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--- Wednesday --- December 10, 1997 --- Vol. 7 --- No. 26 ---
NATIONAL EDUCATION GOALS PANEL
NEGP Weekly
THE UPDATE ON AMERICA'S EDUCATION REFORM EFFORTS
www.negp.gov
__________ __________
THOSE CRAZY INVENTIONS | SPOTLIGHT |
... could win some 7th- to | |
12th-grade student $20,000 in | MATH REFORM MINUS PARENTS |
the Duracell/NSTA Scholarship | |
Competition. The 16th annual | ... just doesn't add up, |
competition rewards the | according to researchers at |
creativity of individual | the Wisconsin Center for |
students and two-person teams | Education Research (U of |
who invent battery-powered | Wisconsin-Madison). They |
devices. According to a | found parents more willing |
Duracell press release, the | to accept math reforms if |
"nation's leading invention | they are informed and |
contest" rewards the first | involved in the process. |
place winner with a $20,000 | |
bond and two second place | "When parents examine |
winners with $10,000 bonds. | their children's homework |
In both categories there will | assignments, they often |
be five third place awards of | find themselves on unfami- |
$1,000 bonds, 12 fourth-place | liar ground," writes WCER |
awards of $500 bonds, and 30 | HIGHLIGHTS. Their tradi- |
fifth-place awards of $200. | tional classroom experience |
Teachers sponsoring the top | "characterized by a quiet |
three winners will receive | sense of perseverance and |
$2,000 gift certificates for | monotony" clashes with |
computer equipment. | modern instruction that |
The deadline for receipt of | centers on open-ended |
entries is 14 January 1998. | responses and requires |
For entry packets call toll- | little computation. |
free to 1/888-255-4242. For | |
more info, visit the Duracell | To help parents better |
Web site: | understand the new math, |
www.nsta.org/programs97/ | some schools offer parents' |
duracell.htm. | nights, or allow parents to |
Student inventors retain all | observe classes. (#5) |
rights to their devices. |_____________________________|
============== QUOTE OF THE DAY ==============
"We need a district reading program. We don't need little pieces
on the side."
Los Angeles School Board member David Tokofsky. (#1)
_______________________________________________________________
| (c) by the Education Policy Network, Inc. |
| 1255 22nd Street NW; Washington, D.C. 20010; 202/724-0124 |
| EPN, Inc. hereby authorizes further reproduction and |
| distribution with proper acknowledgement. |
| Publisher: Barbara A. Pape |
|_______________________________________________________________|
============== TABLE OF CONTENTS ==============
GOAL THREE: STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT AND CITIZENSHIP
RECOVERY FOR "READING RECOVERY" PROGRAM: L.A. gives $s. (#1)
WHERE IN THE WORLD?: Geography found in Rapides Parish. (#2)
NATIONAL TESTS: Are they good for black children?. (#3)
GOAL FOUR: TEACHER ED/PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
A FEW GOOD [NATIONALLY CERTIFIED] TEACHERS: Need $$. (#4)
GOAL EIGHT: PARENTAL PARTICIPATION
MATH REFORM: Get parents involved. (#5)
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===== GOAL THREE: STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT AND CITIZENSHIP =====
*1 RECOVERY FOR "READING RECOVERY" PROGRAM: L.A. GIVES MORE $s
Last month, the Los Angeles Board of Education agreed to
provide another $1.2M to the "controversial" Reading Recovery
program offered in the district's schools (Pyle, L.A. TIMES,
11/5). According to the paper, the school board earlier this
school year was caught in a bind when it discovered that a summer
vote to reduce student-teacher ratios in kindergarten by
requiring morning and afternoon teachers to work in each others'
classrooms conflicted with the Reading Recovery program.
Los Angeles' Reading Recovery program relies on about 110
kindergarten teachers to work as reading tutors during their free
morning or afternoon hours. The TIMES reports that the district
has spent nearly $2M over the past two years on Reading Recovery,
which targets the weakest 10% to 20% of first-grade readers.
Jeff Horton, a board member, expressed concern over the cost
of Reading Recovery. Reading Recovery trainer Adria Klein
conceded that the program is expensive -- it runs about $4,000 a
student in early years, "over five years the training costs
decrease to about $2,600 a student," writes the paper.
Some board members are not intimidated by the cost. "The
greater expense is what happens to children who do not learn to
read," said board President Julie Korenstein. "It costs about
$30,000 to keep someone in prison for one year."
Besides cost, critics attack the reading program for not
producing good-enough results. While some studies have found the
program "wildly successful"," others "have called into question
that data because it is collected by the people who administer
the program," notes the paper.
The TIMES cites positive reports on Reading Recovery that
conclude its greatest strength may be the one-on-one contact
between trained teacher and student. Board member George
Kirlyama proposed that retired teachers be contacted to tutor
kids "at a fraction fo the cost," writes the paper.
