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--- Wednesday --- May 22, 1996 --- Vol. 6 --- No. 49 ---
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THE NATIONAL UPDATE ON AMERICA'S EDUCATION REFORM EFFORTS
A service of the National Education Goals Panel
__________ __________
MEMORIAL DAY HOLIDAY | SPOTLIGHT |
The DAILY REPORT CARD will | |
not publish this Friday, 24 May | WHERE THE ACTION IS |
nor on Monday, 27 May. Enjoy | |
the holiday! | "All politics is local," |
| said Tip O'Neil, former |
RESTORING LOCAL CONTROL | Speaker of the U.S. House |
Want some tips on How | of Representatives. And so |
Congress Can Restore Local and | is education, cry many |
Parental Control over | reformers. A round-up of |
Education? The conservative | local action: |
Heritage Foundation recently | |
released a report by the same | CALIFORNIA: Gov. Pete |
name. | Wilson (R) is sending local |
The report briefly describes | schools a dream come true: |
the history of the U.S.DoEd and | extra money. But some |
then presents arguments against | critics complain that along |
its formation. Congressional | with the funds come |
initiatives to eliminate or | unwanted strings. Wilson |
merge the department with other | has targeted the money to |
departments also are presented | his "prevention" |
in the report. | initiatives. (#1) |
The Heritage report includes | |
an appendix that describes | HULL, MASS.: In Hull, |
sundry DoEd programs, | public school leaders |
"identifies key problems," and | blocked an attempt by a new |
recommends reform. | charter school to secure |
Copies of the report are | space in a community |
available for $5.45 by | synagogue. (#4) |
contacting The Heritage | |
Foundation; 214 Massachusetts | CHICAGO: The nation's |
Ave. NE; Washington, D.C. | premier mayoral takeover of |
20002-4999; 202/546-4400; | public education is deem- |
http://www.heritage.org. | ed a success, so far. (#3) |
|_____________________________|
============== QUOTE OF THE DAY ==============
"I'm just glad he came to the party, even if he came late." --
Calif. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin,
on Gov. Pete Wilson's decision to earmark state funds to reduce
class size. (#1)
_______________________________________________________________
| A service of the National Education Goals Panel |
| Published by the Education Policy Network |
| 1255 22nd Street NW; Wash, D.C.; 20037; 202/632-0952 |
| The DRC hereby authorizes further reproduction and |
| distribution with proper acknowledgement. |
| Publisher: Barbara A. Pape |
Staff Writer: Elizabeth Gage |
|_______________________________________________________________|
============== TABLE OF CONTENTS ==============
STATESIDE
GOOD NEWS WILSON: More money for education. (#1)
KERA: What works, what doesn't. (#2)
CITY HALL
CHICAGO-STYLE REFORM: A status report. (#3)
CHARTING A NEW COURSE
TROUBLED WATER: Massachusetts charters sent off course. (#4)
FROM COURTHOUSE TO SCHOOLHOUSE
FRIEND OF THE COURT: Urging school choice in Cleveland. (#5)
===== STATESIDE =====
*1 GOOD NEWS WILSON: MORE MONEY FOR EDUCATION
Calif. is basking in the sun of unexpected revenue; and
education is expected to reap some of the benefits. A revision
of the state's budget situation revealed that for the first 10
months of the 1995-1996 budget cycle, state revenues are nearly
$1.1B above forecasts (Hayward, Sacramento BEE, 5/19).
Gov Pete Wilson (R) last week announced that he will direct
a portion of the excess funds to cutting class size, expanding
his reading initiative and enhancing elementary school libraries.
One Wilson aid commented that the governor claims increasing
reading skills is "the best affirmative action" for children.
According to the paper, Calif. schools "operate with 38%
more students for every teacher than the national average." The
paper cites a Tenn. study that revealed "broad, sustained
increases in student achievement" when class size was small in
the early grades. State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Delaine Eastin has been a longtime supporter of reducing class
size. She complemented Wilson's initiative. "I'm just glad he
came to the party, even if he came late," she said.
Under Wilson's class size plan, schools that achieve a ratio
of 20 students per teacher in the first two grades would be
granted a $500 award per student "if they actually add extra
classes to do it." The grant would be $250 if other methods are
used to reduce class size.
