Studies Paint a Picture of Klein's Legacy

New York

Often it’s left to the history books to judge the results of big-city education reform efforts years later, but outgoing New York City Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein got a preview on Wednesday of the legacy of the far-reaching—and controversial—initiatives that he and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg have pushed over the past eight years.

At an invitation-only conference here on Nov. 10, the authors of 11 studies commissioned by the New York City Education Reform Retrospective Project held different facets of those initiatives, which are known collectively as Children First, up to the light. The studies, paid for by the Seattle-based Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Austin, Texas-based Michael and Susan Dell Foundation and the Salisbury, N.C.-based Robertson Foundation, found the initiative has led to some systemic improvements in student achievement and teacher quality, but also some capacity problems and resentment among some teacher, parent and community groups. The gathering came the day after the announcement that Mr. Klein will step down in mid-December.

“I think Joel Klein and his colleagues have gotten much more traction on reform than any previous leadership team,” said Robert B. Schwartz, the academic dean of the education and management program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. “This is the most dramatic and thoughtful set of large-scale reforms going on...