Editor George Clowes. recently with Academy ofEducation. Hanushekspoke selected tobeamemberofthe International Management in1988-89.In1997, hewas Association forPublicPolicyAnalysis and in 1983-1985.Hewaspresident ofthe director of theCongressional Budget Office asdeputy during 1973-74andserved attheCostofLivingCouncil committees, Hanushekwasasenior education issuesforCongressional the Rochesterfacultyin1978. Academy andYale Universitybefore joining ic appointmentsattheU.S.AirForce Air Force Academy, Hanushekhadacadem- Distinguished GraduateoftheUnitedStates raised bythefirstColemanReport.A did research forhisPh.D.atMITonissues dent performancesincethe1960s,whenhe about theeffect ofschoolresources onstu- Hanushek hasbeenaskingtoughquestions Public PolicyattheUniversityofRochester, the lightisbetterhere,” saidtheman. looking here?” askedtheMullah.“Because from thestreet lamp.“Thenwhyare you be, themanpointedtoadarkarea away the manwhere hethoughthiskeymight man findhiskey. WhentheMullahasked tohelpaconfused a street lamp,trying group ofpeoplewhowere searching under Nasrudin’s a questionswhenheobserved dent achievementbringtomindtheMullah S Eric A.Hanushek A frequent source oftestimonyon Currently Professor ofEconomicsand Vol. IX • No. 5 policy initiativesforimproving stu- Eric A.Hanushekraisesaboutpublic ome ofthequestionsthateconomist School Reform News School Reform information gathering statistical methodsand retirement incometo policy oneducationand ranging from public several booksontopics and istheauthorof in professional journals lished numerous articles for decision-makers. Hanushek haspub- Lack ofIncentives aFundamental Managing Problem inEducation? An interviewwithDr. EricA.Hanushek Hanushek research ineducation? Clowes tors affect studentachievement?” differences, teachersalaries,and otherfac- student achievement?” or“Howdoteacher ing onthebasicquestion,“What determines I’ve beendoing,whichhas concentrat- partly from someofthemore recent work teacher andquality. Thiscomes is that come outofallthesubsequentwork. experienced, orwhathaveyou.That’s what’s they’ve gotamaster’s degree, orifthey’re be agoodteacherbylookingatwhether it’s justthatyoucan’t predict who’s goingto know—is whichteacheryourchildgets.But makes abigdifference—as all parents tures inschools.Whatwefoundisthatwhat Hanushek that doaccountforthesedifferences? Clowes there are hugedifferences across schools. systematically related toperformance,but that measured aspectsofschoolsdon’t seem tobe sequently withlotsoflaterwork—isthatthe tion—that hasheldupsub- that therightinterpreta- schools don’t matter. Ithink the ColemanReportwasthat common interpretation of correctly foralongtime.The don’t thinkitwasinterpreted Coleman Report.Infact,I was anexcitingtime. on studentperformance.It resources andotherthings sis ontheeffects ofschool that ledtomedoingathe- pate inthatseminar, and it. Igotinvitedtopartici- said andhowtointerpret tofigureHarvard outwhatthisreport totry ized byPatMoynihanandFred Mostellerat uproar. There wasalarge seminarorgan- ance cameoutin1966andcausedquitean the impactofschoolsonstudentperform- What I’vecometobelievepretty strongly No onequitebelievedthe By George A.Clowes the : : How didyoubecomeinvolvedin So we’re notmeasuringtheresources most importantaspectisthe : : Right. It’s howyoumeasure fea- The firstColemanReporton teacher quality differences. quality teacher smaller than the variation the than smaller That class-size effect is effect class-size That It was just dwarfed by dwarfed just was It much, much, much much, much, in teacher quality. teacher in hire awhole lotofnewteachersimmediately. to Whattheydid there wastotry . class-size reduction programs liketheonein Hanushek critical forthestudents? Clowes ic differences inperformanceeither. master’s degrees doesn’t make any systemat- much difference. Whetherteachershave teacher experiencedoesn’t seemtomake teaching iskindofrocky, butafterthat, having afirst-yearteacher. Thefirstyearof just dwarfedbyteacherqualitydifferences. than thevariationinteacherquality. Itwas class-size effect ismuch,muchsmaller in fourthgrade—butnotlatergrades.That small class-sizeeffect intheearliergrades— measured attributesofschools,wefinda individual schools.Whenwelookatthe differences inteacherquality, evenwithin and itdoesn’t seemtobesystematicatall. much, muchmore complicatedthanthat, lecting asetofbadteachers.Itseemstobe set ofgoodteachersandbadprincipalscol- principals, withgoodprincipalscollectinga as ifit’s allamatterofhavinggoodandbad given school.Thatmeansitdoesn’t appear heterogeneity ofteacherswithinanyone See “LackofIncentives aFundamentalProblem” We alsofindthatthere isanimpactof What we’re findingisthatthere’s alotof : So ateacher’s firstyearofteachingis : Yes. Thatcomesintoplaywith findings isthatthere are huge of thesequestions. allowed ustosortoutalot in thesameschool.That’s go through thesamegrades of different cohortsasthey fourth toseventhgrade,and as theyprogress through ance ofindividualstudents able tofollowtheperform- in basicsubjects.We’ve been annual testingofallstudents in Texas, where theyhave study ofschoolperformance One ofourfundamental We’ve been doingalarge Continued onpage 7,

May/June 2003 AAE Member Encouraged to Stand His Ground

