DOCUMENT RESUME Selected Readings on School Reform. Vol. 2, No. 3. Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, Washington, DC. Accountability

DOCUMENT RESUME

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TITLE Selected Readings on School Reform. Vol. 2, No. 3. INSTITUTION Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, Washington, DC. PUB DATE 1998-00-00 NOTE 159p. PUB TYPE Collected Works - General (020) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC07 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Accountability; *Charter Schools; Educational Assessment; *Educational Change; Educational Testing; Elementary Secondary Education; Higher Education; *School Choice; School Restructuring; *Standards; Teacher Education; Teaching Methods; *Urban Schools; Urban Youth IDENTIFIERS *Reform Efforts

ABSTRACT This selection of readings in the field of educational reform presents 46 articles, mostly from the news media, and 2 cartoons related to improvement of the educational system. It opens with "Network Notes," brief reports and reviews about events and recent publications of interest to those concerned with educational reform. The first set of essays, "The Front Lines," discusses school reform in practice, as it is being carried out today. The second section, "Charter Schools," looks at the charter school movement and the many obstacles charter schools are facing in 1998. As has been the case throughout the brief history, reviews of charter schools are mixed. "School Choice--And Choices" presents articles considering school choice initiatives in various parts of the country and public response to these efforts. "Standards, Tests, and Accountability" groups some articles on educational assessment and standards for achievement. A section on "Teacher Talent" considers teacher education and qualifications, and what should be done to improve teacher competence. "Curriculum and Pedagogy" presents articles on subject content and teaching methods in the context of educational reform. A section on "Higher Education" presents articles on educational equality, standards, and distance education. A "Grab Bag" section contains articles of interest in a variety of areas, including class size and parent participation. (SLD)

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U S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Off ice of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND CENTER (ERIC) 11 xThis document has been reproduced as DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS received from the person or organization BEEN GRANTED BY originating it I I El Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality MaL0,(4Las_brit/ _Thtiolas 6 Forelham, Points of view or opinions stated in this POL/M7 . document do not necessarily represent TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES official OERI position or policy INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) 1

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ca Selected Readings on School Reform

Summer 1998 Vol. 2, No. 3

The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation 1015 18th Street, NW Suite 300 Washington, DC 20036 (202) 223-5452 (202) 223-9226 (fax) (888) TBF-7474 (publications line) http://www.edexcellence.net Chester E. Finn, Jr. Dustees Presidant THOMAS B. Chester E. Finn Chester E. Finn, Jr. David H. Ponitz Thomas A. Holton Vire President UNDATION Bruno V. Manno 4O0-RDHAM Peter W. Nash Thomas A. Holton OUTSIDE THE SOX David H. Ponits Secretary 1 Treasurer Summer 1998 Diane B. Ravitch

Dear Education Reformer,

Greetings. We hope you're having a fantastic summer. The school reform movement certainly is. In case you've been out of the country (or taking vacation really seriously), we provide you an update on some historic happenings.

In the past several months, school choice scored several break-throughs. The highlights include a privately-financed plan to offer vouchers to all low-income children in the Edgewood School District, adjoining San Antonio; the launch, thanks to Messrs. Teddy Forstmann and John Walton and a few colleagues, of a massive nationwide private scholarship program; the remarkably strong Wisconsin Supreme Court decision upholding vouchers for religious schools; and the conversion of Teachers' College President Arthur Levine to the cause of vouchers. Using Paul Gigot's image, it feels like a dam is breaking.

On the other hand, it's been a tough couple of months for charter schools, at least in the press. Even as several more states have enacted charter laws (and some, such as New York, have backed away from the precipice), sharp criticisms have been published, arguing that some charters are selling parents a bag of goods. We include for your inspection The New York limes Magazine's"Schools for Sale" and U.S. News & World Repores"The New Education Bazaar," among others.

We also invite your attention to several grand critiques of the conventional wisdom about teacher education, one by Heather Mac Donald and two by Michael Podgursky and Dale Ballou. Mac Donald went undercover for City Journal to investigate the nation's shoddy schools of educationand lived to write a penetrating review. Podgursky and Ballou's Public Interest piece finds plenty to fault in the recommendations of the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future, and their Education Week commentary questions the efficacy of that near- sacred cow, the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.

Our brace of hard-working summer internsBrad White and Mark Schefilerdid most of the heavy lifting on this issue. Brad just graduated from Vanderbilt (and is eager to stick with the field of education reform) while Mark will return to Grove City College for his senior year. We think youll agree that they did a fine job.

Obviously, the education world no longer slows down for summer break. Enjoy the reading. Well see you again in the Fall.

Sincerely,

Chester E. Finn, JrJ Michael J. Petrilli President Program Director

1015 18th Street, NW Suite 300Washington, DC, 20036Thlephone (202) 223-6452Fax (202) 223-9226 http://www.edexcellence.net II 4 CONTENTS Vol. II, No. 3 Summer 1998

I NET NOTES I 1 Student Guarantee. The Wall Street Journal,April 13, 1998. 41 THE FRONT LINES 7 SCHOOL CHOICE 43 Clinton Flunks. By Chester E. Finn, Jr. School Choice: Once Fantasy, Now Reality. The Weekly Standard.*June 15, 1998. 8 By Paul Gigot. The Wall Street Journal.June 12, 1998. 44 Lisa Graham Keegan, Too Good for the GOP? Texas Business Foundation To Pay for By David Brooks. School Vouchers. The Weekly Standard.*April 27, 1998. 10 By Carol Marie Cropper. The New York Times.April 23, 1998. 45 Vermont Levels Its Schools. By Amity Shlaes. Voucher Program for Inner-City Children. The Wall Street Journal.April 22, 1998...... 13 By Jacques Steinberg. The New York Times.June 10, 1998. 46 Prevailing Perceptions of Public Schools. By Deborah Wadsworth. Wisconsin Court Upholds Vouchers in American School Board Journal.*March 12, Church Schools. 1998. 15 By Ethan Bronner. The New York Times.June 11, 1998. 47

CHARTER SCHOOLS 17 Excerpts from the Wisconsin Supreme Court School Choice Ruling. Schools for Sale. Education Week.*June 17, 1998. 49 By Michael Winerip. The New York Times.June 11, 1998. 50 New York Times Magazine.June 14, 1998. ..19 Voucher Plans Surface in Hearing on Head The New Education Bazaar. Start Reauthorization. By Thomas Toch. By Linda Jacobson. U.S. News & World Report.April 7, 1998. ...27 Education Week. *June 17, 1998. 51

Letter in Response to Toch. New York is to Use Public Funds for Private By Mary Gifford. Pre-Kindergarten Classes. The Center for Market-Based Education.* By Somini Sengupta. April 28, 1998. 31 The New York Times,June 19, 1998. 52

Charter Schools Struggle with Why I'm Reluctantly Backing Vouchers. Accountability. By Arthur Levine. By Lynn Schnaiberg. Wall Street Journal,June 15, 1998. 54 Education Week.*June 10, 1998. 33 Blocking the Exits. Final is trial for charter pupils. By Clint Bolick. By Lolly Bowean. Policy Review.*May/June 1998. 55 The Boston Globe,June 19, 1998. 35 A Vital Compromise. People's Prep. By Richard Whitmire. By Mark Francis Cohen. Washington Monthly.* May 1998. 58 The New Republic.*June 15, 1998. .36

Detroit charter schools unique. By Charles Hurt. STANDARDS, TESTS, AND 61 The Detroit News,May 20, 1998. ACCOUNTABILITY

Charter Schools Face Tests in Rush to Get Ready. Promoting Failure. By Valerie Strauss. By Kent Fisher. The Washington Post, May4, 1998. 39 The St. Petersburg Times . May17, 1998..... 62 Ill Teachers Told to Pump Up Grades. Are Schools Too Hard on Kids? By Nanette Asimov. By Matthew Robinson. The San Francisco Chronicle. April 4, 1998. ..66 Investor's Business Daily. March 6, 1998. ...121

New; School of Thought on Tests. HIGHER EDUCATION 123 By Ellen Nakashima. The Washington Post. May 26, 1998. 67 Clinton's Classroom Quotas. .By Jessica Gavora. States Raise the Bar. The Wall Street Journal. April 21, 1998. 124 By Donna Harrington-Lueker. American School Board Journal.* CUNY's 4-Year Colleges Ordered to Phase June 1998. 69 Out Remedial Education. By Patrick Healy. TEACHER TALENT 73 The Chronicle of Higher Education. June 5, 1998. 126 Why Johnny's Teacher Can't Teach. By Heather Mac Donald. Not-So-Distant Competitors. City Journal.* Spring 1998. 74 By Ted Marchese. AAHE Bulletin. * May 1998. 128 A Confederacy of Constructivists. By Richard Sletvett.* 85 GRAB BAG 133 The Case Against Teacher Certification. The Diogenes Factor. By Dale Ballou and Michael Podgursky. By Herbert J. Walberg and Public Interest. * Summer 1998. 87 Rebecca C. Greenberg. Education Week.* April 8, 1998. ... 134 Some Unanswered Questions Concerning National Board Certification of Teachers. Federal Class-Size Reports Do an About- By Dale Ballou and Michael Podgursky. Face. Education Week.* June 10, 1998. 94 By David J. Hoff Education Week.* June 10, 1998. 136 Squeezing the Lemons of Teaching. By Chris Satullo. For Baby Boomers, A 90's Kind of Sit-In. The Philadelphia Inquirer. May 30, 1998.... 97 By Amy Stuart Wells. New York Times Education Life. There Are No Secrets in Schools. April 5, 1998. . 138 By Ellen Belcher. The Dayton Daily News. May 28, 1998. .98 NoLearn First, Surf Later. By David Gelernter. Divided They Stand. Time. May 25, 1998. 142 By Peter Schrag. The New Republic.* May 25, 1998...... 99 Cartoon by Wayne Stayskal.* The Tampa Tribune. 143 CURRICULUM & PEDAGOGY 103 Cartoon by Bruce Plante.* The Chattanooga Times. 143 Dictatorship of Virtue: Multiculturalism in Elementary and Secondary Schools. * Reprinted with permission; all rights reserved. Our By Richard Bernstein. sincere thanks to all the publishers, journals, and writers American Experiment Quarterly.* who graciously gave assent to use their works in this Summer 1998. 104 publication. The Rebirth of American History. By Sol Stern. City Journal.* Spring 1998. 109 Why General Knowledge Should Be a Goal of Education in a Democracy. By E. D. Hirsch, Jr. Atlanta, 1998. 116 Does Good Practice Make Perfect? By Matthew Robinson. Investor's Business Daily. April 24, 1998 ...119 6 iv Network Notes

like standards, culture of achievement, and AFT Resolution on Beginning Reading remediation. You will cheer for Cedric, and for Instruction his devoted mother, as he fights his way out of a Up for approval at the July convention system that does not cherish him. You will long of the American Federation of Teachers, this for him to succeed at Brown, while also policy statement might serve as the treaty for the wondering if he can accomplish this. You will reading wars. After years of phonics versus hate a system that does its best to discourage whole-language rhetoric, the AFT statement him, partly because he is poor and of color, wisely urges bothin a carefully crafted partly because the system is profoundly combination. According to the resolution, incompetent and uncaring. students "must learn phonics: the ability to link Most of all, you will walk away with a sounds to specific letters or combinations of refreshed awareness that life in inner-city letters that are used to represent them in written schools is complicated. Charter schools, higher language. And the association between letters standards, accountability, and the like are now and sounds must become virtually automatic, so sweeping D.C. We think they will help Cedric's that students learn to decode words almost younger peers. But it won't be easy, for, as this instantly and are able to concentrate on the book so'clearly shows, education is an intensely meaning of written text." human experience. And humans are enormously Once this precondition is met, explains complex. the AFT, children can explore the world of Look for it in your local bookstore literature, storytelling, and creative writing. (published by Broadway Books, 1998, ISBN# 0- Phonics and literature in combination build a 7679-0125-8). Hard cover sells for $25. MJP strong foundation for a lifetime of reading. Kudos to the AFT for this dose of common sense about the most basic of basic The Troubling State of General Education: A skills. Why, we keep wondering, do they want to Study of Six Virginia Public Colleges and marry a big union that has long been devoted to Universities the "whole language" approach? By now, everyone knows that core Get your hands on the resolution by academic subjects like Shakespeare and Western surfing to the AFI' web site at www.aft.org or by Civ. are being shoved aside by courses such as calling (202) 879-4400. MJP "Pop Music" and "The History of the Pro Athlete" on many a college campus. In this report, The Virginia Association of Scholars set A Hope in the Unseen out to learn exactly what constitutes "general Reality has a way of making rhetoric education"the core curriculumin six major seem irrelevant. This painfully honest account institutions of higher learning across the Old of a young man's journey from inner-city D.C. to Dominion. Their cential finding: college Brown University highlights many of the students are not studying the essentials. There tragedies of today's education system while are plenty of courses to choose from, but the telling an amazing story of human perseverance. requirements are broad and nebulous and there is Author Ron Suskind of the Wall Street Journal no reason to suppose that students are well- spent four years tracking Cedric Jennings. With equipped to make wise selections. painstaking accuracy and detail, Suskind relays The report examines the state of the core Jennings's struggle to escape from a woebegone curriculum today, then traces the evolution since Washington neighborhood and his longing to 1964. Find it on the web at www.nas.com or e- find a place in the Ivy League. mail the National Association of Scholars at Besides being a remarkable personal [email protected]. For the technologically-impaired, history, this book puts names and places to ideas send snail-mail to National Asiociation of

1 Scholars at 575 Ewing Street, Princeton, NJ Robert Strauss, Pennsylvania makes it relatively 08540-2741, call (609) 693-7878, or fax (609) easy to obtain and keep a teaching certificate. 683-0316. BRW Its teachers do not perform well on standardized tests, and a highly localized employment market for teachers adds to the quality barrier, not least Educational and Labor Market Performance of because many school boards and superintendents GED Recipients decline to formalize the hiring process through In this volume, the U.S. Department of written procedures or consistent criteria. Education compiles its research on General To end this stagnation, the study Educational Development test takers. The report suggests several reforms. First, it recommends a provides an overview of the GED program, battery of testsfor both teachers and including an analysis of its academic and studentsthat would hold teachers accountable occupational purposes. The findings indicate for what they and their students know. Second, that GED recipients outperform high school it advocates the introduction of teacher choice dropouts in academic and occupational pursuits. for studentsallowing students to "vote with Although they do nearly as well at post- their feet," enrolling with teachers of their secondary institutions as high school graduates, choosing, and encouraging schools to dismiss GED recipients tend to earn less in the teachers who cannot attract students. [To read workforce. The report concludes with a survey more about this, see Chris Satullo's "Squeezing of the armed forces' experience with GED the Lemons of Teaching" in our Teacher Talent recipients versus high school graduates and section.] The paper offers detailed analysis of dropouts. If you're looking for data on GED the Pennsylvania teachers market and some recipients, this report is valuable. You can order interesting points concerning teacher-hiring a free copy from DOE by writing them in practices in general. You can download the Washington, DC 20208-5721 or calling 1-800- paper at www.heinz.cmu. USA-LEARN. MAS edu/rs9f/. You can get a hardcopy by calling the Heinz School of Public Policy at (412) 268- 3840 or faxing them at (412) 268-7036. MAS Public Charter Schools The Center for Educational Innovation at the Manhattan Institute recently sponsored a Deregulating Teacher Training in Wisconsin forum on charter schools to drum up support for Not only does it have a great pro the concept in New York. While few of the football team, the Dairy State has also produced panelists made any groundbreaking statements, some fantastic ideas on how to clean up the the companion document features a diverse teacher training mess. This reader-friendly array of charter school advocates, from state report from the Wisconsin Public Policy legislators to community development agents. Institute outlines the problem and offers seven Interested in New York's charter school bold recommendations for action. movement? Order your free copy by calling The problem, simply, is that Wisconsin CEI at (212) 599-7000, faxing them at (212) (like virtually all states) recruits, trains, and 599-700, or e-mailing cei@manhattan- certifies teachers bureaucratically. The process institute.org. CEI's address is 52 Vanderbilt is driven by paper credentials, rules, and Ave., New York, NY 10017. MAS regulations. The system does not allow flexibility at the local level, encourage talented mid-career professionals to enter the field, or Who Should Teach in our Public Schools? place a premium on teachers who know their This Carnegie Mellon study of teacher subjects well. Not to mention that it's expensive selection and hiring practices in Pennsylvania and that two-thirds of all teachers trained by makes some sobering observations and suggests publicly-funded institutions in Wisconsin never a few interesting solutions. According to the teach a day in the state. study, written by Carnegie-Mellon economist

2 So what do authors Mark Schug and focus on non-academic goals for females, such Richard Western, both teacher-educators as raising self-esteem. themselves, suggest? They would slash To obtain this brave and candid regulations and decentralize decision-making to appraisal of how girls fare in U.S. schools, write the district level. Districts would be allowed to the Women's Freedom Network at 4410 recruit, hire, and train future teachers as they see Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Suite 179, fit, and would hire whom they like. And schools Washington, D.C. 20016 or call would institute paid internships to get new 202-885-6245. The Network is on the web at teachers up to speed. www.womensfreedom.org. One copy of the You may have heard these ideas before, report costs $5.00. It is worth every penny. but it's worth seeing them placed in the context BRW of a real-live state. Check it out by calling the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute at (414) 241-0514, faxing a request to (414) 241-0774, or Voucher Wars e-mailing [email protected]. They'll send it for This 50-page pamphlet, published by the free. MJP Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation, is subtitled "Strategies and Tactics as School Choice Advocates Battle the Labor Leviathan." The Myth That Schools Shortchange Girls: The report doesn't give any guidance on how to Social Science in the Service of Deception eliminate the black helicopters, but it does detail In 1990, the American Association of the "art of war" for pro-choice forces. Chock- University Women released a study (followed full of strategic defense plans and tactical by a huge publicity campaign) highlighting its offensive maneuvers garnered from the history alleged "research" finding that girls get gypped of the school choice movement, along with in U.S. classrooms. There followed innumerable inspirational quotes from Napoleon and Sun "dialogues," recommendations, and policy Tzu, "Voucher Wars" provides an arsenal of changes, all in an attempt to rid the nation's ammunition for school choice footsoldiers. schools of gender-inequity. For a free copy, call the Milton and But the AAUW got it wrong. So says a Rose D. Friedman Foundation at (317) 681- new report, prepared for the Women's Freedom 0745, write them at One American Square, Suite Network by University of Alaska professor 2440, Post Office Box 82078, Indianapolis, Judith Kleinfeld. She terms the AAUW study Indiana 46282, fax them at (317) 681-0945 or "a political strategy designed to gain advantages surf to www.friedmanfoundation.org. BRW for females and to promote the special interests of one group of beneficiaries, well-educated women." Growth in School: Achievement Gains from The facts according to Kleinfeld: from the Fourth Grade to the Eighth Grade grade school through college, girls get better Last month, we brought you a landmark grades than boys; women earn the majority of study by Herbert J. Walberg, "Spending More bachelor's and master's degrees; students of While Learning Less: U.S. School Productivity both sexes agree that teachers show no bias in International Perspective." In his report, against girls; and females suffer no dramatic Walberg used "value-added" indicators to show decline in self-esteem at adolescence. One by that year-to-year gains on tests of student one, Kleinfeld exposes conventional beliefs achievement are lower in the U.S. than in every about gender roles in the classroom as myths. other industrialized nation. These fallacies disguise the encouraging strides Not to be outdone, the Policy that females have made in closing education Information Center of the Educational Testing gaps over the past two decades, draw resources Service has recently used advanced "value- from the population that is truly underserved added" techniques to analyze state-level NAEP (African-American males), and lead teachers to data. The results are fascinating. For example, students in Arkansas (the state with the lowest

9 3 average) learn as much math each year as know best when it comes to their children's students in Maine (the state with the highest education. average NAEP score). The achievement gains Purchase Bad Teachers in your local between grades 4 and 8 by Whites, Blacks, bookstore; it will set you back $14. If you havea Hispanics, and American Indians are virtually school-aged child, it will be a worthy identical from grade to grade. PUpils in investment. Bad Teachers is published by Nebraska and Michigan learn much more each Pocket Books and is ISBN# 0-671-52934-X. year than those in Georgia and the District of BRW Columbia. Overall, unfortunately, U.S. students showed less achievement gain between 1992- The Metropolitan Life Survey of The American 1996 than between 1978-1982. The ETS Teacher 1998: Building Family-School analysts also found that an "advanced" fourth Partnerships grader is better at math than a "basic" eighth Viewed in isolation, this nationwide grader. survey of 1,000-plus teachers and 1,300-plus If you want all the details of this students in grades 7-12 doesn't tell us much that intelligent analysis, you can order a copy (for we didn't already know. Teachers and students $9.50, prepaid) from the Policy Information Crave parental involvement. High levels of such Center at ETS, Mailstop 04-R, Rosedale Road, involvement are associated with child Princeton, NJ 08541-0001. Their phone number achievement. Parent apathy is related to student is (609) 734-5694 and their e-mail address is failure. Parents in inner-city schools and those [email protected]. Save time and money by who are economically or educationally deprived downloading the report from www.ets.org/ are less involved than other parents: And so on. research. BRW But when compared with a similar Met Life study from 1987 (as intended), this survey suggests that we're narrowing the home- Bad Teachers school gap. Teachers today are more willing to This 300-page book by Guy Strickland invite parental involvement in schools than they has drawn raves from Thomas Sowell, who were a decade ago and they are more willing to writes, "If you buy only one book on education let parents have a say in major school decisions in your lifetime, this is the one to buy." We and policies. This is obviously a positive might not go that far, but we certainly laud its development. Is it possible that it has been no-nonsense, user-friendly approach. Written precipitated in part by the specter of school for parents by an ex-teacher and school choice? administrator in refreshingly jargon-free Copies of the full 300-page report are language, this book singles out the maincause of available free of charge while they last by many of our education problemsinept writing to Met Life, The American Teacher educatorsand suggests practical strategies for Survey, P.O. Box 807, New York, NY 10159- dealing with them. Bad Teachers offers parents 0807 or by calling Tricia Brown, Public sound advice for identifying, confronting, and, Relations Account Executive for Met Life, at when necessary, avoiding bad teachers in their (212) 578-4072. There is also a downloadable children's schools. version at www.metlife.com. BRW Strickland makes sure to acknowledge that, "like any profession, teachingspans a wide range of abilities," but for the most part, Bad The Betrayal of History and Teachers stays true to its title, which can A New Generation of History Textbooks mislead the reader to believe that all school W ant to find out which history books problems are the fault of bad teachers. This book can accurately be deemed textbooks, as opposed is likely to ruffle some feathers, not least to picture books? Want to know which tell the because of its assumption that parents truly story of our past "the way it actually was" and are not contorted by contemporary fads and

1 0 politics? Want to know which books your students through junior high, then tracks them children should be reading? Here are two rather rigidly based on entrance exam scores. suggestions for a topic that grows in timeliness These scores predetermine much of the Japanese as California prepares to adopt its new tomes in student's future. This "exam hell" has its August. downside as well as its strong incentive effect, The first, Alexander Stille's "Betrayal of course. While many parents complain of the of History" (New York Review of Books, June pressure, few seem to fault individual schools or 11, 1998) provides excellent insight into the teachers. decaying quality of these texts. Due to the New The report serves as a comprehensive York Review's refusal to let us reproduce this survey of Japanese education, contrasting it in excellent piece without paying an exorbitant fee, many ways to American practices. For a free we can't share it with you in full. But we copy, call the U.S. Department of Education at recommend your tracking it down. Stille 1-800-USA-LEARN, write the DOE at 600 concludes that, on the whole, "history-lite" Independence Ave. SW, Washington D.C., prevails. But there is one mostly-sound 20202or download it at www.ed.gov. MAS exception: Joy Hakim's readable and information-packed series, A History of US. (To learn more about Ms. Hakim's books and the Network Notes are written by Bradford R. current state of the History curriculum, see Sol White, Mark A. Scheffler, and Michael J. Stern's article in our Curriculum and Pedagogy Petrilli. section.) "The Betrayal of History" can be downloaded from the New York Review's web site at http://www.nybooks.com. Our second suggestion, issued by the American Textbook Council, summarizes recent power plays and political fads in the education publishing business. Here we are reminded that publishers often care more about selling books and portraying demographic groups than about supplying teachers and children with interesting, intelligible, and accurate texts. You can obtain a free copy of "A New Generation of History Textbooks" by writing to the American Textbook Council at 475 Riverside Drive, Room 448, New York, NY 10115 or by calling (212) 870-2760. You can fax your order to (212) 870-3454. They can also be reached via e-mail at [email protected]. BRW

The Educational System in Japan: Case Study Findings Co-led by Harold Stevenson and Shin- Ying Lee, this case study surveyed Japan's education system through field research in three locations. The report was recently published (after long delays) by the U.S. Department of Education to provide some context for the TIMSS reports. It highlights a system that provides a uniform, basic education for all

5 (SR)2 Selected Readings on School Reform The Front Lines

We throw out the first pitch of the summer edition of Selected Readings with a glimpse at the "front lines" ofschool reform. Leading off is our own Chester E. Finn, Jr., who examines federal policy in "Clinton Flunks," from The Weekly Standard. He ties current Congressional action on the "Coverdell bill" to the upcomingreauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Schools Act (which carries the bulk of federal K-12 funding), and suggests that the time is at hand for a fundamental rethinking of thefederal role. Next, we journey to the West Coast to visit one of the rising stars in the education firmament, Arizona's State Superintendent Lisa Graham Keegan.While you may recognize Mrs. Keegan's namefrom a number of recent articles, we felt David Brooks's piece from The Weekly Standard, entitled "Lisa Graham Keegan, Too Good For the GOP?" shows exceptional insight. We're especially takenwith her notion that one must use power to overcome power. With her shrewd blend of libertarianism and trust-busting, Keegan is reinvigorating education in the Sunshine Stateand far beyond. Then to Amity Shlaes's well-written Wall Street Journal piece on Vermont's fractious school financing arrangements. One of a slew of states whose prior arrangements had been dubbed unconstitutional, Vermont's new financingscheme has riled more than a few families in the Green Mountain Statefrom both sidesof the political tracks. Finally, in "Prevailing Perceptions of Public Schools," Deborah Wadsworth sets the record straight on what is really worrying Americansabout their schools. Education savings accounts? Increased choice? Equitable financing schemes? Wadsworth's answer, backed by extensive surveys and interviews, is none of the above. At the top of the list for parents, teachers, and studentsa list compiled even before the recent spree of schoolshootingsare safe and drug-free schools that are conducive to learning. Is that toomuch to ask? Moreover, Wadsworth wonders, can other reforms succeed if these concernsaren't first addressed?

BRW

7 Weekly Standard, June 15, 1998

taxes in the first place. But those Are debating points. What's really at issue is a crucial precedent: whether CLINTON FLUNKS so much as a dime of federal education aid will be by Chester E. Finn Jr. entrustedeven indirectly, via the tax codeto parents rather than public-school systems. For if families ik.NY DAY NOW, OUR "EDUCATION PRESIDENT" will can handle a dime, why not a dollar? And if a dollar, strangle another newborn education program then how about the $15 billion or so that Congress will in its crib. be steering when it takes up the reauthorization of the The last victim was a small voucher program that Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) would have helped 2,000 impoverished residents of next year? Barring a November upset, this will be the the District of Columbia flee the capital's rotten pub- first time a GOP majority on Capitol Hill has had the lic-education system for the haven of safe, effective chance to shape that huge mass of programs and out- private and parochial schoolsjust as the Clinton and lays. For U.S. education policy, the stakes could not be Gore children have done. "We must strengthen the higher. This year's action is an important preview. public schools, not abandon them," thundered the Today, as has been true since Lyndon Johnson's veto message from the Oval Office. The cynical sub- time, all federal K-12 dollars sluice directly into state text, however, was, "Do as we say, not as we do." and local public-school coffers. This is a vast subsidy Days later, the Washington Post reported the results reserved for education's government-sector producers, of its own survey: Fifty-six percent of D.C. residents completely out of reach of consumers and private-sec- including three-fifths of blacks and two-thirds of pub- tor competitors. And that, of course, is precisely what lic-school parentsfavor the kind of program that the suits the teacher unions and the rest of the public- president killed. But such data cut little ice at the school establishmentClinton backers all. White House. Sure, Bill Clinton often panders, and But it is not the only possible way of doing things. nowhere more blatantly than in educationwitness It's worth recalling that, just a quarter-century ago, a his promotion of smaller classes and "universal" col- Democratic Congress and Republican White House lege attendance. But when it comes to placing K-12 agreed to a very different strategy for higher education. dollars in parents' hands, even the will of the people An epic debate had raged over whether Uncle Sam cannot save programs that rile Bill Clinton's establish- should aid institutions or students. The colleges natu- ment friends. rally wanted all the money to come directly to them. And they still get sizable sums. But by 1972 it was set- The next candidate for execution is themeasure known in Beltway argot as the Coverdell bill, after the tled that grants and loans directly to students would Georgia senator who introduced it. Currently making thenceforth be the main channel for federal assis- its way through a Senate-House conference commit- tanceand, recipients were free to carry those dollars tee, this bill has become an ornate assemblage of pro- to the institutions of their choice, public, private, programs and prohibitions and is meant by its backers to prietary, religious, whatever. Higher-education policy embody the Republican national agenda for K-12 edu- would be driven by consumers rather than firoducers. cation. Several key provisions have elicited veto This has not worked perfectly, to be sure. But it has threats from the White House, and the GOP leader- fostered the world's best-regarded higher-education ship is weighing various parliamentary tactics to make system, a lively marketplace of competing providers, the bill as awkward as possible for the president to It'll. and choosy consumers with plenty of decent options. (One rumor has Ways and Means chairman Bill Elementary and secondary education, by contrast, Archer tacking it to the hard-to-veto IRS-reform bill.) remains in the iron grip of a government monopoly At its core is Coverdell's proposal to expand tax- propped up by billions of federal dollars. The producers are totally in charge. The consumers (unless rich or shelterededucationsavings accounts (a form of IRA) and lucky) must take what they are given. In terms of quality, this system falls near the bottom on most interna- here'sthe hot buttonallow them to be used not only for tional rankings (except for spending levels). higher education but also for K- Can this be 12 expenses, including private-school tuition. changed? That'sthe Opponents charge that the actual benefit would realissueposed by amount to just a few dollars per household and that lit- Coverdell's bill. While tle of it would gccrue to poor families, who pay little in the bill wouldn't give much aid to any family,

813 it would mark the first to ban further develop- time that Uncle Sam ment of national tests. had entrusted even a After a huge fracas last pittance to the K-12 year, responsibility for consumeras bold a shaping voluntary, stan- departure for education dards-based tests of 4th- asprivate-investment grade reading and 8th- accounts would be for grade math was turned Social Security. That's over to the National theprecedentthat Assessment Governing Republicans are keen to Board, which has been establish via Coverdell. quietly and carefully vetting test questions to make (The dead D.C. voucher sure they're solid. The next step is to "field test" those program embodied the items to see what happens when children confront same principle.) And them. (Not all test questions "work.") That's what that, of course, is pre- Ashcroft mustered a majority of his colleagues to for- cisely what President bidas did the House of Representatives earlier in the Clinton and his allies year. have vowed to block. Though the current plan for national testing The ESEA reauthorization isn't all that lies ahead. sprang from the Clinton White House, the concept of The 1998 and 2000 elections are in sight, and both par- standards-based national tests goes back to the Bush ties are positioning themselves on the education issue, administration, and Republican politicians should which has risen to the top of many voters' concerns. At realize that it remains vital to the GOP strategy for heart, the Democrats remain the party of the public- reform. No consumer-based system works well unless school monopoly, though they are shrewdly advertis- the consumers have reliable information about how ing such customer-friendly specials as more teachers, the competing producers are doing. In education, that smaller classes, and new classrooms. The GOP isn't mostly means test scores, child by child and school by nearly so deftand polls show most voters have school, tied to high standards that signal what well- greater faith in the Democrats' handling of education. educated youngsters should knoW. Nevertheless, the Republican party is seeking to estab- Practically nobody wants federal officials them- lish itself as the ally of education's millions of con- selves to set those standards and interpret those scores. quality sumers. Both sides claim to be interested in But practically everyone who has thought seriously and in better teachers, and they sometimes converge about how to reconstruct American education has fig- in support of innovations such as charter schools (a ured out that some authoritative body must do this. To cross between public education and the freemarket). block such information, as a majority of congressional But their core difference in philosophyand strategy is Republicans voted to do, is to play into the hands of more conspicuous today than everbefore. the school establishmentand continue to deny con- That difference was on display when theSenate sumers effective power. debated the Coverdell bill. Dozens ofamendments Standards and testing remain GOP blind spots, but were offered. The Democrats stroveto insert subsidies the rest of the Coverdell bill is solid. It will, however, These for school construction and additional teachers. almost certainly be vetoed by a president again declar- were rebuffed by the GOPmajority, which managed to ing his fealty to "public education." Republicans lack sound: per- add a dozen riders of its own. Many were the votes to override the veto, which means that feder- aid, a mission for single-sex schools to receive federal al K-12 dollars will continue flowing exclusively to 95 phonics-based literacy program, a resolution that producers. The stage will be set for a clash in the com- percent of Uncle Sam's moneyshould reach the class- ing electionsas well as in the year to follow, when room, and so on. One of theridersSlade Gorton's Congress turns to programs that dispense serious conversion of most cur- money. rent federal programs into an optional "block grant" for states and Chester E. Finn Jr. is John M. Olin fellow at the Hudson communitiesis Institute and president of the Thomas B. Fordham Foun- almost as scary to the dation. education establishment as Coverdell's core proposal. (If it survives the conference, it's veto bait, too.) The Senate blun- dered, though, when it assented to an amendment by John Ashcroft 9 1 I Weekly Standard, April 27, 1998 LISA GRAHAM KEEGAN, TOO GOOD FORTHE GOP?

By David Brooks

Every so often the conservative movement casts Board of Education. Keegan was so happy with the up another hero. Sometimes the darling of the reform potential of the new law, and so concerned moment turns out to be a true hero, like Ward about getting the law implemented properly, that she Connerly, the spokesman for the California Civil ran for superintendent of public instruction in 1994 Rights Initiative. And sometimes the object of our and won. admiration turns out to be Flake-o Suprememen- Conservatives love to talk about charter schools, tion the name of ClintonCare fighter. Betsy McCaugh- and with good reason. These are public schools that ey in front of a bunch of right-wingers and watch them don't have to kowtow to the big bureaucracies. And stare at their shoes and try to change the subject. while it is early yet, there is already evidence that char- At the moment, one of the right-wing poster kids is ter schools significantly improve educational achieve- Lisa Graham Keegan, the Arizona schools chief who ment. Moreover, as Lisa Keegan notes, if you want to has created the most effective charter-school program achieve full school choice eventually, you have to set in the country. Keegan's praises have been sung by the up charters now. Voters won't endorse school-voucher Wall Street Journal editorial page, Reason magazine, plans unless they first see independent public schools National Review, and other right-thinking organs. This operating effectively. Arizona now has more than 250 time the news is good. Keegan's got the charm and charter schools, with about 27,000 students. Regular intelligence of a budding political star. In fact, if any- public schools have to step up their performance to thing, she is more activist in her political style, and meet the competition. nuanced in her policy beliefs than some guardians of But Lisa Graham Keegan is more than just the Conservative Correctness can acknowledge. leading proponent of charter schools. She's an odd In 1993, Keegan was a thirtysomething state legis- mixture of Susan Molinari enthusiasm and Margaret lator in Phoenix pushing a radical school-reform plan Thatcher defiance. Her biological father abandoned that featured vouchers and parental choice. The state her when she was three months old, eventually going education establishment went apoplectic at the men- off to run a beatnik coffeehouse in Carmel, Calif. Her tion of vouchers and succeeded in defeating the bill. mother remarried, choosing a no-nonsense business But when the legislation was reintroduced without the executive who instilled a competitive spirit in his step- voucher provision, Keegan's opponents were so busy daughter and a love of political debate. Keegan was the declaring victory they apparently didn't notice the rad- national champion sidesaddle rider in 1978, and she ical charter-school language still lurking inside. "To did well enough in high school to be admitted to Stan- this day," she says, "I don't think anybody has read the ford, where she majored in linguistics with hopes of charter provision to that bill." becoming either a brain surgeon or a speech patholo- The provision turned out to be a time bomb that gist. Mter graduation she moved back to Arizona to would lead to the creation of hundreds of independent get a masters degree in speech pathology at Arizona public schools. It has two key features. First, there is State University, then went on to do research at a V.A. no limit on the number of charter schools that can be hospital on Wernicke's aphasia, a brain disorder that established in Arizona, unlike in many states. Second, prevents its sufferers from understanding the words you don't have to get approval from the local school that are coming out of their mouths. board to set up a charter (a bit like asking your boss if You can supply your own joke as .to how this you can set up a competing firm across the street). research led to a career in politics. During the Evan Instead, the backers of a charter schooleducators or Mecham scandals, Keegan became interested in, and parents or developers or whoever they may becan go appalled by, the state legislature. She ran for a seat in to one of several different bodies for approval, includ- 1990, won, and ended up chairing the education coming the State Board of Charter Schools and the State mittee, which led to her revolutionary bill.

10 15 When asked what book most influenced herpoliti- my chair. Local control is a monopoly.You should not cal outlook, Keegan immediately namesHayek's Road denigrate parent control, or student equality, or the to Setfdom. She is onthe libertarian side of the Repub- decisions at a local school, but you absolutely should .. . Local control lican party. At a recent conservativeget-together, the get in the face of local control. charter schools. You Dark Ages Weekend, she foundherself agreeing with means no change. You eliminate the libertarian speakers. "Butwhen Gary Bauer gets eliminate voucher programs. Because all those things up and talks," she says,"he makes me nervous. I can't happen in spite of local governing boards, not because go there. I'm justuncomfortable. It feels invasive." of them." Keegan is moderately pro-choice and abig fan of Steve Keegan is in the midst of a long and strenuous Forbesat least Forbes as he was in1996. effort to centralize Arizona's school-funding mecha- But Keegan can be awkward nism. Her goal is to eliminate company for Republicansand local property-tax-based bond libertarians. She was the first initiatives and replace the lost high-ranking Republican to call revenue from increased state sales taxes. Instead of districts' for the resignation of Arizona governor Fife Symington.Ac- raising the money for their own schools, the state would raise cording to Phoenix magazine, money and allocate it to stu- this meant she was "shunned at Republican functions, torment- dents. State dollars would go to schoolthechild ed by the rumor mill." Synaing- whatever ton resigned last yearin dis- attended.This plan would accomplish two things. First, it grace. And Keegan recoghizes something many libertarians would standardize the sum have been loath to acknowl- spent on a child's education. edge: If you really want to dis- Currently, rich suburbs spend a mantle the welfare state, you lot of money per child, while poor districts spend only a little, need a period of activist government; you need to centralize a pattern that has been declared authority in ordertobust unconstitutional in Arizona and entrenched interests. Many lib- many other states. Second, the ertarians would rather preserve plan would attach money, even an ideologically pureanti-gov- for capital expenses, to the ernment position, which calls child. That ultimately would for dismantling power but never shift power to parents, who using it. That position is fine for could send their kids to new those howling at government charter schools, and away from from the outside. But it doesn't district bureaucracies. "This is amount to a governing philoso- the single most important issue. phy, and it isn't much help if It breaks it open," Keegan says. you are trying to modernize A number of groups are failure to unhappy with Keegan's ideas. The district bureaucra- government from within. The Republicans' her the come up with a governing philosophyexplains the cies, obviouslythey've taken to labeling of her party's stagnation. "superintendent for private instruction" because houses Keegan is way ahead of them. For example, she is school-choice philosophy. Also, "the bonding unhappy in the now waging a frontal assault on thenotion of local are just wigging out. They are prof- control of education. Republicans love to talk about extreme," Keegan notes. They'd lose a highly of busi- local control; it has that comforting populist ring that 'itable (and some would say corrupting) line gets GOP heads bobbing. But it's also a powerfulbar- ness. Then there are theRepublican politicos, who rier to education reform. Earlier this month, Keegan don't want to do anything that might appear to tram- down was testifying before Congress on schoolreform when, ple on the holy notion of local control. "I've sat she as she recalls, some of the members"alluded to the with Steve Forbes about this and Dan Quayle," argument that the federal government should not try says. "I like Steve Forbes very much.His answer to me I just to denigrate local control: I just wanted to come outof is the same one. 'We need local control.' So. far,

1t) can't move him." them. She points out that right now,state school Finallyand this might be the real reason for the chiefs, who are political animals, get to create thestan- politicos' reactionthere are the residents of the rich dards and tests by which their own performance is school districts. Under Keegan's plan to equalize per- judged. There has to be a national audit: "The state pupil spending across the state, spending in the richest standards have to be enforced by a national standard," districts would go down. Keegan's father recently gave Keegan argues. "Right now, states can make outra- her a chart that she put up on her wall, showing that geous claims that are unwarranted. It's not just a good the 10 richest districts in Arizona are also the 10 most ideait's absolutely essential." At the same time, Kee- Republican. During one tussle last summer, Keegan gan, like all conservative education experts, can see lashed out at critics from the Madison District, calling how national tests could be captured and abused. A them a "gang of the rich." politically fashionable or easy national test would actu- Keegan insists that equal per-pupil spending is the ally undermine state tests if students who were failing morally compelling position. It's the only position at the state level suddenly passed an easy national consistent with equal opportunity. It's also politically exam. "National tests have incredible potential. The popular. And not coincidentally, it is a necessary com- fear comes in what's going to be on them," she says. ponent of a school-choice regime. Yet she watches her Lisa Graham Keegan and the handful of top edu- fellow Republicans invent high-minded reasons to cation experts who have served in Republican admin- defend the unequal spending patterns that have been istrations, such as Bill Bennett, Diane Ravitch, struck down in state after state. In truth, it is odd to Chester Finn, and Bruno Manno, come from different see Republicans rising to the defense of unequal perspectivesfrom libertarian to neo-liberal. But they spending, since a favorite Republican talking point on arrive at similar positions: charter schools on the way education is that there is no relationship between to school choice; rigorous standards backed up by spending and student achievement. independently formulated national tests. Yet it's strik- Keegan's other great activist and centralizing ini- ing that this consensus of the experts is politically tiative has been to create a set of rigorous statewide incorrect in lay Republican circles and among many academic standards and tests. Before her tenure, Ari- movement conservatives. zona had some vague standards, on the order of "Stu- Republicans love to talk about the power of the dents shall appreciate literature." Arizona's new stan- marketplace, but they don't want to talk about the gov- dards earn A and B marks from the Fordham Founda- ernment activismwhich in Arizona involves raising tion, the organization that conducts thorough reviews state taxesthat is required to bring about a schoolof state education standards. Tests will start in 2001, choice regime. Republicans have almost religious and students must pass them in order to get diplomas. affection for local control and a sometimes unthinking The tests have sent a wave of anxiety through the Ari- reverence for the small-scale institutions of civil soci- zona education community. Keegan insists that all stu- ety. But they don't have any way to confront the dents must take the tests in English. Moreover, the entrenched local associations that are bastions of the proposed exercises are not easy: "Write a narrative or status quo. story that develops complex characters, plot structure, Some Republicans are so hostile to government point of view and setting; organizes ideas in meaning- they won't contemplate government action even if it is ful sequence; and includes sensory details and con- necessary to bust concentrated power and enhance crete language to advance the story line." Keegan also individual freedom. Finally, many Republicans have says she won't allow students to use calculators on the retained the defeatist mentality of a minority party. math sections. They assume that any reform they set in motion will Keegan is a big believer in standards and tests. eventually be taken over by their political rivals. In "Standards are a nonnegotiable piece on the way to sum, Republicans say they want to change the educa- full-out school choice. There's no reason to have a tion system radically, but their mental habits con- choice of really lousy schools. We all say the market tribute to the stagnation we have seen, especially in will drive you to excellence, but it will only drive you Washington, over the last few years.

to excellence if you know what excellence is." . Lisa Graham Keegan is a rarity among politicos In a piece on Keegan in the April 6 National not only because she has retained a sense of humor Review, Clint Bolick argued that her strong state stan- about herself, but also because she has created a style dards can be used to head off national standards and of conservative activism that actually produces change tests. But Bolick, who opposes national tests and stan- Conservatism may have cast up a true hero this time dards, did not mention that Keegan herself supports whether or not it deserves her.

12 17 Wall Street Journal, April 22,1998 Vermont Levels ItsSchools

By Amrry SHLAES Parents are all alike, even famous par- By now, the Green Mountain State's Dorset must cut back spending 30%. The ents. John Irving had just enrolled his son judges and lawmakers ought to have student-teacher ratio will go up. Gym will in a public grammar school when he known better. Equalization suits, the for- be cut. "This was just so wrong," Ms. Bar- learned that his state, Vermont, was about mal name for the Vermont action, have rosse says, recalling her first reaction. To to take a hatchet to the local school budget. been roilingstatesfornearlythree be sure, Montpelier did leave a loophole So the author of "The World According to decades. More than 20 states, including that said that towns could raise yet more Garp" did what any other parent would do. California, New Jersey, Ohio and Texas, money if they wanted to spend above their block grants. But a "gold town" that raises , He wentballistic. He wrote an angry letter have revaniped, centralized or otherwise to his lawmaker, in this case the president adjusted the tax system in the name "eq- extra money for its schools Must raise ex- of the Vermont Senate, which the Associ- uity." The American Civil Liberties Union , tra money for other towns as well. East ated Press reported. "You people aren't pursues these suits as a sequel to busing; Dorset would have to double Ms. Bar- Democrats. I was a Democrat," he wrote, 'its state affiliates conduct themselves like rosse's property taxes in order to maintain underlining the word was. "You're Marx- battalions in a nationwide civil war. Any- its current school budget. of"receiving towns" ists!" one who resists gets labeled a Nimby (for Even citizens Many parents would understand Mr. "Not in My Back Yard") or worse. Yet the aren't happy. When Mayor Wennberg ran Irving's rage. After all, he and his wife had results of equalization are frightening. the numbers for Rutland's 8,000-odd tax- thought hard before they moved to south- Such efforts give more to state education paying households, he found that some west Vermont. "Like a lot of families in departinents and teacher unionsbut they 7,000 of them would pay as much or more , this area, thischoice came because of the also damage schools, property values and in taxes under Montpelier's new regime. schools," he says. "Now we will see those local economies. Often, as in California, The remaining 1,000 would get a tax re- schools decimated." the poor kids the projects were meant to duction worth just $156 on average. Mayor Mr. Irving's is just one of many Ver- help are also the losers. Wennberg's biggest concern is the tax hike mont voices now rising in protest against To see equalization at work, it helps to facing the Killington ski retreat, 10 miles the state's new system of school finance. look at a place like Vermont. The state's down the road, where many Rutlanders Last spring, Vermonters watched in trepi- Democratic lawmakers and the Vermont- work. Act 60 will triple the resort's tax bill, dation as the state's Supreme Court cava- NEA, the local teacher's union, call Act 60 to $750,000 from $250,000. lierly junked 200 years of tradition. It ruled a chance for equality. But citizens point out The blow to the state's fragile economy that their local property tax system, which that the law is actually generating strong preoccupies other citizens, Democrat and dated back to Ethan Allen's days, violated divisions. It classes Vermont's towns into Republican alike. Many post their rage : the state's constitution, whichalso came two opposing camps: "receiving towns" and sorrow on act60.org, a Web site for op- from that period. that get more than they put in, and "gold ponents of Act 60. Fred Schwacke, a mem- That trepidation turned to horl'or as towns," which must share their bounty and ber of the Winhall school board, wrote that , Vermonters learnedwhat state lawmakers cut their schools. with Act 60, "we defile and impede the were putting into Act 60, the law to imple- Woe to the school that doesn't go along recreation industry that is arguably our fi- ment the court's ruling. No longer would with the state's vision of education. Act 60, nancial cornerstone. Let's not forget that Vermont's tiny towns collect property gives Montpelier the explicit right to close IBM's founder Tom Watson loved to ski at taxes and then decide how to dispose of a disobedientschool."Powerfollows Stowe, and that recreational draw is a ma- their money at the annual town meeting. money," comments Mayor Wennberg. And jor reason why Vermont's largest em- ;Now Montpelier would take over like a by seizing the property tax kitty, he points ployer [IBM] was.located here." 'high-powered Robin Hood. The state law- out, Montpelier has doubled its power. :makers' first move was to raise taxes on The end of local control also galls Ver- "Property tax revenues in this state equal monters, whose tradition of home rule is so many citizens and businesses. They also the revenues of all other state taxes com- strong that they started their history by se- designed special property-tax bombs for bined." ceding from New York. Even today citi- : ski resorts. Part II of theplan was grab- Mary Barrosse, a mother of three in zens recall Ethan Allen's fury: "These ' bing all property taxes revenues for state East Dorset,talks about how Act 60 bloody lawgivers know we must oppose coffers. Then came Part HI: Montpelier wrecked her family's careful plans. She their execution of the law, where it points ! would dole out the school money, a flat directly at our property .. ." ' $5,010 a year per child, plus an adjustment Vermonters also spend a lot of time here or there. This even for communities The new law classes that pay far more than that in property wondering at the Supreme Court's treat- towns into two opposing ment of the case. A lower court judge had taxes. asked the Supreme Court to settle on a spe- 'Class Warfare' camps: "Receiving townk" cific issue in the equalization case. Instead. "This is class warfare, class warfare the high courtthe bench included a jus- that doesn't even work," says Jeffrey and. "gold towns," which tice who had served on the governor's Wennberg, mayor of Rutland. Rutland is must share their bounty equalization teamchose to rule on the en- supposed to win subsidies under the new tire matter, all without any trial. Nowhere arrangement, yet Mr. Wennberg still and cut their schools. does the state constitution mention equal hates Act 60. Under the new plan, he says, spending for schools: the constitution re- "lois Of poor people are still losers. Every- and her husband bought a smaller house quires only that "a competent number" of one knows this isn't about education. than they otherwise would haVe just to be schools be maintained in the state. Even Those [supporters] are just pathological in their school district. Now Act 60 says the plaintiffs' lawyer, Robert ,Gensburg, ! redistributionists."

