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--- Friday --- September 12, 1997 --- Vol. 7 --- No. 54 ---
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THE NATIONAL UPDATE ON AMERICA'S EDUCATION REFORM EFFORTS
__________ __________
"NO OCEAN? NO PROBLEM." | SPOTLIGHT |
The JASON Project is underway | |
this year with a focus on | ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE |
"Oceans of Earth and Beyond." | |
While a select group of | Teens who are emotionally |
students will travel with the | connected with their |
JASON IX scientists to under | parents tend not to engage |
the seas at Monterey Bay, | in at-risk behavior, such |
Calif., Bermuda and the Guaymas | as alcohol or drug use, |
Basin in March, millions of | early sex and violent |
other students will join in the | behavior, according to a |
voyage to the ocean floor via | new federal study. (#2) |
the Internet and live satellite | |
broadcasts. Students at | University researchers |
Primary Interactive Network | involved in the project |
Sites throughout the U.S., | advise parents that they |
Bermuda the United Kingdom and | are just as important to |
Mexico also will be able to | their teens as they are to |
interact with scientists and | younger children. |
control live-feed video | |
cameras. | Teachers also can be a |
The JASON Project this year | strong positive force. A |
will offer JASON@School, | good student-teacher rela- |
software that includes hands-on | tionship helps a student |
classroom exercises, field work | stay on the straight and |
and computer activities from | narrow, even more than does |
the JASON curriculum. The | class size or the amount of |
JASON Project also is online at | training a teacher has. |
www.jasonproject.org. | |
The project is sponsored by | However, holding down a |
an alliance of public, private | 20-hour-or-more-a-week job |
and non-profit groups | increases the likelihood |
including, EDS Corporation, the | that teens will engage in |
National Geographic Society, | troublesome behavior. |
Sprint and Sun Microsystems. |_____________________________|
============== QUOTE OF THE DAY ==============
"We think it's a simple plan. We think it makes sense. We think
it gets you where you have to go."
Bill Beckham, president of New Detroit Inc.,
on a plan to give principals more authority. (#5)
_______________________________________________________________
| (c) by the Education Policy Network, Inc. |
| 1255 22nd Street NW; Washington, D.C. 20010; 202/724-0124 |
| EPN, Inc. hereby authorizes further reproduction and |
| distribution with proper acknowledgement. |
| Publisher: Barbara A. Pape |
|_______________________________________________________________|
============== TABLE OF CONTENTS ==============
RESEARCH NOTES
SOCIAL PROMOTION: Alive and well, says AFT. (#1)
TAKING STOCK
THE LOVE CONNECTION: Key to helping teens. (#2)
BEYOND HIGH SCHOOL: Forums on post-secondary education. (#3)
FROM COURTHOUSE TO SCHOOLHOUSE
RIDGE LAWYERS TO COURT: Not in your jurisdiction . (#4)
GOVERNANCEE
PRINCIPAL POWER: Detroit Board of Ed changes policy. (#5)
ADVERTISING SPACE AVAILABLE IN DAILY REPORT CARD
The DAILY REPORT CARD is now accepting "advertorials" and
advertising for its Friday document. An "advertorial" can be a
page reporting the news or views from your organization
concerning efforts to improve education. Or, the space can be
used to promote your education products, services or
publications.
Please call Barbara Pape at the DAILY REPORT CARD (202/724-
0124) for "advertorial" rates. This is a great opportunity to
get your news and views out to education decisionmakers,
policymakers and the media engaged in the great debates of
education.
===== RESEARCH NOTES ====
*1 SOCIAL PROMOTION: ALIVE AND WELL, SAYS AFT
Social promotion, the practice of sending children to the
next grade when they are not ready, is "rampant across the
country," said Sandra Feldman, president of the American
Federation of Teachers. Feldman made her remarks while releasing
the latest AFT study, "Passing on Failure: District Promotion
Policies and Practices."
In this report, the AFT examines promotion policies in 85
districts nationwide, including the 40 largest districts. While
no district explicitly promotes a social-promotion policy, the
notion is implicitly held in many districts, according to AFT
findings.
Feldman cited several examples from the report: In Orange
County, Fla., students can be held back only once in elementary
school; in New Orleans they can be retained only twice; Houston
restricts retention to once in kindergarten through fourth grade
and once in fifth through eighth grade.
