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--- Wednesday --- August 28, 1996 --- Vol. 6 --- No. 64 ---
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THE NATIONAL UPDATE ON AMERICA'S EDUCATION REFORM EFFORTS
A service of the National Education Goals Panel
__________ __________
WELCOME BACK CORTINES | SPOTLIGHT |
Well, maybe not to N.Y., but | |
the Washington, D.C. financial | NO-WIN RACE GAME |
control board is thinking about | |
bringing Ramon Cortines in to | No one is winning at the |
take control of the public | race games being played in |
schools (Vise and Powell, WASH | Boston and in Montgomery |
POST, 8/28). Cortines resigned | County, Md. Julia McLaugh- |
as chancellor of N.Y.C. last | lin was denied admission to |
year after squabbles with Mayor | competitive Boston Latin |
Giuliani. The control board, | only because of her race -- |
established by Congress, to | she is white. Her father, |
oversee the operation of D.C., | a lawyer, filed a lawsuit. |
has expressed dissatisfaction | Montgomery school officials |
with school chief Franklin | nixed Kelly Fuller's |
Smith and the school board. | transfer to an out-of-bound |
| public school with a strong |
BEST BOSS | gifted program because her |
"Redbook" Magazine recently | departure would upset the |
named the U.S. DoEd's Steven | racial balance at her home |
Winnick "best boss" for working | school. Kelly is white and |
mothers (Sept. 1996). Winnick | her father also filed suit. |
is the department's deputy | |
general counsel. Three years | Montgomery school board |
ago, he proposed to two of his | member Blair Ewing summed |
lawyers, who had stated a need | it up best: "What we've |
to spend more time with their | got here is a less than |
young families, a job-sharing | perfect situation. We |
arrangement. The two women, | don't want to make deci- |
Amy Comstock and Joan Bardee, | sions based on race, but we |
were thrilled at the concept of | also don't want to ignore |
working three-day work weeks | the issue of racial isola- |
and sharing the job of ethics | tion. We're certainly |
counsel. Both nominated Steve | struggling with it." (#3,4) |
for the "Redbook" award. |_____________________________|
============== QUOTE OF THE DAY ==============
"This year's annual check-up: pulse is strong, but sustained
vigorous exertion required." -- U.S. Ed Sec Richard Riley, on
the increase in SAT scores. (#6)
_______________________________________________________________
| 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 |
|_______________________________________________________________|
============== TABLE OF CONTENTS ==============
GOAL FOUR: TEACHER EDUCATION/PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMEN
FAILING GRADES: Gets teacher ousted. (#1)
PREP TIME: Source of contention in Hartford. (#2)
FROM COURTHOUSE TO SCHOOLHOUSE
JUDGE GARRITY: In the spotlight again. (#3)
FOR THE GOOD OF THE CHILD: Or of the school?. (#4)
RACE NEUTRAL: Texas A.G. issues college guidelines. (#5)
TESTS AND TESTING
SAT SCORES UP: Hard work pays off, says College Board. (#6)
ELECTION '96
AMERICA READS: A Presidential proposal. (#7)
THE PRIVATE EYE
SUPPORT FOR VOUCHERS: Not strong, but growing. (#8)
NEWS BRIEFS
NEWS BRIEFS: Education news nationwide. (#9)
===== GOAL FOUR: TEACHER EDUCATION/PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT =====
*1 FAILING GRADES: GETS TEACHER OUSTED
Shehrever Masters, a Toledo, Ohio, high school science
teacher was fired because he failed too many students
(AP/Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 8/23). School Superintendent Crystal
Ellis also complained that Masters refused to change his teaching
style to help at-risk students, writes the paper. More than two-
thirds of the 125 students in Masters five ninth-grade science
classes dropped out last year; half failed the course.
"The charges are unfounded and untrue," said Masters. He
added: "Their assumption that I'm an ineffective teacher because
children fail is ridiculous, because there is no way you can
gauge a teacher that way. All that does is ask teachers to grade
themselves by giving lots of passing grades to kids, and that's
exactly what's happening these days. The entire system's
standards are dropping because teachers are so scared to do
what's right." Masters also charged that other teachers have
been badgered by the administration into "giving grades that
makes the public think that education is going on."
