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--- Wednesday --- November 6, 1996 --- Vol. 6 --- No. 84 ---
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THE NATIONAL UPDATE ON AMERICA'S EDUCATION REFORM EFFORTS
A service of the National Education Goals Panel
__________ __________
A STAR PROGRAM | SPOTLIGHT |
The Center to Prevent Handgun | |
Violence and the Circuit Court | WHY SCHOOL? |
of Cook County celebrated the | |
court's first graduation | American teachers and the |
ceremony for its Violence | general public agree on two |
Prevention Intervention | goals of public education, |
Program. The Center's | according to recent polls |
"Straight Talk About Risks | conducted by PDK. Respond- |
(STAR) program's school-based | ents ranked "to prepare |
curriculum for preventing gun | students to become |
violence was adopted for the | responsible citizens," and |
court's violence prevention | "to help people become |
program. STAR's goal is to | economically self- |
decrease gun violence among | sufficient" as the top |
offenders by teaching the | goals of public schooling. |
skills needed to avoid | |
dangerous situations with guns. | However, more than twice |
| as many public respondents |
WHERE TO GET A GOOD MEAL? | as teachers point to the |
Try Duke U. The Physicians | promotion of cultural unity |
Committee for Responsible | as a "very important" goal. |
Medicine placed Duke at the | Twice as many of the public |
head of the class for offering | group said it is "very |
hot, low-fat and cholesterol- | important" for schools to |
free entrees. Other schools | improve social conditions. |
earning top marks: U of | |
Pennsylvania, U of Notre Dame, | The bottom-line: |
COlumbia U and Brown U. | Teachers stand firm that |
Last on the list is the U.S. | their job is to teach. The |
Military Academy at West Point. | family is ultimately |
Typical fare of "artery- | responsible for shaping a |
clogging" entrees like fried | child's social and |
chicken tenders and ham steak | spiritual character. (#2) |
did not make the grade. |_____________________________|
============== QUOTE OF THE DAY ==============
"The class size has made a huge difference. . . .
I feel like I'm doing more teaching now." --
Dale Jacobson, a sixth-grade teacher in Minneapolis. (#5)
_______________________________________________________________
| 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 SIX: ADULT LITERACY AND LIFELONG LEARNING
ADULT LITERACY: A new research center is born. (#1)
TAKING STOCK
WHAT'S ON THEIR MIND: PDK teacher survey. (#2)
FROM COURTHOUSE TO SCHOOLHOUSE
TOO HOT TO HANDLE?: Supreme Court steers clear of prayer. (#3)
PROMISING PRACTICES
CLASS SIZE INITIATIVE: Results released in California. (#4)
CLASS SIZE: Keep it small in Minneapolis. (#5)
===== GOAL SIX: ADULT LITERACY AND LIFELONG LEARNING =====
*1 ADULT LITERACY: A NEW RESEARCH CENTER IS BORN
The U.S. DoEd's Office of Educational Research and
Improvement has funded a new research center to focus on adult
learning and literacy (National Clearinghouse For ESL Literacy
Education, NCLE NOTES, Fall 1996). The Harvard Graduate School
of Education in conjunction with World Education of Boston will
establish the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and
Literacy.
According to NCLE Notes, the Center will conduct the
research development, evaluation and dissemination required to
"build effective, cost-efficient adult learning and literacy
programs." From a NCSALL press release: "Every effort made by
NCSALL is guided by its focus on improving practice."
The Center has been funded for five years and will be
directed by Dr. John Comings. For more information contact the
Center at 617/495-4843, or send an e-mail to
ncsall@huges1.harvard.edu.
===== TAKING STOCK =====
*2 WHAT'S ON THEIR MIND: PDK TEACHER SURVEY
Lack of parental support is the problem that looms largest
for the nation's public school teachers, according to a new Phi
Delta Kappa survey of public school teachers nationwide. A
previous PDK survey of the general public found that drug abuse
topped the public's list of schools' number one enemy.
