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--- Friday --- October 24 1997 --- Vol. 1 --- No. 65 ---
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THE NATIONAL UPDATE ON AMERICA'S EDUCATION REFORM EFFORTS
(www.negp.gov for Wednesday DAILY REPORT CARD)
__________ __________
CALLING ALL JOURNALISTS | SPOTLIGHT |
The Center for Education | |
Reform announces its third | "DISAPPOINTING, |
annual Excellence in Journalism | BUT REALISTIC" |
Awards "recognizing print | |
journalists who have provided | ... is how Fred Johnson, |
clear, comprehensive and | president of the National |
objective coverage of education | Science Teachers Associa- |
reform issues that are making a | tion, describes the latest |
difference in the lives of | NAEP science test scores. |
children and the quality of | |
schools," writes a CER press | More than one-third of |
release (10/20). | grade school students did |
Entries may include, but are | not meet minimum expecta- |
not limited to, articles on: | tions. And nearly half of |
standards and testing, school | H.S. seniors who took the |
finance, school choice, | test failed to meet minimum |
accountability, privatization, | expectations. |
entrepreneurial activity, local | |
board policy, and teacher | The results surprised |
competency. | some educators, who pointed |
Over 200 entries were | out that U.S. students |
submitted last year, with | showed signs of progress on |
winners receiving cash awards. | other science tests. |
Journalists writing for the | However, the NAEP science |
MIAMI HERALD, LAS VEGAS SUN, | exam "may be the toughest |
THE WASHINGTON TIMES, INVESTORS | one students have ever |
BUSINESS DAILY, and THE DALLAS | faced," writes the WASH |
MORNING NEWS, walked away | POST. Essay questions make |
winners. | up 80% of the exam. And, |
Entries must be postmarked 30 | for the first time, |
Nov. 1997. For more info: | students are required to |
CER, 1001 Conn.Ave. NW; Suite | perform one hands-on |
204; Washington, D.C. 20036; | experiment. (#1) |
202/822-9000. |_____________________________|
============== QUOTE OF THE DAY ==============
"I wish people would stop putting emphasis on color, because when
you're teaching, you're teaching the child, not the color of the
child." -- Nancy Wilson, a teacher at G.W. Northcutt Elementary
School, on teacher transfers based on race to eliminate vestiges
of discrimination. (#4)
_______________________________________________________________
| (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 ==============
GOAL FIVE: MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE
FEW BILL NYE'S IN U.S. SCHOOLS: NAEP results abysmal. (#1)
STANDARD BEARERS
GETTING TOUGH IN THE NATION'S CAPITOL: Standards are set. (#2)
MAGNETIC APPEAL
MAGNET SCHOOL RECRUITMENT: A reversal in one Md. county. (#3)
FROM COURTHOUSE TO SCHOOLHOUSE
TRADING PLACES: Hiring teachers based on race. (#4)
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.
===== GOAL FIVE: MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE =====
*1 FEW BILL NYE'S IN U.S. SCHOOLS: NAEP RESULTS ABYSMAL
More than 40% of high school seniors who took the National
Assessment of Education Progress science tests did not meet
minimum academic expectations (Sanchez, WASH POST, 10/22).
Fourth- and eighth-grade students who took the test fared
somewhat better -- more than one-third of the elementary school
students did not meet minimum expectations.
These scores paint a "disappointing but realistic snapshot"
of science instruction in American classrooms, said Fred Johnson,
president of the National Science Teachers Association. "The
results show us very clearly that the students of this nation are
not where they should be if we expect them to grow into
scientifically literate adults," he said.
Other findings from the test: half of fourth-graders could
not identify the Atlantic and Pacific oceans on a map; "some
eighth-graders were stymied by a question that required them to
know how many days it takes Earth to circle the Sun and then to
read a graph comparing that with the time it takes other
planets;" and two in five fourth-graders did not the shape
ripples formed after a small stone was tossed out into a pond of
still water, writes the paper.
The POST points out that the results of the latest NAEP test
"offer a striking contrast" to other science exams that showed
American students making more progress in science than in other
subjects. "But this new test may be the toughest one students
have ever faced," writes the paper.
For example, students for the first time were required to
perform and explain one hands-on experiment. Only 20% of the
test questions were multiple choice; the rest were essays.
Because of the higher standards in this latest test, results
cannot be compared with those of previous years, reports the
POST.
However, education officials were able to glean several
similarities with this test and past exams: elementary students
performed better than high school students; and most students
were more successful at answering questions about basic
scientific facts than they were at applying abstract principles
in science to real situations, notes the paper.
Some education officials placed the blame of poor student
performance on the type of instruction children receive in
school. From the paper: "Too many schools, they contend, still
emphasize rote memorization of facts instead of creative
exercises that would arouse more curiosity in science and make
the subject more relevant to students."
Ed Sec Richard Riley sounded a positive note on the results:
"We aren't where we want to be by a long shot, but we need to
recognize where we have come from."
