The St. Paul school district is holding a going-away party for Superintendent Meria Carstarphen today, a chance for her to reflect on her three years in St. Paul before she heads south to take the reins of the Austin, Texas, school district.

But the district this week is looking forward.

Carstarphen and her leadership team released plans this week that point the district toward the future. The plans range from closing schools to examining how to restructure and reform the way the district educates students.

School officials are examining the plan and also are taking stock of what kind of shape Carstarphen has left the district in, and what challenges remain.

"The future superintendent will be inheriting a much better state of affairs than I did," said Carstarphen, who has spent much of her time in the district extracting data about the state of the schools. "The district is much better poised to be more flexible with change. The conversations may not be easy, but the future superintendent will find a willingness to have them."

As Carstarphen sees it, she has spent much of her time in the district reworking how the district does things, from improving its finance and technology programs to helping the school board come up with a vision for where the district needs to go.

But many of Carstarphen's reforms are just starting, or are just about to start, so it's too soon to say whether they will have an effect in the long run. The large achievement gap -- the shameful underbelly of Minnesota's proud education heritage -- hasn't shrunk at all, although she points out that it hasn't grown, either.

How did she do?

The verdict on Carstarphen seems to be that she is a smart, aggressive advocate for students and a tireless worker. And while her blunt, straight-forward approach has ruffled some feathers, she refuses to accept -- or make -- excuses for the poor performance of the district's students of color and low-income students.

"The achievement gap is an issue that no one should be allowed to ignore until it's gone," she said Wednesday.

School board Member Tom Conlon said that Carstarphen was "not afraid to confront realities that might upset some stakeholders, be they labor groups or people that have been in the schools."

Charlie Kyte, the executive director of the Minnesota Association of School Administrators, said he thinks Carstarphen has done a "relatively good job, but I think the problem is that she hasn't been there that long. There might not be a lasting effect."

This week, Carstarphen and her administrators released a plan that, if approved by the school board, would close three under-performing elementary schools, enhance professional development, change how teachers and staff are evaluated and overhaul the "school choice" system, changing how students are assigned to schools.

Seeking help

Carstarphen has worked with corporate and philanthropic partners to step up their giving to the schools. Last fall, she told the school board that the $1 million the district received annually from corporate and philanthropic partners was "shockingly small."

Then, in January, the district announced that Traveler's Insurance would be investing $1.4 million in the district to expand a program for students preparing for college and to help with leadership development of principals. And in April, the Greater Twin Cities United Way said it will invest $2.3 million a year in the St. Paul and Bloomington school districts to make sure students are reading at grade level by third grade.

What the schools need

The new superintendent should be someone who is "committed to St. Paul and its communities, families and students for a long time," said Teresa Ciccarelli, the principal at Highland Park Elementary, and president of the St. Paul Principal's Association.

The board has hired Suzanne Kelly, the district's chief of staff, to run the district until a superintendent is hired. The board hopes to have someone in place by fall 2010.

That person will come into a district "with a great leadership team," Carstarphen said, and need to be adept at coordinating academic changes with facility issues, as well as managing the finances so that the federal stimulus money can be easily tracked.

"St. Paul has had a lot of brave conversations with me to start to accelerate the pace of change," Carstarphen said. In a global economy, when the district is losing enrollment and competing with charter schools, "that will be critically important."

Emily Johns • 612-673-7460