Accountability at every level encourages classroom results

There is an old saying that to every complex problem there is a solution that is clear, simple ... and wrong.

We believe we can cite one exception that makes the rule.

For years this newspaper has used this space to espouse a rather elementary equation for improving educational outcomes.

Here’s the formula: The public holds the board of education responsible for the success (or failure) of the schools. The board hires a superintendent who can do the job, or fires one that can’t. The superintendent demands excellence from principals and other administrators and principals demand it of the teachers. So, if some teachers in a school are under performing, it is the job of the principal to help them improve or get rid of them. If the principal doesn’t do that, it’s the job of the superintendent to replace the principal.

Accountability is enforced at the bottom of the ladder, or the consequences are suffered up the ladder, as high as is necessary. Ideally, board members who do not address deficiencies face challenges at the ballot box and lose. If that corrective approach fails, it is the responsibility of the state to step in and protect its investment in public education.

Though every school district has dedicated, hard working and productive teachers, every teacher is not. And in every school, the principal and most other teachers know which teachers aren’t pulling their weight. To the extent that they aid and abet nonperformance, even otherwise good teachers and principals hurt the student body and ultimately put themselves at risk.

Something’s being done

And so we found encouragement in a story in Sunday’s Vindicator that reported an outside agency contracted to help improve leadership within the Youngstown City School District is doing its job by demanding accountability.

It is presenting monthly reports to the academic-distress commission overseeing efforts to improve the district’s performance, and those reports contain hints of the kind of candor that is necessary when dealing with an institution that is failing far too many of its students.

A recent report said that, “of 17 principals being served, 14 are making progress and three are having trouble implementing improvements.” The key area of failure seems to be an inability or unwillingness of some principals to provide the leadership necessary to improve outcomes.

Not everyone is cut out to be a principal and when interior controls have failed and it requires input from outside consultants to identify administrative deficiencies, it is the responsibility of a superintendent and board to act in the best interest of the students for whom the principals are responsible.

We’ll stipulate that Youngstown city schools face a daunting challenge given the poverty and broken homes that are an unfortunate part of an urban landscape. But throughout the nation, some schools and some entire districts are doing a better job than others in rising to the challenges. It is the responsibility of each teacher, each principal and the superintendent to strive to be among those who are succeeding under even the most difficult circumstances.