Dear AAE, r. fice and spoke to a staff membe k in September, I called your of During the first wee ing short of a miracle. nd what has transpired is noth being I explained my situation, a ere else to turn. Thank you for ization, I would have had nowh Without the help of your organ cannot express my gratitude. take immediate action. Words re, not only to listen but also to o the past thirty years. For the past tw cher and administrator for the I have been a classroom tea work of the Association of r of the union. I appreciate the ades, I have not been a membe eep up the outstanding work. dec to receiving Education Matters. K an Educators, and look forward Americ nsider it an honor. the following letter, I would co If you have an occasion to use Dear Fellow AAE Members, ant to encourage you to by your school administration, I w , intimidated, or treated unfairly tion that will defend your If you are being harassed rs (AAE) and/or another organiza Association of American Educato persevere and seek help from the or. constitutional rights as an educat r. William Bennett’s The Book of was written up for reading from D hool of this current school year, I ool district, and a letter from During the first week of sc the attorney representing my sch Education program. A letter from olicy and no irtues, as part of my Character ugh I did not violate any school p V d into my personnel file, even tho sistant superintendent were place the as or parent. was filed against me by a student Bennett’s book. complaint in the poem “Washing” from Dr. was the reference made to “Lord” en my Mother complaint registered against me ntidy, rough, and mussy; And wh The d, sometimes my hair gets quite u y principal se of that poem states, “Dear Lor was interpreted as a prayer and m The first ver he poem addresses “Dear Lord,” it pported apt to think she’s fussy.” Because t rom the district’s attorney that su makes it right, I’m ght and received a legal opinion f tt is ng with my students. He then sou ennett’s book. Dr. William Benne feared that I was prayi from reading anything from Dr. B his authority to prevent me ome of the finest American and the book is an anthology of s a former Secretary of Education, ompiled. literature for young people ever c e that he had a concern for any fronted by my principal, he told m When I was initially con d’s name mentioned. y my classroom and hear the Lor atheist parent who might walk b church and the community. “If you find yourself f my religious involvement in my also told me that he was aware o revious year, He ncounter with this principal the p Christian teacher had a similar e A fellow than to fight the issue. in a similar situation, transfer to another school rather and chose to me that I was to week that my principal informed a Friday afternoon of the following sented by counsel It was dent, and should therefore be repre I encourage you to not sday before the assistant superinten y principal, appear on Tue intimidation factor on the part of m te of NEA. This, I believe, was an . That from the local affilia immediately called my association member of NEA. I went home and - resign your position or knowing that I was not a orney in touch with me. The follow of American Educators had its att same evening, the Association ed phone calls from an attorney for the district both receiv ing Monday my principal and the to give up your cause.” ! attorney representing me. Surprise ning the records in my personnel pal was very adamant about retai My princi e AAE recommended other al pleas to have them removed. Th file despite person ican Center for Law and Preparing Future Teachers t might be helpful, including Amer legal organizations tha l as letters to my em to the district’s attorney as wel Justice. With letters from th uperintendent Dear AAE, ter from Dr. Bennett himself, my s district superintendent, and a let Thank you so much for including my article he letters from my personnel file. ordered my principal to remove t in the January 2003 issue of Education Matters. e of the encouragement and perseveranc It was only because of the favor. I am glad that you found it to be worth rs that the issue turned out in my Association of American Educato reprinting, and I am very much honored that ou to not resign your a similar situation, I encourage y you decided to feature it on the front page. If you find yourself in elp you and it use. Your association is there to h position or to give up your ca rself in I continue to let the future teachers at nd let others help you defend you can do so effectively. Stand firm a Hillsdale College know about the Association countering. whatever situation you may be en of American Educators, especially when we eral mindset. ve cowered too often to a very lib study teacher unions and their impact on chil- As educators, we ha t we believe, but if we all stand firmly for wha dren and teachers alike. Tough times may be ahead, ca educational standards and Ameri our students will benefit and our If I can be of assistance to the Association will be better. of American Educators again, please do let me know. Thank you. Sincerely yours, Sincerely yours, Robert C. Hanna Doug Eriksmoen Associate Professor of Education Grand Forks, North Dakota Hillsdale, MI

2 EducationMatters ~ May/June 2003 The Schools and Red Tape By David W. Kirkpatrick

