30 Schools Can Be Overhauled After Not Gaining on Tests

Thirty D.C. public schools, including charter schools, have failed to show improvements on standardized tests in the past four years, making them eligible to be restructured with new staff members and other major changes starting next school year, State Superintendent Deborah A. Gist said yesterday.

Speaking at the first meeting of the State Board of Education, Gist said that notifying the schools -- 26 in the D.C. school system and four charters -- and explaining to them what comes next is her top priority in her new role as state superintendent, a position created in the takeover of the schools by Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D).

"We are immediately taking that on as our first and most urgent piece of work," Gist told the nine members of the State Board of Education last night.

Gist said that, because the school system is now separate from the state superintendent's office, the task of deciding how the 30 schools will make changes is the job of Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee and the individual charter schools. Gist and the state office will monitor that work.

Under the federal No Child Left Behind law, schools that fail to improve for two years in a row are labeled "in need of improvement." Schools that continue to fall short of targets lose autonomy and face additional monitoring. Eventually, they could be taken over by the state or closed. Speaking about the state office's new powers to oversee failing schools, Gist said that if the office does not see improvements, according to federal law, "we have to take action ourselves."

Gist made it clear that she would be working on the issue with city education leaders, saying that Rhee is highly focused on student improvement.

The meeting was held at the board's new meeting room in Judiciary Square, in the first-floor chambers formerly used by the D.C Council. The board, led by Robert C. Bobb, listened intently to Gist and asked basic questions about the definitions of education terms she used, a sign that the board faces a steep learning curve.

But board members have been studying for the job. Among them is Mary Lord, whom voters in wards 1 and 2 elected last month. She was sworn in last night.

Earlier this month, the board members attended an all-day retreat featuring a speaker from the Georgia Board of Education, who explained how to handle education issues from a broader perspective.

That learning continued last night with testimony from James W. Dyke Jr., former education secretary in Virginia and a former member of the state's board of education.

"Your role is to watch the big picture," Dyke said. District 4 member William Lockridge, who said he still has concerns about the new structure, said he was elected to be a local representative fighting for parents and schools. "But I'm moving to get over it to get to the next level," he said.

Later, Lockridge said that it is difficult to perform his new duties because he lacks office space and staff members. When members were part of the D.C. Board of Education, they had offices on the fifth floor of the school system's headquarters and had at least one staff member to assist them.

Gist said that space had been secured on the seventh floor for the new board and that staff members are being hired.

Bobb said yesterday that the board, in its new role, wants to address poor literacy rates and early childhood education. Under the federal education law, state boards are responsible for approving an "accountability plan," defining what makes a high-quality school and which measures the state will use to determine whether schools are making adequate yearly progress.