13 is wrote in the Vermont Law Review that "I 13 tax revolt. William Fischel, a Dart- felt my heart sink" when he first scanned mouth economist, argues that Serrano the constitution seeking language that caused Proposition 13. Voters weren't just could force equal spending. Nonetheless the Nimby suburbanites the press had the Supreme Court backed his argument. made them out to be. They were respond- Its comments were textbook examples of ing reasonably, the way anyone would af- what's wrong with the "living constitu- ter losing controlby opting out. tion" school of legal theory: "While history 'Victory of Losers' must inform our constitutional analysis, it cannot bind it" The best evidence for the Fischel thesis Citizens are also angry at state law- comes from Jonathan Kozol, who penned makers, particularly Democrats, who had a pro-equalization book, "Savage Inequal- won control of the House and Senate with ities." He wrote of California that "though promises of property tax cuts. John Mc- the plaintiffs won the equity they sought, Claughry, a former lawmaker, president it is to some extent a victory of losers. of the libertarian Ethan Allen Institute and Though the state ranks eighth in per town moderator of Kirby (population 387) capita income in the nation, the share of sums up: "Unless Act 60 is reversed, it will its income that now goes to public educa- mark the beginning of a §ad end to a long tion is a meager 3.8%, placing California and justly celebrated history of indepen- forty-sixth among the fifty states." dence." As for Vermont, its towns are taking A look at states that preceded Vermont stock. Their on-line gossips talk frequently through the equalization mill more than of New Hampshire, which recently had its confirms Mr. McClaughry's fears. Ohio own equalization suit. Citizens are even and New Jersey aren't really more equal looking 22 months down the road, when the than they were before equalization, just presidential primaries will spotlight every more tortured. Then there is California. Its aspect of New Hampshire life. Then the nation's parents, by now Nimbys alL will equalization lawsuit, Serrano v. Priest, get a chance to convey to the pollsters who came in the early 1970s. Following Serrano, Sacramento did equalize spending. But an- ring at dinner hour some of their feelings gry citizens also mounted the Proposition about equalization suits.

14 American School Board Journal,May 1998 Prevailing perceptions neighborhood schools, not some distant, abstract schools, when they express these concerns. Perhaps more impor- of public schools tantly, almost half of teachers and students-47 percent of BY DEBORAH WADSWORTH teachers and 48 percent of studentssay drugs and violence are a serious problem in their schools. (These data are from Public Agenda's 1997 report Getting By: What Three overarching moodseconomic anxiety, moral American Teenagers Really Think About Their Schools.) ambiguity, and institutional mistrustpervade Ameri- Those who conclude that media coverage has affected the cans' diagnosis of what is wrong with public educa- perceptions of the general public can hardly dismiss the tion today. The moods are manifested in three images that views of significant numbers of teachers and students, who Americans evoke in all of Public Agenda's research to con- spend their days in the schools and do not have to rely on vey what troubles them about the schools. Over and over, the media for those perceptions. They are neither out of people complain bitterly about the existence of metal detec- touch nor responding to a bad-news bias. tors at the entrance to schools; about kids hanging around With such opinions rampant, every group surveyed by the high school parking lot when they ought to be in class; Public Agenda demands that, before tackling curricular re- and about checkout clerks at the local supermarket who forms or introducing innovative teacher techniques, lack the skills even to make change. Again and again, they schools should be made safe and drug free. Moreover, 76 evoke these images almost as metaphors to transmit their percent of the public and 84 percent of teachers want authentic concernsthose driven not primarily by the youngsters who are caught with weapons or drugs re- media but by events they experience in their daily lives. moved from the classrooms. According to Getting By, sup- It is valuable to examine each of these images carefully, port for this position is very high among teens them- to better understand the attitudes that they reflect, attitudes selves-66 percent among white students, 77 percent that Public Agenda has documented with parents, grandpar- among African-American students, and 74 percent among ents, and those without any direct school experience, as Hispanic students. well as teachers, principals, superintendents, school board The image of students hanging out in the school parking members, business and community leaders, and, most re- lot is another metaphor conveying what people think ails cently, students themselves. Then, it is appropriate to deter- public education today. Whereas I suspect that most recent mine the degree to which these images are or are not generations have spent time in such activityor inactiv- shaped by journalistic coverage. ityand have probably irritated neighborhood residents in Although most Americans have passed through a metal the process, until recently teenagers were considered detector at a local airport, few have actually confronted one harmless. Today, however, the very presence of seemingly face-to-face at the entrance to a local school. Nonetheless, idle teenagers makes adults uneasy, for they symbolize the the knowledge that even a single metal detector exists at the lack of order and discipline that most people believe should entrance to a single school evokes a powerful response. The characterize the lives of young people. In a 1997 Public image may have appeared originally on a television screen Agenda study conducted on behalf of the Advertising Coun- or in a newspaper photograph, but its existence has been cil, two in three (67 percent) of those surveyed, when asked burned into public consciousness. It signifies to people that to describe the first thing that comes to mind about teens, their schoolsthe one institution that had always been safe responded with negative impressions. Similarly, the teens and inviolatehave been invaded by the violence and interviewed for Getting By acknowledged that they often be- drugs that pervade contemporary society. Even the sanctity have badly and know they are threatening to many adults. of schools has been violated by societal upheaval. Are these attitudes driven by media coverage? Hardly. The In conveying this image, were the media responsible for scenes people describe, which they say they confront on a disseminating untruths or manipulating incipient fears? Did daily basis, convey in shorthand much that they believe is they implant in the public's mind this idea that the schools. wrong with our schools. "Why," people ask in focus groups, are unsafe? On the surface, it seems reasonable to assume "aren't these kids in class?" "Doesn't anyone know that that media coverage is the culprit, but research does not they're not in school?" "Who's in charge?" "Why doesn't support that interpretation. Rather, the research reveals someone do something about this?" that this image, deeply ingrained in the public mind, has a In Getting By, teenagers themselves describe an atmo- basis in reality. In Public Agenda's 1994 report First Things sphere that is unruly, coarse, rough, and not conducive to First: What Americans Expect from the Public Schools, 72 learning. Seven in 10 say that there are too many disruptive percent of the general public and 80 percent of African- students in their classes, and, not unexpectedly, 82 percent American parents identified the presence of too many say they would learn more in school if these unruly young- drugs and too much violence as a serious problem in the sters were removed from regular classes. This is based public schools in their own community. upon firsthand experiences; they don't have to rely on the In other words, people are thinking in terms of their media for these impressions. It is no surprise that adults list, following safety, the removal of disruptive students as their next highest priority-73 percent of the general public and 88 percent of teachers support this idea. There is a prevailing sense that classrooms are being held hostage by the few who have made it impossible to teach the many who really would like to learn. And, fthally, there are the "countless stories from people's personal experiences of the ubiquitous checkout clerk who 15 4 can't make change or the telephone operator who can't find cerns as simplistic and out of touch. Public Agenda has doc- a number in Des Moines, which she can't spell, either. umented a gap between experts and the publicover the Anecdotes about such individuals multiply daily, and while years on many issues, welfare and health reform included. they, too, may have become metaphorsdramaticallysym- But nowhere is the disconnectmore profound than on the bolizing the academic inadequacies of our schoolsthey issue of education reform. are based not on stories from the media but on real life ex- First Things First: What Americans Expect from Their Pub- periences. These experiences lead the public to conclude lic Schools documented the public'sconcerns in 1994. The that the schools are failing to deliveron their most impor- study clarified why the public is notmore positively en- tant responsibility. gaged in the process of reform and detailed their lack of This failure of the public schools to deliver even the most confidence in the reformers' agenda. How, people asked basic education to all youngsters drives people mad with then and continue to ask, can learning take place in sucha frustration. Adults wonder how youngsters without ade- chaotic environment, and shouldn't the environment be quate skills can possibly succeed in a world that they see as fixed before curricular reform and innovative 'techniques increasingly competitive and unforgiving. Theyworry about are introduced? Reformers and educators continue to point the cost to society of functionally illiterate young peopleon accusingly at the media for distorting the problems and in- whom they themselves will shortly be dependent. There is stilling attitudes that they believe are destroying the pub- no need for media verification on this matter. lic's confidence in the schools. But the reality is that reform- When a Newsweek poll, released in April 1997, askedpeo- ers have been slow to accord the highest priority to the ple, "Which of the following is a bigger threat to the U.S.?" issues that most distress the public. only 18 percent responded, "Foreign nations working against us," whereas a resounding 74 percent said, "Young Americans without education, job prospects, or connections to mainstream American life." The public's demand that all youngsters master basic skills, including the new computer technologies needed for the next century, grows out of this anxiety, which is compounded by people's belief that their local neighborhood's schools are currently failing to deliver. Thus, mastery of the basics remains at the top of the public's reform agendaalong with safety, order, and discipline. Regrettably, many school reformers continue to resist these public priorities, sometimes dismissing suchcon-

16 (SR)2 Selected Readings on School Reform Charter Schools

As the school year ends for 800-plus charter schools around the nation (those that aren't open year-round, that is), we check on their health and the public's response to them. Seven years after charter schools firsthit the reform scene, reviews remain mixed. And while we disagree with the conclusions of some of these articles, we think it's important to understand what's on the minds of critics, as well as advocates. Our first offering is Michael Winerip's "Schools for Sale," from The New York Times Magazine. He begins with a look at school vendors hocking their wares while parents shop for schools in Jersey Citya scene that was unimaginable 10 years ago. A theme of caveat emptor pervades this piece, but it isnearly overshadowed by the fresh air of educational innovation and opportunity. Education consumers parents and familiescan't help but be impressed by dynamic new schools, money- back guarantees ("all kids reading by first grade"), and intimate atmospheres. The transition to education-as-marketplace is uneven and fraught with problems, but overall promising. We continue with a tough (and in our view unbalanced) article, Thomas Toch's U.S. News & World Report cover story, "The New Education Bazaar." In visiting a number of charter schools in two states, Toch was dismayed to come across several bad apples that weren't living up totheir promises. No doubt some such schools existand are a problem for the charter movement, as well as for families and kids touched by them. But Toch's piece doesn't begin to give enough credit to the huge number of great charter schools. Still, he calls attention to the need for stronger and surer means of accountability for these new schools, and legislators are already taking action on the problem (see below). While Toch emerges slightly pessimistic about charter school prospects,his article does carry an important message: parents must be persnickety when selecting schools for their children. In response to Toch's one-sidedness, the Goldwater Institute's Center for Market-Based Education circulated an articulate defense of Arizona's charter schools. This document takes Toch to task for rushing to judgment after visiting such a small proportion of the state's burgeoning charter schools. Mary Gifford, director of the Center, offers her perspective on charter school accountability, innovation, and performance in Arizona and, suffice to say, she and Toch don't always see eye-to-eye. Education Week's Lynn Schnaiberg contributes to this conversation with her piece, "Charter Schools Struggle with Accountability." Here, we learn that, in many cases, being held accountable is easier said than done.The more nuanced a school's

17 objectives, the harder it is to tell if they have been adequately fulfilled. Wesay keep it simple. We finish with snapshots of charter school activity fromacross the U.S. It begins in Boston, at the famed City on a Hill Charter School. "Final is Trial for Charter Pupils," written by Lolly Bowean for The Boston Globe, highlights the school's creative approach to final exams: Students must present their workto a panel of community volunteers. "People's Prep" from The New Republic, by Mark Francis Cohen, publicizes New Jersey's Samuel DeWitt Proctor Academy Charter school, which he describes as "a cross between an academic boot camp and an elite prep school." Proctor's students emanate from the direst of circumstances toa residential charter school with a (yikes!) $17,000 per-pupil budget funded in part by private donors. The jury is still out when it comes to results (testscores have yet to arrive), but we're betting these kids beat the odds. In Detroit, even the local school board has joined the charter fracas (perhaps in response to Central Michigan University's energetic chartering activity), sponsoring an unprecedented seven new schools for this comingyear. "Detroit Charter Schools Unique," by Charles Hurt of The Detroit News, isa great read and good news for charter advocates who thought that LEA's wouldnever approve their own competitors. There is no doubt that start-from-scratch charter schools facemany obstacles in their path to educational excellence, from financing to obtaining facilitiesto securing staff and students. Valerie Strauss addresses this issue in her Washington Post article, "Charter Schools Face Tests in Rush to Get Ready." Foranyone who ever thought that charter schools had it easy, this piece is a must read. Last but not least, we include a short but powerful "Aside" from The Wall Street Journal. The news: Pacific Rim Charter School in Boston has offered its students a "learning guarantee." If students don't meet state standards for 10th grade achievement, the school will pay for them togo to school elsewhere. Talk about confidence! Now if we could only getmore schools to follow this grand precedent.

BRW

18 23 The New York Times Magazine, June 14, 1998

With the growing popularity of school choice, yet another treasured public institution falls into the hands of the free marketfor better and for worse. By Michael Winerip Photographs by Linda Rosier

t was easy to tell right away, walking into the large meeting room, that something hot was for sale and a lot was atstake. A dozen eager company reps stylish young men and women of all races and backgrounds stood behind two long tables with slick brochures and stacks of applications in English and Spanish. There were balloons and potted plants everywhere, cookies, pastries, coffee, juices and soft drinks, a room nearby to park the children. By the time Kathleen Madigan, Ed.D, began her pitch on this April night, it was standing room only, more than 300 Jersey City parents. One father in the audience, Robert Silberman, was struck by how much the meeting felt like a sales presentation at the telecommunications company where he works, while others remarked on the speaker's evangelical tone. But what was being offered was neither cell phones nor God's salvation. The offering to this heavily minority audience in one of thipoorest school districts in New Jersey was a free, publicly fmanced education for their children at a new charter school to be opened in September by Advantage Schools Inc., a Boston-based, for-profit company with schools in Phoenix and Rocky Mount, N.C. "As we speak," began Madigan, Advantage's curriculum director, "I have kindergartners in Phoenix and North Carolina Who can tell you the three phases of matter! ... I have 5-year-olds inNorth Carolina who know where the prime meridian is!. We have 200 instructional days, 20 more than the public schools!.. .We go from 8 in the morning until 3:30 in the afternoon! Eight in the morning until 3:30!...We will have a phenomenal staff to make this a reality. We get to choose our teachers... .We don't say it's the child's fault, or they didn't have a good breakfast, or they came from this kind of family. "This is how they're taught to walk down the hall," she said, marching, her hands folded in front of her. For an hour those parents sat, rapt, listening to one remarkable story after another. She told them how Ad- vantage ran a direct-instruction school stressing basics, with teachers using daily scripts to drill students. She showed them videos of young black boys reading. "Our children on third level are reading the 'Iliad% in fifth

19 In the last decade, as the market ethos has permeated American society, parents and politicians have increasingly demanded the competition comes in, where things turn nasty: nearly every dol- accountability from their schools, and by that they mean better test results. lar that goes to a charter is subtract- ed from that district's public schools. grade they read Homer's 'Odyssey' .. . Mosteducation but on parents. During the questionjersey City public schools currently receive children don't like to rewrite. Oh no? Ourperiod at that April. meeting, Carlos Garciaabout $7,000 from the state and City for children say, 'Give me one moreasked what kind of guarantees went with all theeach child educated. When a charter opens, chance!' ... No child will fall through thecompany's promises. "What happens if my childit receives most of that $7,000 per child en- cracks in our school" does fall by the wayside?" Garcia asked. "rmrolled and the public school losesthat And then she made an irresistible claim "Ev-having that now, in another charter school" $7,000 per child. So Advantage's charter, ery single one of our kindergartners in both "You're asking what recourse you have if wewith 500 students, would receive close to schools is reading! Every single one! I don't getdon't do what we say" Madigan responded. "I$3.5 million in public funds that would have up here and say it unless it's true." don't have a good answer for you. If thisotherwisegonetoJerseyCitypublic Kimlee Acosta, an employment agencyschool doesn't do it, you tell other people andschools. The numbers make it easy to un- worker and mother of two boys in the publicwe don't keep in business." derstand the hard sell at that April meeting. schools, was sold. She found a pay phone and In short Let the buyer beware. Every family could bring in. at least $7,000 called her friend Christine Litaker, who was EaCh new school year brings more charters,to Advantage Schools Inc.; Kimlee Acosta's still at work. "You got to get down here," saidand that in turn is pressuring public schools totwo sons were worth a cool $14,000. Acosta. "It's freakin' great! They're going tosell themselves harder. Since 1991, when Min- Nor axe public-school districts sitting bY start school at 8; they go to 3:30! My kids startnesota passed the first charter legislation, 32quietly as their funds and motivated students school at freakin' quarter to 9." India Sloane, aother states, including New jersey (but notare skimmed off. Of 23 new charters approved home health aide with a daughter entering kin-New York), have followed suit, and there arethis year in New Jersey, 14 faced legal chal- dergarten, thought it sounded better than hercurrently 786 charter sch000ls in America,lenges, most claiming they were an unfair eco- local public school "I'm going to apply her forwith 400 to 500 more expected this fall. Theynomic drain. this school," she said. "It have good qualifica-tend to be in big cities, but exist in suburbs and Supporters of school choice say that rather tions for, you knowia rural areas, too, varying enormously in philos-than being hurt, good public schools will rise That night, hundreds of jersey City parents ophy and quality. While most are run on a non-to the market challenge and improve. And signed up their children for a school that didn'tprofit basis, started by parents and educators,you can se& some of chat in jersey City, at have even a building or location yet, run by athere are also about a dozen for-profit charterschools like P.S.16, where the principal and company whose mitire track record is twocompanies, including Edison, the best known,parents are also out selling their school hard. .schools, each in existence for less than a year.which will have 48 schools by fall, and Advan-Fortunately, P. S. 16 has lots to sell: it's a small The parents were willing to take the plunge, be-tage, which will have 7 or 8. The movement hasschool in a handsome old building in a gentri- cause while they didn't know fully what theyattracted support across the spectrum, fromfying neighborhood of brownstones, with a were getting into, they knew they weren'tconservative businessmen like Steven Wilson, apoor yet upwardly mobile immigrant popula- pleased with what their children had. founder of Advantage, to laieral public educa-tion whose children have some of the City's Still, not everyone was converted. While Rob-tors like Deborah Meier, who created thebest test scores. ert Silberman liked it, his wife, Karen, thought itwidely admired Central Park East public Mornings at P.S. 16, before school, Bob' Di- sounded militaristic. "I gt1ess we're having a dis-school in Harlem in the 1970's and recentlyTursi, the principal, leans out his window, jok- agreement," she said. Aid Sandra Oviedo has astarted her own charter in Boston. ing with parents on the sidewalk below. "I'm .son who's laving problems with math in a In jersey City alone where six charters havedrumming up business," he says, pulling his sChool that uses a similar method. "It's not been approved there is one started by whitehead inside. He is not kidding. He wants 40 magic," she said. Even many parents eagerly yuppies and one by the Urban League. There irekindergartners for next September,.enough so signing on the dotted line were wondering ifcharters that stress basics, and there is the Learn-he can have tivo small classes of 20 each. Last there really could be such a miraculous urbaning Community charter, which uses the Bankfall, he fell short of 40 and it cost him. When . public school where every kindergartner reads. Street model and has a principal who warns par-the citywide classroom census was completed ents that there will be little homework and nolast October, he had only 31 kindergartners; THIS IS THE CUTTING EDGE OF THE SCHOOL- textbooks. When Kiwan Fitch is asked what she the district decided that wasn't enough to jus.:. choice movement, and it is stunning to beholdhIces about that charter, she mentions the time tify two teachers and took one away, merging because it is so radically different from what hasher kindergartner, Brandon, dissected a fish. the children into a single, large class. Since come before in public education, and at the same Anyone in New jersey who wants to startthen, when parents considering ES. 16 for time so much in sync with this era, when the free one parents, teachers, professors, business-next year have visited, they've been discour- market is entrusted to deliver the best public- people submits a plan to the state. If theaged by that overcrowded kindergarten. The policy choices for us all. In the new educationstate approves, then that plan the charter principal fears that these motivated parents marketplace, public schools are expected to sell.becomes the blueprint for the school. A char-the ones whose children do best on the state themselves aggressively, and the burden of figur-ter school is free and open to any child whotests that everyone follows in The jersey ing out what is real and what is hype falls not onlives within the public-school district where thejournal will go elsewhere. And so he has regulators or district bureaucrats or boards ofcharter school is located. Typically, too manybeen hunting kindergartners, visiting down- children want to attend and a lottery is held.town high-rises to pitch parents. He also has Michael %Vint* is a staffwriter for the magazine. Financing is all tax dollars, and that is wherebeen giving out zone waivers to middle-class

2 5 20 families who prefer P. S. 16 to their neighbor- (three of them in special education) for a char- minority districts has been stalled by the as- hood school, P.S. 9, one of the city's worst. ter. She had never heard of charters. "I don't sociation for public-school boards and the P.S. 16 has had help, too, from Charlotte know too much about them," she says. teachers' union, among others. Kreutz, though she doesn't even have a child This year's Jersey City Teacher of the Year is there yet. Kreutz, a designer married to an ar- from P.S. 39, Jerri O'Brien-Cass. She works HE SCHOOL-CHOICE DEBATE IS MOST chitect, believes in supporting her local public long hours and learns about the personal importantly about how to design an ef- school Snd wants to send her 4-year-old, Geor- problems her third graders face at home so she fective public system to educate poor gia, to P.S. 16 if the kindergarten is not too can help them better. For one boy who can't children, as Deborah Meier, the progressive edu- large. In March, Kreutz created a flier that ex- read and is failing, she sent home 17 notes re- cator, argues in "'The Power of Their Ideas." The plainedthe kindergartensituation,titled questing a parent conference with no re- middle and upper classes, she points out, have al- "Consider P. S. 16, a Great School in Your Own sponse. P.S. .39 is on the losing side of the ways enjoyed school choice. If they don't like Neighborhood!" She spent hours stuffmg school-choice debate, and it enrages the teach- their public school, they can choose a private mailboxes and buttonholing parents. In this er of the year. "If my best students, my school or move to a suburb. Indeed, in the way, Kreutz lined up five families with children Schnelle and my Phillip, are going off to char- 1960's and 70's, thousands of white ethnic Jer- entering kindergarten who said they were lean- ter schools, God bless them -- let them go if it sey City families exercised choice by moving to ing toward P.S. 16. Nothing is sure, however, as gives them better lives," she says. "But that suburbia. Today, Jersey City; the state's second parents jockey on behalf of their children; sev- makes us like a prison. We'll be the Last Stop largest district, has 32,000 mainly minority chil- eral had their names in lotteries for charters, Incarceration Public SchooL" dren a mix of Hispanics (38 percent) and Af- too. Even Kreutz was torn. "If Georgia's in a The answer from school choicers would be if rican-Americans (41percent), along with immi- class of 30 kids, I'll be really unhappy. I don't P.S. 39 doesn't work, get rid of it and let the grants. It is a place where several major reform know what I'll do. I don't want to be a bleed- children of the Duncan Avenue projects efforts are going on at once, making it a.good ing-heart liberal making a point about public choose among the city's best schools. In fact, prism for viewing school choice. In 1989, the schools and sacrificing my child." Jersey City children can leave their neighbor- state took over Jersey City's public schools and Every reform has limitations, and the prob- hood school and pick another if that other still controls them, the longest-running take- lem with sdiool choice is what happens to school's principal signs a waiver saying there is over of a failing system in the nation. Of 39 schools that have nothing to sell, schools left room. Unfortunately, most Jersey City schools charters approved in New Jersey since 1996, behind after the most-motivated families have are overcioWded, and schools in the more up- when the Republican Governor, Christine made their choices and moved on. P.S. 39 is scale neighborhoods are the most overcrowd- Todd Whitman, won passage of enabling legisla- widely regarded as Jersey City's worst ele- ed. Those schools, which also have the top test tion, Jersey City has 6, second only to Trenton. mentary school, a large, dark building at the scores, like P.S. 27, BS. 38 and P.S. 6, average 30 Jersey City's Mayor Schundler has been a vo- end of a dead-end street surrounded by a 25- in first grade. And Jersey City's Mayor, Bret cal school-choice advocate. He is a popular Re- foot-high chain-link fence that makes it look Schundler, who is i national leader of the publican in a Democratic city, a 39-year-old like Riker's Island. The school has the city's school-choice movement and regularly dispar- Harvard-educated bond salesman turned politi- lowest test scores and the most poor children, ages his city's public schools ("They're a fail- cian with a reputation as an urban reformer. The 94 percent qualifying for free lunches: many ure,'? he said), is not much help. While the state shift in Schundler's focus in recent years from living on welfare in the Duncan Avenue has tripled its annual aid to Jersey City schools vouchers to charters reflects a national switch projects. Midyear, the principal resigned. The in the last decade, the city's contribution has by Republicans that has helped bring the choice week I visited, fights frequently broke out; the shrunk from $91 million in 1990 to $72 million movement into the mainstream. lunchroom was in chaos. The stereotype of this year. Schundler recently used his political In the early 1990's, Schundler's thrust was bad inner-city schools is overcrowded classes, clout ($34 million in city bonding power) not getting the state to approve publicly financed but so many parents work hard toratrutheir for public schools but to finance six new build- vouchers that children could use to attend Jer- children elsewhere whether a r, a ings to be occupied by charter schools. sey City's Catholic schools (which have lost Catholic school or, by using a fake address, a This diversion of resources is public educa- much of their white ethnic population) or oth- better public school that at P.S. 39 average tors' worst fear and has so far kept charters er private schools. While vouchers have been class size is actually small, 21. out of New York A push this spring to pass a opposed by most Democrats,leachers' unions At P.S. 39, in Laurie Ralph's third grade this charter bill by a coalition including the Re- and civil libertarians as a violation of the sep- year, a girl nimed Fathema often screamed, publican Governor of New York, George Pa- aration of church and state, the opposition of rolled on the floor like a dog and fought, mak- taki, and Democratic legislators from heavily those groups did not count much in New Jer- ing it impossible to accomplish anything some sey by 1995. Republicans controlled the legis- days. There were times the veteran teacher lature and Governor's Mansion. Schundler was broke down crying. Fathema's mother, Peggy confident; a few states had passed pilot vouch- Smith, 30, says she doesn't know how to han- er programs. The Mayor looked to his ally, dle her daughter, either. One thing is certain: Governor Whitman, to lead the way. Smith won't be signing up her five children He was hung out to dry. When forced to de-

0 n 21 4. BEST COPY AVAILABLE I asked the Mayor if he planned to send his daughter to the dare themselves, the suburbanite Gov- Advantage charter. No, he said, `I like a big dollop of Christianity with ernor and suburbanite legislative lead- my educafion.' But there were other reasons he wouldn't pick 'his' ership had no passion for vouchers. Their constituents didn't need vouch- charter for his daughter. 'Those schools are best for certain children.' ers their suburban schools were first . rate. And did they really want to raise taxes soschool in Hoboken. No, he said, "I like a biga teacher's reading a lesson and a child is in the inner city children could attend private schools? dollop of Christianity with my education."corner with his feet up not taking part, it's not Trying to put the best light on it recently, theBut there were other reasons he wouldn't pickconsidered a disciplinary problem as long as Mayor described it this way: "Whitman didn't"his" charter for his daughter. "Those schoolshe's not disrupting the class," she said. push as hard as I thought. She feels complacency are best for certain children," he said. In the course of visiting charters, I spoke to on this issue." Vouchers also would have aligned hundreds of parents. What distinguishes them the party with the Christian right, an unpopular LL. LATE WINTER AND SPRING, PARENTS is their motivation. They are out hunting some- stand in a swing state like New Jersey. Af,everishly researched school options.thing extra for their children. School-choice ad- Charters, on the other hand, were smack in gela George, a worker at an importvocates try to debunk the idea that charters are line with mainstream Republicanism market-company, visited every charter, got a book fromelitist. They point out that charters tend to have driven, secular schools that required no tax in-the library on how to evaluate a school anda higher percentage of poor and minority chil- crease. While Mayor Schundler still wantscalled the Board of Education for a copy of itsdren than most American schools, and in a vouchers, he is now pushing charters particu-first-grade curriculum. Barbara Jeski, a Polishsense they are right. Even the most "yuppified" larly "his" charter. The Advantage charter thatimmigrant and single mother who works inJersey City charter, the Learning Community so many parents signed upifor that April night is housekeeping at a Manhattan hotel, speaks lit-school, is impressively integrated with 43 per- kndwn as "the Mayor's School" The Mayortle English and so toured the Learning Com-cent of its children poor enough to qualify for hooked up with the for-profit Boston company;munity charter with her neighbor from thefree lunches far more than in most suburbs. he is constructing a building with city bondapartment upstairs, Amanda Merlino. MerlinoBut, if you compare that charter to the Jersey money that will house the charter, at consider-has been advising Jeski on her daughter Patri-City public-school district it competes with, the able savings to Advantage. So far, charter chains, cia's education and suggested the charter mightcharter is skimming. The average Jersey City el- including Edison, have not been profitable, butbe better because of the smaller classes, 16 ver-ementary school has 76 percent free lunches. In deals like this one could turn that around. Crit- sus 28 at P.S. 25. But when. Merlino heard aboutfact, all Jersey City's charters have fewer stu- ics of the Mayor say he is doing everything pos- the school's progressive ways, she wasn't sodents qualifying for free lunches than an average sible to rnake "his" charter a success that he cansure. "It was more yuppieish than we expectedJersey City public school Even the Advantage show off if he runs for higher office. there was this Chinese yup walking aroundschool in Rocky Mount, N.C., that Mayor That is not how the Mayor sees it. "I'm fight-with her nose in the air," she said of one parent.Schundler says is so well equipped to serve Jer- ing for the kids; rm fighting for the taxpayers,""But I kept quiet; I didn't say anything. I figuresey City's poor, is skimmin& 38 percent of its he says. "School choice is the civil rights strug-maybe this is an opportunity for Patricia to bechildren qualify for free lunches versus 49 per- gle of this generation." Jersey City voters seem around a better class of people, a mother and acent for Rocky Mount elementary schools. to agree. In April, all four on the Mayor's slate father and both working. Maybe we have to do This is common sense. The poorest, most for the school board nor one of them with athis for Patricia she has to know how to as- troubled parents aren't running around looking child in public school defeated a slate of can- sociate with rich people." for charters. The mother of the boy in O'Brien- didates from the teachers' union that has long That Chinese yup was actually Christel Fac-Cass's third grade at P.S. 39, who hasn't an- battled the Mayor over school choice. tura, a Filipino who immigrated in the earlyswered 17 notes home, isn't shopping for char- The Mayor believes Advantage's approach,1990's and, like her husband, is a computer pro- ter schools. The family that BS. 39's vice princi- using constant drill and repetition, will workgrammen Factura was impressed with the char-pal left school to help one March day because best "for children coming from less-advantagedter's cheery rooms, the willingness of teachers they were being evicted from the projects isn't homes. One problem these kids have is lack ofto let children progress at their own rate. Sheshopping for charters. That is precisely one of confidence. They don't believe in their own po-wouldn't consider her local public school forthe attractions of charters for motivated parents. tentiaL That discipline will be good for them. her kindergartner, didn't know its name. And if There are liberals who were surprised when The teacher'll say: 'The Declaration of Inde-her son wasn't picked in the lottery? "Probablyarticles began appearing about African-Amer- pendence was signed July 4, 1776. What day wasmove to the suburbs," she said. icans in Democratic cities like Cleveland, Den- the Declaration of Independence signed?' Dis- Carolyn Brewington, a single woman raisingver and Milwaukee joining Republicans to push advantaged children are shy to answer questions a troubled friend's son, heard about Learning for charters and vouchers. But parents like Tonia like this. This system doesn't allow children notCommunity from a neighborhood hairdresserand Bobby Washington of Jersey City are part to answen The child gets used to his own voice, who has a child at the charter and recommendsof a growing African-American middle class and gets used to being told he's right. It's not thatit to her customers with hyperactive boys. simply want the best for their three girls. The hard to give answers if someone just told you."The public school can't handle my Tit," said'Washingtons are no more worried about the im- They memorize back and know and get used toBrewingron, an office manager's assistant. plications of charters creaming off top students a lot of A's on quizzes. That may not be ideal in "Monday, an hour after I arrived at worlc, thefrom public schools than whites were a genera- suburban Short Hills, but it's bringing a lot ofaide calls: Tré's throwing rocks in the class-tion ago when they moved to suburbia. value-added for our children." I asked the May-room.' I know he's not easy. He has trouble sit- The Washingtons rarely see each other dur- or if he would send his daughter to the Advan-ting at a desk all day" What caught her atten- ing the week. He works a day shift at the post tage charter. She is 6 and attends a Christiantion was the charters' attitude on discipline. "Ifoffice, and after he gets home, she leaves for

22 2 7 City charter, Soaring Hei4hy., that pays union scale a veteran Isin-. dergarten teacher, Joan Incow,nito, the night shift at Newark Airport, servicing created. At their finest, they are gems that chal- makes S67,800 and has 16 per jets. That is the sacrifice they make for theirlenge people to rethink public education. In class. "We started with those two children; they do not hire a baby sitter, partly to "Miracle in East Harlem," Seymour Fliegel, a premises," says the dean, Nancy save money but more because they want to former New York City school administrator Lomba. "Everything else we just raise the girls themselves. Most mornings, on a now at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative few hours' sleep, Tonia walks their oldest, Su- think tank, makes the point that when educators had to make do." Part of school naya, to P.S. 20, leading her in and watching her create their own school, they have a sense of choiceisallocatingscarcere- take her seat in her first-grade classroom. Af- ownership that energizes a whole building. Bob- sources, as a comparison between 'ternoons, before work, she walks Sunaya home. by Washington, the Jersey City postal worker, Soaring Heights (85 children in In February, the Washingtons put Sunaya's noticed it, too: "I walk into the public school, I kindergarten through fourth name on the waiting list for the Learning Com- see people doing a job; the charter is a mission." grade) and P.S. 42 (167 in the same : munity's first grade, in case a midyear opening Libby McDonald is an unusually creative grades) makes clean came up. They also entered her in the lottery woman, an Ivy League-educated writer and P.S. 42 pays $224,00C to rent for next fall's second grade. It's not that thefilmmaker, married to a lawyer, with a 4-year- commercial space, plus $95,000 to mother thinks the public schools are so bad. In old, Matilda, who is beginning to read and fact, when her husband said, "They're not what speaks Russian with her nanny and dad. In 1995, three janitors and $23,751 for a se- they used to be when I, " she interrupted: McDonald decided to start a charter. She spent curity guard. The charter rents "That's not true, Bobby. They're getting better. months researching, took inspiration from sharedspaceina churchfor I saw test scores in the paper." In the nine years Meier's school and on a February night invited $59,000, which includes cleaning after the state takeover, P.S. 20 went from 68 toover a few friends to discuss the idea. "Forty and a buzzer security system. P.S. 85 percent of eighth graders' passing the state showed up that's how hungry people were," 42 has a teacher for gifted students competency test. "They're getting reading she says. Over the next two years she put in ($41,700),alibrarian(575,600), from that test," says Tonia. "The children will many 40- to 60-hour weeks, all voluntary, laying three teachers' assistants (at be up to standards. They keep taking and taking the groundwork. When parents needed $2,000 the test until they get it right." She's pleased to advertise for a director, they held a poduck $17,000 apiece) and an English-aswith her daughter's progress. "She reads well; dinner. Seventy people donated much of the second-language teacher (545,000). she writes very legibly. Her math skills are ex- summer of 1997, turning part of the local Boys Twice a week, it has a music teacher cellent." So why pursue a charter? "Just too Club into the Learning Community schooL ($34,500), art teacher (S28,000) many children at P.S. 20." It averages 28 in first The first six months that the school was and guidance counselor (S37,500). grade. "Kids get neglected," she says. opened, the six teachers were absent a total of The charter has none of those. The Every week this spring, she called the charter two days. In Debra Wittig's kindergarten, the charter has no playground or gym; principal, Michael Weinberg, to see if there was 15 students spend their time in creative play. It kids play in the parking lot. It has an opening: "I understand from Mr. Weinberg is often noisy, but Wittig does not raise her no cafeteria; children eat at their a family may be going to Florida," she said. voice. "Brandon," she says, "you may not desks. On the other hand, P.S. 42 "They keep saying the family hasn't moved scream in Philip's face." Wittig reads to them a yet." The Washingtons are Democrats "the lot, and they are constantly looking through has 31 in second grade, 25 in first party for the working people," says Bobby books, but the education process is subtle, indi- and third while the charter lim- but vote for the Republican Mayon "I like his rect. At one point, five girls sit in a circle taking its classes to 16. ideas," he adds. "What they need is more char- turns holding the class rabbit for one minute The opening of so many charters ter schools around here." each, passing it to the next person after they've so quickly highlights how slow counted to 60. During the spring rains, they public systems are to adapt and SCHOOL CHOICE IS NOT ENTIRELY NEW. IN were fascinated by worms washing out of the how their budgeting process con- the 1970's, public schools known as mag-ground, so Wittig created a worm unit. 'We had tributes to the lethargy The capital nets offered enrichment programs as an serious worm frenzy" she says. All over the budget for building a new Jersey incentive to pull children from neighborhood room were charts of worm parts, giant papier- schools. Originally, magnets were a way to im- maché worms, worm stories written in "cre- City public school is totally sep- prove racial balance voluntarily, but over time ative" spelling that is incompreheniible to a vis- arate from the operating budget. these schools became a place for smart educa-itor. When I ask Wittig how many of her kin- At P.S. 3, parents have been form- tors to try new ideas. New York City's District dergartners read, she says, "Maybe 8 of 15." ; ing committees for 20 years to de- 4, which includes East Harlem, isthe best- Perhaps the most striking thing about char- sign a new schooL The latest ver- known example of school choice relying on ters is how, with smaller budgets than public dis- sion calls for dividing P.S. 3 into a magnets. Still, magnet schools are ultimatelytricts they get no capital fundsseveral have two-school complex with a 50-me- controlled by a district's central office..If the created schools with 15 or 16 in a class. It is the , terpool, two gyms, three ball- Chancellordecides that New York's small thing parents mention first. Most charters do , fields,, two libraries and two audi- magnet high schools should have larger class this by paying teachers below union wage (a key sizes, he can order it. A magnet is like a corpo- reason teachers' unions are lukewarm to char- toriums at a cost of $40 million. rate subsidiary A charter is like having your own ters). The Learning Community charter hired When-I asked Jersey City's Super- business. Deborah Meier left New York toyoung teachers for $28,000 to $30,000, while intendent, Richard DiPatri, if it start a school in Boston because she felt the the average jersey City public school teacher wouldn't be smarter. to .build a charter model offered more freedom for reform. las 18 years' experience and makes $65,650.. more Modest schOol and iise the The best argument for choice is the schools But there is a Jersey savings to reduce class size, he says, ',Parents . want palaces." If P.S. 3 ever gets built (the morc it costs, the less likely that is),it would in all probability became the most overcrowed palace in the city That distinction now belongs BEST COPYAVAILABLE 23 2 3 to 1'. S. 17, opened in 1996 at a cost cember, Gateway, a small As for Jersey City, since of $21 million, with the city's larg- Jersey City charter,sud- est class size, an average of 30. the state takeover, its ele- denly had three of its four mentary test scores have staff members, including the gone from the middle of the .3. WAS .THE LOTTERY FOR principal, quit in a dispute. pack among the state's doz- Learning Community, the "yup Stateofficialssupposedly en largest, poorest districts charter." Eighty parents had ap- overseeingcharterswere to No. 2; 79.6 percent of plied for 20 slots, and while the caught off guard; a monitor- Jersey City eighth graders children picking numbered Ping- ing team had yet to visit the passed the state's reading Pong balls from a box were cute, schooL Midyear, parents had teSt in 1997, compared with people were too tense to notice. to decide: stick it out or 56 percent in 1991; And all When Carol Lester's number was jump ship? its bottom schools, with One called, she pumped her fist and gas- Charters are public insti- exception (PS. 39), have im- tutionsrunbyprivate , proved scores, too. State of- ped,"Yes!" The Washington? groups. daughter, Sunaya, didn't make it, Willtheykeep ficials have.achieved this by themselves open to scrutiny letting principals control the and they weren't sure what to do when they have problems? next year. Christel Factura's son hiring of teaching Staff as I had scheduled an inter- well as giving them more say didn't either. 'We are going to find view with Silvana Mazzella, in their budgets. (Before the. a place in the suburbs," she said. a leader of ACORN, a Thc news was mostly bad for takeover, a crony of a for- community group granted iner mayor, who was pro- Charlotte Kreutz, the mother who a charter to open a school had worked so hard to recruit kids moted from gym teacher to for 150 students. She stood assistant superintendent, as- for P.S. 16's kindergarten. Two of me up and did not return signed teachers to schoOls the five families she was counting dozens of phone messages. depending on whom they'd on were sending their kids to the Finally, a director of an- supported in the election.) charter. The rest were making oth- other charter told me there The, state has added public- er plans. "It dropped to just me. I were problems; the school !' school pre-K classesand all- was feeling kind of iiolated, a little would not open this year. day kindergarten, and intro- Whilethere'sevidence panicky" But she was sticking to . duced Reading Recover y. i her plan, though she wouldn't school choice can produce highly regarded national in- know the class size till fall. She sat positive results, it's hard to tensive remedial program. in on PS 16's kindergarten and was say whether it's better than And when principals don't impressed with the teacher, even the many other reform ef- get results, they are One. with so many kids. "The kids forts. New York City's Dis- Citing the test scores and seemed veryattentive," said trict 4 (by creating an exten- reforms, Whitnian has pro7 sive magnet system) and the nounced the state takeover Kreutz. "She has a beautiful sing- state effort in Jersey City ing voice all of a sudden she in Jersey City a success. (by installing state officials Of course, it is also possi- brokc into this lush soprano. The at the top to remake a cor- ble to reach the oppbsite nursery school where Georgia is nrpt system) have taken dif- conclusion, as does Mayor now, the teacher is tonedeaf." ferent routes yet seem to Schundler, calling the take-. The charter was no longer an op- have produced similar re- over "a total failure." When tion for Carolyn Brewington's first sults. A recent study by Paul jersey City or East Har- grader, Tr& He wasn't reading, and Teske and Mark Schneider lem is compared 'with his behavior was worse. "He was evaluating iest scores in Dis- suburbs and the rest of the .;uspended from school for two days. trict 4 notes considerable state, the results are abysMal.. He and a class member were passing improvement since school Of 455 districts in the state,.. a knife." She asked P.S. 14's .child- choicewasimplemented. Jersey City eighth. graders- study team to screen him for special The study concludes that rank 439th in reading scoies. education. "One of the main incen- District 4 is performing sig- And while their test scores tives to keep Tre in public school," nificantly better than other areclimbing,everyone's she said, "they give extra help." districts with similar dem- hayeclimbedsincethe 'graphics but no choice. It eighth-grade test was intro- THERE ARE GREAT BENEFITS FOR points out that test scores duced in 1991. As the market the reform of the moment; includ- improved even at District 4's ethos has taken hold, parents neighborhood schools. ing the ability to attract new talent and politicians have increasingly demanded school ac;. and money. The Clinton.Adrnin- countability, and by that istration, always quick to junip lin a they mean better test resulti. popular Republican idea,.:hi.i.'been giving grants of up to $100,000.,,to charters 'te hire cornmUnity reach staffs ta. attract StudentS.'..±:;,.:'.... .7 But even in the glow Ofire*q.0,!. problems have surfaeed in :Jersey City. Small schools are most refOrm- 2 9 ers' goal, but can bc fragile, held together by a few people: In De- 24 Schools are devotinrinore torn. And there is considerable cor- withquestions. What didthe time teaching to the tei.-,'1; relation: the more free lunches, the school mean by reading? Learning creating... curnculurnsj lower the test scores. The exceptions the phonetic code? Comprehend- prepare kidi. for are schools like P.S. 16 (84 percent ing words being sounded out? Bas- And:this Will: inieniifYls2 free lunches) dominated by immi- ic literacy? Developing a lifelong charters.. sprea..d: Now,cha grants. While poor in this country love for books? Slavin, whose own ters ..are they often came from middle-class direct-instruction reading method, eni cOncernS;:,-aliOUt;::ie-Si*, backgrounds in their homelands. "Success for All," is used in 750 Split in: When I asked to meet a top eighth schools, questioned whether it was AdVantaii.1440*, grader it PS. 39 a predominantly even desirable to push all kinder- Mount African-American school with many gartners .to read. If a child's too second-generation welfare families young, he asked, will that child be the guidance counselor intro- frustrated and turn off? -sureditO..inelWpre ' duced me to Edward Adu Jr. Ed- for:NOrth sco ward's family immigrated to Jersey N MAY, I FLEW TO ROCKY MOUNT City two years ago from Africa. He tgL. to see the school where every ; is the P.S. 39 valedictorian and the .. r97F-1,4 04.1_ Ikindergartner could read, ealia813.' only child accepted tO, artend Ac- , opened last fall in a vacant J.C. the teit;.t he t st,the t-a:it:1:1,-r' ademicHigh neit'year, Jersey City's Penney. Advantage had done a During in .interViev.i,-D elite,hiihsehoOl. In Ghana, his fa7 lovely remodeling job, painting the Patti; theStiperinieiideift7 ; iherwis a 'skilled Mechanic, and Ed- rooms white with muted greenand appointed by. Whitman to., war4atiendeaa1,rivate school where:, purple trim. Students wore uni- run JerseyCity..: sehoolS; tOok 13 subjects .a day, learninr: forms and did 'indeed fold their mentioned test scores right.: English and,several::other languages hands as they walked the halls. The aWay. "Ten years ago, Jersey.: .; on top, Of hiSna0e Twi. He' know's-% City was at the bottom," he ...school has -been Well received; 900 little' Of AMerica:'-beyOndPS.. 39; -!(- said. "Now we're far abore ;have signed up for 690 slots. :While he haS:Srtood.On Jers '"` all ..the other big.: Onei, ex :Shortly after greeting..r4e;;Joshua cept Union'. City.7.:' Later; ,CloClti: and looked ;aerois the; FlUd-:-= Solomon, Advaniage's=:of.4'f-silian . son.to;Manhatian's skyserapers, he when I checked old scores, I real- who had flown from corporaie: hai never iiisited there. WherifiSked.:: ized Jersey City never was at the hed4uarters in Boston:to escort- what his_surprised him ahoUtAmer- ... bottom; depending on which big -me; said, "All the km ergarten ica, he sayi;"It seems thesehOols in : : .... : districts you used for comparison, ..:-..ici,*yoti know." AfriCa'are betier than here.' it was in the middle of the pack, or Dielrhingistaughtst_taight One night, three:.: hours into:. as high as fourth at the time of take,. fi-Oiii,vioikbotili-s-,delrelop-el6i, oise":' Jersey City, :schbol4ioiid Meeting over. After discussing this with Di- ti-teliiianii BeaeP,'eOrn i§i;4 full of squabbles, the complexity of . '..,kiiileClii'll!'s-hi.ieliitg:=U,3o ikrhaii:, Patri's executive assistant, Joanne , .,.. ,.:-...,,, , ...:: ...... i...,,,., ....: ! ..,,;,,,,,,,. school reform suddenly hit me fgrades ,,777-1. they; can : be Orolten,Intol Kenny, she said: "I agree. We like to. smack in the ears. An angry parent . put our ownspin on it." The flip _groups:, tang4t by anyo!tie,-":Sii*&,4it:, was screaming at the Superintend- s:ti-W...iil*iiiciOr 4 dbifig...iiiyiv.'a)rii, side of school choice is test spin. ent: "Since you came in '89, our Theodore Sizer, founder of the fea mg straigt.. fronTthe text. In . testscoreshasgone nowhere! ...fact; 15- fifth ii-ideil'iria top iiiiih". Coalition of Essential Schools, has What are you planning to do, Mr. P-OPP:sarg:.4ught' br 4',..°11ell .Tsp.k.,ii-7. tried to move educators away from _IliPatri,tahring our children's test assessment based on tests and to- h.li0.#, 'tila, school recepti6iiiii: -,.`,A11. scores up? I don't see no improve- -you lii've to'remeMber," She Said; 'Ai.i" , ward more complex methodslike ment, no improvement at all!" portfolios that show a range of a you can't go off the script." The sales pitch that accompanies I mentioned to Ellis, the school's child's work andcreativity He school choice dazzles, promising ,points out that test scores correlate to deliver more, better, sooner, most closely with social class: "If when the reality is that education is 'you look at a lot of test scores, they an intricate process filled with sub- match family income." Indeed, after tle challenges like how to foster cu- nine years of state takeover in Jersey ; riosity. When I asked Robert Slavin City, with all the innovations, if you of Johns Hopkins, Grover White- look at the test results for the 27 ele- hurst of Stony Brook and Court- mentary schools, the school with the ney Cazden of Harvard whether most 'middle-class kids, P.S. 27 (63 that Rocky Mount charter really ' percent free lunches), is at the top, could have all its kindergartners and the poorest School, P.S. 39 (94 reading, the experts answered me percent free lunches), is at the bot-

