CER Op-Ed
by Jeanne Allen, President
The Center for Education Reform
October 30, 1995
A debate is raging over the state of education in the country, and what to do about it. There are those who say we're doing just fine. You frequently hear them say, "things are getting better all the time; it's just society that's the problem."
There's Education Secretary Richard Riley, and his Education Department, taking solace in the notion that the drop out rate is down, and more kids than ever before are college bound. They, too boast of the SATs scores, which reportedly show the largest increase in a decade.
On the other end of the spectrum are the employers, the parents, the college professors, who are seeing first hand that too many kids are getting too little education.
Why the schizophrenia? The status quo lives for its perpetuation. Tasked with running a system whose time for change is long overdue, they can't fathom the real diagnosis. Take a look at the results of a much heralded survey from the New York-based Public Agenda Foundation. Its report, Assignment Incomplete, mirrors countless other such surveys.. A majority of citizens are dramatically dissatisfied with the state of their schools. They believe that even a high school diploma in their own community doesn't represent mastery of basic skills, skills that they admit their own children don't even have. Americans want children to read and spell and calculate numbers well. Dismayed by the lack of accountability and low expectations for students (that still provide many a student with As, Bs or Cs, despite lack of real proficiency in various areas), more than 50% of those surveyed say private schools do a much better job preparing students for college, for work, instilling discipline and meeting their educational needs. If they could, they'd rather switch than fight.
But what about the falling drop out rates and rising SATs? The reality is this:
The dropout rate for those who graduate high school or earn an equivalent degree by age 24 is lower, but the number who graduate in four years is stagnant, and in many cities, the number who don't is actually as high as 50%. And while more students than ever before are going to college, many of them are merely passed on without regard to their achievement, so much so that 75% of colleges have been forced to provide remedial education in reading, writing and math.
And the SATs? Scores for the top 20% have declined precipitously since the late 70s, and this year, they made the test easier to take by adding time, dropping challenging vocabulary sections, and allowing the use of a calculator. Minorities still continue to make gains on the SATs, and are the only subgroup doing better. Their scores, however, still lag far behind those of whites. Not surprisingly, other national indicators of student achievements did not show any measurable gains in reading and writing, and in fact, nationally, only a little over 30% of 8th and 12th graders are proficient at reading, and do even less well on writing samples.
In the wake of this disturbing mess, the education establishment merely responds with its typical remedies of increasing, rather than decreasing the federal role, and lobbying for more money, despite the fact that a 30% increase in real dollars has not sparked any improvement since 1980.
Most vocal is the National Education Association (NEA), which works tirelessly against real reform. NEA's chief often characterizes criticism of the schools as anti-public education or politically motivated. Yet it is only people who gain by the current system where politics plays a role. The NEA, and many of its 165 or so colleagues in the establishment, know that the public is quickly tiring of the rhetoric. They are changing their tune (though not their song ), and have warned each other that "We must reform from within or be dismantled from without."
They got that one right.
But despite the battles of a few loud opponents against many of the best efforts to restore excellence to the schools, reformers are indeed winning. Some examples:
Wilkinsburg, PA, where the local school board, empowered by its community, voted to bring in a private firm to manage and build a new curriculum for one of its several very trouble schools. The union and allies sued, and the Supreme Court on October 27 gave the district the go ahead to let Turner School continue with its whole new management team, on a performance contract.
Many California districts welcomed a new law allowing them to demand the wearing of school uniforms. The ACLU doesn't like it, but there is evidence that in very troubled areas, uniforms can help instill a better attitude, discipline and respect.
Nearly 250 charter schools have been started by educators, parents, civic groups and businesses. They are public schools, but are freed from rules and regulations that are one of the main causes of school failure. They are providing options to tens of thousands of parents who have opted to send their children to these new public schools, who operate on a performance contract, rather than to the school down the street that was unresponsive to their needs.
Washington State Reformers are hard at work collecting signatures for an initiative to allow all public schools to become independent, charter schools, and Mississippi Governor Kirk Fordice is pushing the PRIME initiative, advocating schools be freed from state oversight that impedes their ability to get the job done.
Those are just a few examples of the ever growing number of parents, educators and administrators nationwide who are untying the strings that bind their schools and implementing reforms that they want and their children need. Even the school board members of America are fed up. In a recent survey, an overwhelming number told the American School Board Journal that it was "time for the Education Department to pack its bags and get out of town."
Add to this sentiment the move of eleven high ranking state education leaders that have formed an unprecedented alliance to break with the status quo. The members of the Education Leaders Council have already begun widespread and speedy efforts to bring about massive system-wide improvements -- in Arizona, Virginia, Florida, and Georgia, state education bureaucracies have been cut by as 45%, allowing more money to go directly to schools. Standards efforts have begun in several states that promise to set high academic standards for children, who will be assessed and no longer held blameless for work left unlearned.
So let the status quo wax on about its glorious achievements. A new paradigm in education is at work, and with or without them, its moving forward representing real live people and solving real life problems -- not in Washington, but in the places where most of us live and work.
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Jeanne Allen is author of THE SCHOOL REFORM HANDBOOK: How to Improve Your Schools, and president of The Center for Education Reform in Washington, DC, a national non-profit advocacy group providing support and guidance to thousands of individuals and communities nationwide who are working to bring fundamental reforms to their schools. For more information, please call (202) 822-9000 or (800) 521-2118, or send e-mail to cer@edreform.com.