--- Wednesday --- October 9, 1996 --- Vol. 6 --- No. 73 ---
D #### ##### #### ### #### #### ##### ### #### ####
A ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ##
I #### #### #### ## ## #### ## ## ##### #### ## ##
L ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ##
Y ## ## ##### ## ### ## ## ## ##### ## ## ## ## ####
THE NATIONAL UPDATE ON AMERICA'S EDUCATION REFORM EFFORTS
A service of the National Education Goals Panel
__________ __________
NEW FUNDS, MORE GRANTS | SPOTLIGHT |
The recent omnibus federal | |
budget agreement provides | "SCHOOL STORIES" |
nearly $57M for technology | |
challenge grants in the new | News accounts of American |
fiscal year. U.S. Ed Sec | education typically cover |
Richard Riley wasted no time in | school problems, which |
awarding 24 new Challenge | there are many. Rarely are |
Grants for Technology In | successful solutions to the |
Education to school, library, | problems pointed out to the |
museum, community and business | public. That is the |
partnerships in 16 states. | purpose of "School |
Nineteen Challenge Grants were | Stories," a collaboration |
awarded last year, serving 1.2 | between the National |
million students and training | Education Association, |
thousands of teachers. The new | Discovery Communications, |
awards, totaling $23M, will be | Inc., and the Learning |
used to integrate new | Channel. Beginning this |
technologies into state or | month, "School Stories" |
local education reform efforts. | will air on the Discovery |
Each project supports improved | Channel, promising real- |
training for teachers and | life solutions to common |
promotes greater parent and | classroom problems. (#5) |
community involvement in | The series premiers 14 |
education. | October, 12:30 p.m. est, |
| and highlights the work of |
SAFE HOUSE | two teachers: Mary Beth |
Los Angeles homes decorated | Blegen (Worthington, Minn.) |
with a special yellow triangle | and John Fuerst (Austin, |
are "Safe Houses" for children | Texas). The teachers |
navigating mean streets. The | exhibit different teaching |
program is a joint venture of | styles, but are highly |
the school district and the | successful at getting the |
police department (SCHOOL BOARD | most out of their students. |
NEWS (10/1). |_____________________________|
============== QUOTE OF THE DAY ==============
"There is a crisis in American education, but the crisis is not
entirely in America's schools." -- Laurence Steinberg, professor
of psychology at Temple U. (#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 DEVELOPMENT
IN THE MONEY: Teachers' board wins grants. (#1)
MONEY MATTERS
MARKETING EDUCATION: How to get funds from business. (#2)
FROM COURTHOUSE TO SCHOOLHOUSE
REJECTING HARASSMENT SUIT: High Court rejects appeal. (#3)
TESTS AND TESTING
TerraNova: "Groundbreaking" assessment series. (#4)
T.V. TIME
NEW TELEVISION SERIES: Solutions to school problems. (#5)
HE SAID, SHE SAID
IS THERE AN EDUCATIONAL CRISIS?: Two opinions. (#6)
===== GOAL FOUR: TEACHER EDUCATION/PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT =====
*1 IN THE MONEY: TEACHERS' BOARD WINS GRANTS
The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards
recently was awarded two grants; one to fund a study of
certification rates in assessment work, the other to develop a
teacher leadership initiative to promote National Board
Certification in the South (NBPTS press release, 10/4).
The Spencer Foundation awarded the first grant, totaling
$469,600. Dr. Lloyd Bond, a senior advisor to the NBPTS and a
professor of educational research methodology at the U of North
Carolina at Greensboro, will identify factors that lead teachers
to successful achievement of National Board Certification.
"This grant from The Spencer Foundation will enable the
National Board to further study the positive impact National
Board Certification has on teachers and their students," said
James Kelly, president of the NBPTS. Bond commented that the
NBPTS is "going to great lengths to ensure that National Board
Certification is both fair and rigorous, and that it recognizes
accomplished teachers." Because the certification process is
performance-based, national board certification is a "tremendous
challenge requiring teachers to reflect and analyze on nearly
everything they do in their classroom and why," he added.
To earn national board certification, teachers demonstrate
their knowledge and skills through an intensive year-long series
of performance-based assessments, including portfolios of student
work, written reflection, videotapes and rigorous analyses of
their classroom teaching. Teachers also complete assessment
center exercises that include essays that "probe the depth of
their knowledge and thinking," writes the release. Currently,
there are 376 National Board Certified Teachers nationwide.