BEST COPYAVAP r 25 ! curriculum coordinator,that I had they'd never seen. I requested read- heard students were reading the "Ili- ers from the lower groups. The first ! ad" and "Odyssey" "Actually," she boy looked at the first line of "The says, "we didn't get to time this Haunted House": "I am a ghostie." ',gear." I asked if all 96 kindergartners He couldn't even read "I." Marsh were reading. "Actually we have six went to the second line looking for a that aren't," she said. "We pull them word he would know and pointed to ; out for extra help." Still, 90 of 96 "the." The boy said, ..T." "I'm sur- reading sounded good. prised," Marsh sail "That was one During the morning, there is no of the first words we learned." play in kindergarten. They sit in . I handed the second boy "Rain- . groups for a half-hour each of read-' drops." The first page says, "Drip, mg, matkand language-arts drill, and . drip, drop." He couldn't read it. The in between work independently, fill- teacher gave him hints about the pic- ing in blanks on.work sheets. I've tures of rain falling. Finally for ,:...never seen such a quiet kindergarten. "Drip, drip, drop," the boy guessed, In math group, the teacher says: "87 "Rain, drop ... no, I don't know." r minus 1 equals 86. Everyone what's After many prods from the teach- the answer?" and snaPs her fingers. er, the next child, a girl, in ago- ".87 minus 1equals 86," they nizingly slow fashion, sounded out 'chant: "Drip, drip, drop." After more hints "49 minus 1 is48. 'Everyone on the next page "Rain is falling what's ike.answer?" [snap] 1 on my house'? she got "Rain is," but could not get "falling," "my" or '..Chii,stopher, 43 minus 1, what's "house?' She was a tiny girl,.:and it ihe'answer?7 'snap] was touching to see }IOW mightily "88," says ChristoPher. she worked at it and how much her .: "Again; 43 minus; 1. is [snap] 42. teacher wanted her to read. 1..4.3minus1,what's'Ahe answer. Like kindergarten teachers all over Christopher?" America,. at the start of this day Marsh had written on the board: I -asked: the. teacher, Christine "Good morning. Today is Monday ....Marsh,, if she Would allow a few to The date is May 11, 1998." I asked, if ine; I'd brought my own be- she changed "Good Morning" tO. ginning.bOOks; .I wanted to know if "Good afternoon," how many could 'they . cOuld read sOniething...' basic read it. "Maybe half," she said. El

31 26 U. S. News & World Report, April 7, 1998 The New Education Bazaar

is becoming a reality. Charter schools represent Since 1988, 16 states have passed "school choice" laws granting students the free market in action- permission to attend schools beyond the geographic borders of their local school districts tuition free. More than 4,000 with all its problems "magnet" schools allow students to select schools with special teaching or curricu- BY THOMAS TOCH lum themes within their school systems. And six years after the first charter school David Mackey liked the idea of running his own opened in Minnesota, there are nearly school. So last year he got a franchise to open a 800 such independent public schools edu- eating more than 165,000 students in 23 branch of Life School College Preparatory, a new states and the District of Columbia. kind of "public" school. The company holds a Of all these free-market reforms, char- charter to educate Arizona kids with public funds ters have attracted particular interest be- . outside the regular school system and offers fran- cause they represent the most dramatic departure from traditional schooling. chises to operators for a fee of $1,000 per student. Now Proponents of charter schools include Mackey, who once taught public school in Utah and worked both political conservativeswho view as education curator at a Phoenix firefighting museum, them as a step toward a more radically teaches math, science, history, and English to two dozen demonopolized system in which students students, grades seven through 12, in a small room in a sin- would receive vouchers to attend public, gle-story, downtown professional building in Mesa, Ariz. private, or parochial schoolsand mod- erates who see charters as a way of avert- He had to recruit the students himself, and if his enrollment ing precisely this dramatic step. Both drops, so does his $40,000 incomeeach student brings groups believe that charter schools, about $4,500 in state funding. The founder of Life School, which in their purest form operate largely James Alverson, a former public school teacher himself, , beyond the reach of school boards and says he borrowed the single-per- teachers' unions, can strengthen public education by promoting competition and son franchise idea from Amway, by liberating innovators the home-products distributor. from the shackles of tradi- Until recently, the notion of tion. President Clinton, a maximizing profits and creat- strong backer of the char- ing incentive schemes had little ter concept, has called for quadrupling the number of to do with running a public charter schools to 3,000 school. But Mackey and hun- within the next two years. dreds of other charter-school In two states, Arizona operators like him around the country are part of a bold and Michigan, the notion of new experiment in education reform. For over a century, a free-market school system has moved local school boards have held a tight monopoly on where well beyond the theoretical stage. Charter laws in both states are the most permissive and how students can receive schooling at public expense. in the nation: Virtually any person or or- But deepening dissatisfaction with traditional public ganization can open a charter school and schools has changed the landscape. Conservative thinkers enjoy wide latitude over staffing, curricu- have long argued that public schools would do a better job lum, and spending, and the backing of the if they had to compete for customers, as private firms do. state lawmakers and regulators. Together, Arizona's 241 charters and Michigan's 107 Now, a hybrid "free market" system, in which students make up nearly half the total number of and parents exercise choice but the public pays the costs, charters in the United States. Good and bad. Yet weeks of reporting in A few schools in both states are truly 'schools"many occupy a- few rooms in the two states, including visits to nearly innovative. In Michigan, a secondary commercial buildingsare often very three dozen charter schools, yield a pic- school created by the Ford Motor Co. is low. Marilynn Henley, Arizona's curricu- ture of educational entrepreneurialism located in the Henry Ford Museum in lum director in the mid-'90s, who last that features not only the the classic bene- Dearborn. Students study the museum's year visited more than 100 of the state's fits of any market-based enterprise but technology exhibits as part of the curricu- charter schools, calls the computer also the classic drawbacks. Charter lum. A smattering of new schools have es- coursework "work sheets on screens schools are both better and worse than or- tablished themselves as specialized edu- mostly at a seventh- or eighth-grade lev- dinary public schools. Their problems are cational powerhouses, including Sankofa el." Many "courses" last only a few different, having more to do with those of Shule, an Afrocentric elementary school weeks. There is typically no homework. a free-wheeling market than a state bu- in Lansing, Mich., that includes instruc- And many students get credits for after- reaucracy. The best charter schools pur- tion in four languages, and the Arizona school work, including, in the case of sue innovation and educational excellence School for the Arts, a junior/senior high students at the Arizona Career Academy, with an enthusiasm sorely lacking in school in Phoenix that cou- a nonprofit charter in Thmpe, jobs in many traditional public schools. But these ples a half-day performing- fast-food restaurants. schools are the minority. Much more com- arts program with a col- Standards in many of Arizona's for- mon are schools beset with problems as lege-prep core curriculum. ; profit charter high schools with conven- bad asand in some cases worse than Most fundamentally, the tionally taught courses aren't any higher. those found in traditional public schools. spread of charters in Ari- At the Leona Group's new Apache Mail If competition and market models are in- zona and Michigan proves High School in Apache Junction, where evitable features of tomor- that competition can pro- staffers are paid bonuses for raising en- row's education, the operat- mote reform. So far, the rollment, 30 students taking a course ing realities of charter Mesa school system, Arizo- calleeAmerican literature through cine- schools in Arizona and Ina's largest, has lost only 1,600 of its ma" listened (with the exception of those Michigan are reminders of 170,000 students to the area's many char- asleep at their desks) to the soundtrack perils to avoidand guide- :ter schools. But the mere existence of the from Last of the Mohicans. Defenders of posts for parents seeking , schools seems to have motivated the the charter high schools say the schools the right schools for their mainstream bureaucracy. To stanch the offer a second chance to students aban- children. flow of students to the likes of Ben Frank- doned by traditional public education. High-qualitycharter lin and the Education Centre, the district Hard to learn. No one would dispute that schools share one trait: They have is opening new traditional and Montesso- bad teaching and scarce resources plague brought new participants who care about ri elementary schools, building a per- many traditional public schools. But children's welfare into public education. forming-arts magnet school, and adding shortages are so severe in some charter IA dozen or so Detroit-area clergy, for in- daylong kindergartens to many elemen- schools in Arizona and Michigan that it's stance, have started charters to help stu- tary schools to court working parents. hard to see how any learning can take dents languishing in the city's public If the best of a newly marketized sys- place. Many of the charters' teachers are schools. Charter schools are also general- tem is very good, however, the worst has low-paid neophytes; as a result, staff turn- ly small and safe, offering a cohesiveness problems rarely encountered in tradition- over is high. Labs and libraries are rare. 1 hard to find in Arizona's and Michigan's al public education. And in scores of , Evenbasic classroom supplies are often often large public schools. charters in Arizona and Michigan, curric- lacking: The kindergarten teacher at Eco- Charter schools in both states offer a ula and teaching are weak, buildings are Tech Agricultural Charter School in Chan- wider variety of options for students with substandard, and financial abuses are dler, Ariz., for example, appeared to have different learning styles. The teaching phi- surprisingly prevalent. Nearly half Arizo- little more than paper and pencils avail- losophies of two charters in Mesa, Ariz., na's charters are high schools, the major- able for her students. And there are plenty for example, couldn't offer a more strildng ity run by chains such as PPEP TEC High of charter schools housed in buildings few contrast: Benjamin Franklin Charter School, Excel Education Centers Inc., and would deem conducive to learning: School is a throwback to Norman Rock- the Leona Group. These companies take Teachers at the West Michigan Academy well schools of the 1950s, with well- advantage of the fact that Arizona re- of Environmental Sciences spent more scrubbed students working silently at quires high school students to attend only than a year teaching 300 students at pic- desks in tidy rows, under the watchful eye four hours of school a day. They target nic tables and old desks in the Stadium of no-nonsense teachers. Several miles kids on the margins of traditional public ' Arena in Grand Rapids, briefly vacating away at the Montessori Education Centre schoolslow achievers, discipline prob- ; the building for a knife-and-gun show. Charter School, elementary students lems, truantswith pledges of swift and Even more disturbing is the opportu- grouped three grades to a simple routes to graduation. And many of nity for profiteering created by charter room sprawl on the floor or the companies increase their revenues by laws in Arizona and Michigan. When bunch together at tables, running two or three four-hour sessions a William and Mary Delaney timed War- learning math by grouping day and substituting self-paced computer wick Pointe Academy, a private elemen- beads and working on instruction for a regular teaching staff. sound-letter relationships, Academic standards in such "high or drawing in their journals. When they need help, they call their teachers by their first names. 3 3

28 tary school they owned and operated in formed plan for dealing with problem state said Wright failed to Grand Blanc, Mich., into a public charter schools or outright failures," write conser- serve special-education stu- school in 1996, they began charging the vative education expert Chester Finn Jr. dents and committed other school $200,000 a year in rent for the and his coauthors in their 1997 report, transgressions, which he de- building and furnishingsover three "Charter Schools in Action." Local school nied. (A state court recently times the per-foot rate paid by several systems have largely sidestepped the task reinstated Wright's chaiter on !public schools and another charter of monitoring the 50 or so charter schools due-process grounds, though school in the area. William Delaney de- they sponsor in Arizona. Window Rock, the Success schools have shut clined to discuss the rent. for instance, hasn't assigned any staff to down.) A study of Arizona's charters conduct- keep tabs on the dozen schools it has char- But over three dozen schools ' ed last year turned up a number of in- tered, the closest of which is 400 miles in last year's evaluation of Ari- stances where the enrollments schools away. Window Rock's new schoolsuperin- zona's charters that were iden- , *submitted to claim state aid differed tendent, Paul Hanley, did tified as having education pro- shall:11y from the schools' average atten- move to close four schools grams bad enough to close dance. In Michigan, the Romulus public last fall, including two run were left alone on the grounds school system sought to profit from an- by Reed Gaddie, who in that they weren't physically en- other market reformthe state's new 1989 was sentenced to jail dangering students or defrauding taxpay- ; school-choice law. Located just west of on a drug paraphernalia ers. The systematic evaluation of the char- Detroit, the Romulus system opened a charge. One of Gaddie's ; ter schools by Keegan's staff ended last school within the Detroit school district's schools, Community Cam- fall, halted by the heads of the two charter borders. It enrolled about 2,200 stu- pus, had no building and boards and Keegan, a former speech pa- dents, including many dropouts, offering was conducting classes in a thologist who entered the Arizona legisla- as one attraction a $50 "signing bonus." park; the other, the Arizona ' ture at age 30 and coauthored the state's The school qualified for $14 million in 'Career and Technology High School, on charter law after failing to push through ' state aid, but only about a fifth of the stu- one occasion last fall resorted to"locking voucher legislation. Through a spokesper- , dents continued to attendthe school. down" students in their classrooms with son, they say that the Arizona Department I (Last year, the Michigan legislature out- custodians and construction workers pa- of Education is not required by law to con- , lawed such practicesin Detroit, causing trolling the halls to keep order. ; duct charter-school evaluations. State chartering boards haven't been No furniture. In Michigan, the majority 1, the school to close.) either. 'fraditional public school systems have eager to crack down on abuses, of charter schools are sponsored by state the ability to grant charters in Arizona. Last year's evaluation of Arizona's charter universities: Central Michigan University, Most of those that have done so, however, schools was conducted by the staff of Lisa Grand Valley State, Saginaw Valley State, , have been tiny,cash-strapped rural Graham Keegan, Arizona's elected state ! and a few others, all of whose boards of school systems out to make money by superintendent of schools, after Keegan's trustees were appointed by Republican ;charging chartering fees of up to 10 per- office began receiving many complaints ' Gov. John Engler. Engler is a staunch ad- ' cent of the charter schools' revenues. The about the schools. But Keegan's depart- vocate of charters who readily acknowl- ment didn't make the evaluation's trou- edges that he pressed trustees to promote I Arizona charter law also let bling findings public until nearly a year sponsoring school systems . charter schools. Instead of closing down a ' count charter students as laterafter the state school board associ- severely troubled school in Muskegon, the their own for state-aid pur- ' ation lawyer filed a freedom-of-informa- head of the charter-school office at Grand poses, a since-rescinded , tion request,and after Keegan's top char- Valley served as the school's interim prin- double-dipping opportuni- ' ter-school aide removed evaluators' cipal for several weeks. Harry Ross, direc- ty that gave the 3,300-stu- lhandwritten notes on their school visits, tor of oversight at Central Michigan's las allowed by law. Says Keeganabout the charter-school office, says the university dent Wmdow Rock school that district, located on the Na- ; evaluators' report: "I would prefer had nearly 30 charter schools in operation vajo Indian reservation in everything [the monitors] saw was won- before it hired oversight staff. northeast Arizona, an add- derful. But if it wasn't, OK. In the main, Keegan and other market-reform advo- ed $200,000 to a budget of $20 million. I'm pleased, far and away, with the quali- cates argue that it is consumersparents Nepotism is widespread in Arizona and ty of the public charter schools. .. . How and studentswho should determine the Michigan charter schools. One example is much monitoring do you think is going fate of charter schools. "If the education NFL-YET Academy, a 620-student ele- on in the traditional system?" in charter schools isn't good, people mentary school in Phoenix. The school's Two governor-appointed boards that leave, and the schools don't Stay in busi- founder and chief executive is Armando grant charters in Arizona, the State Board ness. It's a better way to run a system," Ruiz, a former state senator and adviser of Education and the State Board for Ishe says. Yet neither Arizo- to former Gov. Fife Symington. His twin Charter Schools, also declined to take ac- ma nor Michigan incorpo- brother, Fernando, is the school's budget tion against many schools discovered rates testing systems to director; his younger brother Reyes is the during the evaluation to have serious measure whether charter school's "spiritual development" director; educational problems. The students are learning any his mother, Estella, is an administrator; boards, dominated by free- more than their counter- his father, Reyes Sr., is a school carpen- market advocates, revoked parts in regular public ter; his sister, Rebecca, is a teacher. While two charters in the wake of the schoolsmaking it difficult the family-run model is ideal for many evaluation, including that of for parents and students to small businesses, the potential for abuse Alan Wright, a past superin- Imake smart choices. in public contracting is obvious; the law tendent of education at the Ar- In fact, the choices may be fewer than in Arizona bans nepotism in regular pub- izona Department of Juvenile many consumers realize: Though funded lie schools but not in charter schools. Corrections, who recruited with tax revenues, many charters have Such problems have multiplied in the many students from the state's proved less welcoming than truly "public" absence of rigorous oversight. "We have , youth justice systemto his 12 schools. To be eligible for federal start-up not found a single [state] with a well- Success charter schools. The

29 34 grants, the schools must be open to any !Twenty percent of Arizona's charter writes a teacher in the school newsletter. student who applies and mustuse a lottery schools and nearly half the charters in And a daily "affirmation" _spoken by the if they are oversubscribed. But Arizona Michigan are former private schools that entire school begins, "I pledge to my Afri- doesn't require charters touse a lottery converted to charter statusfrequently as can nation . . . ." and some schools that have received fed- a way to raise their revenues. Many of The segregation of many charter eral funds don't. The well-regarded New these "conversion" schoolsincluding schools along ethnic, racial, and religious School for the Arts in Scottsdale, forex- I some 20 Montessori schools in Arizona lines has also created church-state con- ample, has a lengthy waiting list. Yet it and two prestigious private schools in De- flicts. A year after Heritage Academy Inc., considers applicants on a first-to-apply troit, Nataki Talibah Schoolhouse and Ai- a privately run Mesa high school, convert- basis and then counsels out studentsnot sha Shulehave created more options for ed to charter status, the Arizona Republic suited to its advanced arts program. families who couldn't otherwise afford reported that the school was teaching cre- Some charter schools discourage spe- private schooling. But to the extent that ationism in its science classesand vio- cial-needs students from applying. Lyle such schools don't open their doors to 1 lating the law in the process. The school's Voskuil, director of special education at "outsiders," charter laws are simply creat- headmaster at first defended the practice. eight Grand Rapids area charters run by ing public subsidies for private schooling, Later, faced with the loss of state funding, National Heritage Academies, a for-profit and encouraging social balkanization. he vowed instead to teach neither cre- company, says that for financial reasons The A.G.B.U. Alex and Marie Manoogian ationism nor evolution. his schools offer no more than three hours School in Southfield, Mich., for example, Keegan and other charter backers con- of special-ed services to a student a week was a private Armenian church school be- tend that charter schools shouldn't be and that they urge the parents of students fore it became a charter two years ago held to higher standards than traditional who need more help not to attend the (tripling its revenue in the process). As a public schools. Yet charter schools offer schools., "We tell them upfront that they charter school, its board, faculty, and stu- a chance to introduce a level of account- may be better off else- dent body are still almost entirely Arme- ability absent from public education in where," says Voskuil. nian. "Not a lot of new kids apply," ac- the past. For decades, public schools tional public schools don't knowledges principal Nadya Sarafian, have been at the mercy Of eentral-office have that luxury. who keeps small U.S. and Armenian flags edicts and teacher-union contractsand Bad apples. Arizona's side by side on her desk. thus not responsible for their own per- charter high school chains Nowhere are the separatist tendencies formance. They were told what to spend may recruit troubled stu- of some charter schools more strongly re- money on, whom to hire, and what to dents, but other charter op- flected than at Sankofa Shule, one of half teach. Many charter schools, in contrast, erators work to keep such a dozen African-centered charters in are largely free of such bureaucracy In students out. Many have Michigan. While its students clearly exchange for that freedom, it would "zero tolerance" discipline policies that ;thrive in a setting celebrating their heri- make sense to allow public authorities to they discuss in long, preadmission inter- 'tage, Sankofa deliberately places itself scrutinize charters' financial practices Views with parents and students as a way outside the cultural mainstream. Rather and educational resultsand to crack to discourage potential bad apples. "We're than Labor Day, Memorial Day, and Pres- down on laggards. Such a trade-off could trying to get our share of good kids," says idents' Day, it observes, holidays such as in turn inspire a similarly rigorous sys- Japen Ho llist of Life School in Mesa. ; African Independence Day and Malcolm tem of accountability in traditional pub- 'We've raised the dress code to scare off a X Remembrance Day. "The traditional lic schools. What is clear from the Arizo- few, and we have frank conversations with concept of Thanksgiving, like the Fourth na and Michigan experiences with others?' of July, really has nothing to do with us," charters is that, without rigorous accountability, both students and taxpayers suffer.

30 3 5 The Center for Market-Based Education,April 28, 1998

This letter is in response to the April 27, US News & World Report concerning charter schools in Arizona and Michigan

TO: Members, Arizona State Legislature Charter Friends Arizona Charter School Operators Arizona Media Outlets State-Based Think Tanks Charter School Resource Centers FROM: Mary Gifford, Director, Center for Market-Based Education SUBJ: US News and World Report Article (April 27, 1998) DATE: April 28, 1998 US News and World Report published a story on charter schools in Arizona and Michigan. The reporter, Tom Toch, spent time in Arizona and visited a handful of our charter schools. His article contains seyeral inaccuracies as well as several misleading statements. We hope the following information is helpful in sorting through the issues surrounding charter schools in Arizona. We look forward to your comments.

Charter School "Experiment" and "Free-Market Reforms"

Mr. Toch calls charter schools part of an education "experiment." Charter schools in Arizona are certainly not part of an "experiment." Charter schools in Arizona were created with very specific, and statutorily mandated, goals: increase parental choice and enhance pupil achievement. Mr. Toch further confuses the charter school concept by lumping together "free-market reforms," such as "magnet" programs, and charter schools. Magnet schools did not develop because of a need for additional parent choice as did charter schools.

"Any person or organization can operate a charter school."

Mr. Toch says that, "in Arizona and Michigan virtually any person or organization can open a charter school." This is blatantly incorrect. Any person or organization may apply to operate a charter school. Only the most qualified applicants actually receive charters and operate charter schools.

Measuring Success and Efficacy of Charter Schools

Mr. Toch contradicted hireself when he described a lack of testing to adequately judge the success of a charter school, yet he concluded that effective charter schools are in the minority. He is also wrong on the point of an absence of testing in Arizona charter schools. Arizona's charter schools are required by law to participate in the state's annual norm-referenced test (Stanford 9) and the upcoming state criterion-referenced test (AIMS). Additionally, Arizona charter schools' curriculum must be aligned with the state's academic standards. Further, charter schools must meet the state's graduation and seat time requirements. These requirements are the same for all public schools, districtandcharter.

Only a few schools are truly innovative

Mr. Toch states that "a few schools in both states (Michican and Arizona) are truly innovative." Between these two states there are more than 350 charter schools and Mr. Toch visited less than three dozen schools. After visiting less than 10 percent of these states' charter schools, he feels qualified to conclude that only a "few" are truly innovative. I would encourage Mr. Toch to talk with parents and educators from the other 300 schools to determine how many are truly innovative. I am confident these parents and educators will deem nearly every charter school innovative.

3 1 3 G "Scores of Arizona's charter-schools curriculum and teaching are weak, buildings are substandard and financial abuses are surprisingly prevalent."

Mr. Toch also generalizes his limited experience in Arizona's charter schools when he says that in "scores of Arizona's charter schools curriculum and teaching are weak, buildings are substandard and financial abuses are surprisingly prevalent." In the three years of charter school operation in Arizona, only six charter school operations have shut down. Of these, zero were closed because of "weak curriculum." Arizona's charter school facilities are subject to local, county and state building codes and charter school operators must obtain requisite permits prior to occupying buildings. These facilities may not be opulent, but they are certainly not "substandard." To ascertain the financial health of charter schools, an annual external audit must be conducted on each charter school (both program and financial areas included), charter schools publicly adopt annual budgets, and they submit an annual financial report to the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Charter high schools short-changing students

Mr. Toch criticizes several secondary charter school operators who teach at-risk students and utilize computerized instruction. He fails to mention that 12 percent of these students were previously not attending school. Attending four hours per day and receiving computerized curriculum that is aligned with our state academic standards is a phenomenal accomplishment for these students.

Teacher incentives and salaries

Mr. Toch mentions charter schools that award bonuses to teachers based on increased student achievement and the fact that charter school teachers are typically underpaid. In the first case, HOORAY! How wonderful that charter schools are creating salary incentives that relate to student achievement rather than to years in the classroom. And in the second case, he is mistaken. In a recent survey of 66 Arizona charter schools, we found that charter school teachers are paid slightly above the state average for district school teachers. (The survey included more charter schools than Mr. Toch visited in both Arizona and Michigan.)

3 7 32 Education Week, June 10, 1998 Yet, with nearly 800 charter public schools up and running in 23 &niggle states and the District of Colum- Charter Schools bia, the way accountability plays out varies from place to place. With Accountability Some states, such as Arizona, parison with other public schools? have taken a more hands-off By Lynn Schnaiberg If charter schools exist in part approach toward their charter to be innovative and free from schools, counting on market forces auline Mc Beth says she has no problem traditional approaches, should to reinforce the good and weed out Pbeing held accountable for how well her they be held to traditional ways of the bad. Critics there have raised students perform. measuring achievement? concerns that there is too little It's just part of the deal: Charter schools How much should "market" ac- oversight, and that the quality of receive flexibility and freedom from cum- countability, as gauged by parent education in some of the state's bersome regulationsin exchange for satisfaction, count in the equation? 241 charter schools is spotty. accepting greater responsibility for student Other states, such as Massachu- . results.ButforMs.McBeth,the 'Hard To Measure' setts, have in place strict over- coordinator of the At Ms. McBeth's suburban sight provisionsseen by many 4-year-old Commu- Denver school, the issue of how as important safeguards, though RAISING nity Involved Char- well the students stack up be- some charter supporters warn ter School in Lake- came an issue last year when the that too much regulation can sti- th, STARES wood, Colo., figuring charter came up for renewal be- fle innovation. out just how that for- fore the Jefferson County school Stages of Accountability An Occasional Series mula works is prov- board. Board members had a ing far from easy. hard time interpreting the stu- Accountability efforts can inter- . The 260-student school is decidedly un- dent portfolios used to measure sect with charter schools at sev- conventional. Children learn in multiage progress toward the school's eral stages of their development: classrooms. They do not receive letter sometimes fuzzy goals. in proposals for new charters, , grades or credits. Portfolios chart student And students did not perform while the schools are up and run- learning. well on the standardized test that ning, and when their charters are ' In Colorado and many other states with all the other schools in the district renewed. Icharter laws, such innovations and individ- use. While Ms. McBeth and her A recent report by the Univer- ualized curriculawhich some colleagues did not put much faith sity of Minnesota's Center for see as the very essenceof the in the test, the district did. Citing School Change highlights the charter movementare having to a number of concerns, the board need for sponsors and charter op-

,contend with accountability sys- wound up renewing the school for erators to agreebefore a char- tems based on standards and per- just one year. ter is grantedon several critical . formancegoals set at the state or "It was tough," said Ms. McBeth, issues: What are the school's ! district level. who spent 25 years as a teacher, measurable goals? What assess- "More accountability in ex- counselor, and administrator in ments will be used? What will be change for flexibility: It's a nice the Denver public schools before acceptable levels of student per- cliche, but people have to prove joining the K-12 school. "We tried formance? it," said Peter to take the ambiguity out, but our, The degree to which that artic- I Huidekoper, a school is hard to measure." ulation is happening nationally former educa- This year, with a freshly articu- is mixed, said Joe Nathan, one of tor who led an lated plan, the school won a vote the report's authors and a na- outside team of confidence with a more stan- tionally known charter school thatevalu- dard five-year contract. proponent. ated charter In charter schools, accountabil- By and large, charter schools schools in Jefferson County, Colo., ity means different things, espe- ' are required to meet the same including Ms. McBeth's. Many cially given the wide disparities in academic standards and use the schools and their sponsors, he the states with charter laws. same tests as other public schools said, need help striking that bal- Charter schools are accountable in their states, according to Jeanne 1 ance. to the sponsors that grant them Allen, the president of the Center 1 ; The reality, he added, is that in charterssuch as districts, state for Education Reform, a Washing- 1 their first yearsof existence, education agencies, or universities. ton research group that supports : many charter schools are hard- They are accountable both for stu- school choice. , pressed to focus onaccountabil- dent achievement and for their fi- In California and other states ity when they face more immedi- nances and operation. where districts are the main char- ate concerns, such as how to pay And they must also answer to tering agencies, many of the de- the electric bill. their "customers." Students and tails around standards and testing The intersection of the charter parents can express their dissat- are negotiated on a school-by- school movement with the push isfaction by sending their children school basis. for accountability has raised a elsewhere. Many advocates con- "Charter schools are right to host of difficult questions: sider charter schools the ultimate question whether they should be *How good is good enough? How in accountability: Those that fail viewed in the same light as other many of the goals set in its char- to meet their goals will go out of schools," Ms. Allen said. "Using ter must a school meet? Or how business. a failed accountability system close to those goals must it come? to measure progress in charter . Should a charter school be schools is not right. And that's judged on its own merits or in corn- 33 3 (3 what's happening to a certain To Jim Norris, charter schools ports, charter renewal is the for- mond, the charter school director are clearly a different animal from mal juncture when sponsors take for the Chicago public schools, regular public schools like the stock of whether schools are living is that most charters are so ones he taught in before joining up to their promises. busy with day-to-day operations Constellation Community Char- With a few -exceptions, most that they have little time to ter Middle School in Long Beach, state charter laws do not give ponder how they will demon- Calif. In his eyes, they are also much guidance on renewal. Most strate success before the school more accountable. charters are granted for five-year board. "People in public education are 'terms. But Arizona and the Dis- The district has sought philan- demanding of us the real ac- ttrict of Columbia offer 15-year thropic support to help the char- countability, compared to what !charters, which some observers ter schools devise ways of assess- they have on paper in those say could allow poor-performing ing hard-to-measure goals, such Ithree-ring binders on the shelf," ; schools to slide by for years. as good citizenship or parent ; he said. Many experts point to Massa- involvement. And the district chusetts as a national model in Going Out of Business is drafting a yearly accountabil- articulating how to hold charter ity plan that each charter school , National experts estimate that schools accountable. The task is will file as a means of tracking since the charter movement picked somewhat easier there, they note, progress. :lup steam a few years ago, roughly because the state is the primary Throughout the meeting, the ;two dozen charter schools have sponsor of charter schools. The re- tensions over accountability were gone out of business. Many fizzled verse is true in places like Califor- clear. Some educators said they from financial or management nia and Colorado. believe standardized testscores troubles, not academic shortcom- In the latter states, charter are meaningless; others want : ings, Ms. Allen said. school operators are crafting ac- them as their primary measure of The Dakota Open Charter countability and renewal guide- success. Some welcome the dis- , School in Morton, Minn., was an lines with a dual purpose: as pro- trict's guidance, while others see exception. State school board tection from potentially arbitrary it as an intrusion. members eventually stripped the decisions by a less-than-friendly "Some schools have asked, I charter of the K-12 school on the sponsor; and as a self-regulating 'What's the magic target?"What Lower Sioux reservation, closing quality-control effort. do we have to achieve?' " Mr. Rich- the high school in 1997 and the "We want to avoid the renewal mond said. "We don't know. There's lower grades earlier this year. process becoming a rubber stamp, no one thing." "There was clearly not much of as I would suggest it already has any kind of education program become in some places in Col- going on at the school," Marsha R. orado," said James Griffin, who Gronseth, the state board's execu- runs the Colorado League of Char- tive director, said. But the revoca- ter Schools. tion came only after exhaustive "It defeats our whole purpose," , audits, site visits, and technical ihe added. "We have a huge stake help from the state. in quality control." She added: "There's always the In California, many in the char- struggle of how quickly do you act ter school movement say the re- and how much benefit of the newal process often focuses on doubt do you give in working everything but student results. Mr. these problems out. You don't Norris, the head of the Constella- want to bring the hammer down tion school in Long Beach, recently too quickly." led a panel on charter renewal at a statewide charter school meeting. Controlling Quality "The issues seemed to boil down Some sponsors also face politi- to the question of 'Who's in charge cal pressures, either to clamp 'here?' " he said. "Charters are down on charter schools or give looking to get more control. And them more breathing room. districts and unions want to take Add in the fact that closing a back some of that power." school can leave families in a lurch, and it quickly becomes `No Magic Target' clear that shutting down a char- At a recent daylong meeting of ter school is no small matter, said educators from Chicago's six oper- James Goenner, who oversees ating and eight newly approved charter schools for Central Michi- charter schools, school and dis- gan University. The university trict officials spent much of the has sponsored 46 of Michigan's morning hashing out accountabil- 108 charters. ity issues. "There's the standards debate But the remainder of the day, about accountability, but there geared toward the newer schools, are a lot of legal and technical re- was dedicated to somewhat more alities that go beyond the philoso- mundane issues, such as food ser- phy" Mr. Goenner added. vice, pension funds, and immu- While many sponsors require nization of students. schools to file yearly progress re- , The reality, said Greg A. Rich- 34 3 9 Boston Globe, June 19, 1998 Final is trial for charter pupils by Lolly Bowean

It was her final exam and sophomore giving speeches on citizenship. Tasheena M. Jones took it standing up, One student who failed her history exam calculating math problems and explaining said later she agreed she had not given a the to a panel of "jurors' who would decide clear enough presentation and is if she had mastered her subject. Jones, 15, determined to do so when she retakes the was one of about 140 students who took the exam in the fall. innovative oral final exams this week at City on a Hill Charter School. Students must Jurors are given packages of material make half-hour presentations to community summarizing the work students will present, volunteers who critique their work based not and from those packages, prepare their just on their answers, but on their reasoning. questions in advance.

"It's good to do because usually you're like, "When I first came here I was scared to talk 'it's the end of the year, I'm done, I don't in class," said sophomore Josephina R. have to know this stuff anymore," said Pires. "Everybody was scared. But that was Jones. "But with the jury, you have to know when I was a freshman. But during the year it because they will ask you questions. You you're always asked to stand, talk, explain have to have it down all the way through this to the class. You're ready when you go and remember stuff from last year, last to the jury." month, last week. It's not about fright, it's about learning." I like the idea of a school being accountable to the public," said Martha L. Minow, a Sarah Kass, the principal and founder of the volunteer juror and professor at Harvard three-year-old school, said the program also Law School. Minow served as a juror for allows the public to hold the school the history students, and after hearing an accountable for how well it is teaching. impressive recitation and explanation from sophomore Christopher Ray of the 1803 "We want people outside in the community Supreme Court case Marbury vs. Madison, to come in and see what these kids are she encouraged him to consider law school. learning," Kass said."It's one thing to stand The program introduces students to in front of the class and do it, but to defend community leaders and possible mentors. your work in front of people who don't know you, who want to see how much you "They get to hear feedback and learn how to know - that's a challenge." improve their work. I get inspired by them," Minow said. "I get a sense of their range of City on a Hill is one of five charter schools talent and how much of their presentation is in Boston. The schools get public funding, hard work. To get a good score, most of it but are run independently of school boards has to be hard work. and teachers unions. Students yesterday were examined in math, speech, history, and I have my eye on at least one of them right reading. They could be found reciting now," Minow said, referring to Ray. George Washington's farewell address in a "When students work this hard they deserve history presentation, interpreting our support. They are impressive." Shakespeare's comedy "The Tempest," and

35 4: 0 The New Republic, June 15, 1998

It's not hard to understand why these kids would appreciate such encouragement,even at such a relatively young age. Proctor draws its student body from PEOPLE'SPREP nearby Trenton, where the unemploymentrate is 9.7 percent. Sixty percent of Proctor students qualify for the federal student lunch program; at the outset of the By Mark Francis Cohen year, the school decided to test the children's eyesight and found that a quarter of them needed glasses. Inside the make-do dining hall, at the northern end Back home, most children choose playing around of the clock tower building, the students are instead of studying, and they shun those who doother- microwaving breakfast. The room'sacoustics wise. Of the more than 2,600 children who attend Tren- amplify the din, as more seventh- and eighth- ton Central High, generally only one-third of them graders storm in for bacon strips, cereal from plastic graduate within four years. Last year alone, almost containers, and bottled water. At one table, Slimer (pro- a quarter of the students dropped out. As for nounced Se-lema) Jackson, a 14-year-old in curlicue ear- the children who stuck with school and rings, is finishing a bageland avoiding eye contact. "I were presumably excelling, the statistical know I go to school here and I sleep here," she huffs, portrait is equally witheringa function, "but this is not my home." Her roommate and dining inpart, of allthe problems that so partner, Tanesha Boyd, couldn't agree more."It's just a famously plague public schools. Ten of the place where you lay your head at night." twelve students who were confident enoughto Go to any prestigious boarding school in the country, take the Advanced Placement test in United States and you'llfind privileged, overindulged children history scored the lowest possiblescore: one on a fivewho think the exact same way. But Jackson and Boyd point scale. The others earned twos. Only 146 students aren't children of privilege, and they're not getting took the Scholastic Assessment Test, and theiraverage indulgedat least not in the traditional sense. Rather, combined math and verbal scorewas 799. The state Jackson and Boyd are among 48 children who attend average was 1,006. New Jersey's Samuel DeWitt Proctor Academy Charter The scores from Proctor won't be in forsome time School, a cross between an academic boot camp and an it's still in its first yearbut they'll likely looka lot dif- elite prep school that has been billed as the nation's ferent. Proctor is located on a sprawling, golf-course- first public boarding academy. green campus with tree-shaded drives and red-brick, Proctor's mission is to remove disadvantaged chil- colonial-style buildingsa setting thatcreates a quiet, dren from their disadvantaged backgrounds, place serious environment for learning. Students live by and a them in a secluded boarding school environment, strict regimen that firms up their behavior andtaps the prepare them for college. Althoughthe idea of a public mind: five class periods, morning and afternoon advi- boarding school may strike many Americans as odd sory sessions, two hours of study after class, virtuallyno remember the ridicule of Newt Gingrich's proposal for television, homework check-ins with residential advisers, more orphanages four years agoProctor maywell rep- laundry chores, and uniforms. Generally, the only time resent the beginning of a new trend inAmerican edu- they leave the campus unmonitored is duringthe cation. Residential schools focused on needy children summer and on weekends, when they can go home. Ifa are set to open in Washington,D.C., and throughout student skips a homework assignmentor makes an Minnesota. One opened late last year in Boston. unsatisfactory grade, the consequencesmay be an carly And that might just be a good thing. When I ask bedtime, missing out on a field trip,or remaining at Jackson and Boyd whether they are glad to be here, school for the weekend. complaints and all, they quickly say "yes." Although A key element of Proctor's education is small class reluctant to give up some of the rites of childhood, sizejust twelve students to a class. "It's better academi- they are eager for a chance to get a leg up on college cally," says Fiona Simpson, an eighth-grader. "Teachers and beyond. "You can't do nothing without money," pay more attention to you." Teachers appreciate this, says Slimer, whose average-sized dorm roomis plas- 'too, just as they appreciate the freshly painted rooms tered with dozens of pictures of rapper Sean "Puffy" and ample supply of materials lacking in other public Combs. "This education will take me farther. Here I'll .schools. Over the year, they have gotten to know their be able to get a scholarship. I can't afford to pay col- ,pupils well and to like them. In fact, many of the teach- lege tuition." I hear the same sentiments from other ers stick around after school for study hall; some even students: "Here they push us," says another breakfast bring students into their homes to meet the spouse. In companion, seventh-grader Amaris Horton. "They group advisories, they encourage the children to read know we can do better." interesting magazine articles, seek promising summer

3641 jobs, and take music lessons. "Because the classes are so Although the original idea of Proctor was to target at- small, I can touch all the kids," says Jennifer Geoghan, risk kids who had already displayed emotional and edu- the school's upbeat English teacher. "Sometimes I take cational problems, enrollment came down to a lottery. it for granted, but then I remember how lucky I am. Of the parents who entered their children, most were And I am lucky to have so few students." The school's already involved in their kids' education; as a result, the director, Gary T. Reece, puts in long hours (he fre- applicant pool represented an unusually well-motivated quently stays at work past nine o'clock in the evening) (and often high-achieving) bunch. "I wanted to get him and spends a lot of time thinking about innovation. His out of the environment he was in, but I couldn't afford latest idea is a fully integrated curriculum, in which stu- private school," says Vernell Shabazz, whose 13-year-old dents would learn science at the same time they were attends the school. learning, say, Spanish and math. But these are caveats, not rejoinders. Too high a Of course, while it's pretty clear Proctor has been concentration of problem children could bring down good for the students lucky enough to attend, it's not so a school anyway; mixing the achievers and under- obvious that Proctor is good for public education gen- achievers might just be the formula for success. And erally. Schooling at Proctor is enormously expensive wealthy families send high-achieving children to spe- about $17,000 per student, including room and cial schools. Why shouldn't less wealthy families have boardand only $7,911 of that comes from the school the same opportunity? Finally, while the high ex- district. This is a state requirement; private dona- pense may preclude replication of Proctor on a grand tions make up the difference. Proctor's ad- scale, there's no reason that some districtsparticularly ministratorswho say they're struggling to those in areas where sources of private money may stretch their budget alreadywould prefer indeed berelatively accessiblecan't use public the district send more money their way. boarding schools to help some kids. But Trenton officials complain, under- At the very least,it will be interesting to watch standably, that Proctor is already siphoning Proctor's progress over the next few years. Says Reece, off money, and some of the best students, Proctor's director, "We've created a safe haven here from the district's other schools. where kids can risk caring about school without suffer- Educators elsewhere looking to replicate Proctor's ing for it." By all appearances he's right. And, given all success should also realize that akey factor in the the well-chronicled problems with public education I school's success is the strength ofthe student body. The these days, that's no small achievement. same legislation that madeProctor possible, a 1996 state charter law, forbadediscrimination of any type. MARK FRANCIS COHEN is a New York-based freelance journalist who formerly covered Brooklyn for The New York Times.

4 ) 37 Detroit News, May 20, 1998

Detroit charter schools unique Experts praise move usually opposed by public school systems by Charles Hurt

DETROIT -- Longtime champion of public education, Deputy It's of little consolation to him that the city school system Supt. Arthur Carter, may surprise some in his role as architect will monitor the new schools. of seven new charter schools. "We can't keep track of what we're doing in all our schools," The Detroit Board of Education also has jumped into the Bates said. "How can we watch these other schools, too?" school chartering business with Carter. Others are less skeptical. Former Michigan Bell executive "We're the first to admit that we may not be the best Charlie Boyce graduated from Detroit Public Schools and alternative for every student," Carter explained. "We want to married a city school's principal, but he's quick to point out that build a commonwealth of schools and create an atmosphere of the city needs alternatives to the existing public schools. He choice for parents." says without innovation, employers will have to go elsewhere But the school board's vote last week to charter seven new to find qualified workers. schools is highly unusual for a public school sygtem. Carter "As vice-president of urban affairs, I worked hard to bring said by next fall, Detroit students will have the widest selection Detroit graduates into the company," he said Monday. "But no of city-sponsored charter schools in the country. matter how hard I tried, it was nearly impossible." "That's unique," said Charles Chieppo, of the Charter So, he has helped develop plans to open a high school-- School Resource Center in Boston. "One of the main enemies chartered by the district -- that will teach students technical of charter schools has always been the traditional public construction trades. schools." "I want to give students -- especially those who don't have While cities like Boston have city-sponsored charter the educational prowess to go to college -- an opportunity to schools, he said, those charters heavily restrict the competition make a good living in the construction business," said Boyce. between the traditional and charter school. Boyce teamed up with preacher and construction company "You've got to give (Detroit school board members) credit," owner Michael Wimberley to open Michigan Institute for Chieppo said. "I've never heard of that happening anywhere Construction Trades to 250 students in the fall. else." "There is such a backlog for workers," Wimberley said. "At the The new Detroit charter schools -- alternatives to traditional same time you have this incredible number of people who are public eduCation -- are funded publicly and operate virtually idle. I thought it would be a good marriage." independently of the city school board and administration. In a blighted neighborhood on Detroit's east side, a preacher While distantly monitored by the chartering entity, the and some residents from the community bought a deserted individual schools write their own curriculum and budget. Catholic school and opened Colin Powell Academy, chartered Public school systems have opposed charter schools because by Central Michigan. they compete for the same students and the more than $6,000 in "In the midst of the broken glass and drug paraphernalia, we state money that comes with each pupil in Detroit. started a school," said Director Donna James. "This is one of "Why is Detroit chartering their own competition?" asks those vacant buildings children had to walk past on the way to James Goenner, director of charter schools for Central school." Michigan University, which sponsors 46 charter schools The school, which requires uniforms and a strict code of throughout the state. "They're getting more involved. It's kind conduct, is tailored specifically to the problems in its of exciting." neighborhood. The addition of the seven charter schools by the Detroit "I love it here. It's the best thing that happened to my school board will bring the total to 10 this fall. About seven children," said Tamarra Hughes, whose two children attend the additional charter schools are under consideration, Carter said. school. But not all Detroit educators support charter schools. Her 12-year-old son enrolled last fall, does his homework "It's a way of going after public education," said board member and looks forward to school. He recently won first place for a Alonzo Bates, one of four board members to vote against the speech he gave. charter schools. "And it's a way to open the door to vouchers. The close attention and tailored curriculum at Colin Powell I'm totally opposed to it." Academy is exactly what charter schools can do that sprawling In this election year, board members scrambled behind 180,000-student systems can't, Carter said. the scenes to avoid having to vote on the charter issue, Bates "This is the history of American education," he said. "In the said. beginning, public schools were one-room school houses with Those up for re-election didn't want to offend the unions-- lay boards." Carter sees Detroit's new charter schools as a which oppose charter schools -- or city preachers, who return to those basics. support charter schools.

4 3 38 Washington Post,May 4, 1998 Charter SchoolsFace Tests inRush to GetReady

Many of those educators have Garvey won its charter in 1996 By VALERIE STRAUSS with little discussion by the school WaslOgton Post Staff Writer never run schools,and questions are being raisedbycritics and board, which is one reason authorities have tightened chartering More than a dozen new public supportersabout whether they will have sufficient supervision. procedures. Under the D.C. char- charter schools in the District are ; ter law passed by Congress, the expected to open their doors next Indeed, one of the two agencies that will monitor charters,the school board and the congression- fall, offeringnew educational oppor- ally mandated D.C. Public Charter, tunities to seieral thousand school- D.C. Board of Education, con- ,School Board, each with its own children and leading the Washington ' cedes it does not have the resourc- ; es to do an adequate job. . procedures, are allowed to grant area m a nationwide movement that "We're going to need to in- I charters to local organizations. supporters say can reform public , said board ; Each already has chartered its education. crease our capacity," member Tonya Vidal Kinlow (At maximum of 10 schools a year and .With four, Months left before the ; is beginning to take proposals for neW scbocil year begins, educators Large), who heads the charter :school committee. "We don't have the 1999-2000 academic year. and commtinitk activists are racing to Because this is the city's first find butldirifis,: ;hire teachers, buy the funds yet, but we're going to ask for it." full-blown chartering effort, the supplies and setup governing boards boards and applicants learned on ; aridcurricultinnelding traditional Maryland and Virginia have no laws allowing charter schools. But the job, discovering unanticipated elernents of education.with tmtradi- the subject looms large inthe problems, especially the acquisi- ; tional ariproachi:stO learning. tion of buildings. As a result, not "I am on. ;Mission," said L. 1Districtwhere there already are ;three such schoolsbecause the all of the 20 chartered schools will Lwrence Riccio a Trinity C011ege be ready to open in September ; professor WhO is Opening the Public potential for their proliferation is I significant. althoughapro-chartergroup ;Charter School for Arts in Learning ' called Friends of Choice in Urban . The D.C. charter law, one of the 'for special education students. "The Schools, or FOCUS, expects that ;bottom line is that there needs to be broadest in the country, allows 20 each year. In at least a dozen will be launched, nontraditional ways of teaching kids. new charter schools public serving some 3,000 children. ' Look around you. Theie are sti Many; : a city with 146 traditional schools, many of which are seen as The uncertainty over which kids failing and falling through the schools will open underscores the cracks. There has to be other ways to failing, both critics and support- long before ,experimental nature of the charter do this." ers say it may not take charter schools are a major part of movement, first pioneered in Min- Therangeofthesecharter the educational landscape. nesota in 1991. There are now Schools, Whieli are publicly:funded The most exposure D.C. resi- nearly 800 charter schools nation- but function outside a public school dents have had to charter schools wide, more than 500 of which system's bureaucracy, is wide. Daa- has been the controversy sur- ; haveopened in the last two years. nen Strachan, Howard University's rounding the Marcus Garvey Pub- Some have been resounding suc- assocate director for student activi- : lic Charter School, whoseprinci- ' cesses; others quickly, collapsed. tieS,is launching a technolOgy-fo- pal at the time, Mary A.T. Anigbo, "People shouldn't be shocked if cused college preparatory high was convicted ofassaulting a re- ; some [D.C.] public charters don't school. Educator Sonia Gutierrez porter last year. She later was open on time or if some close in a is Opening an adult education cen- fired in a messy dispute with year or two or three," said Lex ter. Educator Linda R. Moore is Garvey's board of trustees, and Towle, of Appletree Institute, a starting an elementary sehool the school board is considering nonprofit group that assists char- I with a core liberal arts and science ter schools. "This is a new indus- revoking Garvey's charter. try, and each school has to be curriculum. Many of the schools "I hate to say it, but the whole are accepting applications and thought of as a separate ongoing specter of Marcus Garvey hangs business. .. .When you get a criti- will hold a lottery if demand is too over every charterschool in the great. District," said Jim Ford, who cal mass of good independent But as the charter founders public schools, particularly in the works for Boston-based Advan- inner city where they are most workoften before and after reg- tage Schools, which is helping to ular full-time jobsthey are con- the city. important, that will help create open charter schools in the competition that Will raise the fronting serious concerns about "Having that as literally the first how theywilloperatetheir level of other public schools." publicexposureof a charter Many D.C. parents are equally schOols, which are tuition-free and school in the District was unfortu- permitted to set their hours and excited about that prospect, in nate. ... We aretaking internal part because they say charter curriculum as long as they meet steps to avoid having that happen certain performance standards. again."

