By Fritz Edelstein
May 1, 2006

As part of the Conference’s project “Enhancing the Mayors’ Role in Urban Education Reform” for the Carnegie Corporation of New York, a competition was held for mayors to apply for two high school reform planning grants. The proposals submitted by Mobile Mayor Samuel Jones and Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell won the competition to assist them in planning and initiating systemic changes in high schools to address the needs of at-risk high school age youth. Each mayor will be receiving a grant of $40,000.

The planning grants are for one year to develop a strategic systemic initiative focused on changing how public high schools are organized and what learning opportunities and experiences are provided to students so they are better prepared for postsecondary education and the world of work. The expectation is that through mayoral leadership and involvement innovative approaches, policies, programs and practices will be developed to address the education problems and issues associated with high school drop out rates and low graduation rates. These initiatives include engaging the community in developing and implementing the plan.

The winning proposals were selected from a group of fifteen reviewed by an independent outside panel of eight individuals. Each proposal described a different approach. The Conference’s hope is that each of the other 13 cities, which did not win a grant, will continue to pursue the innovative approaches described in their proposals to change and improve their high schools even though they did not receive a grant.

Jones’ proposal described the Mayor’s Action Plan for High School Reform. This plan will use the mayor’s office to coordinate a community based process to develop a systemic approach for high school reform that includes:

• Conducting a thorough analysis of current situation;

• Utilizing a wide range of resources including the University of South Alabama, the school district and the Education Trust;

• Organizing and convening two education summits with a wide variety of partners with one at the beginning and one at the end of the grant year;

• Developing specific objectives and school performance data by the Mayor’s Office and the local public educational fund;

• Creating a Mayor’s Council on Public Education comprised of stakeholders to review data and specific objectives, and to oversee implementation of these objectives; and

• Conducting site visits to investigate best practices in other cities.

The Mobile proposal exhibited a clear and comprehensive mayoral commitment to education. It also recognized the importance of a central process for planning reform, a feasible plan of action, use of existing community resources, partnering with local universities and businesses, working with a nationally known group, the Education Trust, and using the entire community to ensure sustainability.

Purcell proposed to use the grant to develop a strategic plan for implementing comprehensive high school reform for all of the district’s high schools. The city will be forming a steering committee composed of key representatives of the Mayor’s Office, Mayor’s Youth Council, school district, local Workforce Development Board, and key community and business organizations. This steering committee will then:

• Conduct an analysis and summary of the system-wide dropout rate.

• Lead site visits to a city that has implemented a successful high school reform initiative that reduces the dropout rate and increasing the graduation rate while addressing the needs of at-risk high school age youth.

• Conduct a series of focus groups among youth in and out of schools.

• Produce a written report of findings and recommendations.

• Present the findings and recommendations to a Mayor’s Summit in early 2007.

The Nashville proposal included a demonstration of strong, sustained and substantial mayoral commitment and involvement to education; an acknowledgement and articulation of the need for high school reform; an understanding of how to use the mayor’s office to bring together an impressive array of public/private partners from across the community that demonstrate a sustainable commitment to the cause of high school reform; and a feasible plan for conducting a needs/cost analysis as part of the planning process.

The Conference is enthusiastic about what can be learned from these two projects and the information that will be shared with other mayors to assist them in their efforts to plan and implement high school reform in their city.