Indeed, on a sunny afternoon, rustling papers could be heard as teachers graded students' work with red pens during such a meeting. But teachers, particularly younger ones, say the meetings reduce isolation. Senior teachers echo the praise. More frequent training, she said, has also helped. Yet despite the cultural evolution at Burke, palpable change is less evident.
Test scores remain clustered in failing zones.
The dropout rate hovers at 16 percent, attendance at 87 percent. Young and other parents agreed that Burke had shown improvement. But few were willing to credit Whole-School Improvement. Parents are once again growing suspicious of the district, wondering if the worst thing to happen to Burke was the return of legitimacy. Enrollment started going up, funding didn't.