Vol. 4, No. 46
November 12, 2002

* EDUCATION REFORM TRIUMPHS: A SPECIAL ANALYSIS

        Last week's election resulted in a big win for education reform all across the country.

        Over half of last week's winners think that charter schools are an effective alternative to traditional public schools. Likewise, 52% of the winners are proponents of school choice.

        Fortunately, a large majority of charter and choice opponents didn't make it to the winner's circle. (63% of charter school opponents and 65% of choice opponents LOST.)

        Only 35% of opponents of school choice -- people like Jennifer Granholm (MI), Ted Kulongoski (OR) and Ed Rendell (PA) -- were elected.

        Of those opposed to charter schools, only 37% claimed victory. Among them: Janet Napolitano (AZ), Jim Doyle (WI), and Brad Henry (OK).

        The unions turned out to be paper tigers in several states. The teacher unions fought hard to defeat the winners in Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts and Ohio.

        And for the tireless charter school proponents in Maryland and Vermont, their new governors may finally give them their day in the sun. Robert Ehrlich and Jim Douglas won in those states, respectively, and were very vocal in their support for charter schools.

        Likewise, after too many years of suffering from weak laws, citizens in states like New Hampshire and Hawaii can look to their new governors, Craig Benson and Linda Lingle, to use the bully pulpit to push the movement forward.

        When it comes to the races for state schools chief, the results are not quite as peachy (though the effect of that may not be evident in states where the school chief wields little power.)

        Just 40% of candidates who support school choice (such as Kathy Cox of Georgia and Trent Blankenship of Wyoming) were victorious.

        With better odds, 50% of charter supporters won their seats as state school chiefs, including Tom Horne in Arizona. Some of these winners are fairly tepid supporters, but time will tell whether they are willing to be good stewards of the flexible, autonomous public schools.

        Whatever way you look at it, though, the results overall debunk the common convention that most politicians seem to buy into; that only by offering benefits to the special interests and rejecting real reform can someone be elected to high state offices.

        The new crop of Governors has the potential to shepherd through a whole new generation of competitive and substantive education reforms that complement the new results-driven federal system.

        As state and local leaders assess their potential for the coming year, it promises to be a banner year for education reform if the governors do what they said they would do when they were candidates. As a handy reference, "Education Reform 2002: A Voter's Guide" will always be available to help our customers benchmark the progress of these new leaders.

        For more information on the candidates and where they stack up on reform go to Education Reform 2002: Election Results. Also check out the December 2002 Monthly Letter for more on the subject.

In Other News:

* STANDARDS: Last week's release of Virginia's Standards of Learning (SOL) exam results showed both the value -- and corruptibility -- of tests. Overall, results were good: nearly two-thirds of Virginia's schools reached full accreditation based on student performance on subject exams, a 41 percent increase from 2001 and a 23 percent jump from 2000. How did it happen? According to the Washington Post, "Several...principals attributed improved scores to remediation efforts. They also said school districts are becoming increasingly savvy at analyzing SOL data." Schools have learned to interpret test results, and use them to identify both the kids requiring help and the areas in which they need it -- exactly how testing should work. This isn't, however, the only explanation for Virginia's improvement. The Post again: "More than half of this year's gains...was attributable to improvement on history and social studies tests, for which the scoring was altered.... Consistently low scores prompted state officials to reduce the number of questions students must answer correctly to pass.... 52 percent of Virginia schools that missed accreditation standards last year but met them this year did so based on improved history scores." So, while some of the SOL gains can be attributed to testing-driven remediation, at least half of the "improvement" is a product of lowering standards. Virginia's SOLs, then, make an important point beyond their raw scores: To keep standards from becoming worthless, advocates of high standards and meaningful tests must remain ever-vigilant. For more information, go to: http://www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/Assessment/2002SOLpassrates.html.

* STANDARDS II: Just as the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) is showing results, the ACLU is putting the brakes on any progress in identifying students who may be in danger of not graduating. It's not because they are claiming the test is too hard or because, as some claim, those who failed are overwhelming minority. No, the ACLU is suing because failing students have been identified for the purposes of having people call and visit their homes to offer help in getting through this, and this is apparently a violation of their privacy. For more on this, go to the Boston Globe article ACLU Files MCAS Complaint.

Next week: A review of an auditor's findings about charter schools in California.

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