Michael F. Shaughnessy
Eastern New Mexico University
Portales, New Mexico

1) Joe, there seems to be a lot of good news coming out of Cincinnati in terms of increased high school graduation rates. What’s happening in Cincinnati?

Recently Elizabeth Holtzapple, Cincinnati Public Schools Director of Research, Evaluation and Testing, told me that the district’s public schools increased overall high school graduation rates to 81.9% in 2010. That is up from 51% to 2000.  She also reported the district also has maintained something major it first achieved in 2007.  While continuing to increase overall high school graduation rates, CPS also has eliminated the high school graduation gap between white and African American students.

2) About how long has this concerted effort been going on?

This work has been going on for the last decade. It has involved a series of coordinated, research-based strategies, along with tremendous, creative and courageous work by people in schools, as well as the broader community.  There was no single, “silver bullet.”

3. What were the key strategies?

Cincinnati used several strategies.  The most important included

• Focusing on just a few goals (increasing overall graduation rates and reducing the high school graduation gap).

• Taking educators, parents, community leaders and students to visit some of the nation’s most effective urban district and charter public schools.

• Focusing staff development on a few key areas: literacy, numeracy and learning to work more effectively with today’s urban youth.

• Increasing youth/community service so students learned they are capable of more than they thought.

• Positive ongoing leadership from the Cincinnati Federation of Teachers

• Holding principals accountable and replacing some in schools where there was not much progress.

•    Partnerships between schools, businesses and community groups focused on project goals.  More details below – but these partnerships often made a huge difference.

•    Monitoring and rewarding progress.

•    Creating small schools or small learning communities in large buildings.

* Recognition that the district had competition from charter public schools

•     Obtaining support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

4) How did Cincinnati go about creating small schools?  And what was the thinking behind this move?

Gates felt that there was considerable research supporting the idea that small schools, overall produced higher graduation rates, better student achievement, better student behavior and closer ties between faculty, families and students.  Having helped create a number of small schools in urban and rural areas of Minnesota and other parts of the country, I agreed with this research.  The Gates folks asked if I would be interested in working with people in Cincinnati. I said “yes.”

We did not think that small schools were enough – and that’s very important to understand, especially in light of results of Gates funded small schools efforts in other parts of the country.  Some were successful, others were not.  We saw creating small schools as one, but only one part of the strategy, along with others cited above.

The “small schools” effort varied from one building to another in Cincinnati.

For example, at Withrow High School (Pictured here), there were two small schools created that were independent of each other. While these two small schools shared a gym and library, there functioned as separate schools.  At Taft High School, there were small learning communities.  Students spend part of their days in the small learning communities, and part of their day with other faculty.

4) How much support did Cincinnati get from the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation?

Just over $3 million from 2000-2007.  That’s less than 1% of the total district budget, overall, for those seven years. Please remember that the Gates Foundation supported ended in 2007, but the progress has continued.  That’s a real tribute the Superintendent Mary Ronan, her staff, people in the schools, and Chad Wick, president of the KnowledgeWorks Foundation.

5) What is this “ Knowledge Works Foundation” Can you tell our readers about this?

KnowledgeWorks Foundation was a key, critical partner for this work.  They housed a staff person paid by Gates to help promote greater community collaboration between the schools, families and broader community.  Chad Wick, president of the Foundation and his staff provided vital advice and encouragement for this effort.  They knew an array of community leader and members well, and were able to help mobilize support. KnowledgeWorks, with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, also worked with a number of other Ohio communities on implementing a high school reform strategy that included small schools, so they had great insight into the opportunities and challenges of the implementation process.

6) What about parental involvement- was that a critical or crucial variable?

Unquestionably there were efforts to increase family involvement.  But I think the principals and faculty recognized that the most important changes were going to take place inside the school and its classrooms.  So faculty learned and used more effective ways to work with students.  Principals developed new partnerships with community groups that led to more assistance with young people, and more student success.