39 'schools offer greater opportunity tion," Orfield said. "It is that they Finding space has turned out to for real involvement in their chil- are completely overwhelmed with be perhaps the biggest problem , dren's education. incredible problems. The net ef- for charter founders everywhere, Ramon Thompson's 5-year-old fect of having a series of charter according tocharterexperts. daughter attends kindergarten at schools might very well be to Many D.C. charter founders had Adams ElementarySchoolin intensify those problems because hoped to leaseat low rates Northwest Washington, and he the kids likely, to get in are the empty school buildings. The char- wants an alternative. ones who have the most organized terlaw sayscharterschools "She doesn't get homework, families and the best chance any- should get preference, but charter and I have to go out and buy my way. It. . .leaves the already founders say the school system set own workbooks and work with overwhelmed school with even the prices too highor made the her in the evening," said Thomp- more difficult circumstances." process too cumbersome. Some son, who wants to enroll his child Critics also say that reforming secured school properties, but in a charter school next fall. "I the system is better from within. others found space elsewhere, went to a meeting . . . and got very "Schools that work best are such as in empty office space at excited when they talked about those that operate pretty much in Waterside MallinSouthwest the programs, the longer school an independent fashion as possi- Washington, where three schools day, the longer after-school care." ble, public or private," said Jay Silberman, an are expected to open in a "charter Daanen Strachan, 31, is the at-largeschool hub." A few schools still do not youngest charter school founder board member. "Schools can be functionally independent within a have leases, and many are renting in the District. After running un- temporary space for a few years. successfully for the D.C. school school system if you have a decen- tralized system that doesn't have a Financing has been another board in 1994, he began looking problem. Although the federal for ways to help schoolchildren. "I top-down bureaucracy but has a system of support services [for] government so far has provided was just sitting and reading my nearly $90,000 for each approved newspaper about a year ago and local schools. That's what we should be building. To my way of D.C. charter applicant to help suddenly thought, 'Wouldn't [a with start-up efforts, far more is charter school] be a good way to thinking, everything else is a dis- bring technology to students of traction." needed for facilities. Since many the District?' " Distraction or not, a portion of banks refused to give loans with no collateral, sbme schools have Not everybody sharesStra- the D.C. school budget will be given to each charter, an amount sought revenue from private foun- chan's enthusiasm forcharter to be calculated on a per-pupil cost dations and other government schoolsor agrees with Towle's basis. But without knowing how assessment of how they will force agencies, winning hundreds of many students the charter schools thousands of dollars. traditional schools to improve. will serve, that figure has not yet Charter founders have formed a Harvard University educator Gary been determined. coalition and regularly meet to Orfield and others argue that al- Charter fdunders say they are thrash out common problems. though charter schools may in- concerned that the amount does They keep coming back to one spire some competition, they will not include funds for facilities, issue. "We're all in it for account- not result in the improvement of and that they may wind up being ability," said Malcolm Peabody, troubled schools. shortchanged. The D.C. Council co-president of FOCUS. "If [Mar- "What is wrong.with inner city is set to vote on the cost issue cus] Garvey gets closed, that is tomorrow. schools is not lack of competi- good news. Schools that don't do it right ought to close."

4 5 40 Wall Street Journal, April 13, 1998

Asides Student Guarantee they're falling behind and if parents sign and return weekly progress re- A Boston charter school has an-ports on their children. "Guarantees nounced it will offer the first "learning exist for mufflers, airline service and guarantee" in the nation by a publicdozens of services in America," says school. If students at the Academy of Stacey Boyd, the founding director of the Pacific Rim don't pass their 10th- Pacific Rim. "Yet no service, save per- grade state assessment test the school haps health care, matters as much to will allow the parents to pick anothera person's livelihood than education." school they trust and transfer to it the Other schools would do well to exam- $7,400 in annual state funding thatine this approach. Schools will only goes to each pupil. The guaranteeap- earn the autonomy they desire if they plies only to those students who agree prove they can deliver the account- to work with tutors if the school feelsability parents demand.

4 1 4 G (SR)2 Selected Readings on School Reform School ChoiceAnd Choices

Independence Day came early this year for school choice advocates and children stuck in crummy schools. On April 22 a group of Texas tycoonspledged $50 million to supply every single low-income child in the EdgewoodSchool District (an impoverished slice of the San Antonio metropolitan area) with avoucher redeemable at any public or private school. Then, on June 9,philanthropists John Walton and Ted Forstmann unveiled a giant matching-grant programfor private scholarships around the country, intended to total at least$200 million over four years and to assist tens of thousandsof children to switch schools (without a nickel of public funding). The following day brought the WisconsinSupreme Court's much- anticipated school choice verdict, and choice advocates were given one more reason to celebrate. In the words of Wall Street Journalcolumnist Paul Gigot, the events had "the feel of a dam breaking." We begin, fittingly, with Gigot's June 12 column. Then to NewYork Times accounts of the San Antonio voucher program, Forstmannand Walton's Children's Scholarship Fund, and the dramatic Wisconsin verdict. We also thought youwould like to see some key bits of the Court's opinion, which we have includedfor your perusal. Next up is a short but monumental op-ed from The Wall StreetJournal entitled "Why I'm Reluctantly Backing Vouchers" by Arthur Levine,President of Teachers College, Columbia University. (If he keeps taking stanceslike these, he might not be President for long!) Some libertarians fret that publicly-funded vouchers will lead to government control of private schools. In his Policy Review article, "Blocking theExits," Clint Bolick of the Institute for Justice urges his fellow conservatives to castaside theoretical concerns and "come over to the freedom side." Choice has reached pre-school, too. With "Voucher Plans Surface inHearing on Head Start Reauthorization"(Education Week) and "New York City Is to Use Public Funds for Private Pre-Kindergarten Classes" (The New York Times) welearn about two interesting moves in this direction. Finally, Richard Whitmire argues in The Washington Monthlythat it's time to make "A Vital Compromise" and try vouchers in our worstpublic schools. We couldn't agree more.

BRW

43 Wall Street Journal, June 12, 1998

shame the Ford and Rockefeller Founda- .Polly Williams when he was trying to School Choice: tions that squander their money on the sound like a. New Democrat in 1990. Look- schemes of social workers. ing ahead, Vice President Al Gore acts like Nina Shokraii of the Heritage Founda- Once Fa tasy, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the National tion estimates there are now at least 56 of Education Association. these privatescholarship programs But the Kremlin never expected to be Now Reality around the country. In Washington, -D.C., overrun either. The choice movement's more than 7,500 poor children applied for growth is being fueled by evidence and 1,000 scholarships. Thus have the donors The great conservative temptation is moral argument. The evidence is the man- pesSimism: We tend to think the world is exposed hor,v deeply Unpopular urban pub- ifest failure of urban public schools. always going to hell. Which is all the more lic schools are among the very people they . Only 15% of Washington, D.C., children reason to cheer that the once-impossible claim to serve. read "below basic" on the Stanford 9 test crusade for education choice is becoming e The political debate is turning, even in first grade. By 10th grade, 53% test be- inevitable: among liberals. The initial defections on low, basic. In 10th-grade math, an incredi- Someofuscan remember when the left came from local politicians who saw the tragedy of urban schools up close: ble 89% score below basic. In other words, "vouchers" were little more than one of kids do worse the longer they're in schools Polly Williams in Milwaukee was first and Milton Friedman's libertarian dreams. that spend more than $9,000 a year per stu- They were about as politiCally achievable bravest. dent. Nex4came..a..few-Jiational black politi- as, well, breaking up the Soviet Union. But : These results are morally unaccept- some miracles you.live long enough to see, cidhs with ,theirearsIo thetround:-For, mer Democratic congressman, Rev. Floyd able. They are the worst scandal in Amer- and what has become the education-choice Flake of Queens, has been eloquent. As ican public life. Today it is the left that is movement, is now slowly busting apart the spokesmen for choice, they provide credi- standing in the schoolhouse door, telling public-school bureaucracy's stranglehold parents their children must live with bro; on poor kids. bility that libertarian academics never could. ken windows, metal detectors and dropout Recent events have the feel of a dam But now the choice heresy is spreading rates of 50%. breaking: even to mainstream Democrats. Bob Byrd, Liberals are the ones defending the sta- 0 The Wisconsin Supreme Court voted 4- the West Virginia monument, told the Sen- tus quo because of an ideological fetisha 2 Wednesday in favor of that state's ate recently he was voting for Seri. Paul belief in a wall of church-state "separa- voucher plan for 15,000 Milwaukee stu- tion"thatis Coverdell's(R., Ga.) . education-savings higher than America's dents. The big news here is that the court accounts because it was time to try some- founders ever intended. In politics, moral blew away what has been the status quo's thing new. He's voted more money for arguments trump such abstractions every Jericho Wallthe argument that vouchers schools every year, he said, but they never time. redeemed at religious schools violate the get any better. Conservatives are understandably separation of church and state. Even more startling, Sen. John Kerry, skeptical of the idea of "progress," espe- 0 As long as the money passes through from the Kennedy Commonwealth of cially in politics. They assume everything parents, the judges said, the Milwaukee Massachusetts, says he may endorse is getting worse, and usually they're right. plan passes constitutional muster. Just as choice if conservatives agree to spend They're certainly right that the GOP Con- Pell grants can flow through college-age more on schools. Mr. Kerry may figure gress is disappointing. students to Notre Dame or Yeshiva, state this will soften his image as a reflexive lib- But once in a while a Berlin Wall does money can also follow kids to private ele- eral for a presidential fall. Once in a while Social Security can be mentary schools. run, but the teachers reformed withprivateretirementac- Let us hope opponents of the ruling are unions will paint a counts. And as we are now learning, even foolish enough to appeal to the current bull's-eye on his back. the public-school monopoly can be beaten. U.S. Supreme Court. The result could be It's naive to think the best decision for minority education victory is at hand, of since Brom v. Board of Education. course.Thestatus- o Financier Ted Forstmann and his quo forces still have friends are donating $200 million for K-12 money(viaunion private-schoolscholarshipsnationwide. dues) and clout, espe- This is the best kind of philanthropy: cially with President Putting cash directly in the hands of peo- , Clinton on their ple so they can help themselves. It ought to sidethe same president whopraised

48 " New York Times, April 23, 1998 Texas Business Foundation To Pay for School Vouchers San Antonio District Is Offered $50 Million By CAROL MARIE CROPPER to focus on Edgewood to see the DALLAS, April 22 A foundationeffects of a voucher program. started by business leaders in San But opponents like the Texas Fed-. Antonio announced today thatit eration of Teachers, the teachers': would provide $50 million for aunion, said it believed that the vouch-; voucher program to allow poor stu-ers would allow, private schools to: select the best students. dents in one city district to attend "It shortens the honor roll," John. private or parochial schools over the of: next 10 years. O'Sullivan,seeretary-treasurer the union told The Associated Press.; . Under the program, any student who qualifies for the Federal lunch"One of the strengths of the public, program 93 percent in the districtschool system is is puts everyone , do will be eligible for up to $3,600 a together." year through eighth grade and up to Others say the vouchers would ! $4,000 a year in high school to attenddrain money from public schools. aprivate school within the "I'm very concerned because te Edgewood Independent School Dis-will have a major impact on the trict, which has 14,000 students. district's providing a good education If they choose to attend privatefor the entire population that we still school outside the district, beginninghave," said Dolores Munoz, superin- in the 1998,1999 school year, the stu-tendent of the Edgewood district. dents would receive slightlyless The district's schools have been money in what would become theimproving with changes made in the nation's largest privately financedlast five or six years, Dr. Munoz said, school voucher program. adding, "We don't have any low-performing schools." ' The district, with a largely Hispan- ic population of about 40,000, includes Last year, of the district's27 at least four private schools whoseschools, 6 won the Texas Successful tuition ranges from about $1,000 toSchools award for academit im- ,,$3,000. Although other business lead-provement and 2 were recognized fbr ers around the country have pro-high test scores, said Edna Prez- wided the families of poor childrenVega, a district spokeswoman. . with the money to attend private Because of the improvements and school, the San Antonio effort is theparental support, Dr. Munoz predict- first to provide tuition for an entireed that fewer than 500 students district. would take the scholarships a The scholarships will "raise thenumber that she, said the system bar for everyone" and, the businesscould adjust to. If the departures leaders hope, will promote economicgrow closer to 1,000, she said, it could development in the district, saidlead to teacher layoffs and school Robert Aguirre, the managing direc- closings. tor of the Children's Educational Op- Edgewood was not chosen because portunity Foundation, which is pro-it was the city's worst school district, viding the $50 million and which hasMr. Aguirre said, but because it was been financing some district stu-small enough to make a concentrat- dents sidce it was founded in 1992 by ed effort where results could be business leaders who support vouch- measured but large enough to make ers as a way to force public schools a difference. to improve. Clint Bolick, litigation director for. The money is being provided bythe Institute for Justice, a nonprofit one of the organization's founders,organization based in Washington James Leininger, a doctor who start-that provides legal assistance to ad- led Kenetic Concepts, a company thatvocates of school vouchers, said op- !makes hospital beds, and by theponents would have a tough time C.E.O America Foundation, a nation-challengingthelegalityofthe al umbrella group for local voucherEdgewood experiment because it is programs. financed with private money. Fritz Steiger, president of C.E.O. "Edgewood," Mr.Bolicksaid, America, which says it has more"could be as important for the school. than 500 corporate and individual choice movement as Little Rock was contributors across the country, saidfor the school desegregation move: he expected educational researchers ment." 45 4 New York Times,June 10, 1998 Voucher Program for Inner-CityChildren Businessmen Plan to Raise $200 Millionto Pay for Private Tuition By JACOUES STEINBERG The most comprehensive of those private schools, the Greenwich A groupofbusinessleadersefforts is in San Antonio, Tex., whereCountry Day School in Greenwich, pledged yesterday to raise $200 mil-a local physician and a foundation Conn., and later Phillips Academy in lion for a national voucher programthat endorses vouchers have com-Andover, Mass. "But they're not that would permit .at least 50,000.in- mitted to sending eVery interested working right in a lot of places. Mon- ner-city public-school children to at-public-school student living belowey's not going to fix them." tend parochial and other privatethe poverty level to private or-paro- The only way to motivate public schools over the next four years. Thechial school, beginning nextfall, Schools to improve is to threaten businessmen said they were trying tothrough the end of high school. Thethem with the loss of their students, prod failing public schools into im-cost of that program, which is beingMr. Forstmann said, echoing the phi- proving by subjecting them to mar-offered to more than 13,000 school-losophy of the voucher movement. ket forces. children, is estimated at $50 million "Competition makes you better," Imitating similar programs begunover 10 years. he said. "If you have a totally free last year in New York City' and In announcing the voucher pro-marketplace in anything, and you Washington, the organizers of thegram yesterday in the New York don't compete, you go broke. If you venture, known as the Children'sPublic Library, Mr. Forstmann anddo compete, you prosper." Scholarship. Fund, said they had al-Mr. Walton were joined by Michael Like the voucher program in New ready secured commitments of $140Ovitz, a major investor in Livent, anYork City, the new foundation ex- million, including $50 million each entertainment company, and the for-pects to award its scholarships to from two founding board members.mer president of Walt Disney Com- low-income students by lottery, in as They are Theodore J. Forstmann, apany, and Mayor Rudolph W. Giuli-many as 50 cities. But unlike the New senior partner in Forstmann Little &ani, a graduatekof the city's CatholicYork group, which offers scholar-. Company, an investment firm, and schools. The Mayor. inspired a groupshipstostudentsenteringfirst the chairman of Gullstream Aero-of Wall Street executives to createthrough sixth grades, the new foun- space, and John T. Walton, a directorthe New York program last year. dation will accept applications from of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and a son of Mr. Forstmann said that the ex-low-income students in all grades. iWal-Mart's, founder, Sam Walton. traordinary demand for the New While the New York organization, ' Their effort is one of the largestYork program more than 40,000 known as the School Choice Scholar- !private investments on behalf ofapplications for just 2,200 scholar-ship Foundation, has provided stu- schoolchildren, second only fo theships for the current school year anddents with up to $1,400 annually, in ' $500 million that Walter H. Annen-the next one was all the evidencesome cases covering full.tuition, the berg, the philanthropist, committednecessary to convince him that in-national foundation will ask parents to public-education reform over fivener-city students craved alternativesto cover at least 25 percent of tuition years, beginning in 1993. to public schools. and sometimes as much as 60 per- The program announced yester- Moreover, he said, the nationalcent, depending on their means, Mr. day, if fully financed, would alsovoucher program would provide anForstmann said. "They shouldown dwarf all of the private voucher pro-outlet for businesses that are search-this," he said. grams that have sprouted in moreing for new ways to invest in educa- The national organization speci- than three dozen cities and towns intion and are frustrated that theirfied no limit on the amounts of indi- recent years, most of them in re-financial commitments to many pub- vidual awards, but estimated that sponse to long-smoldering discontentlic schools have had little effect. the average tuition was $1,995 a year among parents and buSfriesses With "I believe in public schools," saidat private schools participating in the quality of public education. Mr. Forstmann, who attended onlyexisting voucher programs.

Mr. Forstmann said that the or- With Mr.. Forstmann's group. In Jer- ured from those who fear theen- ganization was seeking corporate sey City, N.J., Mayor Bret Schundler croachment of such effortson public- and individual partners in large and, said he would personally contribute education spending. small cities to match the $100 million $25,000 in an effort to raise $400,000. . "These are wealthy people, andif that he and Mr. Walton had put up. Those seeking to gain widespread this is where they want toput their He said the organization had com- acceptance for both privately and money, who am I to argue," said mitments from patrons to raise $5 publiclyfinancedvouchersem- Sandra Feldman, the president of the million or more in Los Angeles, New braced yesterday's announcement American Federation of Teachers. York, Chicago and Washington. as a validation of their movement. Like many educators, sheopposes In New York, officialsat the "This is a huge boost," said Clint vouchers, contending that theysi- School Choice Scholarship Founda- Bolick, litigation director of the Insti- phon money from public schools."I tion, which has awarded $11 million tute for Justice. a public interest law would much' prefer to haveseen a in three-year scholarships over the firm that defends school voucher contribution like that madeto the last two years, said yesterday that programs nationwide. public schools, the way WalterAn- they were considering a partnership But the response was more meas-nenberg did," she said.

46 5 0 New York Times,June 11, 1998 Quoting a 1971 United States Su- Four other statesOhio, Arizona preme Court ruling, the Wisconsin Vermont and Maine have cases WISCONSIN COURT court said, "The simplistic argument similar to Milwaukee's pending in that every form of financial aid to their state courts. The winners in the church-sponsored activity violates Wisconsin case said the ruling pro- UPHOLDS VOUCHERS the Religion Clauses was rejected vided the other programs with ratio- long ago." nale and momentum. By the rules of Milwaukee's Pa- "Today's decision will help school IN CHURCH SCHOOLS rental Choice Program, begun in choice spread like wildfire across the 1990 and the first of the country's nation," said Chip Mellor, president voucher programs, families below a of Institute for Justice, a Washing- certain income level can send their ton-based conservative public policy 'SECULAR PURPOSE' CITED children to the school of their choice law firm that represented the Mil- public or private, kindergarten waukee parents in the appeal. "The through 12th gradewith the tuition court's careful analysis of the consti- Civil Libertarians and Teacher paid by the state government. tutional issues provides powerful in- When religious schools were added sight that voucher programs are Unions Say They'll Appeal to the list of choices in 1995, a change fully compatible with the principles aimed at vastly increasing the proof the First Amendment." to U.S. Supreme Court gram's size because Milwaukee has Barry Lynn, executive director of so many more parochial schools than the Americans United fér Separation private schools, the plan was chal- of Church and State, which helped By ETHAN BRONNER lenged by the 'civil libertarians and bring the lawsuit stopping the pro- In the most significant legal deci- teachersgroups.. Agreeingwith gram's implementation, said: "Tax- sion yet on the growing use of school them, a lower state court limited the payers shouldn't be forced to pay for vouchers, the Wisconsin Supreme program to private, nonsectarian religious schools. The principal purpose of a religious school is to spread Court ruled yesterday that the City schools. . its teachings, whether they be the of Milwaukee could spend taxpayer ! About 1,500 children attend 23 pri- money to send pupils to parochial or vate, nonsectarian schools in Mil- Gospel of Jesus Christ or the words other religious schools. waukee at public expense under the of Mohammed. They are specific Voting 4 to 2 to overturn a lower- program. With the expansion ap- teachings from ministries of reli- court ruling, the state's high court proved by the court yesterday, about gious denominations. We are not said the Milwaukee Parental Choice '13,500 additional poor students can to throwing in the towel." Program did not violate Wisconsin's ellipse a parochial school starting in Phil Baum, executive director of existing ban on spending state mon- September. The program permits 15 the American Jewish Congress, who ey for religious seminaries or the percent of the public school popula- was upset by the ruling, said he fore- First Amendment's separation of tion' currently 100,000 to take saw "a possible landmark U.S. Su- church and state. The court said the part in the *voucher program. Al- preme Court decision." Mr. Baum program "has a secular purpose" ready, 81 religious schools in the city said the High Court would soon be have registered to participate. confrontedwithafundamental and "will not have the primary effect choice: "to preserve the principle of advancing religion." "We have 125 students eligible and waiting for vouchers," said Brother that the Constitution imposes strin- Kevin J. Hasson, president of the gent and special restrictions on Gov- Becket Fund for Religious Liberty in Bob Smith, principal of Messmer Washington, a public interest law HighSchool,a Roman Catholic ernment financing of religion a firm promoting the expression of re- 1 school, which serves a mainly black policy which has allowed religion and and Hispanic part of Milwaukee. religious liberty to flourish or to ligious traditions, . said the decision embark on an uncharted course, and "is the latest example of the fact that "We're going to have a capacity problenh but it's a good problem to put atriskthereligiousliberty common sense is returning to the law Americans enjoy." of religious liberty." Mr. Hasson add- have." ed, "Courts no longer see religion as Voucher programs are sprouting The Wisconsih court said in its up around the country because of decision that a student qualifies for an allergen in the body politic but as benefits under the amended Milwau- a normal part of life in society." discontent with the public school systems, especially in urban areas that lee program "not because he or she Civil libertarians, upset at what is a Catholic, a Jew, a Moslem, or an they considered a radical departure serve the poor. In such areas, the main alternative to public schools atheist; it is because he or she is in court interpretation of the First from a poor family and is a student Amendment, and teachers' unions, are those run by churches, and experts said that the Wisconsin deci- in the embattled Milwaukee Public lamenting the ruling as a blow to Schools." public schools, vowed an appeal to sion, if repeated elsewhere, could remove the biggest obstacle to such Sandra Feldman, president of the the United States Supreme Court. American Federation of Teachers, Some legal scholars said the decision plans. On Tuesday, a 'group of business said it was "unconscionable to give could form the basis of a test casefor public fundstoprivatereligious the Supreme Court on the extent. to leaders, saying they hoped to move which government can ,support pa- public schools to improve, pledged to schools for just a few students, when rental choice in niing public money raise $200 million for a national those same tax dollars could be put to buy a religious school edutation. voucher program that would permit into proven, public-school programs The Wisconsin court said United at least 50,000 poor, public-school stu- StatesSupreme Courtdeciiioni dents around the country to attend made clear that the ConstitutiOn was parochial and other private schoOls not "violated:every time money pre- over the next four years. viously in the possession of a state is conveyed to a religious institution." 47 that would benefit every child in Mil-shall make no law respecting an es- waukee." tablishment of religion, or prohibit- The advocates of voucher pro-ing the free exercise thereof." : grams say that one of its great bene- The mandate, which applies equal- fits is to force public school systems ly to state legislatures by virtue. of to face their failings and improve. the 14th Amendment, has, since a Mayor John 0. Norquist of Mil- 1971 High Court case, been interpret- waukee said the ruling would lead toed to mean that a law must pasi a higher quality publiC sChools be-three-prong test:it has a secular cause "the district won't be able topurpose; its . primary effect neither take kids for granted. advances nor inhibits religion;it In New York City, advocates fordoes not create excessive entangle- publicly financed vouchers said thatment between government and reli- the Wisconsin decision revived atgion." least the prospect .that such pro- The 68-page ruling of the Wiscon- grams might be tested someday insin Supreme Court said the Milwau- kee schdol choice program met all three criteria. The two dissenting judges, who included Chief Justice Shirley S. Abrahamson, did not take The most important issue with that portion of the decision. In a short paragraph the dis- legal decision yeton senters said simply that they agreed with the appellate court decision say- the increasinguse of ing the program violated Wiscont sin's constitution. school vouchers. The program has a 'provision prohibiting a private school from requiring a student attending.it to partici- the city's poorest neighborhoods. But pate in any religious activity if the they said it was far too soon to knowpupil's parent or guardian submits a whether anyone would propose suchwritten request that he or she be a prokram. exempted. Some scholars who have been That did not sktisfy the plan's op- watchingthelegalbattlesoverponents, who said religious indoctri- vouchers expressed surprise that thenation would Occur anyway. Gov. Wisconsin judges went beyond stateTommy Thompson of Wisconsin, a constitutional questions and directlylong-standing proponent of school vouchers,, said yesterday:"Reli- addressed the First Amendment. gious values aren't our problem. "It was a big surprise that theyDrop-out rates and low test scores took on the First Amendment," saidare." Joseph P. Viterittt, a professor .of In the fall of 1996, in response to a public administration at 'New York challenge from John Cardinal O'Con- University, who is writing a book on nor, Mayor Rudolph W.' Giuliani had schoolchoice.ProfessorViterittibriefly considered using tax dollars said the key to ye6terday's ruling to send 1,000 low-performing public- was the court's view that the voucher school students' to parochial schools, money went to the parents rathersaying he was confident he could than the schools and that its purposedefend such a program before the waS neutral with regard. to religion. United States Supreme Court. But he He and other scholars who favorquickly retreated, saying that such a school choice said the Wisconsin de-plan would be "clearly illegal." cision was well-grounded in the past The program that later resulted, two decades of High Court decisionswhich has so far awarded four-year on the subject. scholarships to parochial or other Few issues have been as divisiveprivate schools to 2,200 New York or murky at the Supreme Court asCity public-school children, was fi- the meaning of the First Amend-nanced entirely by corporate and ment'sassertionthat"Congressother private donations.

48 5 2 Education Week, June 17, 1998

Excerpts From the Ruling

Following are excerpts from the Wisconsin Supreme Court's majority school. In addition, under the new "opt-out" provision, the private schools opinion in Jackson v. Benson: cannot require the stidents participating in the program to participate in any religious activity provided at that school. The first issue we address is whether the amended MPCP [Milwaukee Parental Choice Program] violates the Establishment Clause of the First Under the amended MPCP, beneficiaries are eligible for an equal share Amendment to the United States Constitution. Neither the circuit court nor of per pupil public aid regardless of the school they choose to attend.To the court of appeals reached this issue. Upon review we conclude that the those eligible pupils and parents who participate, the amended MPCP amended MPCP does not violate the Establishment Clause because it provides a religious-neutral benefitthe opportunity "to choose the has a secular purpoie, it will not have the primary effect of advancing educational opportunities that they deem best for their children." The religion, and it will not lead to excessive entanglement between the State amended MPCP, in conjunction with existing state educational programs, and participating sectarian private schools.... gives participating parents the choice to send their children to a neighborhood public school, a different public school within the district, a The [U.S.] Supreme Court, in cases culminating In AgostIni [v. Felton], specialized public school, a private nonsectarian school, or a private has established the general principle that state educational assistance sectarian school. As a result, the amended program is in no way "skewed programs do not have the primary effect of advancing religion if those towards religion." programs provide public aid to both sectarian and nonsectarian institutions (1) on the basis of neutral, secular criteria that neither favor The amended MPCP therefore satisfies the principle of neutrality nor disfavor religion; and (2) only as a result of numerous private choices required by the Establishment Clause.... A student qualifies for benefits of the individual parents of school-age children. The amended MPCP is under the amended MPCP not because he or she is a Catholic, a Jew, a precisely such a program.... Moslem, or an atheist; it is because he or she is from a poor family and is a student in the embattled Milwaukee Public Schools. Because it provides Eligibility for benefits under the amended MPCP is determined by a neutral benefit to beneficiaries selected on religious-neutral criteria, the "neutral, secular criteria that neither favor nor disfavor religion," and aid "is amended MPCP neither leads to "religious indoctrination," nor "creates [a] made available to both religious and secular beneficiaries on a financial incentive for students to undertake sectarian education." ... nondiscriminatory basis." Pupils are eligible under the amended MPCP if they reside in Milwaukee, attend public schools (or private schools In The amended MPCP, therefore, places on equal footing options of public grades K-3) and meet certain income requirements. Beneficiaries are and private school choice, and vests power in the hands of parents to then selected on a random basis from all those pupils who apply, and choose where to direct the funds allocated for their children's benefit..... meet these religious-neutral criteria. Participating private schools are also selected on a religious-neutral basis and may be sectarian or nonsectarian.The participating private schools must select on a random Since the amended MPCP has a secular purpose, does not have the basis the students attending their schools under the amended program, primary effect of advancing religion, and does not create an excessive except that they may give preference to siblings already accepted in the entanglement, it is not invalid under the Establishment Clause.

BEST COPY AVAILABLE 49 New York Times, June 11, 1998

Excerpts From Rulingon Use of Education Money Following are excerpts from the decision in this sensitive area of constitutional adjudica- gion if those programs provide public aid to issued yesterday by the Wisconsin Supreme tion." both sectarian and nonsectarian institutions (1) Court on the Milwaukee Parental Choice Pro- In an attempt to focus on the three main evils on the basis of neutral, secular criteria that gram allowing the city to use public money to from which the Establishment Clause was in- neither favor nor disfavor religion; and (2) only send children to parochial or other religious tended to afford protection: sponsorship, finan- as a result of numerous private choices of the schools. The text was obtained from the Web cial support, and active involvement of the site of The Milwaukee Journal. individual parents of school-age children. The sovereign in religious activity, the Court has amended M.P.C.P. is precisely such a program. t The first issue we address is whether the promulgated a three-pronged test to determine Applying to the amended M.P.C.P. the criteria amended M.P.C.P. violates the Establishment whether a statute complies with the Establish- the Court has developed from Everson to Agos- Clause of the First Amendment to the United ment Clause. Under this test, a statute does not tini, we conclude that the program does not States Constitution. Neither the circuit court violate the Establishment Clause if (1) it has a have the primary effect of advancing religion. i nor the court of appeals reached this issue. secular legislative purpose; (2) its principal or Upon review we conclude that the amended primary effect neither advances nor inhibits The final question for us to determine under M.P.C.P. does not violate the Establishment religion, and (3) it does not create excessive the Lemon testis whether the amended Clause because it has a secular purpose, it will entanglement between government and reli- M.P.C.P. would result in an excessive govern- not have the primary effect of advancing religion. We must apply this three-part test to mental entanglement With religion. Stated an- gion, and it will not lead to excessive entangle- determine the constitutionality of Wisconsin other way, it is necessary to determine whether ment between the State and participating sec- Statute 119.23. " [a] comprehensive, discriminating, and con- tarian private schools. Under the first prong of the Lemon teSt, we tinuing state surveillance Will inevitably be The First Amendment to the United States examine whether the purpose of the state legis- required to ensure that these restrictions Constitution provides in part that "Congress lation is secular in nature. Our analysis of the [against the inculcation of religious tenets] are shall make no law respecting an establishment amended M.P.C.P. under this prong of the Lem- obeyed and the First Amendment otherwise of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise on test is straightforward. Courts have been respected." ... thereof." This mandate applies equally to state "reluctanffj to attribute unconstitutional mo- The amended M.P.C.P. will not create an legislatures by virtue of the Due Process tives to the states, particularly when a plausi- excessive entanglement between the state and Clause of the 19th Amendment The Establish- ble secular purpose for the state's program religion. Under the amended program, the state ment Clause, therefore, prohibits state govern- may be discerned from the face of the statute." need not, and in fact is not given the authority to ments from passing laws which have either the A state's decision to defray the cost of educa- impose a "comprehensive, discriminating, and purpose or effect of advancing or inhibiting tional expenses incurred by parents regard- continuing state surveillance" over the partici- religion. less of the type of schools their children attend pating sectarian private schools.... When assessing any First Amendment chal- evidences a purpose that is both secular and The program does not involve the state in any lenge to a state statute, we are bound by the understdndable. An educated populace is essen- way with the schools' governance, curriculum, results and interpretations given that amend- tial to the political and economic health of any or day-to-day affairs. The state's regulation of ment by the decisions of the United States community, and a state's efforts to assist par- participating private schools, while designed to Supreme Court.... ents in meeting the rising cost of educational insure that the program's educational purposes The Supreme Court has repeatedly recog- expenses plainly serves this secular purpose of are felfilled, does not approach the level of nized that the Establishment Clause raises insuring that the state's citizenry is well-edu- constitutionally impermissible involvement. difficult issues of interpretation, and cases aris- cated. ... In short, we hold that the amended M.P.C.P., ing under it "have presented some of the most Analysis of the amended program under the which provIdes a neutral benefit directly to perplexing questions to come before Ethel second prong of the Lemon test is more diffi- children of economically disadvantaged fam- Court." We are therefore cognizant of the cult. While the first prong of Lemon examines ilies on a religious-neutral basis, does not rim Court'S warnings that: the legislative purpose of the challenged stat- afoul .of any of the three primary criteria the "There are always risks in treating criteria ute, the second prong focuses on its likely Court has traditionally used to evaluate wheth- discussed by the Court from time to time as effect. A law violates the Establishment Clause er a state educational assistance program has 'tests' in any limiting sense of that term. Consti- if its principal or primary effect either ad- the purpose or effect of advancing religion. tutional adjudication does not lend itself to the vances or inhibits religion. ... Since the amended M.P.C.P. has a secular absolutes of the physical sciences or mathe- The Supreme Court, in cases culminating in purpose, does not have the primary effect of . matics. [CI andor compels the acknowledg- Agostini, has established the general principle advancing religion, and does not create an ment that we can only dimly perceive the that state educational assistance programs do excessive entanglement, it is not invalid under boundaries of permissible government activity not have the primary effect of advancing reli- the Establishment Clause.

5 4

50 Education Week, June 17, 1998 asVoucher a topic of debateVoucher last Plansweek proposals at emerged Surface inBy Linda Jacobson fundamentalschoolelementary choice schools. school as"I the now impetusreform," champion for he the use of undertimeprogramschild-care monitoring their alreadyauthority,and early-education the have she programs said.a hardearing on Head S Rep. uthorizationbecausefounderslummandate be theof used, Headthatgovernment the aStart, certain educational said doesn't curricu- that, as- children.oldStart,onthe the preschoolsecond the reauthorization government's hearing program this 33-year-offor Head yearpoor thesponsiblewhosesaid Bushsubcommittee. in organizationhis administration fatherhood, written comments promotes Mr. served as Horn, com- re- into mentseesandfor the HumanHead on Department the Start, Services, voucher declinedMichael which ofproposals toHealth Kharfen,com-over- a spokesman =1=3 Jolm L Mica empiricalbest,weak.pect of with the question, whichprogram"What students, andis sometimestype it is ofistime ancurriculum works wouldYouth,committeetestified andlike before on Families to Early Rep.thesee HouseChildhood,John aon limited June L. Sub- Mica, 9, R-Fla., who lowingschoolonmissioner Children, children program of Youth, thewho counteredAdvocates Administration are and eligible Families. that for al- the federal pre- changesbyofthatin anserving2002 the interview. administration's madeand 1 ofmillion during building But hechildrenthe added goalsupon1994 areacyparticularly plansand numeracy. for ina two-year,the areasAlso includednationalof liter- versity,sorhethat wrote of we education anwered saidin his that testimony. at itHead AndHarvardempirically," StartCatherine Uni- has Snow, a profes- wouldvouchertononprofitStartfunding attend be programs,system allowed to othercommunity leave in which whichearly-childhoodto regularuse children areagencies,federal run Head by preschoolfor Head programs Start to withattend a voucher other Headget$4.7haven'treauthorization forbillion Start, changed.Head inwhich the Start offiscal servesPresident the and 1999 program infants Early bud-Clinton is asking for andimpactprograms.the a moveprogress study toward ofofConcerns childrenthe evaluating program Overin local Curriculum standardsreadingrichmissedaredents, literacy more an problems.even areopportunity likelyexperiences explicitthough to Head developpoor onto provide forhealth, childrenStart stu- early profitgramswhichtoprograms. approve entitieswhere could non-HeadLocal include Head school Start Start for- pro-boards would have WadeHorn Aprilchildren.lion,currentand toddlers. now1, 1998.)budget (See serves Head Education of aboutalmost Start, 800,000 $4Week,with bil- a fromRep.inging on FrankCalifornia heldreauthorizing inRiggs, March, who Ata Republican Headthe achairs joint first Start, House-Senate thehear- hear- cleanliness,interestedandshe literacy.said, in butand seeing not safetyRep. onbetter Riggs languageissues, coordi- has also said he is flexible,gued,withfunding less calling couldcostly, money beHead andPrivate used.per sometimes Start child, programs an he "in- un-ar- can operate thecould services compromise they receive. the quality of ReauthorizationitschildrenSenate, draft ofandthe the subcommitteefamilies Human ActMeanwhile, completed ofServices 1998, on last week in the strengtheningscaleterestedmittee,House research indicated inearly-childhood seeing theon thatHeadacademic more he Start was large-subcom- con- andin- Startalikenationstate ishave betweenwelfare-reformincreasingly contended HeadRepublicans out thatefforts.Start of Head stepand and Democrats NationalofreEponsive proposedthe Gaithersburg, Fatherhood bureaucracy" in hisAnd testimony WadeMd.-based Initiative, Horn, that the president therectorTownleyperformance Alexandria, of governmentHritz, standards?" "Howthe Va.-based associate affairswould saidNa- fordi-they enforce the gramslaborationbillwhichand would byothercovers providing encourage between early-education Head waivers HeadStart.greater StartThat oncol- pro- a morereadingthetent portion of attentionthe skills. program, that focuses atThe last particularly curriculum onweek's early issue received ingthemeantwithates theprogram the toschoolonly families serve, half traditionallyyear. alargely theday program and because only oper- isdur- ersateslectedprogramCongress towould groupuse in set receiveatwhich of uppublic Head a a demonstrationtuition randomly Startor private vouch-gradu- se- quiredthatferringtional Head Headto to meet. the Start Start detailed Stategrantees Association, guidelinesagencies are re-re- that license isfew toofEnglish select promoteinstruction,the purposes requirements,as the school primaryand of statereadiness, Head requirelanguage that Start one NewDevelopmentthehearing. Yale Haven, Bush andCt., Center SocialandEdward one inPolicy ofChild Zigler, the in the director of needoverhaularementsentsbecause of within full-day of thenow programs. work 1996They in require- greaterwelfarenote that low-income par- 5 E New York Times, June 19, 1998

New York City is to Use Public Funds for Private Pre-Kindergarten Classes

By Somini Sengupta With less than three months left before 14,000 revealing the potential chaos that mismatched school four-year-olds are supposed to begin new pre- calendars could create for working parents. kindergarten classes established by the state, New York Still, most educators unequivocally embrace the City's overcrowded public school system is planning to concept of preschool education, not just in New York but enroll a third of those children in private and parochial around the country. A survey taken last year by the preschools. Unable to squeeze the preschoolers into Children's Defense Fund, an advocacy group based in public schools ripping at the seams, officials expect to Washington, found that21states had increased financing use public funds to educate about5,000children in of preschool programs, most of them intended for poor private schools. It is a rare example of the city's public children. Last year, the New Jersey Legislature set aside school system relying on the private sector for basic $125million for pre-kindergarten classes in125of the academic services; the only precedents are smaller state's poorest school districts. In Connecticut, programs in counseling and tutoring. lawmakers agreed last year to spend $86 million over The state law that established pre-kindergarten two years on pre-kindergarten classes in more than a classes encouraged local school districts to draw up dozen poor, mostly urban districts. contracts with private preschools. The law requires each "Who can say anything bad about children district to devote at least 10 percent of its funds to having early-childhood education?" said Dr. Arthur contracts with private agencies, and education officials in Greenberg, the head of Community School District25in Albany said the requirement was added because they Flushing, Queens. "Is it well planned? No. I know a knew many districts would be unable to find the space or whole bunch of superintendents who would have liked the qualified teachers on their own. The private more time to get this off the ground." When the preschool industry, worried about losing business, also universal pre-kindergarten law was enacted a year ago, it lobbied heavily in Albany. drew bipartisan support from lawmakers, and got a When state lawmakers enacted the law strong boost from Lieut. Gov. Betsy McCaughey Ross. establishing the$500million program last summer, they The program is voluntary for parents. New York City's allocated money for teachers and aides, but none for Board of Education voted to require each of its32 construction, despite the space problem. Since then, districts to provide the classes. translating the language of the law into reality has Champions of the program cited research flummoxed school officials across the state, especially in pointing to the long-term benefits of early education. New York City, which now expects to be spending35% For instance, students of Head Start, the federally of its state allocation for the program on private and financed pre-kindergarten program for poor children, parochial schools. showed that preschoolers enrolled in the program In some areas of the city, parents have been initially showed measurable imprOvements in health, unable to submit applications for their preschoolers school attendance and cognitive test scores. The gains in because district officials have not picked the private cognitive test scores, however, faded after a couple of preschools they will use. Bathrooms and playgrounds years. are still being inspected, teacher credentials reviewed To stretch its resources, New York City decided and classrooms observed. As school officials have to establish half-day pre-kindergarten classes; a few discovered, conditions at private preschools vary widely. other districts in the state are creating full-day programs. Dirty floors and a dearth of books at a day care center on The program is financed with $46 million in state funds the ground floor of an East New York housing project for the 1998-99 school year, matched by$5million from dismayed one superintendent, while the emphasis on the Board of Education. Unlike Head Start, which is penmanship at a preschool in northern Queens troubled limited to needy children, New York's pre-kindergarten another district official, who considered the school's program is available to children regardless of their approach too rigid. family income, though in the first year only districts with And recently, a new complication was the largest percentage of poor childrenincluding all unearthed: When a Brooklyn superintendent showed up New York City districtsare eligible. to inspect a yeshiva, it was closed for a religious holiday,

5 7 52 Private preschools that want contracts with the city school system must be licensed by the city, and they open six new schools with about 5,000 seats. cannot offer religious instruction. Any parochial schools "The facilities part is a major factor that has involved in the new program will, under the state law, been overlooked," said J.D. LaRock, a board spokesman. have to scrub classroom walls of religious icons apd District 19 on the eastern fri`nge of Brooklyn, for agree to i secular cUrriculum. Given the stipulations, example, has little room for pre-kindergarten in its several private agencies, including schools run by the Cypress Hills neighborhood, the densely populated Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, have passed nOrthern'part of the district where schools are already so' up the offer. crowded that kindergartners are bused to Starrett City, "We are in the business of religious education," several miles south. said Dr. Catherine Hickey, superintendent o f schools for Touring his district and looking for pre- the archdiocese, which has more than 6,000 children in . kindergarten space the other day, Superintendent Robert preOkindergarten classes. "We probably would not E. Riccobono said he.wondered whether parents in sacrifice one of our own religious early-childhood Cypress Hills would shepherd their children to the programs for the sake of secular programs." southern end of the district, where there is ample space The privatization issue has not drawn for pre-kindergarten: Within a two-block radius in opposition from the teachers' union. An estimated 225 Starrett City, he had found a public school that could teachers will be hired to instruct children in pre- house a couple of pre-kindergarten classes, as well as a kindergarten. yeshiva and a secular preschool. "Obviously, I would prefer it in the public But space is not the sole concern. Although schools," said Ronald C. Jones, the United Federation of licensed private preschools, like the public schools, have Teachers vice president for elementary schools. "Until state-certified early-childhood teachers, there is a great we get to that nirvana, I don't think we should deprive variety in the conditions and philosophy of each these kids of pre-K." preschool. On a tour the other day, Mr. Riccobono found The New York Civil Liberties Union has one preschool, on the ground floor of a housing project pledged to watch closely as the arrangement is carried in the East New York section of Brooklyn, practically out. Although enrollment is optional for parents, each of devoid of books and instructional supplies and floors that the city's school districts will be required to needed a thorough cleaning. accommodate 16% of their estimated population of 4- Still, he chose the preschool after concluding that the year-olds, or a citywide total of 14,000 children. Five of problems were easily fixable. the most overcrowded districts have yet to find room in , "Don't forget, we are responsible," Mr. their buildings or in private preschools to accommodate Riccobono said. "It's not comfortable to be responsible their share of pre-kindergartners in the fall, though Board for something you can't control." of Education officials say they are optimistic that room : Around the state 124 or 700 schools districts will be found soon. those with the largest share of poor childrenare Those five are District 6 in upper Manhattan, eligible in the first year, and of those, 80 are Districts 9 and 11 in the Bronx and Districts 24.and 29 in participating. School districts will be phased in based on Queens. their percentage of poor children, and by the fourth year, Most districts are selecting students either by all districts will be eligible. Other districts are also lottery or on a fir-come-first-served basis. The state law facing problems implementing the program. In small, mandates that districts gradually expand the number of growing cities like Gloversville, west of Albany, school slots so that by fall 2002, any,4-year-old can enroll in a officials are having trouble finding enough school pre-kindergarten class. But accommodating all children buildings or licensed day care centers to accommodate whose parents want them in the program by 2002 is the rising student enrollment, state education officials likely to be a formidable challenge, given the lack of new said. In East Aurora, in western New York, school school buildings and parallel state legislation requiring districts are negotiating with a mammoth day care center cuts in class size beginning in fall 1999. run by the toy company Fisher Price. Several cities are For pre-kindergarten alone, 30,000 seats, or looking for empty rooms in state buildings. In New 1,750 classrooms, would have to be built or found by York City, the demand for the state-financed pre-

2002, according to estimates,by the Board of Education. . kindergarten classes is hard to gauge, though it is well To reduce class size, 45,552 more seatsmore than known that the day-care crunch is particularly intense for 2,000 classroomswould be required. This fall, the the city's working poor: There are 36,000 children on a board will waiting list for city-subsidized day care slots.

