--- Monday --- October 7, 1996 --- Vol. 6 --- No. 72 ---
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THE NATIONAL UPDATE ON AMERICA'S EDUCATION REFORM EFFORTS
A service of the National Education Goals Panel
__________ __________
LET THE SUN SHINE IN | SPOTLIGHT |
The more natural light in the | |
classroom, the higher are | TEACHING RIGHT FROM WRONG |
student test scores, attendance | |
rates and morale, according to | ... is something public |
a report issued by Innovative | schools should do more of, |
Design of Raleigh, N.C. | according to a Phi Delta |
(SCHOOL BOARD NEWS, 9/17). | Kappa project on values and |
Innovative Design built seven | schools. PDK's initial |
schools in the state with large | Study of Core Values sur- |
windows and skylights, writes | veyed educators and found |
the NEWS. Two recent studies | that today's teachers think |
that examined the first three | students should learn |
schools reported that students | values similar to those |
who attended the daylit schools | taught 60 years ago. The |
for three years "outperformed | survey also revealed that |
other district students by 5 to | respondents concurred on |
14 percent in their end-of- | which values should be |
grade tests," writes the | taught in schools. (#3) |
newsletter. | |
An added benefit: districts | Forty schools will |
can save money on utility | participate in a follow-up |
bills. | project -- The League of |
| Values-Driven Schools -- |
MORE ON CHOICE IN MILWAUKEE | where seven values will |
A paper released by the | dominate school life: |
conservative Heritage Found- | learning, honesty, cooper- |
ation comments on the recent | ation, service to others, |
Houston-Harvard study that | freedom, responsibility and |
claims Milwaukee voucher | civility. (#6) Some |
students score higher in | schools that face peer |
reading and math. For a copy | sexual harassment problems |
of the paper, contact The | also may want to stress |
Heritage Foundation at 202/546- | civility. (#4) |
4400; http://www.heritage.org. |_____________________________|
============== QUOTE OF THE DAY ==============
"A woman in an office doesn't have to put up with co-workers
taunting her or grabbing her breasts or genitals, and neither
should a girl in a classroom." -- Verna Williams, a lawyer with
the National Women's Law Center, arguing that the standard that
applies in the workplace should apply in the classroom. (#4) _______________
| 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 ==============
STATESIDE
CALIBRATING TEXAS REFORM LAW: Time to change change. (#1)
CITY HALL
IT'S HAMMER TIME: 109 Chicago schools on probation. (#2)
TAKING STOCK
"VALUES AND THE SCHOOLS:" Not much change in 60 years. (#3)
FROM COURTHOUSE TO SCHOOLHOUSE
SEXUAL HARASSMENT AT SCHOOL: Serious business. (#4)
OUT-OF-COURT SETTLEMENT: Talked about at Boston Latin. (#5)
PROMISING PRACTICES
VALUES-DRIVEN SCHOOLS: Phi Delta Kappa forges ahead. (#6)
===== STATESIDE =====
*1 CALIBRATING TEXAS REFORM LAW: TIME TO CHANGE CHANGE
Several provisions of the Texas education reform bill passed
last year already are in need of change, according to state Rep
Paul Sadler (D). Public school choice, charter schools and a
"safe school" provision were discussed last week when the House
Public Education Committee conducted public hearings on the
reform law, Senate Bill 1 (Stutz, THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 10/3).
According to Sadler, only 25 of the thousands of eligible
students participated in a program that allowed students to
transfer to a school within their district or a neighboring
district if their home school was given a low rating. "The
numbers are so low that it tells you there is something wrong
with the program," said Sadler, who was one of the authors of the
education reform bill.
Under a provision of Senate Bill 1, students become eligible
for "Public Education Grants" if their school is rated "low
performing" by the state or had a passing rate lower than 50% on
the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills in any of the past three
years. Parents interested in transferring their children to
another school would receive a state grant of $4,000 to $5,000 to
be sent to the receiving school, reports the paper. Funding
problems may be a major stumbling block, surmises Sadler. "The
problem is there may be a financial benefit in rejecting students
in the PEG program," he said. Many districts refused to accept
PEG students, noting that the program is voluntary. Sadler
added: "It appears that school districts ar getting less money
for these students than they should."