However, board member David Tokofsky, the lone vote against
directing more funds to Reading Recovery, said the program is not
the solution to the district's problem of producing few young
readers. "The reason we're dealing with this today ... is
because we don't have a fundamental core reading program," he
said. "We need a district reading program. We don't need little
pieces on the side." School Superintendent Ruben Zacarias
explained that a district-wide reading program would be in
violation of the district's school-based governance structure.
Besides allocating funds to Reading Recovery, board members
also directed district staff to develop a comprehensive remedial
reading program for all schools.
*2 WHERE IN THE WORLD?: GEOGRAPHY IS FOUND IN RAPIDES PARISH
Disappointed by low student scores on nationwide social
studies tests and her school's lack of resources for geography
classes, Rapides Parish, La., teacher Sandra Goldich embarked on
a grant-writing effort that has earned more than half a million
dollars, writes the National Geographic Society's UPDATE
(Westenberg, Fall 1996).
In 1995, Goldich, school librarian Sue Paul and retired
teacher Janice Riggs, conceived of a geography education workshop
for Rapides Parish elementary school teachers. They were awarded
$271,134 in 1995 and $267,922 in 1996 from the Louisiana Quality
Education Support Fund to operate the summer workshops.
Teachers and librarians met for five days last summer for
"student-oriented geography lessons," writes the newsletter.
Participants also had a lesson inside the Earth Balloon, a 22-
foot inflatable globe, where they sat "knee to knee on Antarctica
and [were] enveloped by the globe," notes the newsletter. Steve
Saucier, who takes the globe to area schools during the academic
year, lectured the educators on plate tectonics.
The state grant also funds two Saturday workshops, visits by
geography teacher-consultants to classrooms during the school
year, and library books, transparency packages, videos and CD-
ROMs that can be loaned to workshop participants. Educators also
receive a "bounty of classroom materials," writes the newsletter.
"Our school is sort of far away and forgotten," said Loretta
Thacker, a seventh-grade teacher at one rural school. "Until
now, I really had no materials for my world geography class."
Goldich speaks on her devotion to geography education: "I
see geography in everything -- music, food, dogs, clothing. Take
that reality to students, and they'll see that learning is
entertaining and relevant."
*3 NATIONAL TESTS: ARE THEY GOOD FOR BLACK CHILDREN?
Howard U's School of Education recently sponsored a national
conference and town meeting in which educators, elected
officials, parents and community leaders examined the question,
"Are national tests good for black children?" (Howard U press
release, 11/20). The conference, titled "A Call for Action:
Moving Beyond National Standards to Provide Educational Equity
and Excellence in the African-American Community," was held 1-3
December on campus.
School of Education Dean Veronica Thomas explained that the
conference's purpose is to "stimulate dialogue among the
educational community regarding educational equity and excellence
among African-American students." Thomas noted that in an
attempt to "raise the bar ... what seems to be missing is a
critical dialogue regarding how national standards and national
testing might impact African-American children who are often-
times neglected, misunderstood and essentially placed at risk for
academic failure in the educational system, particularly in the
[nation's] inner cities."
Topics discussed at the conference included: the history
and context of the national standards movement and its
implications for African Americans; new approaches to testing and
assessments in the context of culture and pedagogy; effective
literacy, math and science curriculum and instruction for
African-American students in relation to national standards;
current models for school reform as they pertain to the African-
American community; and collaboration among parents, educators
and communities to create a "national safety net" for students.
Howard U President H. Patrick Swygert, and Provost Antoine
Garibaldi; Sharon Draper, 1997 National Teacher of the Year; and
Asa Hilliard, Georgia State U, were among the conference
speakers.
For more information on the conference and the town meeting,
contact the Howard U School of Education; 202/806-7340.
===== GOAL FOUR: TEACHER ED/PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT =====
*4 A FEW GOOD [NATIONALLY CERTIFIED] TEACHERS: NEED INCENTIVES
Only 13 teachers in Northern Va. have earned certification
form the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards
(Jennings, Alexandria JOURNAL, 12/2). One reason, according to
some teachers, is the lack of incentives provided to teachers who
complete the "grueling" process, writes the paper.
"It is hours and hours and hours of work," said Constance
Mosakowsky, an Alexandria math teacher, and the city's only
educator who has earned certification form the NBPTS. While some
states have begun to offer salary raises or bonuses to teachers
who earn certification, Va. is not one of those states, notes the
paper.
Va. does pay about half of the $2,000 in fees needed for
certification, but it does not offer any financial incentive to
complete the program. Alexandria, Arlington and Fairfax County
do provide salary raises for advanced academic degrees and
teaching experience; yet only Fairfax, which pays for the
remaining $2,000 in fees for national certification, provides any
incentive to become certified, reports the paper.