According to the paper, Masters gives a five-minute quiz at
each class and a weekly exam. Students also are expected to
complete fifteen minutes of homework each evening.
From the paper: "Dozens of parents have supported Masters.
Some plan to testify at the hearings. They say Masters is an
excellent teacher who has motivated their children."
*2 PREP TIME: SOURCE OF CONTENTION IN HARTFORD
Hartford, Conn.'s, school board must pay a total of $400,000
to 240 teachers as compensation for lost preparation time during
the 1993-1994 school year, according to an arbitration agreement
(Green, Hartford COURANT, 8/13). The paper notes that the
conflict over prep time has only driven the teacher union and
school board further apart.
"Teachers didn't have prep time. Children didn't have
services. This is the way the board understands that you can't
keep violating the contract," said Cheryl Daniels, president of
the Hartford Federation of Teachers. "Unfortunately, the board
isn't living up to their word. They are not living up to the
collective bargaining agreement."
However, board member Donald Romanik questioned whether
teachers wanted to be paid on an hourly basis, "as if you were a
truck drive." He agreed that the debate over prep time "further
strains the relationship" between board and union. "We are not
talking about migrant farm workers or miners at the turn of the
century in England," he said.
===== FROM COURTHOUSE TO SCHOOLHOUSE =====
*3 JUDGE GARRITY: IN THE SPOTLIGHT AGAIN
U.S. District Judge Arthur Garrity, who in 1974 ordered the
desegregation of Boston public schools, last week ruled to admit
a white student to the city's prestigious Boston Latin even
though she was denied admission last year due to her race (multi
cites). Julie McLaughlin scored as well or better than 103 black
and Hispanic students on the school's entrance exam, reports the
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER (Marcus, 8/24). Her father, a lawyer who
filed the suit, expressed his pleasure at the decision to admit
his daughter for the duration of the suit.
Garrity wrote that the quota system used at Boston Latin is
"constitutionally suspect." He added that "however proper it
once might have been," quotas now are "too broad to pass
constitutional muster," writes the INQUIRER.
Boston school officials have pledged to continue to fight
against the lawsuit. "The judge has not made a final decision
yet," said Jane Feinberg, Boston schools spokeswoman. "We intend
to defend the constitutionality of the current assignment
system." School officials point out that without a preference
system minorities would gain only 15% of enrollment at Boston
Latin, even though they make up about 75% of the public school
population, writes the POST.
The case is expected to spur significant changes in Boston's
racial set-aside policies in place at several public schools,
reports the WASH POST (Sanchez, 8/24). Boston School
Superintendent Thomas Payzant and others already are weighing
several alternatives including giving preferences to students
from disadvantaged families, from diverse neighborhoods, or who
attended public elementary schools. Garrity suggested that the
school could hold a lottery among all qualified students. "In an
era where race-based numerical goals are clearly in trouble with
the courts, there is an opening to consider other ways of
defining what it means to be disadvantaged," said one school
source to the BOSTON GLOBE (Avenoso, 8/21).
A switch from race-based preferences to income-based ones is
high on the list of alternatives and of debate among school
officials and legal scholars. Income and geographic preferences
are "permitted even if they have a very high correlation with
race, provided they do not use them for discriminatory purposes,"
said Michael Greve, executive director of the Center for
Individual Rights, a Washington, D.C. public interest law firm
that specializes in reverse discrimination litigation (Brelis,
BOSTON GLOBE, 8/22). Greve: "If challenged by someone, the
School Department would have to say, 'Here is our rationale and
it has nothing to do with race.' A lot would depend on the
details of the program, but it would be extremely difficult and
expensive for a plaintiff to show that there was a discriminatory
policy behind these characteristics."
However, neighboring Cambridge school officials warn Boston
that converting to an income-based preference system is not as
easy as it appears. According to the GLOBE, income is difficult
to verify without breaching parents' legal rights to privacy."
(Avenoso, 8/22) They add that using lists of students who
qualify for free and subsidized lunches is not inclusive of all
needy children because many are too embarrassed to apply and
other poor children do not qualify for the program.
