Central Falls, Rhode Island made national headlines when the school superintendent fired the entire staff at the high school. The principal, teachers and even guidance counselors, were all informed that at the end of the school year their employment would be terminated. The superintendent did this under provisions the No Child Left Behind law (NCLB) and in response to a poor graduation rate (52 percent) and poor standardized test scores (only 7 percent of 11th graders were proficient in math and 33 percent in reading). With its’ own poorly performing high schools, will the Pittsburgh School District follow Central Falls example and institute mass firings at the poorly performing schools?
Given the power of the teachers’ union, that seems like a stretch, but it may be a remedy for Pittsburgh’s ailing schools. Three of the District’s high schools (Oliver, Peabody, and Westinghouse) have fewer than 21 percent of eleventh graders scoring proficient or better in math. This performance certainly rivals that of Central Falls.
The superintendent of Central Falls was provided a list of choices under NCLB. They included; converting the high school to a charter school, lengthening school days and making other changes, firing all of the teachers, and shutting the school down. When the teachers’ union balked at the first two, she was left with no choice. But one option not considered is offering vouchers to the parents of students who wanted to learn. By bringing in choice and competition years ago, Central Falls could have avoided this situation. Maybe Pittsburgh needs to learn this lesson before its too late.