Some school districts also may fear lawsuits if they accept
some students and not others. The choice program strongly
discourages discrimination, notes the paper.
Charter schools also may be due for a change. The 1995 law
allowed for 20 charter schools to be created statewide. The NEWS
reports that those charters already have been assigned, and some
legislators and Gov. George Bush (R) are seeking to expand the
number of charter schools next year.
Lawmakers also will examine the "safe school" provision,
which requires alternative education programs for disruptive
students, notes the paper. Sadler: "I think we will see some
changes, including more funding for these programs and revised
due-process procedures for a child who is accused of certain
misconduct."
==== CITY HALL ====
*2 IT'S HAMMER TIME: 109 CHICAGO SCHOOLS ON PROBATION
Chicago's "powerful" new school administration put 109 of
the city's schools on probation using a single criteria: schools
where fewer than 15% of the students score at or above the
national norm for their grade on standardized reading tests
(Walsh, WASH POST, 10/2).
"We are not going to wait around for another generation for
the schools to improve," Chicago's schools Chief Executive
Officer Paul Vallas told the POST. He described the probation
notice as "the hammer" in the new administration's education
plan. "It allows us to intervene in chronically underperforming
schools."
The 38 high schools and 71 elementary schools will receive
extra assistance from the central administration in the form of
better training for ineffective teachers, financial experts to
review high school budgets and four- to ten-member teams composed
of academics, administrators and retired principals to overhaul
each schools improvement plan, writes the CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
(Zimmermann, 10/2). The teams will establish long-range goals
and examine the quality of instruction, school safety, truancy
and staff development.
Each school will be assigned a university or other
education-related organization partner. "So many factors are
responsible for the education challenge. ... To respond other
than comprehensively is not to respond," said Barbara Radner,
director of DePaul U's Center for Urban Education. "Everybody's
paying attention to a problem that is everybody's problem."
Teachers and principals who after better training do not
improve will be fired, under the broad powers held by the central
office. The central office also could re-organize or close
schools that remain abysmal, reports the paper.
The Chicago Teachers Union embraces the probation process;
however, other education groups are less sanguine. "We don't
disagree with taking this action theoretically," explained Julie
Woestehoff, executive director of Parents United for Responsible
Education. "Our problem is we don't have a lot of trust that
this administration can actually improve the schools or that it
can be done from the central office or by inducing people to do
things out of fear."
"My major concern is that they never set up any system of
objective evaluation," said Joan Jeter Slay, associate director
of Designs for Change, an advocacy group. "There are all kinds
of games you can play with tests and numbers" to show
improvement, she added.
Editorials in the SUN TIMES and Chicago TRIBUNE strongly
endorse the probation notice. It's "long overdue," writes the
TRIBUNE. "When students' failure to learn reaches such
proportions, serious -- even drastic -- measures are in order,"
pens the paper.
From the Sun-TIMES: "If a doctor cured only 15% of his
patients, he'd soon lose his practice. ... Unfortunately,
achieving a 15% reading rate is the minimum the school board will
require to get a school off probation. The standard should be
higher. Much higher."
The SUN TIMES also counters charges that the central
administration has usurped local school control. "True, this
central administration takeover is contrary to school reform
philosophy, which said schools would improve by returning control
to the local communitites. Yet here we are, seven years later,
and students still can't read. There's no more time to argue
about control; it's time for tough action."
===== TAKING STOCK =====
*3 "VALUES AND THE SCHOOLS:" NOT MUCH HAS CHANGED IN 60 YEARS
A study conducted by Phi Delta Kappa reports that today's
teachers think students should learn the same values as teachers
did 60 years ago. In the September PDK RESEARCH BULLETIN, Jack
Frymier and other researchers present the findings of their Study
of Core Values, which is based on a 1938 book published by the
Education Policies Commission titled "The Purposes of Education
in American Democracy."
The commission's book was written during a time when
"democracy was on trial," writes PDK. According to PDK, "two
conflicting value systems were competing for attention:" one
promoting democracy, the other totalitarian power. The book
concludes with 43 objectives for schools to put in place to
promote democratic values. PDK's Study of Core Values took the
43 objectives and added 11 of their own. The values then were
transformed into statements on a questionnaire about values in
the schools. Another questionnaire was composed of value
statements derived from numerous sources that "represented the
other forces at work in the world in the 1930s, the anti-
democratic or authoritarian forces represented by Hitler,
Mussolini, and Stalin," writes PDK.