53 Wall Street Journal, June 15, 1998

Why rm Reluctantly Backing Vouchers

By Arthur Levine What I am proposing is a rescue operation Throughout my career,I have been an aimed at reclaiming the lives of America's most opponentofschoolvoucherprograms.I disadvantaged children. This would involve a disapproved of them because I feared they would limited voucher program focusing on poor, undermine public schools. They also threatened urban children attending the bottom 10% of to diminish the teaching of universal democratic publicschools.Theirfamilieswouldbe values by supporting parochial and ideologically reimbursed an amount equal to the cost per based schools. Studies ofthe limited student of public education (a national average experimentsconductedwithvouchersand of roughly $6,500) to allow them to attend a school choice in the U.S. showed these options betterschool. These schoolscould be wereuseddisproportionatelybyrelatively nonsectarian private schools or better public affluentfamilies,raisingtheconcernthat schools in the suburbs. The money could even be vouchers could turn our public schools into usedtocreatebetterurbanpublic-school ghettos for the poor. In addition, the research alternatives. showedvouchersproducelittleifany The voucher rescue would aim to accomplish improvement in student achievement, but result three goals. Most important, it would offer poor in higher educational costs. children a way out of the worst schools. If the However, after much soul-searching, I have research on vouchers is correct, not nearly as reluctantly concluded thatalimitedschool many as one would hope will choose this option. voucher program is now essential for the poorest However, many will--and that is all that matters. Americans attending the worst public schools. Second, it will become possible to shut down Despite a 15-year-long national school- some of the poor schools abandoned by students improvement movement, many urban public with vouchers. This will permit urban public schools are still falling apart physically and school districts to concentrate their resources on produce dismalresults whenitcomesto more promising and effective schools. teaching students. These schools show no signs Third, the vouchers could encourage the of improving; some are even deteriorating. They creation of strong urban schools. This could are the worst schools in America. Walking happen as entrepreneurs and private companies through their halls, one meets students without such as the Edison Project follow the dollars and hope and teachers without expectations. These establish private inner-city schools.It could schools damage children; they rob them of their happen if urban public school districts decide to futures. No parent should be forced to send a replace old schools with better ones so that they child to such a school. No student should be can compete for students. In any case, schools compelled to attend one. receiving voucher funding should be required to Today these schools are effectively reserved meet serious performance standards. They need for the urban poor. More-affluent parents have to be accountable both fiscally and academically. other options--private schools, suburban schools This is a painful proposal for me to offer. In or better public schools. As never before in making it I am departing from the views of most American history, we live in an age in which the of my colleagues at Teachers College and of future of our children is inextricably tied to the educators across the nation, whom Ideeply quality of the education they receive. In the past, respect. I do so only in response to a desperate a school dropout or a less-educated American situation. I offer it not as a convert to vouchers, could find a job in manufacturing or in one of but as an individual who thinks in this one the service professions, earning wages adequate instance they may be the only way to save the to support a family. Those jobs have all but mostdisadvantagedchildren. I offerthis disappeared.Today,toforcechildreninto proposal not as a detractor of public schools, but inadequate schools is to deny them any chance as a champion who wants them to be as strong of success. To do so simply on the basis of their as they can be. parents' income is a sin. Mr. Levine is president of Teachers College, Columbia University. 54 5 9 Policy Review, May/June 1998 it Libertarian opposition to school vouchers is an attack on freedom

By Clint Bolick

"Iir hatd many thoughtful, committed libertarians and Sandra Feldman of the American Federa- tion of Teachers unionhavein 1,3 common? Almost nothingexcept their opposi-

.--E-. tion to school choice. Answering the -concerns of these libertarians is essential to defeating the reac- § tionary likes of Feldman and realizing the poten- t'',tial of school choice. t School vouchers empower parents to spend Ttheir public education funds in public, private, or i religious schools. The cause of choice unites con- -i servatives, most libertarians, and growing numbers E 2 of centrists and even liberals. It brings together dis- t parate reformers because all at once it expands 2,. parental autonomy, increases competition,pro- .E' motes educational equity, and addresses the great- 8- est challenge facing America today: ensuring educational opportunities for low-income children in m 1,-; the inner cities. iSome libertarians fear, however, that school time teacher certification. But my experiences as a vouchers will not expand freedom, but will insteadstudent teacher left me convinced that our system turn the private schools that serve roughly 11 per-of public K-12 education desperately needed fun- -, al cent of America's youngsters into clones of faileddamental change. I concluded, first, that parents, ,R government schools. That price, they argue, is.too 3 not bureaucrats, should control essential educa- high, even for the sake of expanding the privatetion decisions; and second, that a system of g sector in education and improving opportunitiesparental choice should replace the command-and-

6 for millions of youngsters who desperately needcontrol system of public education in America. . ii them. For a long time school choice held only acade- 1 wish the school-choice naysayers could have 2 mic interest for me, but I became downright mili- 2o. shared my experiences with the public-school mo-tant about the issue in 1990, when I had the honor nopoly and the choice alternative. My originalca- of defending the constitutionality of the nation's l?, reer aspiration was classroom teaching; remark-first school-choice program, in Milwaukee. I ably, upon my graduation from college, the Newwalked the hallways of the schools that 1,000 eco- Jersey education cartel conferred upon me life-.nomically disadvantaged children were able to at, 55 G tend for the first time. I talked to their parents,posed parental-choice legislation for the District of most of whom were themselves poorly educatedColumbia last year, we found ourselves battling to yet keenly understood that this was a chanceper-head off all manner of federal regulations on par- haps the only chancefor their children to have aticipating private schools. better life. And I saw the beaming faces of chil- Though we won both these skirmishes, we drenbeacons of pride, self-discipline, and hope.know the regulatory threat is serious. But these That's when school choice became a matter ofepisodes suggest caution, not abandonment, of heart and soul as well as mind. this freedom enterprise. The position of school- The nation's second school-choice program,choice critics is akin to resisting the demise of launched in Cleveland in 1995, had an equally pro-communism because the free markets that would found effect on me. It has permanently etched theemerge might be subjected to government regula- figure "one in 14" in my memory. You see, chil-tion. This is hardly a Hobson's choice. dren in the Cleveland Public Schools have a one- Virtually all libertarian arguments against in-14 chance of graduating on schedule with se-parental choice are grounded in hypothetical nior-level proficiency. They also have a one-in-14speculation. And the greatest antidote to specula- chance, each year, of being victimized by crime intion is reality. But even the critics' worst case does their school. When a school district can offer itsnot trump the value of choice. The critics of children no greater chance of learning the skillschoice point to the example of American higher they need to become responsible citizens than ofeducation as the ultimate horror story of govern- being victimized by crime during the school day,ment control. In the 1980s, the U.S. Supreme we are in serious jeopardy. Court ruled that postsecondary institutions that accept any federal fundseven student loan guar- The Specter of Regulation anteesmust also submit to federal regulation. So I do not mean to diminish the ever-presentfederal regulators have now ensnared all but a specter of government regulation of privatehandful of fiercely independent private colleges. schools. When it was enacted in 1990, Milwaukee's But from the standpoint of our current system of elementary and secondary education, this so- called nightmare looks more like a dream. Liber- tarian alarmists warn that vouchers will lead to a system of primary and secondary schools under monolithic government control. But that's exactly what we have already! Only 11 percent of Ameri- ca's children attend independent elementary and secondary schools, while 89 percent attend government schools. Moreover, private schools already are subject to regulations concerning health and safety, nondiscrimination, the length of the school year, curriculum content, and the like. In my view, our overwhelming concern should be for those children who are already captive of the educational standards and ideological dogma of the public-school monolith. Surely any reform that diminishes the near-monopoly status of government schoolingeven at the cost of greater regulation of private schoolswill still yield a net increase in freedom. We should be particularly confident of that outcome when the mechanism of school-choice program was not only challenged inreform is a transfer of power over educational de- court, but also sentenced to death by bureaucraticcisions from bureaucrats to parents. strangulation. The education establishment insist- Moreover, the regulatory threat to private- ed that private schools meet all state and federalschool independence is simply not illuminated by regulations applicable to public schools. Not sur-reference to higher education. In that instance, prisingly, every single private school refused tofederal oversight entered an arena of vibrant com- participate under those conditions. We foughtpetition between a vigorous and effective public th ese regulations in court even as we were defend-sector and a vigorous and effective private sector. ing the program's constitutionality. The horizons for elementary and secondary The regulatory threat from federal school-schools, by contrast, are limited by a, dominant, choice proposals is even more ominous. For ex-overregulated, and ineffective public sector. The ample, when some members of Congress pro-likely main outcome of expanding access to the

56 highly effective, lightly regulated private sector willvate-school education but desperately need it. be to deregulate the public sector. A second safeguard is the U.S. Constitution it- And that is exactly what we are seeing. Theself. First Amendment precedents forbid "exces- mere prospect of school choice has alreadysive entanglement" between the state and religious sparked deregulation of public schools. In Mil-schools. If regulations supplant essential school au- waukee, efforts to increase regulation of privatetonomy, they will be struck down. schools have failed, while the public sector has re- Perhaps most important, the power of the edu- sponded to choice by allowing more flexibility incation establishment will diminish in exact pro- the management of public schools and passing twoportion to the power gained by parents. The edu- charter-school statutes. In Arizona, a 1994 parentalcation establishment fights every meaningful choice proposal in the state legislature failed byparental choice proposal as if its very survival de- just a few votes, but a "compromise" produced thepends on itbecause it does. nation's most ambitious charter-school legislation. The more zealous and irresponsible libertarian Today, one-sixth of public schools in Arizona arecritics oppose vouchers because they wish to see charter schools, many of which are operated bythe system of government-run schools collapse al- private nonprofit and for-profit entities. together. The reality is that the public funding of education enjoys nearly unanimous public sup- The Marketplace Meets the Classroom port. The most extreme libertarians are missing Parental choice is the cornerstone of market-indeed, helping to defeatthe chance to end the oriented education reforms. If we liberate publicgovernment-school monopoly and to allow public education funding from the grip of school districtseducation to take place outside the public sector. and let children take it wherever they go, we will For some of the kids involved, getting out of create a dynamic educational marketplace. I pre-inner-city public schools is literally a matter of life dict that, if we expand these reforms across the na-and death. Many of my libertarian opponents on tion, then public schools will quickly lose theirthis issue are people of enormous good will, but eight-to-one advantage in enrollment. Instead we will enjoy a system of choice among government schools, quasi-public charter schools, quasi-private The fear of government regulation is valid, but not a charter schools, and private schools; in sum, a system far more free than the command-and-control sound basis for denying opportunity to children who system to which the overwhelming majority of desperately need a private-school education. America's children are confined today. I would remind critics of choice that other safe-when I see them blocking the exits for these chil- guards support a firewall against excessive regula-dren, I cannot look upon them with affection. I tion. First, private schools can decide for them-understand, even share, their concerns about gov- selves whether to accept choice funding from theernment's destructive power. But I do not under- government. In Milwaukee, when choice was ex-stand why they fail to see where the interests of panded to religious schools, they were all forced to freedom lie in this fight. think long and hard about participating and ac- To them Isay: When you actively oppose cepting the modest regulations imposed by theparental choice, please know what you are doing. program. In the end, more than 100 of 122 privateYou are aiding and abetting the most reactionary schools in the city agreed to participate. Criticsforces in American society. They trot you out and worry that schools may be unwisely tempted by theuse you to preserve the status quo. It is a perverse prospect of funding, or that they will tolerate ris-spectacle. ing regulation after becoming dependent on the Ted Kennedy... Jesse Jackson.. . Kweisi funding. For the many inner-city schools that areMfume .. Eleanor Holmes Norton ... Norman approaching insolvency, this may not be a bad Lear. ... Bill Clinton ... Richard Riley. ... Keith deal. But that is a choice that the schools should beGeiger ... Sandra Feldman ... Bob Chase. Among trusted to make on their ownand anti-voucherthose enemies of change, my fellow libertarians do libertarians who argue otherwise are indulging innot belong, for they want what Fwant: freedom. I uncharacteristic paternalism. believe that a system of parental choice would Some schools will exercise their fundamentalmark the greatest domestic expansion of freedom right not to participate. At the elementary and sec-in this century. ondary level, many families can afford the median Friends, come over to the freedom side. private tuition of $2,500 to $3,500. We always will have private schools that thrive outside of a choice Clint Bolick is the vice president and the director of litiga- system, and we should vigorously protect those tion of the Institute far Justice, a public-interest law firm schools. But that is not a sound basis for denying based in Washington, D.C. This article is adapted from a opportunity to children who cannot afford a pri- debate at The HerzgFoundaiion.

57 Washington Monthly, May 1998 A Vital Compromise

It's time to give vouchers a try in our worst public schools

BY RICHARD WHITMIRE

EMINDERS OF THE SORRY STATE OF Skills. Privately, I put the school to the parent test: our urban public schools wash over us Would I send my two school-age daughters here? No daily in waves of headlines about high problem. failure rates, collapsing school build- Shortly after my visit to Houston, I decided to ngs,andincompetentteachers. check out Loyola Catholic Grade School in Denver, Meanwhile, the politicized debate between private- which draws on the same inner-city children the Den- school voucher proponents and public-school ver public schools are serving so erratically. In defenders has become almost as numbing as the sto- exchange for a laughably small annual tuition of $1,950, ries of school failure. As an education reporter for a the children who spend a few years under the strict national chain of newspapers, I have found the tutelage of Principal Sister Mary Ellen Roach leave rhetoric on both sides to be at odds with the reality. well educated, well disciplined, and motivated. And, Caught up in the ferocity of the debate, many advo- yes, they also look great on the Iowa Test of Basic cates seem to have lost touch with the basic question Skills: Loyola third graders, nearly all black, score in that should be at the root of reform: What are the the 72nd Rercentile in math and the fifth graders score ingredients of a successful school in a poor district? in the 76th percentile in reading. Same question: To Let's start with Houston's Roosevelt Elementary, avoid one of Denver's lousy public schools would I a jewel of a school in a neighborhood strewn with prefer to send my children to a school run by Sister barbed wire and broken glass. This is an area where Mary Ellen? Absolutely. children arrive unable to identify colors, let alone let- The good work of Charlotte Parker proves the ters. An astonishing 41 percent of the school's fami- teachers unions right when they say there are good lies move every year and 60 percent of the children public schools out there. And the equally impressive come from single-parent homes. In short, Roosevelt work of Sister Mary Ellen Roach shows voucher advo- has all the makings of a horror story headline school. cates right in saying some children fart better in pri- But since arriving five years ago, principal Charlotte vate schools. There has to be a grand compromise Parker has fued up her staff, muscled the district here, a way out of, the all-or-nothing voucher debate, bureaucrats aside to win more teacher planning time, a third way that focuses on the inner-city children and, taken on the nationally acclaimed "Success for who need help'thempst and allows both public and Alr reading-program. By the 4th grade you can bare- private schools to flourish. ly tell her kids apart from their suburban counterparts Thanks to' .New York philanthropist Virginia on the. TAAS, the Texas Assessment of Academic Gilder, we have .a;glimpse of a. possible grand compromise in Albariy!sl:Giffen Memorial Elementary. RICHARD WIWI-MIRE it an education reporter ftr Gannett News Located in one of;Albany's saddest neighborhoods, Service.: , practically in the 'shadow of the state capital, Giffen was a mess just a year ago, with unruly, crowded class- the marketplace can even work in public education," es where children learned little: Less than a half the says the Hudson Institute's Chester Finn about Gil- third graders were meeting minimum state reading len. "The school system responded by giving the standards. school a makeover!' Here's what Gilder offered the Giffen parents: Hence the makings of the grand compromise, a Choose any private school you wish and I will guar- limited voucher experiment with dual aims: offer safe- antee tuition up to $2,000 a year. That set off a mad ty valves to academically ambitious inner-city par- scramble that lasted for months, with the school dis- ents and students, while giving school districts a kick- trict crying foul and minority parents debating an in-the-pants motivation to seek out more Charlotte offer that smelled suspiciously like right-wing raw Parkers from within their ranks. The notion of a meat. It's still too early to draw a final conclusion grand education compromise isn't new. Former Clin- about the Giffen experiment or the other vouch- ton advisor Bill Galston and education conservative ; er programs being funded by philanthropists in urban Diane Ravitch have called for a national experiment areas such as Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles. So to test vouchers in several cities. "A lot of low-income far 13 children have returned to Giffen, many for dis- parents have reached the end of their patience with ! ciplinary problems they faced in private schools. And the education status quo," says Galston. Catholic elementary and middle schools aren't always An education compromise may seem unlikely, but an option: 40 percent now have waiting lists. But most it's actually less revolutionary than other recent social of the families of the roughly 100 children in the Gif- developments. Only a few years ago conventional wis-

, fen voucher program appear pleased. "It's wonderful," dom held that welfare reform was unworkable and a says Jennifer Davis, whose first-grade son, Brandon, decrease in violent crime impossible. Moreover, the

;attends St. James Institute, a Catholic elementary pieces of an education compromise are beginning to school. Not only has Brandon learned to read English, line up: While the NAACP is sticking with the unions' I but he's also excited about the Spanish course he takes anti-voucher line, black leaders have to be nervous there. Parents who decided to keep their children at about the fast rising support for vouchers among black Giffen also have reason to cheer. The Albany school parents. In Denver, where Sister Mary Ellen continues district brought in a vibrant, motivated principal to embarrass Denver school officials with her success who sounds a lot like Houston's Charlotte Parker record with African-American students, black parents along with two new assistant principals. The district have brought suit to force the city's school system to also transferred seven teachers out of the school, grant both the vouchers and the transportation need- invested $125,000 in fresh materials, established com- ed to get their children to private school. The most munity outreach and literacy programs, and is con- recent Phi Delta Kappa poll shows support for vouch- sidering bringing in the highly regarded "Success for ers among blacks jumped from 42 to 62 percent in a All" program to boost reading skills. single year. 'We do not normally get a 20-point swing Albany school officials, however, are loath to admit in one year," said one Phi Delta Kappa pollster. the voucher program brought about even a single How long can black leaders stand in the way of reform. The most Giffen's new principal, Maxine what black parents want? No one can say, but former Fantroy-Ford, will budge on that question is to say, "I Rep. Floyd Flake of New York, who is pro-voucher, think it speeded it up!' The seven teachers, says Albany claims that "there is an urgency and desperation on superintendent Lonnie Palmer, were sent to schools the part of parents to not lose another generation of with a "less disadvantaged" student population. "We've their children!' Prominent black columnist William seen a significant improvement in the disciplinary cli- Raspberry, a longtime defender of public schools, mate and parental involvement," says Palmer. "We announced his decision on May 30 with a column anticipate and hope we will see improvements in test titled "A Reluctant Convert to School Choice!' In fact, scores in the spring!' Like Giffen's principal, Palmer there's a heated private debate taking place over , says the voucher offer only speeded up reforms at vouchers among black leaders. Listen to this hint frOm Giffen: "Because of the media attention we were able Urban League President Hugh Price: "If urban to get' greater support from the teacher's union and schools as we know them continue to fail in the:face others to make the changes in a more rapid. fashion!' of all we know about how to improve them:then But Palmer's actions speak louder than her Words,. your customers will be obliged to shop elsewhere for Fighting it all the way, Palmer nonetheless proves the a quality education!' point of the pro-voucher argument. "The theory. Of Blacks aren't the only ones joining the grand coin-

59 promise. Those Democrats who have flourished thanks to the support soccer moms have shown them on education issues have to be worried about recent signs that Republicans have figured out how to turn

, the education issue in their favor. James Gilmore won the Virginia State House with a campaign vowing to put more teachers in classrooms. And Sen. Al D'Am- ato's pollsters have selected one big issue to once again win reelection against the odds: vilify the teachers' unions. Granted, the sight of Senator Pothole posing as the Education Senator is not pretty. But consider this: D'Amato's sure-footed pollsters have a solid history of bailing out their man, so they probably know something that should worry the unions. And it may not be that hard to see. How could anyone miss the recent spectacle of 23,000 families applying for 1,300 private-school scholarships in New York? Does that mean the teachers' unions might see a limited experiment as a good political compromise? Not likely. The unions can be counted on to call in their last favor with the last state legislator to block even limited voucher experiments. American Feder- ation of Teachers President Sandra Feldman calls the Republican interest in vouchers a "cruel hoax," and shes undoubtedly right that many conservatives are more interested in bashing unions than helping inner- city children. But that was no cruel hoax happening in Sister Mary Ellen Roach's school. For the moment, forget about the power politics and imagine yourself having to answer this question. An urban mother who has played by all the rules took her pregnancy seriously, read to her child, enforced discipline, nourished academic interest comes to you and asks: How can my children learn in these chaotic classrooms? Go ahead, look her in the eye and try to explain this country doesn't owe her child an education. This grand compromise is not about bashing either teachers or public schools. The sad reality is that there simply aren't enough Charlotte Parkers to go around. While some states, such as Texas, deserve a lot of credit for generating more educators like her, most school districts simply lack the motivation. They need a shot in the arm, and limited voucher programs could be just what the doctor ordered. That's where the compromise kicks in: If Giffen Elementary is any predictor of the future of targeted voucher programs, public schools could end up winners as well. Let's not limit these inner-city. voucher programs to the whims of a handful of multimillionaires. Let the public experiments. begin. -

6 5 60 (SW' Selected Readings on School Reform Standards, Tests, and Accountability

The struggle to establish rigorous standards continues to challenge the education industry. Many schools have weakened their standards to meet community expectations concerning grades and college admissions. This leads to serious academic shortcomings for many students. How can a school set challenging standards for its students while ensuring that each individual can achieve them? Reporter Kent Fischer dives into these issues in his account of social promotion"Promoting Failure"from The St. Petersburg Times. Fischer details the unfortunate consequences of separating academic progress from grade promotion in Florida's schools. Calling attention to increasingly widespread grade inflation and repetitive curriculum, Fischer explains that social promotion "erode(s) the quality of everyone's education." State lawmakers have begun to address the problem through statewide tests that require remediation and retention for students that fail to meet the standard for their grade. Grade inflation also poses an obvious threat to academic standards, a threat that becomes even more pernicious when it is mixed with a form of affirmative action on behalf of low achievers. The San Francisco Chronicle exposes one school's effort to sever the grade distribution from individual student achievement. The principal of Balboa High School sent a memo to teachers setting numerical targets for A's, B's, and C'sthe day before the quarter's grades were due. Ellen Nakashima's Washington Post piece, "New School of Thought on Tests," documents how hard it is to hold schools to a uniform standard while allowing for the special challenges that some schools face. Schools that serve poor and transient students are at an obvious disadvantage when competing with wealthier, more stable counterparts on standardized tests. Nakashima notes that policymakers are finding it expedient to measure outcomes according to additional criteria such as socioeconomic status and prior achievement levels. We thought that the problem of disparate expectations was one that standards were supposed to eradicate. Finally, Donna Harrington-Lueker's "States Raise the Bar," in The American School Board Journal, examines the challenge of integrating standards into actual classrooms. The author recounts the experiences of several districts in implementing standards-based curricula. The new standards reshaped the schools' entire culture, requiring different approaches to professional development, textbooks and curricula, and student evaluation.

MAS

61 130 St. Petersburg Times, May 17; 1998

Promoting Failure by Kent Fisher Less than 3 percent of all students advance in this way each He's a second-grader, who towers over his classmates. But year. But that percentage reflect only those social promotions he's a year being in reading, and his frustrated teachers at where a principal makes the decision, passes the child reports Centennial Elementary Schools in Dade City are wondering that action to the state. Since 1993, Florida principals have what to do next. His teacher flips through a green folder: handed out 175,000 documented social promotions. Tutoring, special education testing, a personal reading program. But that's not nearly the half of it. None of it worked. Interviews with educational researchers and scores of teachers What next? Should they hold John back -- make him repeat reveal that thousands more social promotions occur, quietly, in second grade? Or should he get a "social promotion," which the classroom and don't show up in state statistics. They're the would send the boy to third grade despite his slow progress. results of pressure from administrators to keep failure rates down, dumbed down assignments, questionable extra--credit John's teacher pushes for social promotion. He is taller and work, and withering academic standards. more mature than his classmates and may feel out of place with second-graders next year, she argues. Repeating the grade How pervasive is the problem? Almost 60 percent of Pasco probably won't help. Besides, his teacher continues, John does teachers responding to a Times survey said official social good work on the few occasions when he applies himself. promotions force them to lower their standards and to teach weaker lessons to all students. The 11 others shoehomed around the conference table nod. They know keeping him back probably won't help catch him "In my class, if the students make even half an effort, they'll up. If anything, a retention will dramatically increase the get an A or a B," said Gail Reynolds, a veteran English teacher chances that he will eventually become a drop out. at Zephryhills High School. "These kids would have had to work very hard for a C 20 years ago. We're accepting less and "Through my daily observations and his work habits, I feel he's less." critically low in reading and writing," the teacher says of John, whose real name is withheld as part of the agreement that Dozens of teachers told the Times that at least one in every four allowed a Times reporter to witness the meeting. Florida school children is not academically qualified for the grade they're in. Yet each year, school promote about 95 "What about retention?" asks assistant principal Eva percent of their students to the next grade. Hunsberger. "One of the biggest problems we've created for ourselves is the "I don't think so," the teacher says, shaking her head. "I just expanded use of social promotions," said Education don't see him as a good candidate for so many reasons. He's Commissioner Frank Brogan. 'The bottom line is we have to really big." stop pushing kids ahead when they are not ready. When you socially promote large numbers of students, you pull down "Maturity. Size," says another teacher. what you expect of all students." "And he's very street-smart," John's teacher continues. "I The numbers prove his point: would be worried about motivational issues....I don't know that we accomplish anything" with a retention. 25 percent of eleventh- and twelfth- graders failed last That brings more nods from the group. year's state graduation test -- which is set at about the ninth-grad level "Okay, gotcha," Hunsberger says. "We'll promote him and invite him to summer school." 40 percent of Florida college freshman weren't ready for college last year and had to take remedial courses instead. John, who barely has the skills of a second-grader, will be a Cost: $15-million a year. third-grader next year. This month in Florida schools, principals will push ahead another 45,000 students like John. 40 percent of Pinellas County school children can't read at their grade level, according to a recent report. Over time, critics say, those well-intentioned promotions cheapen the education of II children. They erode classroom 42 percent of Hillsborough County forth graders scored so standards, inflate grades, and teach kids that hard work doesn't low on a statewide writing test last year that hey would not count. have met a key requirement of the district's new promotion standards. Lowering the Bar Now, top officials of the Florida Department of Education have Educators socially promote children to keep them interested in declared war on what Brogan calls "the wholesale use of social learning despite their academic setbacks. promotions." 62 6 7 A scene last month at Bayonet Point Middle School in Pasco ever be hired again full-time. County illustrates their concerns: Many students in Jim Wilcox's eighth-grade earth-science class strain over a simple The irony of the thing, he said, is that by the end of the year, project. Working in pairs, the students construct time lines of not many kids in his Social Studies class flunked. the history of the universe. The assignment was little more than an exercise in converting decimals, something all the "I was making them work, holding them to a standard," Barry students had previously studied -- and supposedly mastered. said. "They responded to it. Once they know you're serious, they can do the work." "To go from millimeters to centimeters, how many decimal places do we go?" Wilcox asks the class. Math teacher Dean Johnson had a similar experience. He has consistently had good evaluations at Dunedin High School. "Three," shouts one student. But in 1993 and 1994, he was criticized for failing too many students (40 per cent got F's one semester). On both "One," shouts the rest of the class. evaluations, an administrator detailed the percentage of D's and F's he gave to students, and in 1994 wrote: "Rates too high." "Right. Which way do we move it?" Wilcox asks the class. Many teachers find it difficult to stand up to administrators. "To the right," answer about six students. So, they do just about anything to ensure that their students pass. They accept assignments months after they're due. They "No, to the left, the rest of the class says loudly. contrive easy extra credit projects so students can gain enough points to reach a passing grade. They give "open book" tests, A girl in the front row raises her hand. where students use their notebooks to look up answers.

"We did time lines in sixth-grade and we did measurement last Hudson Middle School teacher Cliff Taylor gives bonus points year," she says. "Why do we have to do it again?" when students return a report card with a parent's signature on it. He'll do the same thing if a parent signs an assignment that Despite explicit directions and the decimal rehash, about a third their child flunked. of the students appear to be lost or completely uninterested. Fifteen minutes before the class ends, two girls sit on the floor "Technically they're earning points for not learning anything, in the back of the room. The only mark on their time line is the but I'm at least making the parent aware of the problem," black line they drew down the middle of it. They have not Taylor said. converted a single measurement. And then there is the ever-present "participation points," which "Mr. Wilcox, we need help," says one, chewing on a green students earn for being attentive in class. It lets kids, as one fingernail. "Where do we start?" teacher put it, "earn points for breathing." In Pasco County, those points account for one-quarter of a student's grade. Pressure to Pass As part of a reading-comprehension test, English teacher Carol Critics trace the rise of social promotions in Florida schools to Dull required her students to write a summary of a recent the '80s, when headlines screamed about Florida's embarrassing reading assignment. Ten of her students didn't do it and high dropout rate. received a grade of zero. Later, Dull realized the zeros would make it extremely hard for the students to pass the class. Knowing that retention contributes to the dropout rate, principals focused on ways to help students bring up their So she decided to use the exercise as a bonus assignment, not a grades. Some teachers say that translated into pressure to pass graded exam. Students who scored better than 80 on the kids, no matter what. assignment received 10 bonus points. The others -- including the 10 who didn't do it at all -- got nothing extra. But they Teachers who flunk more than 10 per cent of their students are didn't get zeros either. sometimes seen as poor teachers and may get bad job evaluations. "These are the kinds of things I'll do to compensate because so any (students) have never been asked to work hard," said Dull, John Barry discovered early one school year that the kids in his who teaches at River Ridge High School in Pasco County. class at Tarpon Springs Middle School were not accustomed to "What am I supposed to do with a kid who can't write a hard work. complete sentence?"

The best way to handle it, he thought, was to tell the students Kids say social promotion does teach the one thing: why work exactly what he expected of them, and let the grades fall where hard when you don't have to? they may. More than half his students got D's and F's during the first half of the year. Shannon Hinrichs said that, in middle school, she loved to cause trouble. She skipped school and slid by doing as little "I got called on the carpet for that," Barry said, recalling his work as possible. When she got to high school, she was 1995 job evaluation. "They got the grades they deserved. But I reading on a third-grade level. was told, flat out, the grades had to come up." "It's a lot harder because you don't know how to read, you don't Barry's evaluation wasn't good that year. He was cited for know how to spell," she said of high school. "I want a high using sarcasm with students and for missing faculty meetings. school diploma, but it's really hard because I'm so far behind." But much of the evaluation details the F's and D's he handed out. He's a substitute teacher now, and doesn't think he will A sophomore now, Shannon is in a dropout prevention class at

63 3 Ridgewood High in Pasco County. In less than two years, she promotion. The key is instructional support and better trained has improved her reading sills by three grade levels and has her teachers." eye on graduation. her teachers think she can do it. Shannon knows it won't be easy. Knowing all this, educators have long wrangled with the promotion/retention dilemma. "It's my own doing," she says of the hard work ahead. "If I wanted to make A's (in middle school) I could have." Most school districts strictly limit the number of times students can be held back. Students in Pasco and Pinellas counties, for Why didn't she? example, can be held back only once in elementary school and once in middle school, no matter how bad their grades. In most "Because I knew they would pass me. They always did." districts, principals must weigh a student's social and emotional health, as well as their physical size, maturity and attitude A Tough Call toward school.

Florida lawmakers are pressing to halt such automatic Until recently, Pasco County's promotion policy stated: "Poor promotions. (grades) and/or performance on achievement tests need not result in retention." Two years ago, the state Cabinet adopted the "Sunshine State Standards," certain key skills all children are to master by the Even in Hillsborough, which last year adopted tough new end of elementary, middle and high school. To see how well promotion policies, principals can consider holding a child those standards are being met, the state spent $25-million to back only when the student's "physical, social and emotional create a new series of tests, called Florida Comprehensive development support a retention decision." Assessment Test, or FCAT. The new tests cost $7-million a year to administer. The new policy, however, is coupled with clear academic standards each child must meet in order to earn a promotion. The results of the first round of tests came our Monday. Brogan labeled "somewhat sobering" the statewide average "The lines are very clear now," said Marilyn Blackmer, an score of around 300 out of a possible 500. elementary curriculum specialist in Hillsborough. "Principals know exactly what the criteria are..." In future years, a lot will ride on FCAT scores: whether fifth- and eighth-graders go on to middle and high school, and Principals say they have to consider social and emotional whether high school students will get their diplomas. factors because after a retention, students are older and often more mature than their classmates. They can feel out of place Meanwhile, districts have until July 1 to comply with a new and sometimes look out of place. The awkwardness can lead to law, quietly passed by last year's Legislature. It orders schools discipline problems, which put the children further behind. to create academic standards for each grade. Students who fail Retained students often see themselves as failures, which does to meet them in grades 2, 3 and 4 will be held back if they are nothing to help them catch up academically. still behind after a year of remedial help. What does help them catch up is remediationlots of it. And "Social promotions will have a very small place -- if at all -- in that, teachers say, is the key. They can live with social this system," said David Ashburn, a state deputy education promotion if the kids get intense extra help. Of course, that's commissioner in charge of instruction and assessment. "We expensive and all too often, the help doesn't come. Or when it want all students to be able to read, write and compute before does, the help doesn't work. Remediation then falls to the they get promoted, not after." classroom teachers.

Florida isn't the only state cracking down on social promotion. That's when social promotion begins to erode the quality of Districts in Chicago, New York, Seattle, Boston and Texas are everyone' s education. clamping down on social promotion. "We do a lot of remediation, and you'll find we aren't teaching It's an admirable goal, proponents of social promotion say. But as much of the curriculum because of it," said Mike Phillips, a it's also unrealistic and terribly short-sighted. seventh-grade math teacher at Hudson Middle School in Pasco County. Many factors outside the classroom influence a child's success in school. In fact, the single most decisive predictor of The Snowball Effect academic success is the attitude of a child's parents. Poverty, health problems and learning disabilities also figure into the In the weeks before Christmas vacation, a fifth-grade student in equation. Wendy Carswell's class had finally started learning how to multiply and divide. Carswell planned to start teaching Furthermore, few educators think retaining students does them fractions after the holidays, but Carswell knew the girl needed any good. to hone more basic skills before tackling new material.

Hard and fast retention policies had their day in the 70's and So while the rest of her class at Centennial Elementary in Dade were failures, according to Oscar Robinson, the director of City tackled fractions, the girl went to another teacher for extra elementary education in Pinellas County. help in multiplication and division. It meant she would probably miss fractions altogether, and go to middle school Under the old system "we had a lot of kids going to middle knowing little about them. school already to drop out," he said. "Personally, I think we make too big a deal out of promotion, retention and social "I would rather send her to sixth grade having mastered 64 6 9 multiplication and division and not been exposed to fractions, Zephyrhills recommended she repeat first grade. Her mother, than send her on having mastered neither," Carswell said. Denise, refused, and the school promoted Heather. A year "Why hold a child back for an entire year if they have a deficit later, Heather's second-grade teacher also recommended a in just one area?" retention. Denise was again resolute: Move her on.

That seems fair, if the focus is on that one child. But critics say My husband was adamant about keeping her back, but I it may not be fair to that child's new classmates. wasn't," Denise Belasic said. "When you hold your child back people look at you like your child isn't as smart as theirs. When students progress without basic skills, teachers down the line must help them catch up. That takes time away from the Three years later, Heather still struggles in school. Her reading majority of students, who aren't behind. skills are adequate, but she has difficulty comprehending what she reads. As a result, she's behind in almost every subject. Eighth-grade math teacher Bill Kollenbaum, for example, exhausts half the school year re-teaching elementary math: Her mother can't help but feel partly to blame. rounding whole numbers, computing fractions, solving simple word problems. Did she read to her daughter enough? Should she have sent Heather to pre-school? If she volunteered more in school, Then he squeezes the entire eighth-grade curriculum, which would she have noticed her daughter's academic troubles? sets the foundation for algebra, into the last half of the school year. "She was behind from the first day of first grade," Denise Belasic said. "Why didn't I notice it? I felt that I should have "I'm teaching sixth-grade material in the eighth grade," said been more involved. I felt like I didn't do my job. If we had Kollenbaum, a 30-year classroom veteran who teaches at held her back, maybe she wouldn't have so much trouble." Hudson Middle in Pasco. "These kids can't compute." Heather's test scores aren't low enough to qualify her for Yet the kids will continue to pass through school, no matter special education or other intensive remedial help. The how badly they perform. That's especially true if the student Belasics pay a teacher $25 to tutor Heather once a week after had already been retained. school. But Heather still struggles.

Ten days ago, some educators at Bay Point Middle in Pinellas "When I see that my child needs extra help and the school isn't County sat down to decide what to do with one such child. offering it, I don't understand that," Denise Belasic said.

He is a 14-year-old sixth-grader, two to three years older than Vivian Bowman is in a similar situation. Her youngest son, his classmates. Retained twice already, he is pretty much Ronald Squire, is in sixth-grade and also is struggling to read. guaranteed promotions throughout the rest of middle school, even though he's absent 75 percent of the time. Throughout school, Ronald's report cards gave few hints of serious academic trouble. Although he twice attended a "He's bigger than everyone else, and older," said principal summer school, his teachers at Gulfport Elementary in Pinellas Dennis Griffin. "Now, he doesn't come to school because he County gave the boy mostly B's. A school counselor wrote doesn't want to be in class with little kids." that Ronald was "attentive, motivated and puts forth good effort." Griffin, a guidance counselor and an assistant principal sort through the boy's file, thinking aloud as they go. The file But even in fifth grade, Ronald struggled to read even the shows a steady string of F's. His classmates tease him, and he simplest books. Bowman requested a tutor and special often responds with threats. education testing, but Ronald's fifth-grade teacher said there was no cause for alarm. "No way, obviously, we can retain this kid," Griffin says. "There's no point in sending him to summer school." Last summer, Bowman enrolled Ronald at Central Christian, a St. Petersburg private school. He lasted less than two weeks. "He won't go," replies counselor Linda Rounsaville. "They told me he was four years behind," Bowman said. "He's For a minute they even contemplate putting him in eighth grade headed for a criminal life. Nobody's going to hire him if he with kids closer to his own age, but decide against it. Griffin can't read." fills out a form letter to the boy's parents, informing them of his decision to promote their son to seventh grade despite his Ronald is embarrassed by his troubles in school, and he fears atrocious grades. his classmates will tease him if they find out he has a hard time reading. "I don't want to mislead anyone into thinking he's ready for seventh grade," Griffin said after the meeting. "I' m doing a lot better than I used to because my mom makes me read every night," he says sheepishly. The Anguish of Failure Bowman fears her son will never catch up to other kids his age. Sometimes schools want to hold children back, only to have the decision vetoed by the parents. They see retention as the "They were just giving him the grades," she says angrily. greater evil, an academic Scarlet Letter that brands their "They were just passing him along." children, and themselves, as failures.

Heather Belasic's teacher at Woodland Elementary in

65 San Francisco Chronicle, April 4, 1998

Teachers Told to Pump Up Grades Quota of 5% more A's, B's, C's asked at S.F. high school by Nanette Asimov

Administrators at a San Francisco high school than half of all first-time freshmen in the California State are giving teachers until June to "increase the number of University system, 54 percent, failed to pass an entry- A's, B's and C's by 5 percent" over last year's grades, level math placement test. Nearly half, 47 percent, failed according to a memo obtained by The Chronicle. the English placement test. The four-paragraph note immediately prompted "If grades are inflated and don't measure the charges among educators that the school is inflating true achievement of the students, then they become grades and concerns that the policy is a symptom of a eligible for universities but cannot succeed academically disturbing national trend: rising grades, but sinking when they get there," said Kirst, who is also co-director student performance. of Policy Analysis for California Education. The College The document, dated March 23, carefully Board, which administers the SAT, has been "alarmed," explains that teachers at Balboa High School do not need Kirst said, that the grade-point average is going up much to increase each of the three grades by 5 percent, but faster than SAT scores are. "Either the SATs are not a "the combined total of all the A's, B's and C's by 5 good measure of performance, or there's a lot of grade percent." inflation out there," he said. Principal Elaine Koury denied that she and Pressure to produce attractive "academic assistant Principal Gloria Galindo, whose name appears indicators" is especially intense in San Francisco. on the memo, want teachers to inflate student grades. Schools are expected to improve each year according to a "This is an opportunity for people to enter into variety of measures that include test scores, dropout discussion about how they can change their strategies to ratesand eligibility to attend UC Berkeley. help more students succeed," Koury said. "The reason Those numbers are touted in an annual news we talked about A's B's and C's is that those are the letter conference and posted on the district's web site. Between grades acceptable to college. Even though D is a passing, 1990 and 1995, for example, the number of freshmen grade, a college is not going to accept that." from San Francisco who registered at UC Berkeley rose At Balboa, angry teachers called the memo by 67 percent. And from schools other than prestigious "insulting." Speaking anonymously, many said they will Lowell, the number rose by 139 percent. ignore it. "No one is requiring increased grades," said "I will not give students grades they don't Bob Harrington, the assistant superintendent who deserve," said one teacher. "It implies that teachers at monitors the numbers. He said he had not seen the Balboa should lower their standards. I think the principal Balboa memo and abruptly cut off a reporter who tried to is under a lot of pressure to make our school look good." read it to him. Henrietta Schwartz, dean of the schools of Principal Koury said the effort to increase education for the California State University system, college-eligible grades is part of a school-wide effort to called it "an infringement of academic freedom." help urban teens stay in school. "What right does the administration have to influence "We've really been reaching out," she said. the way in which teachers give grades? I hope teachers "Whenever we saw a kid that looked like the kid wasn't will resist this." Principal Koury's concern about college going to make it, we'd grab the kid's coattail and say, eligibility -- and her solution -- are not unique. But they 'You can do this.' " may create unrealistic expectations for college freshmen. But some teachers said Koury's efforts may now For example, 31.5 percent of freshmen at have gone too far. The memo appeared, they said, one UCLA reported having an "A" average in high school in day before third-quarter grades were due. 1996, compared with 28.1 percent in 1995 and 12.5 One teacher marveled at the memo's edict to percent in 1969, writes Stanford education professor meet a 5-percent higher quota of grades, while Mike Kirst. maintaining high standards. "My standards are already But even as grades are up, academic incredible," said the teacher. "I've seen a drop in grades performance is down. this year. But when they leave my class, they're going to Just last week, state figures showed that more be incredible students."

66 71 Washington Post, May 26, 1998 New Schoolof ThoughtonTests Some EthwatorsWant Socioeconomic Issues Considere4Too schools in poor communities outshine some By ELLEN NAKASHIMA schools in far tonier neighborhoods. Washington Post Staff Writer "If you simply look at absolute scores of Langley Park-McCormick Ele- students or dropout rates, you're not taking mentary Principal Patricia Kelly into account the different challenges that shudders whenever test scores are schools confront," said Willis D. Hawley, dean released by the State of Maryland. of the College of Education at the University of "I take them home and look at Maryland. "The social background of students them privatelyfirst,"says the plays a big role in their level of achievement." Prince George'S Counti educator, But many of the same educators who support "to make sure I can get my act the approach fear it is too complex to be understood by the public. And some parents together." The school, which has one of the and educators are concerned that analyzing test scores through the prism of poverty or race can highest concentrations of poor send a dangerous message: that we should children in one of the wealthiest expect less of some children because they are regions of the country, has consis- poor or members of a minority group. tently ranked near the bottom in "It's a cop-out," said Malik Chaka, head of the its perforniance on slate tests. !African American Parents Community Educa- "It's hard to see our scores ition Consortium, a Montgomery County advo- compared with other schools', be- !cacy group. "It provides a ready-made excuse cause it looks like we're notdoing a for Montgomery County public schools' failure very good job," said Kelly,whose to adequately educate some children. TU me, it Hyattsville school has 640 stu- almost reeks of the 'Bell Curve' kind of think- dentsmore than half of whom ing, that kids can't achieve because they are will come or go at some point poor or because they're black or because they during the year and only 17 per- are Hispanics." cent of whose parents have a high As the push to raise academic standards school education. "It's dishearten- intensifies nationwide, so, too, has the debate ing, because we know how hard we over how to deal with the socioeconomically disadvantagedarguably the most volatile is- work." But test scores alone do not tell sue in education today. the story, officials say. What if, in The education journal Education Week fea-, evaluating a school, you took into tured the debate over the "value-added" ap- account how many poor children it proach to measuring performance in a recent has? What if you looked at how test article on new academic research. And in Virginia, where schools by 2004 must have at scores have improved overall, not least 70 percent of their students passing new just what the scores are? tests or risk losing accreditation, critics say the That's what some school offi- state should make special allowances for cials in the Washington region and schools with a high percentage of poor students across the nation are doing outof and for schools that post low but improved concern for fairness asthey re- scores. spond to public pressure for proof But Virginia education officials say higher that schools are performing better. standards are meaningless if schools are not Using what some educators call measured by the same tape. a "value-added" approach to gaug- "Public education is supposed to be the great ing performance, school officials in equalizer," state Board of Education member Montgomery and Prince George's Lil Tuttle said. "When we let compassion for a counties have become the first present situation override what we know is in locally to give credit to schools that the child's best long-term interest, we do him or raise the achievement of harder-to; her a tremendous disservice." reach, poor children. In fact, when Nonetheless, in Montgomery and Prince evaluated on those terms, some 1George's, the new method has boosted teacher

67 7 2 morale. Advocates say they hope it will improve weed out wealth as a differential among teacher effectiveness and student performance. schools. "Remove the excuses. Remove the In Alexandria, the School Board discussed the advantages. Now how well did we do?" Adcock issue last week, and Fairfax officials are study- said. ing it as part of a larger push to address school accountability. A similar, though simpler, exercise takes place in Montgomery. There, statisticians plot a In Prince George's, researchers have devel- school's poverty rate and its average score on oped a method to weigh poverty in assessing the county's achievement tests, called Criterion schools' improvement over the years in the Referenced Tests. Maryland School Performance Assessment Pro- Broad Acres Elementary in Silver Spring has gram. The adjusted scores do not change the more poor children than any other county official scores. And the new snapshots of school progress, because they are statistically difficult elementary school. Yet, applying the value- added index, Broad Acres in 1994 scored higher than would be expected for its category in "It's disheartening, third-grade math than did Bannockburn Ele- mentary School in Bethesda, which has a poverty rate less than 5 percent and scored because we know how much lower than schools with similar affluence. "In many, many ways, this is a very good way hard we work." to reflect data, because people are seeing the total picture," said Mary D'Ovidio, Broad Acres .6- Principal Pat* b Kelly, principal. "If they don't see the total picture, Langley. Part-McCormick Elementary School, then they look at the scores and say, 'I don't on perceptlons.ot loW test scores want my child going to that school.' " As in Prince Georges, the Montgomery to explain, are used mainly by staff, although information is used primarily to help staff the public has access to them. members learn what's working in schools that In Montgomery, officials divide schools into are performing well and to identify those that five categories according to wealth, then com- need to work hardereven if their scores are pare county test scores among schools within already fairly high. those categories. Comparisons can be made "Yes, you feel bad," said Jane Butler, Ban- across the wealth dividefocusing on how far nockburn Elementary principal, of her school's above or below the expected norm a school is low. 1994 math scores. "But you don't let it stop for its category. All schools are ultimately held you from growing." to the same standard. In fact, after the scores were released, Butler "Continuous improvement toward a higher and her staff redoubled efforts to improve standard is as important as hitting that stan- teacher instruction and identify students wild dard," Montgomery Associate Superintendent needed extra help. Last year, the school's Steven G. Seleznow said. "When schools are third-grade math scores reached the average for maldng successive leaps toward that goal, then the wealthy school group. those people need to know that they're doing William L. Sanders, director of the Universi- the right thing and need to be recognized for it." ty of Tennessee value-added research center, Sunny Sipes, a statistical specialist with the has designed one of the first and most widely Prince George's County schools, put it thisway: known models to measure school performance "If you're in a school that's already performing by tracking individual students over the years. well, it's really no indication of how well you've He calls suburban schools "whose kids are run that school to look at just test scores." For coming to school with all the advantages" and the past four years, Sipes and research director that don't make efforts to improve their scores Eugene Adcock have experimented with mod- "sliders and gliders." els to give schools a fair shake in the ratings "I have caught more political hell in Tennes- game. Although they have found that class size, see from the schools like that than from the student ethnicity and degree of teacher training inner-city schools," said Sanders, who has been affect test scores, the most significant factor is hired by Montgomery to help with its value- poverty, Adcock said. added project. "I've leveled the playing field, To level the playing field, Adcock performsa and a lot of the schools don't like leveling the series of complex statistical operations that playing field."

6873 American School Board Journal, June 1998

States Raise the Bar Now local schooldistricts areaccountable for results

hen Rhode Island embarked on an ambitious standards-based effort to raise the bar for student BY DONNA HARRINGTON-LUEKER performance two years ago, state officials knew the hurdles would be ligh. Just how high became dear last fall when the state released the results of its new mathematics assessment In the past, Rhode Island schools had gauged students' progress against standardized tests that invariably ranked the children at the 50th or 52nd percentile. But instead of measuring student achievement against a national norm, the new test showed how well students did on new state performance goals. The results were sobering. Forty-four percent of the state's eighth-gradersfailed to meet the new standards on basic mathematical skills such asaddition and subtraction, and only 19 percent reached the state's goal on problem-solving. "We really weren't at all surprised," Peter McWalters, Rhode Island's commissioner of education, says of the results. -The new test just confirmed our fear that we were being falsely complacent about our test scores." As state legislatures and state departments of education continue their push to adopt new academic standards, Rhode Island's experience is becoming common- place. Currently, most states are either working on or have adopted statewide standards, and this year, according to the Denver-based National Conference of State Legislatures, a significant number of those states have plans to link their standards to rigorous new assessments and accountability measures. This year, for example, Coloradoone of the leaders in standards-based reformis considering a bill that would tie a school's accreditation to its use of new assessments that have been aligned with the state's standards. Rhode Island last year passed legislation that allows the state's commissioner of education to intervene in districts that aren't making progress toward state goals. Report cards showing how well local districts are doing, takeover provisions for low-performing schools, and requirements that students pass state tests in order to graduate are other high-stakes options under consideration or already adopted. "We're hearing states say, 'We've done standards, and now we're moving on to other issues," says Julie Bell, NCSI2s education program director. "Accountability is key" Now comes the hard part As state legislatures move beyond standards to rewards and sanctions, though, many local districts are still struggling to align their curriculawith new state standards, prepare teachers to work with standards, develop programs for students who fall behind, and make other changes in the way they deliver instruction. 'The easiest part of the worksetting the standardsis now done in many

Donna Harrington-Lueker, a former managing editor of The American School Board Journal, is a freelance writer in Newport, R.I.

