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--- Wednesday --- July 29, 1998 --- Vol. 3 --- No. 52 ---
NATIONAL EDUCATION GOALS PANEL
NEGP Weekly
THE UPDATE ON AMERICA'S EDUCATION REFORM EFFORTS
in cooperation with the DAILY REPORT CARD
www.negp.gov
SUMMER VACATION
The NEGP Weekly will take a
summer break beginning next
week, 5 August. We will be
back on 9 September. Enjoy the
rest of your summer!
MOVING ON
"Time to Move On: African-
American and White Parents Set
An Agenda For Public Schools"
is the Public Agenda Founda-
tion's latest survey. Conduct-
ed in collaboration with the
Public Education Network, the
survey found that African-
American parents, by a margin
of eight to one, want public
schools to focus on raising
academic standards over
promoting integration and
diversity. While, about eight
in ten black and white parents
feel integrated schools can
improve race relations, half of
black parents and 72% of white
parents say integrated schools
make little difference in the
education children receive.
The complete questionnaire
results may be obtained for
$40.00 from Public Agenda;
212/686-6610;
paresearch@aol.com;
www.publicagenda.org.
_______________________________
| SPOTLIGHT |
| |
| "PATHWAYS TO TEACHING" |
| |
| A teacher recruitment |
| program funded by the |
| DeWitt Wallace-Reader's |
| Digest Fund was deemed so |
| successful that the |
| foundation agreed to |
| further investments. |
| |
| The "Pathways to Teaching |
| Careers" provides grants to |
| help 10 colleges and |
| universities recruit and |
| prepare nontraditional |
| candidates for teaching |
| jobs in low-income rural |
| and urban public schools. |
| Many Pathway Scholars are |
| classroom aides or |
| noncertified teachers |
| already working in the |
| classroom. Others are |
| former Peace Corps |
| volunteers. (#2) |
| |
| Detroit's Marygrove |
| College, through its Griots |
| program, is paving a path |
| for more black male |
| teachers to enter the |
| teaching profession. (#1) |
|_____________________________|
============== QUOTE OF THE DAY ==============
"The public perception of teaching is not what it needs to be,
and men do not always think of it as a profession."
Glenda Price, president of Marygrove College, where a recruitment
program is in place to attract black males to the teaching
profession. (#1)
_______________________________________________________________
| (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 FOUR: TEACHER ED/PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
TEACHER RECRUITMENT: Seeking black male teachers. (#1)
A PATH TO TEACHING: DeWitt Wallace leads the way. (#2)
HELP IS ON THE WAY: "Help-A-Teacher" initiative. (#3)
GOAL SIX: ADULT LITERACY AND LIFELONG LEARNING
FIRST GENERATION: Getting college help. (#4)
IN THE NEWS
STANDING THE TEST OF TIME: Charter schools. (#5)
===== GOAL FOUR: TEACHER ED/PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT =====
*1 TEACHER RECRUITMENT: SEEKING BLACK MALE TEACHERS
Detroit's looming teacher shortage, particularly of African-
American men, was the catalyst for Marygrove College's new
program designed to increase the ranks of black male teachers in
the city's public schools (Moorlehem, Detroit FREE PRESS, 7/9).
According to Charles Wells, human resources director for the
Detroit Public Schools, 500 teachers must be hired for this fall.
The paper also points out that although 90% of the student
population is black, only 10% of the teaching force is comprised
of black males.
Marygrove's program, named Griots (gree-ohs) after a West
African word for storyteller, calls for the recruitment of black
men who already have earned an undergraduate degree but lack
teacher training and certification, writes the paper. Students
recruited in this category will be able to earn certification in
16 months. Classes will be held on weekends, so students can
continue to work.
Griots students will be hired for substitute teaching
positions. They also will be paid for student teaching, if their
Marygrove supervisors recommend that they can head a classroom
with minimal supervision.
"The public perception of teaching is not what it needs to
be, and men do not always think of it as a profession," said
Glenda Price, president of Marygrove College.
