Teachers Take Over Schools In Education Reform

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Four years ago, Parkman Middle School in Los Angeles was spiraling downward with plummeting enrollment, abysmal test scores and notoriety for unruliness. Then teachers stepped out of the classroom and took charge of the school.

Today, the school is run by a teacher-controlled committee where the principal carries the same weight as a teacher and the district has minimal say in operations. Test scores and enrollment are up.

Classroom teachers across the country are taking over their schools in a small but growing trend in the education reform movement.

Proponents say teachers can turn floundering schools into flourishing ones if allowed the freedom to innovate, but skeptics warn teachers are not administrators and student achievement is so far a mixed bag.

(© Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)