Abigail Thernstrom, a member of the state Board of
Education, offered her views: "What seems remarkable is that
Garrity has not said,'Enough of sorting people on any
characteristic.' Use whatever criteria you want for admission,
throw the applications down the stairs, but have everyone meet
it. If we are concerned about the performance of black and
Hispanic kids, why not attack that directly and do something
better in the way of education."
The BOSTON HERALD reports that given McLaughlin's suit and
recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions condemning affirmative action
plans this year, the Boston School Committee is struggling to
make the system "fair, equitable and responsive to the needs of
the community," according to one committee member, Liz Reilinger.
Public hearings will be scheduled after September, according to
the committee.
Boston Latin, founded in 1635, is one of the nation's oldest
public schools and boasts graduates including Benjamin Franklin,
Samuel Adams, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Leonard Bernstein.
BOSTON GLOBE coverage on the issue and an attitude poll on
quotas are available at Globe Online at http:\\www.boston.com.
The keyword is: latin.
*4 FOR THE GOOD OF THE CHILD: OR OF THE SCHOOL?
A "gifted" eight-year-old Montgomery County, Md., student
has filed suit against a school system that would not let her
transfer to a school with a strong gifted and talented program
outside her normal attendance boundary. The decision was based
on race: the girl is white, and the Montgomery County Board of
Education ruled that her departure from Strathmore Elementary
would "harm" that school's racial balance (Beyers, WASH POST,
8/24).
"No one has any control over his or her race," said Charles
Fuller, a lawyer who filed suit on his daughter's behalf. "We're
all born as we are, and we should all be treated equally."
The POST writes that the suit, filed last week in U.S.
District Court in Greenbelt, could "represent the biggest test
yet to the county's controversial policy of using racial
headcounts to make decisions on school transfers." Last year,
parents of two part-Asian kindergarten students complained of
Montgomery school chief Paul Vance's attempt to deny their
children admission to a language immersion program based on their
ethnicity. Eventually, the Board of Education voted to overrule
Vance by removing race and ethnicity from its criteria for
admission to language programs.
Board members explained that the Asian students were
justified in their complaint because language programs are not
available across the county. However, they claim that gifted
programs are located at all schools, although quality and
quantity vary, writes the paper. "The fact of the matter is that
we don't offer equal academic opportunity to all students," said
school board member Stephen Abrams. "There is a range of
equality we offer, and I'm not sure the courts would hold us to a
rigid requirement that we must offer absolute equality."
The paper notes the criteria used by Montgomery County
school officials in deciding on school transfers outside student
boundaries, including: whether space is available at the
receiving school and whether the student's departure leaves a
school underused. School officials each year produce charts that
show which racial and ethnic groups can transfer into and out of
county schools, "based on enrollment trends over a three-year
period," reports the paper. The charts are used to guide school
officials, not serve as strict quotas. According to the POST, it
is that "element of the policy that the Fullers hope to
overturn."
Fuller notes the irony of the situation. His family has
contacted a real estate agent to help them purchase a new home in
a county neighborhood that does not have a prohibition on school
transfers by white students. "It's ridiculous," he said. "We
live in a diverse neighborhood now, but to play by their rules we
have to live in a less diverse neighborhood in order to transfer.
It's all gamesmanship."
*5 RACE NEUTRAL: TEXAS A.G. ISSUES COLLEGE GUIDELINES
Texas Attorney General Dan Morales last week issued a set of
race-neutral guidelines to colleges that would help boost
minority enrollment while complying with the law (Moreno, THE
DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 8/22). According to Morales, the guidelines
would conform to a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that
outlawed race-based affirmative action programs used by
universities in Texas, La., and Miss. Morales addressed his
guidelines to Leonard Rauch, chairman of the Texas Higher
Education Coordinating Board.
Specifically, Morales said schools may use factors such as
age, gender, family history, socioeconomic history and the level
of education achieved by the applicant's parents, reports the
paper. Other factors suggested by Morales include: applicant's
hometown, employment history, military service, personal talent,
leadership potential, public service and extracurricular
activities.
Morales: "Proper consideration of these factors will not
only comply with the [court] decision but should result in our
institutions matriculating and graduating a cross section of our
state's population."
Teri Flack, spokeswoman for the Texas Higher Education
Coordinating Board, explained that her agency is already
developing its own set of race-neutral guidelines to be brought
before the board in October. "We think we're going in the same
direction the attorney general indicated," said Flack.
