By Steve Gunn
EAGnews.org

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a city like Washington, D.C., with a high level of crime, poverty and other social problems, there is not going to be a single cure for failing public schools.

But the D.C. school district – under former Chancellor Michelle Rhee and current Chancellor Kaya Henderson – has stuck to its guns when it comes to large-scale replacement of teachers at struggling schools.

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The latest is Cardozo Senior High School, where the district recently forced all teachers to reapply for their positions, and rehired just over half of them for next year, according to the Washington Post.

Henderson called the turnover a “fresh start’ and “momentum builder” for the high school, and officials are crossing their fingers that her words will prove to be true.

Thus far large-scale changes in school staff has had mixed success in D.C., according to the news report. Of the 18 schools that were “reconstituted” in that manner between 2008 and 2010, 10 have experienced declines in student test scores, six have improved and two have closed, the news report said.

One teacher at Cardozo High School, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the mixed results are proof that teachers should not be held accountable for student learning.

“It seems like we’re always being told it’s our fault, like we should be superheroes,” said the teacher, who was among those rehired by the school. “(Changing teachers) doesn’t acknowledge the fact that there are a lot of issues outside the control of the teacher.”

That’s true enough. But supporters of the large-scale turnover strategy point to the Wheatley Education Campus as one D.C. school that had great results after replacing 80 percent of its staff.

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“When I went into that building, I had never seen anything that was that chaotic and broken,” said Principal Scott Cartland, who was brought in from another school to lead the reconstruction effort.

Besides replacing most of the teachers, Cartland “reconceived the literacy curriculum and poured resources into mental health and social workers,” the news report said. Since then there has been “substantial improvement” at the school.

Teachers and their unions are obviously interested in defending themselves and protecting their employment. That’s understandable. But when it comes to broken schools in troubled neighborhoods, perhaps the best strategy is to try and try again, until the right combination of administrators and teachers is found to get the job done.

It obviously can be done. The results at some D.C. schools prove that. Some teachers may have been unfairly cast aside in the process, but that’s a small price to pay for finding an effective formula to turn bad schools into true learning centers for underprivileged children.