ike the weather, There is also the problem of the federal This brings up a point often overlooked: the burden of government not delivering on a promise, mandates do not come out of the blue. L mandates affect- whether the program involved is justified. However unnecessary or ineffective they ing public schools is For example, a 1976 federal statute that may be or appear, someone (plural) pro- something many talk requires districts to provide “a free appro- posed them, someone supported their about but few do any- priate education in the least restrictive envi- establishment, and someone subsequently thing about. A classic ronment” for all disabled students ages 3 to objects to their repeal, if for no other rea- example came a few 21 was accompanied by a promise the fed- son that, once in place, they at least benefit years ago at a legislative eral government would pay those who are employed in their applica- David Kirkpatrick education committee 40 percent of the excess costs by 1982. tion, whatever the effect may be on those hearing during an That has never happened. The latest pro- whom they were anticipated to serve. unstructured discussion about public posal from the U.S. House Committee on Possible questions to consider include: schools. A committee member asked a testi- Education and the Workforce authorizes up fying superintendent what regulation or If only one mandate could be abolished, to 19 percent in federal funding for IDEA. what should it be? mandate he would have repealed. The However, that’s still less than half superintendent couldn’t think of one. The of the original authorization, and What mandate seems to be the question might have caught him by surprise, this new special education bill has most unnecessary? but when the next four to testify, all district not yet been passed. What mandates are redundant, superintendents, were asked the same ques- and cover, or confuse, the same tion, they had no suggestions either. Those who want the federal Mandates government to institute even topic? More recently some leading education more programs, such as hiring do not What mandate is reasonable in experts and reformers were asked about more teachers (which no one has concept but faulty in design; that studies on regulatory burdens. They were said the feds will pay for over is, how could it be amended to unaware of any such work, and one said he their possible 30- to 35-year come out better achieve its intended goal? not only knew of no such study but that careers), or give billions of dollars even raising the question was novel. What mandate is the most for school repair to the same of the blue. needlessly expensive? Or ineffec- President Bill Clinton once said we school boards that have allowed tive? Or inefficient? should stop funding projects that don’t the buildings to deteriorate in the work. The current administration has indi- first place, might consider more effective All school mandates, at the national, cated a willingness to do the same. No alternatives. At the very least, if the federal state, and local levels, total in the unknown argument about that. But how do we know government has billions of dollars to spend, thousands. Much has been written on this what does or doesn’t work if no studies are it could begin by first paying for existing subject. One Internet search listed 1,707 done? It has been estimated that the federal mandates it promised to support, freeing items, while another, with a slightly differ- government alone has 760 or more educa- local money for other needs. ent identification, listed 1,413. Even allow- tion programs—not all of which are in the ing for some degree of overlap for the two Better yet, the reduction or elimina- lists, it might be expected that the distinct U.S. Department of Education (USDOE)— tion of many of the unnecessary, yet President Clinton never identified even number of items might be somewhere unworkable, ineffective, or inefficient between 2,000-2,500. one that should receive no more funding or mandates now in place would save local even be substantially modified. To date, it districts billions of dollars with no addi- There is no shortage of words. It’s action doesn’t appear as if President Bush has tional expenditures at all. that is lacking. identified one either. Many states do no better. The California David W. Kirkpatrick, a former public A school superintendent in suburban school code grew to more than 6,000 school teacher who has been actively and Philadelphia once said he had to comply pages. Indiana’s code at that time was extensively involved in , previ- with 1,027 mandates, 70 percent of which “only” 1,250 pages, but then that’s a smaller ously served as the editor-in-chief of were unfunded. Ohio Governor, now U.S. state. Pennsylvania’s code is only about 600 SchoolReformers news. Dave has just been Senator, George Voinovich estimated that pages. In Washington State the school code appointed senior education fellow at U.S. school administrators in that state spent was one volume, roughly the size of the Freedom Foundation in Washington, D.C., 50 percent of their time filling out federal Seattle telephone book, yet regulations for 202-547-2200. forms, which accounted for only 6 percent nonpublic schools occupied two pages. of education funding there. The USDOE’s own Paper Reduction Act has estimated This raises a interesting question. If no that department requirements necessitate two states have the same school code, 48.6 million hours of paper work, the whether in length or detail, how important Thought equivalent of 25,000 fulltime employees. or necessary are requirements that only one Arizona’s former chief school officer, Lisa or a few states have while the rest do very of the Month Graham Keegan, said it took 165 of her nicely without them? Why does California “I hope I die during an staff, 45 percent of the total, to manage need ten times as many laws, mandates, inservice, because the federal programs, which comprised only 6 and regulations for its schools as transition from life to death Pennsylvania? Is the latter missing some- percent of her budget. There is no reason would be so subtle.” thing? Is the former cluttered up with irrel- to believe Ohio and Arizona are not typi- –Anonymous cal in this regard. evancies, nitpicking, etc?