69 7 4 places," says Robert Schwartz, director of Achieve,a Cam- lesson plans linked to the new standards, and it has put the bridge, Mass., based nonprofit group committed to stan- lessons on its Internet web site (the lessons can be found at dards-based reform. The hardest taskgetting from the ww. w. lausd.k12.ca.us/lausd/offices/instruct/resources/ adoption of good standards to actual changes in classroom forms/index.html). Further, it has encouraged schools to practicelies ahead, Schwartz and others say. pool their Title I money and use their federal bilingual "It's not a question of raising the bar and just shouting, funds to support standards. 'Higher," says Schwartz. Given that high academic standards imply a high level of Kati Haycock, director of the Education Trust in Wash- consistencywhat's deemed excellent at one school must ington, D.C., cites a similar concern. "The language of stan- also be deemed excellent at anotherEvans says the dis- dards is just further along than the practice of standards- trict also has encouraged teachers to study actual student based reform," says Haycock, whose group works with a work and develop scoring guides, which the district field- national network of high-poverty urban and rural schools. tested this past year. "Right now, people are inventing as they go along." Schools, in turn, are beginning to take a close look at Further, while some schools have worked doggedlyover how to align their curriculum with the new standards. At the last five years to incorporate standards into their curric- Foshay Learning Center, a year-round school in south-cen- ula, others have only begun the effort. And some districts tral Los Angeles, teachers are working in departments and admit they are just going through the motions of adopting teams to identify which standards might already be re- state standards and then leaving them to gather dust on the flected in their lessons, says Howard Lappin, principal of shelf. "They just don't think it'll matter," says one advocate. the 3,300-student school. Ninety-five percent of Foshay's That's a risky strategy, though, given the push for rewards students live in poverty, and the school has a transiency and sanctions in state legislatures. "No one takes it seriously rate of nearly 60 percent. until the first round of test scores," says one policy specialist. To help teachers focus on standards and develop new But complying with state directives isn't the only reason course materials, the school has also assigned a full-time to embrace standards-based reform. With its emphasis on teacher to serve as a coach to help other teachers with les- rigorous content for all students, advocates say, this reform son plans and curriculum. That kind of commitment to pro- has the potential to boost the achievement levels of young- viding new instructional resources is a necessity when a sters who live in poverty school adopts new standards, Lappin says: "With standards- "Standards-based reform is not a panacea," says Haycock. based reform, you can't just rest on the textbook." "But we know from our work in the classrooms that we ask In the second year of a five-year reform plan based on too little of all American kids." That lack of rigor is "10 times new standards and assessments, the Boston Public Schools worse" in high-poverty schools, Haycock says. And without are taking similar steps. The school system already has es- clear guidance about which work is good enough, schools tablished citywide learning standards based on Mas- inevitably settle for low expectations for poor children. sachusetts's new curriculum frameworks and developed "Without a clear sense of what you want students to do, with an eye to what the state's highest-performing districts you run the risk of heading off in stupid directions," Hay- expect of their students. (The city's standards can be found cock says. at www.boston.k12.ma.ust) Boston's language arts and Two urban districts mathematics standards are already being used in the district; next year, science standards will be available as well. Two city school districts in the early stages of standards- The district is also adopting stiff graduation require- based reform offer a glimpse of what's involved in putting ments: Beginning in 2003, Boston students will have to pass standards in place. new state assessments in English, mathematics, science, The Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation's sec- and social science plus a standardized test in reading and ond-largest school system, began its push for standards- mathematics. They'll also have to complete a position paper based reform in 1995-96 when it began to develop standards in history and social studies, a science fair project, and an in core subjects using various state and national standards in-depth literature study and make an oral presentation in a as its guide, says Joan Evans, the district's director of as- foreign language. sessment of student achievement programs. (See sidebar.) Getting students and schools to that level will be difficult, In addition, Evans says, the district involved more than though. "The big issues are money, time, and professional 60,000 parents, students, teachers, union representatives, development," says Sidney Smith, director of curriculum and community members in the standards-setting process. and instructional practices. That kind of involvement "gave us ownership from every- Kathleen Flannery, principal of Everett Elementary body," Evans says. School, sees both sides of the coin. "Standards clarify what But getting the standards into the classroom has proved we're doing in a thousand different ways," says Flannery. a challenge. As a first step, Evans says, the district trans- "Everyone has to understand what good kindergarten, first-, lated information about standards-based reform into five and second-grade work looks like." But, she says, standards languages (Armenian, English, Cantonese, Spanish, and Ko- need to be "perfectly aligned" with textbooks and assess- rean) and sent it home to parents. It also trained more than ments. Two years into the reform, she and others agree, 3,600 teachers, parents, and principals in the essentials of that kind of alignment hasn't taken place. standards-based curriculum and assessmentenough to A commitment to standards also requires principals to reform a group of between four and 16 people in each school turn to their roles as instructional leaders and work closely in the district. with teachers on curriculum and instructiona change for Recognizing that teachers and schools would need addi- many urban principals who "have been traditionally mired tional instructional resources to teach to the new standards, down in operational and management issues," says Flannery. the district has also encouraged efforts to develop sample And standards-based reform takes money. A local educa- 70 ri i tion foundation has agreed to provide $5 million to support crucial. "I eventually envision a district file cabinet full of standards and literacy in the district As a result, 27 Boston units on a particular standard that teachers can copy and schools will receive nearly $300,000 each over four years to use in their own classrooms," Blaine says. fund their work on standards. Agreeing on what children at each grade level need to be able to do is important as well, Blaine points out "We have Standards and rural districts to have a consensus: This is what we'll focus on in kinder- The issues aren't that different in rural school districts garten. This is what we'll focus on in fourth grade. ...We like the Whiteriver Unified School District A remote school have to be able to say, These are the skills a kindergartner district located entirely on the Fort Apache Indian reserva- should know so that in 12th grade he'll be OK'" tion in northeast Arizona, Whiteriver is working to align its Lessons and hurdles curriculum with Arizona's statewide standards. The district, which enrolls 2,800 students, is also part of a nationwide Those who have worked with standards-based reform network, sponsored by the Education Trust, that links high- elsewhere offer their own prescriptions for success, includ- poverty rural school systems committed to using standards ing learning to analyze data on student achievement, invest- to raise achievement in mathematics and science. ing in professional development, and simply staying fo- As in Boston and Los Angeles, schools in Whiteriver are cused. still in the planning stages of reform. Each of the district's "You have to realizeat the school level, this is bedlam," five schools has adopted a plan to use standards, says says Marilyn Willis Crawford, a former middle school prin- Michelle Blaine, director of curriculum and professional de- cipal in Kentucky and coauthor of Learning in Overdrive, a velopment in Whiteriver, and teachers are working dis- book about standards-based reform. Schools that begin to trictwide to define the kind of work students should be work with standards-based reform often have other reforms doing and the quality of that work. "Everyone has to have in place as well, and the reforms don't always mesh, she common standards to work from," says Blaine. says. As with any reform, too, schools involved in standards But raising the level of awareness of the standardsand must continue with the daily business of schooling. 'There's how they can drive reformis slow work. "Time's our everything going on that you've always had going on: ball biggest hurdletime to talk to one another, time to build a games, registering new kids, puddles in the parking lot, consensus about what the standards mean," says Blaine. In- switching on the air conditioner," says Crawford. structional resources are an issue as well. Textbooks typi- Often, the pressure to maintain the existing system is cally don't reflect the new standards, she says, so develop- strong. "All the pieces that we accept as 'school' involve a ing new teaching units and new instructional materials is sorting mechanism in which some kids get an A and some get a D," says Crawford. "And when you start talking about standards, you upset that sorting mechanism." The problem? "To have a valedictorian, you have to have someone sort low." Many districts struggle with testing issues as well. Many of the new assessments are costly to administer, and schools often add these assessments to traditional tests. Such so-called test creep can be costly. 'These are new bills you have to pay," says John Vidal, assistant superintendent for support services in the Jefferson County, Colo., public schools. Vidal estimates it will cost his school district nearly $1 million to administer the new fourth-grade assessment at its 94 elementary schools. To use standards to drive student achievement also requires an ability to measure a school's progress with hard datasome- thing schools have not traditionally done well. Specifically, districts engaged in standards-based reform must routinely analyze data on student achievementthe number of students completing algebra and geometry, the number 76 enrolled in Advanced Placement 7 l classes, the number receiving D's and F's, and so on. At the building level, schools also need to break that data down according to race, gender, and even classroom teacher. "You have to know who's moving kids," says Crawford. The results can be appre- ciable. One Los Angeles middle school, Evans says, used achievement data to jdentify students most at riskthose who received D'sor and several teachers are workingon research in their class- -Fs in one or more classes. Those students then attended rooms. In addition, every school has an outside consultant before- or after-school tutorial programs four daysa week, in staff development who works with teacherstwo to three aad their parents signed compacts, agreeing to attendone days a week. Satarday session a month. Fifteen weeks after the school Fmding time for such professional developmentcan be began the program, only seven students out of 277re- difficult, Levine allows. As part of its standards effort, for mained on the list. example, the district has extended the school day andyear Another district that tracks achievement is Portland, Ore. so that children have more time to reach the new goals. To measure the progress students are making and identify But, asks Levine, "if you extend the schoolyear into July students whose gains are too slow, the district analyzes indi- and do professional development in August, when doyour vidual student performance in grades 3, 5, 8, and 10. "They teachers get a break?" Some schools hold breakfastor ask themselves, `Will this student get where he needsto be lunch meetings once a week to address standards. by grade 10, or is the slope too gradual?'"says Marguerite At the same time, too, the district has had toreassess its Roza, who works with schools in the Pew Network for Stan- spending. "It's not that you need extra resources,"says .' dards-Based Reform, of which Portland isa part. Levine, "but you do have to rethink howyou spend them." \ Susan Pimentel, a consultanton standards, agrees. "You Among the changes: The district no longeruses aides or want to use the data to look at which kids still aren'tper- paraprofessionals, and many schools don't have assistant forming," says Pimentel, who's been involved in standards- principals. based reform in Beaufort, S.C., and Charlotte-Mecklen- "We just gave up a lot of administrative overhead," Levine burg, N.C., both leaders in the standards movement. says. Changing practice The district, which currently spends 5 percent of its budget on professional development, has also received grants Perhaps the largest issue facing schools working with from the federal Office of Educational Research and Im- standards is the need to make a substantial commitment to provement, the National Science Foundation, and some pri- teacher training. Schwartz and others familiar with thestan- vate foundations. dards movement say many teachers don't have the in-depth The effort and the investment have begun topay off, knowledge of the subject matter they need to teach to high Levine says: According to test scores, the district currently standards, especially in mathematics and science. "The abil- ranks No. 2 in the city. Before standards and other reforms, ity to deliver an ambitious curriculum,an ambitious set of the district ranked 13th. standards, may not be there," he says. ".. Haycock agrees. "Most teachers have neitherthe inclina- Buzzword or reform? tion nor the background to deliver high-quality curriculum But will standards last? Advocates acknowledge that the to all students," she says. And in urban districts, where movement has a certain momentum now. Most states have large numbers of teachers often endup teaching classes used federal money to establish standards, and if they hold outside their field, the problem is most acute. "We're just schools accountable for those standards with rigorousas- way ahead of where teachers are," says Haycock. sessments, that momentum could continue. So long as par- One district that has made professional developmenta ents and the business community continue to express their priority is New York City's Community School District No. dissatisfaction with public schools and clamor for rigor, the 2. A member of the New Standards Project, Community push for standards could continue as well. "It'sa movement School District No. 2 is in its thirdyear of standards-based born largely of dissatisfaction," says J.E. Stone, a professor reform. Among its findings: One-shot workshopson iso- of education at East Tennessee State University who views lated topics don't work, says Denise Levine, the district'sdi- the standards movement skeptically rector of standards. Instead, the district has begun offering Even proponents worry that standards will becomea on-site graduate-level courses in subjects like advanced buzzword rather than a reform, or that as school districts mathematics. realize how difficult standards-based reform really is, they'll A group of teachers also meetsonce a month to discuss revert to the belief that high standards are necessary for laticles on standards-based reform and issues aboutstan- only the top 20 percent of U.S. students. dards. (One current issue, Levinesays, is how schools can Schwartz cautions against that impulse: "This whole balance an emphasis on literacy with high standards.) Prin- movement is only worth doing if it's accompanied by a con- cipals have their own network focusingon standards issues, certed effort to focus on kids at the bottom." 72 7 7 (SR)2 Selected Readings on School Reform Teacher Talent

Two terrific entries lead off our teacher section. First, HeatherMac Donald's superb City Journal essay explains "Why Johnny's Teacher Can'tTeach." Mac Donald endured hours of ed. school nonsense to deliver this investigative report. 'She pulls no punches in her searing indictment of theseinstitutions and their ideological "thoughtworld," shabby standards, and ivory-towerperspectives. Her observations are supported in "A Confederacy of Constructivists," anoriginal contribution from Richard Slettvet, who recounts his ownunhappy ed. school experience. Slettvet, who was expelled from a teacher certification program,is a nationally published writer and adjunct instructor of businessand economics for City University, Bellevue, Washington. Economists Dale Ballou and Michael Podgursky are among the most informed critics of the teacher preparation establishment. Here we serve up a double portion of their research. Writing in The Public Interest,they critically examine the recommendations of the National Commission onTeaching and America's Future (NCTAF), and build "The Case Against TeacherCertification." In their Education Week article, "Some unanswered QuestionsConcerning National Board Certification of Teachers," Ballou and Podgursky arguethat national board certification isn't all it's cracked up to be. Then what should we do to strengthen the teathing ranks? In"Squeezing the Lemons of Teaching," Chris Satullo of The PhiladelphiaInquirer publicizes Robert Strauss's unusualand we think intriguingsolution: let parentschoose their child's teacher each year. Those without any "clients"would be out of a job. Ellen Belcher, a perceptive and reform-minded editor at theDayton Daily News, recently went undercover as a "temporary substitute"teacher in several Dayton-area schoolsand lived to tell about it. "There Are No Secrets inSchools" was the final installment in amarvelous five-part series, in which Belcher reflects on the lessons she learned from lifein the trenches. If you'd like to see the whole series, you can access it through the Dayton Daily News web site at www.activedayton.com/ddn. Our final article in this section ("Divided They Stand" by PeterSchrag of The New Republic) is already old newsat the time of printing,the NEA rank-and-file had just left the AFT at the alter. Why then include it? To remind youof the fate we've barely escaped.

BRW

7 3 73 City Journal, Spring 1998 Why Johnny's Teacher Can't Teach Heather Mac Donald

mericans'nearlylast- tors will occasionally allow the word to pass their place finish in the Third lips, but it is always in a compromised position, as International Mathematics in "constructing one's own knowledge," or "con- and Sciences Study of stu- textualized knowledge." Plain old knowledge, the dent achievement caused kind passed down in books, the kind for which widespread consternation Faust sold his soul, that is out. this February, except in the one place it should have mattered most: the The education profession currently stands ready nation's teacher education schools. Those schools to tighten its already vise-like grip on teacher cre- have far more important things to do thanworry- dentialing, persuading both the federal governing about test scoresthings like stampingout racism in aspiring teachers. "Let's be honest," dark- ment and the states to "professionalize" teaching fur- ly commanded Professor Valerie Henning- ther. In New York, as elsewhere, that means closing Piedmont to a lecture hall of education studentsat off any routes to the classroom that do not pass Columbia University's Teachers College last through an education school. But before caving in to February. "What labels do you placeon young the educrats' pressure, we had better take a hard people based on your biases?" It would be difficult look at what education schools actually teach. to imagine a less likely group of bigots than these idealistic young people, happily toting around Thecourse in "Curriculum and Teaching in their Handbooks of Multicultural Education and their Elementary Education" that Professor Anne exposés of sexism in the classroom. But Teachers Nelson (a pseudonym) teaches at the City College College knows better. It knows that most of itsstu- of New York is a good place to start. Dressed in a dents, by virtue of being white,are complicitous in tailored brown suit with close-cropped hair, an unjust power structure. Nelson is a charismatic teacher, with a commanding repertoire of voices and personae. And yet, for The crusade against racism is just the latest irrele- all her obvious experience and common sense, her vancy to seize the nation's teacher education course is a remarkable exercise in vacuousness. schools. For over 80 years, teacher education in America has been in the grip ofan immutable As with most education classes, the title of dogma, responsible for endless educationalnon- Professor Nelson's course doesn't givea clear sense. That dogma may be sense of what it is about. Unfortunately, Professor Ed schoolssummed up in the phrase: purveyAnything But Knowledge. multiculturallSchools are about many things, teacher educators sensitivity,say (depending on the metacognition,decade)self-actualization, community-following one's joy, social adjustment, or multicultural buildingsensitivitybut the one anything butthing they are not about is knowledge.knowledge. Oh sure, educa-

7 3 74 Why Johnny's Teacher Can't Teach

Nelson doesn't, either. The semester began, she how you felt in these small groups." The students said in a pre-class interview, by "building a com- are picking up ed-speak. "It shifted the comfort munity, rich of talk, in which students look at zone," reveals one. "It was just acceptance; I felt the what they themselves are doing by in-class writ- vibe going through the group." Another adds: "I felt ing." On this, the third meeting of the semester, really comfortable; I had trust there." Nelson senses Professor Nelson said that she would be "getting a "teachable moment." "Let's talk about that," she the students to develop the subtext of what they're interjects. 'We are building trust in this class; we are doing." I would soon discover why Professor learning how to work with each other." Nelson was so vague. Now, let us note what this class was not: it was "Developing the subtext" turns out to involve a not about how to keep the attention of eight-year- chain reaction of solipsistic moments. After taking olds or plan a lesson or make the Pilgrims real to attendance andmost admirablyquicldy check- first-graders. It did not, in other words, contain ing the students' weekly handwriting practice, any material (with the exception of the student- Professor Nelson begins the main work of the day: teacher guidelines) from the outside world. generating feather-light "texts," both written and Instead, it continuously spun its own subject mat- oral, for immediate group analysis. She asks the ter out of itself. Like a relationship that consists of students to write for seven minutes on each of obsessively analyzing the relationship, the only three questions: "What excites me about teaching?" content of the course was the course itself. "What concerns me about teaching?" and then, the moment that brands this class as hopelessly How did such navel gazing come to be central to steeped in the Anything But Knowledge credo: teacher education? It is the almost inevitable con- 'What was it like to do this writing?" sequence of the Anything But Knowledge doctrine, born in a burst of quintessentially American This last question triggers a quickening volley of anti-intellectual fervor in the wake of World War I. self-reflexive turns. After the students read aloud Educators within the federal government and at their predictable reflections on teaching, Professor Columbia's Teachers College issued a clarion call Nelson asks: "What are you hearing?" A young to schools: cast off the traditional academic cur- man states the obvious: "Everyone seems to be riculum and start preparing young people for the reflecting on what their anxieties are." This is too demands of modern life. America is a forward- straightforward an answer. Professor Nelson looking country, they boasted; what need have we translates into ed-speak: "So writing gave you perfor such impractical disciplines as Greek, Latin, mission to think on paper about what's there." Ed- and higher math? Instead, let the students then speak dresses up the most mundane processes in flooding the schools take such useful courses as dramatic terminologyone doesn't just write, one family membership, hygiene, and the worthy use is "given permission to think on the paper"; one of leisure time. "Life adjustment," not wisdom or doesn't converse, one "negotiates meaning." Then, learning, was to be the goal of education. like a champion tennis player finishing off a set, Nelson reaches for the ultimate level of self-reflex- The early decades of this century forged the central ivity and drives it home: 'What was it like to listen educational fallacy of our time: that one can think to each other's responses?" without having anything to think about. Knowledge is changing too fast to be transmitted usefully to stu- The self-reflection isn't over yet, however. The dents, argued William Heard Kilpatrick of Teachers class next moves into small groupsalong with College, the most influenfial American educator of in-class writing, the most pervasive gimmick in the century; instead of teaching children dead facts progressive classrooms todayto discuss a set of and figures, schools should teach them "critical student-teaching guidelines. After ten minutes, thinking," he wrote in 1925. What matters is not Nelson interrupts the by-now lively and largely what you know, but whether you know how to look off-topic conversations, and asks: "Let's talk about it up, so that you can be a "lifelong learner."

e 75 Two final doctrines rounded out the indelible depends on preexisting knowl- legacy of progressivism. First, Harold Rugg's The edge. Moreover, if you don't Child-Centered School (1928) shifted the locus of know in what century the power in the classroom from the teacher to the atomic bomb was dropped student. In a child-centered class, the child deter- without rushing to an encyclo- mines what he wants to learn. Forcing children pedia, you cannot fully partici- into an existing curriculum inhibits their self-actu- pateinsociety.Lastly, alization, Rugg argued, just as forcing them into Ed-speak Kilpatrick's influential asser- neat rows of chairs and desks inhibits their cre- dresses up tion that knowledge was ativity. The teacher becomes an enabler, an advi- the most changing too fast to be taught sor; not, heaven forbid, the transmitter of a pre- mundane presupposes a blinkered defini- existing body of ideas, texts, or, worst of all, facts. processes in tionofknowledgethat In today's jargon, the child should "construct" his excludes the great works and own knowledge rather than passively receive it. dramatic enterprises of the past. By the late 1920s, students were moving their terminology chairs around to form groups of "active learners" one doesn't The rejection of testing rests on pursuing their own individual interests, and,just write, premises as flawed as the push instead of a curriculum, the student-centered one is "givenfor "critical thinking skills." classroom followed just one principle: "activity permission toProgressives argue that if tests leading to further activity without badness," in think on the exist, then teachers will "teach Kilpatrick's words. Today's educators still present to the test"a bad thing, in these seven-decade-old practices as cutting-edge. paper." their view. But why would "teaching to a test" that asked As E. D. Hirsch observes, the child-centered doc- for, say, the causes of the Civil War be bad for stu- trine grew out of the romantic idealization of chil- dents? Additionally, progressives complain that dren. If the child was, in Wordsworth's words, a testing provokes rote memorizationagain, a bad "Mighty Prophet! Seer Blest!" then who needs thing. One of the most tragically influential educa- teachers? But the Mighty Prophet emerged from tion professors today, Columbia's Linda Darling- student-centered schools ever more ignorant and Hammond, director of the National Commission incurious as the schools became more vacuous. By on Teaching and America's Future, an advocacy the 1940s and 1950s, schools were offering classes group for increased teacher "professionalization," in how to put on nail polish and how to act on a gives a telling example of what she considers a date. The notion that learning should push stu- criminally bad test in her hackneyed 1997 brief for dents out of their narrow world had been lost. progressive education, The Right to Learn. She points disdainfully to the following question from The final cornerstone of progressive theory was the 1995 New York State Regents Exam in biology the disdain for report cards and objective tests of (required for high school graduation) as "a rote knowledge. These inhibit authentic learning, recall of isolated facts and vocabulary terms":"The Kilpatrick argued; and he carried the day, to the tissue which conducts organic food through a vas- eternal joy of students everywhere. cular plant is composed of: (1) Cambium cells; (2) Xylem cells; (3) Phloem cells; (4) Epidermal cells." The foregoing doctrinesare complete bunk, but bunk that has survived virtually unchanged to the Only a know-nothing could be offended by so present. The notion that one can teach "metacogni- innocent a question. It never occurs to Darling- live" thinking in the abstract is senseless. Students Hammond that there may be a joy in mastering the need to learn something to learn how to learn at all. parts of a plant or the organelles of # cell, and that The claim that prior knowledge is superfluous such memorization constitutes learning. Moreover, because one can always look it up, preferably on when, in the progressives' view, will a student ever the Internet, is equally senseless. Effective research be held accountable for such knowledge? Does

81 76 Why Johnny's Teacher Can't Teach

Darling-Hammond believe that a student can pur- "Community-building" is one of their most urgent sue a career in, say, molecular biology or inmedi- concerns. Teacher educators conceive of theirclasses cine without it? And how else will that learning be as sites of profound political engagement,out of demonstrated, if not in a test? But of course such which the new egalitarian order will emerge. A case testing will produce unequal results, and that is the in point is Columbia's required class, "Teaching real target of Darling-Hammond's animus. English in Diverse Social and Cultural Contexts," taught by Professor Barbara Tenney (a pseudonym). Once you dismiss real knowledge as the goal of "I want to work at a very conscious level with you to education, you have to find something else to do. build community in this class," Tenney tells her That's why the Anything But Knowledge doctrine attentive students on the first day of the semester leads directly to Professor Nelson's odd course. In this spring. "You can do it consciously, and you thousands of education schools across the country, ought to do it in your own classes." Community- teachers are generating little moments of meaning, building starts by making nameplates for our desks. which they then subject to instant replay. Then we all find a partner to interview about each Educators call this "constructing knowledge," a other's "identity." Over the course of the semester, fatuous label for something that is neither con- each student will conduct two more "identity" inter- struction nor knowledge but mere game playing. views with different partners. After the interview, Teacher educators, though, possess a primitive the inevitable self-reflexive moment arrives, when relationship to words. They believe that if they just Tenney asks: "How did it work?" This is a sign that label something "critical thinking" or "community- we are on our way to "constructing knowledge." building," these activities will magically occur. A hallmark of community-building is its overheated For all the ed school talk of freedom from the rhetoric. The education professor acts as if she were past, teacher education in this century has been facing a pack of snarling Serbs and Croats, rather more unchanging than Miss Havisham. Like aging than a bunch of well-mannered young ladies (the vestal virgins, today's schools lovingly guard the vast majority of education students), hoping for a ancient flame of progressivism. Since the 1920s good grade. So the community-building assign- they have not had a single new idea; they have ments attack nonexistent problems of conflict. merely gussied up old concepts in new rhetoric, Tenney, sporting a black leather miniskirt and a cas- most recently in the jargon of minority empower- cade of blond curls, hands out a sheet of paper and ment. To enter an education classroom, therefore, asks us to respond to the questions: "What climate is to witness a timeless ritual, embedded in an would allow you to do your best work? How authority structure of unions and state education should a class act to encourage open and honest and departments as rigid as the Vatican. critical dialogue?" We write for a while, then read our response to our interview partner. It is a didactic ritual as well. The education professor's credo is: As I do unto you, so shall you do Now is this question really necessary, especially unto your students. The education professor "mod- for a group of college graduates? Good classroom els" how she wants her students to teach by her etiquette is hardly a mystery. In the evil tradition- own classroom methods. Such a practice is based al classroom, and probably also at Teachers on a glaring fallacythat methods that work pass- College, if a student calls another a fathead, thus ably well with committed 22-year-olds, paying discouraging "open and honest and critical dia- $1,800 a course for your wisdom, will translate logue," the teacher would simply reprimand him, seamlessly to a class of seven- or twelve-year-olds. and everyone would understand perfectly well what just happened and why. Consensus already The Anything But Knowledge credo leaves educa- exists on civil behavior. But the education class- tion professors and their acolytes free to concentrate room, lacking a pressing agenda in concrete on far more pressing matters than how to teach the knowledge, has to "problematize" the most auto- facts of history or the rules of sentence construction. matic social routines.

77 8 2 Of course, no amount of writing about the condi- voice." Another Columbia tions for "open dialogue" can change the fact that student in the Education discussion is not open on many issues at Teachers Administration program com- College and other progressive bastions. "If you plains that "teachers here let don't demonstrate the correct point of view," says a the group projects run wild." student, "people are hostile. There's a herd mentali- At $1,800 a course, it's frustrat- ty here." A former student of Tenney's describes the ing "when the last four sessions difficulties of dissent from the party line on racism: "Ili you don'tof a class are group projects 'There's nothing to be gained from challenging it. If demonstratethat are all garbage." Lastly, you deny that the system inherently privileges small group discussions have a whites, you're 'not taking responsibility for your the correct habit of careening off the position in racism. Doubtless, it would never point off assigned topic. The professors occur to Professor Tenney that the problem this stu- view," says ararely intervene, however, says dent describes impedes community-building. student, a Teachers College student, "people are "because they don't want to Au this artificial "community-building,"however hostile. interfere with the interaction." gratifying to the professors, has nothing to do with There's a herd learning. Learning is ultimately a solitary activity: mentaity The elevation of the group entails we have only one brain, and at some point we must the demotion of teachersyet exercise it in private. One could learn an immense here." another plank in the Anything amount about Schubert's lieder or calculus without But Knowledge platform. To ever knowing the name of one's seatmate. Such a accord teachers any superior role in the classroom view is heresy to the education establishment, would be to acknowledge an elite hierarchy of determined, as Rita Kramer has noted, to eradicate knowledge, possessed by some but not all, at least any opportunity for individual accomplishment, without effort. Teachers traditionally represent elit- with its sinister risk of superior achievement. For ism, learning, authorityeverything that progres- the educrats, the group is the irreducible unit of sivism scornsand so they must be relegated to the learning. Fueling this principle is the gap in role of mere facilitators for the all-important group. achievement between whites and Asians, on the one hand, and other minorities on the other. Linda Darling-Hammond's description of collab- Unwilling to adopt the discipline and teaching prac- orative learning perfectly captures how inextrica- tices that would help reduce that gap, the education ble the political is from the educational inpro- establishment tries to conceal it under group projects. gressive theory. "Whereas traditional classrooms tend to be still but for the sound of teacher talk- And so the ultimate community-building mecha- ing, learning-centered classrooms feature student nism is the ubiquitous "collaborative group." No talk and collective action." (The "learning-cen- activity is too solitary to escape assignment to a tered classroom" is Darling-Hammond's jargon group: writing, reading, researching, thinking for a student-centered classroom.) "Collective all are better done with many partners, according action"how exciting! But though lots of undi- to educational dogma. If you see an ed school rected "student talk" hardly seems conducive to class sitting up in straight rows, call a doctor, learning, progressives abhor quiet. David because it means the professor has had a heart Schaafsma, one of Columbia's more politicized attack and couldn't arrange the class into groups. teachers, told his English Methods class of visiting a quiet third-grade class in the Bronx, For all their "progressive" sympathies, not all ed explaining: "It terrifies me when kids are really students like this regime. "I'm a socialist at heart," really still. They've got to move." It never occurs says one of Tenney's students, establishing her to these apostles of the Free Self that for many bona fides, "but some tasks, like writing, are not inner-city children, reaching a state of calm atten- collaborative. It's hard when someone loses their tion is a wonderful achievement.

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Collaborative learning leads naturally to another tic of the progressive classroom: "brainstorming." Rather than lecture to a class, the teacher asks the class its opinion about something and lists the responses on the blackboard. Nothing much happens after that; brainstorming, like various forms of community-building, appears to be an end in itself. Hunter College professor Faith DiCaprio (a pseudonym) recently used two levels of brain- stormingwhole group and small groupwith her "Language and Literacy in Early Childhood" class. The class had just read Wally's Stories by Vivian Paley, essentially a transcript of freewheel- ing discussions among kindergartners in a progressive classroom. First, DiCaprio asked her students what they liked about the book. As students called out their responses"I liked how she didn't correct the students," "She reminded us why a child-centered room is so necessary: she didn't intrude on their conversation"DiCaprio writes rectly presume that the students will have learned their responses in abbreviated ed-speak on big everything they need to know in their other or posted sheets of paper: 'Tolerance: they negotiated previous college courses, and that the teacher cer- meaning" and "Created safe arena." tification exams will screen out people who didn't.

After DiCaprio fills up the posted pages, nothing Even if college education were reliably rigorous happens. Nothing needs to happen, for the lists of and comprehensive, education majors aren't the responses are visible proof of how much the class students most likely to profit from it. Nationally, already knows. We have just "constructed knowl- undergraduate education majors have lower SAT edge." On to the next brainstorming exercise. This and ACT scores than students in any other pro- time, it's a twoferbrainstorming plus collabora- gram of study. Only 16 percent of education tive learning. DiCaprio breaks the class into small majors scored in the top quartile of 1992-93 gradu- groups. Their assignment: list and categorize the ates, compared with 33 percent of humanities topics discussed by the kindergartners in Wally's majors. Education majors were overrepresented in Stories. So the students dutifully make lists of the bottom quartile, at 30 percent. In New York fairies, food, plants, Witches, and other meaty mat- City, many education majors have an uncertain ters. One outspoken girl enthuses to her group: command of EnglishI saw one education stu- "And the kids were smart, they were like, 'The dent at City College repeatedly write "choce" for turnips push up with the roots,' and I was like, "choice"and appear altogether ill at ease in a class- 'How'd they know that?" After the groups com- room. To presume anything about this population plete their lists, they read them to the rest of the without a rigorous content exit exam is unwarranted. class. Learning tally? Almost zero. The laissez-faire attitude toward student knowl- Theconsequences of the Anything But edge rests on "principled" grounds, as well as on Knowledge credo for intellectual standards have see-no-evil inertia. Many education professors been dire. Education professors are remarkably embrace the facile post-structuralist view that casual when it comes to determining whether knowledge is always political. "An education pro- their students actually know anything, rarely ask- gram can't have content [knowledge] specifics," ing them, for example, what can you tell us about explains Migdalia Romero, chair of Hunter the American Revolution? The ed schools incor- College's Department of Curriculum .and

8 4 79 Why Johnny's Teacher Can't Teach

Teaching, "because then you have a point of view. Certification Exams are a complete abdication of Once you define exactly what finite knowledge is, the state's responsibility for ensuring an educated it becomes a perspective." The notion that a culture teaching force. If any teachers in the state know could possess a pre-political common store of texts anything about American history, English litera- and ideas is anathema to the modem academic. ture, or chemistry, it is a complete accident, for the state's highest education authorities have not the The most powerful dodge regurgitates William slightest interest in finding out. The Liberal Arts Heard Kilpatrick's classic "critical thinking" scam. and Sciences Test, the ticket to a teacher's first five Asked whether a future teacher should know the years in a classroom, contains absolutely no sub- date of the 1812 war, Professor Romero replied: stance; at most, it tests reading skills. The test 'Teaching and learning is not about dates, facts, preparation booklet is a classic of educationese. and figures, but about developing criticalThe exam section on "Historical and Social thinking." When pressed if there were not some Scientific Awareness" (note: not "knowledge"), for core facts that a teacher or student should know, example, tests teachers' "understanding [of] the she valiantly held her ground. 'There are two ways interrelatedness of historical, geographic, cultural, of looking at teaching and learning," she replied. economic, political and social issues and factors." "Either you are imparting knowledge, giving an absolute knowledge base, or teaching and learning Now, by loading on the different types of "issues is about dialogue, a dialogue that helps to internal- and factors" that prospective teachers are sup- ize and to raise questions." Though she offered the posed to understand, the exam ensures that they disclaimer "of course you need both," Romero need know nothing in particular. The only thing added that teachers don't have to know every- that test takers do have to know is the multicultur- thing, because they can always look things up. al dogma that there is no history, only "multiple perspectives" on history. The certification exam Romero's tolerance of potential teacherignorance asks prospective teachers to "analyze multiple per- perfectly reflects New York State's official policy spectives within U.S. society regarding major his- on learning, a sellout to progressivism in its pref- torical and contemporary issues"not history, but erence for "concepts" and "critical thinking" over "historical issues," and not even "historical issues," measurable knowledge. The Regents' much- but "multiple perspectives" on "historical issues." vaunted 1996 "student learning standards" are vac- Such a demand is ripe for spouting off, say, on the uous evasions of facts and knowledge, containing "Native American perspective" on the Western not a single book or document or historical fact expansion, without having the slightest idea what that students should know. Literature? The word fueled that expansion, when and where it isn't mentioned. Instead, proclaim the standards occurred, who peopled it, and what its conse- in: classic educationese, "students will listen, speak, quences were. In fairness, the Content Specialty read, and write for literary response and expres- Tests teachers must take for permanent certification sion"literally a meaningless statement, matched are much more substantive, especially in science in its meaninglessness only by the next "English and math, but only one-third of the teachers seek- Language Arts" standard: "Students will listen, ing provisional certification ever make it that far. speak, read, and write for social interaction." Teachers need to get hold of the third level of dm- The pedagogy portion of the Liberal Arts and , umentation accompanying the standards to find Sciences certification exam resembles a catechism any specific historical figures or events or books, more than an exam. "Multiple perspectives" are but there, excessive detail and gaseous generaliza- clearly not acceptable in answering such loaded , tion will overwhelm them. questions as: "Analyze how classroom environments that respect diversity foster positive student , But what New York State expects of its students is experiences," or, "Analyze how schoolwide struc- a model of rigor compared to what it formally tures (i.e., tracking) and classroom factors (e.g., expects of its teachers. The State Teacher homogeneous versus heterogeneous grouping

80 [presumably by ability], student-teacher interac- "My kids are graduating with- tions) may affect students' self-concepts and learn- out skills," he lamented. ing." Will a would-be teacher who answers that classrooms should stress a common culture or that Such views, however, were ability-grouping promotes excellence remain just a decidedly in the minority. would-be teacher? One hopes not. "Grammar is related to purpose," soothed the Lehman The exams echo with characteristic ed school ver- "I'm not College representative, edu- biage. The student doesn't learn, he achieves crat code for the proposition "learning processes and outcomes"; the teacher going to that asking students to write doesn't teach, she "applies strategies for facilitat- spend my lifegrammatically on topics they ing learning in instructional situations." Disregard doing error are not personally "invested for language runs deep in the teacher education diagnosis! in" is unrealistic. A Park West profession, so much so that ed school professors I'm not goingpresenter burst out with a tolerate glaring language deficiencies in school- to spend my more direct explanation for children. Last January, Manhattan's Park West weekend his chilling indifference to stu- High School shut down for a day, so that its facul- dent incompetence: "I'm not ty could bone up on progressive pedagogy. One on that!" going to spend my life doing of the more popular staff development seminars error diagnosis! I'm not going was "Using Journals and Learning Logs." The pre- to spend my weekend on that!" Correcting papers senterstwo Park West teachers and a represen- used to be part of the necessary drudgery of a tative from the New York City Writing Project, an teacher's job. No more, with the advent of enlight- anti-grammar initiative run by Lehman College's ened views about "self-expression" and "writing Education Schoolproudly passed around their with intentionality." students' journal writing, including the following representative entry on "Matriarchys v. pra- However easygoing the education establishment tiarchys [sic]": 'The different between Matriarchys is regarding future teachers' knowledge of history, and patriarchys is that when the mother is in literature, and science, there is one topic that it charge of the house. sometime the children do assiduously monitors: their awareness of racism. whatever they want. But sometimes the mother To many teacher educators, such an awareness is can do both roll as a mother and as a father too the most important tool a young teacher can bring and they can do it very good." A more personal to the classroom. It cannot be developed too early. entry described how the author met her Rosa, a bouncy and enthusiastic junior at Hunter boyfriend: "He said you are so kind I said you College, has completed only her first semester of noticed and then he hit me on my head. I made- education courses, but already she has mastered believe I was crying and when he came naire me I the most important lesson: America is a racist, slaped him right in his head and than I ran ... to imperialist country, most like, say, Nazi Germany. my grandparients home and he was right behind "We are lied to by the very institutions we have me. Thats when he asked did I have a boyfriend." come to trust," she recalls from her first-semester reading. "It's all government that's inventing these The ubiquitous journal-writing cult holds that such lies, such as Western heritage." writing should go uncorrected. Fortunately, some Park West teachers bridled at the notion. "At some The source of Rosa's newfound wisdom, Donaldo point, the students go into the job market, and Macedo's Literacies of Power: What Americans Are Not they're not being judged 'holistically," protested a Allowed to Know, is an execrable book by any mea- black teacher, responding to the invocation of the sure. But given its target audienceimpressionable state's "holistic" model for grading writing. education studentsit comes close to being a Another teacher bemoaned the Board of Ed's fail- crime. Widely assigned at Hunter, and in use in ure to provide guidance on teaching grammar. approximately 150 education schools nationally, it

8 G 81 Why Johnny's Teacher Can't Teach

is an illiterate, barbarically ignorant Marxist-inspired Hunter force-fed the innocent Rosa in her first screed against America. Macedo opens his first chap- semester. She also learned about the evils of tradi- ter, "Literacy for Stupidification: The Pedagogy of tional children's stories from education radical Big Lies," with a quote from Hitler and quickly Herbert Kohl. In Should We Burn Babar? Kohl segues to Ronald Reagan: 'While busily calling out weighs the case for and against the dearly beloved slogans from their patriotic vocabulary memory ware- children's classic, Babar the Elephant, noting in pass- house, these same Americans dutifully vote...for ing that it prevented him from "question[ing] the Ronald Reagan, giving him a landslide victory.... patriarchy earlier." He decidesbut let Rosa These same voters ascended [sic] to Bush's morally expound the message of Kohl's book: "[Babar]'s like high-minded call to apply international laws a children's book, right? [But] there's an underlying against Saddam Hussein's tyranny and his invasion meaning about colonialism, about like colonialism, of Kuwait." Standing against this wave of ignorance and is it OK, it's really like it's OK, but it's like really and imperialism is a lone 12-year-old from Boston, offensive to these people." Better burn Babar now! whom Macedo celebrates for his courageous refusal to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. On New York,as in almost every state, the focus on diversity and anti-racism indoctrination comes What does any of this have to do with teaching? with the highest imprimatur. The State Board of Everything, it turns out. In the 1960s, educational Regents requires all prospective teachers to have at progressivism took on an explicitly political cast: least one course in "diversity"; many local ed schools schools were to fight institutional racism and pride themselves on weaving "diversity" into all redistribute power. Today, Columbia's Teachers their courses. The nation's most influential educa- College holds workshops on cultural and political tion school, Teachers College, promotes the most "oppression," in which students role-play ways to extreme race consciousness in its mandated diversi- "usurp the existing power structure," and the New ty program. In her large lecture course, Professor York State Regents happily call teachers the "ulti- Valerie Henning-Piedmont sneered at "liberal cor- mate change agents." To be a change agent, one rectness," which she defined as "I don't see the color must first learn to "critique" the existing social of my students." Such misguided color blindness, structure. Hence, the assignment of such propa- she said, equals: "I don't see the students." ganda as Macedo's book. Expect the folly only to grow worse. A draft report But however bad the influence of Macedo's puerile from the Regents Task Force on Teaching, grousing politics on future teachers, it pales compared to the that future teachers lack sufficient grounding in model set by his writing style. A typical sentence: diversity, calls for special training in such chal- "This inability to link the reading of the word with lenges as "teaching both sexes," thus further legit- the world, if not combated, will further exacerbate imizing the ludicrous proposition that schools mis- already feeble democratic institutions [sic] and the treat girls. The Regents also make recruiting a unjust, asymmetrical power relations that charac- more "diverse" teaching force a top priority, based terize the hypocritical nature of contemporary on the assumption that minority students learn democracies." Anyone who dares criticize Macedo best from minority teachers. Currently, 34 percent for his prose is merely trying to "suffocate dis- of teachers in New York City, and 15 percent state- courses," he says, with the "blind and facile call for wide, are minorities, compared to a student popu- clarity." That Hunter College could assign this lation that is 83 percent minority in New York City gross betrayal of the English language to future and 43 percent statewide. Asked what evidence the teachers is a sufficient reason for closing its educa- Regents have for the proposition that the color of tion program down. Rosa's control of English is the teaching force correlates with achievement, shaky enough as it is; to fill her ears with such sub- Doris T. Garner, staff coordinator for the Task literate writing represents professional malpractice. Force, admitted, "I don't think hard evidence exists that would say that." If black students should be But Macedo is just one of the political tracts that taught by black teachers, should white students be

8 7 82 taught by white teachers? "I would not recommend an approach violates "whole that," replied Gamer, fearless of illogic. language" doctrine, which holds that students can't Since the Regents are making teacher diversity a "grasp the [alphabetic] sym- top priority, something is going to have to give. bols without the whole word Currently, blacks fail the content-free Liberal Arts or the meaning or any context and Sciences Test of provisional certification at a in their lives," in Susan's rate five times that of whites. But that's just a tem- Columbia's words. Holy Mountain's fur- porary obstacle, because the test-bias hounds may Teachers ther infractions include teachbe already closing in for the kill: the discovery that College holdsing its wildly international the exam discriminates against minorities. The workshops onstudents only in English and Regents' most recent paper on teacher training cultural and failing to provide an "anti-bias warned that the certification exam "must exclude multicultural curriculum." language that would jeopardize candidates, and political The result? By the end of include language and content that reflects diversi- "oppression,"preschool the students learn ty." Now, the only candidates who would be jeop- in which English and are writing words. ardized by the exam's language are those, of any students Here is true belief in the ability color, who are deeply troubled by hot air. As for role-play waysof all children to learn, for it is "cultural bias," at present the exam is a rainbow of to "usurp backed up by action. multicultural examples and propagandaone the existing sample question, for example, features a fawning Across the city, young teach- review of a "multicultural dance work that is truly power ers are dumping progressive representative of the diversity of New York." Don't structure." theories faster than Indonesian be surprised if the complete absence of any "bias" currency. For all the unctuous in the exam, however, fails to prevent a concerted, talk of diversity, many progressive tenets are dan- taxpayer-funded effort to redraft it so as to guaran- gerously ffi adapted to inner-city classrooms. 'They tee an equal pass rate among all groups of takers. don't say 'boo' about this population," scoffs Samantha, a recent Hunter graduate now teaching Though the current diversity battlecry is "All stu- in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant section. "My dents can learn," the educationists continually course in multiculturalism had zero to do with the lower expectations of what they should learn. No classroom." longer are students expected to learn all their multiplication tables in the third grade, as has been A former dancer, Samantha was an open recepta- traditional. But while American educators come cle for progressive ideas. But her early efforts to up with various theories about fixed cognitive follow the model have left her stranded. Her phases to explain why our children should go fourth-grade class is out of control. "I didn't set it slow, other nationalities trounce us. Sometimes, up in a strict manner at the beginning," she we're trounced in our own backyards, causing laments. "I gave them too many choices; I did a lot cognitive dissonance in local teachers. of things wrong." Collaborative learning? Forget about it. 'My kids resort to fighting immediately if A young student at Teachers College named I put them in groups." Samantha tried to use Susan describes incredulously a Korean-run groups to make a poster on electricity. "It was preschool in Queens. To her horror, the school, the mayhem; they couldn't stay quiet," she recalls. Holy Mountain School, violates every progressive tenet: rather than being "student-centered" and The student-centered classroom is equally a fraud. allowing each child to do whatever he chooses, the "You can't give them choices," Samantha asserts flat- school imposes a curriculum on the children, ly. Next year, with a new class, she will do things based on the alphabet. "Each week, the children differently. "I will have everything set up to the last got a different letter," Susan recalls grimly. Such detailtheir names on the desks, which notebooks

83 83 Why Johnny's Teacher Can't Teach

to buy, how to label them. They need to know what ing, because at home, "everyone is dissing every- hook to hang their coat on and where to go from body, or staying up late to get high. My kids are so there. Every minute of the day has to be scripted. emotionally beat up, they don't even know when You can't just say: 'Line up!' because they'll fight. they're out of their seats." A structured classroom is Instead, you have to say: 'Boys, stand up, push in 'their only hope to learn the rules that the rest of soci- your chairs, and here are your line spots." ety lives by. To eliminate structure for kids who have none in their lives is to guarantee failure. As for "metacognition," that is out as well. "My kids need the rote; they can't do half of six or four Given progressive education's dismal record, all divided by two." Samantha is using the most New Yorkers should tremble at what the Regents unholy of unholies to teach her children to read have in store for the state. The state's teacher edu- a basal reader, derided by the education establish- cation establishment, led by Columbia's Linda ment as spirit-killing. But the reader gives her spe- Darling-Hammond, has persuaded the Regents to cific skill sets to work onabove all, phonics and make its monopoly on teacher credentialing total. grammar. "My kids don't hear the correct sound of Starting in 2003, according to a Regents plan words at home, such as `th' or the ending of steaming inexorably toward adoption, all teacher words, so teaching reading is harder." candidates must pass through an education school to be admitted to a classroom. We know, alas, Journals, whole language, and "portfolio assess- what will happen to them there. ment" became more casualties of the real world at the Holy Cross School in the Bronx. The school This power grab will be a disaster for children. By recently hired a Teachers College graduate who making ed school inescapable, the Regents will arrived fired up with those student-centered meth- drive away every last educated adult who may ods. No more. Now she is working very hard on not be willing to sit still for its foolishness but who grammar, according to assistant principal William could bring to the classroom unusual knowledge Kurtz. 'Those [progressive] tools don't necessarily or experience. The nation's elite private schools work for kids who can't read or tell you what a are full of such people, and parents eagerly proffer noun or a verb is," he says. In his own history class, tens of thousands of dollars to give their children Kurtz has discovered that he needs to be as explicit the benefit of such skill and wisdom. about study habits and research methods as Samantha is about classroom behavior. "When I Amazingly, even the Regents, among the nation's give an essay question, I have to be very structured most addled education bodies, sporadically about going to the library and what resources to acknowledge what works in the classroom. A use. If you don't do that, they look up nothing." Task Force on Teaching paper cites some of the factors that allow other countries to wallop us rou- The education establishment would be unfazed by tinely in international tests: a high amount of les- these stories. Samantha and William, it would say, son content (in other words, teacher-centered, not are still prisoners of the "deficit model." All these student-centered, learning), individual tracking of two benighted teachers can see is what their kids students, and a coherent curriculum. The state don't know, instead of building on their strengths. should cling steadfastly to its momentary insight, If those strengths are hip-hop music, for example, at odds with its usual policies, and discard its fool- focus on that. But for heaven's sake, don't deny the hardy plan to enshrine Anything But Knowledge children the benefits of a child-centered classroom. as its sole education dogma. Instead of permanently establishing the teacher education status In fact, the strict environment that Samantha plans quo, it should search tirelessly for alternatives and is the best thing that could happen to her pupils. It for potential teachers with a firm grasp of subject is perhaps the only place they will meet order and matter and basic skills. Otherwise ed school clap- civility. Samantha's children are "surrounded by trap will continue to stunt the intellectual growth violence," she says. Many are not interested in learn- of the Empire State's children. 0

84 8 9 A Confederacy of Constructivists by Richard Slettvet

Myth 2: "I'm not going to give you any tools.I don't have any Teachers Learn to tools to give you." No tools!) Teach in Colleges of Education Instead, she wrote, "You are going to get a This myth floats pervasively (if uneasily) on the surface framework....actually you are going to build one that is of society as a whole, but teachers don't believe it for a morally and ethcially (sic) grounded from which you are minute. Teachers know that they learned to teach on going to collect and build a reading program of your the job...and thattheir journey throughteacher own. I will not give you the program. That is something education was painfully dull, occasionally malevolent, a workshop coordinator can do.I am trying to teach you and mostly beside the point. something vastly more important.I am trying to teach William Ayers you that real teaching is about thinking (sic) not about To Teach: The Journey of a Teacher doing (emphasis added)....thinking very deeply and very thoroughly about what is the best thing to do for your students. Not to do what was best for you when you were consider how reading pedagogy was taught at the a kiddo." University of Washington, Bothell K-8 Teacher The Teacher Certification Program Director Certification Program, which Iattended in the passionately defended this approach to teacher training. Summer and Fall of 1996: "In my best professional judgment," she reported to the The only reading courseinthe program Associate Dean, "it would b,e a breach of our professional includednoinstructioninphonics,spelling,or responsibilities if we were to base our literacy instruction vocabulary; no assignments or instruction about working on any other foundation than that articulated by Professor with small groups of children, or large groups; nothing 1"The Associate Dean found this concerning the use of technology, the design of reading explanation to be "completely convincing."The Dean centers, or teaching different genres; no instruction in concurred. integrating reading with other parts of the curriculum; Interestingly,infullyquoting the reading nothing about how to remediate. professor in her report, the Program Director made We did, however, as scheduled on the course several alterations to the professor's original wording and calendar, spend an entire one-hour-and-forty-minute class punctuation. She even corrected the reading professor's session discussing this important issue: "In what ways is spelling error! teaching reading like buying a fast food hamburger?" I swear I am not making this up. The professor devoted another session to a discussion of how children feel about reading, how they I'm not going to give you any tools. I feel about themselves as readers, and whether they are don't have any tools to give you. metacognitive as readers. We spent at least a day trying Reading Pedagogy Professor to decide whether meaning resides within a book or University of Washington, Bothell within the reader.Yet another day was dedicated to inventing personal definitions of reading and literacy.(I know it when I see it.) Incredibly, the reading professor committed After the sixth class session, I e-mailed the frequent and flagrant mistakes in spelling, grammar, word professor that she hadn't taught us anything about how to usage, and punctuation. One single-page course handout teach reading. She responded, "I have taught you oddles contained more than 20 writing errors! Think ofa (sic) about the teaching of reading.I would offer that mathematics prof who hasn't mastered the times tables, a you have failed to learn anything from me about the music instructor who doesn't know the scales, a professor teaching of reading to this point."(Note the errors in of accountancy who confuses debits and credits."I don't spelling and sentence structureI'll return to this issue really know what you are trying to communicate," the shortly; note also the denial of accountability.) reading professor wrote to me. "Is it utter dispare (sic)?" The professor continued, "And I told you after It was. day two, if you are looking for programs, ideas, skill Demonstrating just how far we have dumbed boosters, etc., that you are most definitely not going to down the education system, the university wasn't terribly get that from me." No ideas! Imagine the possibilities. concerned about a literacy professor who hadn't mastered (During the eighth session, in response to a student's basic writing skills."I will also not discuss here the desperate plea for some practical methods for teaching conversations that I have had with Professor [ reading, the professor would tell the teacher candidates, about strategies for taking more care in editing her documents," the Program Director reported. (The Deans

85 90 were completely convinced.) This professor also taught classrooms.Remember, real teaching is about thinking, the writing course. not about doing. It gets curiouser and curiouser: While modeling how to work one-on-one with a student, the reading professor pointed to the book This isn't something you should ever jacket photograph of children's author Shel Silverstein and said (to the imaginary child sitting at her side), "Uck, show to the public. how would you like to meet him?" The Program Director Classroom Management Professor asserted that such "modeling of ways to introduce a book University of Washington, Bothell tochildren"was"entirelywithinparametersof appropriate professional practice." What, I wonder, would Mr. Silverstein have to say on the issue? Thus, there were some assigned chapters out of Thereadingprofessor'sunderstandingof Howard Gardner's The Unschooled Mind, but nothing remediation:"Remediation is dangerous.It suggests about how to implement Gardner's theory of "multiple failure.It suggests one is not up to par with the 'haves' intelligences" in the classroom.That would be too and that is morally wrong. There are too many outside of practical, too direct.. There was a photocopied reading the indiviudal (sic), (sic) factors which contribute to ones assignment from David Perkins' Smart Schools, but no (sic) not getting it in school to make their (sic) time in actual training for teacher candidates in the techniques of school a focus on remediation. Remediationis didactic instruction, coaching, or Socratic teaching that pedagogy of blaming the victim." Perkins recommends. And while the NCSS Curriculum Standards for Social Studies concludes that "Prospective The University of Washington, Bothell School of teachers need coaching and structured opportunities to Education was founded on the philosophy of develop their skills at using approaches such as lecture social constructivism, which posits that students anddiscussion...paneldiscussions,debates,games, construct knowledge in a social context.Hence, direct simulations...and learning programs," training in such instruction is eschewed. Social constructivism explains a techniques wasn't part of the program. K-8 teacher certification reading program devoid of Social constructivism even explains why the "tools," "programs," or "ideas."Instead, in a 10-week, professors ofreading and writing, classroom four-credit course, guided by a professor who had never management, learning theory, assessment, math, and done so herself (this professor had never been a K-8 possibly other courses had never been K-8 classroom classroomteacher),eachteachercandidatewould teachers. As one professor noted, "We had to prove our "construct" everything that he or she would need as a social-constructivist credentials in order to get our jobs first-year teacher. Bring on the kids! here."Ideology, apparently, has become the principal Social constructivism explains a professor of qualification for teacher educators...and indoctrination reading and writing who had terrible writing skills. After the principal objective of teacher education. all, this is the philosophy that gave us creative spelling, Why can't Johnny (fill in the and whole language as Holy Writ. (And new math, but blank)? Maybe it's because of the way his teachers were that's another story.) trained. Social constructivism explains spending one- quarter of the entire course in assessment ruminating about how "Assessment is like:" an apple, a house, Richard Slettvet was expelled from teacher certification baseball, a dog, children, and a burrito; the eight hours of after receiving a 0.0 grade in reading pedagogy. Richard class time spent discussing the bizarre musings of a has published nationally on the role of parents in phenomenologist; the assignment to create a poster, education; and in 1996, as a parent-volunteer, co- collage, song, or dance to demonstrate understanding of coached two 5th-grade math teams to 4th- and 5th-place how children learn. finishes in the Washington State Math Championships. Social constructivism explains the classroom He is a former U.S. Navy Supply Corps Officer, and management professor's statement that no real learning worked for many years in private industry. He currently takes place in schools until January.Everything up to works as an adjunctinstructor of business and thatpointisjustgetting the classroom organiied, economics for City University, and part-time as an cooperative teams established, and so forth.(When a educational assistant in a public school program for student asked how we as future teachers could justify severe-behavior-disordered middle-school students. such a concept to the public, the professor answered, "This isn't something you should ever show to the public." Indeed. ) Social constructivism explains the quarterly "reflectionseminars";the"reflectivejournals"and "reflection papers" that teacher candidates wrote and submitted for political correctness checks; and the daily periods to be set aside "to contemplate" at our internship

3 1 86 The Public Interest, Summer 1998

The case against teacher certification DALE BALLOU AND MICHAEL PODGURSKY

HE system by which the nation trains and licenses its public school teachers recently came under sharp attack from an organization called the National Com- mission on Teaching and America's Future (NCTAF). In its 1996 report, What Matters Most: Teaching for America's Future, the commission charged that public schools employ large numbers of unqualified" teachers, largely as a result of inadequate and poorly enforced standards for teacher training and licensing. The report was greeted as a "scathing indictment" of the current system and was widely publicized by the media. What is the NCTAF? Its name notwithstanding, the NCTAF holds no "commission" from any elected official. It is a private organization, funded by the Rockefeller and Carnegie Founda- tions. Although the NCTAF claims that its report is not the work of education insiders, the largest block of members comes from major education organizations and education schools, including the two major teacher unions, the National Education Association (NEA) and American Federation of Teachers (AFT).