PDK's third poll of teachers' attitudes toward public
schools was developed to make comparisons between teacher
attitudes and those of the public and to compare changing teacher
attitudes over time. Survey results are published in the
November 1996 PHI DELTA KAPPAN.
According to the survey, teachers oppose government-
sponsored vouchers by a 4-1 margin, while 43% of the public
responded in favor of government vouchers. Less than half of all
teachers (46%) said they would encourage top students they know
to become a teacher, but 73% of the public said they would do so.
Teachers and the public do agree that local teachers are the
group most committed to improving education, but fewer tachers
responded that their governor and state legislature are committed
to improving public edcuation.
The survey also asked teachers selected questions from the
1984 and 1989 PDK/Gallup teacher polls to determine any
fluctuations in teacher attitudes. Teachers remain unchanged in
their opposition to basing promotion from grade to grade on
exams. However, 19% more teachers this year than in 1984 said
high school students should pass a standard national exam to get
a diploma.
In 1984 and 1989, teachers blamed low salaries for the
exodus of teachers from the profession. Today, teachers, for the
first time, point to discipline problems as the main reason their
colleagues leave teaching.
Other findings: a majority of teachers (56%) said
unionization has helped the quality of public education in the
U.S.; 62% said teachers should be required to pass a state board
exam to prove their knowledge in the subjects they will teach in
addition to meeting college requirements for a teacher's
certificate; 67% said all high school students should be required
to pass a standard nationwide exam in order to receive a high
school diploma; 65% approve of the public schools in their
community requiring all students to wear uniforms; 59% of
teachers oppose extending the amount of time children spend in
school and 47% oppose extending time for high school students;
41% said providing all students with access to global electronic
communication systems such as the Internet is very important, 44%
said somewhat important; and 76% favor a community-service
requirement for high school graduation.
Teachers also were asked to rate six purposes of public
education. Eighty-four percent ranked "to prepare students to
become responsible citizens" number one, followed by "to help
people become economically self-sufficient (63%); to increase
people's happiness and to enrich their livers culturally and
intellectually (35%); "to promote cultural unity among all
Americans (31%); to improve social conditions (29%); to minimize
current inequities in education for certain minority groups
(24%).
The survey of the public also ranked citizenship and
economic self-sufficiency as numbers one and two; but it placed
cultural unity next, followed by improving social conditions,
increasing happiness and minimizing inequities.
The mail survey of 2,000 public school teachers nationwide
was conducted in May 1996 by Phi Delta Kappa's Center for
Evaluation, Development and Research. The margin of error was
plus or minus 5%. For more information on the survey, contact
Carol Langdon at 800/766-1156.
===== FROM COURTHOUSE TO SCHOOLHOUSE =====
*3 TOO HOT TO HANDLE?: SUPREME COURT STEERS CLEAR OF PRAYER
The U.S. Supreme Court earlier this week rejected an appeal
by Miss. officials who petitioned the court to allow student-led
prayer in public schools (Biskupic, WASH POST, 11/5). David
Ingrebretsen, executive director of the Miss. American Civil
Liberties Union, his daughter and others filed suit over a state
law that allowed "invocations, benedictions or nonsectarian, non-
proselytizing student-initiated voluntary prayer."
According to the POST, a federal judge "suspended
enforcement of the law except for voluntary, student-led prayers
at graduations." The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld
the ruling, claiming that the state law would cause "improper
state involvement in school prayer," writes the paper. It also
stated that students would be coerced into praying since the
prayer would take place during regular school activities.
The POST notes that the statute in the Supreme Court case,
Moore v. Ingrebretsen, was developed by state lawmakers who were
incensed by the temporary suspension of a Jackson, Mississippi,
school principal who allowed students to begin each school day
with a prayer over the intercom.