EducationMatters ~ May/June 2003 3 Signs of the Times CTA’s gravy train is slowing down. The Secretary Paige Criticized class size reduction membership spike is for ‘Christian’ Comments fading, as is the spike from the new statewide agency fee law that forces teach- In an interview printed by the Baptist ers from nearly every district to pay union Press, the news service of the Southern dues. Budget cuts are leading to massive Baptist Convention, Education Secretary Rod layoffs and therefore lost CTA revenue. Paige was quoted as saying, “The reason that Who will pick up the slack? CTA Executive Christian schools and Christian universities Director Carolyn Doggett gave the first hint. are growing is a result of a strong value sys- Noting that there are now more than 500 tem.” He added, “In a religious environment charter schools in the state, Doggett the value system is set. That’s not the case in announced CTA will seek a financial grant Textbooks Said to ‘Hide’ a public school, where there are so many different kids with different values.” from NEA to begin organizing charter Problems with Islam school teachers. In a separate interview at Union World history textbooks in U.S. class- University, a Baptist school in Tennessee, Source—The Education Intelligence Agency’s rooms sanitize the problematic parts of Paige was quoted, “All things equal, I (EIA) Communiqué. You may find more Islam when compared to how they often would prefer to have a child in a school information about EIA at www.eiaonline.com. treat Western civilization, a review of seven that has a strong appreciation for the values widely used texts reported. of the Christian community…where a child English-only Pupils The study, released by the American is taught that, there is a source of strength Learn More English Textbook Council, said a rosy treatment of greater than themselves.” Islam may arise from the lobbying of the Just five years after California voters It didn’t take long for Barry Lynn, approved Proposition 227, which replaced Council on Islamic Education on national Executive Director of Americans United for publishers. bilingual education with English-only pro- Separation of Church and State, to respond. grams for most California LEP students, the “When any dark side [of Islam] surfaces, In a press release criticizing Secretary Paige, number of English learners who scored “pro- textbooks run and hide,” said the report, Lynn said, “He seems to have forgotten that ficient” on the state’s language test has risen “Islam and the Textbooks,” by Gilbert he’s not the Secretary of Christian significantly. Such scores among youngsters Sewall, a former professor who directs the Education, but rather the education leader enrolled in English-only programs rose from Council. for all children.” 9 to 30 percent between 2001 and 2002, “Subjects such as jihad and the advocacy Lynn suggested that Paige should apolo- while students who remained in bilingual of violence among militant Islamists to gize for his remarks or resign his office. programs (because their parents sought a attain worldly ends, the imposition of Secretary Paige indicated that he would waiver from the new regulations) went from [Shariah] law, the record of Muslim enslave- “pray” for his critics. 3 to 16 percent proficient. ment, and the brutal subjection of women Source—Education Gadfly News and are glossed over,” the 35-page study says. California Charter School Analysis from the Thomas B. Fordham This contrasts, the report suggested, with Foundation. the candor in textbooks over such events of Teachers Targeted Western history as the Crusades, the Wayne Johnson’s tenure as president of Final Hispanic Report the California Teachers Association (CTA) Inquisition, slavery, imperialism, Christian Hosted by Hialeah Senior High School ends in June, but his March 29 speech to fundamentalism, and women’s suffrage. near Miami, Florida, President Bush’s the CTA State Council showed no signs Without solid facts about Islam, the Advisory Commission on Educational that the bellicose leader plans to go quietly study said, “instructors fall back on themes Excellence for Hispanic Americans released into the night. of tolerance and apology [and] skirt the its final report. “From Risk to Opportunity: reality of international affairs and threats to While lambasting his perceived adver- Fulfilling the Educational Needs of world peace.” saries (including the California affiliate of the Hispanic Americans in the 21st Century” is AFT), he shot himself in the foot once again. Many topics in history textbooks are the result of an 18-month review and rep- reduced to a few paragraphs and require Johnson cited statistics that in 1960-61, resents, to date, the most comprehensive elaboration by teachers or supplementary California teacher salaries averaged 57 per- plan aimed at closing the educational materials. But Islam is so exotic that a few cent of school districts’ budgets, but today achievement gap for the nation’s largest textbook sentences can have an inordinate that average had dropped to 36.7 percent. minority group. The report sets forth rec- impact, Mr. Sewall said in an interview. That’s an interesting choice of year, because ommendations for parents, educators, and it happens to be the last school year in leaders in business, faith-based institutions, “Few teachers are comfortable with the which no teachers in the entire United government, and local communities, and subject,” he said. “They are generally igno- States bargained collectively. In 1961, the advocates six specific strategies, from sup- rant of Islam, so they depend on the text- United Federation of Teachers won collec- porting and enforcing No Child Left Behind books for guidance.” The textbook council, tive bargaining rights in New York City, ush- to launching a research agenda to support formed in 1988 in New York as an inde- ering in the modern teacher union move- Hispanic American children. Currently, one pendent group researching social studies and ment. California passed a collective bargain- in every three Hispanic Americans fails to history texts, advocates factual knowledge ing law in 1975. If Johnson believes what finish high school, and only 10 percent and appreciation of Western values. he says, why should California teachers give graduate from four-year colleges and uni- Source—Larry Witham, The Washington him $500 [CTA annual state dues] of their versities. For more information, go to Times pay each year for a smaller slice of the pie? http://www.yesican.gov/.

