The NEGP WEEKLY for January 6, 2000

[GOLDENA1@westat.com (GOLDENA1)]

The NEGP WEEKLY is also available on the NEGP website at www.negp.gov


*******************THE NEGP WEEKLY****************
A weekly news update on America's Education Goals 
and school improvement efforts across America from the 
NATIONAL EDUCATION GOALS PANEL

Thursday - January 6, 2000 -- Vol. 2 -- No. 38
***************************************************

CONTENTS
**STATE POLICY 
1.) READING PLAN: FIRST FOR DELAWARE (Goal 3)
2.) EDUCATION REFORM: COLORADO GOVERNOR'S SWEEPING PLAN (Goal 2,3, and 6)

**COMMUNITY AND LOCAL NEWS 
3.) TechBoston:  SCHOOL-TO-CAREER PROGRAM IN TECHNOLOGY (Goal 3)
4.) SOCIAL PROMOTION: REVIEW OF CHICAGO'S EFFORTS (Goal 3) 

**FEDERAL POLICY NEWS 
5.) URBAN SUCCESS: MODEL SCHOOLS (Goal 3) 
6.) MISSISSIPPI DELTA: GAINING TECH TRAINING ON THE WEB (Goal 4)

**RESEARCH AND EDUCATION PRACTICE 
7.) ALCOHOL AND KIDS: PARENTS UNDERESTIMATE PROBLEM (Goal 7) 
8.) SCHOOLWIDE REFORM MODELS: ARE THEY BETTER BY DESIGN?  (Goals 3 and 4)

**FEATURE STORY
9.) DEFENSE DEPARTMENT SCHOOLS: DEMOGRAPHY ISN'T DESTINY
(Goal 3,4, and 6)



***FACT OF THE WEEK***

In 1999 the states with the highest numbers of Advanced Placement
examinations receiving a grade 3 or higher (per 1,000 11th and 12th graders)
are:  District of Columbia, New York, Virginia, Connecticut, and Utah.

--The National Education Goals Report: Building a nation of learners, 1999







********************
STATE POLICY NEWS
********************
1.) ********READING PLAN: FIRST FOR DELAWARE
(Goal Three: Student Achievement and Citizenship)

The Delaware Commission for Reading Success last year released the state's
first-ever comprehensive reading plan (READING TODAY, International Reading
Association, December 1999/January 2000).  A series of recommendations and
the creation of four major groups in Delaware to develop long-range plans
and oversee state reading initiatives form the cornerstone of the
Commission's report. Recommendations include:
>  begin study to implement full-day kindergarten;
>  analyze programs that are most effective in increasing student reading
achievement;
>  gather and analyze data on summer grading programs.

The four new groups and their missions are:
>  Delaware Council on Early Care and Education - a statewide group designed
to focus on the needs of the youngest students;
>  Pre-service Reading Study Panel - charged with moving the state from a
course-based to a performance-based approach to the initial certification of
teachers in the area of reading and of paraprofessionals who assist in
teaching reading;
>  Reading Cadre - a group to provide statewide leadership in professional
development in reading for educators; and
>  Reading Board - an advisory group to focus on reading teaching and
assessment.

For more information on education in Delaware, visit the Delaware Department
of Education at www.doe.state.de.us


2.) ********EDUCATION REFORM: COLORADO GOVERNOR'S SWEEPING PLAN
(Goal Two: High School Completion; Goal Three: Student Achievement and
Citizenship and Goal Six: Adult Literacy and Lifelong Learning)

Last month, Colorado Governor Bill Owens released a broad-based education
program, covering issues ranging from school governance to testing.  The
Education Commission of the States (ECS) highlights Owens' emphasis of an
effective school governance structure.  The Owens plan would allow
low-income parents with children in failing schools to choose which public
school their child attends, according to an ECS press release (12/9).  The
state then would convert the failing schools into Independent Charter
Schools, "contracting with public, private, for-profit or nonprofit groups
to allow for swift changes in staff curriculum, school hours and other
needed areas."

