Click here to return to OFCN's Main Index Page.
--- Friday --- December 13, 1996 --- Vol. 6 --- No. 96 ---
D #### ##### #### ### #### #### ##### ### #### ####
A ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ##
I #### #### #### ## ## #### ## ## ##### #### ## ##
L ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ##
Y ## ## ##### ## ### ## ## ## ##### ## ## ## ## ####
THE NATIONAL UPDATE ON AMERICA'S EDUCATION REFORM EFFORTS
A service of the National Education Goals Panel
__________ __________
EMPOWERING WOMEN | SPOTLIGHT |
The American Association fo | |
University Women Educational | BUSINESS SAVVY |
Foundation awarded more than | |
$2.6M in fellowships and grants | The Edison Project has |
for the 1996-1997 academic | demonstrated a remarkable |
year, its highest amount ever | capacity for turning on a |
(AAUW press release, 11/27). | dime when it runs into |
One-fourth of the fellowships | obstacles that could put it |
and grants this year went to | out of business -- a skill |
women of color. Several | no public school system and |
fellowships were specifically | few businesses possess. |
targeted for women from under- | |
represented minority groups to | For example, Edison's |
pursue careers in business, | original vision was a chain |
medicine and law. Other awards | of 1,000 schools. But |
went to women doctoral | Edison officials quickly |
candidates and to women | downsized their dream when |
reentering the workforce, | they realized the enormous |
changing careers, or advancing | amount of resources needed |
their current careers. | and the high probability of |
AAUW is located at 1111 | failure. |
Sixteenth Street NW; | |
Washington, D.C. 20036-4873; | Now, they are basking in |
202/785-7700; home page: | praise for the good work |
http://www.aauw.org. | being accomplished in the |
| smaller-scale Edison |
A DROP IN CRIME | Project -- 12 schools |
The Justice Dept. reports a | nationwide. But can they |
sharp drop in violent crime | make a profit? Only if |
among the youngest offenders -- | they again change course |
children under age 15 -- a drop | and stop bestowing riches |
twice as fast as for older | to classrooms, observe some |
teens. (Suro, WASH POST, | analysts. (#5) |
12/13). |_____________________________|
============== QUOTE OF THE DAY ==============
"Comparing yourself to yourself doesn't show anything." --
California State School Board member Jerry Hume, on denying the
San Carlos school district a waiver that would allow them to use
local performance-based tests rather than state standardized
ones. (#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 THREE: STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT AND CITIZENSHIP
CLOSING THE EQUITY GAP: EQUITY 2000 expanded. (#1)
GIFTED AND TALENTED: How to find the right school. (#2)
GOAL FOUR: TEACHER EDUCATION/PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMEN
TRAINING THE TRAINERS: GirlTECH reaches far and wide. (#3)
STATESIDE
LOCAL CONTROL: Not, says San Carlos. (#4)
THE PRIVATE EYE
IT'S STARTING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE A WINNER: Edison project.(#5)
===== GOAL THREE: STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT AND CITIZENSHIP =====
*1 CLOSING THE EQUITY GAP: EQUITY 2000 EXPANDED
The College Board's EQUITY 2000 program, which seeks to
"redress the gap in success rates and college enrollment between
advantaged and disadvantaged youth," will be expanded beyond the
original six pilot sites launched in 1990 (The College Board
press release, 11/11). "The EQUITY 2000 program has clearly
transformed the educational experience as well as future
opportunities for thousands of students," said College Board
President Donald Stewart. "The expansion of the program will now
widen that circle of opportunity for thousands more disadvantaged
young people across the country."
The six pilot sites are: Fort Worth, Texas; Milwaukee,
Wis.; Nashville, Tenn.; Prince George's County, Md.; Providence,
R.I.; and San Jose, Calif. EQUITY 2000 is a districtwide K-12
program that eliminates tracking at all grade levels and in all
subjects. All students must complete Algebra I by the end of the
ninth grade and geometry by the end of the tenth grade.
In order to accomplish its goals, the program provides
"extensive" professional development for elementary, middle and
high school teachers, counselors and administrators, writes the
release. It also offers academic enrichment for students and
provides parent-involvement activities.
According to the College Board, an evaluation of EQUITY 2000
found that the program is close to achieving its objective of
100% enrollment in Algebra I or higher-level mathematics by the
ninth grade. In the pilot schools, the percentage of ninth
graders enrolled in Algebra I rose from a range of 31% to 69%
before EQUITY 2000, to a range of 61% to 100% afterward. At
Providence, Milwaukee and San Jose Unified, the enrollment of
ninth graders is at 100%.
The report also noted that after EQUITY 2000 was introduced
at the schools, students passed Algebra I at rates comparable to
those before the program was introduced, even though enrollment
has almost doubled. And the percentage of tenth graders enrolled
in geometry rose after the introduction of EQUITY 2000 -- from a
range of 26% to 53% before, to a range of 46% to 77% afterward.
