[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
The NEGP WEEKLY for March 29, 2001
*****************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 - March 29, 2001 -- Vol. 2 -- No. 95
********************************************************
CONTENTS
**STATE POLICY
1.) FLORIDA'S EQUITY STUDY: POOR CHILDREN SHORTCHANGED (All Goals)
2.) TEST FAILURE: MORE RIGOROUS INSTRUCTION NEEDED (Goal 3)
**COMMUNITY AND LOCAL NEWS
3.) SUPPORTING AND RETAINING TEACHERS: BRISTOL'S MODEL (Goal 4)
4.) THE ARTS ARE ALIVE: DETROIT'S McPHERSON MIDDLE SCHOOL (Goal 3)
**FEDERAL POLICY NEWS
5.) SERVING SANTANA HIGH: A DoED GRANT (Goal 7)
6.) HEAD START ON THE HILL: TEACHING CONGRESS (Goal 1)
**RESEARCH AND EDUCATION PRACTICE
7.) TEACHER PREP: CARNEGIE FOUNDATION INITIATIVE (Goal 4)
8.) TEACHER SHORTAGE: AT THE COLLEGE LEVEL (Goal 4)
**FEATURE STORY
9.) SENSING CHANGE: CENSUS REPORT ON ENROLLMENT (All Goals)
***FACT OF THE WEEK***
Between 1992 and 1996, 39 states (out of 51) significantly increased the
percentages of high school graduates who immediately enrolled in 2-year or
4-year colleges in any state.
--Promising Practices: Progress Toward the Goals, 2000
http://www.negp.gov/
*******************
STATE POLICY NEWS
********************
1.) ******** FLORIDA'S EQUITY STUDY: POOR CHILDREN SHORTCHANGED
(All Goals)
Poor and minority students in Florida do not have the same opportunities to
sign up for advanced classes as students in more affluent schools. Nor do
they use computers as often, appear to receive less guidance from school
counselors and often have inadequate textbooks and library materials,
concludes a yearlong study on education in Florida.
A task force of educators, politicians and business representatives, created
by Governor Jeb Bush, conducted a yearlong study of 10 school districts to
assess equity issues in education.
The study also reviewed financial data for five years and found that "the
broadly held perception that lower performing schools receive less public
financial support than higher performing schools was not substantiated by
state data."
For more information on Florida schools, visit the Florida Department of
Education at http://www.firn.edu/doe/doehome/
2.) ******** TEST FAILURE: MORE RIGOROUS INSTRUCTION NEEDED
(Goal Three: Student Achievement)
A Texas Education Agency (TEA) report predicts massive failure rates of high
school students on the state's new graduation test unless high schools "beef
up" their programs, writes the DALLAS MORNING NEWS (Stutz, 3/23). The new
graduation test measures more than the current test's assessment of reading
and math that should be learned by eighth grade. More subject areas are
included and the questions are more rigorous.
State Education Commissioner Jim Nelson sent the report to all school
districts, cautioning them of the rigors of the new exam. He urged school
district leaders to start planning now to make sure their students can pass
the new test when it is released in the Spring of 2004.
For more information, visit the Texas Education Agency at
http://www.tea.state.tx.us
*************************
COMMUNITY AND LOCAL NEWS
*************************
3.) ******** SUPPORTING AND RETAINING TEACHERS: BRISTOL'S MODEL
(Goal Four: Teacher Education and Professional Development)
Education officials from 35 states visited Bristol, Connecticut, to learn
the school district's effective strategies to support and retain high
quality teachers. The district's New Teacher Academy is now in its second
year.
Peer advisors meet with first- and second-year teachers almost daily, writes
the HARTFORD COURANT (Waldman, 3/23). A senior adviser is assigned to a
group of five new teacher-mentor pairs and guides the teachers through the
assessment process that leads up to licensing.
The New Teacher Academy also offers courses, including classroom management
and district and building orientations.
For more information, visit the Bristol School District at
http://www.ci.bristol.ct.us
4.) ******** THE ARTS ARE ALIVE: DETROIT'S McPHERSON MIDDLE SCHOOL
(Goal Three: Student Achievement)
Detroit's McPherson Middle School supports the arts during its Celebration
of the Arts Day. According to the DETROIT NEWS, more than 40 local artists
and high school students spent a day this month teaching students their
crafts (Plenda, 3/23).
The program included demonstrations in the fine arts, music, woodcarving and
set design. Professional muralist Chris Damm said, "Kids need outlets other
than computers and television that gets their hands dirty. This is a way
for them to use their hands . . . A lot of kids aren't into sports and this
is a good way for them to get involved."
The paper noted that most students "came away with a better understanding of
what their future could hold."
For more information on art education, visit the National Art Education
Association at http://www.naea-reston.org.
*********************
FEDERAL POLICY NEWS
*********************
5.) ******** SERVING SANTANA HIGH: A DoED GRANT
(Goal Seven: Safe Schools)
U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige announced that the Department of
Education will provide a $50,152 grant to the Grossmont Union High School
District under Project School Emergency Response to Violence (Project SERV).
Grossmont is the district that houses Santana High School in Santee,
California.
The grant is the first of its kind under Project SERV, a new program created
to provide financial assistance to local school districts that have
experienced a traumatic event, such as the school shooting at Santana.
For more information, visit the Department of Education at
http://www.ed.gov.
6.) ******** HEAD START ON THE HILL: TEACHING CONGRESS
(Goal One: Ready To Learn)
The National Head Start Association visited Congress this month along with
17 preschoolers from an Arlington, Virginia, program. Students and teachers
held a class in the Rayburn House Office Building, where members of Congress
and their staff dropped by to view a day-in-the-life of a Head Start
preschool program for disadvantaged children.