The two questionnaires, one emphasizing value statements
representing democratic values and the other statements that
represented authoritarian values, were given to two groups of
educators. PDK reports that 3,613 educators completed the two
questionnaires.
A review of the responses found that 67% of the respondents
shared the same views on 75% of the value statements used in the
two questionnaires. From PDK: "These figures indicate general
agreement among educators regarding which values should be taught
in schools." For example, respondents strongly agreed with the
following statements: "the educated person is fair and just in
relationships with other people" (91%); "the educated citizen
accepts his civic duties" (94%); and "the educated person assumes
responsibility for his own actions" (95%).
However, respondents were divided on several values
statements, including: "what youth needs most is strict
discipline, rugged determination, and the will to work and fight
for family and country (52% agree, 48% disagree); and although
leisure is a fine thing, it is hard work that makes life
interesting and worthwhile (53% to 47%).
The researchers conclude that values appreciated by
educators today are "remarkably similar" to values thought
important by educators 60 years ago. Another finding:
"educators and non-educators alike think that the home is the
primary agency for developing values in the young, but school and
church both have an important role to play."
Finally, the researchers report a gap between the values
taught in school today and what should be taught, as noted by
educators. "Schools are not doing nearly as well in teaching
values as most of the educators who responded thought they should
be doing," writes PDK.
Additional copies of this RESEARCH BULLETIN can be obtained
by contacting Betty Bradbury at 800/766-1156.
===== FROM COURTHOUSE TO SCHOOLHOUSE =====
*4 SEXUAL HARASSMENT AT SCHOOL: SERIOUS BUSINESS
While the nation's attention was focused on a six-year-old
boy's plight after kissing a little girl on the cheek, sexual
harassment cases are rapidly increasing at America's schools.
Yet, the area of law dealing with sexual harassment by students
against other students remains "murk[y]." (Lewin, N.Y. TIMES,.
10/6).
At the end of the summer, federal guidelines were issued to
school districts that warned if schools did not take appropriate
steps to stop student-on-student harassment the schools would be
in violation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, a
law that prohibits sex discrimination in schools that receive
federal funds," explains the paper.
However, several recent court rulings have been "sharply
divided" over whether schools can be held liable for peer
harassment or whether Title IX applies only to discriminatory
behavior by a district and its employees, writes the TIMES.
Naomi Gittens, a lawyer at the National Association of
School Boards commented on the recent spate of sexual harassment
cases. "Of course it's an over-reaction to suspend a six- or
seven-year old for a kiss on the cheek. It's pretty clear that's
not sexual harassment under the law, and at that age you
shouldn't be talking about sexual harassment. You should be
talking to kids about what kind of touching is O.K., whether it's
kissing or hitting. But I can sympathize with schools' thinking
that they'll try to avoid liability by having some definite
policy saying anything like this is sexual harassment. We're
getting more calls than ever from boards who are confused."
The TIMES reports on a Calif. case that demonstrates the
complexity involved in a peer harassment suit. Eleven-year-old
Tianna Ugarte "endured months of sexual taunting and threats from
a sixth-grade classmate," writes the paper. According to
Tianna's lawyer Sandra Springs, the family did not want to sue.
Springs: "They just wanted the school to get the boy into
counseling. But the school decided it was better to let this
girl be terrorized every day than to do something about the boy.
The superintendent told the parents that little girls are
sometimes just too sensitive."
School officials claim the case is more complex. "We told
the Ugartes we have to verify the evidence," said Alan Newell,
school superintendent. "We did investigate, and our
investigations concluded there was some name calling, but never
verified any of the other allegations," he said. "School
districts are caught in the middle. Remember, we weren't doing
the harassing. We're the entity with the deep pockets. It's
easy for us to be implicated and to be portrayed as being the
district up against the poor child. That's not an enviable
position."
Another case in New York's South Kortright School District
centers on Eve Bruneau and a fellow sixth-grader. Bruneau claims
it is impossible to learn in a classroom where boys call her and
other girls names like "whore" and "ugly dog-faced bitch." The
boys also allegedly cut girls hair and grab their breasts.
According to the TIMES, the district sought dismissal of the
case, "arguing that it was not legally liable for students'
behavior."