According to the report, more teachers and students are
"grappling with what it means to rethink teaching and learning in
algebra and geometry," which indicates an increased use of
teaching strategies that keep in mind the new standards of the
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
From the report: "Students at the sites are, in general,
being exposed to improved forms of mathematics instruction and to
the skills and knowledge that will better prepare them for
postsecondary education." The preliminary success caused The
College Board to expand EQUITY 2000 from the current six sites to
eight. School districts in Fort Wayne, Ind. and Memphis, Tenn.,
are the first expansion sites for the program.
The College Board intends to add 12 new sites per year; and
by the third year of expansion, as many as 42 sites across the
country may be involved.
Initial support for EQUITY 2000 was provided by the Aetna
Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation, the Amon G. Carter Fund,
the DeWitt Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund, the Ford Foundation, the
General Electric Foundation, the Meadows Foundation, the National
Science Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Sid
Richardson Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett
Foundation.
For more information, see The College Board's Web site:
http://www.collegeboard.org.
*2 GIFTED AND TALENTED: HOW TO FIND THE RIGHT SCHOOL
Carolyn Callahan, president of the National Association for
Gifted Children, offers advice for parents seeking a school able
to handle the needs of their gifted child ("Parenting for High
Potential," December 1996). Callahan recommends eight criteria
to guide parents making a decision of where to send there child:
philosophy, leadership, identification, curriculum, teacher
selection and preparation, support systems, integration, and
evaluation.
For example, under identification, Callahan encourages
parents to discover the process for screening and identifying
students. Does it rely on "valid and reliable measures of
ability and talent? Are there both standardized and non-
standardized assessments?"
She recommends that parents visit the classroom to ascertain
whether the content for gifted students is more "abstract,
requires the transformation of ideas, deals with more complex
ideas, encourages independence of learning, deals with complex
principles and is at a pace that rules out unnecessary repetition
of already learned content and skills."
Parents also should question teacher preparation for dealing
with the gifted child. Callahan: "Not only must teachers be
aware of the differences in the ways gifted students process
information and think, they must also understand the issues that
arise from a mind that is so much more advanced than one's
social, emotional or physical development."
Callahan reminds parents that the gifted child "is not
gifted just one-half day a week. Rather than schools considering
"THE" gifted program, they should consider offering levels of
services so that the education of gifted students is seen as the
responsibility of all teachers and administrators."
She also ranks highly program evaluation. "Is the program
evaluated regularly with attention to both satisfaction of its
clients and also the changes in children that can be attributed
to the program?"
Callahan's column "NEWS: President's Column" is found in a
new quarterly magazine published by the National Association for
Gifted Children. The magazine, "Parenting for High Potential,"
premiered in September and is designed to help parents become
more involved in the lives of their children with gifted and
talented needs. "Parenting the high-potential child is often one
of the hardest things to do, and it takes time, patience, and
energy to succeed," writes Peter Rosenstein, executive director.
The December issue contains an article on getting the most
from parent-teacher conferences, how to obtain an oral history
from grandparents or other family members, a review of computer
software and young adult literature and an article on the impact
of television viewing on children.
The magazine comes with membership to the National
Association for Gifted Children. One year individual membership
is $50.00. Besides the magazine, members receive a newsletter
four times a year, discounts on other publications and
conferences and a network of educators and parents working with
gifted children.
For more information, contact the NAGC; 1707 L Street NW;
Suite 550; Washington, D.C. 20036; 202/785-4268.
===== GOAL FOUR: TEACHER EDUCATION/PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT =====
*3 TRAINING THE TRAINERS: GirlTECH REACHES FAR AND WIDE
The Center for Research on Parallel Computation at Rice U
sponsors several education outreach programs designed to "train
and inspire" K-12 educators. GirlTECH is one of CRPC's programs
that illustrates the far reach of training educators to teach
math and science (PARALLEL COMPUTING RESEARCH, fall 1996).
GirlTECH has "leveraged" the training of a few participants
to reach a broader band of K-12 educators. The program emerged
in 1995 with two "master" tachers who taught 20 "TECH" teachers
how to use the Internet, publish and share lessons electronically
and consider gender and minority equity issues in their
classrooms.
According to CRPC, the TECH teachers went on to train 100
other teachers, and "members of this larger group have since
reached more than 1,000 teachers through presentations at in-
services, conferences, communications over the Internet, books
and newsletters." About 30,000 students have benefited from the
technology training, estimates the newsletter.
CRPC boasts of the program's benefits to teachers, some of
whom are making career advancements and "expanding their
influence into new areas." Nine of the 20 GirlTECH '95 teachers
were promoted to education technology leadership positions at
their schools, writes the newsletter. CRPC also notes that
Houston-area high school teachers Steve Simmons and Stacey
Baxter-Rienstra, GirlTECH '95 participants, have led Internet and
computer-oriented workshops to more than 500 teachers and "are
winning local and national accolades for incorporating computer
technology into their classrooms."
Other teachers winning praise include Aldine Independent
School District participants Gail Carney, Karen Green and Judy
Woods, who have completed a proposal to bring Internet
connections into their schools.
Many others have published math and science lessons on the
Internet that are "being referenced in books and online
publications and heavily accessed by teachers worldwide," writes
the newsletter.