The program is funded by a $150,000 grant for three years
from the Council of Independent Colleges.
*2 A PATH TO TEACHING: DeWITT WALLACE LEADS THE WAY
"Pathways To Teaching Careers" is a ten-year-old DeWitt
Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund (DWRD) program that helps schools
recruit and retain high-quality teachers. This year, the Fund
awarded $3.1M in grants to help 10 colleges and universities
"strengthen and sustain their efforts to recruit and prepare
nontraditional candidates for teaching jobs in hard-to-staff,
low-income rural and urban public schools." (DWRD press
release).
A survey conducted by the Washington, D.C.-based Urban
Institute encouraged DWRD to continue investing in the program.
According to the Urban Institute, 87% of Pathways Scholars have
either finished or are making progress toward completing their
degrees and certification. The retention rate of 30% is higher
than traditional undergraduate teacher education programs.
Another finding: the classroom performance of former Pathways
Scholars is equal to or better than typical beginning teachers.
Pathways scholars typically are classroom aides and
noncertified teachers already working in schools, or former Peace
Corps volunteers seeking to "continue their service to America,"
writes the release.
"The experience of Pathways suggests that there are a lot of
capable men and women who want to become teachers and who need
help achieving that goal," said M. Christine DeVita, president,
DWRD. "In making thee grants, our hope is to help extend to
other locations and make permanent at existing sites the work
that has been done over the past decade to help answer the need
for quality teachers for our public schools."
Since 1988, the DWRD already has awarded $47M to Pathways to
Teaching Careers. The program operates at 41 colleges and
universities nationwide. It has provided scholarships and other
support services to enable nearly 2,500 adults to enter college
and earn degrees that lead to jobs as certified teachers.
The release also notes that language in the House and Senate
versions of the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act would
provide governors funds to support Pathways-type partnership
between local school districts and colleges and universities.
Harris-Stowe State College in St. Louis, Mo., and Kean U, in
Union , N.J., received nearly $300,000 each in leadership grants
to sustain their work and assist other sites.
Institutionalization grants to current Pathways programs are
designed to help them continue and sustain their work:
Alverno College, Milwaukee Wis.;
Drexel U, Philadelphia, Pa.;
Indiana U of Pennsylvania, Ind.;
U of Illinois at Chicago;
U of Louisville;
U o f Wisconsin-Milwaukee;
Wayne State U, Detroit Mich.
DWRD Fund also awarded $40,00 to LeMoyne-Owne College,
Memphis, Tenn., to complete its participation in Pathways; and
$950,000 to the Bank Street College of Education, New York City,
to coordinate institutionalization and dissemination of the
Pathways program in the Midwest and Northeast regions.
*3 HELP IS ON THE WAY: "HELP-A-TEACHER" INITIATIVE
Funding innovation in the classroom is the goal of the SHOPA
Foundation for Educational Excellence's (SFEE) "Help-A-Teacher"
initiative (SHOPA press release). The Dayton, Ohio-based
foundation launched the program in 1997, awarding $25,000 in
grants to public school teachers in six states in the Pacific
Northwest. SFEE ran the grant program in conjunction with Fred
Meyer Stores, a Portland, Oregon-based regional retailer of a
wide range of general merchandise.
In 1998, $75,000 will be awarded, with Ames Department Sores
in the East joining the Fred Meyer Stores in the partnership.
Both stores plan to advertise the "Help-A-Teacher" program in
their Back to School circulars. Applications will be available
in the stores by the beginning of August. The deadline for the
return of applications is 30 September. All grant monies will be
awarded by mid-November and projects should be completed before
the end of the 1998-1999 school year.
Teachers applying for the grants that range up to $1,000
each will fill out the applications describing their proposed
projects, listing supplies needed for the projects and expected
costs. They also must detail the expected results from the
projects. The applications will be judged by a panel of
impartial judges and the grant money will be distributed based on
the decision of the panel.
