Click here to return to OFCN's Main Index Page.
--- Wednesday --- November 18, 1998 --- Vol. 1 --- No. 63 ---
NATIONAL EDUCATION GOALS PANEL
NEGP Weekly
THE NATIONAL UPDATE ON AMERICA'S EDUCATION REFORM EFFORTS
www.negp.gov
LESSONS FROM THE STATES
Mark 10 December 1998 on your
calendar. The National
Education Goals Panel will host
a nationwide teleconference to
discuss and share "Lessons from
the States" about how to
achieve the National Education
Goals.
Broadcast from the National
Press Club in Washington, D.C.,
Goals Panel members and
education leaders from the
states will host the
conference.
Participants will learn which
states perform at high levels
or have made significant
education progress toward the
Goals. Policymakers from
Delaware, Washington state,
North Carolina and Texas will
discuss strategies they use to
achieve measurable success in
their states. Participants
also will be able to talk
directly to state policymakers
about what they are doing to
communicate with parents and
the public about assessments
and other reform issues.
To host a downlink site or
for more info on "Lessons from
the States," contact Justin
Perras at 202/667-0901.
__________ __________
| SPOTLIGHT |
| |
| "ECONOMY OF IDEAS" |
| |
| America banks on an |
| "economy of ideas," says |
| Federal Reserve Board Chair |
| Alan Greenspan. Our |
| current economic success is |
| driven by "ideas" -- "that |
| is mental, rather than |
| physical output," notes |
| U.S. Ed Sec Richard Riley. |
| |
| Perhaps the most effect- |
| ive way to nurture an |
| "economy of ideas" is to |
| support exposure to the |
| arts for students at all |
| levels. Riley argues that |
| attention to the arts is |
| essential to the develop- |
| ment of a creative process |
| that can be applied not |
| only to artistic endeavors, |
| but in science, business |
| and other areas as well. |
| Unfortunately, he and other |
| art enthusiasts were dis- |
| appointed in the recent |
| NAEP arts assessment, which |
| found that most schools |
| shortchange children's |
| instruction in the arts. |
|_____________________________|
============== QUOTE OF THE DAY ==============
"Creativity is a commodity in short supply. It is and should be
valued by all segments of society."
Dr. Norman Weinberger, head of MuSICA, a University of
California, Irvine-based group dedicated to increase the general
awareness and knowledge of music research. (#3)
_______________________________________________________________
| (c) by the DAILY REPORT CARD |
| 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 TWO: HIGH SCHOOL COMPLETION
BETWIXT AND BETWEEN: GED recipients. (#1)
GOAL THREE: STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT AND CITIZENSHIP
THE ARTS: Not alive and well in America. (#2)
COMPOSING MUSIC: Comes easily to children. (#3)
GOAL FOUR: TEACHER ED/PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
LIVING IN THE CITY: New teacher-training program. (#4)
IN THE NEWS
NEWS BRIEFS: More on the arts. (#5)
===== GOAL TWO: HIGH SCHOOL COMPLETION =====
*1 BETWIXT AND BETWEEN: GED RECIPIENTS
Recipients of the General Educational Development diploma,
or GED, in some ways are as successful as high school graduates.
In other ways, they more closely resemble high school dropouts.
Sometimes they fall in between. Researchers at the U.S. DoEd's
Office of Educational Research and Improvement examined decades
of GED data to determine how GED recipients' success in post-
secondary education, training and the job market, and the
military compared to the success of high school graduates.
"Educational and Labor Market Performance of GED Recipients"
found that GED holders are much more likely to attend college
than dropouts, are more likely to be employed full-time, and tend
to earn more.
However, GED recipients do not fare as well compared to high
school graduates. While they are roughly equivalent to high
school graduates in their basic thinking skills, they are less
likely to go to college and less likely to finish if they do --
even though they earn about the same grades.
In the military, GED holders had higher attrition rates than
high school graduates until the military restricted their
admission.
While the report's authors conclude that it is worthwhile
for a high school dropout to earn a GED, they acknowledge that
"the rates of persistence in the structured activities examined
in this study seem problematic, especially for males. First
evident in high school, the problem appears to recur in other
contexts." Specifically, GED graduation rates in postsecondary
education and other vocational programs are much lower than their
colleagues with high school diplomas. GED attrition rates in the
military were nearly as high as those of dropouts.