EDUCATION DAILY leads with Owens' call to make his state the first to use a
commercial college entrance exam to measure academic quality in high schools
(Lake, 12/10).   He would like to require every 11th-grade student in
Colorado to take the ACT college entrance exam - at state expense.   Owens
also would create Alternative Charter Schools for high-risk and expelled
students.

Other points of Owens' plan: report cards on every public school, financial
rewards for top-performing and most-improved schools and an elimination of
tenure for teachers hired after the plan becomes law, if it does.

Copies of Governor Owens' proposal, made in his speech Putting Children
First:  A Plan for Safe and Excellent Public Schools, is available at
www.state.co.us.


*************************
Community and Local News
*************************


3.) ********TechBoston:  SCHOOL-TO-CAREER PROGRAM IN TECHNOLOGY
(Goal Three: Student Achievement and Citizenship)

TechBoston, a school-to-career technology program, is being expanded this
year to include nearly 700 students.  Students selected to participate are
trained in five areas: Web design and programming, networking, Microsoft
systems engineering; robotics and Microsoft application.  In most cases, a
certification will be forthcoming, according to Mary Benson-Skipper,
TechBoston director.

Students complete a competitive process to participate in the program.  One
mission of TechBoston is to "encourage lifelong learning" for college-bound
and non-college-bound students, reports ED DAILY (Gladfelter, 12/24).  A
U.S. Department of Education grant awarded to Massachusetts funds the
program.  The school system works in partnership with the local private
industry council and business partners.

        
4.) ********SOCIAL PROMOTION: REVIEW OF CHICAGO'S EFFORTS
(Goal Three: Student Achievement and Citizenship)

Researchers at the Consortium on Chicago School Research examined the city's
1996 public school policy designed to end social promotion and boost student
academic achievement.  Beginning that year, students in grades 3, 6 and 8
are required to achieve a minimum score on the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills in
reading and math in order to move on to the next grade.  Students who fail
to meet the standard are required to participate in a summer program called
Summer Bridge and retake the exams at the end of the summer.  If they again
fail to pass the tests, they are either retained in their grade, promoted,
or sent to new alternative schools if they are 15 or older.  

The first report from the study, Ending Social Promotion: Results from the
First Two Years, compares the progress of students who faced grade-promotion
test cutoffs in 1997 and 1998 with that of a group of students two years
earlier, before the policy was in place.  Results include:  
>  There have been impressive increases in the proportion of students who
meet the test-score cutoff for promotions.
>  It is unclear whether getting students up to a test-score cutoff in one
year allows them to do better the next year;
>  Retained students continue to struggle; and
>  While results are positive for sixth and eighth graders, they are less so
for third graders.

A copy of the first report from Ending Social Promotion: Results from the
First Two Years can be found at www.consortium-chicago.org


*********************
Federal Policy News
*********************

5.) ********URBAN SUCCESS: MODEL SCHOOLS
(Goal Three: Student Achievement and Citizenship)

High standards, quality instruction and putting students' needs first is
what leads to a successful urban school, according to a new U.S. Department
of Education (DoEd) report, Hope for Urban Education: A Study of Nine
High-Performing, High-Poverty Urban Elementary Schools.  The schools
featured in this report are: Chicago, Illinois: James Ward Elementary;
Boston, Massachusetts:  Harriet A. Baldwin School; San Antonio, Texas:
Baskin Elementary; Atlanta, Georgia:  Burgess Elementary; East St. Louis,
Illinois:  Centerville Elementary; Detroit, Michigan:  Goodale Elementary;
Milwaukee, Wisconsin:  Hawley Environmental Elementary; Houston, Texas:
Lora B. Peck Elementary; and Cheverly, Maryland:  Gladys Noon Spellman
Elementary.  They are all Title 1-funded schools that "pool resources
through 'schoolwide projects' to serve all students and improve
achievement," writes a DoEd press release (12/17).
        