Other findings from the report: retention, holding students
in their current grade for another year, is as pervasive as
social promotion; in many districts, student progress is judged
according to "vague and varying" criteria; most districts lack a
uniform grading policy, so grades provide little useful guidance
in decisions about promotion; teachers, "who have the most
knowledge of students' academic work, play only an advisory role
in promotion decisions;" and few districts mandate programs to
assist students in danger of failing or those who are held back.
"Social promotion is clearly the wrong thing to do, and we
oppose it. It had bad effects on all students, not just those
promoted improperly or held back," said Feldman. She added that
a lack of common standards causes teacher grading systems to
appear arbitrary to students, "and therefore negotiable."
Feldman: "This undermines students' motivation to work hard in
school. Teachers who uphold high standards can find themselves
under a lot of pressure to change grades or just pass kids on.
It's a disservice to everyone in the school."
The AFT offers a five-point program for not only ending
social promotion, but "providing effective help to underachieving
students:" make available high-quality pre-school and
kindergarten programs for all children; develop explicit,
rigorous grade-by-grade standards for students; ensure that all
elementary teachers are fully proficient in teaching reading;
catch and assist struggling students early in their school
career; and use remedial approaches that have been proven
effective.
"Passing on Failure: District Promotion Policies and
Practices" (Item #249) is available for $5.00 prepaid from the
AFT Order Department 202/879-4473.
===== TAKING STOCK =====
*2 THE LOVE CONNECTION: KEY TO HELPING TEENS
Teens who have strong relationships with their parents and
teachers are least likely to engage in troubling behavior,
including using drugs and alcohol, engaging in early sex or
exhibiting violent behavior, according to a new study (Vobejda,
WASH POST, 9/10). According to the paper, the study is the
first release of data from a $25M federal study called the
National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Findings were
published in the 9/10 issue of the Journal of the American
Medical Association.
"Many people think of adolescence as a stage where there is
so much peer influence that parents become both irrelevant and
powerless," said J. Richard Udry, professor of maternal and child
health at UNC-Chapel Hill and the principle researcher of the
study. "It's not so that parents aren't important. Parents are
just as important to adolescents as they are to smaller
children."
The report, which surveyed 90,000 students in grades 7
through 12, found that those who were emotionally attached to
their parents, regardless of whether it is a one- or two-parent
home, were better equipped to avoid at-risk behavior. Feeling
"connected" to parents was more important to the teens than the
amount of time spent with parents. Although less important than
feeling connected, the presence of parents at home at "key times"
made it less likely for teens to use alcohol, tobacco and
marijuana. The key times are: morning, after school, dinner and
bedtime.
A positive relationship with teachers also helped keep teens
on the straight and narrow path, according to the report. A good
student-teacher relationship is more important for avoiding at-
risk behavior than class size or the amount of training a teacher
has.
However, students who had jobs requiring them to work 20 or
more hours a week are found to be more likely to use alcohol and
drugs, smoke cigarettes, engage in early sex and have emotional
distress. Some researchers speculated that holding a job means
the teen is exposed to the behavior of older people and that the
student has "more money to spend to get into trouble."
Other findings: teens most likely to get into trouble are
those who have repeated a grade, are attracted to persons of the
same sex or fear they may face an early death due to health,
violence or other reasons; teens living in rural areas reported
more emotional stress, suicidal attempts and early engagement in
sexual activity; teens who think they look either older or
younger than their peers are more likely to have emotional
problems; teens who live in a home where there is a gun, even if
it is not easily accessible, are more likely to attempt suicide
or engage in violent behavior.
The researchers underscored the importance of parents
remaining "intensely involved" in the lives of their children,
even though parents may feel their role diminishing as their
children become teenagers. Researchers made several
recommendations for parents: set high academic expectations; be
accessible; clearly tell children to avoid alcohol, drugs and
sex; lock up alcohol and keep guns out of the home.
Besides surveying 90,000 students in grades 7 through 12,
the researchers also conducted interviews with more than 20,000
teens in their homes and with 18,000 parents. The National
Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health was funded by Congress in
1993 and was sponsored by the National Institute of Child Health
and Human Development, a part of the National Institutes of
Health.
*3 BEYOND HIGH SCHOOL: FORUMS ON POST-SECONDARY EDUCATION
By the end of forums sponsored by the National Collegiate
Honors College, participants cited two "seemingly contradictory
goals" for higher education: a college should prepare students
to learn for the rest of their lives, but also it should do a
better job of preparing graduates for the workplace.
The 1996-1997 forums were held nationwide, gathering the
opinions of nearly 700 mostly honors students at community and
four-year colleges. The forums' topics: "Preparing for a Good
Future: What Kind of Education Do We Need after High School?"
