Click here to return to OFCN's Main Index Page.
--- Monday --- February 24, 1997 --- Vol. 7 --- No. 17 ---
D #### ##### #### ### #### #### ##### ### #### ####
A ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ##
I #### #### #### ## ## #### ## ## ##### #### ## ##
L ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ##
Y ## ## ##### ## ### ## ## ## ##### ## ## ## ## ####
THE NATIONAL UPDATE ON AMERICA'S EDUCATION REFORM EFFORTS
A service of the National Education Goals Panel
__________ __________
A TRIBUTE | SPOTLIGHT |
American Federation of | |
Teachers President Albert | NO SILVER BULLET |
Shanker passed away over the | |
weekend. The WASH POST writes | It makes for a good |
that in recent years Shanker | political speech, but state |
"established a reputation as an | takeovers of local school |
educational philosopher, call- | districts appear not to be |
ing forcefully and frequently | the silver bullet of educa- |
for students to be held to | tion reform that many law- |
strict standards of achieve- | makers hoped they would be. |
ment. He wanted higher | Only Logan County, W.V., |
standards for teachers as | stands out as a takeover |
well." Indeed, his weekly | success for improving |
column in the N.Y. TIMES (2/23) | student achievement. (#4) |
criticized "self-esteem" pro- | |
grams that are not premised on | Some observers note that |
expectations of real & measur- | no state takeover has |
able academic achievement. | effectively dealt with |
| external causes for poor |
CREATIVE MONEY | student performance: |
ArtsConnection, New York | gangs, drugs and poverty. |
City's "largest and most | Paterson, N.J., which is |
comprehensive" arts-in- | operating under state |
education program received a | control, is working to |
$150,000 grant from the | tackle those problems by |
National Endowment for the Arts | creating after-school, |
(ArtsConnection release). The | weekend & summer programs. |
funds will be used to create a | |
national model for a sequential | While state takeovers |
academically integrated arts | have not boosted student |
curriculum for students in | achievement, they are |
grades K through 6, based on | lauded for cleaning up |
ArtsConnection's "Thematic Arts | administrative waste. |
Seasons" program. |_____________________________|
============== QUOTE OF THE DAY ==============
"A high school diploma should not be a reward for longevity."
Michigan Senate Education Chairman John Grant (R). (#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 ==============
GOAL THREE: STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT AND CITIZENSHIP
COLLEGE-READY: Students must be taught the basics in H.S. (#1)
STATESIDE
MAKING EQUITY WORK: Baltimore mayor and the "Big Seven". (#2)
TESTS AND TESTING
OPTING OUT OF TEST: Parents sign waivers. (#3)
TAKING OVER
STATE TAKEOVERS: Energizing politics more than schools. (#4)
STANDARD BEARERS
THE TROUBLE WITH STANDARDS: Students don't make grade. (#5)
BLAZING TRAILS: Virginia's standards cause mad scrmable. (#6)
===== GOAL THREE: STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT AND CITIZENSHIP =====
*1 COLLEGE-READY: STUDENTS MUST BE TAUGHT THE BASICS IN H.S.
Several proposals are being bandied about in the Florida
Legislature concerning incentives to better prepare students for
college (Kleindienst, ORLANDO SENTINEL, 2/). High rates of
students requiring remedial education in order to be prepared for
community college courses is the impetus behind the lawmakers'
debate.
The two top ideas are: raising the academic bar in high
schools, and creating a college-ready diploma, writes the paper.
According to a recent report, more than four out of five students
entering Fla.'s community colleges cannot do college-level math,
and nearly as many do not have the prerequisite reading and
writing skills to take college courses for credit, writes the
paper. A Senate Education Committee report estimated that 81% of
students enrolled in the state's community colleges need to take
a college preparation course in math, and many assume the numbers
are equally high for reading.
"The mission of our education system is to educate
students," said Senate Education Chairman John Grant (R). "If
we're giving a high school diploma to people who can't read it
when they put it up on the wall, we're not getting what we pay
for."