The paper traces the history of Texas' higher education
admissions. Last March, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in
New Orleans banned an admissions policy of using separate
admissions committees for minorities used by the U of Texas Law
School to increase the number of Mexican-American and black
students. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the U of Texas'
appeal this July, which leaves the appeals court ruling as
binding law within the 5th Circuit, which includes Texas, La.,
and Miss.
==== TESTS AND TESTING ====
*6 SAT SCORES UP: HARD WORK PAYS OFF, SAYS COLLEGE BOARD
The average test score on the SAT 1 math exam reached its
highest level in nearly 25 years among this year's class of
graduating seniors (College Board press release). The math score
rose 2 points to 508, while the average verbal score rose 1 point
to 505.
"We see encouraging signs among these students, many of whom
will be college graduates in the year 2000, the start of the new
millennium," said Donalad Stewart, president of the College
Board. "Compared to their predecessors, they have taken more
honors courses and more precalculus, calculus, chemistry,
physics, and other academic courses, and are more computer
literate. They are also more ambitious, with over half planning
to go beyond the bachelor's degree."
U.S. Ed Sec Richard Riley agrees that hard work pays off on
the SAT. "SAT scores have come to be seen as a measure of the
nation's educational health," he said. "This year's annual
check-up: pulse is strong, but sustained vigorous exertion
required. The message for students remains the same: take
challenging course, read daily, and use television only in
moderation."
Council for Basic Education President Chris Cross, while
encouraged by the gain in test scores, cautioned that "even
though verbal scores on the SAT have increased slightly the last
couple of years, they are still 25 points lower than in 1972."
He added: "Most significantly, the number of students scoring
above 700 on the verbal section is still more than 30% below the
1972 level. This decline represents a serious erosion in the
verbal ability of our best high school graduates."
The National Center for Fair & Open Testing points out that
girls continue to receive lower scores on the SAT than boys. A
FairTest press release writes that "a growing body of research
underscores the gender bias present in the SAT.
Improvement in educational achievement also was noted by ACT
scores (See DRC 8-21-96).
Stewart also noted that more high school graduates are
entering college with college credits. "We estimate that over
200,000 graduates qualified for college credit in physics,
calculus, English, history, and 15 other subjects on the basis of
grades on College Board Advanced Placement Exams alone. About
33,000 of these graduates were qualified to enter college as
sophomores, and 750 as juniors," he added.
The College Board also reported that health-related fields
are now the top choice of college-bound seniors, ahead of
business, which is in second place. "Ten years ago, 23% of
students planned to major in business and 13 percent in health,"
said Gretchen Rigol, the College Board's executive director of
Admissions and Guidance Services. "Today, business is 13 percent
and health 19 percent."
For more information, contact The College Board; 45 Columbus
Avenue; New York, New York 10023-6992; 212/713-8000. Or visit
their Web site at http:\\www.collegeboard.org/press/index.html.
==== ELECTION '96 ====
*7 AMERICA READS: A PRESIDENTIAL PROPOSAL
On his way to the Democratic Convention in Chicago,
President Bill Clinton disembarked from his train, the "21st
Century Express," to unveil a new literacy program for children.
However, the program had already been scaled back by White House
economists concerned that the original plan was too expensive for
a president with boasting a reputation as a deficit-cutter
(Harris and Baker, WASH POST, 8/28).
"America Reads" is Clinton's initiative would place
federally subsidized reading specialists into 20,000
disadvantaged public elementary schools. The first proposal,
deemed too expensive, would have placed reading specialists in
all of the nation's elementary schools.
Clinton announced his plan while mingling with a crowd of
youngsters in a Detroit suburb. "All America's children should
be able to read on their own by the third grade, every single one
of them," he said. "We know that without reading, the history
books are closed, the Internet is turned off, the promise of
America is much harder to reach."
According to the paper, Clinton's plan eventually would lead
to enrolling 1 million volunteer tutors to offer one-on-one
after-school and summer help for students in grades K through 3.
Federal funds would provide for 30,000 reading specialists and
volunteer coordinators, some drawn from AmeriCorps.