For information on GirlTECH and other CRPC education
outreach programs see the CRPC Web site at
http://www.crpc.rice.edu/CRPC/education.
===== STATESIDE =====
*4 LOCAL CONTROL: NOT, SAYS SAN CARLOS
Under Calif. state law, school districts can receive $5 per-
pupil for administering student assessments; but they must be
tests approved by the state (Lynch and Lembke, EDUCATION BEAT, 22
November 1996). But when San Carlos school officials petitioned
the State Board of Education for a waiver to use a local test and
still receive state funding, board members turned them down.
According to ED BEAT, school districts can apply for
"special circumstances" waivers, which typically are sought by
districts that have high numbers of bilingual students not
proficient enough in English to take the approved test. Another
common petition comes from districts wanting to substitute part
of a standardized test with a local exam. So far this fall,
seventeen districts have received waivers, writes the newsletter.
However, San Carlos's request for a two-year exemption from
giving students state-approved tests was unprecedented. San
Carlos Superintendent Don Shelvy explained that the district has
administered its own test since 1993, and students score "well
above" average. Nancy Gayvert, San Carlos curriculum
coordinator, said the local tests are performance exams designed
to measure individual student improvement, rather than to compare
students with others.
But board members flinched, not wanting to send the wrong
message to other distircts. "The legislation is clear," said
board member Janet Nicholas. "It doesn't speak to what you are
doing. It's laudable, but [you have to] look at outside tests."
Board member Jerry Hume agreed. "During the first round of
testing, we've been permissive," he said. "Can you benchmark
yourself to an outside exam? You're setting your own standards,
but if you could make yourself comparable to [National Assessment
of Educational Progress standards], it would give you a lot of
strength. Comparing yourself to yourself doesn't show anything."
San Carlos, a wealthy area located just south of San
Francisco, intends to continue using its own tests and will
forego state funds. "We have had tremendous success with these
tests," said Gayvert. "The community is behind us on this. We
find it ironic that the board talks about local control, but when
it comes down to it, they want everyone to conform to the letter
of the law."
===== THE PRIVATE EYE =====
*5 IT'S STARTING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE A WINNER: EDISON PROJECT
At a time when other for-profit public school experiments
have met with controversy and failure, the Edison Project schools
are "brimming with signs of promise," writes the WASH POST
(Sanchez, 12/10). However, whether the group actually will earn
a profit off its schools remains unclear.
Twelve schools nationwide comprise the Edison Project, which
has spent more than $45M in curriculum development and for
creating strategies for running every aspect of the schools,
according to the paper. The schools are in Boston, Kansas,
Colorado, Florida, Michigan and Texas.
Edison Project officials hire their own teachers and
administrators, most of whom are not members of any union.
Students attending an Edison School are in class 90 minutes
longer a day than at most public schools, and about a month
longer. Technology is a key component: each child gets a
computer to bring home, after parents attend a training session.
And parents around the country can communicate with each other on
a computer bulletin board called the "Front Porch."
While reading, writing and math are stressed, art and music
are offered daily at Edison schools, notes the paper. Learning
games take the place of traditional lectures and most classes
remain together for several years.
Enrollment at Edison Project schools is dominated by
minorities and children from disadvantaged and middle-class
families, "often with mediocre academic records or chronic
learning problems," writes the paper. "Our experience so far is
that most families whose children are having success in school
tend to stay put," said John Chubb, Edison's director of
instruction.
The Edison Project's efforts have been applauded by parents
and others. "We have come a long way," said Benno Schimdt,
former president of Yale U, and a top official at Edison. "But
it's going to take about three more years to get a solid, clear
judgment about the long-term benefits of this program on the
academic growth of children."
According to the paper, Edison raised another $30.5M from
investors "who are betting that it has the right formula and
ultimately will make money from schools." The revenue will
finance the next generation of Edison schools.
Some observers claim it will be difficult for Edison to make
a profit unless they begin to cut back on classroom resources.
Parents already are concerned that class size might be increased,
and have expressed a willingness to give up on some of the
technology in order to pay for more staff. "I have some real
fears about the concept," said Keith Welty, president of the
Wichita chapter of the National Education Association. "I don't
see how they can keep putting all of this capital into schools
and make a profit. They will start cutting corners. I doubt the
schools you see now are what you'll see from them in a few
years."
Investment analysts praise Edison for beginning to make the
cuts necessary to turn a profit. But they concede that it will
be difficult to "reap great profits" no matter how savvy are
Edison officials. "I don't think this is going to be a huge
profit-margin business," said Michael Moe, who tracks school
privatization for Montgomery Securities, a San Francisco-based
firm. "But Edison has been smart. They're taking it one school
at a time, and they are gaining credibility. But it's too early
to make any ultimate conclusions about this."
For information on the Edison' Project's curriculum goals
and educational model, see the WASH POST's Web site:
http://www.washington post.com.
Click here to return to OFCN's
Academy Program
Click here to return to OFCN's Main Index Page.
John Kurilecjmk@ofcn.org