Clark Maxwell, director of Fla.'s community colleges,
commented that remediation does not properly describe the
problem. "You're not really talking about remediation," he said.
"You're talking about skills they're not taught. That's why
we're trying to get them away from taking basic skills courses
[in high school.] He recommends that students be required to
take the college-entry test during the sophomore year in high
school to ascertain what skills they must develop in order to
pursue a college education. He also suggested that the state
create a college-ready diploma. "We ought to give a college-
ready diploma to students who take a recommended curriculum and
get a 3.0 average," he explained. "Then they can skip the
testing and go right on to college credit work."
Rep. Bob Sindler (D), chairman of the House Community
College Committee, supports the college-ready diploma. He and
Grant also want to pursue increased high school graduation
standards, specifically requiring that all students pass Algebra
1 before they can graduate. "A high school diploma should not be
a reward for longevity," quipped Grant.
===== STATESIDE =====
*2 MAKING EQUITY WORK: BALTIMORE MAYOR AND THE "BIG SEVEN"
Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke (D) and school leaders from
Md.'s largest counties are presenting a united front to lawmakers
on a statewide school funding formula (Zorzi Jr., Baltimore SUN,
2/20). While details are sketchy, Schmoke and the "Big Seven"
leaders plan to lobby lawmakers for more education funding for
all jurisdictions in the state "in an effort to sell the $254
million Baltimore schools deal in the General Assembly," reports
the paper.
The proposed spending for Baltimore stems from the
settlement of three lawsuits that called for more state money and
improvements in Baltimore public schools. From the paper:
"Under the deal, the state would be given a role in running the
city schools, in exchange for $254 million in new aid to the
school system over five years." The settlement also ordered the
creation of a new school board, with members appointed jointly by
the governor and mayor. According to the paper, the settlement
is contingent on the Legislature approving an increase in state
education aid.
Eileen Rehrmann, a Harford County executive and one of the
"Big Seven," said, "We're looking at not pitting one jurisdiction
against each other."
The Baltimore-Big Seven coalition may be in luck if the
state's Board of Revenue Estimates reports next month that more
tax revenues are coming than what was expected.
==== TESTS AND TESTING ====
*3 OPTING OUT OF TEST: PARENTS SIGN WAIVERS
More than half the juniors at Birmingham, Mich., high
schools did not take the state's proficiency exam because their
parents signed waivers that allowed them to skip the test
(Moorlehem and Walsh-Sarnecki, Detroit FREE PRESS, 1/19). At
another high school, one-third of the parents of juniors signed
the waiver. The reason given: the High School Proficiency Test
could hurt their children's future education and job
opportunities, said most of the parents.
According to the paper, the exam, which tests students in
math, reading, science and writing, is the basis of a state
endorsement of the student's skills. Students who score above a
certain level have a special seal stamped on their diplomas.
Students who score below that level are ascribed "novice" or
"not-yet-novice." Some parents are concerned that a low category
could "brand students as failures, even if they've earned high
grade point averages and excelled on college entrance exams,"
reports the paper.
"I didn't like that the student was going to be labeled,"
said Sue Borden, a mother who signed a waiver for her daughter.
"And I didn't want to see that on the transcript."
State education officials are disturbed with the high number
of parents in certain schools who waive their children out of
taking the test. They claim the waiver provision was intended
for students with disabilities, "not A-students fearing failure,"
writes the paper. Ernie Bauer, a testing consultant for the
Oakland County Intermediate School District, said that
Birmingham's scores are "virtually meaningless" this year since
half of the students opted out of the test.
The paper also reports that Muskegon school officials
conceded that they urged parents of students not expected to
score well on another state test, the Michigan Educational
Assessment Program, to sign waivers. Districts with a high
percentage of students with low scores could lose state
accreditation and funding, notes the paper.
Other parents complained that preparing for the 11-hour test
took too much time away from studies. Other parent complaints:
the five- to six-month wait for test grading and the fairness of
grading an essay question when many different people graded the
essay, reports the paper.