The TIMES writes that there is no consensus about what
standards should apply in peer harassment cases. In Eve's case,
the court ruled that "schools are responsible for stopping the
harassment of students by other students, under much the same
standards as those that apply to employers, who are responsible
if workers harass other workers." Verna Williams, a lawyer at
the National Women's Law Center, agrees that the standard that
applies in the workplace should apply in school. "A woman in an
office doesn't have to put up with co-workers taunting her or
grabbing her breasts or genitals, and neither should a girl in a
classroom."
The federal guidelines issued in August holds that a school
can be held liable for "maintaining a hostile environment, ... if
it knows or should have known of the harassment and failed to
take adequate measures to stop it," notes the paper.
But other federal courts do not accept that standard.
Instead, they argue school districts should be liable under Title
IX only for their own employees conduct. The TIMES explains:
"Workers act as agents of their employers, some lawyers argue,
but students are not in any way agents of their schools." While
employers can fire workers charged with harassment, schools have
limited options in punishing student offenders.
Many educators argue that sexual harassment issues should
"not be resolved in the courts but in classroom discussion about
appropriate behavior," writes the paper.
*5 OUT-OF-COURT SETTLEMENT: TALKED ABOUT AT BOSTON LATIN
An out-of-court settlement is a possible option for Boston
Latin School Committee President Robert Gittens (Cornell, THE
BOSTON HERALD, 10/3). "I am not opposed fo finding some grounds
for settlement, if we can find grounds acceptable to the
committee," he said.
Julia McLaughlin, who is white, sued the school committee
last year after she was denied admission, even though she scored
higher than 103 blacks and Hispanics who were admitted (See DRC
10-13-95). Her father, Michael who is serving as her lawyer in
the case, said he would only accept a settlement that ensures the
admission process is based strictly on merit, reports the paper.
Gittens exposed his "open hand" the day after a federal
judge told the school he "would not accept" the 35% set-aside for
blacks and Hispanics at the city's three exam schools, including
Boston Latin, writes the paper. U.S. District Judge Arthur
Garrity set the trial date for 19 November.
The HERALD also reports that the school committee could
decide to "negotiate their way out of the case" at a 16 October
meeting.
==== PROMISING PRACTICES ====
*6 VALUES-DRIVEN SCHOOLS: PHI DELTA KAPPA FORGES AHEAD
The League of Values-Driven Schools is the brainchild of PHi
Delta Kappa, an international professional education fraternity,
and is comprised of 40 schools, local chapters and PDK
International. The purpose is to foster the "development of
positive beliefs and behaviors among students, teachers,
administrators and parents regarding certain core values," writes
NEWS, NOTES AND QUOTES, a PDK publication (Fall 1996).
PDK Senior Fellow Jack Frymier explains that the League is
an outgrowth of a PDK chapter-based Study of Core Values, which
he directed. (See today's DRC, #3) According to Frymier, the
study concluded that there are several core values on which most
people agree, "and that those values have changed very little
over at least the last 60 years," writes the newsletter.
Several of the schools involved in the study decided they
wanted to continue work on values. PDK researchers involved in
the study concurred and recommended that PDK crate a league of
schools to practice and advocate democratic values.
Seven values underlie the new program: learning, honesty,
cooperation, service to others, freedom, responsibility and
civility. "Other values are important and should be fostered,"
said Frymier,. "But these seven values will be singled out for
regular attention and special emphasis in all league schools."
Initially, the league will involve only high schools.
Principals, parents and faculty must demonstrate a commitment to
the program's principles and values. Once selected, the schools
will establish a local task force of professionals and parents
that will coordinate school activities, notes the newsletter.
PDK intends to facilitate communication among league schools,
provide materials and activities and conduct and coordinate
research. Biennial conferences, one for students and one for
principals, will be organized by PDK, which also will evaluate
the programs and provide technical assistance.
NEWS, NOTES AND QUOTES concedes that a program that teaches
values in public schools is fraught with peril. Yet, "questions
concerning schools and core values come up repeatedly over the
years," writes the newsletter. Frymier warns that "the
possibilities for teaching and learning about values in schools
dare not be ignored."
The Templeton Foundation, Gund Foundation and an anonymous
PDK member are the league's major funders.
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John Kurilecjmk@ofcn.org