BellSouth Foundation awarded the NBPTS a $200,000 grant to
develop a teacher leadership initiative that promotes national
board certification in the South. "This area of the country has
been a leader in bringing National Board Certification to
America's teachers," said Mary-Dean Barringer, vice president of
Programs for the Advancement of Teaching with the NBPTS.
"Policymakers have established a range of incentives that teaches
have embraced. The BellSouth Foundation grant offers an exciting
opportunity for teachers to join policymakers in expanding the
community of National Board Certified Teachers."
Projects to be undertaken include recruiting teachers to
train and serve as assessors for future National Board Certified
Teacher candidate performances, participate in teacher leadership
seminars in select state, become active in state education policy
initiatives, and involve their colleagues in various assessment
pilot testing.
===== MONEY MATTERS =====
*2 MARKETING EDUCATION: HOW TO GET FUNDS FROM BUSINESS
A handful of cash-strapped schools are exploring new ways to
secure corporate funds. Using the Olympics as a model, they are
seeking corporations to become "official sponsors" of an
extracurricular program or athletic team (Stover, SCHOOL BOARD
NEWS, 10/1).
"This is a commercial relationship, not a philanthropic
one," says Joseph Okchefske, chief financial officer for the
Seattle school district. "We're following the Olympic model. We
may have cheerleaders brought to you by Reebok or Kraft
sponsoring nutrition education."
The Colorado Springs school district has raised corporate
funds by selling advertising space in hallways and on school
buses, notes the newsletter. And the McKinney, Texas school
board last year signed a $2M, 15-year contract with Coca Cola,
giving the firm exclusive rights to sell soft drinks at schools
and advertise on athletic scoreboards and drink cups, according
to the NEWS.
"The message will be that these corporations are behind our
kids and education," explained Christine Smith, who oversees
Denver's corporate sponsorship initiative. "And as a community,
we should be supporting these corporations." The Denver school
system is searching for a group of large corporations to
contribute $100,000 each "in exchange for the cachet of
sponsoring a district program," reports the newsletter.
According to Terry Boehmn, executive director of the
Hillsborough County (Fla.) Education Foundation, the marketing
needs of today's corporations play into the movement toward "big
sponsors" for public schools. "You'll hear school officials
talking about having 1,000 partnerships with businesses. But the
problem is that this approach creates a lack of focus," said
Boehm. "You end up with a lot of small projects ... and
collectively you fall far short of the mark that colleges and
universities enjoy in their [fund-raising] efforts." He added:
"To get a corporation interested is a numbers game. A
corporation has limited resources [to invest], and it needs an
opportunity to hit a wide area."
The new strategy to raise significant corporate dollars has
its critics. "Every time a school district does this, the message
they send to Corporate America is, 'Come on down. Our children
are for sale to the highest bidder," said Alex Molnar, author of
"Giving Kids the Business: The Commercialization of America's
Schools."
Some school officials counter that "strict limits are being
established to prevent the schools from being turned into a
vehicle for corporate advertising," writes the newsletter.
Smith: "We're not going to put up ads in the classrooms or
anything like that. And we're also going to be careful not to
sell products. But if we can expand the participation [of local
businesses] by making parents and the community aware of their
support, we're very willing to do that."
===== FROM COURTHOUSE TO SCHOOLHOUSE =====
*3 REJECTING HARASSMENT SUIT: U.S. HIGH COURT REJECTS APPEAL
School district officials yearning for a legal consensus on
student-on-student sexual harassment were disheartened by the
U.S. Supreme Court's decision to not hear a Texas sexual
harassment case (Biskupic, WASH POST, 10/8). On their first day
back to court, the Supreme Court justices declined to hear the
case of Debra Rowinsky, who claims the Bryan Independent School
District did nothing to end the sexual harassment of her
daughters by male classmates on the bus to and from school.
The decision to not hear the case let stand an opinion
issued by the Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, which held
that schools cannot be held liable for failing to prevent sexual
harassment among students. Rowinsky v. Bryan Independent school
District focused on Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of
1972, which prohibits sex discrimination in schools that receive
federal funds. Many advocates of using Title IX in student-on-
student sexual harassment cases argue that the same standard that
applies in the workplace should apply in the classroom (See
10/7/96 DRC).
