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--- Wednesday --- November 4, 1998 --- Vol. 1 --- No. 61 ---
NATIONAL EDUCATION GOALS PANEL
NEGP Weekly
THE UPDATE ON AMERICA'S EDUCATION REFORM EFFORTS
In cooperation with the DAILY REPORT CARD
COLLEGE IS POSSIBLE
The Coalition of America's
Colleges and Universities
launched a national education
campaign to heighten public
awareness of the possibilities
for financing a college
education. The campaign,
called "College Is Possible,"
will include efforts by local
campuses to reach students and
parents. The initiative is
supported by a U.S. DoEd toll-
free number for college
education (800/433-3243), a
resource guide and a Web site:
www.CollegeIsPossible.org
The campaign is expected to
run until the year 2000.
MUSIC TO MY EARS
The Music Education Task
Force is a new joint venture of
the National School Boards
Association, the National
Association for Music Educa-
tion, the International Music
Products Industry and the
American Society of Composers,
Authors and Publishers
Foundation. Its purpose is to
focus attention on the value
and importance of music
education for all children in
the U.S.
__________ __________
| SPOTLIGHT |
| |
| STANDARDS: |
| STATES AT WORK |
| |
| In 1996, only 14 states |
| had put in place tougher |
| student standards. By |
| 1998, that figure jumped to |
| 38 states, with ten more in |
| the process of developing |
| standards, according to a |
| new study released by |
| Achieve, Inc. |
| |
| "We're making progress," |
| boasts Lou Gerstner, |
| chairman and CEO of IBM and |
| co-chair of Achieve. He |
| urges policymakers to |
| ensure that the standards |
| are backed by appropriate |
| tests. (#2) |
| |
| Va. is well on its way -- |
| in producing standards and |
| tests that align with them. |
| The state Board of Ed |
| established passing marks |
| for each of the Standards |
| of Learning exams, with |
| penalties for students and |
| schools failing to make the |
| grade. (#1) |
|_____________________________|
============== QUOTE OF THE DAY ==============
"Every student, no matter how gifted, reaches a point of complete confusion
[over math]. ... With the right effort, complete confusion becomes hazy
understanding, and finally solid mastery." Suzanne Sutton, an expert on
parental involvement in helping students do well in math. (#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 THREE: STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT AND CITIZENSHIP
STANDARDS OF LEARNING: Most Va. students not up to par. (#1)
"AIMING HIGHER:" Achieving success throughout the states. (#2)
SCHOOL REPORT CARDS: Improvement in Illinois. (#3)
GOAL FIVE: MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE
MATH TIPS: Helping your child learn math. (#4)
===== GOAL THREE: STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT AND CITIZENSHIP =====
*1 STANDARDS OF LEARNING: MOST VA. STUDENTS NOT UP TO PAR
The Virginia Board of Education on Friday established passing marks for
each of the 27 Standards of Learning exams, with penalties attached for
students who do not pass and for schools with high numbers of failing
students (Benning, WASH POST, 10/31). Given that the statewide failure rate
for exams taken by students last spring ranged from 28% to 67%, school
district leaders, teachers and students have their work carved out for them.
Students in grades 3, 5, 8 and in high school will take the exams.
The Class of 2004 will be the first to be required to pass the exam before
receiving a high school diploma. Under the plan, students can keep taking
the tests until they pass. By 2007, schools that produce fewer than 70% of
passing students will lose its accreditation.
Board members say they realize the high standards imposed on students
would produce high failing rates for first-time test takers. "This is what
we expected," said Mark Christie, a board member. "Any time you raise
academic expectations, you're going to get high failure rates in the early
years -- especially the first year." Setting lower expectations would serve
only to undermine the credibility of the new standards.
The tests are aligned with new state standards, much of which has not
reached the classroom level. Christie added that board members expected
high rates of failure for initial test- takers since many of the students
were tested on material they had not been taught in school. "Teachers
really didn't know what was going to be on the tests until midyear," said
Scott Brabrand, a high school teacher of government and world studies. "Now
that we know what to really focus on, I think scores will go up next year."
