“Camden is home to one of the most innovative school systems in the country,” Giana Campbell, Executive Director of Camden Education Fund (CEF), said in an interview. “We are proud to serve as an example of what an equitable modern school system looks like when we come together across sectors to ensure that we have the best educators, that all of our students feel supported, and that families feel welcomed to participate in their success.”

It is worth looking back at the evolution of this South Jersey city, just across the Ben Franklin Bridge from Philadelphia, which was once the subject of acalled “Apocalypse, New Jersey: A Dispatch From America’s Most Desperate Town.” Eleven years ago the NJ State Department of Education took over the district due to student to outcomes so dismal that 23 of the Camden City School District’s 26 schools ranked in the bottom 5 percent of the state, the high school graduation rate was 49 percent, and a total of three high school students scored “college-ready” on the SAT’s. Shortly after the takeover, the State Legislature passed the , which allowed three city school boards, Camden, Trenton, and Jersey CIty, the chance to approve nonprofit charter partners to act as “turnarounds”—take over failing district schools and transform them by providing whole-child learning and wrap-around services–with the district controlling enrollment. Newark and Jersey City declined to participate. The Camden board chose three charter operators: KIPP, Mastery, and Uncommon.

During this period student learning accelerated, first under the leadership of Superintendent Paymon Rouhanifard and now under his successor, Superintendent Katrina McCombs, a Camden native and long-time Camden teacher and administrator. A  from Brown University, which analyzed state takeovers of districts from 2011 through 2016 for their effects on student achievement, found that in most students didn’t improve but in Camden they did. Research by  showed by 2017 all students—traditional, charter, and renaissance— were achieving roughly 85 days more of learning in math and 30 days more in reading. And according to a 2018 study by , after the state takeover, Camden high schools saw their average high school graduation rates increase by 17 percentage points while elementary school students doubled their proficiency rates in reading and math. 

Then Covid hit. Camden’s schools closed in March 2020 and, while younger students started returning in April 2021, the district wasn’t fully open until September, eighteen months after the initial closures. Like districts all over the country that primarily serve low-income students of color, proficiency levels plummeted. The gaps that had been closing pre-pandemic widened once again. 

Yet, as CEF’s report, “Can Camden Students Continue the Comeback?,” points out, while “Camden students fell behind at a rate similar to statewide averages,” they “are now catching back up at the same rate statewide,” unlike many other urban districts.

In addition, while much of the country reports declines in enrollment, “Camden schools have seen enrollment remain steady overall,”  with a 400-student increase from last year to this year. 

Here is what has changed: While enrollment in district schools has dropped by nine percentage points in the last five years, there is a ten point increase in students enrolled in renaissance schools. (Traditional charter enrollment is steady.)  Currently renaissance schools serve four percent more English language learners and students with disabilities than district schools.

Much work remains. Citywide, the chronic absenteeism rate is 51 percent. Social-emotional well-being looms large, with parents citing it as their second biggest concern, just after teacher shortages.(A non-profit called  is using a new grant from CEF to address middle school girls’ childhood trauma.). Student learning is still depressingly low: Improvements aside, four out of five students citywide are not reading at grade-level.  

Yet the story of Camden seems to offer a holistic model built around effective options for families that other city school systems can emulate:  When leaders recognize that the student outcomes are more important than which public school a child attends, when different sectors collaborate—supported with a district-run â€”to bolster academic success, all students benefit.  “Our collective efforts have demonstrated and revealed that all of Camden’s children, all of them, are valued, said  said Superintendent McCombs  at the reopening of the district’s Eastside High School. Or, as Campbell of CEF remarks, “We know that our students are gifted, our staff are dedicated, and our city is focused. By working together, we can ensure that Camden continues to rise.”

This analysis originally appeared at

Edwin Locke and Gary Latham are two scholars who’ve spent nearly 50 years studying goal setting. In the , they advise organizations to set goals that are meaningful and “difficult but attainable.”

One meaningful purpose of schooling has been to prepare students for college and careers. Georgetown University project that by 2031, 72% of jobs in the United States will require at least some college, while 55% will seek applicants with an associate degree or more. This is the reverse of the educational requirements of 40 years ago, when 70% of jobs required a high school diploma or less.

New York’s Board of Regents has made in the last decade, but there’s a general sense they remain aligned with college readiness expectations. State tests give parents and teachers a sense of whether students, all the way down to elementary school, are on track to being college-and career-ready.

With this system in place, it makes sense for New York City’s achievement goals to align with the proportion of students who will eventually need to be prepared to succeed in college over the next decade. In other words, the K-12 and higher education goals should match: Having 72% of K-12 students reading and writing proficiently, and a similar number on track to complete some college, is a meaningful goal for school leaders, teachers and parents.

One advantage is that this goal removes “we’re above average” as the aim, and it gives school districts a target that’s grounded in what the state’s future economy needs. It also applies the same goal for every group: low-income students, English learners, white students, etc. — all must reach 72% proficiency, the same high floor of excellence.

What might it take to get there?

Last year, just 48% of New York City third-graders could read and write proficiently. Increasing that number by 3% a year, across each grade, could have 72% of eighth-graders meeting standards by 2031 and 75% by 2032.

Principals and teachers would need to follow classes of students as they move through school, something most reporting and accountability systems don’t currently do. The trajectory would look like this for each new class:

To reach that goal, each district would have to increase literacy achievement by 3% a year, not just among third-graders, but across every grade. Three percent fits the “difficult but attainable” criterion.

Why not set a goal of 100%? Isn’t it OK to be ambitious and aim high, even if districts miss?

No Child Left Behind famously asked schools to get 100% of students proficient by 2014. managed to achieve the goal. Locke and Latham warn leaders that if a goal is set at a level no one can reach, it eventually undermines individual motivation and effort. People in an organization can easily become demoralized if they believe the goals set for them are unachievable. Better for district leaders to treat 72% as the floor for all and raise it once they have experience on what it takes to get there.

For districts whose communities insist on 100%, they might consider the approach the United Nations uses with its sustainability goals, which aim for . In schools, this would mean getting to no students at “below standard” and all students scoring as “partially proficient” or higher.

Preparing students to be college and career ready is , but it is one of the most important. As school leaders develop and refine their strategic plans, it’s crucial that they keep “meaningful and difficult but attainable” as the criterion.
Growing 3% a year feels do-able from classroom to classroom. It’s realistic, . If New York City is consistent in its efforts, it will be one of the nation’s leaders in literacy achievement.