When I first heard about the revamped School Improvement Grant (SIG) program, I had reservations about giving districts money to turn around schools that they were responsible for operating (and often neglecting) in the first place. The implicit argument of SIG is this: Superintendents can make great changes if only they are given the freedom to be bold in operating schools. Thirty years of education reform should give us pause on the “this time it will be different” theory of change. So it’s not too surprising that commentary (also here) finds initial difficulties.
But the goal of SIG — turning around low-performing schools — is a good one. And let’s give credit to the feds for taking it on. But given that SIG cost taxpayers $3.5 billion in stimulus dollars (and another $546 million in 2011), we should consider what the program can reasonably achieve, especially given the opportunity cost ($3.5 billion is more than the combined budgets of Teach For America, The New Teacher Project, KIPP and pretty much any other reform organization you want to throw in the mix).
With grants of roughly $2.5 million a school, SIG aims to turn around more than 1,400 schools. SIG is a response to one of the most common criticisms of education reform: the lack of scale. Some of these criticisms have merit (charter management organizations, for example, have struggled to scale up), some less so (Teach for America might train more teachers than any other organization in the country, but some critics still claim it has not yet “achieved scale”).
Again: SIG is about scale. But we should be more nuanced about it. You can scale up in three basic ways:
1. Scaling Providers (Wal-Mart Strategy): This means that an education provider gets bigger — i.e., a charter management organization grows from ten schools to five hundred schools. Investing in Innovation (i3), another federal program, aims to scale providers.
2. Scaling Strategies (Doctors Wash Their Hands Strategy): This means we try and take a good idea and spread it across multiple providers / districts. SIG aims to scale a strategy (school turnaround).
3. Scaling Markets (Tear Down the Berlin Wall Strategy): This means breaking monopolies so entrepreneurs can begin solving systemic problems.
What we are missing is strategy #3: a way to scale markets.
New Orleans is one of the few cities in the country that is trying to build a functioning education market. Over 70 percent of students attend charter schools and the initial results are good. Remarkably, fewer than 10 percent of the charter schools are run by national charter management organizations. New Orleans is succeeding not because it has scaled a national charter provider or any specific educational strategy. It’s succeeding because the city created a market where entrepreneurs can thrive (disclosure: I work for New Schools for New Orleans, a local non-profit that supports New Orleans schools).
Scaling markets can work. This might also be the easiest strategy to scale. With few exceptions (functioning health care markets are still AWOL), markets have led to tremendous innovation that has made all of our lives better. Often, this has been supported with government resources (think internet). New Orleans is beginning to prove that the education sector is no different. When you give educational entrepreneurs — that is, great teachers and leaders — resources and support, great things can happen for kids.
So how about a new federal program: MIG, Market Improvement Grants. Fund MIG with $500 million (roughly the same cost as FY 2011 SIG). Award the funds to 10 districts ($50 million a district) that each serve about 80 schools. Task them to replace the lowest-performing 50 percent of their schools with charter schools over a five to ten year period. They can learn from the successes and mistakes of New Orleans.
MIG would be: 10 districts. 40 schools per district. 400 schools. 200,000 kids. This is scale. New Orleans has proven that charter scale and quality can be achieved at the same time. As with Race to the Top, political support will need to be built. But this time, we shouldn’t just wait for the feds to dangle the carrot. Willing district leaders should demand it. Tell Secretary Duncan you’re game. He believes in New Orleans.
Ask him for some MIG.
Photo Credit: Kat Braybrooke
(This guest post was written by Neerav Kingsland, Chief Strategy Officer of New Schools for New Orleans.)
Join the Conversation