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--- Friday --- December 6, 1996 --- Vol. 6 --- No. 93 ---
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THE NATIONAL UPDATE ON AMERICA'S EDUCATION REFORM EFFORTS
A service of the National Education Goals Panel
__________ __________
"RACIST PSEUDO-SCIENCE" | SPOTLIGHT |
. . . is what Leon Todd, a | |
black Milwaukee school board | OFF THE MARK? |
member, labeled Afrocentrist | |
curriculum. Todd wants | The U.S. Supreme Court |
Afrocentrist curricula to be | ruled in July that |
banned. | Hartford, Conn.'s, public |
"Afrocentrism mythologizes | school system is |
and falsifies the past and | unconstitutionally |
provides inaccurate information | segregated. They ordered |
about the treatment of blacks | the state legislature to |
in the ancient Mediterranean | come up with a remedy. But |
world," he said. | a panel charged with making |
The CHICAGO TRIBUNE writes | desegregation recommenda- |
that more than 1,000 students | tions is stymied over how |
are enrolled in two black | to desegregate the schools. |
immersion schools in Milwaukee | |
-- Martin Luther King Jr. | So far the Educational |
Elementary School and Malcolm X | Improvement Panel, created |
Academy (12/3). | by Gov Rowland, has focused |
In his resolution to ban | on expanding preschools and |
Afrocentrism in the schools, | adding more school-based |
Todd blames the curricula for a | family services to improve |
"dramatic increase in the | inner-city education. |
achievement gap between black | |
children and middle class | Some panel members are |
children," writes the paper. | chagrined that they cannot |
Josephine Mosley, principal | more directly attack |
at Martin Luther King Jr. | desegregation issues |
Elementary School, disagrees. | Perhaps it is because |
"Teaching children about their | they are equally bent on |
culture, history, and heritage | enhancing education |
does make a difference," she | opportunities for low- |
claims. | income families. (#5) |
|_____________________________|
============== QUOTE OF THE DAY
====
"This case is solely about what is in the best interests of one
disabled boy. The answer for Mark does not necessarily mean that
the same answer would be appropriate for all other autistic
children." -- Judge Leonie M. Brinkema, on the scope of her
decision to mainstream an autistic child.
(#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 |
Staff Writer: Rosemary Polanco |
|_______________________________________________________________|
============== TABLE OF CONTENTS ==============
GOAL TWO: SCHOOL COMPLETION
TRUANCY COURT: First of its kind in Connecticut. (#1)
STATESIDE
CARLSON'S NEW ED PLAN: Less on vouchers, more on testing. (#2)
INCLUSION
EVERYONE A WINNER: Results of inclusion study. (#3)
A MAINSTREAM VICTORY: Autistic Virginia boy wins battle. (#4)
FROM COURTHOUSE TO SCHOOLHOUSE
CONN. DESEGREGATION PANEL: A call for more pre-schools. (#5)
===== GOAL TWO: SCHOOL COMPLETION =====
*1 TRUANCY COURT: FIRST OF ITS KIND IN CONNECTICUT
New Haven, Conn., students who are constantly truant from
school will face a newly created truancy court, where their cases
will be heard and sanctions meted out by a judge (Taylor,
Hartford COURANT, 12/4). "If young people are not in school, the
school can't teach them," said Reginald Mayo, superintendent of
schools in New Haven. "And if they are not in school, success is
not a part of their future."
The court, first of its kind in Conn., emerged as a joint
effort among state Senator Toni Harp (D), Judge Aaron Ment, Mayor
John DeStefano Jr. and Mayo. Students with more than four
unexcused absences in a month or 10 days in a school year will be
sent to the court. According to the paper, the court will meet
once a month in Superior Court.
Truancy cases will be handled swiftly, writes the paper.
Students will make one court appearance and a decision will be
issued at that session. The judge will select from several
sanctions, including: require the student to perform community
service in school; refer the student for counseling; fine the
parents $25 per incident; order the parent to accompany the
student to school; or require the parent to attend parenting
classes.
Since truancy often is a family problem, the court also
could refer the family to the state Department of Social
Services, writes the paper.
