11/5/2010 7:00:00 AMCleveland schools fill in reform plan as it unfolds

November 05, 2010, 4:37 PM     

By Thomas Ott, The Plain Dealer  

The Cleveland schools "transformation plan" has one nine-week grading period down and far to go before its effects can be judged. The only certainty so far is that it is very much a work in progress.

Under pressure to make deadlines for funding from the federal Race to the Top program, officials had to erect a framework for top-to-bottom reform, then fill in details. Cleveland eventually won $29.5 million that it will spend over four years on developing principals and teachers, devising a data-driven teacher-evaluation system and other purposes.

In addition, the district got sidetracked when teacher contract negotiations stretched into summer. After the settlement, officials had to wade through the massive recall of laid-off teachers while also replacing dozens of teachers at eight schools to comply with terms of another federal grant.

Chief Executive Officer Eugene Sanders said he is satisfied with the work to date, noting that the plan is designed to raise test scores and a 54-percent graduation rate over five years. But in some areas, the district has yet to get its bearings.

Small academies, intended to subdivide six poor-performing high schools into more manageable units, are still in most cases fleshing out their identities and figuring out how best to teach their specialties, Chief Academic Officer Eric Gordon acknowledges.

Teachers union President David Quolke agreed that the academies are feeling their way, adding that a better system is needed for helping students pick the programs that are right for them. He said building-level transformation teams, made up of management and labor, will play critical parts in solving those kinds of problems.

"I think we've got a ton of work ahead of us to do," he said.

Some elementary schools have yet to line up outside institutions or other partners that would help execute arts- and science-themed instruction. Gordon said the support is needed if the district is to "do business differently."

"We don't have those kind of resources yet," he said. "Not that we won't. I'm still confident the community is going to invest in public-private partnerships, but we launched this at a very tough time in the economy."

A revamp of the central office to make it more efficient continues to crawl. New Chief Operating Officer Patrick Zohn is in the middle of sorting through job candidates, including employees who had to reapply; meanwhile, two of the other four Cabinet positions -- chief finance officer and chief of innovation -- are without permanent appointees.

On the plus side, Sanders can claim victories, starting with a relatively tranquil opening of the school year.

Enrollment is down more than expected, to 43,815 (45,362 if you include pre-kindergarten children, who don't count in calculating state aid.) Sanders had hoped the number for kindergarten through 12th grade would hold close to the 45,780 students the schools had when classes let out in June.

But widespread, violent turf battles, predicted by critics of the decision to close or merge 15 buildings, did not materialize. Student ambassadors, trained to broker peace at the receiving schools, are expanding their ranks throughout the district.

The district's "innovation" portfolio grew with the opening of two high school New Tech academies, part of a national network that stresses projects and working with a team.

Also up and running is Campus International, run in partnership with Cleveland State University at a former church near CSU. The school, emphasizing foreign language and global studies, started with kindergarten through second grade and will gradually expand to include high school.

The district shook up the ranks of its principals, putting new leaders in nearly a third of the schools. Among new faces in the central office is Assistant Superintendent Doreen Land, who helped launch charter schools in New York City and Washington, D.C.

Gordon has the most senority in a Cabinet that has been reduced from seven to five members. His reorganized division now includes "action team coaches" and "barrier breakers," who will help schools by guiding instruction or bird-dogging late supply orders and other distractions.

The district, which has sworn to make itself more accountable, is completing a new system for evaluating administrators. Principals who are entering new contracts have agreed to improve their school's academic standing in two years or risk dismissal.

Next, the district and teachers union will develop teacher evaluations with help from New Jersey-based consultant Charlotte Danielson. The evaluations, to be phased in over three years, will use student data to measure performance.

Community involvement, if not at maximum strength, has a healthy pulse.

The Sisters of Charity Foundation and other groups failed to win a $500,000 federal grant to plan an East Side "Promise Neighborhood," patterned after the famous Harlem Children's Zone. Schools and agencies would coordinate academic and social services in the Central area to shepherd children from birth to adulthood.

Undaunted, the foundation has tripled its share of local planning money from $65,000 to $195,000 and is asking partners to come up with another $130,000. The groups still hope to win millions of dollars in federal money next year for turning their ideas into action.

"For so many years, public education has just happened inside the walls of the schools," said Adriennie Hatten, a program officer with the Sisters of Charity Foundation. "Education is really a community function."

A variation on the same theme is gaining strength in Slavic Village, with assistance from the Third Federal Foundation.

The "P-16" project will aim to keep students striving toward college or work, using means such as mentoring and summer employment. The initiative has attracted about 165 people from 75 organizations, consultant Patricia Choby estimates.

Choby said project leaders hope to convert recently closed South High School into a "community learning center," with classes and arts and recreation and programs. She said negotiations are under way with a nonprofit group that would operate the building.