of The Center For Education Reform
No. 19 September 1995
In The News: A Roundup of Recent News Reports on Reform
On School Report Cards, from The Providence (RI) Journal Bulletin (6/19/95)
On Choosing Charter Schools, from the Providence-Journal Bulletin, Mass. edition (6/16/95)
On a private-like public school, from The Oregonian ( 8/16/95)
On responding to competition, from The Omaha World-Herald (7/20/95)
On more accountable schools, from The New York Post (8/16/95)
On starting a charter school, from The Washington Post (8/21/95)
On choices for minority children, from the editor, The Atlanta Journal Constitution (7/12/95)
On new professional groups for teachers, from The Virginia-Pilot (7/28/95)
On standards for educators, from The Boston Herald (7/21/95)
On reading performance, from The Baltimore Sun ( 7/18/95)
On reading, from The Los Angeles Times ( 7/18/95)
On Inventive Spelling, from The Phoenix Gazette (8/21/95)
On School Report Cards, from The Providence (RI) Journal Bulletin (6/19/95)
It is said that information is power...the School Department is planning to give parents an unprecedented amount of information by publishing a report card for every school.
Supt. Zarrella said it will bring a little "friendly competition" to city schools. "This will be our first stop in holding our system accountable school by school," he said. For parents...who choose where to send their children, the report cards will give them ...information that has been difficult to attain or nonexistent. For administrators, the reports may help draw attention to schools that need help.
In addition to profiles of the students, staff and building, report cards will contain ... descriptions of goals, initiatives and achievements as well as the best teaching practices, alternative student assessments and special programs,... number of student suspensions and teacher grievances and the amount of parental involvement.
On Choosing Charter Schools, from the Providence-Journal Bulletin, Mass. edition (6/16/95)
On Michael Rebello's first day of school, he was jumped by six children while playing Power Rangers. The kids thought he was the bad guy. The next day, Michael was shoved into a door, leaving him with a cut on his face. Soon after, [Linda] Rebello decided to send her son to the city's new charter school instead of to public school, saying "I want him to want to go to school, not be scared to go to school."
...At the Atlantis charter school her son will receive greater attention..learn different languages, be hooked up with a mentor....These are just a few expectations parents have had after registering ...at Atlantis - a school that pledges to restore education to the people. "We're looking to have a heavy parental involvement..build a family atmosphere" said John Corriero, president of Atlantis.
Atlantis plans to hold classes between seven to eight hours a day, six days a week, for 220 days a year, stressing math and physical sciences by using 'the sea' as its theme.
As a former superintendent of Fall River schools, Correiro hopes Atlantis will be a departure from the bureaucracy he experienced in the past. "A lot of what we came away with is the frustration of not seeing things get done... I had to fight like heck to let minor things go through."
Atlantis had received over 400 applications to fill 20 faculty slots, and will enroll 300 students. They recruited from amongst the local housing developments.
Not everyone has been supportive of this new approach. Teachers unions and local school officials argue that charters will destabilize the public school system. Atlantis responds: "A little school with 300 people poses no threat to the Fall River school system. [We're not trying] to establish a kingdom here - we're just trying to make something happen."
On a private-like public school, from The Oregonian ( 8/16/95)
Concerned parents are using public funds to create a pioneering private school within the Bend/La Pine School District. It will provide an enriched environment...where the kids can pursue [their] interests.
The community school will not be housed in any facility owned by the district, and the district will not provide staff at any level. "They will hire a staff and... use a curriculum they select."(Oregon has a 10-year old alternative education law, designed to help children with attendance or discipline problems) The President of the Bend Education Association said that... he thinks any certified teacher working at the school should be covered under the association's contract. Shannon Bauhofer's daughter will be in the sixth grade at the community school. [It] is exciting to her. "It will show others that it's something they can do whether they live in Nebraska or Iowa...To me, it's what education should be about...it should be something the kids will buy into."
Oregon Superintendent Norma Paulus says it represents a workable alternative to charter schools, an idea she and others fought to a standstill. "I urged the school board to approve this."
On responding to competition, from the Omaha World-Herald (7/20/95)
Nearly eight of 10 Millard (Nebraska) School District residents who sent their children to private schools did so, in part, because the schools offer religion, a district survey says.... Four of 10 parents cited discipline...more than a third mentioned a more traditional or more rigorous curriculum.
