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--- Wednesday --- June 24, 1998 --- Vol. 1 --- No. 47 ---
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THE UPDATE ON AMERICA'S EDUCATION REFORM EFFORTS
www.negp.gov
SPEECH AND LANGUAGE
U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT's
top story in its 15 June 1998
issue is "Baby Talk," which
discusses the latest research
on how babies' master language
and how their brains handle
language acquisitions
(Brownlee). While researchers
remain uncertain over how much
language power a child is
endowed with at birth, new
research illuminates how the
brain functions as it acquires
language. From the article:
"... the brain is now seen as
working more like a beehive,
its swarm of interconnected
neurons sending signals back
and forth at lightning speed."
GOODBYE AND HELLO
Jaime Escalante, of "Stand
and Deliver" fame has retired
from teaching in L.A. New kid
on the high-profile block:
Rene Trabanino, who graduated
from UCLA with top honors and
breakthrough work in protein
research. He has eschewed the
big bucks of a bio tech firm to
teach at Bell High school in
Los Angeles -- his way of
giving back to his community
(Pool, L.A. TIMES, 6/18).
__________ __________
| SPOTLIGHT |
| |
| "OFF TO SIBERIA" |
| |
| Expulsions and suspen- |
| sions have skyrocketed |
| nationwide, as educators |
| desperately try to restore |
| order and end violence in |
| the classroom. One Va. |
| school administrator |
| conceded that the view of |
| many educators toward |
| troublemakers is, "It's |
| your problem. Off to |
| Siberia." (#3) |
| |
| While many school |
| district leaders are |
| spending the summer months |
| examining their schools' |
| safety policies, the Drug |
| Strategies group has |
| released a guide that rates |
| school-based violence |
| prevention programs. (#5) |
| |
| Before banishing students |
| to the isolation of |
| Siberia, Drug Strategies |
| calls on schools to |
| implement one of the |
| comprehensive and effective |
| school safety programs. |
|_____________________________|
============== QUOTE OF THE DAY ==============
"You can't see what's in a person's mind. It's either a cry for
help or a cry for action."
Ross Truemper, assistant principal at Ill.,'s Naperville Center
High School, defending his school's decision to expel a student
for threatening to kill a teacher. (#3)
_______________________________________________________________
| (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 THREE: STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT AND CITIZENSHIP
THE WRITTEN WORD: America reads summer challenge. (#1)
"LIBRARY POWER:" It enhances learning. (#2)
GOAL SEVEN: SAFE, DISCIPLINED AND DRUG-FREE SCHOOLS
YEAR OF VIOLENCE: Schools reassess school safety policies. (#3)
SEE NO EVIL: Children and violence . (#4)
RATING VIOLENCE-PREVENTION PROGRAMS: Guide for schools. (#5)
===== GOAL THREE: STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT AND CITIZENSHIP =====
*1 THE WRITTEN WORD: AMERICA READS SUMMER CHALLENGE
First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and U.S. Ed Sec Richard
Riley last week kicked off the summer reading season by
announcing that America Reads Challenge has summer reading
projects in all 50 states. The goal is to fend off summer
reading drop-off.
Riley cited numerous studies that found students' summer
reading drop-off has predictable, negative consequences for
student achievement, particularly for disadvantaged children.
America Reads' "ReadWriteNow! Projects pairs children with
tutors to encourage summer reading. Last year, 85,000 children
were reached through 14 coordinators. This year, 58 coordinators
are organizing hundreds more locations nationwide. Children are
encouraged to read for 30 minutes each day, five days a week, for
8 weeks. At least one of those days, the child reads with an
adult partner. The child also is helped to obtain and use a
library card. Upon completion of the program, the child earns a
coupon for a free pizza from Pizza Hut.
For more information visit ed.gov/inits/americareads or by
calling 800-USA-LEARN.
*2 "LIBRARY POWER:" IT ENHANCES LEARNING
In 1988, The DeWitt Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund (DWRD)
launched a "Library Power: Strategies for Enriching Teaching and
Learning" program that has helped hundreds of school libraries
expand their resources and better connect with classroom
curriculum. "Library Power" has become the largest private
investment in school libraries in 30 years, according to a DWRD
Fund press release.
When the program began, many public school libraries had
been suffering from benign neglect, particularly in low-income
neighborhoods. "Library Power" grants have enabled over 700
schools in 19 communities to renovate school libraries, purchase
new books and upgrade the electronic collection; link library
resources and classroom curriculum; foster new collaboration
among librarians teachers and principals; and actively involve
the community in the life of its library and school, writes the
release.