Another aspect of Wilson's preventive strategy calls for
spending $83M of the unexpected revenue to purchase more
materials for elementary school libraries. The purpose: to
"ensure the emphasis on reading improvement extends outside the
classroom," reports the BEE.
In Jan., Wilson proposed a reading initiative that stressed
phonics and spelling. He now plans to add $100M to the program's
current price tag of $100M, with the funds used to purchase
textbooks and teacher professional development.
Eastin noted that Wilson is required by Proposition 98,
approved at the polls in 1988, to set aside a portion of state
revenues for public education. She added "so there are those who
will criticize him because he's really taking away the local
control and tying strings on the money. But the bottom line is,
these are not bad expenditures, there are good expenditures."
*2 KERA: WHAT WORKS, WHAT DOESN'T
Ky. state Senator Ernie Harris (R) editorializes about the
good and bad points of the Kentucky Education Reform Act
(Kentucky POST, 3/15). The senator's views were formed after he
conducted town hall meetings last summer in his district. He
also met with administrators, teachers and parents to assess
their views of KERA; and he distributed surveys to 6,000
citizens.
Harris concluded that the following are aspects of KERA that
are successful: teacher flexibility on time spent on certain
subjects; their ability to integrate subject matter and bring
outside experts into the classroom; the Extended School Services,
a program that provides after school tutoring and summer school;
Family Resource and Youth Services Centers that help children
become ready to learn at school; site-based school councils; and
an emphasis on technology.
Equalized funding through the SEEK formula also is noted as
a strong point of KERA by Harris.
However, several components of the education reform act have
not met with success. Harris complains of a lack of local
control: "The only officials we elect to deal with education --
school board members -- have had much of their authority and
decision-making power taken away." According to Harris, a
"distinguished educator" from Frankfurt is dispatched to any
school that is deemed "in crisis." This policy means that "the
only education officials accountable to the public are now
essentially left out of education policy making," he writes.
Harris recommends that site-based councils be made more
responsive to local school boards, "not just the Department of
Education."
Another problem plaguing KERA centers on portfolios, pens
the senator. Harris suggests that portfolios be used for
instruction, not assessment. Portfolios "require so much
classroom time that teachers are unable to concentrate on
important basic skills and subject matter," he writes.
Harris also wants to make the ungraded primary provision
optional rather than mandatory, which is its current status. He
claims the policy has "created instructional levels too broad to
teachers, not to mention the fact that some children feel lost."
Harris recommends that the testing system should be adjusted
to "ensure basics are emphasized, especially in the lower
grades." Harris argues this point because he holds that "testing
drives curriculum." Basic skills should provide the foundation
of education, upon which higher level thinking skills are built,
according to Harris.
The senator also asserts that the KIRIS testing system does
not work. It is not nationally normed, so parents do not know
how their child is progressing. The test is quite expensive, and
suffers from an "extremely long turnaround time," he writes.
Instead, Harris suggests that the state give nationally normed
testing in each grade from 4 to 11. Local districts should be
given the option of including open-ended essay questions to
assess higher-level thinking skills, he adds.
Harris stresses that he is not calling for "a return to pre-
KERA days." Harris: "If we are serious about moving Kentucky
schools ahead, we should let the parts that are not working go
and keep those that are working."
==== CITY HALL ====
*3 CHICAGO-STYLE REFORM: A STATUS REPORT
Chicago Mayor RIchard Daley (D) less than a year ago took
over the city school system, which was plagued by low
achievement, a bogged down bureaucracy, mismanagement and
corruption. At that time, Daley "took the unprecedented step" of
replacing the superintendent and board of education with a board
and management team appointed by the mayor, notes URBAN EDUCATOR
(Council of the Great City Schools, April 1996).
According to the newsletter, Daley stressed four conditions
that must be met by the restructuring team: classroom
performance must be improved; additional costs must not be
incurred and the budget deficit must be eliminated; the
bureaucracy must be reduced; and the changes must not divide the
city.
A new report issued by the school system describes several
accomplishments of the new management team. For example, the
$1.3M, four-year budget deficit has been eliminated, "without
increasing class size or sacrificing educational services,"
writes the report. Another accomplishment: the introduction of
a $787M five-year capital improvement plan to "refurbish and
build schools over the next five years," writes URBAN EDUCATOR.
Other achievements: the negotiation of a four-year contract with
the Chicago Teachers Union, which eliminated the threat of a
strike; and the "Children First" initiatives to improve academic
performance.