"The one-on-one attention from a tutor on the right level
rely makes a difference," said Theresa Knudson, who developed
"Growing Together," a program operating in Washington, D.C.
homeless shelters since 1988.
==== THE PRIVATE EYE ====
*8 SUPPORT FOR VOUCHERS: NOT STRONG, BUT GROWING
A Phi Delta Kappa survey revealed that public support for
vouchers is not strong, but has increased over the past three
years (Sanchez, WASH POST, 8/28). According to the survey, 60%
of those polled oppose vouchers. While only 24% of respondents
three years ago supported vouchers, 30% indicated support for
letting students use public funds to attend private schools.
The debate of vouchers has been swept into the presidential
election arena. Republican candidate Bob Dole strongly supports
vouchers, and has offered his own initiative -- "opportunity
scholarships," which would provide $1,000 to $1,5000 to low-
income and middle-class families to attend private schools.
President Bill Clinton opposes vouchers, instead calling for more
choice in the public school system, reports the paper.
Jeanne Allen, president of the Center for Education Reform,
was quick to criticize the PDK poll as offering "vague" or
"biased" questions, writes the paper. Allen: "When you delve
deeper, you find that most people are very frustrated with public
schools. They want more options." Ed Sec Richard Riley,
however, welcomed the survey results, and charged that the GOP is
"dead wrong" in their advocacy of vouchers.
Other findings: a majority favored public school students
wearing uniforms; favored community service for students; and
strong support for public schools to privatize many services.
President Bill Clinton and the Democratic Party were perceived to
be for more supportive of education than the Republicans,
according to respondents. Those surveyed listed drug abuse and
student discipline as the biggest problems facing public schools.
The survey was conducted in May by the Gallup organization.
It surveyed 1,329 randomly selected adults nationwide; margin of
error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
==== NEWS BRIEFS ====
*9 NEWS BRIEFS: EDUCATION NEWS NATIONWIDE
SAFE SCHOOLS: The Third District Court of Appeals upheld
the use of metal detector searches and random sweeps in Dade
County, Fla., classrooms (Mailander, Miami HERALD, 8/21). The
court said metal detector searches have become "commonplace" and
called the searches an appropriate solution to the "alarming"
increase in school violence. Last year, a Jackson High School
student who was expelled for carrying a concealed firearm on
campus filed suit. The student claimed the gun was planted.
GENDER GAP: Four women for the first time ever enrolled at
The Citadel, a S.C. traditionally all-male military academy
(multi cites). Citadel officials announced their intention of
going co-ed just two days after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that
the Virginia Military Academy could not accept state funding and
exclude women. (See DRC 7-3-96)
GOALS 2000: Ala. has joined the 48 other states that are
using Goals 2000 funds (DoEd press release, 8/22). Ala. applied
for $1.6M in fiscal year 1994 funds. In addition, nearly $5.7M
in fiscal year 1996 funds are now available, said U.S. Ed Sec
Richard Riley. Ala. officials intend to use the funds to advance
educational technology programs to improve teaching and learning.
The release notes that Va. is now the only state not taking
advantage of Goals 2000 funds.
CHILDREN IN CRISIS: The U.S. Census Bureau released a
report that reveals that children make up nearly half of
Americans living in chronic poverty (AP/New Orleans TIMES-
PICAYUNE, 8/20). In 1992 and 1993, 48% of the chronically poor
were children. "The differences in chronic poverty are
striking," said T.J. Eller, the report's author. "Eight percent
of children versus 3 percent of nonelderly adults were poor in
all 24 months of 1992 and 1993. He added: "About 5 percent of
the elderly population, persons 65 and over, were chronically
poor during the same period."
The paper reports that many child-welfare advocates were
upset by President Clinton's signing of the welfare-reform bill
that would "toughen work standards for welfare recipients and
shorten the length of time families could receive assistance."
MONEY MATTERS: Cleveland's school district's Financial
Stability Committee unveiled a plan to seek a "whooping" 13.5-
mill levy in November to cover the district's run-away budget
deficit. "We need new revenues if we are to have any chance at
all of providing children with a quality education," said
Superintendent Richard Boyd. "We can't accomplish all that just
through more cutting and savings." Two obstacles: a potential
teacher strike and school board members who may vote against the
levy increase.
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