AURORA — With more flexibility comes higher expectations.
That philosophy is behind a new initiative in Aurora Public Schools called “pilot schools,” modeled after a program in Boston that gives schools more control in exchange for better test scores and other improvements.
Two Aurora schools, Fletcher Elementary and William Smith High, have applied to become pilot schools. Two developers also have indicated interest.
Results of the program in Boston have been impressive: Students in pilot schools are outperforming those in regular schools by a significant margin. And families who moved away to other districts are now coming back to the pilot schools.
“Unless our public school districts begin to think of more innovative ways to give educators control over decision-making and resources, then we are going to continue to see that pattern of low achievement and declining enrollment,” said Dan French, executive director of the Center for Collaborative Education, which coordinates the pilot schools for Boston.
Aurora district officials would like to have the new schools in place for the 2008-09 school year, said Tony Van Gytenbeek, deputy superintendent for Aurora schools.
The move to give schools more autonomy is something other districts have moved toward. Denver Public Schools, for example, is considering giving Bruce Randolph School more freedom from union and district rules as a way to boost student achievement.
Pilot schools are similar to charter schools except they remain under the umbrella of the district. The schools are free from district mandates and union work rules and can design their own curricula. They also can spend their budget how they see fit, Van Gytenbeek said.
Pilot-school class sizes are much smaller, as is the student-to-teacher ratio. Teachers receive more training, and students are offered more support services.
“Autonomy comes with increased expectations,” said Van Gytenbeek. “Charter schools have shown us that we need to compete, and we have to be responsive to those things that we are hearing.”
He said that within three years, the Aurora pilot schools must outperform the district average on tests such as the Colorado Student Assessment Program and the ACT. They would also need to show a reduced level of student mobility.
A big step forward in creating the schools was the buy-in of the teachers union, Van Gytenbeek said. The district met with union leaders, and both sides agreed to the concept.
Boston has 20 pilot schools. A recent study of the 10 pilot high schools found that across every measure of achievement, race, income and academic background, pilot students outperformed their peers, French said.
For example, students with high risk factors such as poverty who entered ninth grade at a pilot school outperformed their peers on 11th-grade math tests by 20 percentage points, French said.
Aurora officials are hoping for similar results.
“This is an opportunity for a grassroots community-based effort to thrive inside a public school district and create a school that is an ideal fit for a neighborhood for which it sits,” Van Gytenbeek said.
Carlos Illescas: 303-954-1175 or cillescas@denverpost.com
