Reports note success of Pilot schools

By Anand Vaishnav, Globe Staff, 10/24/2001

Freed from bureaucratic restrictions, Boston's Pilot schools are generally outperforming the rest of the city's public schools, two new reports being released today show.

Created in 1994 to foster innovation and to keep students who otherwise might bolt for charter schools, the 11 Pilot schools post higher attendance rates and lower suspensions than many of their regular counterparts. Many of the Pilots have higher test scores. Advocates say this proves the schools that operate best are those free of district rules on spending, staffing, and curriculum.

The findings are in two reports the Boston School Committee will receive tonight: one is by the Center for Collaborative Education, a group based at Northeastern University that supports Pilot schools, and the other is by the school district's research office.

Dan French, executive director of the Center for Collaborative Education, said Pilot schools are doing better with the same amount of money that regular schools get. But where regular schools have strings attached to their money, Pilot schools can spend it how they see fit.

''The best route to improving public education is to grant schools autonomy and flexibility over their resources,'' French said.

School system officials are encouraged but say it's premature to call Pilots outright successes - partly because they cannot ignore the nonPilot schools that do better in some areas.

''Pilot schools need more time before I would come down definitively and say Pilots make all the difference in the world,'' said Timothy Knowles, deputy superintendent for teaching and learning. ''But from a school's perspective, having flexibility over people, time, money, and curriculum is critical.''

Pilots also operate free of many Boston Teachers Union hiring rules. But union president Edward Doherty said there's nothing magic about flexibility that leads to better achievement. Pilot schools, he noted, have smaller classes and more active parents who have sought out those schools.

On the MCAS test, most Pilot schools ranked in the top 10 of the city's 21 high schools and 26 middle schools, according to both reports. That doesn't surprise Eleanor Mulloney LeCain, parent of a child at the Mission Hill School.

''They get exactly who they want for teachers, and they can focus their curriculum the way that is best for students,'' LeCain said.

Anand Vaishnav can be reached by e-mail at vaishnav@globe.com.

© Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.