SCHOOL PUSHES FOR DIVERSITY IN ENROLLMENT

Story first appeared on WSJ.com.

Assembling diverse classes is an oft-stated goal among New York City private schools, with brochures featuring beaming multicultural students.

But this September Dalton will approach a rare benchmark: Nearly half of the incoming kindergarten class will be students of color.

Dalton will dramatically exceed the citywide average for kindergarten diversity at New York's private schools, which was 30% students of color last year, according to data from the National Association of Independent Schools.

It's a milestone in an aggressive campaign by the admissions director, Elisabeth "Babby" Krents, to broaden the school's reach since she assumed the position in 1996. The previous year, the kindergarten class was 6% diverse. This year, it will be 47% of the 97-member incoming class.

Ms Krents stated that years ago, she thinks primarily kids at Dalton were from the Upper East Side and homogenous in lots of ways. She said that they sat down to see what they could do to widen that a bit.

Dalton isn't alone: Brearley will be 41% students of color next year, according to school officials, while its kindergarten class will be 45%. But it is a significant shift for Dalton, a school that had long been known as a neighborhood destination in the city's most exclusive East Side ZIP Codes.

The push has added to the mystique of Ms. Krents, who is known only by one name in some parenting circles—"Babby"—and whose every expression is scrutinized for the tiniest flicker of intent.

Diversity has become one more factor to add to the obsessions of parents, fueling debates on websites such as Urbanbaby.com. One post stated that people begrudge Dalton for emphasizing too much on diversity and not on brains. Ms. Krents said she was sympathetic, but not surprised.

She said that people just look for something to blame for why their child didn't get in, so she thinks it's inevitable that those comments are going to happen.

School officials said they believe the diversity push has been embraced while admissions standards have remained rigorous.

Ms. Krents said that it was their strong belief that having a school that was more heterogeneous in lots of different ways would be more like the world, and it would be a better place for all children to learn.

Like many of the city's elite private schools, Dalton remains a reach for many families. Even as diversity has increased, the number of students in kindergarten receiving financial aid has remained steady, school officials said. Tuition for the coming year is $36,970.

The shift in the school's racial make-up, however, has influenced everything from the curriculum to the faculty.

Ms. Krents and other officials including Head of School Ellen Stein began by visiting pre-schools across the city, venturing downtown and out of Manhattan, developing relationships with dozens of schools. They relied on word of mouth from parents, some of whom hosted admissions events in their homes.

In 2007, Dalton named diversity as an integral part of school life in its mission statement.

But Ms. Krents also credited the fire that drove her and other school officials in convincing applicants that diversity mattered. She stated that people respond to a genuine commitment.

When Kelvina Butcher, who helps shape curriculum for grades K through 3, arrived in 1995 she said students from the Upper West Side were considered a novelty, and now the school reflects the population of the city.

The changes have been large and small. As children began traipsing in from corners of the city, early-morning programs were instituted.

The pink flesh-colored crayons have been exchanged for multicultural hues; students can choose from a range of materials to mimic hair textures.

Pictures along the wall were reassessed. The school felt it was important not to just have all of one background in a picture.

When some parents began complaining about arranging playdates across a larger geographical area, Dalton expanded its after-school program.

When Roy Swan, who is black, and his wife, Taran, who is biracial, began looking at private schools for their older daughter, they had some concerns.

They understood that if they wanted their kids to go to one of these schools, there very well may be some characteristics of the school that they might not feel great about.

But friends told them Dalton was different. Not only did their daughter enroll, but her little sister just finished her kindergarten year there.

D.C. Schools Chief Scores Gains, Ruffles Feathers

WASHINGTON -- Barack Obama just got elected promising to bring change to Washington. Michelle Rhee is already on the job.

Ms. Rhee, chancellor of the District of Columbia Public Schools, is trying to revamp a dysfunctional school district with wide disparities in student performance and a perception that tenure protects substandard employees. Her top goal: reduce performance disparities between wealthy white students and poor minorities in a system where about 85% of the students are African-American.

