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--- Friday --- November 21, 1997 --- Vol. 7 --- No. 75 ---
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THE NATIONAL UPDATE ON AMERICA'S EDUCATION REFORM EFFORTS
(www.negp.gov -- Wednesday)
__________ __________
THANKSGIVING BREAK | SPOTLIGHT |
The DAILY REPORT CARD will | |
not publish next week -- 24-28 | IT TAKES A VILLAGE? |
November. We will be back, | |
stuffed with Thanksgiving | Designing new schools is |
goodies, on Monday, 1 December. | a hot topic among educators |
| and architects. At a |
BEVERLY HILLS BONANZA | Maryland Institute, College |
Long-time Beverly Hills | of Art conference, |
residents John and Ann Nickoll | educators and architects |
this week announced their $1M | agreed that today's school |
contribution to the Beverly | buildings must be renovated |
Hills Educational Foundation. | to include technology and |
"It just goes well beyond the | personal work stations |
stretch of anyone's | (Simmon, Baltimore SUN, |
imagination," said Lili Bosse, | 11/16). Architect Bruce |
president of the foundation, of | Jilk promotes building |
the largest private gift in the | educational "villages" that |
foundation's 20-year history. | include not only a school |
| but a "hair salon, a post |
AMERICAN EDUCATION WEEK | office, a bike shop, food |
Today concludes this year's | courts and a clothing store |
American Education Week, "a | [to] create a village-like |
time to celebrate our schools | feeling ... ." |
and salute the unsung heroes of | |
education," said Bob Chase, | Who will pay for these |
president of the National | great designs? In N.J., |
Education Association, chief | the state has agreed to |
sponsor of the 76-year | pick up the tab for |
tradition. Teachers including | building improvements in |
Kathleen Severns (Lake Charles, | the 28 poorest districts -- |
La.) and Lakewood, Wash.'s bus | although they probably are |
driver Diane Formoso, were | not planning to build a |
honored this week. For more | village. (#2) |
info: www.nea.org. |_____________________________|
============== QUOTE OF THE DAY ==============
"It requires a little more work, but that work pays off."
Otta Issac, principal at Cora Kelly Magnet School (Alexandria,
Va.), advocating for site-based management. (#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 |
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| Publisher: Barbara A. Pape |
|_______________________________________________________________|
============== TABLE OF CONTENTS ==============
GOAL FIVE: MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE
WHAT'S IN YOUR MIND?: A look inside the brain. (#1)
MONEY MATTERS
BUILDING FUNDS: N.J. plans to finance school construction.(#2)
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT: South of the border. (#3)
BYTES AND PIECES
HOME ON THE WEB: U.S. Constitution on Rep Delay's site. (#4)
GOVERNANCE
BRING IT HOME: Va. city considers school-based management.(#5)
UNION NEWS
DALLAS DOES IT BIG: Landslide union victory. (#6)
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===== GOAL FIVE: MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE =====
*1 WHAT'S IN YOUR MIND?: A LOOK INSIDE THE BRAIN
American and Canadian high school students will have the
opportunity to explore their brain power during the Howard Hughes
Medical Institute's Holiday Lectures on Science, scheduled for 8-
9 December.
Researchers A. James Hudspeth and Jeremy H. Nathans will
discuss how human brains make sense of the sights and sounds that
surround them. According to a HHMI press release, "lively
demonstrations" will demonstrate the variety of sensory
experience and the biological mechanisms that underlie them.
The lecture series, which this year includes four one-hour
talks via satellite and cable throughout the U.S. and Canada, was
established five years ago for students in the Washington, D.C.
area. The lecture series quickly grew to include a broader
audience: Last year the lecture reached an estimated 7,000
junior and senior high schools, and were rebroadcast to an
additional 12,000 schools by Channel One Network.
HHMI also has developed free resource packets for teachers
and students, as well as an "award-winning Web site with
extensive links and a 'Virtual Lab' where students can carry out
experiments electronically," writes the release. This year's
lectures will be carried live over the HHMI Web site at
www.hhmi.org/lectures/
For more information on the 1997 Holiday Lectures on
Science, "Senses and Sensitivity: Neuronal Alliances for Sight
and Sound," call 800/219-7871.
===== MONEY MATTERS =====
*2 BUILDING FUNDS: N.J. PLAN TO FIANCE SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION
Under a proposal submitted by N.J. Gov Christine Todd
Whitman (R), the state would pay $1.8B in needed school facility
improvements for its 28 most disadvantaged districts (O'Neill,
Philadelphia INQUIRER, 11/18). "There are clearly significant
facilities needs in [these] districts," conceded state Education
Commissioner Leo Klagholtz.
The proposal was "prompted by a [state Supreme Court] court
order," which in May ruled Whitman's school aid law
unconstitutional, writes the paper. While the state and the
courts have been embroiled in a decades-long battle over school
funding, the May decision marked the first time the court
included construction needs and their costs as "part of the state
burden for providing a high-quality education," reports the
paper.
Current policy requires N.J. to provide local school
districts only with a portion of the debt service to pay off
construction projects, "and even that amount has been effectively
shaved during Whitman's tenure," writes the paper.
Whitman's proposal calls for the state to establish
facilities cost standards to aid in reviewing construction
proposals. Projects that meet the standards would receive full
funding by the state. However, if the project exceeded the
standards, the excess would be voted on in the form of a bond
issue by local voters. Besides shifting a "far greater burden of
school construction costs onto the state," the governor's plan
also would help keep property taxes stable at the local level and
guarantee that students in disadvantaged districts would attend
school in "appealing, safe, technologically up-to-date settings,"
notes the paper.