While the court over the years has allowed some religious
activity in the schools, it has never reversed its 1962 ban on
prayer and Bible readings, reports the paper. (See DRC 6/8/93 on
Supreme Court's ruling in Lamb's Chapel vs. Center Moriches
School District, which allowed after-school religious activities
to take place on public school property.)
==== PROMISING PRACTICES ====
*4 CLASS SIZE INITIATIVE: RESULTS RELEASED IN CALIFORNIA
About 8,000 new classrooms will be created as a result of
the funding provided for new facilities, announced State
Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin. "The
Legislature allocated $200M for this first phase of class size
reduction, which provides facilities for classes of 20 students
or less in kindergarten through third grade," she said. "Next
month additional funding will be available for the operations
portion of the program, which includes teachers, textbooks,
furniture and supplies."
Eastin further explained, "School districts had to meet a
stringent eligibility test to qualify for funding. While it is
very good news that these additional classrooms are being funded,
the reality is that we received $351M in total eligible requests
for facilities. That means that $151M in requests are going
unfunded in the first year. We expect districts to phase in
class size reduction, and therefore we expect more demand in the
coming years."
Eastin urged the Legislature and the Governor to take steps
to "ensure that these other districts receive help to fund their
pressing facilities' needs for class size reduction, as well as
growth in their student population."
According to Eastin, the law limits the funding to $25,000
for each classroom through this incentive program, "even though
the cost of providing a classroom is actually closer to $40,000
or $50,000. As a result, even those school districts that are
funded are only receiving about half of the money they need to
build additional classrooms or to purchase portables."
In the long term, Eastin said a state bond with a major
portion committed to class size reduction is necessary "if we are
to complete this task fairly and equitably across California."
She regrets the Legislature was not able to place one on this
year's election ballot.
Eastin lauded the efforts of educators statewide, who have
done a "tremendous job of meeting the challenge of reducing class
size quickly." Approximately 570 school districts applied for
the one-time facilities funding, out of 895 districts that have
K-3 classrooms.
A list of school districts by county and the funding they
received to implement the facilities phase of the class-size
reduction program is available at the California DoEd's websit at
http:\\goldmine.cde.ca.gov
*5 CLASS SIZE: KEEP IT SMALL IN MINNEAPOLIS
In 1990, Minneapolis voters approved an excess levy that
paid for the addition of more than 500 teachers, which brought
the city's public school class size down to among the lowest in
the metro area (Drew, Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 10/31). While
the smaller class size did not "produce the kind of academic
gains" expected, many educators and parents contend its benefits
are less measurable, writes the paper.
Dale Jacobson, a sixth-grade teacher: "The class size has
made a huge difference; I feel like I'm doing a much better job
now than when I had 35 kids. . . . I feel like I'm doing more
teaching now." Jacobson explained that with more than 30
students in his class he was forced to "teach to the middle,"
causing higher-achievers to be bored and others to be overwhelmed
by the work. In a smaller class, he is more able to organize
students in smaller groups and customize learning.
More students in a class also prevent Jacobson and other
teachers from moving around through the class to question
children or to review their work. Working one-on-one with
students is another benefit of smaller class size, reports the
paper.
The paper explains that funds for the levy allowed the
district to reduce class size from about 28 to 18 students in
grades K-2, from around 30 to 25 in grades 3-8 and from about 33
to 26 in grades 9-12.
Jeff Burk, Burroughs Community School principal, noted that
large class size often translates into more discipline problems
and "less time spent on learning and instruction," writes the
paper. "There's a whole lot more opportunity to know your
students, know their needs and be able to spend more time with
them," he said. Jacobson added that smaller class size makes it
easier for him to establish a relationship with parents.
School district officials noted a "significant gain" in
achievement scores of Minneapolis students last spring,
regardless of race or class. They attribute part of the success
to smaller class size. Yet, the paper, citing research on class
size, reports that smaller class size does not "translate into
higher academic achievement" until the student-teacher ratio
drops to about 15-to-1 or better.
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