Many educators registered similar complaints since the test
went on the books last year. Results after the first year found
that barely one third of students earned an endorsement in
science and writing, while fewer than half did in math and
reading.
According to the paper, late last year 50 curriculum experts
demanded that state officials change the test, saying it
"understated student knowledge." From the paper: "Since only
'proficient' students earn endorsements, those scoring below that
have been reported as having failed the test."
==== TAKING OVER ====
*4 STATE TAKEOVERS: ENERGIZING POLITICS MORE THAN SCHOOLS
School takeovers are becoming more popular since they first
were written into law in 1988; however, they have not produced
the expected results (Walsh-Sarnecki and Van Moorlehem, DETROIT
FREE PRESS, 2/8). Typically, the schools taken over by the state
have become more administratively efficient, but student test
scores have not increased significantly.
"I think the general perception is that operations have been
cleaned up administratively," explained Frank Belluscio,
spokesman for the New Jersey School Boards Association. "But ...
there does not seem to be an impact on academic results." N.J.
is among 20 states that have passed legislation allowing for the
state to take over schools or districts that do not pass muster,
writes the paper. In N.J., three districts have been taken over
by the state, and remain under the authority of the state:
Jersey City (1989), Paterson (1991), and Newark (1995).
Edward Richardson, spokesman for the New Jersey Education
Association, acknowledged that initially there was a lot of hope
that the state takeover would produce higher achieving students.
But the hope has been dashed. "There's been a lot of frustration
because, from the beginning, the easiest results for the state
takeover were largely administrative and structural," said
Richardson.
According to the paper, two types of schools are vulnerable
for state takeover: urban schools that serve high numbers of
disadvantaged minority students, and small, rural schools.
School leaders in Paterson, N.J., disturbed that the takeover has
not boosted student achievement, are "trying to counter" other
influences that have an impact on student learning -- gangs,
drugs and poverty. The district is developing after school and
weekend programs, as well as a summer camp, notes the paper.
These programs, offered free-of-charge, focus on academics and
test preparation, according to the FREE PRESS.
The one success story is Logan County, W.V. According to
the paper, "cooperation between local and state officials gets
much of the credit for Logan County's turnaround." John Meyers,
who was called in to become Logan's school superintendent: "I
think the attitude of the board was, 'Even if we don't like the
takeover, let's do what's best for kids.' "I'm not saying we
didn't have disagreements, but they never got so personal they
interfered with the operation of the schools."
However, Michael Casserly, executive director of the Council
of Great City Schools, claims that takeovers "always have
energizing political appeal, but after the headlines, there is
usually no meat to it." He added: "Does the government . . .
know something that the local school doesn't already know about
how to improve its schools? Why don't they just tell them."
"It's too early to tell," commented Terry Whitney, a senior
policy specialist with the National Conference of State
Legislatures, on the success of state takeovers.
==== STANDARD BEARERS ====
*5 THE TROUBLE WITH STANDARDS: MANY STUDENTS DON'T MAKE GRADE
Milwaukee school officials were shocked to discover that 79%
of public high school students who took the city's new graduation
test failed. "We were really thrown by the results," said
Cynthia Ellwood, director of educational services for the
Milwaukee school system. "We knew having higher standards was
going to take hard work, but we never realized just how much
until then."
The WASH POST, in its first of two articles on standards,
(See #6 for second story) writes that "there are few ideas in
American education as momentous now as forcing schools to require
more of students, then judging what they know with tests that
have serious consequences for those who fail." The paper finds
Milwaukee's experiment with a graduation test to be a "revealing
illustration of the perils and rewards that soon may confront"
other school districts.
"Everyone wants high standards but when schools get serious
about it, they tend to get a cold splash in the face," said Diane
Ravitch, a senior research scholar at New York U. "What they
risk finding is that an extraordinary number of kids do not
measure up."
