Schools Chief Pick Sees Enemy in 'Anonymity'

· Students taking classes that give them a greater chance of going to college, with many in high school pushed to take Advanced Placement courses.

· Administrators aggressively monitoring instruction and teacher development, through weekly faculty conferences and inspections of classrooms.

Little or none of this would be new to the Washington area. But Deasy hopes a zealous, systematic application of such strategies can help him lift Prince George's to a higher level.

Maria Rodriguez, a Samohi parent, said she was skeptical of Deasy's gung-ho talk at first. But he won her over. "He just kept saying every student can learn and will learn," Rodriguez said. "He really shifted the conversation and the agenda."

While visiting McKinley Elementary, Deasy knelt to quiz third-graders in one classroom about reading and writing. He asked a girl named Wendy to tell him about a chart on the wall showing a curve.

"It's a story mountain," Wendy replied. "In the middle, the high point, it means something is going wrong. And when you go down, the problem is solved." Another girl named Imanni told him: "It helps us write stories. You make a problem, and at the end you have to solve it."

Deasy said: "Thanks for taking the time to explain that to me. I really appreciate it. Gotta go. High five." Imanni slapped his palm.

Their classroom was of particular interest on this day. Two teachers were observing and filming a third teacher who was giving a lesson on how to read a textbook. Afterward, a substitute took over so the three could compare notes. Teacher Lindsay Light-Kananack said it was invaluable to watch others work with the same material.

"It's the most important thing," she said. "To see classroom management, what's on the walls, how they use their time, how they interact with kids. We have a luxury of testing out these strategies, making the lessons better. That's how change should occur in schools."

McKinley Elementary, a 400-student school with red-tile roofs and archways in the Spanish Mission style, lies behind a bougainvillea-draped fence on Santa Monica Boulevard. Here, about half the students qualify for meal subsidies. Nearly 40 percent are Latino, 10 percent are black and 8 percent are Asian. Reading and mathematics test scores exceed state standards, with Latino students having made especially large gains.

Every Wednesday, school lets out early so teachers get 90 extra minutes for professional development or other class preparation. Deasy won agreement for the once-a-week variable school day in a teachers contract. Classes run longer on the other days to make up the time.

At Samohi, on 33 sun-drenched acres between Pico Boulevard and the Santa Monica Freeway, Deasy lugged a concert bass into a music room. His son, a senior, had played it in a weekend performance. His youngest daughter is a sophomore at the school.