Reading, Writing, ROI

摘要

When I started chairing philadelphia's school reform commission three years ago, schoolchildren, parents and teachers greeted me with threats and protests. I won't forget the sign hoisted by a grade-schooler that read, "We Hate You Nevels—Go Home." Why such animosity? My commission was making a controversial proposition: to run the nation's eighth-largest school district like a business. After two years of dramatic reforms we're showing striking results. Between 2003 and 2004 the percentage of the city's pub- lic school students scoring proficient" or better on state exams increased an average of eight percentage points in reading and math for fifth grade and an average of eleven points in reading and math for eighth grade. Our gains are among the largest posted by any of the 50 biggest urban school systems in the country, according to the Council of Great City Schools.