However, Brabrand and others are concerned that the state will not
support schools that have students who have difficulty passing the exams.
Other teachers and administrators complain that the state has not provided
sufficient incentives for current high school students to take the exam
seriously, notes the paper. Several districts have launched their own
incentive program: For example, test scores of high school students in
Alexandria will count in the final-exam grade for the course and students
must pass the fifth- and eighth-grade tests to be promoted.
The POST notes that board members constantly face a "political
dilemma:" If the rules are enforced, the resulting low graduation rates
could "trigger public protests." However, if the board lowers the passing
mark, it could face "complaints that the state watered down its standards,"
writes the paper. Gary Galluzzo, dean of the Graduate School of
Education at George Mason U: "Education is a very political business. They
will always be under pressure to change the [standards] -- they're under
pressure to change them now, and we don't even know what the failure rates
are."
*2 "AIMING HIGHER:" ACHIEVING SUCCESS THROUGHOUT THE STATES
Across the country, state officials have put in place higher student
academic standards and more business leaders are reviewing student
transcripts as part of the hiring process to encourage students to work hard
to meet the standards, according to a new report issued by Achieve, Inc.
"We're making progress," said Lou Gerstner, chairman and CEO of IBM,
and the co-chair of Achieve. "Now we've got to build on this momentum to
make sure that the standards are backed by good tests and that we have
accountability for student performance at all levels."
According to the report "Aiming Higher," only 14 states had set
standards in the core academic subjects in 1996. The figure jumped to 38
states two years later and 10 more are in the process of doing so.
During the same time period, over 2,500 employers committed to
reviewing school transcripts from potential employees seeking entry-level
jobs, with many additional businesses expected to make a similar commitment
in the next several months.
"Aiming Higher" also found that states are putting new tests and
accountability programs in place at a slower pace than the setting of
standards. For example, only 19 states require students to pass tests in
key subjects to graduate from high school or be promoted from certain
grades.
Achieve, Inc., a bipartisan, nonprofit organization created by
governors and business leaders to support state efforts to raise academic
standards and improve student performance, also created a set of
benchmarking services to help states compare their academic standards and
tests against the best of other states and nations. Mich. and N.C.
volunteered to pilot test this new review.
In Mich., Achieve found that the state's assessment program was
substantially more comprehensive and demanding than one might assume from
reading the state's standards. "The good news is that our tests have been
judged to be fair, comprehensive, and tough. Our challenge now is to
communicate our standards more clearly to parents, students and the general
public," said Governor John Engler.
Achieve's review of N.C.'s program revealed a strong and well-balanced
set of standards, coupled with assessments that were not nearly as
challenging as the standards suggested. Currently, Achieve is working
with 21 states in an attempt to better align standards and assessments.
This will enable policymakers and the public to compare school performance
across state lines against a common, high standard.
For more information, visit Achieve's new Web site: www.achieve.org.
*3 SCHOOL REPORT CARDS: IMPROVEMENT IN ILLINOIS
Nearly half of Illinois public schools on the "Academic Early Warning
List" moved off after the first year of grading schools by their scores on
state standardized tests (Fox, ED DAILY, 10/28). Sixty out of 122 schools,
of which 93 were in Chicago, improved student scores enough to be removed
from the academic warning list.
"Credit must go to local educators, parents, students and entire
communities for supporting this progress," said Robert Manderville, Illinois
interim state education chief.
According to the newsletter, schools are removed from the list when
more than half of its students meet or exceed minimum scores on the Illinois
Goal Assessment Program or when the percentage of students not meeting the
minimum goals equals or is less than test averages during the previous four
years.
New figures show that seven schools in "poverty-stricken" East St.
Louis are no longer on the list. While Chicago schools did not meet the
gains achieved by other districts statewide, education leaders say Chicago
has "turned a corner," writes the newsletter. Credit is given to the city's
after-school programs and to other academic-support initiatives.
