Joel I. Klein

New York City's Department of Education is empowering school leaders and implementing accountability measures that will place its public schools on a path of positive results, said Joel I. Klein at AEI on June 6. In a speech detailing his record as schools chancellor, he outlined how he has addressed the challenges of the nation's largest urban school system and pointed to marked improvements in student achievement--including double-digit gains in reading and math for some grades.

Since Klein became chancellor in 2002, he has been a lightning rod for criticism. Plucked from a career as an antitrust and appellate lawyer and business executive by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and lacking a background in K-12 education, Klein faced an uphill battle to implement dramatic change. He described the process of school reform as "creative destruction," echoing early-twentieth-century economist Joseph Schumpeter--a fitting allusion, given Klein's emphasis on offering choices and promoting educational entrepreneurship. "We want New York City to be the Silicon Valley of charter schools," he said. But as established interests are upset, he added, the reform process "is going to be noisy."

Klein described the two main phases of his tenure so far. During the first phase, he concentrated on gaining control of the system and bringing unity to a district long marked by structural decentralization. To do so, he focused on cutting and restructuring bureaucracy, recruiting and retaining high-quality teachers and principals, and expanding choices for students and their families.

According to Klein, the second phase was intended to move schools "from the stability we created to the dynamism we need." Here, Klein stressed "empowerment" (giving principals more control over decision-making, including finances, personnel, and instruction) and "accountability" (tying rewards and sanctions to school-wide test results and other measures of student achievement). He also instituted cash rewards for high-performing schools, fought to remove poor and incompetent teachers from the classroom, and established plans to close chronically failing schools.

What have been the results of Klein's reforms? He offered several data points to show that New York is on the right track. Four-year high school graduation rates have jumped by 9 percent since 2002. Klein also pointed out that since 2003, fourth-grade math scores have risen by twelve points, and fourth-grade reading scores have risen by fourteen points on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). During this period, New York public school students' scores have increased faster than many other urban school systems in the state. Klein was also proud to show a fourteen percentage point improvement among fourth-grade African Americans on reading and math NAEP scores--outpacing the rest of the nation and lending support to Klein's equity initiatives. Eighth-grade NAEP scores, however, have been less impressive. Math scores have grown only a few points, and English scores have fallen slightly since 2003.

Klein also argued that parents are more satisfied, pointing to figures showing that low-income parents--those historically most affected by underresourced schools and who were in 2002 very displeased with their children's schools--have today reached parity with middle- and high-income parents in terms of satisfaction.

Klein was optimistic that the institutional changes he has overseen will endure. By offering parents choice and schools flexibility, he said, the culture in New York City's schools is changing, focusing firmly on improving student achievement (and with documented success to that end) rather than protecting the status quo. Klein summed up his reason for making "noisy" but important changes: "In my bones, I know that education can be transformative."

For video, audio, and a report on this event, visit www.aei.org/event1720/.