A Come-Back for Common Sense?

When she was Assistant Secretary of Education from 2001 to 2003, Susan Neuman helped implement No Child Left Behind, which embodies the belief that well-run schools can wipe out the problems caused by poverty.

Now a professor at the University of Michigan School of Education, she's endorsed a very different approach to shrinking achievement gaps. Neuman was the most surprising signer of a statement from 63 education leaders affirming that no, schools can't work miracles.

"There is no evidence that school improvement strategies by themselves can close [achievement] gaps in a substantial, consistent, and sustainable manner," the statement says.

Or, as Neuman put it more succinctly in an interview yesterday, "A school can not trump poverty."

But the point of the new statement is not just to say what can't be done. It's to propose a different angle of attack.

"There is solid evidence that policies aimed directly at education-related social and economic disadvantages can improve... student achievement," the statement affirms.

It sets out four "pillars" for a "Broader, Bolder Approach to Education." The first is to keep working to make schools better through research-proven strategies like smaller classes for disadvantaged students.

The other three pillars all involve efforts outside k-12 education:

• Invest in high-quality pre-school.
• Invest in healthcare for kids.
• Pay attention to the time students spend out of school.

"By and large, low-income students learn as rapidly as more-privileged peers during the hours spent in school," says the group, citing an amazing research finding which is almost universally ignored.

Helen Ladd, one of three co-chairs of the group, told Education Week, “Our notion is that schools can’t do it alone... That has been missed in the education debate.”

The original signers come from all over the political spectrum. Neuman is not the only former Bush Administration leader in the group.

Neuman says that even when she was at the Department of Education, her speeches focused on poverty and bringing community resources to bear on reducing its effects.

"There's been a failure of us as a society to recognize how important the effects of poverty on a child are," she said. "This is something that stays with a child every moment. We need a national conversation on how to create a 360-degree surround for these children."

Does the broad support for this statement signal a return to common sense? The bloggers are buzzing. Here's one example. Here's another. (I picked two that I agree with. Google "Broader, bolder" to find more.)

In the spirit of the Web, Neuman and her co-signers are inviting other people to join them in signing the statement.

You'll be in good company!

--Alain Jehlen