Re-Creating a School System

By Gerry House

The goal in school reform is fairly simple—to replicate, school by school, classroom by classroom, those qualities that have always driven the highest-performing schools and classrooms. The devil, as usual, is in the details. Guaranteeing that the system of beliefs, behaviors, policies, and practices that ensures the intricate and complex organizational and human connections necessary for systemic school reform is made and maintained is messy, difficult, and extremely complicated.

Systemic, whole-school reform is not a sprint. It is a marathon that requires the stamina and heart of the best long-distance runners. The Memphis City Schools began the race in 1992, when we asked ourselves a question: What will it cost if we wait to reform our schools? The answer was that it would cost too much. We had no choice. Either we re-created ourselves and our schools into what they had to be to save our children, or we doomed increasing numbers of them to lives of not-so-quiet desperation.

The past eight years have been exciting, turbulent, full of hard work, often frustrating, but ultimately rewarding. Memphis still has a long way to go and lasting improvement takes time, but there are clear signs of progress. The dropout rate has declined; attendance has improved; schools are safer; and there have been modest gains in student achievement. We think that we have learned some lessons that are relevant to other schools and districts thinking about...