An Evaluation of the Public Schools of the District of Columbia Reform in a Changing Landscape (2015) / Chapter Skim
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3 Coordination, Efficiency, and Lines of Authority
3 Coordination, Efficiency, and Lines of Authority
Pages 41-78
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From page 41... ...
. In addition to giving control of the public schools to the mayor, the law called for the creation of new entities to govern and administer the public schools, changes in lines of authority, and improved coordination among city offices.
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From page 42... ...
We asked these leaders to discuss the reasoning behind their policy decisions, their understanding of the governance structure as it currently functions, and their perceptions of the city's responses to PERAA. These interviews were vital to the committee because there were no other possible sources for the direct observations of leaders who have been responsible for governing the public schools.
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From page 43... ...
PERAA's primary focus was on five agencies that together would gov ern and operate the public schools. Two already existed: DCPS, the agency that had been responsible for all city public schools before charter schools BOX 3-1 Key Provisions of PERAA The Public Education Reform Amendment Act (PERAA)
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From page 44... ...
To address this problem, PERAA called for the formation of a structure that would coordinate across the city agencies responsible for education, health, mental health, social services, and juvenile justice. The Deputy Mayor for Education was given the responsibility of overseeing the structure, and the Interagency Collaboration and Services Integration Commission (ICSIC)
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From page 45... ...
State Education Agencya Local Education Agency Office of Facilities Management After the Reform Act of 2007 Mayor District of Columbia Department of Education Office of the City Public Schools (DCPS) headed by Deputy Mayor headed by Chancellor Administratord State Board Office of the State of Educationc Superintendent of Education Office of Public Education Facilities Modernization Public Charter Schoolse Office of the Ombudsman for Public Education Interagency Collaboration and Services Integration Commission The Office of the State Superintendent of Education provides oversight, monitoring and technical assistance to DCPS for federal and state education programs New entities established by the Reform Act Source: GAO analysis based on The Parthenon Group, December 2006 and D.C.
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From page 46... ...
, • stablished State Board of Education (replacing Board of Education) , and e • ave Public Charter School Board chartering authority for all charter schools.
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Members of Raise DC's leadership council include city officials, such as the deputy mayors of education and health and human services, representatives from local philanthropic and business organizations, and community organizations. In 2013, Raise DC identified a set of indicators on which it hopes to report annually in pursuit of five goals (Raise DC, 2013, p.
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From page 48... ...
Recognizing this problem, staff in the Office of the Ombudsman reported that they are working to improve communication about complaints that are filed with more than one agency and to open up channels of communication more generally. It is too soon to make evaluative judgments about the newly established Office of the Ombudsman, though its first report -- issued after just 6 months of operation -- provides useful information about issues of concern in the school system (District of Columbia Office of the Ombudsman for Public Education, 2014)
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From page 49... ...
Even though a new mayor with a different leadership style, Vincent Gray, was elected in 2011, most commentators have noted that the policy agenda and basic approach to managing the public schools did not change significantly. In 2012, a 5-year strategic plan for DCPS was adopted: see Box 3-2.
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Goal 5 Increase enrollment: DCPS will increase its enrollment over 5 years. SOURCE: District of Columbia Public Schools (2012)
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PCSB initially handled accountability by requiring schools to undergo annual reviews of program development, compliance with federal requirements, special education, and financial management (District of Columbia Public Charter School Board, 2007)
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It added self-study review, special education quality review, and high school transcript reviews for some schools in 2008. In 2009, PCSB introduced a new performance management framework, which is mandatory for all charter schools (District of Columbia Public Charter School Board, 2008, 2009)
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From page 53... ...
THE EDUCATION OVERSIGHT AGENCIES All three agencies with responsibilities for oversight of public educa tion are attempting to carry out their missions, but the impact of both the State Board of Education and the Deputy Mayor for Education has been modest, and there are serious problems with the functioning of the Office of the State Superintendent of Education. In this section's discussion of whether the new agencies established by PERAA are functioning as intended, it is important to note that the city's implementation of the law's provisions have evolved and are still evolving.
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From page 54... ...
. DME's jurisdiction originally included OSSE, the Office of Public Education Facilities Modernization, the Office of the Ombudsman, and "a comprehensive, District-wide data system that integrates and tracks data across education, justice, and human service agencies" (Title II, Sec.
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From page 55... ...
Office of the State Superintendent of Education PERAA gave OSSE a significant challenge as a state education agency. The agency has evolved into a large and complicated bureaucracy19 since the law was adopted but it has struggled to gain its footing and earn the trust of D.C.
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From page 56... ...
. OSSE is also responsible for special education private-placement tuition and monitoring and for the transportation of all special education students whose individual education plan requires it, whether they are in DCPS, charter schools, or private schools or institutions.20 OSSE altered the mission posted on its website during the time of our committee's study.
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From page 57... ...
Under the 2007 law, it is a kind of second-class entity: a state education agency in a place that is not a state, dealing with a school system led by a chancellor who is the city's dominant educational figure and an unwieldy collection of public charter schools considered separate school districts in the eyes of the law" (Turque, 2011)
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From page 58... ...
For example, SBOE does not have the power to initiate policies, only to approve or not approve policies suggested by OSSE. However, SBOE has approved academic standards, and it proposed revised graduation requirements and diploma options in 2014.24 We did not find evidence of other activities the board has undertaken, though it meets regularly.25 COORDINATION The way that the education oversight and other agencies currently work together to govern and administer the city's public schools does not meet PERAA's goals.
