Baltimore schools CEO Gregory Thornton's proposal to roll back school autonomy has generated predictable controversy. Whether called decentralization, school-based autonomy or principal's autonomy, devolution of authority to schools has been a recurring battleground for decades in the education wars.
To many, including former CEO Andrés Alonso, all-out school-based autonomy should be the central driver of school reform. Devolutionists reason that all schools and communities are different, central school boards and administrators are out of touch, and the professional judgment of on-the-ground principals and teachers must be respected. Without extensive autonomy, principals can't be held accountable for school performance. All schools — as Mr. Alonso liked to say — should be charter-like in their autonomy.
But what exactly is Mr. Thornton's position? According to a story in The Sun, he believes in "earned autonomy" based on school performance. The better the school is doing, the more autonomy the principal is given. That makes sense, but missing so far are more details. We don't know how far he intends to go and in what specific policy and practice directions. What school control does Mr. Thornton plan to curtail, and with what specific central mandates?
I have asked city administrators if there is a plan and have been told that none is now available. Obviously the proverbial devil is in the details. Even allowing for the benefits of autonomy, there can be too much of a good thing.
In my view, the nature and degree of autonomy must be calibrated. Most important, principals should be given full control over the hiring and firing of school staff. They should have considerable discretion over school budgets. But they should not be allowed complete discretion over curriculum and classroom instruction.
Many educators disagree, especially old-timers. As education management expert William G. Ouchi has written, "Every school has a unique collection of students, with different proportions of gifted, special education, arts-oriented and at-risk students. As a result, each school must have the ability to custom-design a varied curriculum that will reach each and every student." One size doesn't fit all is the mantra of the education establishment.
But think about it. In medicine, it's malpractice not to follow evidence-based treatments; in education, there are no equivalent standards, and educators are frequently free to do their own thing in their own way. Harvard University education scholar Richard F. Elmore has observed, "[Educators] subscribe to an extremely peculiar view of professionalism: that professionalism equals autonomy in practice. So when I come to your classroom and say, 'Why are you teaching in this way?' it is viewed as a violation of your autonomy and professionalism."
Do we really want individual schools, principals and teachers to ignore evidence-based best instructional practices such as research on how to teach children to read, including the best interventions for struggling learners? The research is not definitive, the science not precise. But there is ample proof that some programs and practices work more effectively and efficiently than others, while affording individual teachers much leeway to tailor them to particular students. Moreover, centrally prescribed instruction addresses the great harm caused by the high mobility rate of students from one school to another.
Yet, these reasons for limiting school autonomy are too often ignored, in part because of the perpetual reading wars and even more because of school autonomy policies and deeply-ingrained professional culture.
It is of course possible to differentiate autonomy over curriculum and instructional methods. It can be limited to certain schools, as Mr. Thornton proposes, based on school performance. But here too there is huge danger. As many of 50 percent of all Baltimore students outside of the lowest-performing schools are below grade level in reading. All schools should be required to use evidence-based best practices, especially for additional support for struggling readers, unless they can make a compelling case for an exception.
In this light, it is too soon to give a thumbs-up or down on Mr. Thornton's proposal for tiered autonomy. Let's grade it "incomplete," hope that we will soon learn more and that the information comes in the form of a well-crafted, well-calibrated plan that strikes the right balance.
Kalman R. Hettleman is a former member of the Baltimore school board and former state human resources secretary. His email is khettleman@gmail.com.