However, the lower court ruled that "it is not enough that
[a school district] knew or should have known about sexual
harassment at the school or did not effectively deal with such
complaints." The POST reports that the appeals court ruling
contradicts decisions issued by other courts and the U.S. DoEd's
policy on sex discrimination. "Title IX protects young women
attending school in some parts of the country from humiliating
peer harassment that threatens their ability to pursue an
education and jeopardizes their school performance and personal
well-being," said Rowinsky's lawyers. "Young women who attend
school in the Fifth Circuit [Texas, La., and Miss.] now have no
Title IX right to an education free from debilitating peer
harassment and no recourse from oppressive sexual abuse
perpetrated by their male counterparts."
School district lawyers disagreed. "Contrary to the
petition, Rowinsky will not leave female students in the Fifth
Circuit without protection from debilitating peer harassment.'
School districts may lose their federal funding, may be
investigated by the [DoEd's Office of Civil Rights], and may be
sued for damages where intentional discrimination by these school
districts is established. Students also may file criminal
charges against or sue their perpetrators."
The POST explains that the Rowinsky girls "allegedly had
endured nine months of repeated taunts, groping and grabbing
while riding the bus to school." In another lawsuit, a Calif.
girl was awarded $500,000 in damages, to be paid by the Antioch
School District (Calif.), after a jury agreed that she was sexual
harassed for months by a male classmate. (See DRC 10/7/96)
==== TESTS AND TESTING ====
*4 TerraNova: "GROUNDBREAKING" ASSESSMENT SERIES
CTB/McGraw-Hill recently unveiled a new "groundbreaking"
assessment series, TerraNova. (CTB/McGraw-Hill press release,
10/1). Five states -- Md., Nev., Mo., Ky., and Wis. -- and more
than one hundred districts nationwide already have adopted the
new series before its official publication, which the release
writes is an "unprecedented occurrence in the assessment field."
On 30 September, CTB/McGraw-Hill hosted a series of events
to introduce TerraNova to educators. Events were held in 12
sites, including, East Brunswick, N.J., Monterey, Calif.,
Cleveland, Ohio, and Westchester/Tarrytown, N.Y.
TerraNova garnered early support because of its: innovative
design; flexible multiple measures approach; responsiveness to
classroom instruction; alignment with education goals and
standards; adherence to the highest technical standards for
reliability, validity and fairness; and support for education
accountability and the proper roles of assessment, writes the
release.
Both basic skills and critical and creative thinking are
assessed under the TerraNova assessment. The assessment uses
real-world topics to engage student interest. For example, one
language arts section centers around a girl's trip to Mexico with
her mother, who is an archaeologist. A letter to her cousin in
Mexico is used to assess grammar skills and comprehension.
From the release: "TerraNova meets the need for an
assessment series that matches classroom instruction, engages
students and puts them at ease so they can do their best work.
It meets the need for a multiple measures approach to student
assessment; and it meets the need for valid, reliable results and
information that can be put to use immediately to improve
instruction in the classroom."
TerraNova is available in English for grades 1-12 in the
following editions: CTBS Survey, CTBS Battery, Multiple
Assessments, Performance Assessments and a Custom component that
can be designed to complement any of the other components. The
Battery editions also provide testing in reading/language arts
and math at the kindergarten level. A comparable Spanish-
language assessment, SUPRA, will be available to schools in 1997.
For more information on TerraNova, contact CTB/McGraw-Hill
at 800/538-9547.
==== T.V. TIME ====
*5 NEW TELEVISION SERIES: SOLUTIONS TO SCHOOL PROBLEMS
The National Education Association in conjunction with
Discovery Communications Inc., and the Learning Channel is
sponsoring "School Stories," a new television series designed to
showcase solutions to common classroom problems (NEA press
release). The series premiers 13 October, at 12:30 p.m. est.
"We often hear stories about problems in education," said
Barby Halstead-Worrell, executive in charge of "School Stories"
for the NEA. "We rarely hear about the solutions to school
problems."
According to the NEA, the public often is made aware of
school fights or neglectful parents. More rare is the story that
reports on a school that has curtailed school violence, or
parents and teachers working together to create solid learning
environments for students. "School Stories" provides a "powerful
reminder that there are exciting and innovative things gong on in
our public school classrooms every day," writes the release.
The weekly show, which will run on Sundays, is a sequel to
an earlier partnership among the NEA, Discovery and The Learning
Channel -- the Emmy Award-winning "Teacher TV." Classroom heros
"who are on the line day in and day out" -- are featured in the
new half-hour program. The premier show, "Connection With Kids,"
features Mary Beth Blegen, the 1996 National Teacher of the
Year," and John Fuerst, who works with emotionally disturbed
middle school children.