9 2 87 18 THE PUBLIC INTEREST / SUMMER 1998 THE CASE AGAINST TEACHER CERTIFICATION 19 commission'sandincludesinterestRemarkably, substantial on leaders recommendations,issues forfinancial of of aprivate educationbody stakethat organizationsamong policy,claims in them the tothe theadoption represent thatcommission National have theof Coun-a direct thepublic also tweenhigherNCTAFprofessionalBy contrast, the standards proposes political in boards law for systemsimilar and composedteaching medicine andboards standards-setting and of forthese torespected teachers "create standards ainpractitioners. process."fire order are wall setto be- setby Nationalcil for Accreditation Board for Professional of TeacherThe commission Teaching Education Standards. blames (NCATE) current and conditionsthe on state educa- The NCTAF plan fyingCertificationstatescompensation 105,000to establish in ofteachers every experienced goals state in and thisTheand incentives teachers decadedistrict,commission's aswith for well."master Nationalthe proposals They aim teachers," ofcall Board certi-extend for to the assessment and tion departments and many teachertinelyhaveaccredited,Because met approve education mostcommon only allstates about ofprofessional programs: their do 500 not teacherof requirethe standards. nation's education schools 1200States, programs, of education educationmeanwhile, including schools to rou- be work.tapes(locatedthisone recognitionforThese of every theirjust materials outside teaching,school submit areDetroit).in portfolioslesson thereviewed United Theplans, for by portfoliosStates. andevaluation"experts"moonlight- samples Teachers include to of the seekingstudent video- board tificationfessionalize" from teaching, local school shiftingAsknowledgethose boards control a remedy,that and lack'ofabout stateaccreditation thequalified teaching. educationNCTAF faculty and offers agen- cer-and a are sweeping out of touch plan with to "pro- new theparentstoing take meritsteachers isa testnotof trainedthese solicited.at a regionalrecommendations. by the board. site.Remarkably, Input Teachers While from there arethe supervisors alsoNCTAF'shas beenrequired very re-or little public discussion of ommendationstotheingcies set NCTAFprograms to standards private would door education forthenot empower howcontentspecify teachersorganizations. of thegroups licensing curriculum will of be education The examinations.trained, ofcommission's teacher professionalstested, train-Rather, hired, rec- this,portnumberscommission'sthe thereceived summer commission's of poorly wideof claims 1996, coveragetrained proposalsthat the publicheaviestand in poorly tothe schools strengthen mediapublicity qualified were when teacher wasemploying teachers. released given training Givento large in the teacherthetionsand teacher promoted. to educationdetermine work It force. willprograms the becurricular upA to to key meet these reforms element "professional professional needed of the commission'stostandards" organiza- upgrade program calls for all trainoftheand public commissionlicensing new teachers.debate seemed succeeded about uncontroversial, the almostThe way NCTAF the at once nation if remainsnot in irresistible.settingwill active,recruit the terms Thusvigorously and promoting its pro- statecurrentlycreditationor be department closed. meet from Bythe ofNCATE. this,standards education, the Whilecommission required most all do edUcationfor not accreditationpeans obtain, schools or evenby musttheir try obtaining ac- release,accedeanonposals:It theireffective to 11efforts has NCTAF states deviceissued to have"professionalize" demands. afor state-by-stateformed pressuring According "partnerships" theirstatesreport toteaching withacard commission with gradinglow workthe scores NCTAF forces, states press to quirementsprofessionallicensing.to secure, arethe Inboard mostapprovalcurrently in states, every of set NCATE. teacher statebyThe state tocommission licensingset education standards (certification) also departments. for calls teacher for establishingre- an independent closelythemendations."to "create NCTAF's with programs legislatorsinfluence and is inpolicies growing. theRecent current advancing The activity sessioncommission ENCTAF) within of Congress has the workedrecom- federal on government indicates that 20 THE PUBLIC INTEREST / SUMMER 1998 THE CASE AGAINST TEACHER CERTIFICATION 21 budgetStandardsthemillionbills efforts affectingproposes dollars to of certify the in $105 teacherNational federal master million training fundsBoardteachers. more have forand over President Professional recruitment.been the nextspent Clinton's five to,Teaching Thirty-five supportyears. 1998 importantfessionfocusesnot understand but not implications, on on improving therecruiting subjects not Thisteacher more they least concern talented were training.for schools teaching. is people Theall butof distinction education.into forgotten the pro- has Ifby the NCTAF, which NCTAFing.organizationsmillion This contract recommendations consortium to buildto the consensuswill University studyand,The onU.S. onstates of theteaching Marylland Department basisthat areofand thisandimplementing teacher of study,25 Education partner train- will has just awarded a $23 malprofessioninteachingthe mind. nationteacher Suchprofession, to needstraining. capable policies to policiesrecruitindividuals might well moreshould who include talented behave shaped ways not people completedof with opening intothat for-end thethe trationingfiedtasks,disseminate for by the is twothe spending consortium Nationalreasons. information taxpayer First,Board will about it determinearedollars is an more"best admission to effective. practices."promote whether that an Thisteachers Among theorganization is adminis- surpris- certi-other ofbeworkemerges educationbetter force trained,if isit that simply.turns theit isout nation inadequateto thatschools,However, will the presumably training.problemdepartments, a rather If with teachersturn, different and the pouring collegesteacher need set into of policy prescriptions organizationsmembersionalitiswhose still Teaching ability inorganizations. doubt. aligned to Standards identify Second, with Indeed, it isgood arethe itself alltheNational teachinglet one membersNCTAF of the Board and consortium'sofalone the the for consor-promoteprincipal Profes- 25- themselves.gramsnityof-the-artresources, of may teacher practicesstrengthening be But closed educators. this are would down, disseminated requirements, True, representif they some prove throughout anda teachertransfer ensuringunable training ofthe to thatresources upgradecommu- state- proof tium,the forthcoming a circumstance "study." that stronglyAs economists compromises who have the objectivity studied labor markets for public Not enough teacher training? teachingwouldoutwithin of the playteacher work professional a force.larger education role, education tonotGiven the a community. smallerbetter the composition programs, one, Education in shaping ofnot the schoolsa flowcommission, the it is not surpris- policy.directionandnothingquality. private The inManyto school NCTAF whichimprove of teachers,thethe has teacher commission'sNCTAF misdiagnosed we performance. haveproposals proposalsserious the problemwould Indeed, doubts would take oftheabout do teacherpublic policies little the or have50,000tions,case,ing that entered theclaiming, peopleit NCTAF embraces teaching who for distorts example,morelack annually the teacherthe thattraining evidence on "intraining. emergency recent required on But,teacher years, or forin substandard making morequalifica-their thanjobs its qualityharm.advocatedNational in theCommissionby theUnited NCTAF States on Excellencehold wasFourteen considerable set off in years Education,by the ago, potential report a A prolonged Nation of to the do at debate about education commission'spercenttraininglicenses.... enter[in Twelve pedagogy without statistics. percent andhaving The teaching ofOur fully allmost ownnewly metmethods], recent tabulations statehired national standards." teachersanother of survey the fourteenhave data noto failed to reproduce the majorsboardmanceRisk.1970s. Thisscores and Too report weakhad of many education been calledcognitive graduates declining attention students skills of inteacher to ofwererelative the many poor beloweducation termsteachers. academic nearly through programs Collegeall perfor- other the did 95 emergencytrictscoursescentofinvestigate have newlyin teaching orbeenthe substandard hiredissue hiring methods. foundpublic 50,000 certificates that Theschool new onlycommission's teachers teachers is4.6 an percentnot even each hadclaim greater yeartaken that12 exag- withper- dis- no geration.22 In fact, about 16,000 new THE PUBLIC INTEREST / SUMMER 1998 public school teachers and THEeducation.in CASE grading AGAINST Thestandards TEACHER average familiar CERTIFICATIONgrade awarded to in the education courses virtually everyone in higher 23 makepassagecates"instructors upin of1991-92.their heldtime, deficiencies. "temporary, unqualified As provisional,Even a result, these or figures emergency overstate the teachers are either dismissed or problem, since, with the "unprepared" teachers certifi- sciencecontrast,takenneering by and 1992-93the majors engineering average havegraduates in significantly social-scienceit fell was to 3.41 2.67. higher on Yet coursesa four-point college science was scale. board scores and engi- 2.96. In By "substandard"heldconstitute1993-94, emergency a negligiblefewer licenses. or than temporary proportion 2 percentFinally, certificates, of all teachers may be hired on emergency or temporary of the entire work force. In public school teachers the two principal gramsthan education and the majors.standardizationBy entrusting of the accreditation of teacher education pro- Misguided standards licensing requirements to licensesqualificationstivetocandidates. the incompetence NCTAF,because This of theywhich possibilitynew or are misplacedattributesscience better does qualifiedteachers priorities.not appear hiredthan to on have these decisions to administra- But consider the fully licensed substandard occurred forcorporatingods.trainingprofessional teaching" Such that training new prospectiveorganizations, that knowledge" makeswill reflect teachers clearer the and "state-of-the-artNCTAF receiveanthan evolving before expects in pedagogical "knowledgejust practices,"to whatenhance teach- base "in- the meth- r) dardandsciences.wholicenses. strongly certificationfell OfThisin thisthesuggests ratio 39category, requirements respondentsexceeds that districts 27that hadto tofor offer exploitthe ascience degree latestemployment in one to loopholes in stan- teachersnational overall survey of the indi- disconcertinglysuccessionandhasers shouldbeen better marked be ofmethods doingfamiliar.these by infadsnumerous that thePublic does classroom. turn educationnot waves out inspire to Languageof be inenthusiasm much passingthe United fads. for States newer The of thisconfidence kind is in silentdemicviduals on competence with this superiorissue except of subject-matter the forworkMeanwhile, this force? remarkable preparation. The what NCTAF hasassertion: the reportcommission to say about the aca- is educationcommissionreliablethe ability research of programsthe wouldeducation literature. entrust schools NCATErefers withIndeed, to the ground the accreditation organization their in its curricula manual of thatteacher in theto a standards," suggesting that this pattern of swinging gramsbers.Talentedlegebeen Due had graduates,steadily recruits higherto recent rising. are levelsreversing enteringreforms, By of 1991, academic the schools both trends graduates standards of of education the of earlyteacher and in1980's. interest record num- achievement than most col- education pro- have educationalsuedtheone NCTAF way standards and proposals. value.then that the Oneare next highly of may theOrganizations controversialnotconstituent thatmembers and belong of dubious of to thethis accrediting body have is- end with the adoption of legedencestandardizedsume grade-point thatfor thisit referred achievement proposition averages to scores consiststests. obtainedA readeron In solelyfact, fromencountering the of a commission'sself-reportedseries ofthis Depart- statement col-evi- would the ACT, the SAT, or other probably as- egycouncilstructionNCATE that hashas is for been comethe reading Nationala undermajor in withering proponent Councilthe primary of attack of Teachers gradesa"whole of language"teaching English. strat- in-This from other educa- chil- 9 haveengineers,causement higher ofthe Education average the levels commission of GPA surveys academic of Thiseducationconcludesof achievement.recent is preposterous. college majorsthat education The commissionmajors ignores differences isgraduates. higher than Be- otherbytiondrentors the andseemsreceive NCATE National parents about instruction constituent whoCouncil to begin are in demanding organization.phonics. forfor Teachersthe guidelines A thatsimilar Theseof their Mathematicsan- process recently guidelines,confused of issued rejec- re- THE CASE AGAINST TEACHER CERTIFICATION 25 teachermathematics"andisfleeting24 popular educators preparationthe in predilectionschools whoand have"rain-forest programsof education, describedfor "student-centered be algebra." haveaccreditedthe results appalled A requirement asby learning" "warm,many the NCATE parents fuzzy that THE PUBLIC INTEREST / SUMMER 1998 sourcescriterialatesemphasizinginterviews, that orof "a outcomesdata process, candidate'svideotaped such [be]notas aoutcomes. assessedandmasteryculminating observed throughForof a example,experience, performanceprogram's the use NCATE ofstatedportfolios, inmultiple schools, stipu- exit stead,couldrejectedreading theput and commissionbysuch themathematics organizations public assures and teachersThe questioned in usNCTAF athat beposition trainedgraduates by report many toin blithely insistmethods ofeducators. NCATE- that ignores widely all these controversies. In- regulations.criteriagraduatesgramstandardized administrators themselves be tests, held andto use areany course various left particular upgrades." means to the standard, ofThis program assessment, requires since or that tothenot state pro-exitthat colleagues.degreeposedlyteachersaccredited of stay for professionalism programs The thein the challengesNCTAF profession will bereport in ofbetter their longerthe contains classroom.preparedrelations and willno thanwith evidence exhibitThey non-NCATEstudents will a to higher sup- and stateabelievetheir market legislaturesdecision this test, stamp NCATEto forgoto of require approval NCATEand itsManyNCATE championsis accreditation of schools great accreditation. value. andare thatnowdepartments Having they pressuringThe dofailedlist notof of education have shown by careerersoftrue.port Education, on theseUsing acommitment. number claims. data we ofhavefrom Asdimensions There compared surveysfar aswere we conducted NCATEno can determine, to bynon-NCATE the theyDepartment are teach- not related to professionalism and statistically significant dif- CarolinasoughtschoolasNCATE-accredited important isand accredited.offering obtained as educational a collegesaccreditation.teacherWhere governors qualityeducationsuggests Thus in that have determining programevery politics led, college colleges has are whether obtainedin at North haveleast a jobsteachingeither.thereferences they is The received no jobbetween percentageevidence was paid as the high thatas oftwo well. non-NCATEthoseas groups. among hiring PerhapsNCATE applicantsnew teachers more applicants. who revealing, think found The so a onlycontrast,creditation.accreditedNCATE three New accredited accreditation. institutions All York are hasby non-selective NCATE. 103of In which Arkansas, state-accredited Massachusetts only institutions. alleight but hold programs,two hasThe NCATE have 61 state's state- it.but Byac-se- country.oflessNCATE-approved the thanleast Thirty "competitive" selective percent programs institutions of in theNCATE Birron's attendedteachers of has higherProfiles collegesaccreditedwho education graduatedof Americanthat teacher were in from theeducation ratedCol- programs in some ited.Brandeis,lective private Smith, schools, and Mt. such Holyoke, as Harvard, are not Boston NCATE University, accred- The problem with certification leges.fromnotforselective, NCATEamong a teacher one them. accreditation, thing education The seems academic program clear:rigorous ability Whatever plays admission of virtuallystudents the standardsrequirements graduatingno role are in Since the "competitive" category is not in fact very ittry.accreditationprospective more For difficultexample, teachers standards for mandating talented and it endorsesschoolThe NCATEundergraduates NCTAF's boards, would accreditation as raiseproposals theto become barrierslicensing could would teach-to make anden- restrict the choices of both thecantsdeterminingNCATE passing for admission, score.requires whether thatit the does a program programCriteria not specify will foruse successfulbe thea testaccredited. test to to screen becompletion used While appli- or are even more vague, thefeweral-artsers shouldsupply students colleges ofthe ateachers costyear from of would acquiringto the be market.be Thedominated particularly NCTAFaccreditation Programs by endorses largevulnerable, that drive diploma serve reforms small leaving only mills. lib- that a would require prospec- tive26, teachers to take more courses, .prolong their formal edu- .THE PUBLIC INTEREST / .SUMMER 1998 z.,.., . THEnot beCASE expected AGAINST to TEACHER know. CERTIFICATIONThe NCTAF continually draws com- 27 careervaluetheformcation, greatest of onchanges. and induction their devotedeterrent time, The programs moreincludingpractical effect time onexperience andworkers to those internships.pre-service whowho and placeare maturity trainingThis contemplating the will greatestof in manyhave the thetion.similarparisons National Let body tous the see.Boardof "clinical"specialized of Medical model clinicalThe Examiners. followingin medicineknowledge question and exists asserts on in clinicaleduca- that practice was prepared by a ing.of fornativethese Precisely certification, individualscertification for this facilitating make routes reason, them that manythe attractive relax entry states the of candidatesstandard havesuch personsadopted requirements for teach- intoalter- the weaknessbowelcousinsdescribesA previously sounds have as in steady hadthehealthy are uppersimilardecreased. with 33-year arms.occasional episodes. Neurologic old His man Hisurinecramping. hasabdomen isexamination abdominal a faintHis is aunt, reddishdistended, painshows uncle, thatcolor. mild and he profession.baccalaureateprefersprogramsconcept that of Yetthat alternative career programwouldthe NCTAF, changers reduce beforecertification, whilepre-service spend they nominally begin a isyear generallytraining. to orteach. endorsingmore The opposed in NCTAF a thepost- to A. C.B.Thesecollagen corticosteroidfatty findings acid suggest a defect in the biosynthetic pathway for byAsoptionspursueout thosea result, prospective who otheropen the never careers,applicantwhile teachers thought completing but pool whowho of willRequiring have themselveswill additional be findtheincreasingly interest moreit hardeducationas anythingpre-service andto dominated keep ability courses. butthese training to would tend to screen manydeveloped states for by teacher the Educational licensing.TheE.D. Testing thyroxinenextheme question Servicea (T4) is taken from the Praxis test for teachers test used by whoveryeffectteachers.ity arepurposeof of thewavering other Notice teaching of policies such that between pool, policiesthis that wouldfortwo are example,to careers. intended drawhave intopreciselyBy raising to contrast, educationimprove salaries. the increasing theopposite persons Itqual- is the continuedteacherstopsA third-grade drawing responses, learning andstudent and askswhich growth?who the would teacheris attempting best to providedraw to it. draw forOf thisthe a spaceship followingstudent's attractiveteacher-certification alternatives requirements to teaching. discourages those who have Teaching is not medicine D.C.B.A. HavingAskingDrawing theanother the studentbest spaceship student observe fordrawartist himmodels theto so provide spaceship thatof spaceships he help can for continue himhimpicture and somegiving his pointers about drawing paringmustandself-regulated. residencies teachingpass rigorous toDoctors before medicine. licensing achieving put in TheThe examinations.years medical fullNCTAF of professional training profession frequently Why in medical standing.should isresorts largely weschool They to ex- argument by analogy, com- crampingsionals knew was that "E" theor evenanswer WeunderstoodE. to suspectAssuring the question thatthe the choices.studentfew readers that By the who drawing are not is fine medical for his profes- on abdominal purpose con- 1 ofingthatpect specialized the consumersless quality of teachers? medical ofcannot medical knowledgemake services.The well-informed case that Therefor medical licensing isdecisions a consumerscomplex in medicine concern- body can- rests partly on the premise on.practice(B).abletrast, The Thereto using figure thatNCTAF iscommon doctors aout body thehas sense,should of answernot expert established virtually know to knowledge the and clinical all that readers informingtheyanything teaching like clinical this were probablycan be tested question 28 THE PUBLIC INTEREST / SUMMER 1998 THE CASE AGAINST TEACHER CERTIFICATION 29 expertprofessionalization.fromexists the inknowledge Praxisthe field examination of that pedagogy. consumersEven expose Questions if lack, theone pretensions thesupposed like medical the offoregoingthat analogy teacher teaching rests on a body of organizationsAFT.drawnAll examining from that ateams pool would sent of be empoweredUnions also provideunder financial examinersto colleges selected include by at the least NEA one and teacher support for the professional the NCTAF toadministratorsserviceschasebreaks observe the down for services the iarents. for trainedteachers the of Not teachers. furtherprofessionals, they only hirereason areSchool directly,principals theythat districts areparents enjoying andalso purchase other indo aaccess notposition school these pur- to sureingcertificationNCATE.proposals. Standards ... a process The throughThe and same controlled NEA's$213,765 the budget National1997-98 toby the Boardbudget profession." contains $306,550 to supportsupport the efforts "to make licen- ofcontains Professional $366,600 Teach- for teachersbetterandas student theinformation have medical teachers previously professionalsthan or asany taught substitute licensingOf at course,who the teachers. treatagency.schools similar them thatIn intermediaries (though fact, hire many them most stand between consumers nationsof abouttraining,teacher control.would preparation the NCTAF's be The prepared NCTAF recommendations bywouldFor the all the discussion of higher standards programs to NCATE. Licensing exami- turn over the accreditationInterstate New Teacher are fundamentally and improved approvedschoolcinethisconsumers underscores and districts teaching.training. retain to anothersome hire InThe the teacherschoice NCTAF importantfield of ofwho primary-care seeksmedicine, difference have legislation completed however, physicians). between to NCTAF- requireit medi-is Butthe wouldmastersionalvateAssessment professionalbe Teaching teacher.independent and OverseeingSupportStandards organization. professional Consortium would and The guiding National decide who qualifies boards(INTASC), whose members another pri- all of this activityBoard for Profes- as a surgeonspurchasersningcredentialsstate, forthat must most ofhave for medical also doctors.physicians. been hold theserviceshospitals, certificationNearly moving A state all force licensepracticing from behind clinics, isone merely physicians ofthe etc.notthe adoption the 24 begin- na-the and of wouldbebutwould limitedprofessional even be accomplishdrawn to improving education not fromthat). the theIt is naive to think that the organizations. _trainingpublic's teachersimpact elected receive of representativesthese (if itchanges would boardjortionalinsisted actorshospitals, certified.specialty that the boards. doctors insurance This whom has companies, come they abouthire orand because contract HMOshave the with ma- be formsbypassschoolvestedmission will choice,interesttraditional and be organizations as muchin well opposingteacher bleaker alignedcharter as alternative certification programs thattraining. The prospects for such Prominentif power members is taken fromof the elected schoolswith and theother NCTAF forms ofhave com- re- a andthe positionchildrenNCATE in ofare the the the making education National ofEnacting public Educationestablishment policy. the NCTAF Association Behind against agenda the NCTAFparentsand would the only serve to strengthen A question of coUtrol mandofficials for who genuine are increasinglyaccountability. responsive to the public's de- membertoanyoneingAmerican determine teacher would NCATE Federation supply who contemplate executivewill is ofbeso Teachers, allowedobvious giving board, thesetd seven thatwhose teach. organizationsit are interest Of union the currentinappointed. therestrict- right 31- 103 is astonishing that 104 Education Week, June 10, 1998

Some Unanswered Questions Concerning National Board Certification of Teachers

By Dale Ballou and Michael Podgursky

How well will the board discriminate when inclusive, and challenging environment in which thousands of applicants seek certification students actively learn"). The board has also through a bureaucraticized system? No one developed exercises and performance knows. The National Board for Professional assessments, along with ways of scoring them, to Teaching Standards is a private organization that determine how well applicants have met its attempts to recognize teacher excellence by standards for an accomplished teacher. Given the bestowing a "national board certificate" on vagueness of the standards and the subjective worthy applicants. Teachers seeking this element that enters any performance assessment, recognition submit portfolios for evaluation to one would expect that the board would have the board (located just outside Detroit). The done extensive research to show a correlation portfolios include videotapes of their teaching, between its assessments and more objective lesson plans, and samples of student work. These measures of teacher performance (for example, materials are reviewed by "experts"--apparently, student test scores). In fact, the board has never moon- lighting teachers trained by the board. provided any evidence of this kind to validate its Teachers are also required to take a test at a certification procedures. Neither has the regional site. commission. Our own search of the literature has uncovered no such evidence. Thanks to vigorous promotion by the National Commission on Teaching & America's Future, The board defends its procedures by pointing to national board certification has gained dozens of "validity" studies it has conducted for considerable support in Washington and in many its standards and assessments. However, these states. The commission has called for 105,000 studies are based entirely on the opinions of board-certified teachers over the next decade. panels of educators as to what an accomplished The Clinton administration has given this teacher should know and do, not on objective proposal its full support, and Congress has been measures of student performance. At no point generous as well. The fiscal 1998 budget gives has it ever been ascertained that the students of the NBPTS $18 million, bringing the total direct teachers who meet board standards actually learn federal support to $49 million since 1991. States more. have been urged to cover the $2,000 application fees, provide financial incentives for board The lack of hard evidence on this point was certification, and furnish other support. In recently acknowledged when the U.S. addition, major foundations have contributed Department of Education awarded $23 million to over $10 million to the board. the University of Maryland and 25 "partner" organizations to form the National Partnership While the resources and influence of the for Excellence and Accountability in Teaching. National Board for Professional Teaching One of the first projects of this consortium will Standards are expanding rapidly, many policy be to determine "whether teachers who have questions remain unanswered. been certified as outstanding by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Is the national board able to identify superior produce better-educated students" ("Ed. Dept. teachers? The surprising answer to this question Funds Large-Scale Research Effort on is: We don't know. Although the board has spent Teaching," Oct. 29, 1997.) considerable time and money.developing standards for accomplished teaching, many of But the objectivity of this investigation is badly these standards are vague platitudes compromised. Incredibly, the national board ("Accomplished teachers create a caring, itself belongs to the NPEAT consortium, as does

9410 5 the National Commission on Teaching & America's Future and other organizations allied Thus, if costs of applying are low and there is a with it. Moreover, the research proposal leaves modest probability of success, many less-than- no doubt that the findings will be favorable to outstanding teachers are going to seek out the board, since the proposal elsewhere stipulates national board certification. It is all but that NPEAT is to investigate the training, inevitable that the unions will insist on mentoring, or other professional-development influencing, and eventually settling through activities of board-certified teachers, in order to collective bargaining, eligibility for subsidies to disseminate to the broader education community defray the $2,000 application fee. As a result, the information on these correlates of "success." In process by which teachers are nominated for short, not only has there been no research board certification is apt to become routinized establishing the superiority of board-certified and standardized. How well will the board teachers by objective measures, there is no discriminate when thousdnds of applicants seek reason to expect credible evidence on this point certification through a bureaucratized system? from "research" currently funded by the federal No one knows. government. Is national board certification a cost-efficient It is also important to distinguish questions about way to identify superior teachers? Even if it can the validity of the assessment instrument from be shown that the national board identifies better questions about the quality of the teachers teachers, this falls short of demonstrating that applying for board certification. It is also board certification is the best way to spend important to distinguish questions about the education dollars. As noted above, by the end of validity of the assessment instrument from fiscal 1998, the board will have received questions about the quality of the teachers approximately $49 million in federal funds and applying for board certification. It is not enough certified roughly 1,000 teachers--that is, $49,000 to show that board-certified teachers are better per teacher. This takes no account of the than average teachers, for this might merely be opportunity cost of the many hours a teacher due to a superior applicant pool. In fact, this is spends preparing portfolios, writing essays, and only too likely to be the case. The 914 teachers so forth (for which some states and districts who currently hold national board certification provide paid time off), or the many millions of are probably above average, due in part to dollars in foundation contributions. teacher self-selection, and in part to the fact that school districts are nominating their best teachers There are likely more cost-effective ways to for the process. Hence the mere fact that board- identify superior teachers. The national board certified teachers are better than average would bypasses the most obvious source of information not establish that the board is able to identify on teacher performance: local administrators and better teachers. The latter is the critical question, parents. A simple alternative might be to solicit of course, particularly if the applicant pool letters or to poll supervisors, colleagues, and changes character later, when tens of thousands parents--individuals who are in a position to have been certified. observe performance directly.

Why would we expect a difference between early There are likely more cost-effective ways to and later applicants? The answer is simple: identify superior teachers. Indeed, this very point money. In North Carolina, the state salary is tacitly conceded by the board itself. In order to schedule for national-board-certified teachers is assemble panels of "accomplished" teachers to 12 percent higher. Consider the case of a teacher conduct its validity tests, the board approaches a with a master's degree and 10 years of random sample of district administrators to experience earning $29,960--the state-mandated nominate such teachers. This raises an interesting minimum salary (no local supplement). The question. If a randomly chosen school discounted present value of this bonus for the 10- administrator can be relied upon to nominate an year life of a national board certificate is roughly accomplished teacher for the national board $33,000. With renewal every 10 years for the panels, then what need is there for a national remainder of her 30 years of teaching, the board to develop and implement a much more present value rises to slightly more than $84,000. expensive process for identifying accomplished These totals do not include pension or other teachers? If the procedure the board follows for benefits tied to salary. assembling its panels is reasonable, there are

95 1.0G apparently no grounds for establishing the board performance now or five years in the future. in the first place. Can the board control cheating? National board Is national board certification a good substitute certification relies heavily on portfolios of for merit pay? There is also some uncertainty student work, essays by applicants, and about the practical results of the board's videotapes of classroom performance, all activities. The NBPTS does not claim to make supplied by the teacher. The board makes no good teachers, only to identify those who are attempt to determine the authenticity of these already superior. Policymakers need to ask in materials. With substantial sums of money at what way the public benefits. stake, there will inevitably be cheating. Some of it will be subtle: fudging an account of the It has been suggested that board certification feedback provided students, altering a furnishes a substitute for merit pay--a basis for description of lesson objectives after the fact so awarding additional compensation that is that the observed outcome accords with the superior to alternative mechanisms (supervisor stated intention. In other cases, cheating may be observations, peer review, and so on). The egregious. Student work may be fabricated or National Commission on Teaching & America's altered and teacher essays plagiarized. In fact, Future asserts as much, but presents no evidence the World Wide Web site maintained by the on the matter. Teachers' unions vigorously board encourages applicants to contact certified oppose merit pay and support national board teachers for "support, information, and advice" certification, but this alone does not settle the and provides e-mail addresses, a circumstance matter, since it may reflect the unions' perception that will encourage collaborative effort, some of that it will be easier for large numbers of which is apt to cross the ethical line. The board teachers to qualify for awards through board has not explained how it can maintain the certification than through traditional merit pay. integrity of the process when the opportunities to cheat are so pervasive and the returns to cheating This issue aside, the question remains whether are substantial. national board certification is a cost-efficient substitute for merit pay. Merit pay is far less In spite of the fact that very basic questions expensive to administer and relies on concerning the value of national board performance assessments from supervisors who certification remain unanswered, Congress and are in daily contact with the teacher (as well as state governments are being asked to invest over the parent-consumers). In addition, it is an $100 million in the next several years to meet a annual process, whereas national board goal of 105,000 certified teachers. Until certification occurs once every decade (the convincing data are presented to address these procedure for recertification has not yet been questions, further substantial investments of established). The fact that a teacher was superior public funds are unwarranted. five years ago may not tell us a great deal about

107

96 Philadelphia Inquirer, May 309 1998

Squeezing the Lemons of Teaching by Chris Satullo

When you first heard the idea, it struck you as wacky, a stakes, Strauss predicts, parents would not long indulge gimmick. But it took on a stubborn, puckish appeal. their children's fancy for easy graders. Tests should be in the fall and spring, he says, "Teacher choice, ehr one side of your brain thought. "It with publication of average results by classroom. just might help." But parents aren't qualified to know which teichers are the But the other side fired back: "Teacher choice? Gimme a best. "Parents are often undersold," Strauss maintains. break! That scheme has more holes in it than the Eagles' "There's a lot of paternalism, particularly about poor black offensive line." parents ... And don't underestimate the amount of teacher shopping that already goes on." What is teacher choice? You know he's right about that. You've been to suburban It is a school-reform notion being peddled to anyone who dinner parties in which teacher scouting reports absorb will listen by Robert Strauss, a professor at Carnegie half the evening. Give parents the power to choose Mellon University who has researched teacher training. teachers, and many will take it seriously. For those who don't, schools would assign teachers i.e. the status quo. Unlike charter schools or vouchers, Strauss claims, teacher choice would not cost anything and would require no And if you created a market in teachers, someone would changes in state law or teacher contracts. It could be tried soon publish (for service or profit) faculty ratings at least tomorrow by any school district with the gumption to do as reliable as those guides to America's colleges. so. Aren't crowded classes an odd way to reward the best Here's the idea: Let parents pick their children's teachers. teachers? How better, Strauss asks, to motivate them to nudge colleagues to improve? But, yes, he concedes, How? Parents would rank their top three choices for the you'd eventually need merit pay. following year's classes. If too many listed the same teacher as top choice, a lottery would be held. "There would be a lot of commotion," he chirps, "but not a lot of downside risk." What if some teacher gets few or no sign-ups? Good, Strauss chuckles: "The beauty of this idea is that it serves You're not so sure. How long would top-notch teachers to identify the lemons. Every organization has them. tolerate having 27 students while a mediocrity down the Schools are among the worst." hall had 15?

What happens to lemons? They wouldn't teach, Strauss But, as a parent who has watched creative teachers ground says. Divide students among the teachers whom parents down by Type A, hooked-on-phonics parents projecting actually want to see in a classroom. If that means the their career crises onto second grade, you can see an most-admired teachers get a few more students, don't upside to how a market in teachers would sort students. sweat it. Pay the lemons their contracted salaries to do Such parents could gravitate to the desks-in-a-row types, other work or to twiddle their thumbs in the faculty leaving more-adventurous educators freer to innovate. lounge. Wouldn't high-stakes testing induce teachers to "teach to Wouldn't that rile taxpayers and other teachers? Strauss the test?" If it's a good test, there are worse fates, Strauss is counting on it: howls of exasperation at unions and replies. Only mediocre teachers would panic; good administrators who have hidden behind the skirts of teachers would do what they do and thrive. tenure to elude accountability for bad teachers. Choice would plop a dunce cap onto poor performers, which he These are only a few of the qualms you throw at Strauss. hopes would ratchet up pressure to deal with them. But, in the end, you are as frustrated as he is with the stale schools debate, in which each side keeps ducking But often, the best teachers aren't the easiest or most awkward facts. You can't rule out that his notion might popular ones. Yes, Strauss says, and that's why teacher do more good than harm. You've talked it over with some choice works only in conjunction with "high-stakes" people whose views you respect. You'd like to hear from testing in which the student's ability to progress toward more. a diploma depends on mastering the material. With such So here's the question, what do you think?

1 0 3 DaytoDaily News, May 28, 1998

There Are No Secrets In Schools by Ellen Belcher

After five days as a substitute teacher, I'm hardly an little adults, but they don't have to struggle to act like expert. Rather, I was a 'temporary' teacher - the name Ohio babies. I had a hard time figuring out what was reasonable gives to substitutes who don't have an education degree to expect from them. in the truest sense. But looking back, certain things strike me as a journalist, nonteacher and parent that might not be Don't they know better than to habitually poke at each obvious if you don't get the chance to be in classrooms. other, or are they just being sixth-graders? Did everybody really need to sharpen their pencils, or is it inevitable that * There is something special about a good school. Noone they can't get from one class to the next without breaking has to sell you on the staff or students. You feel the the lead? warmth when you walk through the door. You see it in the way people talk to each other, how they smile at strangers, * Lots of people have asked if teachers and principals and especially in how the students relate to the adults. knew I was a journalist. I believe they did not. I asked both There are no secrets in schools. The students know who the Dayton and the Bellbrook school superintendents to be works hard, who cares about them and who's just going put on their sub lists, but we agreed that I'd choose the through the motions. teaching assignments, and I'd get no special treatment.

You don't even have to ask them. I had students tell me When I had a conversation of any length with a teacher or they never do much in this or that class, and I had others administrator at a school, I disclosed that I work for the who would have worked even if there hadn't been an adult paper and was writing about the experience. With one in the room. The teacher was there, if only in spirit, exception, they said they thought it was a realistic way to commanding, 'Do your work. I will know if you don't.' understand a substitute's job. On two occasions, I was asked to come back to sub again, and both individuals * I was amazed at how desperate some schools are for were surprised to learn I was a reporter. One principal subs. If a school is short a substitute, principals and didn't know about my assignment until I called him with secretaries can kill big chunks of their day piecing together follow-up questions several days after I had been at his a plan to make sure someone's in charge of the teacherless school. classroom every minute. Some principals cultivate certain substitutes in the hope that they'll work only in their * It didn't take five days to feel how seductive teaching can schools, and they're unabashed about their possessiveness. be. There's something indescribably pleasurable about You do what you have to for your students and to keep having two dozen children at your feet, lapping up what your school running. you're telling them, waving their arms in the air, aching to tell you what they think or know. There were plenty of * I had imagined before substituting that working in an those moments in the elementary class I taught, and the elementary school would be the easiest assignment. It's middle school students really were anxious for me to know much more exhausting than it looks, and, for me, high they could rattle off a goodly number of states bordering school and even middle school were not nearly as the Atlantic Ocean. physically demanding. (Do not ask about the sweat I expended, though, trying to recall geometry principles.) I doubt any of the high school students had any intellectual And, as a sub, I didn't have to go home and grade papers or epiphanies because of anything I said, but I can imagine plan for the next day. that there's something thrilling about getting 30 students to One elementary teacher said the trick to succeeding in the see the predictable magic of chipping away at both sides of primary grades is to have more energy than the students. an equation until all you're left with is 'x' equals Like most good something. advice, recognizing its value and living it are two different things. And being thanked by a child as opposed to an adult feels different. You expect your adult boss to say 'good job' * I think middle-school teachers are masochistic saints. when you've gone out of your way; he's being polite, he Everything that's good and bad about children seems wants you to do it all again tomorrow. But teachers don't magnified in those early teen-age years. The expect gratitude from their students. And when a child students are full of energy, but channeling it is like surprises them, for many, it's enough to keep them going capturing lightning. They're capable of sustained for another week or month or year. conversation, but they can go on forever. They look like

98 109 The New Republic, May 25,1998

Merger mania hits the teachers' unions.

DIVIDEDTHEY STAND

By Peter Schrag

The late Al Shanker, who was the president of the teacher organizations rarely disagree on national educa- American Federation of Teachers from 1974 tion issues even now, the new entity would bring asingle until his death last year, probably was the nearest voice to bear on these debates. Most particularly, if the thing to a statesman that white-collar unionism hopes of its proponents are realized, the new union ever had. In part, the success of that statesmanshiprested would assume a major role in turning around underper- on the hope of creating a single unionof teachers and forming schools, upgrading the skills of the profession, allied professionalsmeaning a merger between his and leading all of education to higher standards. AFT, which now has 950,000 members, most of them in But the new entity could also easily lose as much in the nation's big urban districts, and the much larger brains and energy as it gains in bulk. It could become National Education Association, which has its 2.3 million. an even bigger and less accountableobstacle to reform At a time when public education was increasingly than many state and local affiliates often already are. It being challenged by voucher proposals and by private could, as its many conservative critics claim, act like just providers of everything from tutoring to complete school another monopoly.

. programs, Shanker sought to reshape the professioninto Of course, for the moment, the biggest question is a major force for higher academic standardsand other whether the merger will happen at all. There are good reforms. And there was no way to do that as long as local and ample reasons for the merger, not least of themthe affiliates of the two unions were competing for members growing agreement between the presidents ofboth by promising nothing but fatter contracts and more organizationsBob Chase at the NEA, Sandra Feldman inflexible job guaranteesand then waging unending at the AFTthat public education is introuble. With- war on school systems in the effort to get them. out what Chase calls "the new unionism"a movement Now that the leaders of the two organizations have broadly concerned with improving schools and not just publicly declared their intention to merge, the dream bread-and-butter issuesthe whole enterprise of public of a single union is about to meet its supreme test. If the education could eventually be torn apart by a restive merger is approved by the delegates at their respective public that often sees the schools as arrogant, unre- union conventions this July, the new, still-unnamed sponsive bureaucracies. merged entity (for now it's being called the United But teacher unionism has always been an uncomfort- ; Organization) could have a majorimpact both on the able fit, producing no end of ambivalence amongthe nation's schools and on the broader fortunes of the rank and file, particularly among members of theolder American labor movement. and sometimes sclerotic NEA. Are teachers just another The new organization would, among other things, be collection of blue-collar working stiffs, like steel workers the largest single union within the AFL-CIO, larger than or auto workers or coal miners?Or are they profession- the often corrupt and embarrassing Teamsters. As an als whose responsibilities transcend the limitationsof organization of white-collar professionals, most of them negotiated hours, working conditions, and seniority middle-class women, it could do much to polish the rules? That is, are they not properly subject to collective faded image of organized labor. And, although the two bargaining, rigid salary structures, grievance procedures, and so on? PETER SCHRAG is the author of Paradise Lost: California's And, if they insist on the prerogatives and status of Experience, America's Future (The New Press). professionals, can they also behave like assembly-line unionistshitting the bricks and tryingto shut down issues should be raised at all. They don'teven like talk- the enterprise, even as they claim to have only the chil- ing abouf those things because they're afraidsomeone dren's interests at heart? It was only lastyear that the will be offended." In the last national AFT conventions NEA accepted the principle of peer review, meaning over which he presided, Shanker also often warned his the participation of teachers in evaluating, mentoring, cheering members about going overboard in the and, if necessary, disciplining other teachers. Until attempt to include all handicapped childreneven then, the union had always regarded peer reviewas a those who are dangerous and disruptivein main- threat to rank-and-file solidarity. "We're a hybrid," said stream classrooms. The NEA has ducked the issue. one NEA official in the Midwest. "Our members want to Meanwhile, in order not to offend its activists, theNEA be a union when they want to be a union. Theywant to takes positions on scores of issues that bear only the be professionals when they want to be professionals." vaguest relationship to the central mission of the That sort of ambivalencecombined with the misgiv- schoolsfrom endorsement of the "accurate portrayal" ings that tens of thousands of NEA members, particu- of the roles and contributions ofgays and lesbians larly those in the South and Midwest, have about "throughout history," to statehood for the. District of belonging to anything even remotely connected with Columbia, to the need for a single-payer healthcare the AFL-cmleaves the fate of the merger in consider- system. The NEA even supported a boycott of Florida able doubt. Most NEA officials acknowledge that,as one orange juice after Anita Bryant, at the time a chief of them said, "if the vote were taken today,we couldn't spokesperson for the industry, madesome remarks that get the [two-thirds majority] we need" to have it were deemed homophobic. approved at the union's convention in July. Ina straw The proposed governance structure for thenew poll taken at the Illinois Education Associationconven- entity does not impose numerical quotas, although it tion in March, 75 ptrcent of the 1,000 delegates voted promises that the union will remain committed "to against the merger. There appears to be equallystrong maintainand expandcurrent AFT and NEA levels opposition in Iowa, New Jersey, and several other states. of minority representation throughout leadership,gov- Both organizations are divided. Shanker, who died erning [sic] and staff " There is alsoa promise for "the last year, was probably more influential outside his expansion of all governing bodies [to] help ensure ade- union than inside it. A proponent of world-class stan- quate minority representation." dards, national testing, and upgraded teaching skills, he was a man who couldand didmake common cause An. officers who helped negotiate the outlines with education reformers across a broad politicalspec- of the merger say privately that thenew gover- trum and who, in the last years of his career, probably nance structure more closely resembles the had more stature than any of them. At thesame time, AFT's somewhat more streamlined and central- many of the members of his locals in New York, ized arrangement than the NEA's many-layered hyper- Chicago, Philadelphia, Cleveland, and other large democratic system. But that hardly guarantees smooth citiesschool people who had first learned their mili- sailing. The existing NEA staff, which, at least until tant unionism from himremained stuck in the con- recently, had been far more influential in the organiza- frontational model of schoolhouse labor relations. tion than its elected officers, has an enormous investment in the status quo. So do the thousands of college For its part, the NEA is even more deeply split professors, especially in the nation's hidebound educa- among people mired in what remains of its tration schools, who are influential NEA members. Will ditionally friendly, rural schoolmarm ethos of they embrace an organization that would be committed school management, those who ambivalently to major restructuring and changes of attitudes in want to be both union members and professionals, and teacher training programs? those who are with Chase in the search for thatnew A lot remains to be worked out. If both unions unionism. Worse, the inertia generated by the ambiva- approve the merger this summer, the new entity proba- lence in the NEA is exacerbated by other imponder- bly won't come into existence until 2002, and, even ables, particularly the fact that the NEA, in the words of after that, state and local affiliates, while they would be one friendly critic, "has gone absolutely wacko with members of the United Organization, would not be political correctness." The organization has rigid ethnic required to merge. Nor, in recognition of the ant' quotas throughout its governance and management union sentiment within the NEA, would individual structure. Rules require a minimum of 20 percent members be required to join the AFL-CIO. Consequently, minority representation on each committee,as well as an organization with a potential AFL-CIO membership of on the board of directors and the executive committee, 3.2 million is only guaranteeing the federation 1.4 mil- and an effort to achieve ethnic proportionality inall lion membersa figure calculated to be just large staff positionsall of which producesan endemic enough to exceed the Teamsters and thus, it is hoped, unwillingness to take on tough issues. to overshadow it in public visibility. The difference For example, at one recent joint meeting, AFTmem- equal to roughly 82 percent of the NEA's current bers raised tough questions about failing inner-city membershipis itself a measure of the uncertainties of schools. As one participant described the reaction,"the the new unionism. And, as education consultant Julia NEA staffers came away shaking their heads that such Koppich says, "a lot of rank-and-file NEA members just

100 don't believe public education is in much danger." notion of collective action was to "meet and confer" Against all that, Chase, who really seems to be serious with management, not anything resembling collective about changing his organization and sees the merger as bargaining, much less going out on strike. That echo is the bestperhaps the onlyway to do it, is running hardly the wave of the future. It's clear that Chase, like from state to state to persuade the rank and file that much of the NEA, remains uncomfortable with the there's a different world out there. The task is made AFT's brasher, more aggressive reform rhetoric. More easier by Feldman, who is less intimidating and gener- broadly, his organization, which learned many of its ally regarded as more personable than Shanker was. union tactics from Shanker and learned at least to talk But the cultures of the two organizations remain the new unionism from Shanker as well, is still slower, vastlydifferent.Chase was clearly influenced by more cautious, and far more bureaucratic. Shanker was Shanker, who long ago became bored with the bread- routinely reelected every two years. The NEA now limits and-butter teacher unionism he himself developed in its presidents to three four-year terms, which, of course, the late 1960s and 1970s. But Chase's version still has a is one reason why the NEA's well-paid bureaucrats are softer edge to it than Shanker's or Feldman's: a little so much more powerful. less hard-nosed reform substance about teacher train- There is a story, which may be apocryphal, about the ing and low-performing schools, a bit more feel-good dancer Isadora Duncan proposing marriage to George process talk about collaborative nonadversarial work Bernard Shaw. With her body and his brains, she is sup- with school boards "to resolve problems" and to "give posed to have said, they could produce perfect chil- members more say in how schools are run." This dren. Shaw supposedly replied: "But what if they have merger, he said, is "like blending two households." It's my body and your brains?" The story is not entirely apt. hardly an image anybody in the AFT would ever use. The new organization, if it happens, will certainly have It's also something that faintly echoes the pre-union, the NEA's bulk. But so far there is no assurance that it small-town sensibility of the old NEA, whose affiliates will have anything like Shanker's smarts, vision, and exercised a lot of clout in state legislatures, but whose political savvy.

