of The Center For Education Reform
No. 31 November 1996
The Days of Wine and Roses...
From the States
CER Reading Project Delivers
The Condition of Education
Resources. Things to know, things you may need, things we
may need
You Can't Keep a Good Reform Down!
Headlines
Dear Friends:
With elections over, many are taking stock of what efforts they will forge come January. Many more, however, not affected by the election, continue to re-tool their education efforts. Washington, DC is getting a shake-up, and hundreds of groups nationwide are forming to start their own schools, or prod existing ones to change. Then there are those who are still stuck in their ways. All the more reason to engross yourself in an update of highlights in these United States.
Union leaders are still dizzy from trying to spin the results of the election to their advantage. As reported by Education Week's David Hoff, the AFT's Al Shanker sees the results of the election as a "softening" of Congressional education reform positions while NEA boss Bob Chase says, "Voters voiced suspicions of conservative ideas."
While there is little doubt that Bob Chase is hearing voices, the electorate does not seem to be the source. As Hoff reports, only one member of either the House or Senate Education Committee lost his bid for re-election (David Funderburk R-NC). Of the 103 challengers supported by the unions, only 18 won. To add insult to injury, according to some experts, "Even where the unions could claim victory, it is doubtful they swayed the outcome..." Gosh, I guess millions and millions of dollars just don't buy what they used to.
Still, the unions are taking great pride in the defeat of Bob Dole, who had the temerity to challenge their authority, and in the re-election of the President, to whom the NEA has already submitted a list of candidates to replace the (presumably) outgoing Secretary of Education, Richard Riley. (We expect a call from the White House any day now asking for our recommendations.)
As the NEA and the new administration prepare to Macarena their way into the 21st Century, we leave Washington and turn to the states where several dozen solid reform legislators from all levels of government scored victories at the polls despite heavy union opposition.
"Don't Let the Fox Outfox You," howled the union in its advertising campaign against Ohio Rep. Mike Fox, Chairman of the House Education Committee and author of the Cleveland choice bill. But it didn't matter. Fox won handily and, thanks to the pick-up of a few seats by reform-minded Republicans, emerged as an even stronger force for education reform in Ohio. Rep. Jim Rubens who authored New Hampshire's charter school bill and pushed it through the legislature also fended off union attacks to win his second term, as did other such reformers as Reps. Glenn Lewis and Kent Grusendorf of Texas, Florida's Steve Wise, and Connecticut Rep. Reggie Beamon - a group representative of both parties and school choice advocates all. This list is by no means comprehensive, but it illustrates the point that the unions aren't the political force they claim to be. (Note: We've long suspected that the union's bark was much worse than it's bite. In the coming months we will release a detailed overview of the union's successes and failures to see if they truly are a snarling political Rottweiler or simply a yappy, Chihuahua-like public annoyance.)
If you haven't seen the NEA's "Eight Steps to Winning Campaigns," which includes the "NEA Action Plan for Opposing Vouchers," you're in for a real treat. The first irony that struck us was that the union is going to great pains to argue it will no longer be purely political. You will recall that at its 1995 convention, the NEA said future conventions would be devoted to school reform, a broad area not en vogue at the '96 convention. The NEA has also repeatedly told the education press corp that it is softening its partisan edge. Instead, it claims it will focus on issues rather than "political ideology." Sounds like they've had a true re-birth, doesn't it? Can't you just see them at the baptismal font or the river's edge? Well, if the "Eight Steps to Winning Campaigns" is any guide, the NEA is telling the truth. What it's not saying is that the issues they are focused on are the ones they oppose, rather than issues related to getting the children ready to read, write, think or spell.
The President speaks out on choice: late in the campaign during the second candidate debate, President Clinton had this to say about school choice: "If we're going to have private [school] voucher plans, that ought to be done locally or at the state level....I think it's wrong to take [federal] money away from programs helping children learn basic skills." How 'bout money not helping children learn basic skills? Title I's own internal assessments finds little progress overall with this $7.2 billion program.