4 EducationMatters ~ May/June 2003 New Study on National Snowmen, Huts, Yachts Board Certification one can deny that the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Banned from Textbooks (NBPTS) has achieved national prominence. Between 1994 and autumn by Language Police No 2002, the National Board had collected over $100 million in public money and just as much in private money. The number of certified teachers has gone from under You won’t see any references to book- 100 in 1995 to over 22,000 in 2002. Whenever there is such a large outlay, the natural worms, busybodies, craftsmanship, cults, question is: What are we getting for our money? dialects, dogma, extremists, fairies, heroines, huts, jungles, lumberjacks, limping, Navajos, In a first-of-its-kind study, Professor Dan Goldhaber, and David Perry and Emily Anthony of one-man bands, slaves, snowmen, straw the Washington, D.C.-based Urban Institute have just released a paper that analyzed the men, or yachts in today’s textbooks. That’s characteristics of teachers who apply for and teachers who are awarded National Board because these terms are among the hundreds Certification. The study reports that teachers who work in more affluent districts are more likely that turn up in lists of banned words and to apply than teachers in poorer districts. Females, blacks, those with master’s degrees and, not surprisingly, those in districts that paid a bonus tied to certification are all more likely to apply. phrases, lists now widely used by writers, editors, and illustrators when preparing But who is awarded certification? The study shows that the single most prevalent textbooks or tests. They’ve all been banished characteristic of a Board-certified teacher is the same characteristic that has been identified as sexist, ethnocentric, offensive to the in a myriad of other teacher quality studies: NBPTS-certified teachers have significantly handicapped, inauthentic, elitist, or higher test scores, e.g., Praxis, SAT. The correlation between NBPTS awards and teachers’ otherwise troublesome. The Atlantic Monthly general academic ability may be both good news and bad news for NBPTS and its has published a short glossary of banned applicants, confirming that these teachers do in fact seem to be above the norm, but also words compiled by Diane Ravitch; the list is leading to some questions about all the extraneous and expensive hoops teachers have to an abridgement of a longer list that appears jump through to achieve National Board certification. in her new book, The Language Police, Other findings are disturbing as well. Regression analysis shows that after controlling for published in April by Knopf. all other factors including test scores, blacks are still 68 percent less likely to be certified Source—The Language Police by Diane than whites. Only slightly less dramatically, males are 30 percent less likely than females to be certified, after controlling for all other factors. There’s no question that NBPTS will be Ravitch, The Atlantic Monthly, March 2003 compelled to examine and account for these results. (not available online). For more information, see “NBPTS Certification: Who Applies and What Factors are Threat of Lawsuits Associated with Success?” Dan Goldhaber, University of Washington and Urban Institute; David Perry and Emily Anthony, Urban Institute, March 2003. Retards Classroom http://www.evansuw.org/FAC/Goldhaber/pdf/NBPTS_A-S.pdf Source—National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ), www.nctq.org, 1225 19th Street NW, Learning Suite 400, Washington, D.C., 20036. Phone: 202-223-1823. Teachers around the country have been reporting frustration with administrators’ responses to unruly students who curse, cheat, and even strike classmates. Often such Secretary Paige Endorses students are simply sent back into the class- rooms that they have been disrupting, under- New Certification Board mining the teacher’s authority and eroding the attention of the other students. While many March 18, Secretary Paige headlined a briefing at the teachers blame unsupportive administrators, National Press Club regarding the quality and value of experts say that the problem can be traced to On the new American Board for Certification of Teacher the threat of litigation, a threat that has been Excellence (American Board). Authorized in the No Child Left Behind fomented by Supreme Court decisions. Act, the American Board: • According to NYU Education professor offers a cost-effective route to earn a teaching credential based on subject area mastery and professional teaching knowledge as Richard Arum: “Teachers rightly perceive demonstrated by testing standards that administrators aren’t backing them up, but the reason...is students were extended • encourages young professionals and midcareer-changers to rudimentary due process rights for even become teachers by reducing the barriers minor sanctions.” In recent years, students • provides a teaching credential that is nationally recognized and have used their access to the courts to sue portable from state to state for grade-reversals, for reinstatement after In turn, states that adopt the American Board route would gain an increased pool of highly expulsions, and even for monetary damages qualified teaching candidates; a reduction in the number of out-of-field teachers by providing after being denied valedictorian status. schools with educators for hire in their specific area of need; and a new tool to meet the Perhaps when we are naming reasons for requirements of placing a “highly qualified” teacher in every classroom. “Some people will teacher shortages, this problem may need argue that this change is too radical,” the Secretary said, “that it’s too risky, that we should to be on the short list. maintain the status quo. Well, I agree that it’s radically better than the system we have now, a system that drives thousands of talented people away from our classrooms. The American Source—Teacher Quality Bulletin, a pub- Board will not replace current systems of teacher certification, but it can supplement these lication of National Council on Teacher Quality systems and provide a rigorous route into the classroom for thousands of candidates.” (NCTQ), www.nctq.org, 1225 19th Street NW, Suite 400, Washington, D.C., 20036. Phone: For more information, go to http://www.abcte.org/. The Secretary’s remarks are available 202-223-1823. at http://www.ed.gov/Speeches/03-2003/03182003.html.

