Andreas Alonso's Response to Baltimore's MSA Scores

Please watch the following video before reading the post:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/videobeta/2b5f1f1c-c777-4d54-b858-478fc563a388/News/Alonso-on-student-test-statistics-2-of-4-

There is no doubt that Andreas Alonso is doing just about everything he can to push student achievment in the city of Baltimore. He has been bold and even courageous in his attempts to make our schools a place where any parent would be proud to send their child. Unfortunately, we are not there yet and have, in fact, taken a step backward this year in the department of raw student achievement. The rumors are true: after several years of steadily improving MSA scores, the city's scores dipped in both reading and math in 2011.

To be sure, this is a setback. I know it, our parents know it, Alonso knows it. For what its worth I happen to think that this does not constitute a major setback, but that is not what this post is about. This post is about how we be expected to deal with such setbacks and specifically how Alonso's response measures up to those expectations. I was dissapointed in two major points that he made.

First, Dr. Alonso talked a little bit about statistics. At their best good statistics can explain a setback or on average excuse it, but Alonso's use here is worse: It is misleading. He talks about two circumstances in particular that he believes may have contributed to the dip. The first is that he says we are not measuring individual students' growth. What he misses, however, is that the overall average DOES tell you individual growth writ large. Yes, maybe little Jimmy made two years' growth in reading, but when we are looking at the whole system, we can categorically say that Baltimore City's students grew less this year than they did last year. The second mistake is likewise guilty of this macro-micro disconnect. Alonso offers up the transient nature of students as a mitigating factor, stating that many of Baltimore City's schools experience student turnovers of 30% or more. However, unless he can prove that these students are ending up in places besides other Baltimore City Schools, the argument is washed out. If we are talking about the success of the system, regardless if students switched schools or not the result remains the same. The academic achievement of our students is down.

The second point that Alonso made that did not measure up to my expectations of his leadership was one regarding teachers. He alluded in a statement that bordered tediously close on blame to the idea that the dip can be partly attributed to ineffective teachers in the classroom. Perhaps the obvious lack of discipline that this sort of blaming shows can be excused due to frustration (I still think a great leader does not blame the people he leads), but what is not excusable is faulting a system that he has power to change and enforce. What great artist would excuse a poor painting on bad brush? No, just as the artist would go out and get herself a new tool, so must Alonso take ownership of his. If Dr. Alonso truly believes that the evaluation system is part of the problem for the dip in the City's MSA scores, it is HE, not the teachers (yes, even the bad ones), who is to blame.

These two shortcomings disappoint me in Dr. Alonso as a leader. By no means are they an indictment, but we should expect more from someone who has willingly taken on the responsibility for the system that serves the futures of thousands of our children.