The entity tasked to shake-up the system in the Nation's Capital has released its report, and in so doing has incurred the wrath of the so-called stakeholders. The DC Financial Control Board called the school system an utter failure, "an absolute F," and dysfunctional. There are some in the media who estimate with great confidence that at least $50 -$60 million has been squandered. And many of the principals and teachers in DC seem to agree that the Control Board is on the right track. In a stunning show of true psychological denial, DC school board member Jay Silberman told the Washington Post, "I maintain we have done our job. This is a slap at everyone who has been working." We are reminded of former NY District 4 superintendent Sy Fliegal, who often says he is struck by the comment, "I taught it, but they didn't learn it." We are also struck by the pure, downright, unmitigated gall with which Silberman and his colleagues maintain they are doing their jobs when all evidence on DC schools demonstrates that only a few students are actually learning. (Silberman also thinks taxing private school tuition is a brainy idea to get the DC schools more money). In fact, the school board is so distraught by the Control Board's report and actions that they are considering legal action. A local PTA president said it best, "The kids of DC have been robbed... They've been robbed for years." Now who do you think should be suing whom?
As the Monthly Letter went to press, the Control Board fired Superintendent Franklin Smith, and appointed retired Army Lt. General Julius Becton in Smith's place. Having served as the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Becton was a good choice. Among his tasks, maybe he can find out just how many people are employed by and how much money is in the Districts' schools.
Speaking of districts in disrepair: Credit must go to Connecticut Education Commissioner Theodore Sergi, who in a rather bold-sounding report about overhauling Hartford's schools acknowledged that, "complaints of union obstructionism were rampant in the district, and urged that the unions open discussions with the school board on removing collective bargaining provisions that impede student learning." The report also called for rewards and sanctions for student achievement, public school choice, an overhaul of curriculum and more.
Here's a tale that belongs in a fable. Just this month, a lousy charter bill went to the Pennsylvania Senate Education Committee. Committee members united around a much stronger charter bill, and by a 6-5 vote passed it out of committee. Despite support from the Pennsylvania School Board Association last year during similar proceedings, the stronger version suddenly lost favor among the BLOB. The PSBA and PSEA (you guessed it - the union) united forces to declare that the new bill created semi-private schools, took all accountability out of the schools (we wonder where it is now) and would remove that democratic practice of local control (what could be more local than parents and teachers starting their own schools and being approved by local school boards to do so?). Says the PSEA "If enacted as amended, H.B. 1834 would allow creation of charter schools with virtually no safeguards to the public, operating with unlicensed teachers." Egads! Those 480 charter schools operating nationwide at this very moment are obviously anarchy to the PSEA. Whatever they want to call it, it's one of the most dynamic reform efforts to come along in a long while. Yet even the broad coalitions that support charter schools and their increasing successes aren't enough to sway the leader of the Senate education committee. Senator James Rhoades is also a member of the same party to which the Governor belongs, and decided to have a hissy fit over the bill's blanket waiver from most regulations save health, safety and discrimination. Rhoades hails from Schuylkill County, home of the world famous Higgens Pigeon Shoot. So as we go to press, Pennsylvania lawmakers are once again being led by the BLOB, killing the hopes of over 100 potential charter applicants and putting the Keystone state clearly behind the curve as far as the rest of the country is concerned. The Ridge Administration, thankfully, says the issue won't go away. The moral: If you live with pigeons, you might become one.
Your tax dollars at work? Information from Vermont's Department of Education in September reveals why Doug Walker was only interim commissioner, pending the permanent appointment in September of Marc Hull. Back in September, Mr. Walker released to educators in the state and beyond a piece on myths about public education, which went to great pains to convince readers that "no country does a better job in educating all of its citizens than ours," and the U.S. spends less than most others on education. While there is no question that Vermont has a pretty good track record among its better students, Walker's claim that there is no need to worry is puzzling. Meanwhile, the spirited town of Chittendon, VT is tied up in a legal battle against the state, which has denied them the use of all education funds because they opted to pay the cost of tuition at religious schools for 15 parents who chose these over the more traditional private non-sectarian schools which have been a staple of Vermont school choice since 1869.
Sleepless in Seattle: Charter proponents spent a restless November 5th evening as they watched Washington state's charter initiative, I-177, fail to garner enough support from voters to pass. Although it may seem cut and dry - the public was faced with the charter school option and said "no"- there were a few interesting factors at play. The teachers union and other members of the NO Coalition (as in NO kidding, they really formed such a group) spent over $1 million fighting I-177 as well as Washington State's choice initiative, I-173. Not only did the NO Coalition join its vast resources against the initiatives, but it also managed to link the charter concept with the concept of vouchers in the minds of the voters. The opposition is obviously not unaware of the bad connotations and perpetuating myths that continue to make "voucher" a bad word. The proof is in the pudding. The initiatives lost by the same percentage points.
