The Harlem Children’s Zone, Promise Neighborhoods, and the Broader, Bolder Approach to Education - Brookings Institution

The Harlem Children’s Zone, Promise Neighborhoods, and the Broader, Bolder Approach to Education - Brookings Institution
President Obama was a community organizer before he was a politician, so it is natural that his instincts are to invest in community programs. But President Obama has repeatedly called for doing what works. Doing what works depends on evidence not instincts. There is no evidence that the HCZ influences student achievement through neighborhood investments. There is considerable evidence that schools can have dramatic effects on the academic skills of disadvantaged children without their providing broader social services. Improving neighborhoods and communities is a desirable goal in its own right, but let’s not confuse it with education reform.