Hope for Urban Education: A Study of Nine High-Performing, High-Poverty
Urban Elementary Schools is available at www.ed.gov/pubs/urbanhope/.


6.) ********MISSISSIPPI DELTA: GAINING TECH TRAINING ON THE WEB
(Goal Four: Teacher Education and Professional Development)

A new technology training site was launched late last year to benefit
teachers in seven states along the Mississippi Delta.  The Web site, which
was created by the U.S. Department of Education and MCI Worldcom's education
Internet division, MarcoPolo, will offer classroom-technology training to
teachers in Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri
and Tennessee.  

For more information, visit the MarcoPolo Web site at
www.wcom.com/marcopolo, where seven educational and philanthropic
organizations, including the American Association for the Advancement of
Science and the National Geographic Society, have joined forces to create
five discipline-specific educational web sites - economics, geography,
humanities, math and science.  Internet Content for the Classroom Teacher
Training Kit is available for free at the MarcoPolo Web site.


*********************************
Research and Education Practices
*********************************


7.) ********ALCOHOL AND KIDS: PARENTS UNDERESTIMATE PROBLEM
(Goal Seven: Safe, Disciplined and Drug-Free Schools)

While most Americans acknowledge the "devastating effects" of illicit drug
use in this country, few realize the extent of the underage drinking
problem, according to Mathea Falco, president of Drug Strategies, upon the
release of the group's latest report. According to the report, one-third of
high school students say they have binged on alcohol in the past month.
Yet, only three percent of high school students' parents think their teen
has done so.  Millennium Hangover: Keeping Score on Alcohol examines
drinking from different perspectives including the impact on children and
young adults and treatment and prevention. The report also profiles
promising programs that address issues discussed in the report.

Copies of Millennium Hangover: Keeping Score on Alcohol are available
free-of-charge at www.drugstrategies.org.


8.) ********SCHOOLWIDE REFORM MODELS: ARE THEY BETTER BY DESIGN? 
(Goal Three: Student Achievement and Citizenship and Goal Four: Teacher
Education and Professional Development)

The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation recently issued a "consumers' guide" to ten
well-known school models: Accelerated Schools, America's Choice, Coalition
of Essential Schools, Core Knowledge, Direct Instruction, Edison Project,
Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound, Multiple Intelligences, School
Development Program and Success for All.

Each section on a model program opens with a brief description of the
origins of the model, its philosophical underpinnings and mission.  Report
author Jim Traub, New York Times Magazine education writer, also provides a
first-hand account of a school using one of the model programs.  The essay
is followed by an "Effectiveness and Cost" chart, which provides information
on the model's effect on student achievement and school support provided by
the developer, as well as cost and contact person.

Copies of the report are available at www.edexcellence.net.


*****************
Feature Story
*****************


9.) ********DEFENSE DEPARTMENT SCHOOLS: DEMOGRAPHY ISN'T DESTINY
(Goal Three: Student Achievement and Citizenship; Goal Four: Teacher
Education and Professional Development and Goal Six: Adult Literacy and
Lifelong Learning)

Despite serving a poorer, more racially diverse student population, with a
higher percentage of students transferring in and out of the schools than
the national average, Pentagon-run schools on U.S. military bases produce
more high achieving students than many local schools serving similar
populations (Golden, WALL STREET JOURNAL, 12/22).  The JOURNAL reports that
the 1998 National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) eighth-grade
writing exam showed that U.S. military bases in the U.S. were ranked second
only to Connecticut.  Eighth-graders from U.S. military bases were fourth in
the 1998 NAEP reading exam.  

Defense Department officials note that 80% of their graduates go on to
college, which is significantly more than the overall national rate of 67%.
Parent satisfaction with the military schools is so high that some parents
who leave the base for civilian jobs name friends remaining on the base as
legal guardians for their children so the students can continue to attend
the military school, writes the paper.

"This debunks the notion that demography is destiny," said Roy Truby,
executive director of the National Assessment Governing Board, which
overseas NAEP.  "It's one of the most encouraging things I've ever seen."

