New Study Reveals How Urban School Districts
Boost Student Achievement, Reduce Racial Disparities  

Report Shows Districts Succeed with Unified Curriculum
and Teacher Training
Plus Effective Use of Data from Testing   

WASHINGTON - Urban school districts that take a comprehensive, systemwide approach to reform may be more effective than districts that undertake reform solely on a school-by-school basis, according to a first-of-its-kind study released today by the Council of the Great City Schools and the Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation (MDRC).  

The new study, Foundations for Success: Case Studies of How Urban School Systems Improve Student Achievement, chronicles how some of the nation's fastest improving urban school systems are simultaneously raising overall academic performance and reducing achievement gaps among students of different racial groups.

Foundations for Success looks at the similarities among urban school systems that are boosting performance citywide - rather than in pockets of schools - and contrasts their practices with systems that have not seen major gains yet.

The exploratory findings provide new evidence that indicate districtwide approaches, stable leadership, and data-driven accountability can effectively boost student achievement in the nation's big cities in ways that can help meet the goals of No Child Left Behind.

"Urban school districts serve a large proportion of children in the United States, yet face the biggest challenges," says U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige. "This report provides great promise for helping children in city schools and beyond get the education they need to succeed in life."

As the former superintendent of schools in Houston, Secretary Paige stressed, "I am proud that the reforms we began in Houston several years ago have proven effective in helping students achieve."

Researchers studied four urban school districts identified by the Council and an external advisory group as having improved academic performance and reduced racial disparities in student achievement.  The report provides case studies of  the Houston Independent School District, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District, the Sacramento City Unified School District and the Chancellor's District in New York City. 

"While there has been much research on what makes for an effective school, there is relatively little information on what makes an effective district and whether district-level changes could affect individual school performance," says Council Executive Director Michael Casserly. "This new research will help us understand how to provide all students with the opportunity to achieve new levels of academic success."

Strategies for Success

Foundations for Success identified nine overarching similarities among all the districts that experienced improvement in academic performance.  They were:

• Stable leadership focused relentlessly on the goal of improving student achievement
• Measurable goals for the district and its individual schools with timetables for performance
• Accountability systems starting at the top that hold staff responsible for results
• Districtwide instructional coherence and sometimes prescriptive curriculum    
• Districtwide professional development for teachers and staff on implementing the curriculum
• Systems for monitoring the implementation of reforms in the classroom
• Regular testing and detailed data to measure progress, assess weaknesses, and intervene before students fall behind

• Initiation of reforms in the elementary grades, working up to the middle and high schools
• Focus on the district's lowest performing schools and groups

Districts that had not shown gains lacked many of these elements to one degree or another, according to the study's preliminary results.

"In large urban school systems, a systemic approach to reform may help address problems that exist across the school district, sustain improvements made at individual schools, and avoid a cacophony of reform approaches that can occur when reform is pursued on a school-by-school basis," said Jason Snipes, senior MDRC researcher and the report's lead author.

Big-city school districts play a critical role in educating America's children. While there are 16,850 public school districts in the United States, 100 of those districts serve approximately 23 percent of the nation's students. These districts, most of which are located in urban areas, also serve 40 percent of the nation's minority students and 30 percent of the economically disadvantaged students.

Using the report as a foundation, the Council of Great City Schools will now aim to determine how the strategies for improving student achievement can be extended to urban districts throughout the country.   It will also seek to develop recommendations for technical assistance in support of reform efforts that reduce racial disparities in academic achievement.

Urban Districts Studied

North Carolina's Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District faced a significant achievement gap, school violence, lack of community support, and insufficient funding for school resources, facilities, and teachers. Determined to improve student achievement and achieve more equal outcomes for all students, district leadership implemented uniform curricula, improved professional development programs and use data to guide decisions. Now, more students of all races perform at grade level, and the performance gap between minority and white students has decreased.

The Houston Independent School District , the largest public school system in Texas, faced many challenges - one-fourth of the students did not speak fluent English and fewer than half performed at grade level. In 1996, led by then-Superintendent Rod Paige, the district emphasized individual school control of budget decisions and district control of curricula and accountability. The district succeeded in raising student achievement overall and reducing the achievement gap among the lowest-performing students.

California's Sacramento City Unified School District was plagued with low student achievement, poor attendance, high dropout rates, deteriorating facilities, inadequate resources, and a teacher shortage.  A new district action plan focused on the student achievement benchmarks of reading and math proficiency, attendance, and graduation rates. Reform efforts resulted in performance improvements among all students.

Schools temporarily placed in the Chancellor's District in New York City shared common deficiencies, such as inconsistent curricula, poor professional development, and inadequate leadership, and are often at risk of being closed by the state. In 2000, the superintendent of the Chancellor's District developed an intense reform plan for all schools that called for instructional and professional development efforts; smaller class sizes; uniform and structured reading and math programs; and ongoing student assessment and evaluation. While the temporary nature of the district makes it difficult to quantify results, the number of schools moving off the state's possible closure list and out of the district indicates that the schools are improving.

The Council of the Great City Schools is a coalition representing the nation's urban school systems.

Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy research organization that seeks to enhance the effectiveness of social policies and programs through rigorous research.