Last month, we reported about a Kindergarten flyer distributed in Phoenix called "When Do you Teach Reading?" In the text, the author suggests that reading is being done through a myriad of children's activities, the least of which is actually reading. We asked for your help in coming up with our own responses and the suggestions were great! First and foremost, several of you pointed out the horrible grammatical errors present throughout the document..."When a child stares...They are being taught to read!"
Says John Merrow of The Merrow Report, "...not only is the content appalling, but the writing is inept!" An individual from the Illinois Association of School Boards says, "In addition to the pathetic content of this flyer, the grammar is off."
Regarding content, we found the comments of two parents particularly apropos:
"When a child can look at a word, spell the word aloud, pronounce the word by hearing and saying individual letter sounds, and then is quizzed...he is being taught to read," says Eileen Miller of Gaithersburg, MD. Eileen adds that she is doing this with her kindergartner and the assistance of a phonics learning desk by Leap Frog. "It is a wonderful tool but should not have cost me $100. His teacher is just reviewing the alphabet (1 letter per week) which he knows already, and we can't afford the school of our choice."
Sensibly similar, Freddy Triana of East Elmhurst, NY says that a child is being taught to read when he or she "is able to identify the letters and their sounds and pronounce the word."
Incidentally, there is more coming home from that Phoenix-area district that is amazingly similar and just as vapid as last month's example. What have you seen lately that's worth sharing? Good and bad examples are welcome!
The 1996 National Education Goals Panel report says that while an increasing number of states are making progress toward the goals established in 1989, the nation's progress remains "static." Among the accomplishments: fewer infants are being born with health risks, a fifth of the states have increased the percentage of 8th graders scoring in upper levels on the NAEP math assessment, more math and science degrees are being awarded, and more students are enrolling in higher education. More families report reading to their children regularly.
The not-so-good-news is that forty-four states have made no progress toward increasing their high school completion rate (which has extended the acceptable age of completion to 24. The report points out that twenty states have reached a 90% completion rate, but fails to break down how many finish in 4 years). Reading achievement declined in 12th grade and remained static in the others, the gap among white and black students remains the same, and there was no increase in math achievement in grade 12...
... which is why one woman's comments in addressing the Goals Panel were particularly acute. On the topic of why these problems persist, she said the book of choice of most educrats in her area is The Manufactured Crisis, rather than E.D. Hirsch's newest masterpiece, The Schools We Need & Why We Don't Have Them. One more observation, regardless of stellar or lackluster performance on the goals; the panel needs to be a great deal more tuned into the fact that we can count measurements of achieving goals all day long, but the fact remains that people at all levels are enormously frustrated by monolithic rules that make many schools impervious to change. So count on, but until there's some real teeth in curriculum, standards and governance changes across the board, we'll be treated to reports like this until the cows come home (which I'm told by friends on farms never happens automatically).
New math seems to have gained at least a modest foothold in New Jersey, a state that traditionally has boasted strong progress in the basics, at least in more advantaged areas. A recent front page piece in the Philadelphia Inquirer, entitled "New Jersey counts out math by rote," explains that the Garden State has opted to do math by group, encourage problem solving, and get away from the constant repetition of math lessons gone by. One of the standards that students need to have mastered to graduate: "Use a variety of estimation strategies and recognize situations in which estimation is appropriate." Another goal? "Use calculators, computers and other mathematical tools," or "Demonstrate high levels of thought extending beyond traditional computation, algebra and geometry." The source of these "sophisticated" benchmarks is the National Council of Teachers of Math, which has been the leader in taking steps to higher plateaus of mathematical learning. The problem is, there's no evidence that it's getting us there, and more to suggest that it's not. In fact, there's another reader for E.D. Hirsch's new book (This isn't a paid advertisement -- really. It's just so darn good!). In it, he writes that "the mainstream scientific community [i.e. researchers in departments of psychology] gives little credence to many of the psychological presuppositions of the educational community, such as the assumption that children can be taught generalized critical-thinking and problem solving skills."
Three cheers for Dale Ballou and Michael Podgursky for their book, Teacher Pay and Teacher Quality, published by the Upjohn Institute. Unlike traditional prescriptions for improving the profession, the book drives home the importance of putting a competitive edge on the education industry in order to boost teacher quality to the height of its potential. Ballou and Podgursky recognize that there are bright people out there who are capable of raising the quality of education through top-notch teaching. The real issue, however, is recruiting and retaining the most talented candidates for teaching positions. Teacher Pay and Teacher Quality not only gives insight to obstacles that face school districts in regard to obtaining and maintaining the highest quality teaching force, but offers promising solutions for overcoming roadblocks. After all, don't our kids deserve the best of the best? For details, you'll have to read for yourself! Call the Upjohn Institute, 616-343-5541.