The authors recommend that since "years of education and
training, either preceding or following GED attainment, have much
more impact on labor market outcomes that the credential itself
... marginal student should be ... encouraged to finish high
schools wherever possible."
GED candidates should be aware that the credential is simply
a "stepping stone" to higher achievement. The researchers note
that counseling would be quite beneficial to help GED recipients
"navigate in college."
Single copies of "Educational and Labor Market Performance
of GED Recipients" are available from the National Library of
Education at 800/424-1616, or send a fax request to 202/219-1696.
===== GOAL THREE: STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT AND CITIZENSHIP =====
*2 THE ARTS: NOT ALIVE AND WELL IN AMERICA
Although 81% of schools recently reported that their
students are taught music at least once a week, only one in four
eighth-graders in these programs report actually singing or
playing a musical instrument at least once a week. These
findings are part of the National Assessment of Educational
Progress 1997 arts assessment.
"In this age of information and when our economy is
increasingly built on generating ideas, it is a serious mistake
to shortchange our children's instruction in the arts," said U.S.
Secretary of Education Richard Riley. "This NAEP assessment
verifies that most American children are infrequently or never
given serious instruction or performance opportunities in music,
the arts, or theater -- that's wrong. At a time when creativity
and communication skills are at a premium, arts should be used
for their rich potential to captivate and engage students in the
process of learning."
In 1997, 6,600 students in 268 schools took part in the NAEP
grade 8 arts assessment. Pascal Forgione, commissioner of
education statistics for the National Center for Education
Statistics, explained that the music and visual arts samples are
nationally representative of all eighth-grade students. However,
only certain schools were targeted for the theater assessment
because few schools offer such instruction. No assessment was
conducted for dance because researchers could not obtain a sample
large enough to be consistent with NAEP's standards.
Three types of scores are offered by the arts assessment:
Responding -- students analyze, describe, and interpret
works of art reported on a numerical scale ranging from 0
-300;
Creating -- students generate original art; and
Performing -- students re-create existing works of art.
The creating and performing scores are reported as
percentages of students scoring at various points on the scale of
specific tasks within a "block" For instance, 21% of the
students might be reported as scoring at an adequate level in
playing a keyboard melody of "Ode to Joy."
Students also were asked to sing, create music, create and
perform dances, act in theatrical improvisations, and work with
various media to create works of visual art. They were asked to
evaluate their own work in written form.
Findings include:
Students who were asked to play instruments almost every day
scored almost twice as high (on average, 53%) of the
possible points on music performance, compared to a
performance score among those students who did not have
music all year (27%);
Students who were asked to sing almost every day scored
almost a third higher (on average, 40%) of the possible
points on music creating, compared to a creating score among
students who did not have music that year (29%);
Students who did well on the responding, or paper and
pencil, activities also did well on the creating and
performing tasks across all arts;
Among students in the upper 25% of those tested on the
"responding to music scale," 44% reported playing music in a
band, either at school or independently, compared to only 6%
among those in the lowest 25%;
71% of the students gave a "limited response" to a question
that asked them to describe in detail one specific feature
of some music that helps to identify the song as a
spiritual; 10% scored adequate, the high level, and 19%
scored inadequate, the lowest level.
The average creating score in music is 34%, the same as the
average performing score in music. For the visual arts, the
average score is 43%. In the targeted sample for theater, the
average creating/performing score is 49%.
At a news conference releasing the NAEP arts assessment,
Riley underscores Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan's
notion of an "economy of ideas." Riley: "By this, he means that
even though our nation's physical output has not increased
significantly, our overall production has increased by phenomenal
proportions. Both this increase as well as the related economic
success are being driven by 'ideas' -- that is mental, rather
than physical output."
According to Riley, a strong foundation in the arts is
critical to building an "economy of ideas." "In nearly every
field in which we need to foster these new ideas in order to
succeed -- from computers to communications -- people with an
education in the arts are playing critical conceptual roles."