Before participants could delve into issues focused on
institutions of higher education, they were compelled to discuss
problems in K-12 education. They mainly agreed that public K-12
schools are doing a poor job in educating young people, high
school graduates are unprepared for the world of work, and money
is not the answer to improving K-12 public education.
In comparison to K-12 education, participants deemed the
nation's higher education system the "envy of the world." Yet,
participants also saw room for improvement at the post-secondary
level -- improvement in the seemingly contradictory college
missions of college of enhancing job skills while still preparing
students for lifelong learning through a liberal arts education.
Participants were surveyed before and after the forum.
After discussing the issues, 63% agreed that "the university
should remain committed to providing students with a broadly
based education, EVEN IF this dos not guarantee jobs upon
graduation," which was a 14-point increase from the pre-forum
results. A post-forum survey also found that half, an 11-point
increase from the pre-forum survey, said "there is too much
emphasis on job-related education and too little on building a
foundation for lifelong learning."
For example, participants said that the liberal arts are
"intrinsically valuable," writes the report. Forum highlights
cite one participant who, quoting comedienne Lily Tomlin, said
that if we only pursue our own economic betterment, "at the end
of the rat race, we'll all still be rats."
Other findings from the forums: higher education does not
necessarily mean a four-year college or university education,
students also can benefit from community college and technical
schools; and higher education is increasingly essential for
people to be economically competitive.
NCHC moderators were trained by the Kettering Foundation and
"were strictly neutral as they conducted the forms," writes the
report. Doble Research, a New York-area firm that specializes in
analyzing public opinion was asked by the Kettering Foundation to
work with NCHC to prepare an independent analysis of the results
of the forums.
===== FROM COURTHOUSE TO SCHOOLHOUSE =====
*4 RIDGE LAWYERS TO COURT: NOT IN YOUR JURISDICTION
The judiciary should not become involved in the state's
school funding system, according to lawyers for Pa. Gov Tom Ridge
(R). The lawyers argued before Judge Daniel Pellegrini last week
that it is up to the legislature to address school funding equity
issues (AP/Philadelphia INQUIRER, 9/9).
Pellegrini was residing over closing arguments in a lawsuit
waged by a coalition of rural and small schools. The judge said
that he probably would not issue a ruling in this case until
decisions were rendered in two other Philadelphia School District
cases. The first case was filed by city and school officials in
February, who claim the state's funding system "irrationally and
arbitrarily" provided far less funding than what is needed. A
decision in that case, which began last week, is expected to take
two or three months, reports the paper. State lawyers plan to
argue the same point as in the rural case: the courts have no
business to intervene in school funding issues.
The second case is the 26-year-old school desegregation
case. Commonwealth Court Judge Doris Smith ordered the state to
provide Philadelphia with additional money "so it can adequately
educate all its students," reports the paper. Smith demanded the
state to pay up last year. However, since the state Supreme
Court "dramatically took emergency jurisdiction over the case,"
no action has taken place, writes the paper. Pellegrini noted
that arguments in that case may not begin until the end of the
year.
While Pellegrini said there is no reason for him to take
action in the rural case until the desegregation case is
addressed, he added that he would not "wait forever."
==== GOVERNANCE ====
*5 PRINCIPAL POWER: DETROIT BOARD OF ED CHANGES POLICY
In a 7-4 vote last week, the Detroit Board of Education
approved a task force's "controversial" plan to grant principals
more authority over the day-to-day operations of their schools
(Robles, Detroit FREE PRESS, 9/6). Specifically, principals
will, among other things, gain more budgetary control.
Under the new plan, six administrative offices will be
eliminated. Instead, principals and other staff will be trained
to take over some of the responsibilities currently held by the
administrative officers. Parent organizations, called Area
School Community Organizations, will be "folded into decision-
making teams that each school will create to advise principals on
running the schools," writes the paper. The school-team approach
is modeled after programs already in operation in Chicago and
other cities.
The plan also calls for the creation of ombudsmen and parent
service centers in schools by 16 January.
Bill Beckham, president of New Detroit Inc., a race-
relations coalition: "We think it's a simple plan. We think it
makes sense. We think it gets you where you have to go."
Beckham was appointed by the board earlier this year to head a
panel of business leaders to review district operations. Beckham
also heads the Schools of the 21st Century group, an effort
funded in part by a $20M grant from the Annenberg Foundation and
charged with increasing academic achievement.
Critics of the plan complain that dissolving the area
offices will hurt the school district. They also hold that
parents and other community members were not included in the
decision-making process.
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