==== STANDARD BEARERS ====
*2 GETTING TOUGH IN THE NATION'S CAPITOL: STANDARDS ARE SET
Sounding a bit like Chicago, D.C. school officials are
proposing to hold back second graders who cannot read and third-
and eighth-grade students who are struggling to read (Wilgoren,
WASH POST, 10/22).
The plan, announced by D.C.'s Chief Academic Officer Arlene
Ackerman, also would require high school students to maintain a C
average to graduate and would mandate that all students who score
at the lowest level on standardized reading and math tests to
attend summer school.
"I don't think we have a choice," said Ackerman, "If we're
going to be exemplary by the year 2000, we've got to start now."
Ackerman's plan has the support of D.C. school Chief Executive
Julius Becton, but the paper reports it will need final approval
from the eight other members of the trustee board appointed last
year by the D.C. financial control board to take over the city's
public school system. If approved, the plan would go into effect
this year, except for the high school graduation requirement,
which would take place in 2002.
According to the paper, student achievement on the Stanford
9 achievement test will determine whether the child attends
summer school and, if a second-grader, whether the student will
be promoted to the next grade. The Stanford 9 will be given to
first- through 11th-grade students each fall and spring.
Third-grade promotions would be contingent on a combination
of test results, and input from teachers, counselors and
principals. Stanford 9 scores, grade-point average, attendance
and school recommendation are the factors to be used to determine
promotion from eighth-grade.
The new plan won praise from Delabian Rice-Thurston,
executive director of Parents United for D.C. Public Schools, who
is an ardent supporter of higher standards. "When [Ackerman]
says that you're going to have to have a C average to graduate, I
want her to stick to it," she said. "Because [students] will
make C's if they know they have to. But they will slide if we
let them slide."
==== MAGNETIC APPEAL ====
*3 MAGNET SCHOOL RECRUITMENT: A REVERSAL IN ONE MD. COUNTY
U.S District Judge Peter Messitte reversed an earlier
decision and agreed to allow 347 black students to fill magnet
school vacancies reserved for other students in Prince George's
County, Md. (Barrett, Prince George's JOURNAL, 10/7).
Messitte: "It's not about granting or denying worthy
African-American students access to the county's magnet school
program. It is not about whether magnet schools are appropriate
educational tools nor is it about the general effectiveness of
the Prince George's County Schools." Instead, Messitte said the
federal court's role is "to assure all vestiges of prior
segregation of the races have been eliminated."
Last August, Messitte rejected a school board request to
"suspend for a second year a 1985 consent decree requiring that
the school system maintain racial balance at magnet schools as
part of its quarter-century-old desegregation case," reports the
paper. According to the paper, the board responded by presenting
Messitte with information outlining recruitment efforts conducted
by Susan Miller, director of magnet schools, and William
Chappell, director of pupil accounting and school boundaries.
The additional information is what led to Messitte's reversal of
his previous order.
However, the exception is limited to the 347 students and
"any further guidelines modifications must be brought before the
plaintiffs and the court," writes the paper.
The board also intends to take "immediate affirmative
action" to notify non-black students on magnet schools waiting
list and urge them to "seek enrollment at other magnet programs,"
write the paper. Messitte also ordered the board to evaluate
recruiting activities.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People and the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
filed court documents earlier this month accusing the board of
failing to improve magnet recruitment efforts. The board
responded that "while it may be true the board has not
implemented each and every recruitment idea and initiative
available to it, it has, in fact, been diligent in carrying out
recruitment enhancements which have resulted in successes at a
variety of schools."
According to the JOURNAL, magnet recruitment will be a
primary topic discussed at the November trial on the
desegregation suit and "will be examined further at this time,"
according to Messitte.
==== FROM COURTHOUSE TO SCHOOLHOUSE ====
*4 TRADING PLACES: HIRING TEACHERS BASED ON RACE
Under an order issued by the U.S. DoEd's office for civil
rights, the G.W. Northcutt Elementary School in Clayton County
(Ga.) transferred 19 black teachers and hired 24 white teachers
in order to eliminate vestiges of past discrimination (Ellerton,
ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, 10/6).
Prior to the transfer, Northcutt, with a student population
that is 94% black, had a 68% black faculty. This year, the
faculty is 66% white. School officials were forced to make the
transfers or stand to loose more than $14M in federal funding,
reports the paper. According to the office of civil rights, a
faculty "must not deviate by more than 10 percent from the
systemwide racial breakdown for teachers," writes the paper.
The move caused upheaval in the school. "If you are a
teacher, you are prepared to teach wherever," said Nancy Wilson,
a black teacher who was not transferred last year. "I wish
people would stop putting emphasis on color, because when you're
teaching, you're teaching the child, not the color of the child."
Other parents said they felt the black teachers related
better to their children. Clayton County schools Superintendent
Joe Hairston said the transfer helped shake up a system that
needed to make radical changes anyway, reports the paper. He
also remarked that his students needed exposure to "people from
various backgrounds to broaden their perspectives," writes the
paper.
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