Road to reform

In the last two years, both Baltimore City and the District of Columbia have embarked on ambitious school reform programs led by dynamic new CEOs committed to proving that urban school systems can produce high levels of student achievement. In both cities there's enormous popular and political support for reform, and both have adopted similar strategies for change: Reduce the size of central headquarters staff, give principals more authority over budgets and programs and hold teachers accountable for classrom effectiveness.

Yet today the mood of the two cities couldn't be more different. In Washington, where city public school students recently posted the highest gains in the country on national standardized tests, Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee is locked in confrontation with the union over contract negotiations and a recent decision to lay off 200 teachers. National labor leaders have called for her ouster, and the city council is holding raucous public hearings on the issue.

By contrast, in Baltimore, where city school students also registered historic gains recently on statewide tests in reading and math, schools chief Andrés Alonso has enjoyed smooth sailing almost from the beginning. Aside from an early tiff with the union over classroom prep time, he's won the support of teachers, principals, parents and students as well as virtually the city's entire political establishment - even though his reform agenda is in many ways indistinguishable from Ms. Rhee's.

What accounts for the difference? It is of course a combination of things - personality, politics and other factors - that make each situation unique. Baltimore has an appointed school board, for example, whereas Washington effectively abolished its elected school board. The District's City Council plays a larger role in setting school budgets than Baltimore's, which adds to the political complexity a schools chief there has to contend with. And in Washington, unlike Baltimore, charter schools are not under the control of the schools chancellor, and there are many more of them to compete with the public schools for staff, students and public resources.

Still, there's little doubt the personal leadership styles of the two CEOs have largely determined how reform efforts have been received. In public, at least, Mr. Alonso eschews drama. Ms. Rhee, by contrast, once appeared on the cover of a national news magazine wielding a broom to symbolize her intention of cleaning house.

Both Mr. Alonso and Ms. Rhee have spoken out about the importance of excellent classroom instruction and the need to weed out ineffective teachers. But Ms. Rhee's tone can seem shrill when she addresses the issue, wheras Mr. Alonso cultivates an intense but non-threatening persona that allows him to mostly avoid public notice even when he is replacing dozens of principals, firing hundreds of uncertified teachers and downsizing North Avenue.

Aside from personal preferences, however, the only important question such discussions should evoke is this: Which leadership style is more likely to produce the kind of improvements in student achievement that people in both cities want?

We're betting on Baltimore getting there first, if for no other reason than that Mr. Alonso's style seems to mesh better with the players in a city that also seems to have fewer structural obstacles in the way of reform than comparable urban school systems. It's freer from political meddling, enjoys a more harmonious relationship with its unions and is outside the national spotlight that magnifies - and possibly distorts - everything a Washington school superintendent does.

In fact, former Baltimore City school board member Kalman R. Hettleman says that Baltimore may have the best chance of any American urban school system of reaching the next plateau of achievement, which he describes in an upcoming book as a situation in which two-thirds of poor children score proficient or better on the National Assessment of Educational Progress exams within five years. Low-key and calm as things here may seem in comparison to our sister city down the road, Baltimore may already be on track to get there sooner than anyone thinks.