Alonso's next challenge

What the city schools CEO must do to succeed where other reformers across the country have failed

By Kalman R. Hettleman

September 5, 2008

Baltimore schools CEO Andres Alonso had a remarkable first year. He ruffled the teachers union, infuriated the administrators union, shifted power from the central office to school principals, revolutionized funding allocations to individual schools, instituted innovative programs for over-age students, absorbed a huge budget shortfall and, as need be, charmed, outsmarted and overpowered people to get his way.

Now comes the hard part.

Across the country over the past decade, reform-minded CEOs in Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and elsewhere have gotten off to whirlwind starts, only to stumble later. Will Mr. Alonso succeed where they didn't?

It depends. First, he will need continuing support from the board, which I am confident he will get. Also, it will help if Mayor Sheila Dixon pulls back from her veiled threats to seek mayoral control over the school system.

Most important, Mr. Alonso must recruit and retain a large pool of able principals. His reform theory of action can't succeed without them. They must do what principals are supposed to do: supervise and assist staff with instruction, set the school climate, handle zillions of daily details, engage parents and cultivate community partnerships. But under Mr. Alonso, they must do a lot more. Most important is selection of research-proven core instructional programs and interventions for struggling learners from among various options on the commercial market. Also, they must draft from near-scratch the school budget, and control other operations previously centrally managed.

Are there enough principals who are up to all these tasks? From all we know, the answer is no. Even the pre-Alonso brand of principal was a super-demanding job. A 2005 study, "The Pain Outweighs the Gain: Why Teachers Don't Want to Become Principals," concluded that there was "a crisis" in the pool of applicants to replace the huge numbers of principals reaching retirement age. The prospects "of more power, better opportunities for personal and professional development, and more money" are outweighed, the study found, by the "perceived difficulties and frustrations associated with the job."

Mr. Alonso is confident he can overcome these obstacles. In one year, he has chosen new principals for about one-third of city schools, relying heavily on the pipeline of New Leaders for New Schools, a national organization with a regional office in Baltimore that recruits mainly young educators and puts them on a fast track to become principals. He has also created 15 "principal coaches," experienced principals who will mentor peers.

Mr. Alonso believes the supply of candidates will grow in quantity and quality when principals are given more control and better training. On the other hand, the opposite could happen if the re-engineered principals are overwhelmed by all that's expected of them.

Which scenario will prove true is a big open question. Two factors may help to answer it. One is whether Mr. Alonso can calibrate the balance between expecting the principal to act autonomously and providing the principal with central directives and specific guidance. So far, most of the guidance has been vague, leaving principals considerably in the dark about exact expectations. In particular, principals will have to learn more about how to make sound decisions regarding instructional programs and budget priorities. In some instances, in my view, the programs and priorities that are most research-proven will have to be centrally mandated, as in the past.

Mr. Alonso recognizes and will surely address these issues in the years ahead. But the second factor that is probably essential to the success of his reforms is much further outside of his control: enough money.

There is no evidence that the great majority of students from impoverished backgrounds can meet high academic standards without costly expenditures for smaller class sizes, academic and behavioral interventions, supplemental school time, school security and other necessities. Unfortunately, last year, Gov. Martin O'Malley and the General Assembly retreated from the high ground of the Thornton law that boosted funding. Mr. Alonso will have to continue to skillfully navigate budget shortfalls in the years ahead.

So the road ahead for Mr. Alonso and his radical reform plans is perilous. No large urban school system in the country has scaled the heights of student proficiency. I said a year ago when voting to hire Mr. Alonso that the obstacles may be too great for even him to overcome - but I was convinced that if anyone could do it, he could. Nothing about the first year has changed my mind.

Kalman R. Hettleman resigned as a member of the Baltimore school board after his term expired June 30. His e-mail is khettleman@comcast.net.