NEGP Weekly for July 19, 2000

[Negpweek <NEGPWEEK@WESTAT.com>]

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*******************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 - July 19, 2000 -- Vol. 2 -- No. 64
***************************************************

CONTENTS
**STATE POLICY 
1.) CALIFORNIA'S GOLDEN GOOSE: BONUSES FOR BETTER SCORES (Goal 3) 
2.) COLLEGE BOUND IN TEXAS: CASTING A WIDE NET (Goals 3 and 6) 

**COMMUNITY AND LOCAL NEWS 
3.) TESTING TEACHERS IN KENTUCKY: PASSING THE GRADE (Goal 4)
4.) KEEPING JOHNNY BUSY: A NEW POLL SAYS AMERICANS WANT MORE AFTERSCHOOL
PROGRAMS (Goal 3) 

**FEDERAL POLICY NEWS 
5.) MATH AND SCIENCE: FEDERAL FUNDS TO IMPROVE PROGRAMS (Goal 5) 
6.) "DO THE WRITE THING": KIDS' BOOK IN LIBRARY OF CONGRESS (Goals 3 and 7)

**RESEARCH AND EDUCATION PRACTICE 
7.) EDUCATING BABES: ECS ON BOARD (GOAL 1) 
8.) AFT ON STANDARDS: FOR NEW TEACHERS (Goal 4)

**FEATURE STORY
9.) TYING TEACHER PAY TO RESULTS: CALIFORNIA AT THE FOREFRONT (Goal 4)

 
***FACT OF THE WEEK***
The States with the highest percentages of public school 8th graders whose
mathematics teachers reported that they had computers available in their
mathematics classrooms are Tennessee, Alaska, Vermont, District of Columbia,
and Wyoming.

--The National Education Goals Report: Building a nation of learners, 1999
http://www.negp.gov/reports/99rpt.pdf


********************
STATE POLICY NEWS
********************


1.) ******** CALIFORNIA'S GOLDEN GOOSE: BONUSES FOR BETTER SCORES  
(Goal Three: Student Achievement)

Much like an athlete who receives a performance bonus after a good game, the
state of California will pay schools $150 per students if test scores rise a
certain percentage, announced Doug Stone, spokesman for the state
Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin (Asimov, San Francisco
CHRONICLE, 7/13). Everyone at the school -- from the janitor to the
principal -- will be eligible for a bonus if a school improves its standing
based on the Stanford 9 achievement test, which more than 4 million students
take.

"Today's action by the state board means that schools meeting their annual
goals for improvement will be rewarded for their focus and achievement with
significant new discretionary funds," said Ann Bancroft, spokeswoman for
Governor Davis' interim Education Secretary Sue Burr.

The money, $677 million, comes out of three funds. The first, known as the
Governor's Performance Awards, is a pool of $227 million; schools hoping to
tap into this $150-per-student-award must:

>  increase test scores a significant amount;
>  improve test scores of each ethnic group within the school, but by only
80 percent of how the school performs altogether;
>  ensure that 95 percent of eligible elementary and middle school students
take the test; 90 percent of high school students.  

The second pot of money, $350 million, will be divided among all employees
of qualifying schools; half will be given out as bonuses. The other portion
will fill the budget of the school's governing council. The last portion of
money, $100 million, will pay teachers directly, bonuses of $5,000 to
$25,000, though teachers must work in schools that score at the bottom of
the test.

For more information, visit http://www.sfgate.com.


2.) ******** COLLEGE BOUND IN TEXAS: CASTING A WIDE NET 
(Goal Three: Student Achievement and Goal Six: Adult Literacy and Lifelong
Learning)

Using broad approaches, the state of Texas wants to lure more young people
to college, especially minorities, (Rodriguez, Houston CHRONICLE, 7/13). The
state's target is 500,000 new students during the next 15 years. The Texas
Higher Education Coordinating Board is charged with developing a blueprint
for the state's higher education system. In a recent meeting, the board
recommended these steps:

>  Standardize the state's high school curriculum, making all programs
college preparatory ones. The Texas Education Agency reports that only 40
percent of graduating high schoolers in 1999 completed college preparatory
classes; the statistic is predicted to drop with the 2000 class.
>  Limit college tuition and fees to a fixed percentage of a family's income
and tie grant and scholarships to a fixed percent of need.
>  Build a new juvenile justice building at Prairie View A&M, a new science
building at Texas Southern University and establish 12 endowed chairs at
both schools, which are historically African-American universities. Prairie
View will also offer its first doctoral program, the doctor of philosophy in
juvenile justice.
>  Allow immigrants who have applied for permanent residency to be
considered in-state residents when paying college tuition.

For more information, visit http://www.HoustonChronicle.com.


