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A recent study prepared by
the University of Toledo Jack Ford Urban Affairs Center
notes that “Toledo reflects a trend seen in many urban
centers that were previously reliant on manufacturing;
structural change in the economy leading to job loss, as
well as other factors such as suburbanization and ‘white
flight’ led to dramatic population loss over several
decades, which in turn led to abandoned housing and
disinvestment in certain sections of the City.” (Poverty
Study, Executive Summary).
Such difficulties over the
decades inevitably led to a decimation of the public-school
system – lack of operating funds, decreasing school
enrollment, an impoverished student population and, of
course, failing district grades on the state generated
report cards that have become commonplace around the nation.
Toledo Public Schools
started to feel the impact of this trend as the 1900’s came
to an end and then began to bottom out during a period after
the Great Recession. In the five years from 2010 to 2014,
the student graduation rate was at an all-time low of 62 to
64 percent – lower for African-American and Hispanic
students; lower for students from poor households and much
lower for the disabled students. The district’s enrollment
rate bottomed out in the 2012-2013 academic year at 21,333
from a high of over 30,000 several decades previously.
However, five years ago,
the current TPS administrators, under the leadership of
Superintendent Romules Durant, EdD; Deputy Superintendents
James Gault and Jim Gant, set about to change the landscape,
to bring opportunities to the students that matched what the
world, and particularly the Toledo area workplace, had to
offer after graduation.
Career tech became not
only a buzz word but also an attainable opportunity for
students all over the city. There are now more than 40
career tech offerings spread out over the school system.
Students pursuing the traditional path to a higher education
have also been presented with more opportunities. Advanced
placement offerings have increased in half a decade from
four to 23; students can take seven different foreign
language courses – even Russian; 12 associate degrees are
available before a student completes his or her high school
diploma requirements.
Durant notes that there
are students enrolled in district high schools who rarely
attend their schools in their senior years because they are
spending all their time attending college courses. A goal,
he says, for the district is to increase the value of city
taxpayer funds by allowing as many students as possible to
attain college degrees as debt-free as possible.
Graduation is only one of
the two key measurables of a school system’s success or
failure, adds Deputy Superintendent Gault. The other key
aspect is the achievement of third graders. That’s the level
at which the foundations of brain architecture are virtually
complete and the lack of adequate early childhood education
– preschool, kindergarten – is virtually impossible to
overcome.
On this year’s Third Grade
Guarantee – the Percent of Students Meeting Promotion
threshold – the TPS District reached an achievement rate of
85 percent, an increase of 13.1 percent over four years
(from 71.9 percent).
An improvement in
kindergarten readiness, increased opportunities for
preschool-aged students, early identification of at-risk
students are among the number of programs the district has
adopted to prepare students for the third grad and the
Promotion Threshold.
For Durant and Gault, the
current report card, showing such positive trends in
graduation, enrollment and third grade testing results, is
the result of the efforts of many. They commend the
community for approving an uninterrupted string of levy
requests – a 100 percent approval rate over the last five
years.
They also are grateful for
a board of education whose members have been not only
supportive but also active in championing and encouraging
the progress the district has made.
“The board is very
pleased,” says Stephanie Eichenberg, the board chairman.
“But we will challenge parts of the report card as it
relates to large urban districts.”
The negative aspect of
this year’s report card is that TPS is mired in a below
average grade – the district improved from and “F” to a “D.”
That’s a huge improvement from the standpoint of being out
of the academic emergency category, but is not reflective of
what has been accomplished, says Durant and Gault.
“We’re building an
institution,” says Durant. “We want to educate our kids to
work here.” The plan is to keep local businesses involved
and to make sure that there is a pipeline from school to
college or career so that students have a place to call home
in this area after graduation.
An improvement of
graduating six out of 10 students over the past five years
to graduating eight out of 10 is astonishing in a town mired
in poverty. But it’s not enough yet, say the town’s
educators.
“There’s more work to do,”
says Gault. |