Some school officials recommend that more incentives be
provided to teachers who seek national certification. "Every
school system would love to have more National Board certified
teachers," said Brad Drager, assistant superintendent of human
resources for Fairfax County school. "It will be a topic of
discussion for the [School Board], and maybe our new
superintendent [Daniel Domenech] will take the lead on this," he
added.
Supporters of providing incentives to teachers who seek
national certification point out that a highly qualified teacher
corps "may be one of the best ways to promote learning and raise
students' test scores," writes the paper. Dan Goldhaber,
Alexandria School Board member: "The research dealing with
having more qualified teachers in the classroom is more
definitive than anything else as far as raising test scores."
==== GOAL EIGHT: PARENTAL PARTICIPATION ====
*5 MATH REFORM MINUS PARENTS: IT DOESN'T ADD UP
Educators attempting to make changes in the way math is
taught often run into trouble with parents who are skeptical of
teaching techniques that were not used when they learned math.
Researchers at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research's
National Center for Research in Mathematical Sciences Education
(NSRMSE) found that parents more readily accepted new approaches
to math from schools that kept parents abreast of changes ((WCER
HIGHLIGHTS, U of Wisconsin-Madison, School of Education, Summer
1997).
According to the newsletter, students' parents were taught
math in traditional classes "characterized by a quiet sense of
perseverance and monotony." These parents find themselves on
"unfamiliar ground" in many of today's classrooms that "seek
open-ended responses, present problems in a variety of contexts,
and require little computation," writes the newsletter.
NSRMSE's research addresses questions such as: How do
schools address parents' concerns?; and what strategies lead to
better understanding between parents and schools where reform
curricula are begin taught?
The researchers found myriad approaches used by schools
implementing new math programs for keeping parents involved .
Some schools sponsored parent nights, where teachers explain how
the new math programs work. One high school examined by NSRMSE
staff operates a "parent-switch day," in which parents come to
class, following their child's schedule, and participate in math
class.
Math departments in two larger high schools give students
the option between enrolling in a "traditional" or an
"experimental" program. Students and parents are given
information on the goals of each program and students are
permitted to transfer from one program to the other at several
points during the year, reports the newsletter.
Researchers discovered that in some cases a school's efforts
to convince parents of the merits of a new math program failed,
especially if test scores posted by the experimental group
dropped below scores earned by students in traditional classes.
However, the researchers conclude that "as parents become
more involved in their children's mathematics education, their
understanding of what their children are experiencing increases."
One high school principal summed up his view on the importance of
parental involvement:
"You make sure that you involve as many parents from the
community as you can. We have parents' night, parent advisory
groups, and small groups ... as a part of the parent advisory
group. We do an awful lot of public relations. ... I think the
main thing that we do a pretty good job of is keeping parents
informed about what's going on. ... People are always a little
concerned about change and so you try to have community meetings
and try to inform people. And there will be people who will
challenge it, of course, but .. we worked with our community ,a
nd I think for the most part they are in support of it."
For more information about WCER's research projects, visit
their Web site at www.wcer.wisc.edu, or contact WCER at the
School of Education; University of Wisconsin-Madison; 1025 West
Johnson Street; Madison, Wis. 53706.
THE NATIONAL EDUCATION GOALS
* GOAL 1: READY TO LEARN
All children in America will start school ready to learn.
* GOAL 2: SCHOOL COMPLETION
The high school graduation rate will increase to at least
90 percent.
* GOAL 3: STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT AND CITIZENSHIP
All students will leave grades 4, 8, and 12 having
demonstrated competency over challenging subject matter including
English, mathematics, science, foreign languages, civics and
government, economics, arts, history, and geography, and every
school in America will ensure that all students learn to use
their minds well, so they may be prepared for responsible
citizenship, further learning, and productive employment in our
Nation's modern economy.
* GOAL 4: TEACHER EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
The Nation's teaching force will have access to programs for
the continued improvement of their professional skills and the
opportunity to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to
instruct and prepare all American students for the next century.
* GOAL 5: MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE
United States students will be first in the world in
mathematics and science achievement.
* GOAL 6: ADULT LITERACY AND LIFELONG LEARNING
Every adult American will be literate and will possess the
knowledge and skills necessary to compete in a global economy and
exercise the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.
* GOAL 7: SAFE, DISCIPLINED, & ALCOHOL- AND DRUG-FREE SCHOOLS
Every school in the United States will be free of drugs,
violence, and the unauthorized presence of firearms and alcohol
and will offer a disciplined environment conducive to learning.
* GOAL 8: PARENTAL PARTICIPATION
Every school will promote partnerships that will increase
parental involvement and participation in promoting the social,
emotional, and academic growth of children.
_______________________________________________________________
| National Education Goals Panel |
| 1255 22nd Street NW; Suite 502; Washington, D.C. 20037 |
| 202/632-0957 (Fax); e-mail: negp@goalline.org |
| Web site: www.negp.gov |
|_______________________________________________________________|
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