The results of the survey...revealed some areas where the district can't compete..but also where it can improve, said Superintendent Ron Wit. "If you're losing your customers, you need to understand why."
...The surveys are thought to be the most comprehensive ...in the Omaha area, and representatives from other districts have expressed interest in Millard's findings. The interest is related to a spurt in nonpublic school enrollments in the Omaha area. While public school enrollment was up less than ...1 percent from the previous fall, Catholic school enrollment was up 5.1% and other private schools reported at 19.1% jump.
[School Board President] Mrs. Lamberty said the board started asking questions a year ago for answers to why parents were choosing alternatives. Questionnaire (s) were mailed to 1,107 parents of private school students and to the 100 families who used the [choice] law to send their children to other public schools.
Mrs. Lamberty said the survey responses were a "mandate" for a comprehensive survey of all district residents. "We've got to make sure parents think children are being challenged enough."
On more accountable schools, from The New York Post (8/16/95)
A good idea needs to be repeated. Sy Fliegel and his colleagues at the Manhattan Institute...have an idea that's a doozy: They think the next Schools Chancellor should be the last one.
Fliegel wants the locus of power (and money) shifted...to the principals at each school... "One person," they argue, "cannot be responsible for the education and safety of one million school children."
Yet Mayor Guiliani and the Board are locked in a fractious debate about both the necessary 'qualities' of the next schools boss and who will pick a replacement...It's no wonder that Board members are not satisfied with the 163 names they had... Superman didn't apply, and Superwoman hasn't been created.
Except that Rudy Guiliani has thrown up a caution flag, pronouncing his preference for a manager...and insisting that the Board will not pick right. Picking right means choosing a chancellor who can squash the bureaucracy. Just finding out where the bodies are, and where they buried the treasure of discretionary funds has been hidden by the civil service, bean-counters can be a full time occupation...
Meanwhile, the children are smothering in the guilt of terrible inequities and incalculable horrors...it's a wonder that any learning --much less meaningful progress...can take place.
On starting a charter school, from The Washington Post (8/21/95)
The flier came in the mail, announcing a chance to enroll in a D.C. public school that is starting from scratch...It sounded good to Anne Hemphill, who took her children to see what the new school was all about...Warren and Amy Belasco, frustrated with their neighborhood school saw this as an alternative to private education for their son, who had been put on the waiting list at some of the best public schools in the District. " It's like the last hope before pulling out of the school system altogether," Belasco said.
By filling out applications [for the] Bilingual/International School, [they] were stepping into one of the hottest trends nationally in education reform: charter schools... Charter schools have been tossed around as a solution to the problems plaguing the city's schools. Members of the D.C. council have advocated charter schools, and a recent plan developed by House Republicans calls for the Smithsonian Institution, the Library of Congress an the National Science Foundation to sponsor such schools.
The DC Board of Education approved a school reform policy in the spring allowing charter schools. The policy is far more limited than legislation passed elsewhere...they are not independent of the school board [and] don't have complete authority to hire and fire.
"This charter was a little wedge we saw to respond to consumer demand," parent and organizer Glenda Partee said. "If we can do this, perhaps other parents will feel more empowered. These are the kind of things that will draw people back into the school system."
On choices for minority children, from the editor, The Atlanta Journal Constitution (7/12/95)
America is a wonderful place... Florence Alexander made a fortune on minority set-aside contracts. She's using a portion of that fortune to establish a prep school on the campus of the old Tift College at Forsyth, which she purchased for $6 million.
About 90 percent of the students attracted so far to Ebon International Preparatory Academy are black but she hopes eventually to have a better racial balance. Yearly tuition is $6,500 with transportation ...and $13,000 with room and board... Expensive, yes, but Atlanta Schools spend an average of $7,650 per student .
The next question, then, is obvious: Why not assign the $7,650 to children and let their parents buy the kind of education they want at the school of their choosing? Why not acknowledge that society's obligation is to individuals and not to structures? What works for one child doesn't for the next and parents should be able to pick from a smorgasbord of educational offerings.
It is indefensible that a state which provides funding for kindergarten and for college students to go to the school of their choice, public or private, insists that students in between take the education handed them.
Makes no sense that an Ebon exists, offers a safe, structured environment where children can be immersed in achievement. And yet, the children who need it worst are least likely to be afforded access.