Ray Tolleson, interim director of the Pentagon schools, names several
reasons for the schools' success.  He cites extra time and effort for
training teachers, more teachers with master degrees, enforced parental
involvement and 24 required credits for graduation, which is two or three
more than most states demand.  However, the paper also reports that the
Pentagon typically spends $7,279 per pupil, about 23% more than the national
average.  Pentagon school officials explain that the additional funding is
used for staff training, art and music classes and technology.

While the high spending level is not possible for many local school
districts to attain, "you can replicate the drive for parent involvement and
the intensive staff training," said Tolleson.  To help with the higher
transfer rate, the Pentagon's domestic and overseas schools have shared the
same curriculum since 1994.

The JOURNAL points out that the Pentagon-run schools "don't look much like
military academies."  Instead the schools "strive to maintain a creative
learning environment, effective discipline and sensitivity to the upheavals
in children's lives." 
 
"We've found a blueprint for success," said Gen. Patrick K. Gamble,
commander of the U.S. Air Force in the Pacific and an adviser to the
schools."


************************************
The NEGP WEEKLY is a publication of:
The National Education Goals Panel 
1255 22nd Street NW, Suite 502 
Washington, DC 20037; 
202-724-0015 

NEGP Executive Director: Ken Nelson 
Publisher: Barbara A. Pape 
www.negp.gov 
************************************

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WHAT IS THE NATIONAL EDUCATION GOALS PANEL? 
The National Education Goals Panel is a unique bipartisan body of state and
federal officials created in 1990 by President Bush and the nation's
Governors to report state and national progress and urge education
improvement efforts to reach the National Education Goals. 

WHAT DOES THE GOALS PANEL DO?
The Goals Panel has been charged to: 
* Report state and national progress toward the National Education Goals. 
* Work to establish a system of high academic standards and assessments. 
* Identify promising and effective reform strategies. 

* Recommend actions for state, federal, and local governments to take. 
* Build a nationwide, bipartisan consensus to achieve the Goals. 

WHAT ARE THE NATIONAL EDUCATION GOALS? 
There are eight National Education Goals set for the year 2000. They are: 
1) All children will start school ready to learn. 
2) The high school graduation rate will increase to at least 90%. 
3) All students will become competent in challenging subject matter. 
4) Teachers will have the knowledge and skills they need. 
5) U.S. students will be first in the world in math and science achievement.

6) Every adult American will be literate. 
7) Schools will be safe, disciplined, and free of drugs, guns and alcohol. 
8) Schools will promote parental involvement and participation. 

WHO SERVES ON THE GOALS PANEL AND HOW ARE THEY CHOSEN?
Eight governors, four state legislators, four members of the U.S. Congress,
and two members appointed by the President serve on the Goals Panel. Members
are appointed by the leadership of the National Governors' Association, the
National Conference of State Legislatures, the U.S. Senate and House, and
the President. The number of Republicans and Democrats are made even by
appointing five governors from the party that does not control the White
House.
 
The current Panel Members are Governors Paul E. Patton, KY, (Chair, 1999);
John Engler, MI; Jim Geringer, WY; James B. Hunt, Jr., NC; Frank Keating,
OK; Frank O'Bannon, IN; Tommy G. Thompson, WI; Cecil H. Underwood, WV;
Secretary of Education Richard Riley; Michael Cohen, Senior Advisor to the
U.S. Secretary of Education; U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman, NM; U.S. Senator
Jim Jeffords, VT; U.S. Representative William F. Goodling, PA; U.S.
Representative Matthew G. Martinez, CA; Representative G. Spencer Coggs, WI;
Representative Mary Lou Cowlishaw, IL; Representative Douglas R. Jones, ID;
Senator Stephen Stoll, MO. 

The annual Goals Report and other publications of the Panel are available
without charge upon request from the Goals Panel or at its web site
www.negp.gov. Requests can be made by mail, fax, e-mail, or Internet. 

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