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


3.) ******** TESTING TEACHERS IN KENTUCKY: PASSING THE GRADE
(Goal Four: Teacher Education and Professional Development)

When the state of Kentucky raised the standards on what constituted a
passing score on the teacher exams last year, it didn't expect the
controversy or an increased rate of failure, especially among
African-Americans (Blackford, the Lexington HERALD-LEADER, 7/14).

Each year aspiring teachers with college degrees are required to take the
Praxis test. To pass, a teacher must score between 15 and 25 percent better
than the people who sit for the test nationally. The number of students who
passed the test this year, 2000, decreased. In elementary education, 86
percent of white teachers passed; last year 92 percent passed. Seventy-nine
percent of African American students passed last year; this year 42 percent
passed.

Therein lies the controversy. Is the benchmark too high now or are Kentucky
colleges failing to prepare teachers, African American teachers? Some
experts say yes, others no. For example, at Kentucky State University during
the 1998-99 school year 67 percent of African-Americans teaching students
passed the elementary education part of the Praxis test, while at the
University of Louisville 81 percent passed.

"All people can reach the mark," said Connie Jordan, a black teacher at
Winburn Middle School. "The bigger problem is that African-American students
are not recruited to go into teaching."

Kentucky does not have a teacher shortage at this time; however, schools
have a hard time finding minority teachers, those certified in special
education, math, science and foreign language. "I think it's a set of
problems, and it's going to be a difficult task to get to the bottom of
them," said Joe Early, education dean at Cumberland College and chair of the
Education Professional Standards Board. "The debate is being couched in
terms of the difficulty of finding teachers and the debate needs to be
bigger."

For more information, view http://www.kentuckyconnect.com.


4.) ******** KEEPING JOHNNY BUSY: A NEW POLL SAYS AMERICANS WANT MORE
AFTERSCHOOL PROGRAMS
(Goal Three: Student Achievement and Citizenship)

The country needs more programs after school, according to a recent poll
conducted by the Afterschool Alliance, a group of public, private and
nonprofit groups working to raise awareness and expand resources for
after-school programs. The poll, of 800 voters age 18 and older, found that
four out of five voters say after-school programs are important to their
community and 62 percent said they would pay $100 more in state taxes to
have more after-school offerings.

"This poll confirms that Americans firmly and strongly support after-school
programs," said Judy Samelson, acting director of the alliance. "They
recognize the benefits these programs provide, from helping working families
to providing opportunities to learn to building social skills. Voters say
that after-school programs are personally important to them."

Crossing racial, ethnic, geographic and partisan lines, nine in ten voters
want organized activities and places for young people to go after school.
One-third of them say children are too often left alone and unsupervised.
Half of the voters want these programs in schools; eighty percent would like
the federal government to set aside money for after-school programs.

For more information, visit http://www.afterschoolalliance.org. 


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


5.) ******** MATH AND SCIENCE: FEDERAL FUNDS TO IMPROVE PROGRAMS
(Goal Five: Math and Science)

Ten regional organizations under the umbrella of the Eisenhower Regional
Mathematics and Science Education Consortia Program will receive federal
grants of about $1.47 million during the next five years, announced U.S.
Secretary of Education Richard Riley. These regional groups help states,
school districts and schools improve their math and science programs.

"Improving math and science teaching and learning must be one of the
nations' top education priorities," Riley said. "These grants will help
sustain efforts to provide exemplary instructional materials for math and
science education and provide technical assistance to schools and teachers."

The Mid-Atlantic Consortium in Philadelphia, for example, will hold
professional development workshops for more than 3,000 people, conduct
regional and state leadership conferences and provide technical assistance
to schools.

For more information and a list of awardees, visit http://www.ed.gov.


6.) ******** "DO THE WRITE THING": KIDS' BOOK IN LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
(Goal Three: Student Achievement and Citizenship and Goal Seven: Safe,
Disciplined and Alcohol- Drug Free Schools)

A new book featuring the essays of middle school children was added to the
Library of Congress in a ceremony earlier this week.  Do the Write Thing is
a selection of 28 poems, essays and stories written by seventh and eighth
graders who reflected on how violence among their peers has had an effect on
them.  The book also includes the children's solutions to the youth violence
problem that has spread throughout America.  

The children's work was selected from a competition, Do the Write Thing
Challenge Program 2000.  More than 450 schools participated in the
competition and nearly 19,000 students submitted writings for the book.

Do the Write Thing is a program of the National Campaign to Stop Violence.
Participant organizations include the U.S. Departments of Education and
Justice, Council of Great City Schools, Marriott Corporation, the National
Guard Bureau and other groups.

For more information, contact the National Campaign to Stop Violence at
(800)256-0235.



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


7.) ******** EDUCATING BABES: ECS ON BOARD
(GOAL ONE: READY TO LEARN)

One-third of American children entering kindergarten are not ready for
school, reported the Education Commission of the States. Jeanne Shaheen, the
new chair of the commission and the governor of New Hampshire, plans to
change that. She has appointed an advisory board of early childhood experts,
educators, business leaders and policymakers, who, during the next two
years, are charged with stimulating more business investment in early
learning and improving the transition from early learning programs to
elementary school.

