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Author: Katie Morrison-Reed

An Underfunded Mandate  

Written by Katie Morrison-Reed on . Posted in Effective Governance, Funding Policy, K-12 Education.

The tumultuous years of the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic fallout created unprecedented academic, physical, mental, and social well-being challenges for students nationwide. NAEP scores provide ample data for what we feel: the academic impacts are severe and persistent, especially for students of color and low-income students. But these challenges are not new; many existed long before the pandemic. Indeed, we’ve been battling achievement gaps for years. 

We know from extensive research that the factors that hamper post-pandemic learning recovery and ultimately widen gaps do not begin in the school. External factors such as family education and job opportunities, health, housing, transportation, food, and access to quality early learning influence a child’s readiness to learn. They exist as an indicator that multiple — and often siloed — systems are not adequately meeting needs, creating barriers to the opportunity to learn. 

The most sophisticated programming and interventions will have limited impact if we don’t foster family and child well-being first. Wholesale shifts in governance, an aggressive push toward true student-centered learning, and intensive investments in proven evidence-based interventions all have merit and must be part of the solution set. But first we must name — and question — the unspoken mandate underpinning it all: are we asking schools to solve for multigenerational poverty and income inequality?  

We must ask: What is the role of schools in addressing the root causes of achievement gaps? And are we equipping them — and funding them — to play that role?  

If a complex web of systems, services, and supports keeps kids from being ready to learn, why are schools held solely accountable for closing the academic achievement gap? Test scores — which strongly correlate with indicators of family and community economic well-being, or lack thereof — reign supreme in school evaluation. They’re also often referred to as an imprecise proxy for school quality. But this is problematic: do a school’s scores truly reflect the quality of the education, or do they reflect the systemic challenges its students face, and that our public systems have yet to solve?  

What’s a school leader to do?  

They’re put in a position to try and solve it all and “make the grade”. They do their best to put responsive programming and supports in place. They act as a safe and trusted resource in the community to parents and families. They do all they can within their sphere of influence to close the gap and meet the needs of poverty and trauma, in the interest of uplifting their students and carrying out their mission. In a 2023 study of school funding in DC, we found that schools are increasingly spending money on resources to ensure kids are ready and able to learn, such as social workers, psychologists, and climate and culture staff. And schools serving students with the highest needs are spending significantly more here.  

But even in the most well-resourced schools, these efforts are not enough. And the unfortunate reality is that the schools most often put in a position to “solve it all” have historically been underfunded and under-resourced at baseline. Even our funding formula weights for low-income students don’t cover what research tells us low-income students need: statistical analyses indicate low-income (“at risk”) students could require more than three times the funding of their peers. Because, well, the cost is looks preposterous.  But is it? 

As one school leader put it,  

“Schools have taken on an additional social services arm — not real wraparound services with trained individuals — everyone trying to piece things together to meet the needs. If the school is going to be the hub for the community — then it cannot be the school that is charged but doesn’t have the resources. If this is the expectation of schools, then that money needs to come to schools to support.”​ 

The overwhelming insight we’ve gathered from educators, families, and students grappling with these challenges is this: We need to start thinking holistically about services, supports, and resources beyond the walls of the school building. Interrelated challenges call for integrated solutions, shared ownership, and a revolutionized approach to resourcing. Children go to school within the context of their families and community and other systems, and failing to acknowledge the impact of those external factors will only ever allow schools to be partially successful in serving students well. Of course, schools have a role – a primary one – in closing academic achievement gaps. But it’s not their challenge alone. Instead of the persistent calling out of schools for missing the mark, let’s start calling in the broader system of services (and associated funding and resources) our kids need.  

It’s time for a paradigm shift that leaves the idea of education as a “closed system” behind.   

It’s time to stop expecting linear inputs and outputs from institutions that exist in a tangled web of interdependency. It’s time to approach student achievement as a function of multiple systems working together and alongside one another. It’s time to change how we frame the challenges, who gets a seat at the table, and how we think about accountability for outcomes. It’s time to start seeking answers to much harder questions than we’ve ever chosen to ask. 

If you agree that it’s time, let’s start that conversation. 

If You’re Going To Close Schools, Do It This Way

Written by Katie Morrison-Reed on . Posted in Effective Governance, K-12 Education.

Across the country, many school districts have seen continuous declining enrollment trends, with a steep loss during COVID that doesn’t show signs of fully returning, along with declining birth rates and shrinking Kindergarten cohorts. School closings are already here, and data indicate many more on the horizon.