URBAN EDUCATOR reports that Chicago's management team also
has discovered and eliminated waste. For example, once it found
nearly $1M in spoiled food stored in a warehouse, the team worked
out a deal with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the
Illinois State Board of Education to replace the spoiled food
with locally purchased food, writes the newsletter.
The Chicago school system now boasts a Small Schools
Initiative. Three types of schools are featured in the program:
a fully independent school that could exist in its own building
or share a building with one or more small schools; multplexes
that house several autonomous small schools; or school within
schools, which are located in a larger "host" building, reports
the newsletter.
Eighteen small school programs were announced last month and
are scheduled to open next fall. "Small schools have proven to
more effectively address the needs of urban children," said Chief
Education Officer Lynn St. James. "We are building on this
successful model."
===== CHARTING A NEW COURSE =====
*4 TROUBLED WATER: MASSACHUSETTS CHARTERS SENT OFF COURSE
Public and Catholic school leaders are playing "hard ball"
with emerging charter schools in two Mass. towns (Cornell, BOSTON
HERALD, 5/20). Hull Superintendent John MacLean blocked a deal
between the South Shore Charter School and Temple Beth Israel
synagogue that allowed the charter to use the synagogue's
facilities. "In business, there's competition, but always with
rules," said charter school founder Tim Anderson. "I've never
seen such a raw use of power."
However, MacLean delighted in Anderson's plight, reports the
paper. "I find it amusing that an organization built on a
competitive free market model gets extremely nervous when a
public school does something they didn't expect it to do," he
said. MacLean persuaded the synagogue's leaders to lease space
to the public school system. "I told them we were an enduring
agency with financial stability able to pay competitive rates,"
he explained. "The temple just happens to be the best property
in town for classrooms."
Mass. Secretary of Education Michael Sentance commented that
MacLean's logic was "hard to understand," reports the HERALD.
"They've had very little growth over the last five years," he
said. "If they do need space, entering a long-term lease would
be costly rather than simply going ahead and building."
In Somerville, the Somerville Charter School was planning to
move into the unused St. Joseph's School. But Catholic
supporters had "second thoughts," notes the paper. It took a
church leader to step in and personally agree to the lease.
According to the paper, Bernard Cardinal Law agreed to the lease
in hopes that eventually "parents will have the freedom to choose
Catholic schools on an equal basis with charter schools."
Ed Sec Sentance observes that a troublesome weakness in the
state's charter school law is the infrastructure. "A number of
different communitites have tried to make sure charters can't
access the buildings they need," he noted.
===== FROM COURTHOUSE TO SCHOOLHOUSE =====
*5 FRIEND OF THE COURT: URGING SCHOOL CHOICE IN CLEVELAND
The Washington, D.C.-based Center for Education Reform last
week filed an Amicus Brief with the Franklin County, Ohio Common
Pleas Court in support of the Cleveland school choice program
(CENTER FOR EDUCATION REFORM press release, 5/16).
"This is an important case for underprivileged families in
Cleveland specifically, and for countless other families who have
no choice save for often failing schools," said Jeanne Allen,
founder and president of the Center. "The Center's Amicus Brief
is a way of supporting, in practice and theory, the advantages of
school choice for poor children," she added.
According to the release, Ohio's "Pilot Project Scholarship
Program" would provide public funds in the form of school
vouchers to disadvantaged Cleveland families. The families could
select any private or parochial school for their children.
However, the program is being challenged by the Ohio Education
Association and the American and Ohio Civil Liberties Unions,
notes the release.
The Center's brief argues in favor of the Cleveland choice
program in three areas: "parental choice is critical to the
education of low-income children;" the program "enables parents'
fundamental right to choose their children's education;" and that
the inclusion of parochial schools "is a Constitutionally
necessary component of PPSP."
Allen: "PPSP no more violates the Constitution's separation
of church and state provisions than public assistance programs
that allow college-level students to attend the school of their
choice. It's a simple matter of recognizing the compelling need
for a child to be in a school that best merits his or her needs
versus a labor union trying to protect its turf despite parental
concerns."
Organizations joining in the Center's Amicus brief include:
Lisa Graham Keegan, Arizona state superintendent of public
instruction; CEOs for Fundamental Change in Education; National
Federation of Independent Business; Hispanics for Educational
Choice; and various state groups for school choice.
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