EducationMatters ~ May/June 2003 5 The report also shows that education American teachers spend less time than New Report Helps Bring groups such as the PTA and the NEA support their higher-achieving counterparts on Clarity to Teaching objective teaching about religion. For “conceptual foundations of math.” instance, it quotes the National Education “They’re more focused on getting the about Christianity in Association’s resolution stating that it answers, and less focused on giving students Public Schools “believes that educational materials should the opportunities to really engage in serious accurately portray the influence of religion mathematical work,” said James Stigler, he more common form of bias: teachers in our nation and throughout the world.” chief executive officer for LessonLab. “ aren’t prohibited from referencing “People need to know it is a myth that “Study: Teachers Should Emphasize T Christianity; they merely ignore it.” public school teachers can’t fully teach the Math Concepts” Gateways to Better Education is launching tenants of Christianity in their classrooms,” http://www.cnn.com/2003/EDUCATION a national campaign to inform public school says Buehrer. /03/26/math.countries.ap/index.html educators and parents that schools have the For more information on how to obtain a TIMMS 1999 Video Study, LessonLab, Inc. educational obligation to teach students about copy of the full report, contact Gateways to http://www.lessonlab.com/research/curProj.htm the Bible and the contributions Christianity has Better Education at 1-888-706-5601, Source—Teacher Quality Bulletin, a pub- made to America. or visit www.gtbe.org. lication of National Council on Teacher Quality The nonprofit organization recently (NCTQ), www.nctq.org, 1225 19th Street NW, released a 14-page report, entitled New Video Study on Suite 400, Washington, D.C., 20036. Phone: “The Case for Christianity.” It provides 202-223-1823. documentation to support its conclusion Math Instruction that pubic schools can and should teach ore interesting data from the New EIA Report Ranks about Christianity in a less restrictive TIMMS project comparing U.S. way—restrictions that have been mostly M performance in math and science Per-Pupil Spending in self-imposed over the years. with students from other nations. The latest Over 14,000 School “Many people are surprised to discover findings were gleaned from videotapes of that state governments expect students to math teachers from seven countries while Districts learn about the Bible and Christianity,” presenting their math lessons. All six of the says Gateways president Eric Buehrer. other countries studied—Japan, Hong ast month, the U.S. Census Bureau For example, California’s state academic Kong, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, released Public Education Finances standards expect students to “read and the Netherlands, and Australia—had L 2001, a 99-page report that high- discuss” the biblical stories of Creation, outperformed the on the lighted school revenues and expenditures Moses, and the giving of the TIMSS assessment. for the 2000-01 year. The report is a treasure Ten Commandments. trove of information, providing not only By videotaping lessons, researchers from statewide averages for various spending but Colorado state officials expect students LessonLab, an educational research company also extensive tables for the largest school to “describe religious developments in under contract with the Department of districts. The report’s statistics received United States history.” In Florida, students Education, were able to get the qualitative substantial media attention nationwide. are expected to know “the significant ideas” research that can be so elusive to social of Christianity. scientists. The study concludes that But if the Census Bureau report itself is overflowing with numbers, imagine the sheer bulk of the source data it used for the report. To compute statewide average A Tip of the Hat expenditures, the Census Bureau gathered financial information from each of he president of the Kansas America’s nearly 15,000 local school affiliate of the AAE receives a districts. Armed with this source data, T deserving tip of the hat. Education Intelligence Agency (EIA) has Doug Barnett, an 8th grade teacher constructed a report of its own, What Price at Pioneer Trail Junior High School in They Will: Per-Pupil Spending & Labor Costs Olathe, Kansas, won the Kansas for More Than 14,000 Public School Districts. competition in the Daughters of the The report ranks school districts within American Revolution’s 2003 Outstanding Teacher of American History contest. each state on their 2000-01 per-pupil Doug gratefully received the award at the DAR’s state conference last month. spending, and includes the percentages of He will now be in competition with the other state winners. The national winner that total they spent on instruction, total will be announced at DAR’s Continental Congress during July in Washington, D.C. employee compensation, and compensation for classroom personnel only. The tables Doug has taught in the Olathe School District for twenty-four years. He also also include the enrollment figures for each coaches the boys and girls basketball teams at Pioneer Trail. In addition to his teaching district, so that comparisons with districts and coaching duties, Doug has served as the President of the Kansas Association of of similar size can be made. Each page also American Educators for the past three years. contains the state and national averages in Congratulations Doug Barnett! each of the above categories for easy reference. Editor’s Note— Links to each state’s table can be found at http://www.eiaonline.com/districts.htm. If you or a fellow AAE member has received an award or honor in the past year You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to that you would like us to know about, please drop us a note. We would love to share view, print, or download the tables. Your more success stories with our colleagues. download time will depend of the number of districts in that state.