The program is funded through community-based organizations
and requires schools to hire full-time librarians; increase
spending for books, software and other educational materials;
keep the library accessible throughout the day; and allow staff
time to take part in professional development programs.
Philadelphia's Mann Elementary School Principal Carolyn
Weeks believes that her school's "Library Power" program is an
"essential support and catalyst" for the city's Children
Achieving district plan. The school's librarian "sees her role as
helping to accelerate student learning," writes the DWRD fund
report on "Library Power." She purchases material related to the
schools standards and plans lessons with teachers that will help
students meet these standards and the competencies that cut
across them, such as reading and writing," writes the report.
Weeks: "Students like to go to the library by themselves or
in groups. It provides them an opportunity to use the computer,
to print out their own stuff, to make their own books. They can
do it themselves. We're building a climate of children being
independent, of taking responsibility for their own learning."
Jo Ann Edverett, library media specialist at Lakeside
Elementary in Chattanooga, Tenn., sings praises of her school's
Library Power program. "After four and a half years of Library
Power, achievement has soared. Our scores on standardized tests
shows a direct correlation between the amount of active learning
in the library and high achievement at all grade levels."
Reginald Mayo, superintendent of schools in New Haven,
Conn., said his schools show improvement since "Library Power"
was implemented. "We see a difference in these schools -- both
in test scores and energy level," he said.
===== GOAL SEVEN: SAFE, DISCIPLINED AND DRUG-FREE SCHOOLS =====
*3 YEAR OF VIOLENCE: SCHOOLS REASSESS SCHOOL SAFETY POLICIES
School leaders across the country are spending this summer
examining safety policies after the series of horrifying on-
campus shootings by students. Many probably agree with Jamon
Kent, school administrator in Springfield, Ore., the site of one
of the school shootings, who continue to ponder how to prohibit
more violent incidents without running schools with a "terrorist
mentality."
Striking a balance between tight security, close monitoring
of at-risk students and timely intervention, while continuing to
run open, neighborhood schools is the difficulty faced by many
school administrators (AP/St. Louis POST-DISPATCH, 6/17). "We
may soon see kids being locked in, fences placed around school,
razor wire and metal detectors," said Kent. "I'm not sure our
communities, parents or our kids want that to occur."
Ron Stephens, executive director of the National School
Safety Center, also recognized the balancing act schools must
face to ensure school safety. "The tough issue is: 'How do they
react without overreacting?' You don't want to ignore a ticking
time bomb, and you don't want to be too Draconian in what you
do."
President Bill Clinton visited Thurston High School, where
one student is accused of killing two other students and injuring
22 others late May, telling the crowd gathered, "We want
something constructive to come out of this."
Clinton has requested U.S. Ed Sec Richard Riley and Attorney
General Janet Reno to develop a joint "Early Warning Guide" that
might help prevent "the youth rage that erupted in deadly gunfire
in Arkansas, Mississippi, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Oregon,"
writes the paper.
Some schools already have toughened school suspension and
expulsion rules. For example, three students in Fairfax County,
Va., were asked to leave school after making death threats,
reports the paper. In Lead, S.D., two students were expelled for
threatening to kill other students, while a Naperville, Ill.,
student was suspended for threatening to kill a teacher, then
adding: "I'm just messing with your minds," notes the paper.
The POST-DISPATCH points out that some educators have
criticized the quick action; but Ross Truemper, assistant
principal at Naperville Center High School, remains steadfast in
his school's decision to expel the student. "You can't mess
around with it," he said. Even if they're joking, you cant' make
that call. You can't see what's in a person's mind. It's either
a cry for help or a cry for action."
So far, the American Civil Liberties Union has not monitored
the recent bout of suspension and expulsions, as it has done in
several cases involving students' free speech and the use of
metal detectors, according to ACLU spokeswoman Emily Whitfield.
The paper reports that the national PTA and other groups are
calling for town meetings this summer involving all of the
community to develop an organized plan for curtailing school
violence.
*4 SEE NO EVIL: CHILDREN AND VIOLENCE
Children who have seen violence and are prone to anger are
significantly more likely to commit violent acts, according to a
new study produced by Case Western Reserve U researchers. The
study was published last week in the American Medical
Association's Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.
In an interview with the Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, Mark
Singer, professor of social work at CWRU's Mandel School of
Applies Social Sciences and a co-author of the study, recommends
that pediatricians and others who work with children "screen
children for exposure to violence and symptoms of anger so
children at risk can receive counseling and other treatment to
head off violence," writes the paper (McIntyre, 6/17).
