence between the two. But, too much intervention by district personnel can be like termites in the baseboards or foundation destroying the underpinnings of quality Tier I instruction by highly qualified educators.

In today’s shrinking ecosystem, educators must appreciate that every learning center is unique. Thus every child is unique.

Read the full article about urban school reform by Eugene Butler Jr. at Education Dive.