Universities uneven as guardians of schools.

Byline: Liz Bowie and Gadi Dechter

Apr. 27--Across the nation, big city school districts have been handing off a few of their most troubled schools to universities, just as Baltimore is turning over five schools to Towson University to oversee. But the success of such partnerships has varied, with scant evidence that public schools do better under the guardianship of the ivory tower.

"Just because it is a university doesn't guarantee success," said Michael Casserly, executive director of the Council of the Great City Schools. What seems to matter more, he said, is what the university does. Towson will try to turn around four schools in Cherry Hill and a fifth in Morrell Park, making them top performers in the system. Other school system-university partnerships in the city provide grounds for optimism, officials said. Coppin State University has run Rosemont Elementary School in Baltimore for nearly 10 years, to positive reviews. Early reports are promising from the Talent Development High School launched by the Johns Hopkins University. The University of Maryland graduate schools are also involved in a new small high school in the city. However, the record in…