According to EDUCATION WEEK, the event was co-hosted by eight Republican and
Democratic leaders from the House and Senate education committees.
For more information on Head Start, visit the Head Start Bureau, U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services at
http://www.acf.dhhs.gov/programs/hsb
*********************************
RESEARCH AND EDUCATION PRACTICES
*********************************
7.) ******** TEACHER PREP: CARNEGIE FOUNDATION INITIATIVE
(Goal Four: Teacher Education and Professional Development)
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has launched a
five-year study of the preparation of K-12 teachers, as part of its
Preparation for the Professional initiative. The goal of the study is to
develop a detailed description of teacher preparation that highlights how
teacher education classes are taught, how students learn and how learning is
documented and assessed.
For more information, visit the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of
Teaching at http://www.carnegiefoundation.org.
8.) ******** TEACHER SHORTAGE: AT THE COLLEGE LEVEL
(Goal Four: Teacher Education and Professional Development)
Similar to the K-12 teacher shortage, there is a "dwindling supply of
teacher educators," reports EDUCATION WEEK (Blair, 3/21). The American
Association of Colleges for Teacher Education released a paper last year
that examined the issue and found that deans of education schools were
having great difficulty "getting anyone to apply for our jobs," said Richard
Arends, co-author of the report and a professor of educational leadership at
Central Connecticut State University in New Britain. "In many, many fields,
we were getting less than 10 applicants per each job opening. Thirty
percent of searches were unsuccessful - that's a very, very high rate," he
added.
The teacher-educator shortage was apparent at both public and private
colleges and universities of all sizes.
For more information on teacher education, visit the National Council for
Accreditation of Teacher Education at http://www.ncate.org
*****************
FEATURE STORY
*****************
9.) ******** SENSING CHANGE: CENSUS REPORT ON ENROLLMENT
(All Goals)
Soaring enrollments and diversity of the student population mark K-12
education in the U.S., according to a newly issued Census Bureau report.
School Enrollment in the United States: Social and Economic Characteristics
of Students found that over one-fourth of the U.S. population is enrolled in
schools throughout the U.S. in October 1999. "Public schools underused for
years have become jammed," writes the San Francisco CHRONICLE (3/23
The report also revealed that nursery school enrollment has increased
"dramatically" over the past few decades, "from about one-half million in
1964 (when the data were first collected) to 5 million currently." Over
this period of time, nursery school enrollment increased from about 5
percent to about 50 percent, "reflecting a shift in the societal norm of
young children in school," writes the Census Bureau.
Kindergarten enrollment also remains high, with about 4 million children
enrolled in kindergarten in October 1999. During the past three decades,
the percent of children attending kindergarten all day increased
"dramatically, from one in ten (11 percent) in 1969 to more than one in two
(58 percent) today."
The number of elementary and high school students enrolled in school
"returns to the baby-boom peak." In 1999, the number of students enrolled
in elementary and high school reached the all-time high (49 million) set in
1970, when the baby-boom children were in school. The increased enrollment
is predicted to continue for the near future, since the number of children
ages 6 to 17 is projected to increase moderately.
The increase in students attending K-12 schools also is attributed to
immigration. The report found that of school-age children, 20 percent had
at least one foreign-born parent, including 5 percent of elementary and high
school students who are themselves foreign born.
Across the nation, the diversification of American schools is apparent:
> Blacks comprise 16 percent of students, up from 14 percent at the peak of
the Baby Boom.
> The Latino school population increased from 5 percent to 15 percent and
the Asian population jumped to 5 percent from 1 percent.
> Non-Latino white students make up 63 percent of the school population, a
decrease from 79 percent.
"The literacy problem among older immigrant kids is an enormous challenge to
the schools," cautioned Jorge Ruiz-de-Velasco, a research associate in
education policy at the Washington, D.C.-based Urban Institute. "The
children are coming not only with English-language difficulty, but with
literacy gaps in their own languages," he added.
Other findings include:
> In 1999, nearly one-third of 15- to 17-year olds was enrolled below their
grade level given their age.
> Boys tend to start school at older ages than girls, with 19 percent of
boys aged 6 to 8 below "modal" grade (grade most common for a given age),
compared with 16 percent of girls.
> By ages 15 to 17 in 1999, 36 percent of boys were below modal grade,
compared with 25 percent of girls.
> During the one-year period ending in October 1999, 4.7 percent of all
students in grades 10, 11 or 12 dropped out of high school, a rate that has
remained constant since 1997.
> Dropout rates for black (six percent) and Hispanic (7 percent) students
were higher than of white non-Hispanic students (4 percent).
The report also found that college enrollment of traditional college-age
students continues at a record high. In October 1999, 15.2 million students
were enrolled in colleges nationwide, significantly higher from a decade ago
when 13.2 million students were enrolled in college.
For more information and a copy of the report, visit the Census Bureau at
http://www.census.gov and click on "New on the Site."
************************************
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 Acting Executive Director: Emily O. Wurtz
Publisher: Barbara A. Pape
http://www.negp.gov
************************************
The NEGP/ Daily Report Card (DRC) hereby authorizes further reproduction and
distribution with proper acknowledgment.
To subscribe to (or unsubscribe from) the NEGP Weekly, respond to this email
or address an email message to: NEGPWEEK@westat.com and put subscribe or
unsubscribe in the message portion of the e-mail.
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 Frank O'Bannon, IN (Chair,
2001); Jim Geringer, WY (Chair-elect); John Engler, MI; Jim Hodges, SC;
Frank Keating, OK; Paul E. Patton, KY; Jeanne Shaheen, NH; Tom Vilsack,
IA;
U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman, NM; U.S. Senator Jim Jeffords, VT; U.S.
Representative George Miller, 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.
-- 30 --