Baltimore school officials will announce an aggressive plan today to virtually remake 19 of the city's worst elementary schools with nationally recognized school reform programs, mandatory summer school and possible retention for at least 2,100 failing pupils.

The plan would also give teachers in the 19 schools -- many of whom are ill-equipped to teach young students to read -- more training, support and materials.

The list of proposals represents a departure from the incremental approach city schools have taken toward reform since the new school board was appointed in 1997, and is more like the radical, from-the-ground-up efforts taking place in cities such as Chicago and New York.

The plan won't ditch the measures already in place, but will build on existing reforms -- only at a faster, more dramatic clip.

"We don't have time to wait to do this," said Jeffery N. Grotzky, the area executive officer who will present the proposals to the school board tonight. The 14 schools in Grotzky's administrative area and five others on the state takeover list would be affected by the reforms.

"We have a crisis in these schools that demands we do something. This plan is bold and ambitious because that's what we need."

Chief executive officer Robert Booker and several key board members have expressed their support for the plan, which would begin immediately and be evaluated over five years. The price tag for all of the proposals is just under $1 million -- most of which will be covered with existing funds.

Under the proposals, each school would:

Choose either Success For All or Achievement First, two whole-school reform models that have met with success nationally but have yet to be tried on a large scale in Baltimore.

Hold mandatory summer school classes for any second- or fourth-grader who is three months or more behind in reading at the end of the school year. If the pupils do not reach grade-level by the end of summer, they would not be passed on, but would instead repeat second or fourth grades in transitional classes. Grotzky said about 2,100 pupils in his 14 schools would qualify for the summer classes.

Institute new teacher-training models designed to improve instructional skills and develop more master teachers and other instructional leaders. In-service teacher training would take place as often as two days per month.

Require uniforms for students in the 19 schools.

The proposals were developed over five months by teachers, principals and other administrators at the schools, Grotzky said. Ultimately, teachers in the schools will vote on which of the two whole-school reforms to adopt.

'Teachers want it'

"There is an important buy-in here," Grotzky said. "This is not just us forcing change on these schools. The teachers want it, and will have a say in it." Teachers who refuse to take part in the reforms will be transferred out of the schools, Grotzky said.

The proposed changes dovetail with what Grotzky is already doing with schools in his area, and hark to his past efforts to reconstitute schools as a superintendent in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Hired last summer to manage a group of schools that have consistently under-performed even by rock-bottom city school standards, Grotzky has instituted a mandatory three-hour reading and language arts block every morning in his schools. He said results of that have been positive, but teachers and principals have told him they need more.

"So many of our children are not reading by the time they should be," Grotzky said. "This is more of an effort to make sure they do, and that we do something about it when they don't."

Whole-school reform

Both whole-school reform plans were created in Baltimore and both emphasize phonics and learning to read in the early grades.

Success for All was launched by Robert Slavin, a Johns Hopkins professor in 1986 in the Baltimore city schools. By the early 1990s, the program had faded locally but had grown to be used -- to great acclaim -- in 1,130 schools across the nation.

Slavin's program uses one-on-one tutoring by certified teachers, careful monitoring of pupil progress, facilitators or coaches for teachers and family support teams helping parents ensure the success of their children.

The program also costs about $70,000 in the first year and $30,000 for every year after.

Achievement First, created by a Baltimore nonprofit educational foundation last year, is based on improvements that were made in a New York City school district.

Like Success for All, its strategies are simple and common sense. Achievement First schools narrow their efforts to focus primarily on reading rather than scattering their time and resources. Each principal has a close relationship with a mentor and teachers are provided with reading coaches. The program also stresses getting families involved and monitoring how a child is learning. Ten city schools use the program.

Achievement First costs $40,000 a year.

Allen R. Odden, co-director of the Consortium for Policy Research in Education, said the two programs are being used in many urban districts with deep poverty and other social problems. Success For all, he said, ranks as "one of the most successful programs in the country."

He said the programs that copy New York's District 2, such as Achievement First, also have been successful, but generally have been dependent on expert central office staffs.

"If you don't have the people there to do that I would have high question marks," Odden said.

Pam Burger, educational issues director for the Baltimore Teachers Union, said she believes city instructors will support Grotzky's proposals. In particular, she said, teachers and parents would support the idea of not promoting second- and fourth-graders who are behind.

"I think most teachers are willing to do whatever it takes to make children successful," Burger said. Burger said she has heard "horror stories" from teachers about children who are passed on year after year without learning.

Support from lawmakers

Del. Howard P. Rawlings, one of the legislative architects of city school reform, said Grotzky's proposals are in line with the changes he and other legislators envisioned taking place in the school system.

"I think that to jump-start academic achievement, we're going to really have to step out of the envelope," Rawlings said. "We've got to take some of the best practices, and the research-based methods and try them here." Rawlings emphasized, though, that the ultimate decision about the proposals belonged to the school board, and he was not willing to second-guess them.

He said he understood the motivation behind Grotzky's proposal.

"I think academic progress so far has been marginal," Rawlings said. "I think that's why [Grotzky] is doing what he's doing."

Baltimore MSPAP reading scores

Third- and fifth-grade MSPAP reading scores for Baltimore schools affected by reform proposals. (Scores are reported as the percentage of children doing satisfactory work on the test.)

School 3rd grade 5th grade

Abbottston Elementary 2.3% 16.3%

Alexander Hamilton Elem./Middle 30.3 27.1

Belmont Elementary 6.1 6.8

Cherry Hill Elementary 15.0 3.6

MLK Elementary 9.3 7.4

Edgecombe Circle Elementary 12.6 14.8

Eutaw-Marshburn Elementary 7.2 8.1

Frankford Intermediate NA 7.3

Furley Elementary 12.0 16.1

Highlandtown Elementary 15.5 12.5

Liberty Elementary 11.7 19.4

Mary E. Rodman Elementary 10.0 17.8

Montebello Elementary 2.7 3.5

North Bend Elementary 12.7 11.1

Rognel Heights Elem./Middle 8.6 25.0

Samuel F.B. Morse Elementary 11.1 5.8

Tench Tilghman Elementary 5.5 6.0

Walter P. Carter Elementary 10.9 16.4

William Paca Elementary 9.2 8.6

SOURCE: Maryland Department of Education

Pub Date: 3/09/99