BRIDGEPORT – A new school reform experiment in Connecticut’s neediest cities may be the best hope for solving some of the vexing problems of America’s urban schools, says Dennis Van Roekel, president of the National Education Association (NEA). The NEA president heard encouraging reports from teachers, parents and principals during a recent visit to two Bridgeport schools completing their first year in the CommPACT program.

CommPACT, headed by the University of Connecticut’s Neag School of Education, gives individual schools a significant degree of authority to transform themselves from within – a radical shift from the traditional top-down organization of most school systems.

Instead of following the blueprint of a centralized bureaucracy or operating under the limits of union rules, teams of teachers, principals and parents are given independence to make decisions on matters ranging from curriculum to scheduling.

“Everywhere I go, I talk about this,” Van Roekel told a small group of teachers, parents and officials at Longfellow School. “There is a lot of talk about change” in America’s schools, he said. “There are a lot of different models. I personally just believe this is the model that has the most potential.”

Van Roekel’s visit to Longfellow and Barnum schools underscored NEA’s support for CommPACT. Last year, the NEA Foundation, the union’s fund-raising arm, pledged $250,000 to support research on the program. The Connecticut Education Association, an NEA affiliate, is part of a coalition of education groups that founded CommPACT.

Longfellow and Barnum are two of eight public schools selected for CommPACT, a five-year, state funded reform plan. It is designed to address the achievement gap that finds many low-income and minority students in urban schools lagging in academic performance – a problem that perplexes schools across the nation.

Van Roekel said that if nothing changes, schools can expect to see dropout rates stay between 20 and 25 percent nationwide and as high as 50 percent for black and Hispanic children in poor urban schools. “How can we tolerate a system that does that?” he said.

At Longfellow and Barnum, teachers and principals said they have begun to notice an increased level of cooperation and enthusiasm.

“I feel like we’ve made huge progress this year,” said Ellen Tillman, a sixth-grade teacher at Barnum. “There is more ownership by the staff to take on projects, to feel empowered when it comes to issues in the classroom. The principal and assistant principal are conferring more with teachers.”

Parents, too, have shown a renewed interest, officials said. A recent kickoff celebration marking Longfellow’s participation in CommPACT attracted hundreds of parents and children. “I’ve had parents come in, help me do things, volunteer more,” said June McClendon, parent coordinator at Longfellow.

CommPACT is still in its early stages, and most of the schools have not yet tested their new level of autonomy on matters such as changing curriculum or adjusting school schedules.

“The real challenge will come when our school communities begin to tell us what exceptions they want,” Bridgeport Superintendent of Schools John J. Ramos told CommPACT officials during Van Roekel’s visit.

Ramos praised CommPACT but added, “ It will really test our limits, . . . our sense of flexibility about what we’re willing to do.”

By Robert A. Frahm