Singer also noted in an interview with the paper that many
of the children who recently shot and killed classmates and
parents had demonstrated high levels of anger. Another thing
that many of them had in common was they all told people, he
said. "It says that kids, if asked, will tell you. We should be
asking the questions."
Cuyahoga County and the Ohio attorney general's office has
started the Children Who Witness Violence Project, with the goal
of contacting and finding help for children who witness violent
acts, "hoping to head off the trauma that can result, writes the
paper. "In the past, kids might fight," said Lolita McDavid,
medical director of child advocacy and protection at Rainbow
Babies & Children's Hospital. "But now they have guns. The
aggression is not, 'I'll see you on the playground at recess,'
it's, 'I'll come to school and kill you and everyone else.'"
A 21 June 1998 WASHINGTON POST MAGAZINE article portrays the
life of Alan Jenkins, a 13-year-old in constant trouble at
school. At a disciplinary hearing last year, Alan was assigned
to the New Dominion Alternative Education Center, "a repository
for the worst disciplinary cases from sixth to eighth grade in
Prine William County, Virginia," writes the article, titled "Alan
On The Edge" (O'Hanlon).
According to the article, the dramatic cases in Ore., Ky.,
Ark., and Pa., "overshadow the deeper issue, which is the steady
drip of insult, insubordination and just plain bad behavior that
corrodes education on a daily basis." Suspensions and expulsion
are up in the metro-Washington, D.C., area. One reason:
"Overcrowded conditions in schools leave teachers and
administrators with more than they can handle," so students are
more quickly suspended or expelled as a solution. Jack Lunch, an
associate superintendent in Prince William, conceded that the
view of many educators toward troublemakers is, "It's your
problem. Off to Siberia." Hence, Alan was sent to New Dominion,
writes the article.
Yet, the article is ambiguous over the impact New Dominion
has on its charges. "Teachers [at Old Dominion] constantly
wonder whether the school is hurting some students instead of
helping them," reports the article.
*5 RATING VIOLENCE-PREVENTION PROGRAMS: GUIDE FOR SCHOOLS
Just 10 of 84 school-based violence-prevention programs
earned an "A" grade, while 49 received grades of "C" or "D,"
according to a guidebook released by Drug Strategies, a policy
research organization. "Safe Schools, Safe Students: A Guide to
Violence Prevention Strategies" grades nationally available
violence prevention programs for grades P through 12.
"Our schools can play a significant role in preventing the
outbreak of the kind of violence we have seen in recent months,"
said Drug Strategies President Mathea Falco. "But we must
develop and use the violence prevention programs that incorporate
key strategies that are essential to success. Too many programs
today do not."
According to the guidebook, good violence prevention
programs include nine elements:
activities to foster school norms against violence,
aggression and bullying;
skills training based on a strong theoretical foundation
such as the Social Learning theory;
a comprehensive, multifaceted approach including family,
peer, media and community;
physical and administrative changes to promote a positive
school climate;
at least ten to 20 sessions during the first year of a well-
organized program and five to ten booster sessions in the
succeeding two years;
interactive teaching, including group work, cooperative
learning, discussions and role plays that allow students to
practice social skills;
developmentally tailored interventions which recognize that
risk factors for violent behavior appear to be age- and
stage-specific;
culturally sensitive material appropriate to the racial,
ethnic and demographic characteristics of highly diverse
student populations; and
teacher training to ensure that programs are implemented
properly.
"Safe Schools, Safe Students" also points out strategies
that have been proven ineffective by research, including the use
of scare tactics, segregating aggressive or anti-social students
and programs that focus exclusively on self-esteem.
Programs that received an "A" are: Aggressors, Victims &
Bystanders; No Bullying; PACT; PeaceBuilders; Peer Mediation,
Conflict Resolution in Schools; Reconnecting Youth; Responding in
Peaceful and Positive Ways (RIPP); Safe Dates; Second Step; and
Voices of Love and Freedom.
"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is
supporting rigorous studies of violence prevention programs,"
said Dr. W. Rodney Hammond, director of the division of violence
prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
"but the results of those studies are not yet available. Until
they are, this Guide can provide valuable insights into which
program strategies are most promising. It also is critical that
schools conduct serious, ongoing evaluations of their own
violence prevention programs. This work is simply too urgent to
ignore."
"Safe Schools, Safe Students" is available for $12.95, or
$9.95 per copy for order of five or more, plus shipping and
handling from Drug Strategies; 2445 M Street NW; Suite $80;
Washington, D.C. 20037; 202/663-6090.
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