6 EducationMatters ~ May/June 2003 The fundamental problem in education is Lack of Incentives that there aren’t any incentives to increase Out West, student performance. Nobody’s career is a Fundamental really dependent upon the children doing A New Problem in Education? well. Pay, hiring, and everything else is essentially independent of how well some- Path to Continued from page 1 body does teaching and how well the school does at increasing student performance. Teaching The richer, wealthier suburban districts hired experienced teachers from the inner-city Clowes: Would spending more money schools, and the inner-city schools went out improve performance? and hired all inexperienced teachers. And so Hanushek: In my view, there’s not a very you can infer that it’s likely that inner-city close relationship between spending and children got hurt by the class-size reduction student performance, and so we have no program in California, which is just the way of saying what we can expect if we opposite of what people want to tell you. put any amount of spending into a school. bold new experiment in teacher Clowes: So we need to look at how education We know that some schools will spend training is officially under way as is organized as well as the way it’s funded? money well, we know that others will A Western Governors’ University (WGU) spend it badly, and we know that on aver- Hanushek: Right. We also look at differences launched its new teachers college last month. age, we don’t get much effect. in teacher salaries across districts, and we What’s most revolutionary about the program ask: What happens if one district pays more Clowes: What other strategies should policy- is that WGU provides a competency-based than other districts for teachers? We find that makers pursue to improve student achievement? approach, meaning that degrees are awarded there is some effect of salaries on Hanushek: In my opinion, we based on critical knowledge and skills as movement, but it’s much less than have to do better at making sure measured by assessments rather than number the effect of the student body we have high-quality teachers in of classroom hours completed. WGU is an characteristics on movements. all classrooms. The way you’re online consortium of nineteen Western states Basically, teachers are moving “Nobody’s career going to do that, I think, is hav- and forty-five universities that offers 1,200 to teach higher-achieving higher- ing incentives in the system that courses. The Teachers College of WGU will income white children. Teachers is really dependent relate to student performance. provide teacher certification as well as seem to be following the charac- associate’s, bachelor’s, and master’s degrees in Basically, if you want to reading, math, science, technology, and ESL. teristics of the student body more upon the children improve student performance, than following higher salaries. The teaching program is constructed decid- you have to pay attention to edly for the nontraditional ed school student: The other thing we find is that doing well.” student performance. Right now, teacher’s aides, paraprofessionals, uncertified salary differences aren’t very related we say “We want to improve teachers, and professionals who seek to to student achievement. What student performance,” but then become teachers. Once students are briefed that says is that if you raise salaries you can we pay attention to all kinds of other things on how WGU works, they are then required in fact usually get a larger pool of teachers but not to student performance. to complete preassessments determining their to choose from, but that schools don’t We have to get better incentives in knowledge of their given subject matter and systematically choose the better teachers. schools to increase student performance. assigned a mentor who will help design an Clowes: Is that because of the teacher pay Now, there’s an intermediate position that individual program and judge when the structure? says along the way you also have to do student is ready for assessments. Hanushek: It’s because of teacher much better at measuring the value added The Department of Education—which compensation and the structure of by schools and teachers. We’re simply not helped start the program by awarding a $10 management in schools; neither is really very good at doing that. million, five-year Star Schools grant—is betting paying attention to student performance. Dr. Eric Hanushek is the Paul and Jean that this experiment will work and that Clowes: If we hire more teachers to do the Hanna Senior Fellow at the distance learning will open the doors to new same amount of work, wouldn’t teacher of , as well as a Research types of people joining the teaching profession. productivity go down? Associate at the national Bureau of Economic According to Secretary of Education Paige, Research. He is a leading expert on education- “The calls for Hanushek: That’s another complicated issue. al policy, specializing in the and highly qualified teachers in every classroom Education output has essentially been con- finance of schools. His books