Michelle Rhee has closed 23 schools and fired more than 250 teachers as schools chancellor in Washington, D.C.

The school system is doing "an abysmal job," said Ms. Rhee, who has been on the job for 17 months. According to Department of Education data, about 60% of the district's high-school students finish in four years with a diploma. By comparison, nearby suburban districts have a graduation rate of 78%. More telling: In some Washington, D.C., high schools, only about 6% of the sophomores can read or do math on grade level.

While she is realistic that children in her school district come to school with "significant challenges," Ms. Rhee said it is "complete crap" that those students can't perform at a high level because of their environments. "It's easy to blame external factors as the reason why poor minority kids aren't achieving at the same level. It's a false premise. You have to put supports and mechanisms in place around those kids, but I refuse to allow the adults in the system to use that as an excuse."

Ms. Rhee, 38 years old, is Korean-American and the single mother of two young daughters who attend school in her 46,000-student system. She graduated from Cornell, and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard before teaching in a Baltimore elementary school. She founded the New Teacher Project, a nonprofit that recruits and trains teachers to serve in urban schools.

In Washington, she has closed 23 schools and restructured 27 others. She fired more than 250 teachers and about one-third of the principals at the system's 128 schools. She has gotten legislative authority to reclassify hundreds of nonunion central-office employees in a way that makes them easier to remove.

In her first year, she said, "the one-year gains were greater than the prior four years altogether." The number of elementary-school students reading at grade level improved 8%; in math, the improvement was 11%. The number of secondary students on grade level has risen 9% in each category.

Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty "did not hire me to make the adults in Washington, D.C., happy," said Ms. Rhee. "He hired me to fix the schools and educate their children."

Ms. Rhee's visibility shot up during last month's final presidential debate when, before nearly 57 million viewers, Sens. John McCain and Obama argued over whether she supported vouchers to give parents an alternative to public schools. (She said she doesn't have an official position on vouchers, although she doesn't believe they are the solution to the school system's problems.)

After months of rapid change, Ms. Rhee has begun to run into obstacles. Contract negotiations with the local teachers union, which would be her largest overhaul to date, have broken down. One option in her proposal would allow her to give raises that would bring salaries up to $130,000 a year to teachers whose students score well on tests. In exchange, teachers would give up their right to tenure. Teachers already on the job can choose that proposal, or another that pays less but allows them to keep the protection from being fired as easily.

"When I put this plan together with my staff I said I'm going to be the hero of Washington, D.C., teachers," she said, explaining that between bonuses and salary increases some teachers could nearly double their salaries. "In this economy who's getting raises anywhere near as much? It is absolutely unfathomable that there is a real possibility this contract won't move."

Local teachers union president George Parker said it is unfair to base salaries on student test scores when such factors as lack of equipment or lack of parental involvement contribute to poor student performance. "It is not about us having incompetent teachers," he said. "You can't fire your way into a successful school system. You have to build one."

Some parents agree, like Washington's shadow senator, Paul Strauss. Mr. Strauss, who holds an elected position established in 1990 to help lobby Congress for full voting representation for Washington, D.C., said he likes the emphasis on rigorous academic standards, but hopes the classroom focus isn't on only teaching students how to take assessment tests. That is a "problem, but I see it as a national problem," he said.

Ms. Rhee said criticism that she doesn't get teacher input isn't accurate. "I think it would depend on the teacher that you ask," she said. "There are a lot of teachers in this system I hear from every day who love what we're doing."

Ms. Rhee said she also hears from her constituents at home -- her fourth- and first-grader daughters. Recently, Ms. Rhee didn't renew the contract of a principal at the girls' school. She said school parents began quizzing one of her daughters, who told the adults that it was within her mother's powers to make the decision.

"I think they will be better people in the end for having had a mother do this," said Ms. Rhee. "But along the way it is tough on them. Adults say completely inappropriate things to them."