===== FOREIGN AFFAIRS =====
*3 SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT: SOUTH OF THE BORDER
The Inter-American Development Bank last week announced two
programs designed to extend the education opportunities of
disadvantaged children in Guatemala and Venezuela (Inter-American
Development Bank press release, 11/13).
A $15.36M loan program to Guatemala will focus on making
quality preschool and basic education available to all
Guatemalans. Phase one will target funds to improve educational
quality primarily through technical assistance and the provision
of teacher training, textbooks and other educational materials.
It also will support gender equity, bilingual, education and
wider community participation in education.
Other outcomes of the program: the implementation of an
"innovative" school-readiness program for preschool children; and
the preparation of textbooks in 12 indigenous languages, writes
the release.
In Venezuela, IDB's $8M loan will assist a national
orchestra and choir system comprised of low-income youth. The
resources will support the Venezuelan National System of Youth
and Children's Orchestras and Choirs by financing the
construction of a headquarters building in Caracas as well as
providing funds to strengthen the music teaching program and the
system's financial and institutional capacities.
The program, "designed to improve the lives of low-income
youth and offer artistic and intellectual opportunities that they
normally would not be able to afford, will be implemented by the
Ministry of Family Services through the Fundacion del Estado para
el Sistema Nacional de las Orquestas y Coros Juveniles e
Infantiles de Venezuela. Already, Venezuela has 60 music centers
across the country that serve 57,000 children and youth.
For more information on the Guatemalan program: Ministerio
de Educacion Publica; Palacio Nacional, 3 Nivel, 6a Calle y 7a
Avenida; Zona 1; Guatemala City, Guatemala; 502/332-1221;
502/332-1216 (Fax).
For more information on the Venezuelan program: Ministerio
de la Familia; Fundacion del Estado para el Sistema Nacional de
las Orquestas y Coros Junveiles e Infantiles de Venezuela; Torre
Oeste, Piso 1, Parque Central; Caracas, Venezuela; (58-2) 571-
0894; 573-5091/7002; (58-2) 574-9032).
===== BYTES AND PIECES =====
*4 HOME ON THE WEB: U.S. CONSTITUTION ON REP DeLAY'S SITE
Hoping to make the U.S. Constitution more accessible to
students, U.S. Representative Tom DeLay, Majority Whip, this week
unveiled his web site dedicated to the Constitution (DeLay press
release, 11/14). According to the release, the site will tap the
technology of the Internet "to make the document more accessible
to students." He announced his new site at a government class at
Clements High School in Sugar Land, Texas.
De Lay: "This is the type of thing I want students to learn
by reading the Constitution: They register to vote at age 18
because that's the age the Constitution dictates. The president
gets on television every year in his State of the Union address
because the Constitution dictates. Law enforcement can not
search homes without probable cause because the Constitution
dictates. Congress cannot pass laws without either a super-
majority in both houses or the president's approval because the
Constitution dictates."
For more info, visit the Web site at:http://majoritywhip.house.gov
==== GOVERNANCE ====
*5 BRING IT HOME: VA. CITY CONSIDERS SCHOOL-BASED MANAGEMENT
School officials and residents of Alexandria, Va.,
considered school-based management in 1994, but it never got off
the ground. This year, the concept is being re-considered and
some think it stands a better chance of approval (Jennings,
Alexandria JOURNAL, 11/7).
"Having the creativity and autonomy of site-based management
makes a big difference," said Otta Issac, principal at Cora Kelly
Magnet School. "It requires a little more work, but that work
pays off." Issac has worked under a school-based management
governance system in Sacramento, Calif. He hopes to organize new
programs such as Saturday schools and after-school clubs, similar
to ones he started in Sacramento, at Cora Kelly. "I think I
could eventually convince the central office [in Alexandria] to
do those things [now], but it would take a lot more time," he
said.
In 1994, school-based management was discussed, but the
paper reports that because the district was "under the direction
of an interim superintendent at the time ... the situation seemed
too uncertain to make major changes."
School board member Henry Brooks acknowledged that the issue
has more support this time, but anticipates that it still will
have trouble being implemented. "People are afraid of change,"
he said. "The board has always been in favor of it, but each
respective school has got to step up to the plate and take
responsibility. We are not going to force it down their
throats."
Parent Michelle Reday-Cook: "It is basically a good idea.
But I suspect that there is no consensus among us as a community
as to what school-based management would mean in the city."
According to the paper, a vote is unlikely to occur for
several months.
=== UNION NEWS ====
*6 DALLAS DOES IT BIG: LANDSLIDE UNION VICTORY
Nearly 10,000 Dallas public school teachers voted in an
"historic landslide" election to be represented by the Alliance
of Dallas Educators, an affiliate of the American Federation of
Teachers (AFT press release, 11/18). According to the AFT, this
is the single largest group of teachers to choose union
representation in 20 years.
"This is a huge win for the labor movement," said a jubilant
Sandra Feldman, president of the AFT. "The landslide vote is
even more stunning because Texas doesn't have collective
bargaining rights. ... Dallas teachers recognize the importance
of a union as a powerful voice in helping them strengthen their
profession and their schools."
The AFT affiliate battled in a five-way contest for the
right to represent the Dallas teachers. It won with 58% of the
vote. Sixty-six percent of eligible teachers voted in the
election.
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