When I hear these rumblings, I’m taken back over a decade to my time at Chicago Public Schools, when the district faced a whopping operating budget deficit, over 100,000 empty seats (roughly the size of the 20th largest district in the country), buildings in need of significant improvement, and lagging student outcomes. Ultimately, as is now known and written about often, CPS decided to tackle the capacity challenge in a big wave of 50 school consolidations in 2013. While excess capacity still remained, it was the largest single year consolidation in history – an effort that allowed the district to consolidate its focus on the schools that remained and, in the process, at least partially address some of the financial predicament it found itself in. I’m not going to opine on this process – if it was the right decision, what went right and what went wrong, or the long-term impact. Those articles and opinions readily exist. But as the Director of Transitions at the time, responsible for pulling together the people, plan, and process to implement CPS’ school action decisions with the guidance of our leadership team, I do want to share reflections from having been through it.

Fact: Closing schools isn’t a process anyone ever wants to be a part of. You don’t get into public education to close schools. It’s gut-wrenching work, and it’s heartbreaking and often devastating to the those most impacted. In a perfect world, our schools would be adequately funded and retain or draw families back into them with appropriate resources, well-compensated and supported staff, and excellent programs. This can happen, like in the successes in Washington, D.C. Closures should not be our first answer, and creative solutions can help. But sometimes, like when demographic shifts leave a plethora of under-enrolled, under-resourced schools, the painful solution can become the necessary one. And when it does happen, we have an obligation to minimize the pain felt by all stakeholders involved. Ideally, we are harnessing the opportunity to offer stronger – albeit fewer – schools. With that as context, I offer these reflections for districts facing the prospect of school closures.

  • Know the why. Be clear on why you are considering closures and what you expect the outcomes will be. Understand the context and stories of the schools and communities at risk of closure and understand deeply the consequences of any actions you might take before you take them. Balance that with an understanding of the opportunities a closure may present. But don’t lead with closures being solely about solving a financial crisis. While consolidations can support long-term financial sustainability, it often doesn’t save as much money as we expect, and it costs a lot to do well. And importantly, it’s not a compelling argument to your community, even if it is true. Stakeholders will – sometimes justifiably – push this argument back on poor district decisions or management. Instead, how might a smaller number of schools enable more equitable resourcing and better schools for all students? Is rightsizing a lever to be able to do this more effectively? “Better schools” is a conversation communities can engage in. Fixing a budget hole is not.
  • Know the how. Going into the work, have a clear decision-making process and “rules” for how decisions will be made, ideally done with a representative community body. Have a single empowered leader, and a cross-functional team at least partially freed up from existing responsibilities to focus on fidelity of planning and implementation. Have a solid process to execute, be overly prepared to do it, and have contingency plans for your contingency plans. Be fully prepared with a plan to track and monitor progress and outcomes and have a quick response system for issue resolution during and after the transition. Be prepared to monitor each impacted student – where they go, how they do through the transition, and how they fare on the leading indicator metrics you monitor for outcomes and growth. Know what will happen to the space that is left behind or the process you’ll use to figure that out, again involving the community. And on the note of buildings, understand that you can separate ‘school’ from ‘building’ – good schools can exist in bad buildings. Be diligent yet creative in your solutions.
  • Prioritize people. Know who will be impacted specifically and how. What’s the population of students in temporary housing situations? Students with limited or interrupted formal education? Racial and ethnic demographics of students and teachers? Community groups with connections to schools? Has anyone in the school been shuffled through a school closure before? Know the human stories. Also know the stories of the schools to be closed and ensure there is a plan to honor them. Support schools that are receiving impacted students to prepare students, teachers, and staff and merge school cultures ahead of time. Give them and the school community time, flexibility, and resources to prepare in a way that is informed by students and those closest to them. Prioritize maintaining meaningful student and staff connections where possible and have a thoughtful staff transition plan in place. Whatever you do, lead with empathy.
  • Communicate transparently. Invite people to the table; closed doors put up walls. With engagement and transparency, while everyone might not agree on the decisions, you can agree on the validity of the process to make those decisions. Align with stakeholders and co-create solutions where you can (ex: supports students and staff will need for the transition). Communicate effectively – in language that is accessible and respects the human element of this, and through communication modes that work for the people you are trying to reach. Make a clear timeline so stakeholders know what to expect when, and follow through. Get ahead of the issues and stories by knowing them authentically.

School consolidations are coming. We need to study the past, take what worked, and improve where we can. I believe by knowing our why, knowing our how, prioritizing people, and communicating transparently, school districts and communities can collaboratively address the systemic challenges in front of them. Our team at Afton is here to support your district and community in this process.