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Public Charter DC Public Schools Deputy Mayor for School Board (DCPS) Education (DME)
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city public schools through one online application. The planning for the implementation of the Common
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29 The D.C. Association of Chartered Public Schools, an advocacy group, filed a lawsuit on the grounds that the city has not provided uniform funding to DCPS and charter schools.
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The resulting report (DC Advisory Committee on Student Assignment, 2014) acknowledged the need for further review of the decision-making process regarding DCPS and charter school facilities, but it did not offer specific recommendations for how to resolve the issue.30 The report therefore recommended that DME establish a new representative task force to address methods for sharing information about facilities and enrollment across the two sectors, means of improving accountability and transparency for decision making, and processes for obtaining and considering public opinion.
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From page 63... ...
However, that approach runs the risk of creating an alternate school system, which would undermine the logic of having charter schools. Although OSSE might be the logical agency to foster greater coordination between DCPS and the charter sector, it has not played that role to date.
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From page 64... ...
. To understand the availability of data about the public schools, we examined agency websites repeatedly over time, requested data and other information from city officials, and included questions about data availability in many of our interviews both with officials in leadership roles and with other agency staff members and experts in the community who routinely monitor and analyze educational data in D.C.
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From page 65... ...
In March 2015, the SLED website provided adjusted cohort graduation rates for 2010-2011, a one-page fact sheet about the D.C. public schools, comparable fact sheets for each of the eight wards, enrollment audit information for charter and traditional schools for the years 2001-2009, and a dashboard allowing users to review DC CAS proficiency results for 2008.
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From page 66... ...
The site posts the equity reports and other data and documents, most of which concern individual schools.42 A summary equity report posted in January 2015 -- istinct from the equity reports for individual schools -- provided d aggregated demographic, discipline, and achievement data for the charter sector in comparison to the citywide average.43 All of these sites changed frequently during the time we were gathering information, and the committee notes the continual progress that has been made. For example, as we were preparing the report for publication, we found a new web page on the DCPS site, the DCPS Interactive Data Center, on which budget and enrollment information for fiscal 2015 and 2016 is posted.44 We also found data showing the numbers of students with disabilities in each classification served by DCPS and charter schools, as well as data on enrollment trends for the two sectors.
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From page 67... ...
The LearnDC site posts the same equity reports for individual schools in a different format; DCPS profiles for individual DCPS schools that also include information about clubs, sports, and facilities (these profiles are also posted on the DCPS website) ; brief school report cards that provide snapshots of the DC CAS and attendance data, as well as the percentage of highly qualified teachers and a school classification; profiles that summarize the equity report data; and a link for each school to a rating developed for an independent website called Great Schools (see http://www.greatschools.org/ [April 2015]
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From page 68... ...
Another section of the website48 provides detailed data on indicators collected through the District Analysis and Review Tools Program and allows users to compare district performance. The Kentucky Department of Education has a tab for researchers49 that provides data on districts and schools, as well as a state-level report card that has tabs for detailed data on accountability, assessment, program review, learning environment, finances, indicators for improvement goals, and career and technical education.50 Florida and Illinois also have useful online information systems.51 These state websites demonstrate two important attributes of an effective state data warehouse: (1)
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From page 69... ...
The Budgeting Process The budgeting process does not appear to be either simpler or more transparent than it was before PERAA. For some city residents, the budget process for public education has long been a source of concern and frustration, and the growth of the charter sector has only exacerbated that frustration.
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From page 70... ...
Budgets are developed by the mayor and approved by the D.C. Council each June.54 The overall education budget is determined by projected enrollment numbers for DCPS and for the charter schools as a group, which are established in October, and revenue forecasts, which are released in February.
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From page 71... ...
; • the DCPS budget categories can vary from year to year and are seen as political; and • the determination of comparability between DCPS and charter schools can be difficult because of different reporting formats and budget categories. To some extent, the charter sector has greater transparency than does DCPS.
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From page 72... ...
In addition, the charter management organizations' accounts are not open to the public, and there have been cases of mismanagement.56 The D.C. Council passed a law in March 2015 that is designed to improve fiscal transparency for the public charter schools.57 For its part, DCPS has taken steps in recent years to improve budget transparency.
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From page 73... ...
Public Engagement DCPS and PCSB have made efforts beyond the Office of the Ombuds man to address the need for improved public engagement. PERAA called for the city to hire an ombudsman, required the new DCPS chancellor to obtain parental input and hold public meetings, and charged SBOE with holding monthly public meetings to receive citizen input.
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. 60 Some of city's wards have volunteer councils to represent their communities on public education issues.
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According to one PCSB official, 640 D.C. residents currently serve on charter school boards.
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should have a single online data warehouse that would allow users to examine trends over time and aggregate and disaggregate data about students and student groups, and to coordinate data collection and analysis across agencies concerned with education, justice, and human services. CONCLUSION 3-2 PERAA's objective of improving coordination among the Deputy Mayor for Education, the State Board of Educa tion, and the Office of the State Superintendent of Education has not been completely met, despite efforts by these agencies.
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From page 77... ...
Because the Office of the State Superintendent of Education is situated at the same level as DCPS and the Public Charter School Board, the respective responsibilities of these agencies are not clearly distinguished. On paper, the Deputy Mayor for Education is responsible for oversight of all three, but we did not see evidence of how this oversight is carried out.
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