The paper explains that the truancy court is the final phase
of an initiative begun in 1995 to curtail truancy. Police teams
are charged with finding students who are hanging out on the
streets and return them to school or visit their homes in the
evening, notes the paper. And a truancy peer court was
established for middle school students who are at risk of
becoming drop outs or truants.
===== STATESIDE =====
*2 CARLSON'S NEW ED PLAN: LESS ON VOUCHERS, MORE ON TESTING
Minn. Gov Arne Carlson's new education reform proposal is a
reversal from his initial plan that focused on private school
vouchers (Smith and Smith, Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 12/4). (See
DRC 2/16/96 for Carlson's first plan). His latest plan features
tax incentives for private-school enrollment and tax breaks for
"various investments by families with children in public
schools," writes the paper.
The new plan would offer a "tax credit or expanded deduction
for every kid in school -- public, private or home school," said
one official in the Carlson administration. "Every family will
be a beneficiary."
According to the paper, the plan was well-received by state
lawmakers. One Republican legislator described the plan as
"sweeping in scope" and explained that under it, parents of
public school students could receive state tax credits for
investments in home computers and summer school," notes the
paper.
Carlson's proposal also requires statewide testing of
students, which is currently forbidden by state law. Reports to
parents on statewide testing could include not only test scores,
but dropout rates and other performance indicators, as well as
demographic information for each school.
Several provisions of the old plan were eliminated, making
Carlson's new proposal more palatable for the teacher unions,
writes the paper. For example, the new one does not include
"provocative" proposals such as restricting the right to strike
and reducing a public school teachers' protection from dismissal
under tenure policies," writes the paper.
Yet, the tax credit for private school provision may stir
more controversy. One official noted that "the tax credits will
be especially large for poor families . . . but we also realize
that other families have needs too." Rep. Matt Entenza, chairman
of the House Education Committee's Quality Education
Subcommittee, warned that if the "basic thrust" of the plan is to
make it easy for parents to move their children from public to
private schools, he and others will oppose its passage. Entenza
praised the plan's emphasis on technology, longer school days and
year and additional funds for charter schools.
==== INCLUSION ====
* 3 EVERYONE A WINNER: RESULTS OF INCLUSION STUDY
The inclusion of Down Syndrome students in typical
classrooms benefits the students and their classmates, according
to results of a study issued by the National Down Syndrome
Society. Over 320 questionnaires were mailed to parent/teacher
pairs nationwide in the Spring of 1995. Ninety parent/teacher
response pairs were returned between the Summer of 1995 and
Spring of 1996.
Findings indicate that four factors can predict parental
satisfaction with an inclusion experience: ease of initial
placement experience; friends in class; unity between special
education and regular education; and a match of teacher
personality and style to the skills of the student, with the
teacher adept at adapting lessons to be more "hands on" and
relying on visual cues.
According to the report, "almost all teachers who responded
found inclusion enjoyable, with some calling it the single most
interesting and rewarding experience of their careers."
The report also suggested several in-class strategies to
facilitate inclusive education, including: assign tasks that are
appropriate to developmental level and are well explained; create
a success-oriented atmosphere; allow students to participate in
developing the rules or the design of the lessons; provide
external cues and rewards, then gradually fade them so the
rewards become internally based, and the student remains
motivated; and encourage social rewards and becoming buddies with
peers.
The National Down Syndrome Society "holds that inclusive
education incorporating appropriate support systems and adapted
curricula, should be available to all students with
disabilities," writes the survey.
A copy of the "Educational Challenges Inclusion Study" can
be obtained by sending a check or money order for $10 to the NDSS
Educational Challenges Program; 666 Broadway, 8th FLoor; New
York, N.Y. 10012-2317.
*4 A MAINSTREAM VICTORY: AUTISTIC VA. BOY WINS BATTLE
U.S. District Court Judge Leonie M. Brinkema this week ruled
that the Loudoun County school district must teach an autistic
child in a regular classroom rather than in a special class for
disabled students (Estrada, WASH POST, 12/5).