According to the release, one of the program's goals is to
expand nationwide, with the results of each year's projects
shared with teachers throughout the country. "Our goal is to
improve education by encouraging teaches to develop innovative
classroom projects that can be duplicated in other schools," said
Mark Davis of Mead School and Office Products, who also is
chairman of the Foundation's Board of Directors.
For a list of 1997 grant recipients and descriptions of
their projects see: www.shopa.org. Or, contact the SHOPA
Foundation for Educational Excellence; 3055 Kettering Blvd.;
Suite 401; Dayton, Ohio 45439; 937/297-2250.
===== GOAL SIX: ADULT LITERACY AND LIFELONG LEARNING =====
*4 FIRST GENERATION: GETTING COLLEGE HELP
A College Board program that offers District of Columbia
low-income first generation adults postsecondary education
opportunities recently was awarded a four-year grant by the U.S.
DoEd.
"Our goal is to provide assistance and guidance to those who
are traditionally underrepresented in postsecondary programs,
many of whom do not know what options are available to them,"
said Paulette Morgan, director of the College Board's Educational
Opportunity Center (EOC). "We try to put an education plan into
motion, which can involve how to apply for college admission, how
to prepare for the GED, how to enroll in additional academic
courses to qualify for a new job or make a career change."
The EOC offers academic, career and financial aid counseling
and assistance services that include financial aid workshops,
career seminars, assistance with GED preparation, information
about college admissions and financial aid resources, and college
survival skills workshops. Twelve EOC community sites located
throughout the District are available for District adults age 19
or older.
The EOC is sponsored by the College Board and funded by the
DoEd under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965. It grew
out of a Talent Search program founded in 1967. The EOC is
currently celebrating 31 years as a TRIO program.
For more information, contact the College Board at 45
Columbus Avenue; New York, N.Y. 10023-6992; 212/713-8000.
==== IN THE NEWS ====
*5 STANDING THE TEST OF TIME: CHARTER SCHOOLS
Most charter schools stand the test of time -- once
established, they remain open, according to a new U.S. DoEd
report. President Clinton last week released "A National Study
of Charter Schools," praising charter schools as a critical
component for building a world class K-12 education system.
The report describes the charter school movement, and
examines ways in which charter schools are being established and
administered. Findings include:
The number of charter schools is growing -- 279 additional
charters became operational in the 1997-1998 school year;
Charter schools are in great demand -- more than 70% of
charter schools sampled said they had more applicants than
could attend;
Insufficient start-up funds was the most frequently cited
difficulty to implementing charter schools;
There appear to be possible legislative trends surfacing
toward relaxing limits on the number of charter schools and
increasing flexibility in the charter-granting process;
Most charter schools are small, and many have non-
traditional grade configurations. Generally, in terms of
race and income level, charter school populations are
similar to those in the overall public school system.
However, about a third of charter schools are more likely to
serve students of color and low-income students.
The report is second in a series of four by the DoEd. Last
year's National Study findings showed that chartering statutes
differ dramatically from state to state in allowing school
autonomy. Future reports will address broad policy issues,
including the charter school movement's potential effect on other
public schools.
"More and more American parents today are looking to public
charter schools to provide their child with a high-quality
education," said U.S. Ed Sec Richard Riley. "Parents deserve the
choice that good charter schools present. With this new
information, educators can better provide that choice."
In his FY 1999 budget, Clinton requested $100M in start-up
funds for charter schools, which is up from $80M this year.
The DoEd also is issuing $55M in grants for the development
of new charter schools. Applications are due 20 August and are
available to state education agencies (SEA) in states with laws
authorizing the creation of charter schools.
The grants will range from $250,000 to $5M. For more
information, contact John Fiegel; Education Department; 600
Independence Avenue SW; Room 4512; Portals Building; Washington,
D.C. 20202-6140; 202/260-2671; e-mail, john_fiegel@ed.gov;
http://ocfo.ed.gov/fedreg.htm; or www.ed.gov/news.html; or
www.uscharterschools.org
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