On 20 October, "Better Business, Stronger School," will air.
It will feature the German-based Siemens Corporation and their
state-of-the-art training center located in a Wendell, N.C., high
school. "Putting Kids First" will air on 27 October, and will
feature a successful elementary school in Kinston, N.C., that
serves a disadvantaged community.
The NEA release notes that educators will have an
opportunity to purchase the shows with an added 15 minutes of
"how-tos" that feature interviews with the educators profiled in
the weekly program. Each segment costs $19.99 for NEA members,
$24.95 for non-members. Call 800/229-4200 to purchase tapes.
Visit the NEA at NEACTL10@aol.com, or http:\\www.nea.org
==== HE SAID, SHE SAID ====
*6 IS THERE AN EDUCATIONAL CRISIS?: TWO OPINIONS
INSIGHT Magazine asked two professors to answer the
question: "Is the so-called educational crisis a myth created by
conservatives?" David Berliner, professor of education at
Arizona State and Laurence Steinberg, professor of psychology at
Temple U offered opposing views.
Berliner believes that conservatives have blown out of
proportion the problems that ail public schools. He claims that
critics of public education have complained for the past 50 years
about the same issues: students cannot write essays or solve
math problems, and because of low achievement, the nation's
economy is on a downward spiral. These are the same complaints
"trotted out every few years by an older generation unhappy with
its youth," he writes.
A quick check of the facts proves them wrong, according to
Berliner. He point out that although the average SAT score has
declined, it still is a "triumph for American education," because
more students of disadvantaged backgrounds are taking the test.
He also writes that the SAT is not meant to be interpreted as an
achievement test, only as an indicator of success during the
first year of college. Berliner charges that former U.S. Ed Sec
William Bennett is misinformed when he uses the SAT "as if it
measured school achievement ... " Berliner: "The change in the
types of people who took the SAT accounted for most of the
decline in scores that began in 1963."
A deterioration of social conditions is the culprit for any
bulging in the ranks of low-achieving students, claims Berliner.
A rise in single-parent homes, two-career families, neighborhoods
reeking with violence and drugs and distorted values presented by
the media have combined to make it difficult for students to get
a good education. Yet, "in spite of these deteriorating social
conditions for youth, America's schools miraculously have
maintained or improved achievement during the last 25 years," he
writes.
Berliner concedes that American students would not "win
Olympic gold for ... academic performance." International
comparisons leave our students somewhat, though not greatly,
behind, he writes. Part of the problem is that American children
date earlier and "with much greater intensity than is true in
most other nations," and parents do not "work their children as
hard as do parents in other nations," he notes. Berliner also
reports that Asian-American students actually out-perform Asian
students in Asia, "suggesting that American schools work well for
some of their students."
Berliner concludes that America operates two sets of public
schools: one providing a "world-class" education to the wealthy,
white, Asian and Midwestern students, the other an abysmal system
for our poor, Southern, rural and urban students. The problem
is not a crisis in education, but a crisis in American culture,
according to Berliner.
Steinberg dismisses talk of a conservative conspiracy to
condemn public education. He points to low NAEP scores and the
high percentages of students (30% to 40%) needing remedial help
in college. Middle-class parents are told not to become
complacent, since NAEP scores have found that among 17-year-olds
in advantaged urban and suburban schools, writing proficiency
actually has declined over time. And math, science and reading
scores, already low, have not changed for these students,
observes Steinberg.
Steinberg also holds up a National Adult Literacy Study that
found that fewer than half of all American college graduates were
able to write a coherent essay describing an argument presented
in a newspaper article they read or could contrast the opinions
expressed in two opposing editorials.
He concurs with Berliner that the "sorry state of student
achievement in America is due more to the conditions of students'
lives outside of school than it is to what takes place within
school walls." Steinberg: "There is a crisis in American
education, but the crisis is not entirely in America's schools."
Steinberg chastises schools for not setting high-enough
standards, but he also puts the onus on parents who are not
involved, peer groups who mock high-achieving students and "our
society, which celebrates anti-intellectualism and glorifies
stupidity."
Berliner is the author of "The Manufactured Crisis: Myth,
Fraud, and the Attack on America's Public Schools." Steinberg
wrote "Beyond the Classroom: Why School Reform Has Failed and
What Parents Need to Do."
Click here to return to OFCN's
Academy Program
Click here to return to OFCN's Main Index Page.
John Kurilecjmk@ofcn.org