Seattle's success with non-English speaking students is commended in a recent study commissioned by the READ Institute and authored by Professor Scott Baker of the University of Oregon. Against pressure from a 1993 lawsuit for Seattle to institute full bilingual programs, the district argued that an overwhelming number of languages were represented, making native-language programs impractical, and implementing such splintered programs would hinder integration efforts. Seattle came up with an alternative that has proved successful. Director of the READ Institute, Dr. Rosalie Pedalino Porter says, "Seattle should be commended for instituting a common sense English language program for these students that has produced outstanding indicators of student achievement: lower dropout rates for students in the program than the rest of the district; increased graduation rates; and test scores in reading, language, and math comparable to district levels. Such results are almost unheard for students in bilingual education programs."
Resources. Things to know, things you may need, things we may need
The Center is beefing up its already stellar (smile) Web Site. The Op-Ed Forum allows you to have real fame and glory by putting your published op-ed pieces into this open forum section. Send us a hard copy, and we'll make sure it gets there with all due credit. Of course we do reserve the right to reject that which is...well...off-color in any way. Second, we've created The Education Network, a section providing basic info about all grass roots and reform-minded parent and citizen groups. If you're out there and you don't think we know about you, please drop us a line with a description of who you are and what you stand for, and we'll add you to the network. This will give the world a chance to meet the real people behind the parent and community groups working nationwide. Finally, we're listing all charter school events so that you who hold these forums may expand your reach. If you have a posting for our special charter school network section, please send it in, or e-mail it to cer@edreform.com. Our Web Site address, to have your own look-see is http://edreform.com.
Not to be greedy, but we need something else from you: Your college-age children!!! The Center is accepting applications for spring interns (and inquiries for summer as well). These provide modest stipends in return for hard, challenging, exciting, rigorous work. Please send letter of interest and resumes to the Intern Coordinator at our address.
Speaking of charters, there're a few great jobs to be had out there for qualified, experience charter experts and enthusiasts. Arizona's Department of Education is seeking a charter school director. Direct inquiries to Martha Fraser, Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction, at the Arizona Department of Education, 1535 West Jefferson, Phoenix, AZ 85007.
For you core curriculum fans, the National Paideia Conference will be held on March 17 & 18, 1997, in cooperation with a K-12 charter school, the Pueblo School of Arts and Sciences and Southern Colorado University. The Paideia Center advocates for a classical education for all students. Several site visits of local charter and unique public schools are part of the agenda. Write to them at CB#8045, UNC-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 27599-8045, ph. 919-962-7379.
The Index of Social Health (I bet you didn't know there was such a thing!) reports that the dropout rate worsened in 1994, along with drug abuse and teenage suicide. But the National School Boards Association says that the dropout rate has decreased, at least for Americans older than 25. (Since when did we change the expected age for graduation?) The Index can be had by calling (914) 332-6013. To see what NSBA has to say, send $4.50 to 1680 Duke Street, Alexandria, VA 22314.
You Can't Keep a Good Reform Down!
CER proudly announces the third edition of The National Charter School Directory. The numbers in the latest edition are astounding! For the 1996-1997 school year, charter schools are serving over 105,000 students in 480 schools. We have watched charter schools take on a life of their own, from one school in 1992, to 95 schools in 1994, to 480 schools in 1996. Our directory remains the most comprehensive listing of charter schools across the nation. And thanks to a grant from the William H. Donner Foundation, CER is expanding its charter efforts to help foster more communication, promote the good work being done by state and local groups, and provide ongoing assistance to would be operators. Please call CER to order a copy of the Directory.
JUDGE ORDERS N.Y. DISTRICT TO REHIRE CONVICTED WORKER (one that admitted he threw a lighted cigar into a trash can which started a fire in the gym)! (Education Week, 11/13/96)
There were a few reports released condemning public-private partnerships this month that deserve little mention. But you can be sure in the coming months that the system's public relations machines will be in full-force trying to fend off all you reformers! I wonder whether the Pilgrims ever imagined that sound education policy could cause such a stir? Thanks for reading.