The Summer Bridge initiative is noted as a primary reason Chicago
students are achieving at higher levels. The city recently outlawed social
promotions and put in place several support services to help children
achieve at grade level. The transition of ninety percent of last year's
eighth graders to ninth grade is attributed to the summer program, which
helped nearly 5,000 students make the transition to high school.
According to the Education Commission of the States, about 16 states
produce school report cards in an effort to obtain accountability, notes the
newsletter. Many states, including Ill., send improvement teams to schools
failing to meet certain standards.
For more information on Ill.'s report cards, visit the Illinois
State Board of Education Web site: www.isbe.state.il.us.
===== GOAL FIVE: MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE =====
*4 MATH TIPS: HELPING YOUR CHILD LEARN MATH
Parents ready to jump in and support their child at school often back
off when its time to do math, according to Suzanne Sutton, who runs parent
workshops on math and hosts Newtons Window (www.suzannesutoon.com). Yet,
many parents suffer from math anxiety -- apprehension over their child's
ability to perform at world-class levels in a subject that they struggled
with when they were students.
In a WASH POST article, Sutton explains math anxiety: "Part of the
reason is the odd nature of mathematics itself. It is not, for any of us,
an easy thing to learn. Every student, no matter how gifted, reaches a
point of complete confusion. ... With the right effort, complete confusion
becomes hazy understanding, and finally solid mastery." (11/2)
Enlightenment over math does not occur overnight. Unfortunately, too
many students -- even those performing at high levels in math -- quit the
journey for fear of "being found out" that they really do not understand
math, she writes. "They think, wrongly, that being able in mathematics
means never struggling, never staring in complete confusion at the figures
and symbols in front of them without a clue how to proceed."
Sutton offers advice to math-adverse parents (11/2). She outlines a
plan for parents to hire their children to perform tasks that require the
child to research and learn certain math concepts. Her program is based on
the work of Professor Jerry P. King of Lehigh U who requires all of his
students to become an expert in at least one mathematical theorem. "Once
they are expert at a piece of mathematics, they know how to do that with
other pieces. Their know-how and their confidence increase. They can do it
again," said King, author of "The Art of Mathematics."
One mother, frozen with fear while reading her son's teacher's list of
math objectives for the year, finally focused on logarithms. Following
Sutton's advice, she told her son she would hire him to teach her about
logarithms. From the article: "The specifications: She'd need to
understand them -- not just a report to read but a report and discussion
that would enable her to understand -- really understand, from her
perspective, what logarithms are and what they're used for."
Her son, Frank, agreed and began examining textbooks to discover the
secret of logarithms. Because he did not understand the texts and there was
no one to help him, he began to read the texts more slowly, which is how a
math text should be read, writes Sutton. He then tried a few examples,
which made only a little sense. Next, Frank visited the library and
"discovered the math section for the first time." During this process, he
learned to search for other sources, notes Sutton.
After pouring over several of the math texts, he asked his math
teacher some "sharp" questions. His teacher was utterly amazed, considering
the unit on logarithms was months away.
Finally, Frank wrote a report, which initially was too technical to
meet his mother's specifications. The final report was void of jargon,
written in simple terms. Sutton writes that Frank's final report shows that
he truly understands the topic. He presented the findings to his mother,
who now is the second person in the family to be an expert in logarithms,
and Frank became a richer person for it.
In her workshops, Sutton often discusses the need for more in-depth
learning and understanding of mathematical principles. "The greatest
impediment to long-term math success isn't lack of brains or natural
ability, as most people assume. It's shallow learning. It's not knowing
how to really get it, not knowing what to do when it gets tough. Because it
will get tough." She adds that students will not learn this in school --
it's up to the parents to teach them.
_______________________________________________________________
| National Education Goals Panel |
| 1255 22nd Street NW; Suite 502; Washington, D.C. 20037 |
| 202/632-0957 (Fax); e-mail: negp@goalline.org |
| Web site: www.negp.gov |
|______________________________________________________________|
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