7) What about readiness for college?  Did Cincinnati or nearby colleges monitor whether local high school graduates were more fully prepared for some form of higher education?
Ohio increased high school graduation requirements 2000 to 2007, so students must pass challenging statewide tests in a number of areas, not just reading and math. Follow up research by Strive, a Cincinnati based group, shows that the percent of local students entering college with no deficiencies in reading or math, and the percent of students going from the first and second years of college at, for example, the University of Cincinnati and University of Kentucky increased by 10-15% between 2004-2005 and 2008-09. Rates vary by indicator and institution. See www.strivetogether.org. Minnesota’s Growth and Justice also has a case
study about Cincinnati, at www.growthandjustice.org

Laura Pappano, an award-winning journalist who has published in the New York Times and other places, also has written a terrific book about Cincinnati, Inside School Turnarounds: Urgent Hopes, Unfolding Stories (Harvard Education Press, 2010)

ABC Nightly News named Anthony Smith, the Taft High School “person of the week” earlier this year.  Here is a link to that story (click in the middle of the screen and it will start)

http://abcnews.go.com/US/PersonOfWeek/principal-turns-school-student-time/story?id=13166519

The Withrow High School home page has a link to a CNN Story about that school’s progress, and their terrific principal, Sharon Johnson.

http://withrowuniversityhs.cps-k12.org/

8)      Now, tough questions- what about kids with special needs- kids with learning disabilities-was there any kind of specific intervention for them?

Several things:

* A lot more individual attention.  Taft, which has more than 30% students with special needs, recently was named a “Blue Ribbon School” by the US Department of Education, has a wonderful partnership with the local phone company.  This is described in the ABC Nightly News story.  Phone company employees come in weekly and provide individual attention to many youngsters. Principal Anthony    Smith reports that tutors from Bell  “helped tremendously” with many of the school’s students.  Taft also used an “individual learning plan” with each of its      students.  Smith reports that these individual plans help “to make sure that no one falls through the cracks.”

• Second, involvement of students in various projects where they learn that they can make a positive difference in the community.  This helps many youngsters, including those with special needs; see themselves as competent, capable people.  That’s vital.
• Third, development of special programs in some of the schools that are non-traditional but based on research about what works well with certain students.  For example, under the remarkable Sharon Johnson, principal, Withrow University High School (open to all students, no admissions test) separates young men and young women in their academic classes.  Young men say this removes some distractions.  Young women say this makes them more comfortable being active in the class.  This is only an example.  The point is, Cincinnati gave principals and faculty the opportunity to design different approaches to achieve common goals.  This has been critical.
• Sharon Johnson also worked out an agreement with a local “United Way” funded agency called Families Forward.  Johnson provided the space in the building, and Families Forward provided several staff to work directly with families and youngsters.

The Cincinnati story has many elements.  For me, the most important are

• The willingness of adults to really put students first, and to recognize that educators, working in partnership with others, can produce enormous progress.  This includes the teachers, the Cincinnati Federation of Teachers, principals, district administrators and community groups.
• There were real controversies over the seven years.  There were four superintendents in the district over the last decade.  One, who stayed only a couple of year, was not sure he wanted to use the strategies discussed above.  There also was a big debate, which ultimately was resolved in favor of local school decision-making, about requiring all high schools to use the same reading and math texts.  The decision was that, despite heavy pressure from a certain curriculum developer, schools would be allowed to choose their own materials so long as there was clear, measurable progress.
• The recognition that students themselves can be real contributors, and in so doing, they learn to be active, constructive citizens and learn they are capable of doing far more than they previously thought
• The vital importance of setting a handful of specific, measurable goals and reward all the faculty and staff in the buildings that make significant progress
• About 2006, a number of community leaders from local foundations, colleges and universities, business and social service groups joined to create what they call “Strive” www.strivetogether.org.  This group has set measurable goals in several areas.  It is coordinating efforts to make progress in key areas from early childhood education to completion of some form of post-high school education and entrance into a job.  Strive is helping move things ahead.
• The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funds were spent primarily to help build the skills and knowledge of people working in the schools.  Funds were not spent to hire many people whose jobs depended on an outside grant.  This was a deliberate decision, based in part on 30 years experience with grants.  We did not want to repeat the mistakes described for example, in the Ford Foundation’s superb report, A Foundation goes to School. That report documented how spent $30 million produced little long term progress, in part because a fair amount of the money was spent on hiring people whose jobs ended when the grant funds were spent. So there was a deliberate decision to invest in educators who were in the schools and would continue to be there after the grant funds were spent.
• The combination of several research-based strategies; and the recognition that no single one would be enough to produce significant progress.

A number of individuals and groups have visited Cincinnati since their results began to be shared (by 2007 high school graduation rates had increased more than 25 points from 2000, and the graduation gap between white and African Americans had been closed).

What’s also encouraging is that this progress has been maintained with a new Superintendent, Mary Ronan.  Neither she, nor other Cincinnati leaders are satisfied.  They are pleased by what has been accomplished, and focused on doing even better.  That’s very good news for the city, and for the young people in its schools.