Submitted by Dianne Piche
on 10/12/04 12:23 PM
I agree with Jane and Susan. It is important that NCLB choice, like any other viable choice plan, be done right. The good news is that there are many models across the country for how to operate an effective school choice program. Susan may be too modest to trumpet her own extraordinary accomplishment in St. Louis, so I will share with you:
For over a decade Dr. Susan Uchitelle directed the Voluntary Interdistrict Transfer Program, which was and continues to be the country's largest voluntary public school choice program. Under an interdistrict desegregation settlement agreement, up to 13,000 African-American (and largely low-income) students per year from the city of St. Louis chose to and did attend higher-performing schools in suburban St. Louis County districts. These students had much better high school graduation and college-going rates than their peers who remained in non-magnet city schools. The VITP employed proven methods to recruit and counsel students and families, helped school districts understand how to welcome and accommodate students from diverse backgrounds, and published exemplary materials for students, parents, educators and the community. BTW, these methods go far beyond sending an incomprehensible letter home to parents w/ no follow-up. We can all learn from the St. Louis example. These methods are more expensive than a postage stamp, but well worth the investment in children.