include because that is a critical factor for ensuring stant for twenty-five years, as far as we can Improving America’s Schools, Making student academic success. We need to open tell from the data from the National Schools Work, Educational Performance of the classroom door to thousands of midcareer Assessment of Educational Progress. So what the Poor, and Education and Race. For professionals who could make excellent you’ve had is roughly constant performance, more information about Dr. Hanushek, visit teachers. The Teachers College will be but you’ve had rapidly increasing expendi- http://edpro.stanford.edu/eah/eah.htm. invaluable in that effort because a Web-based tures. From that, it looks as if productivity is program offers working adults the flexibility going down, and it looks as if it’s going George A. Clowes was educated in the UK, to pursue standards-based coursework at down more than in other service sectors earning a Ph.D. in Chemistry from their own pace and schedule.” where you think that they have the same Manchester University. George is currently the problems of labor intensity and so forth. managing editor of School Reform News, a For more information, contact The Teachers monthly newspaper published by the College of WGU at http://www.wgu.edu/tc. But it’s not entirely surprising that we don’t see student performance going up Heartland Institute, Chicago, IL. Source—Teacher Quality Bulletin, a publi- Source—School Reform News, cation of National Council on Teacher Quality when we spend more because none of our th policies and organization in schools pays a publication of The Heartland Institute, (NCTQ), www.nctq.org, 1225 19 Street NW, attention to output or performance. www.heartland.org. Suite 400, Washington, D.C., 20036. Phone: 202-223-1823.

EducationMatters ~ May/June 2003 7 THE WORM IN THE APPLE How the Teacher Unions Brimelow says its agenda is not to provide better teaching in schools; it are Destroying is to provide more money and bene- American Education fits for teachers—and, above all, for By Peter Brimelow itself. It accomplishes this through National Endowment monopoly bargaining muscle and by for the Humanities Publisher—HarperCollinsPubishers buying special privileges from politi- www.harpercollins.com cians. Even worse, the unions want Offers New Education “The Worm in the Apple to turn curriculum, textbooks, and is a stunning indictment.” grading standards into bargaining Website —John Stossel, chips in labor negotiations. new website—EDSITEment– ABC News correspondent, 20/20 The Worm in the Apple paints an The Best of the Humanities on this devastating critique, Peter alarming picture of a bureaucratic parasite that A the Web—has been created as has taken hold of our schools. It issues a clari- Brimelow portrays the teacher unions a joint project between the National In as a political and economic monop- on call to rescue students, parents, taxpayers— Endowment for the Humanities, the oly that is choking the life out of our public and, not least, teachers—from its grip. National Trust for the Humanities, and education system, like the trusts that put a About the author— the MarcoPolo Education Foundation. stranglehold on American business a hundred Peter Brimelow, who has two children in public EDSITEment contains a variety of years ago. Brimelow makes the case that until school, is the editor of VDARE.com, a senior fellow links to other websites and references the unions are held at least partially accountable with the Pacific Research Institute, and a columnist to resources available from some of for the thirty-year decline in U.S. K-12 educa- for CBS MarketWatch. A financial journalist, he the world’s great museums, libraries, tion, and public schools are freed up to operate has written extensively about the NEA and the eco- and universities. The site also provides outside of restrictive union contracts, most edu- nomics of education in Forbes and Fortune mag- helpful hints to teachers on how to cation reform efforts are doomed to fail. azines. The author of Alien Nation: Common better use the Internet in the classroom. Today, the biggest labor union in the coun- Sense About America’s Immigration Disaster, he Check it out today at try is the National Education Association, has contributed to the Wall Street Journal, the www.edsitement.neh.gov. which claims nearly three million “members.” New York Times, and the Washington Post.

Gary Beckner EducationMatters is published by the Managing Editor Advisory Board Association of American Educators. For more Kelley Autry information, contact AAE, 25201 Paseo de Associate Editor & Research Leta Rains Andrews • Tracey Bailey Alicia, Suite 104, Laguna Hills, CA 92653 Diane Meyer Patricia Ann Baltz • Gene Bedley (949) 595-7979 Editorial Assistant Polly Broussard • Eric Buehrer (800) 704-7799 Fax (949) 595-7970 Bobette Craycraft Dr. Kevin Ryan • Guy Rice Doud Editorial Assistant Thomas A. Fleming • Valerie Anderson Hill E-mail: [email protected] Ron Law Dr. Lewis Hodge • Dr. William Kilpatrick Website: aaeteachers.org Newsletter Design & Layout ©2003 by Association of American Educators