In 1994, Loudoun school officials removed Mark Hartmann,
then a second-grade student, from his regular class, writes the
paper. Subsequently, Mark, who is autistic, and his mother moved
to Blacksburg, Va., where the boy attends class at Kipps
Elementary School, "which has drawn national recognition for its
efforts to include disabled children," reports the POST. His
father continues to live in Loudoun.
"A lot of us were hoping this would happen," said Mary Lynn
Corcoran, of Neighborhood Schools Now, a Fairfax, Va.-based group
that advocates inclusion. Even though each student should be
assessed individually, we feel children benefit greatly from
inclusion. What's happening in Loudoun can't do anything but
help us with our cause. I think school officials will see the
writing on the wall," she added.
In her decision, Judge Brinkema wrote that "The Loudoun
County Board of Education . . . failed to follow the advice of
properly qualified experts . . . and instead placed staff . . .
who had inadequate training and experience [in charge of Mark],
thereby dooming their inclusion efforts to failure." Brinkema
found that the district violated the federal law that mandates
school districts to "make every effort to mainstream children
with disabilities," writes the paper.
Her decision overruled 1994 decisions issued by the Loudoun
school district and a Va. DoEd hearing examiner, both of which
said Mark would be "better educated" in a classroom for disabled
children, notes the POST.
However, Brinkema stated that her decision was meant solely
for Mark's case. The case is not "a battle between proponents of
inclusion and separation," she wrote. "This case is solely about
what is in the best interests of one disabled boy. The answer
for Mark does not necessarily mean that the same answer would be
appropriate for all other autistic children."
===== FROM COURTHOUSE TO SCHOOLHOUSE =====
*5 CONN. DESEGREGATION PANEL: A CALL FOR MORE PRE-SCHOOLS
The Educational Improvement Panel, created by Conn. Gov John
Rowland in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's desegregation
ruling in Sheff vs. O'Neill, has called for an expansion of
preschool programs and school-based family services in the
state's most disadvantaged cities (Frahm, Hartford COURANT,
12/4). "I am delighted to hear they are moving down that track,"
commented Yale U Professor Edward Zigler, one of the founders of
the federal Head Start program.
The July Supreme Court decision found Hartford's public
schools to be unconstitutionally segregated. The court ordered
the legislature to solve the problem. (See DRC 7/10/96 for Sheff
vs. O'Neill decision.) According to the paper, nearly 95% of
Hartford's schoolchildren are black or Hispanic, and many are
from low-income families.
While the commission created by Rowland has not yet figured
a way to remedy the desegregation problem, members state they
will include an expansion of preschool programs and school-based
family support services in their plan. "Let's get as many kids
as we can [into] preschool education as quickly as possible,"
said Rep. Lawrence Cafero (R).
Zigler observed that inner-city children are the least
likely to enroll in preschools. He pointed to the Six to Six
Interdistict Magnet School in Bridgeport, Conn., as a model
program that links the "goals of racial integration and preschool
education," writes the paper. According to the COURANT, the
school operates year-round, provides all-day child care for
preschoolers, and attracts a diverse student body from Bridgeport
and its suburbs.
Mary Fulton, a researcher at the Education Commission of the
States, noted that Conn. is one of about 30 states that uses
state funds to support preschool programs. "There has been
tremendous growth in state support for pre-kindergarten programs
the last five years," she said. According to Fulton, Ga. boasts
one of the most ambitious programs, and uses state lottery funds
to support pre-school programs.
Panel members also endorsed family resource centers located
in public schools that provide a range of services, from day-care
to adult education. Already, the state supports 30 centers in
various cities. "Perhaps the best thing happening in Stamford
from an educational point of view is the family resource center
at Rogers School," said panelist Dudley Williams, a member of the
Stamford Board of Education.
The center operates year-round and includes pre-school child
care, before- and after-school care for school-age children,
training classes for parents, adult education, teen pregnancy-
prevention programs and a referral service for sundry community
agencies, writes the paper.
Some panel members, while endorsing preschool and school-
based family centers, conceded that they were disappointed the
committee has not moved ahead to find a solution for Hartford's
desegregation woes. "I'm just very disappointed with the way
we're moving," said panel member Yvonne Duncan, a lawyer with the
state Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities. "If we don't
address the problem presented by Sheff, there is little point in
being here."
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