*3 COMPOSING MUSIC: COMES EASILY TO CHILDREN
MuSICA Research Notes, a newsletter of the Music and Science
Information Computer Archives (MuSICA), features research
findings on young children's ability to compose music (Fall
1998). Written by Dr. Norman Weinberger, head of MuSICA, the
article points to research that suggests children as young as
nine can produce original compositions using the same processes
as do professional composers.
In his summary, Weinberger presents several findings evident
in the studies of musical composition of children:
Children enjoy opportunities to compose and "will do so
enthusiastically given a bit of guidance and opportunity;"
By the age of nine, children can produce original
compositions;
Nine-year-olds also exhibit the same processes as do
professional composers;
Development of the ability to retain sound patterns
facilities composition; and
Musical composition is a truly creative process that is
subject to study and understanding.
Weinberger: "Creativity is a commodity in short supply. It
is and should be valued by all segments of society." He notes
two benefits of giving children opportunities to compose music.
First, composition provides the chance to examine how children
create, while at the same time allowing children to further
develop their creative potential.
For more information, visit MuSICA's Web site at
www.musica.uci.edu. MuSICA is housed at the Center for
Neurobiology of Learning & Memory of the University of
California, Irvine.
===== GOAL FOUR: TEACHER ED/PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT =====
*4 LIVING IN THE CITY: NEW TEACHER-TRAINING PROGRAM
Wheaton College student teachers interested in urban
education have a unique opportunity to learn what it takes to
survive and succeed as a teacher in an inner-city school. The
suburban Ill. college has united with Cleveland Elementary
School, located on Chicago's North Side, to produce a training
ground for student teachers (Fox, ED DAILY, 11/9).
"It's the first time we've formed a partnership with a
Chicago school, "said Jill Lederhouse, a Wheaton College
education professor who supervises the program. "If a career in
the city is what they're after, we want to immerse them."
Seventeen students applied to student teach at Cleveland
Elementary; five were accepted. Four of the five students live
in an apartment near the school that is leased by the college for
the duration of their internship.
Each student teacher is paired with a veteran Cleveland
Elementary teacher who serves as a mentor during the 12-week
internship. The mentors help teacher candidates "acclimate to
the inner-city classroom, build their confidence and hone their
teaching skills," writes ED DAILY. "We become less of a model
and more of a support system" as the program continues, said
Christine Gately, a 6th-grade teacher and mentor at the school.
The program, in its first year, is expected to expand next
year -- that suits Cleveland Elementary Principal Jack Rocklin
just fine. He argues that the program has helped to foster an
atmosphere more conducive to learning. "Values are transmitted,"
he said. "The more good people you bring in, the better a school
gets."
For information on Cleveland Elementary, visit their Web
site at www.clevelandschool.org.
==== IN THE NEWS ====
*5 NEWS BRIEFS: MORE ON THE ARTS
DoED CELEBRATES THE ARTS: On 1 December 1998 at 7:30 EST,
U.S. Ed Sec Richard Riley will host a live national broadcast on
arts education from the Newseum in Arlington, Virginia. The
broadcast is part of "Arts Literacy for a Changing America."
Riley, CNN moderator Bill Press and other national experts
will discuss how arts can strengthen our schools and provide
highlights of the results of the National Assessment of
Educational Progress (NAEP) in the arts.
To register as a downlink site or to obtain more information
about the teleconference, call 800/USA-LEARN or visit http://aep-
arts.org
KIDSCAMPAIGN FOCUSES ON ARTS: The Benton Foundation's Web
site now features a section devoted to arts education in the
schools. More than 200 programs around the country that use the
arts to foster youth development are linked to expert interviews,
model curricula and tips for communities, schools and parents in
a comprehensive new online feature published at
www.kidscampaigns.org
KidsCampaign is published by a team of children's experts,
journalists and communications specialists at the Benton
Foundation, a private nonprofit foundation based in Washington,
D.C. It was named "Best of the Web" in 1997 by Family PC
Magazine.
_______________________________________________________________
| National Education Goals Panel |
| 1255 22nd Street NW; Suite 502; Washington, D.C. 20037 |
| 202/724-0124 (Fax); e-mail: negp@goalline.org |
| Web site: www.negp.gov |
|_______________________________________________________________|
Click here to return to The 1998 Daily Report Card
Click here to return to OFCN's
Academy Program
Click here to return to OFCN's Main Index Page.
Webmaster@ofcn.org