Disrupting Disruption: How Three School Districts Closed the Graduation Gap

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

This symposium focuses on three school districts that have successfully equalized educational opportunities and closed the graduation gap between students of color and their white counterparts. It brings together findings from researchers studying the districts and the superintendents who have been at their helm. This symposium will discuss the systems, procedures, and conditions that have enabled districts to enact policies that support their diverse student populations and are appropriate and responsive to their unique contexts. It will show how incremental reform – continuous improvement, rather than disruption – was the key to their successes. The work presented is instructive to practitioners and policymakers working to address inequitable educational opportunities and close persistent racial and ethnic outcome gaps.

Sub Unit

• Division A - Administration

Chair

• David Kirp, University of California - Berkeley

Papers

• The Not-So-Secret Sauce of School Improvement - Marjorie Wechsler, Learning Policy Institute

• Closing the Graduation Gap Through "a Culture of 'Us'" - Kirt Hartzler, Union Public Schools

• Changing Children's Lives by Putting Kids First - Silvia Abbato, Union City School District

Discussant

• Jeffrey R. Henig, Teachers College, Columbia University