According to the paper, upon hearing the results of the
test, followed by the outrage of students and parents, the
Milwaukee School Board "nearly retreated" from its plan to raise
the bar and attach a consequence to the test. However, a strange
thing happened, reports the paper. School leaders and teachers
stopped blaming the test and, instead, focused in on what they
could do to improve student achievement. From the paper: "High
schools started after-school and Saturday tutoring sessions in
math. The city shifted funds to help. Churches and businesses
dominated school supplies and volunteered tutors. Attendance at
PTA meetings rose."
After six months, the same students took the same test
again. This time 55% passed. "The failure was so massive, it
actually helped," said Derek Brewer, who directs tutoring
programs for the district. "Maybe for the first time, adults had
to ask themselves, 'Do we really think these kids can do it?'"
Ellwood observed that, "If you want to change teaching, you
change tests. That's what teachers will teach to."
The POST notes that President Clinton has put his imprimatur
on raising standards nationwide. He has called on states to give
national exams to fourth-graders in reading and to eighth-graders
in math, beginning in 1999. However, opposition is shaping up in
Congress. Critics of Clinton's voluntary, national testing plan
claim it will usurp local control of education.
Mike Smith, deputy secretary of education, believes the "bar
is still not being raised high enough. Smith: "But retraining
teachers, trying to end social promotion -- it's all very hard
stuff. It's like taking bad medicine. No one likes to do that,
even when you know it's eventually going to be good for you."
The POST reports that besides the test, Milwaukee is making
other improvements in its education system. For example,
students will be required to take algebra earlier. "This has
been tough, but it proves these kids have the ability to do more
than we have been expecting of them," commented Nancy Conner, a
Milwaukee principal. "If you could see their faces when they
finally pass, you would know we're doing the right thing."
The POST offers more information on the Milwaukee school
system at its Web site: http://www.washingtonpost.com.
*6 BLAZING TRAILS: VIRGINIA'S STANDARDS CAUSE MAD SCRAMBLE
Va. has been praised by President Clinton and others who
promote national standards as a state that is leading the
standards movement (Benning, WASH POST, 2/24). "Standards of
Learning," a 100-page document that spells out the academic
expectations for all students, is the centerpiece to Gov George
Allen's (R) education program.
According to the paper, "the standards are ambitious." For
example, kindergarten children are expected to learn concepts of
algebra, probability and statistics, while second- and third-
grade students are to study principles of economics.
While many teachers and parents are thrilled with the higher
standards for students, problems loom for the implementation of
the standards. According to the paper, some educators and
parents are concerned that the standards are being put in place
too quickly. This spring, students in grades 3, 5, 8 and 11 will
undergo a series of practice tests in preparation for the real
thing next year. However, some teachers point out that they
either lack the training or do not have the textbooks to teach
the new material, which means children will be expected to answer
questions on subject matter that has not been covered in class.
Tom Vischi, a parent of a third-grade student, said opening
up a test that contains material never seen before will be a
"blow to his daughter's confidence," writes the paper. Vischi:
"You know that nightmare we've all had when you go in to take
your final exam ... and you wake up screaming? I want to avoid
that."
Some teachers fear that the state's testing schedule will
"force teachers to be less innovative," reports the paper.
"There is a lot of information to cover," said Kathleen Grove,
assistant superintendent for instruction in Arlington, Va. "That
means less discretionary time for teachers to introduce pet
projects." Cathy McMurtrey, a fourth-grade teacher in Prince
William County observed: "It could get to the point where all we
have time for is tests."
High school students can expect fewer options in selecting
classes, once the testing schedule and higher standards are in
place, writes the paper. There will be fewer electives as
schools add more required courses to help students prepare for
the tests.
Despite the problems, many educators stand behind the new
standards. "The old standards and our old curriculum were not
stringent enough for the students and they've paid a price for
that," said Prince William School Board Chairman Lucy Beauchamp.
"We owe it to the kids inthe county to have these standards and
to make sure that they're followed."
Click here to return to The 1997 Daily Report Card
Click here to return to OFCN's
Academy Program
Click here to return to OFCN's Main Index Page.
John Kurilecjmk@ofcn.org