America’s Best (and Worst) Cities for School Reform

This post was originally published on American.com.
  
Today AEI’s Rick Hess and the Fordham Institute’s Stafford Palmieri and Janie Scull are releasing a major study ranking the reform environments in America’s 25 largest cities and a handful of other noteworthy places. While many education studies focus on test scores, this report instead takes a look at numerous environment-related indicators, acknowledging that education reform is a bigger undertaking than just adopting the pedagogical fads of the moment.


Not surprisingly, New Orleans came in at the top, followed closely by Washington, D.C., and New York City. Rounding out the top five were Denver and Jacksonville. It’s interesting to note that all top five cities’ states are round-two finalists in the Department of Education grant competition Race to the Top. Those winners will be announced today at noon.

Cities were scored on the ability to attract talented individuals; access to reliable funding from both public and private entities; a robust charter school community; application of helpful quality-control metrics for entrepreneurial endeavors; district friendliness to nontraditional education providers and reform; and municipal support for entrepreneurs and district reforms. As witnessed in cities like New Orleans and D.C., noticeable reform requires political support, financial flexibility, gutsy and talented individuals, and useful checks and balances.

Despite its limitations and imperfections—the authors were subject to survey responses and public data—“America’s Best (and Worst) Cities for School Reform” is an interesting and useful way to consider school reform. While ranking the health of a city’s ecosystem is a common approach in many sectors, it’s a rarity in education. By considering the environment of a city, the report looks beyond the popularity of particular pedagogical or reform practices within the district and instead lays out a more comprehensive guide for sustainable and penetrating school reform. For further reading on such a holistic approach to ed reform, I recommend Hess’s newest book, Education Unbound.