On new professional groups for teachers, from The Virginia-Pilot (7/28/95)
Two local teachers are hoping to give their classroom colleagues a new option when it comes to professional organizations - one they say will be less politically active and less expensive than education's two best-known national unions. Bill Carson and Wayne Adamson have set up the Professional Association of Teachers, a group they hope will draw educators from throughout Hampton Roads.
Although such associations are still a fledging movement in the state, there is a growing national trend of independent teachers' groups taking pains to distinguish themselves from the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers. "We want our organization to be affordable and professional and non-partisan... we don't want bargaining power. We're not going to get politically involved with candidates."
"The danger of organizations like this is in generating factionalism. It makes it difficult for the education community to come to agreement on what's needed to improve America's schools," said an NEA spokesman. Vicki Hendley, president of the Virginia Beach Education Association, said she would not view the independent group as a threat or a problem as long as its focus was improving education, but she, too, had concerns about a splintering effect. But leaders of independent organizations say that part of the problem is in the national groups' assumption that all teachers are together in their thinking....Membership would cost $80 per year...as opposed to $300 or $400 annual for a combined local, state and national membership in NEA or AFT.
On standards for educators, from The Boston Herald (7/21/95)
The state Board of Education unanimously approved yesterday a set of performance standards for teachers and administrators. The 43 "principles of evaluation" include a call for teachers to be up to date on the curriculum, plan instruction effectively and use appropriate classroom techniques.
Headmasters and other administrators should...hold teachers accountable for having high standards... "What they're intended to do is to serve as really the minimum starting point for the creation of standards at the local level, said Nora Todd of the Massachusetts Teachers Association.
On reading performance, from The Baltimore Sun (7/18/95)
One of the searing images of Nathanial Hurt's murder trial last spring came when attorneys questioned one of the youths present the night that 13-year old Vernon Holmes was shot dead.
The boy told the court that he couldn't read the statement he'd given police because he cannot read or write. He recognized the letters C-U-T, but could not decipher the word they spelled....The boy was in the sixth grade in Baltimore City Public Schools. While the school system failed to meet practically all the goals in the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program, one of two areas where it did merit a satisfactory grade was in elementary school promotions. Something is wrong with this picture.
Members of the Maryland State Board of Education have finally reached this realization. They are expected to vote soon on excising the school promotion rate from the criteria it uses to judge schools .
On Reading, from The Los Angeles Times ( 7/18/95)
Trying swing the pendulum of education ...back somewhere in the vicinity of the center, the California Legislature is considering making the rather fundamental declaration that spelling ought to be taught in the state's schools. Phonics as part of reading instruction, is a good, idea, too, the bill... says.
The drive to re-examine the state's approach to teaching basic subjects has been gaining [bi-partisan] momentum since state and national test scores released last spring showed that many California fourth-graders are struggling with reading and math. No basic skill, however, has been as neglected as spelling...Diane Gorshow, a teacher who is a member of Eastin's reading task force, said the legislation is consistent with what the panel will recommend...and she welcomes the shift in emphasis.
"I have had people...remove phonics books so I could not teach the old way. They've removed our spelling books...Meanwhile, teachers have fought to get phonics... and spelling included in instruction.
On Inventive Spelling, from The Phoenix Gazette (8/21/95)
A teaching method called inventive spelling has educators arguing about when it's appropriate to correct spelling . First graders...are being taught [with the emphasis] on expressing thoughts over correct spelling.
"On Saturday my sister Tessa and me were having a rase and I got a hed stared and Tessa got her speed and she codent stop and she bang her fase on the chair," Kaitlin, a first-grader wrote. No teacher's red pen slashed through her misspellings. No point in damaging the kid's self-esteem by telling her she's wrong, proponents say. The point is to get Kaitlin and other children to put their thoughts on paper.
"I think you should spell words correctly," said state Supt. of Public Instruction Lisa Graham " Consider me compulsive, but I think that's important." For example, an essay by an eighth-grader for the Arizona Student Achievement Program... scored 24 out of a possible 25 although it was rife with errors.
Even the state Department of Education's [current] curriculum guidelines for the language arts say: "Instruction in grammar may actually harm a student's writing ability especially if grammar instruction increases time for writing instruction. Also, knowledge of grammar can inhibit student writing, make students less likely to take risks with language. "
Home Page | Montlhly Letter | E-Mail Us | Publications Library