"Children learn more things, faster, in their first three years than they
ever will again," Shaheen said. "The experiences our children have during
those first few years will affect them -- and our society -- for the rest of
their lives."

The initiative, "Early Learning: Improving Results for Young Children,"
hopes to:
>  expand the national conversation about early care and education through
workshops;
>  provide state policymakers and business leaders with timely information
on good early childhood programs and investment opportunities in early care
and education;
>  give technical assistance to some states to improve their early learning
policies.

For more information and for a list of members of the advisory group, visit
http://www.ecs.org.



8.) ******** AFT ON STANDARDS: FOR NEW TEACHERS
(Goal Four: Teacher Education and Professional Development

The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) at its convention in Philadelphia
recently called for higher standards for teachers and better preparation.
The resolution goes hand-in-hand with a report AFT released in April called
"Building a Profession: Strengthening Teacher Preparation and Induction."

The 3,100 delegation at the AFT convention approved:
>  Lengthening teacher preparation programs to five years, where the fifth
year is spent working and observing in schools;
>  Creating two national tests for new teachers. One would test teachers
before they enter university education programs; the second would test
teachers before they could qualify for a teaching license;
>  Improving teacher education curriculum, which would require teachers to
take a liberal arts and sciences program with an academic major;
>  Raising grade averages. Roughly teachers must have a 2.5 GPA. AFT wants a
3.0 average; and
>  Increasing standards for alternative teacher certification programs.

"Licensing standards are based on national standards, because, to get equal
educational opportunity for students across the states, we need to set
standards for teachers equally high across the states," said AFT President
Sandra Feldman. "The AFT will be in the forefront of making teaching a more
effective and genuine profession in the 21st century."

For more information, visit http://www.aft.org.



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


9.) ******** TYING TEACHER PAY TO RESULTS: CALIFORNIA AT THE FOREFRONT
(Goal Four: Teacher Education and Professional Development)

This is the talk: better schools by bettering student test scores and
raising standards. This is the solution: hire, keep and let good teachers
teach. How is this achieved? Pay teachers more, a lot more, as some experts
advocate.

"What that does is just make the current system more expensive," said Allan
Odden, an expert on teacher pay at the University of Wisconsin, Madison in
the CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR (Van Slambrouck, 7/11).  "You don't get
change. You have to link pay to instructional performance." And that's
exactly what states around the country are trying to do, reported the
Monitor.

The ideas from New York to Nebraska are to provide home loans to teachers,
tuition reimbursements, housing subsidies, to build apartment houses just
for teachers -- and to give raises and bonuses. This is all in an effort to
compete for top college students who may find higher paying jobs in other
fields and to keep current teachers in their profession.

California is leading the cause. The state recently passed a $2.4 billion
package of incentives. First, starting pay for teachers increases six
percent.  Then the state will pay schools $1.8 billion more to make up for
the cost of living increases that were chopped when the economy slowed in
the early 1990s.

It doesn't stop there. Teachers who earn a certification from the National
Board of Professional Teacher Standards may receive a $10,000 bonus.
Teachers who teach in low-performing schools may qualify for another
$20,000. And teachers in low-performing schools who make significant strides
in improving test scores may be paid up to $25,000.

Odden at the University of Wisconsin said he knows of no other state
offering such generous bonuses.

Not everyone in education, though, believes pay should be linked with
performance. Members of the National Education Association (NEA), which
represents about two-thirds of teachers in the country, recently voted down
a recommendation that coupled pay bonuses with job performance. Opponents
feared teachers would be lured away from teaching disadvantaged students.

The NEA members did want higher salaries for teachers. The pay system,
however, is focusing on results, Allan Odden of the University of Wisconsin
said. In one state the focus could be on how students and school do. Other
states are looking into paying teachers based on qualifications and
"knowledge and skill," Odden said.

The Center for the Future of Teaching & Learning in Santa Cruz, California
reported that according to its poll the public wants a focus on teacher
quality. People asked in polls what makes for the best learning in the
classroom: good teachers was the answer.

"We're seeing an increasing focus and recognition of the importance of
quality teaching and preparation of teachers," said Christopher Cross of the
Council for Basic Education in Washington.


 

************************************
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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 
http://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 Tommy G. Thompson, WI (Chair, 2000);
John Engler, MI; Jim Geringer, WY; James B. Hunt, Jr., NC; Frank Keating,
OK; Frank O'Bannon, IN; Paul E. Patton, KY; Cecil H. Underwood, WV;
Secretary of Education Richard Riley; Michael Cohen, U.S. Assistant
Secretary for Elementary and Secondary 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
http://www.negp.gov. Requests can be made by mail, fax, e-mail, or Internet.