112 101 (SR)2 Selected Readings on School Reform Curriculum & Pedagogy

This summer's inspection of content and teaching begins withRichard Bernstein's brilliant "Dictatorship of Virtue: Multiculturalism inElementary and Secondary Schools" from American Experiment Quarterly.If you haven't already read Bernstein's book of the same title, have a look at thisperceptive expose of multiculturalism as an intolerant political agenda. Bernstein's mainbeef is that the multiculturalist curriculum is most harmful to the peopleit intends to help. Nowhere is the multicultural agenda more visible than in thehistory curriculum. In this spring's edition of Selected Readings, weintroduced you to the problems encountered in the development of the national historystandards. This time, Sol Stern's "The Rebirth of American History" fromCity Journal brings us good news. With a best-selling series of "unabashedly patriotic"textbooks (Joy Hakim's A History of US) and the institution of rigorous historystandards in several states, such as Virginia, Stern ponders the renaissanceof history. Next up is a transcript of E.D. Hirsch's speech at the SeventhAnnual Core Knowledge National Conference. We find the speech, titled "WhyGeneral Knowledge Should be a Goal of Education in a Democracy," veryconvincing. By now, you are likely acquainted withHirsch's "Core Knowledge" curriculum and his explanation of why general knowledge is essential, but what impresses usmost is the solid research foundation on which this approach rests. We conclude with a pair of articles targeting modernpedagogical fads and fallacies by Matthew Robinson, a writer for Investor's BusinessDaily. Robinson asks two straightforward questions: "Are Schools Too Hard on Kids?"and "Does Good Practice Make Perfect?" Many educators seem to fear thattough standards will crush kids' self-esteem and they abhor "mere memorizationof facts." Yet the research evidence seems to suggest that these "old-fashioned"methods still work todaywhen given the chance.

BRW

11 3 103 American Experiment Quarterly, Summer 1998

Dictatorship df Virtue: Multiculturalism in Elementary and Secondary Schools Richard Bernstein

Journalist Richard Bernstein isa book critic for the New York Times, where he has also been United Nations correspondent and national cultural correspondent.Two of his four books are about China; he opened Time magazine's first Beijingbureau in 1980.

In his book Dictatorship of Virtue: Multiculturalism and theBattle for America's Future (1994), Bernstein wrote,"Scratch thesurface of a multiculturalist curriculum, and there is thisworm gnawing away at any notion of American goodness. What emerges is the passion play of victims andoppressors, colonizers and colonized." A Boston Globe reviewer called the book"tart, sometimes eloquent, always graceful and lucid." Bernstein spoketo a Center of the American audience on this subject in October 1997.

One of the frustrations of the topic it, we tend to focus attention on cer- ofmulticulturalismandthe tain outrageous episodes that happen assault on the concept of an American to catch the media's attention--like identity is that it takes such a multi- some excess of gender-neutrallan- tude of forms that it is difficult to keep guage, or the book Politically Correct track of it all. Multiculturalism and its Bedtime Stories, or an outrageous sexual closely allied phenomenon of political harassment charge: a six-year-old boy, correctness show up mostly in small for example, accused of harassment for ways, in a statement here, a program kissing a six-year-old girlon the cheek. there. It is not a centralized movement But most often the examples are too with a head office and an official small to make it into the newspapers, newsletter. It is, in short, difficult to even though it is this nonspectacular, keep track of and difficult to define normative sort of PCness that, in my with precision. And when we do define view, is the real PCness. Let me .give

1.14

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Beckett, alpha- with thattolikeI happen eye. puttingher, I thinkeven to Backlash know ifshe we would Susandon't on aprobablyalways Faludi,list of seeliterary andagree eye I andissufferingter that D. male Itall is havesyndrome, people what been I whocall equallyand the are the equality notvictimizedmain white idea of piecesreference-sizedhad occasion of World to volumeLiterature leaf through called published Master-aI waslarge, byin Barnes and Noble, where I gantuawithbeck'sDickens's such and East works Pantagruel David of Eden,as Voltaire'sCopperfield, in and between, Rabelais's Candide, along Gar- Stein- notmasterpieceslist get is better.a work is calledaNext bit of Calmon a stretch.the Down women's Mother,It gets worseor, at least, it does andlumhavehistory.by that freeAmerican actually vale Marywomen of Chesnut believed Southtears were that thatequal may in isslave the sufferers.patriarchalor antebel-may women not If hapsable,Harperliterary aquite coupleCollins. masterpieces.high hundred Itquality provided articlesacknowledged short, on read- per- I was doing a JamesLost,Sappho'swithThe Hamlet,the TrialJoyce. Ramayana,"Ode by A The Franzto good Aphrodite," Iliad, Kafka,The list TaleDas for and loversKapital,ofParadise Ulysses Genji, of by rizesa one-actMother'scallswomen's each "type play work typebook of by of accordingplot,"in plotMegan its issummaryand "feminist." Terry. Calmto what catego- TheDown Iit had verysheexcludedwould did foolish believe almost from woman bythat, anydefinition thenand list hershe have workswas to a be of "master- novelreviewtoandpus remind thatplaysI forneeded that the meby wasNew aofthe kind some basedimmortal York of of Cliffson theTimes the characters' Notes Oedi- on a fix Sophocles, andwholeliterature. it wasset of the these others Masterpieces in the seriesThen books, that I noticed that there was a black?Icouldnot wonder: realized be Another used Is there thatto describethat athe type is word white? aof type plot feminist Christ-of that plot. is itsinaboutpieces." thecareful, multiculturalisther In illustratesassiduous, any case, anotherreverentialpicture, the little elementwhich blurbculti- is namesryreading articles and the their onsynopsis roles. Oedipus I and was thethe explanato- reminded,King and icaneratureumesbring Literature, were me, toMasterpieces my and point. Masterpieces ofThe Women's other of vol-Lati- Lit- Masterpieces of African-Amer- "antifeminist"tivetypesian? Jewish?and and liberal? Democratic Are plot there might ones,Republican have conserva- a hardplot I suspect that an variouspanics,whichvation women, ofothersAsians, the cultare gays disabled assumed of and victimhood, lesbians, people, to be just His-and by as OedipusOedipus'sgreatthethey theatessential have Colonus, Sophoclesamazing stood element of theintegrity, howplays test of staggeringly ofthoseare his time. courage plays For was me and why senseexpectedotherno Literature. ofvolumes it to by find. Igoing breezed and Let over found me through thegive what listfirst you these a I of fortimewomen's too making much literature itlonger. onto list. the The masterpieces nextTo work, continue, though I promise not disadvantagedtheican other history. works as blacks that are were listed inJust Amer- are forFear your information, some of Iwhatwastrueain hadn't accepting was read also flaw the or art consequencesinseen unmerited his or character, even tragic forthought what fate. but forworkGeorgeture the for Masterpieces. 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"The don't afterlikesen- I tionatticular,calfor the Educationalprograman by worldthatrather portraying left-wing effortDiversity; preeinpts itself to way purvey asit ofis aopposi- alookingway politi-a par- of pupilslum,population.up atabout there, the messagethree-quarters I did not conveyedhave of a favorablethe to school'sBut the when I looked at the curricu- summedsayingthere.thegle-issue six A years"I bannercampaignup Learn thisthat displayed idea.childrenThrough to be But waged inwouldthat Diversity" the seemedthrough school spend totianityhaswhite the been Indianspeople, and done what andbecause in the the white Africans."name they people sawof WhatChris- what did about George Washington? I oneasked, admirable wondering white if thereperson was at for Ameri- least lyingtice is on actually a rather a politicalnarrow band of philosophy the is undertaketered one whoserious had study actually of anotherbothered cul- to thanwords,timization the something allegory that of the more unfairness pupils to this are and culture learning vic- president,teachcan children about that him? to he "That was ahe slave was theowner, admire. What do you firstshe ginutterlypolitical-culturalwho and andhas inspiration. exclusivelydone a fair As Westernamount a of in ori- spectrum journalist that travel- fewmorewithture. honeyed the Itemotionally might fact andthat have heartwarming it'sgratifying something a lot easier to learnclichés to and do a ofat Manythe Hans Voices. Christian Andersen SchoolI, for one, prefer to be a member of gavestressed,replied.that hea strongThis waswas teacher a richnotimpression dedicated (who, much," person it must of caring whothat be whatingthe in a theglobe,actual multiculturalist world, asdiversity opposed I sometimes thatwould to exists the make across comfort-imagine of suddenly,culturethan to acquire enters the same in-depththe warmpicture knowledge. feelings and then,aboutExcept, of course, .when our own ConnecticutschooltheI cultuream inglad a that little that, inwe townthe sharewhen benightedin assoutheasternI went Americans. to andpublic deeplytheherhestudies pupilscotton about stole class.did herginhis learn pupils),inventioninventor, The about children told frominEli meher learn a woman Whitney, social"that yoution.Americaning, want cliche-riddenThe realtruth of the "diversity" matter is multiculturalist multiculturalism, get on imagina- of this:the if West.mainlongerthe worth features Theapply. and rnulticulturalist One isvalue its of denigration multiculturalism'sof all culturesis a bit of like theno andwouldbureaucratmeaningnonmulticulturalist say be toandfor hadthe me others,decreed to have "My howto standname good up isit virtuous 1950s, no well- educational positivecouldmywho illusion didn't be wayportrayed patent that under atit," in theshe a generousstrict said, least some whites spoilingrules of and likeworldoutan airplane femalethere called in circumcision andAbroad,that go great where regionabound, practices along someplace else of the Therethisenthusiastictheabout "idiot"and are everythis, morein praises The not country than leastMikado of a "all few ofbut centuries them whoodd his thingsown." singsthe but fact JewishwouldRichardineffable American." have Bernstein beencomplexity to To reduceand have of my human thedone culture real solife and is to .a MCGFDACliched pedagogy. Diversity This brings me to my second obser- writeandthieves,with deathsupposedlyamputation head-to-foot sentences "blasphemous" of veils thefor for thosehands women, who of books. alismoriginthatinsignificant nothing anditself. in could Beyondvalues fact be that thanmore that our multicultur- Western isculture the not hap- in fewunderstand.crats, simplein their in concepts their public I would ignorance, institutions, that want these my think bureau- tochildren, be they treat- diversityrules."phrasevation, and Actually, about its actual the of course,usemeaning, of multicultur- as in a like "educational that word diversity Thatrightshomosexualityis notplace forthe called women, place wasAbroad, where or invented, where bytolerance thethe or way,phrase equal for of beforefreedompenspeople to inlivinghave andhuman producedin stable history. conditionsa largerWe have number of our prosperity than ever edamonties, irrespective their a not Jew. breastto Ihave am of like their anthose aAmerican. privatebadge identities ofidenti- Itmerit. ishung I for culturalismculture,alismwing has politicaland almost is it aisn't programcode nothingmulti word either. that to for dopreempts aMulti- withleft- tinginalienableendowedabout on all the menby busrights their being in was creatorChina born struck. and with equal youTry certain get-and will Chinesewithoffproblems, in our the culture own Unitedtrue, cultufe, butor States the we Africanare not of also Americawith culture, better the knowledgethetity;need public the in otherthe schoolsand American partthe ofawarenessto it inculcate ispart my of business. my that the iden- I Theforoppositionmulticulturalism respect, reality by istolerance, presenting that, asis not itand itselfis respectfulpracticed, diversity. as a or call seeinaccurateat what best amulticulturalism misnomer, synonym a for is a set ofMy point is that mukicukuralism is well-intended but all about. values Nativewarmingor what Americanthe clichés inventors like culture. to ofcall those the holistic heart- For the Mastery or Representation?What multiculturalism does, the of groupDiversitydiversitytolerant of isofpeople to andifference, a extremelymulticukuralist who look andtruncated its means idea one. ofa different and evenculturemakesthat as toup multiculturalism which a key we part all of actually the American belong, is Western in origin and that denies that gradualmembersforican more values realization of mypeople has subgroup, led in in practiceto conditions greater the Jews, of prosperity Amer- ofthe the othercitizensbusinesscourse, based isto of make make bureaucrats. on theirprivate demands racial identities It alsoor on sexual leadseach butwhothink who, have pretty when different much it comes sexualalike. to practices, politics,Put another way, "diversity" in prac- ticulturalists,thatAmericanthere in isall suchof culture. my a travels thing The amongas funny a common thething mul- is I almost never encoun- Jewishfullestgreatestthe Secondparticipation history Temple.since than the There atdestruction any is, time in other inof political freedom and the proveselvesitidentities, encourages to beas divisive defineda practice children andby theirthat harmful. to originsI believesee them- rather will And greatonlythatMulticulturalismthan yourdeal race as about social and theethnicity position wayis based you determine but learnon also the and idea anot self-fashioning individuals. schoolthemakeupquerading children today, of aseach who sensitivityJews child. are and doing TheAsians, to thetruth the spiritualare best is pre-that in mukiculturalist-diversityThatcationalsentativeness is theexperience most is the painful keyis to to defraudprogram: ironya better ofthem. edu- itthe is researchturalistlook at the leadersa few world. years I Oneencountered ago of was the anmulticul- educa-in my all.almostarethecisely In Milwaukee multiculturalistthenot those reflectedchildren children a few in whose the yearsimperative. most 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Iidea think of right"mastery,"going rather to to do have ofwellthan learning to inwrong. achievelife howas Certainly adults toa degreeget they thingsevery are of erformer,wouldby deadSophocles rathereven white if thanthat SophoclesEuropean byschools Erica is male Jong,taughtjust anoth-and and the aI aboutthatencouragementtreatment,child multicukuralist child. is entitled to But a degree to thethat sensitive, variouseducationmost is of appropriate nurturing individual theories and to ablesweepsarchalrepresentative fact culture. out that of there the of pictureis the a body white the of maleinescap- knowl-In patri- the educational sphere, diversity 2 1 thanedphraseself-esteemimportant, in notthe has justcurriculum"are it,that hinges "seeing a children's lot on,of themselves sillinessas all-importantthe more common reflect- mas-often encourageknowledgesuccessinedge the that ideain children theall hasthat children future racialno andrace andand musttheir or sexual that sex.masterparents this repre-To for City Journal, Spring 1998

So0 Stern The Rebirth of American History? tory textbooks has sold over one million copies. A hat can we Americans few states, particularly Virginia, have instituted do to keep ourselves from rigorous standards of what public school pupils declining asagreat must study in required history courses. And in power?" a questioner New York City, an innovative public high school asked the best-selling that focuses on American history is inducting British historian Paul classes filled with immigrants into that unique tra- Johnson recently. dition of freedom and inclusiveness that is the indispensable glue holding together the nation's "You have to believe in yourself," replied Johnson, common civic culture. It is giving these newcom- author most recently of ers the means, as George Washington put it, to become "assimilated to our customs, measures and A History of the American People. "To do this, you laws; in a word soon become one people." must teach your children about your history. Instill ut before looking at these hopeful signs of inthemwhat'sin renewal, consider for a moment the dark back- the Constitution. They ground of historical ignorance that makes these should know large parts signs look so especially bright by contrast. Many of the Declaration of of the nation's middle schools and high schools no longer offer American history, and NewYork Independence by heart. This will lead to a belief in State's high schools require only a single, two- America itself." Having lived through his own semester course in postCivil War U.S. history. The country's loss of confidence and precipitous majority of American students leave high school decline, the 69-year-old Johnson knew whereof historically illiterate. According to the 1994 he spoke. nationwide tests administered by the National Assessment of Educational Progress, 57 percent of Though Americans notoriously haven't been tak- high school seniors scored below the minimally ing this advice for several decadesschools have passing grade. Only one in four could tell in taught little of our national history, and taught it 37 execrablyhopeful signs are on the horizon. A which century Lincoln was president, and only new series of unabashedly patriotic American his- SPRING 1998

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one in five knew anything about Reconstruction. there really was such a thing as Soviet totalitarian- "In most countries the study of history is insepa- ism and that Stalinist repression in Eastern Europe rable from the spirit of the country," the historian provoked an appropriate response from the West. John Patrick 1Diggins has written. "The United These changes mollified some. But the revised States is the exception." standards remain heavily multicultural.

The little that high school students do learn about evertheless, instead of history, whether multi- our past is largely a swamp of error and special- cultural or not, what most schoolchildren get isan pleading. Government standards of what kids unwholesome brew called social studies, concocted should know are part of the problem. In a fit of by the National Council for Social Studies (NCSS), political naiveté, the Bush administration's chair of which represents the teachers of such stuff. From its the National Endowment for the Humanities, start in the 1920s, the NCSS has believed that acade- Lynne Cheney, hired the National Center for mic historywhich some of its leaders have dispar- History in the Schools to develop the first-ever set aged as "pastology"is elitist and irrelevant. The of national history standards. This outfit's head, organization has successfully lobbied state educa- UCLA's Gary Nash, exemplifies the triumphant tion departments to require little or no history. march of 1960s New Left graduate students Instead, it has filled the schools with a hodgepodge through university history departments. His schol- of "global studies," "cultural studies,"even "peace arly writing stresses the importance of social move- studies"which present all cultures and civiliza- ments of the "oppressed" over "white-oriented hero- tions as equal in value. A dash of therapeuticpro- worshiping" history. His book, Red, White, and Black: grams, from self-esteem to conflict resolution to The Peoples of Early America, purports to show that AIDS awareness, completes the social studies mix. the American polity sprang not so much from the Eighteenth-century European enlightenment as These topics make at least a smattering of history from a great "convergence" of European, American inescapable, but most high school social studies Indian, and African influences, in equal parts. teachers are ill-equipped to teacheven that frag- ment. According to Diane Ravitch, only 18 percent The first version of the National History Standards of them have completed a college majoror minor in in 1991 set off one of the fiercer battles of the cul- history; most of the rest are education-school grads. ture wars. Indian lore dominates the early parts of In New York you can teach high school social stud- the text; George Washington merits two mentions; ies (and even llth-grade American history) without Western civilization drops a few more notches in having taken a single college-level historycourse. importance. But working-class and feminist protest, as John Patrick Diggins observed, "parades If the NCSS had its way, America wouldrecon- itself through the text until it seems as though the struct its entire educational system to reflect a only meaning of history lies in the shouts coming race- and gender-centered philosophy of peda- from the streets. In the NHS, 1968 lives!" gogy and child development. The organization's official policy paper, "Curriculum Guidelines for After much public sniping-99 senators expressed Multicultural Education," is one of the scariest dismay, as did mainstream historians, such as documents in American education today, going Diane Ravitch and Arthur Schlesinger Jr., who far beyond the demand that social studies curricu- cling to that battered old revolutionary ideal of lums vent the grievances of a rainbow coalition of E pluribus unumNash's group issued a revised ethnic and racial groups. In the tone of a commis- set of standards, which eliminated some of the sar's lecture at a political reeducation camp, the more egregious examples of anti-Western, anti- NCSS exhorts teachers, administrators, and other white-male bias. While the earlier draft, for exam- school employees to think and act multiculturally ple, depicted the cold war as a kind of during every moment of the school day, lest they "swordplay" between two equally blameworthy become accomplices of American culture's lurking 38 superpowers, the revised draft conceded that racism. School personnel should scrutinize every

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124 aspect of the school environmentfrom classroom founding that the group wants children to derive teaching styles and the pictures on the walls to the from social studies textbooks: "We see the foods served in the lunchroom and the songs sung Revolution of 1776 asamong other thingsa in the school assembliesto be sure they reflect step in achieving greater social justice for one "multicultural literacy." group of peoplewhite males."

At the heart of the NCSS guidelines lies a funda- Today's history (and social studies) textbooks mentally racist assumption. "[The instructional are unreadably dull because, in addition to multi- strategies and learning styles most often favored in culturalism in content, they also reflect an affir- the nation's schools," the guidelines declare, "are mative-action approach to authorship. The inconsistent with the cognitive styles, cultural ori- authors are not individuals but committees, entations, and cultural characteristics of some backed up by consultants and teacher-reviewers, groups of students of color." These students flour- all chosen according to the textbook industry's ish under "cooperative teaching techniques" rather diversity requirementsso many blacks, so many than the "competitive learning activities" that work Hispanics, so many women. for white kids. This assertion sounds dangerously close to City College professor Leonard Jeffries's In a recent speech, Sandra Feldman, the new pres- vaporings about black "sun children" and white "ice ident of the American Federation of Teachers, children." Certainly, for the NCSS, the ideal of a warned that without strong public schools, race-neutral classroom is a mirage. Teachers who America will have a situation "where our rich strive toward a single standard of excellence, who diversity becomes a source of balkanization and presume to treat all students equally, are doing something harmful, not admirable. We are left, finally, with this Orwellian conclusion: "Schools In New York you can teach high school social should recognize that they cannotstudies and 11th-grade American history without treat all students alike or they run the having taken a college-level history course. risk of denying equal educational opportunity to all persons." division, because common public schooling will Those students who do study history usually no longer be the way into the American main- study it out of textbooks that are, in about equal stream and will no longer hold our society togeth- measure, mendacious and dull. Gilbert Sewall, a er." Feldman may not have noticed, but it is orga- former Newsweek education writer who, as direc- nizations of public school educators like the NCSS tor of the American Textbook Council, has studied that are trashing the very idea of an "American the textbook industry for years, notes that since mainstream," producing the "balkanization and the 1970s publishers have come under intense division" she rightly fears. Only by returning to pressure from various left-wing advocacy groups the study of Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln, (some with federal government financing) to cre- of Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King, all ate a politically correct, multiculturalist version of part of the "spirit of the country," can we recapture American history under the guise of eliminating a common civic culture for our children. "racist or sexist" material from the books. One such organization, financed by liberal Protestant That resurgence isn't coming from organizations churches, published a 1988 volume called Thinking like Feldman's union or the NCSS but from grass- and Rethinking U.S. History, which was brutally roots movements of dissident parents, teachers, frank about its intentions. "We explicitly believe and concerned citizens. It is a movement for that all textbooks and all literature are on the side change from the bottom up, as Gary Nash would either of progress, of the status quo, or of regres- put it. Private citizens are beginning to fight back, sion," it opined. Here is the view of America's as in California, where parents, including a large39

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111 astonishing. Based almost entirely on word of mouth by parents and teachers who found the volumes while browsing in the likes of Barnes & Noble, Hakim's books took off. The History of US has now sold over one million copies. It has also penetrated the regular textbook market and is being adopted by hundreds of school districts around the country. "The lesson is," Hakim says, "that we shouldn't have any books in school that are not good enough to be in a bookstore."

Elle popularity of A History of US is even more encouraging when you consider its tone of opti- mism, its old-fashioned credo that America really is a new nation much greater than the sum of its multicultural parts. Listen to the triumphant message Hakim offers her young readers in the opening pages: "Learning about our country's history will make you understand what it means to be an American. And being an American is a privilege. People all over the world wish that they, too, percentage of Hispanics, will almost certainly could be American. Why? Because we are a nation pass the June referendum that would sharply cur- that is trying to be fair to all our citizens.... tail bilingual programs in the state's schools, in an effort to get immigrant children immersed in the "We believe the United States of America is the common civic culture as quickly as possible. most remarkable nation that has ever existed. No other nation, in the history of the world, has ever One of the brightest examples of the resurgence is provided so much freedom, so much justice, and the spectacular success of a fed-up parent who so much opportunity to so many people." protested by becoming a historian herself. Joy Hakim's history doesn't scant the shameful Hakim, a reporter in Virginia Beach, became out-episodes in' our country's past. At the start she raged with the way her children were being tells her readers: "Some people will tell you of evil taught American history and resolved to do forces in the United States. They will tell you of something about it. Disgusted with the children'spast horrors like slavery and war. They will tell stupefyingly boring textbooks, she concluded that you of poverty and injustice today. They will be she could do a better job herself. She wanted to telling the truth. tell a positive story about America in a coherent narrative style. It took her five years to complete "We didn't say the United States is perfect. Far A History of US,'a ten-volume series aimed at chil-from it. Being fair to everyone isn't as easy as you dren from the fifth to the eighth grade. It then may think. (Do you treat everyone you know took as long to find a publisher: after all, she came equally? How about people you don't like?) The from outside the education industry. United States government has made some terrible mistakes. It is still making mistakes. But usually At last, Oxford University Press decided to take this nation can, and does, correct its mistakes." the risk. But because Oxford doesn't "produce" books for the school market, it placed Hakim's And then, horror of horrors, Hakim commits what books in regular trade-book stores-5,000 copies any self-respecting multiculturalist would de- of each of the first five volumes. The results were nounce as the cardinal sin of being "judgmental."evi

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1::?, 6 112 The Rebirth of American History?

She informs the children: "The more you study focus on American history actually requires. In history, the more you will realize that all nations addition to the regular state-mandated three years are not the same. Some are better than others. of social studies, the Academy requires students to Does that seem like an unfair thing to say? Maybe, take four years of very rigorous American history but we believe it." courses. Every student thus carries six academic classes each semester, more coursework than most Getting kids to learn "what it means to be an students take at the elite Stuyvesant and Bronx American," to come to the proud realization of Science High Schools. In addition, with funds the their country's excellence, is a mission that has Gilder Lehrman Institute contributes, all the stu- attracted two other private citizens from outside dents take trips throughout the year to historic the orbit of professional education, businessmen sites such as Valley Forge and Gettysburg. and philanthropists Richard Gilder and Lewis E. Lehrman. They are tireless crusaders for the study What makes the Academy even more noteworthy of American history. Lehrman has taught history is that it doesn't draw its students from the acade- at Yale; Gilder (a member of City Journal's publica- mically gifted. Under Board of Education rules, it tion committee) majored in history in college and must select its students (half of them by lottery) is a generous funder of Civil War battlefield from across the spectrum of achievement as mea- preservation. They hold the country's largest pri- sured by standardized tests. The typical Academy vate collection of American historical documents, student scores in the 60th percentile in standard- on loan to the Pierpont Morgan Library. Four ized tests, often speaks a foreign language at years ago they established the Gilder Lehrman home, and comes from a working-class back- Institute of American History to reinforce the ground. In this school, the academic study of his- beleaguered troops battling for the preservation of tory is hardly an elite enterprise. American history in the schools. "Why should it be?" asks Richard Gilder. "These Though the institute runs a full program of lectures, immigrant kids come here not knowing much of exhibits, and summer seminars for high school his- our story. But the study of American history makes tory teachers, its most dramatic and potentially them understand that this nation is based on great most influential activity is its work in New York ideas, and that thousands of people were willing to City's public schools. In 1995, it began special, die for those ideas. I want those kids to become extra-credit Saturday courses in American history proud of our national heritage, to understand that for middle-school students in District 26 in Queens. they have the same right to this history of ours as Himclreds of students showed up, and the courses' anyone who has been here for 15 generations." unexpected popularity encouraged the institute to sponsor a special-theme high school in American To enter the battered old building housing the history. In September 1996, the Academy of Academy is to come face-to-face with the dilem- American Studies opened its doors, on the fourth mas springing from a national policy of unfettered floor of the rundown, 100-year-old former Long immigration combined with a school culture of Island City High School. The entering freshman de-Americanization. On the first three floors of the class, 125 strong, came from all over Queens. building is a special high school for new immigrants, called the Newcomers Academy. Some In one sense, the Academy of American Studies is 1,000 students with limited English skills are try- just another star in a constellation of more than ing to get up to speed in the English language 100 experimental "new vision" public schools, cre- while they begin taking some regular academic ated as smaller, somewhat more autonomous subjects, an admirable goal. But the posters I saw alternatives to the city's big, bureaucratically run, hanging on the walls raised perplexing questions. geographically zoned high schools. But the Under the big heading "Multicultural," one of Academy of American Studies is unique in the them showed examples of the students' essays, all 42 extraordinary amount of extra academic work its of them on their former countries. Another poster,

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03 127 a collection of pictures of students, bore the title ing the Remonstrance of the Inhabitants of the Town of "Diversity." It was as if those in charge of the Flushing to Governor Peter Stuyvesant, asking for the school were announcing their ambivalence about extension of tolerance to non-Christians wishing their students' assimilation into American culture. to settle in New Amsterdam. Solkoff was making a personal connection for these immigrant chil- Three flights upstairs, at the Academy of Amer- dren, getting them to see that 300 years ago, in ican Studies, the visitor sees no such ambivalence. their very own borough, other newcomers to these Every one of the school announcements, the lists of shores were laying the groundwork for the honor-roll members, and examples of student nation's principles of inclusiveness and religious work are mounted on poster boards with an tolerance. He posed a question to the class: "Why American flag in the background. Clearly, the pur- was the idea of separating religion from the state pose in this school is not to look backward to so important to the new settlers?" A student from where the children came from but forward to their Pakistan responded: "Because they escaped from new country. Like Hakim's books, the school countries where the king tried to force them to go unashamedly trumpets America's ideals and to a church they didn't believe in." achievements.

The Academy's principal, Michael She informs the children: "The more you study Serber, 58, walked me through thehistory, the more you will realize that all nations corridors during a class break and are not the same. Some are better than others." stopped to ask over a dozen students where they or their parents came from. In just a few minutes I had met children from I visited the tenth-grade history class, covering the China, Colombia, Croatia, the Dominican Republic, Civil War period. The students had been broken up Ghana, Pakistan, Poland, Russia, and Yugoslavia. into groups, each with a Civil War battlefield map Serber, a former social studies chairman at a large and other readings, and each assigned to report on Queens high school, jumped at the chance of direct- one of the major battles of the warBull Run, ing the Academy, not only to have his own school Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Richmond. One stu- but to help plan a real history curriculum. "What's dent from each group stood up and delivered a called for in the state curriculum, one year of short talk on how the battle his group was research- American History that only covers the period after ing had developed, who won, how many casualties the Civil War, is really insufficient to give young resulted, and what the battle's importance was to people any real insight into the events and individ- the course of the war. Each student seemed totally uals that made the country what it is," he told me. engrossed in playing armchair general. 'That's particularly true out here in Queens for all these immigrant kids. I really believe that the bond Academy students don't gloss over the problematic that can hold people from different countries and aspects of American history. The tenth-graders were cultures together is a shared understanding of completely familiar with the Amistad episode long America's past." before the movie came out. Posted on the walls were mock abolitionist newspapers the students cre- 0 sat inon a ninth-grade American history class ated for one of their assignments. They included taught by 31-year-old Mark Solkoff, one of reports on one of Frederick Douglass's most bitter Serber's two history teachers. The day's lesson: the speeches on the evils of slavery. The ninth-graders development of religious freedom in colonial were reading John Chester Miller's Wolf by the Ear, a America. The students had read sections on the critical biography of Jefferson that discusses the Pilgrims and Roger Williams from an excellent, moral issues regarding Jefferson's holding of slaves traditional, three-decade-old textbook that would and the more controversial aspects of his private now be considered hopelessly politically incorrect. life. Loredana Purneval, a 15-year-old sophomore They also read some original documents, includ- born in Romania and one of the Academy's acade-43

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11.4128 students could thrill to his tales of Washington's military and political exploits.

"Those kids really paid close attention," Brookhiser recalls. "What really excited them was the military aspect of Washington's career. They clearly responded to that. Their questions about the various battles were intelligent." Brookhiser found it an uplifting experience. "The last time I can recall Washington being associated with a school was when his name was taken off a school in New Orleans, because he was a slaveholder. But this was an important man, a great man, who had an enormous influence on the way this country was created. And these students were interested in getting a look at everything he did."

Over 800 students from all over Queens applied this year for the 125 openings the Academy has for incoming freshmen next fall. Michael Serber doesn't fool himself into thinking they all want to rnic stars, remembers that last year her ninth-grade come for the American history component; parents class's unit on Jefferson ended with the students also like the school's small size and safe, nurturing engaging in a debate: 'Was Thomas Jefferson a hyp- environment. Yet the first two years of the school's ocrite or a product of his times?" Says Purneval: "It operation have demonstrated that ordinary New was the most interesting thing we did. Here was a York City high school students from a wide variety great leader who said, 'All men are created equal,' of racial and ethnic backgrounds are willing to yet he owned slaves. Jefferson once swore on 'the work extra hours to achieve some mastery of this altar of God, eternal hostility to every form of tyran- country's complex historythe "pastology" that ny over the minds of men,' yet he was in favor of the social studies profession so disdains. forcing the Indians to give up their way of life. But Next fall, another American history high school we didn't just listen to the teacher telling us what ;will open in Brooklyn, modeled on the Academy was right. We had to do a lot of reading and then ; of American Studies. The Gilder Lehrman come to a conclusion by ourselves." Institute is working on having one in each borough soon. In that, there is a great measure of Virie of the other books the ninth-graders read is ! hope. The success of the Academy and the popu- Richard Brookhiser's 1997 biography of George ! larity of Joy Hakim's books exemplify the grass- Washington, Founding Father.Last winter, when !roots efforts needed to extricate the public schools the Academy invited Brookhiser to speak to the from the wasteland professional educators created students, he didn't know what to expect. After all, when they expelled American history. The multi- with his book's heavy emphasis on Washington's culturalism that replaced it now seems to have no , heroic leadership as key to the success of the other purpose but to demoralize our children American Revolution, it is a defiant example of about the country they live in, while keeping them history written "from the top down"an approach ignorant about the glorious past that gives them ; most public school social studies teachers dislike. so promising a future. So Brookhiser wasmore than pleased to discover that not onlywas his book an assigned text at this Research for this article was supported by the Brunie school full of immigrant children but also that the Fund for New York Journalism. 45

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115 129 Atlanta, 1998 Why General Knowledge Should Be a Goal of Education emocracy By E.D. Hirsch, Jr.

I'm proud to say that Core Knowledge is a teachers' the country. The data we are getting is beginning to show movement. I don't want to downplay all those that excellence and fairness do go together. indispensable parents and administrators who are helping this cause, but Core Knowledge has been from the start a. So to all of you here, and to your thousands of colleagues bottom-up, not a top-down, movement. back home who couldn't come to Atlanta, I want to say thanks, keep it up. And may you continue to amaze us. That's why we are still puzzling and surprising the people at the topall those powerful people who have withheld Well, as usual at this conference, you've had a great their blessing and their moneythey are wondering where intellectual feast. I want to thank those scholars who have did these people come from? How could they do this given you that feast. Do you suppose this is the teachers' when we didn't approve and we didn't pay? conference that is all meat and almost no potatoes?

I have an answer for them. Core Knowledge is growing Anyway, this wouldn't be a true Core Knowledge without them because this is chiefly a parents' and conference if I didn't also include a little meat in these teachers' movement, and you simply can't buy the kind of closing remarks. I know we can only take so much of this dedication that Core Knowledge teachers have. rich intellectual diet, so after so many rich sessions, I promise this will be a very brief mini-session and there Those of you who teach young children did not get into will be just one big idea before I say "good-bye till next this profession because you wanted money and prestige. year." You got into this profession because you are committed to the children. The big idea could be grasped from a question I was once asked by the superintendent of a big district. "Why In fact, one of the reasons Core Knowledge originally had should scores go up on standardized tests in Core trouble getting started with teachers was that people were Knowledge schools if the tests aren't tied to the Core telling them it was dry as bones and wasn't centered on Knowledge curriculum?" It was a good, sensible children. That was false, but it was very effective with question, and some of you may already know the answer. teachers who had come into this profession because they But, just in case you don't, let me say a few words, about are committed to children. the power of knowledge in creating general skills and competence in students. The reasons can be summarized But once the word got out to teachers that children truly in three statements that scientists have confirmed. thrive on Core Knowledge, that children love it, that there really isn't a conflict between being knowledge-centered More knowledge makes you smarter. and being child-centeredonce that idea got out, then More general knowledge makes you more generally Core Knowledge became a teachers' movement. And it competent in the tasks of life. continues to be a teachers' movement, and I hope it always will be. So I'm grateful to all of you. And I have Giving everybody more general knowledge makes a confession to make. It isn't just the people at the top everybody more competent, and therefore creates a more who are surprised. I have to admit I'm also surprised at just society. what you teachers have accomplished. Those ideas are pretty common-sensical, but teachers have You've done it without coercion and with dedication, and usually been told something different. So it's worth with ever-increasing numbers, because you have become summarizing the scientific consensus behind Core convinced that this is right for childrenfor all children, Knowledge, and explaining why general knowledge especially those who lack advantages at home. You are should be a goal of education in a democracy. They will not just committed to children, you are committed to answer the superintendent's question about why scores go fairness. Our public schools were meant to realize equal up even when the tests aren't tied to the Core Knowledge opportunity for all, and in your Core Knowledge schools curriculum. we are coming closer to that ideal than anywhere else in

116 130 First, knowledge makes you smarter. tend to assume that academic competence is mainly a product of innate ability. Even when we are willing to I am one of those people who don't like Windows 95. criticize the idea of IQ in favor of such notions as But I still have a soft spot for Bill Gates and his big tripartite intelligence (Steinberg) or multiple intelligences round glasses, because Bill Gates has brought glamour to (Gardner), the very prominence we give the word Nerdism. He didn't bother to finish Harvard, but he's "intelligence" still accords too much importance to innate anything but ignorant. He knows a lot, and has correctly ability, as compared with effort and knowledge. Yes, it's told our youth that wide reading and general knowledge consoling to insist that all children do have some type of are critical to competence. He's numerate, and literate. high intelligence, but, in the end, such an emphasis is He would have done quite well on the TIMSS math and downright misleading, because it over-stresses the science tests, possibly ranking up there with Swedish importance of intelligence in schooling. twelfth-graders. You could also say that Bill Gates is independent-minded, has higher-order accessing skills, is Innate talent is important, but our overemphasis on a critical thinker, engages in metacognition, and exhibits intelligence is a peculiarly American prejudice that stems the various creative competencies that American experts from the origins of our culture in the 19th Century say are much more important than just knowing a bunch Romantic movement. Harold Stevenson and others have of facts. shown that the Asian view emphasizing knowledge and effort is the more accurate view. We placed so much But it happens that Bill Gates knows a lot of facts. He stress on innate talent because we have been brought up read a lot, and always has. Cognitive psychologists tell on the romantic idea that the aim of education is to us that if competent people like Gates didn't know a lot follow "nature." You'll notice "nature" has the same root of facts they couldn't be critical, creative, independent as "innate." But psychologists have shown that this thinkers. The research literature is very clear on this emphasis on innate ability is a highly misleading point: that highly skilled intellectual competence comes assumption in education. The average differences in after, not before, you know a lot of "mere facts." First innate abilities are far less pronounced than the average facts, then facility. It's the only way for us to get the differences in achieved abilities produced by knowledge understanding and attain all those higher-order thinking and effort. It turns out that creativity is not spontaneous, skills which are so widely praised by educational experts as the romantics thought, but requires long study and and so wrongly contrasted with "mere facts." master-knowledge. Even the most talented person needs about ten years of effort to reach an expert level, and In my recent book, I spent a lot of space showing why the creativity usually takes even longer. For instance, tendency of experts to emphasize thinking skills and to scientists have shown that having a genius for mental disparage facts in such educational slogans as "less is arithmetic turns out to be based less on innate talent than more" and "mere rote learning" do have a grain of truth on knowledge and intensive practice. Knowledge and (otherwise they wouldn't be so popular), but also that practicethese are the things that make you smart. they are highly simplified and misleading. But instead of attacking these slogans, I want to accentuate the positive, Why do experts learn new things faster and better than and summarize the evidence that explains why knowing a novices? Not because experts have more innate talent, lot o f "mere facts" makes you smarter. but because they know more. And what they know has become second nature to them, and frees their minds to For one thing, psychologists have discovered that focus on higher-level aspects of a problem. In a famous knowing more makes you better able to learn new things, experiment, the Dutch psychologist De Root showed that and better able to think critically. That is, knowledge chess experts have no more innate mental ability on enables you to learn and to think. That fact has immense average than novices do, but are able to learn and solve implications for determining the goals of public chess problems faster and better, because they have what schooling in a modern democracy. he called "erudition"which is to say knowledge. Their knowledge has become so integrated and "chunked" that But why does more knowledge make you smarter? In a their conscious minds can focus on a small number of brilliant experiment, Keith Stanovich, the distinguished key features. Edison's comment the "Genius is one Canadian reading researcher, showed that when two percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration" people have the same level and kind of IQ, the person may be off by only a few percentage points. who has the more general knowledge will learn faster and function more competently than the person who has less This leads to point two, that the more broad general general knowledge. That experiment has a particular knowledge you have, the more broadly competent you relevance to American schools because we Americans become in dealing with the tasks of life.

117 131 Let's take an example close to home: being a good field of research. For instance, there are several studies teacher. It turns out that the biggest factor in student on the question: Does a higher score on that general achievement is teacher quality (surprise!). And guess knowledge test make you a more competent soldier? The what is the single most consistent predictor of teacher answer is emphatically yes, whether the soldier's job is in quality leading to student achievement? It's the score electronics, or in just being a foot soldier. General that a teacher made on the verbal SAT test. Don't panic. knowledge makes you more competent on average no A person's score on the verbal SAT rises dramatically as matter what job you do, whether it's being a clerk, a soon as the person knows more words. The verbal SAT mechanic, a plain GI, or a platoon leader. is nothing more than a vocabulary test. Don't jump to the There's an economic twist to this story. That same all-too-American conclusion that high SAT scores mean general knowledge test, the AFQT, was used in a big that a person is innately smart. The verbal SAT does not sociological study called "The Longitudinal Study of tell you how innately smart you are. Absolutely not. It Youth." This ongoing study has found the same thing the tells you how many words you know. Those questions Army found about general knowledge and life that look like thinking questions, such as "X is to Y as P competence. The more you know, the better you do in is to BLANK"well, correctly filling that blank depends life. This has enormous implications for social justice less on brains than simply knowing the meaning of X, Y and education, since scientists found that general and P, and the realities those words represent. So let's knowledge correlates with annual income. And take the next step. An advanced vocabulary test like the furthermore it correlates with annual income regardless SAT is not just a test of words, because words stand for of which racial or ethnic group you come from. things, and for knowledge of things. Yep, you guessed it; Knowledge makes people competent regardless of race, the verbal SAT is a test of general knowledge. class, or ethnicity. It is the great social equalizer.

That explains the findings about student achievement and This brings me to my third and last point, which I stated the teacher's verbal SAT. You tend to be a good teacher this way: "Giving everybody more knowledge makes if you tend to be a generally competent person, and you everybody more competent, and creates a more just tend to be a generally competent person if you have a lot society." Since knowledge is the great equalizer, the of general knowledge. Furthermore, what is Tu for schools have a huge opportunity and responsibility to teachers is also true for their students. Knowledge makes provide more equal life chances for all students, no them more competent, too. Core Knowledge teachers matter where they come from. have told me with great enthusiasm that by teaching a rich banquet of knowledge, they feel they are getting You who are teaching in Core Knowledge schools are in smarter themselves. Well, it's true. More general the vanguard of the new civil rights frontier. That knowledge makes you more generally competent. I frontier is knowledge, and that truth is showing up in the won't take time to explain all the nitty gritty of why this equity results you are achieving. I congratulate you on is so. I did that in my recent book. the time, the effort, and the dedication you bring to your work. You have become persuaded by your fellow Instead I'll give another, very different example to show teachers, and you have put children first. how universal is this connection between general knowledge and general skill. The armed forces gives So this is my conclusion. If knowledge is the new civil every recruit a test called the AFQT, the Armed Forces rights frontier, you are the new pioneers in American Qualification Test. It's very much like the SAT. That is education. Before long, the rest will follow the trail you to say, it's not an IQ test, but rather a test of general are blazing. I'll end by saying that you have my deep knowledge. Given to hundreds of thousands, by now thanks, and see you in Orlando! millions, of people, this test has offered scientists a huge

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118 Investor's Business Daily, April 24, 1998

DOES GOOD PRACTICE MAKE PERFECT? Six In 10 Educators Say No; Researchers SayYes

By Matthew Robinson at the same time sustaining interest." Investor's Business Daily That idea is cauSing a stir in the Nothing attracts more ire education world. Anderson, Reder and Simon are applying their findings in from modern edueators than cognitive psychology to challenge the asking children to memorize education status quo. Kids, they argue, can learn better and practice, whether it be their through"deliberatepractice" spelling words or multiplica- through hard work and constant feed- tion tables. back to master knowledge and tasks. Of course, this is what most Ameri- When polled cans think of when they are asked about WHAT WORKSlast year, some six education. They think of learning core of10education knowledge that will be useful later in professors ob- life. jectedto laving "Nobody expects someone to be kids memorize great without a great deal of practice material. and time in sports or music," Anderson These educa- said. "But it still seems that in the area tors, who teach k- of education, there is the notion that all 12 teachers, warn We have to de is give .a child a critical insight or inspiration and everything No. 54 in an 113D series that practice, else will fall into place. . on education reform homework and direct, systematic in- "Intellectual competence has to build StructiOn turn kids into automatons, assertion that practice is bad," assertedup with the same kind of deliberate stifling their creativity and ultimately PiofessorsJohnAnderson,Lynne practicie as musical talent or athletic dooming their ability to learn. Reder and Herbert Simon of Carnegie-,ability," he added. They even have a term Tor it: "Drill Mellon Uniyersity. The education establishtnent's views and kill." on practice and memorization go back ."All evidence. .. indicates that realto the beginning of the century. They The result? American kids spend lesscompetence only comes with. extensivewere popularized by progressive educa- time working under instruction, and do:practice. BY denying the critical role oftors such as John Dewey, William less homework than their global peers. practice, one is denying children theHeard Kilpatrick and Carl Rogers. But new findings in cognitive sciencevery thing they need to achieve compe- Ideas in education drawn from these and psychology supportdrills andtence," they wrote in a recent study.thinkers go by many names: rationalist practice. "The instructional problem is not to kill or romantic theories of learning, con- "Nothing flies more in the face of themotivation by demanding drill, but tostructivism, situated learning, project- last 20 years of research than the find tasks that provide practice while

133 1 1 9 more than 20 exposures. ... Therefore,isn't just important for studenti. Teach- style learning and discovery learning. itis vital that students read a large'en need it, too. Asian teachers spend The theories have :in common theamount Of text at their independentmuch more time preparing to teach belief that kids need only look insidereading level, and that the text providelessons. And although American teach- themselves for knowledge. In this view,spetific practice in the skills beingers have smaller classes, they get legs educationisallabout lettingkidslearned." prep time. discover what they need to learn. In fact, Translation: Learning requiresre- But do drills stifle creativity, as many some theorists claim that kids are inforcement practice and memoriza-educators charge? No, says Temple actually hurt by direat, systematic intion to master a subject. University psychology professor Robert struction. "It's the missing link in American W: Weisberg.

And such ideas get broad suPport ineducation,"said Weisberg hal. Schools of eduCation. Arthur Bornstein, gc studiedthelink Fully 92% of education professorsa memory train- between creativity say that "teachers should see themselvesing expert in Los and knowledge in as facilitators of learning, who enableAngeles. "Schools NObody expects someone artists such as Mo- their students to learn on their own."tell kids what to Only 7% think teachers should belearn,butnot to be great without a great JzaacrtisoPni lllCnkd "conveyors of knowledge who enlightenhow to do it." deal of practice and time in Mat he's found is their studeets with what they know." Bornstein surprising. They also believe that direct instruc-coachesschools sports or music. But it still "It's a par- tion leads to "routinilation." This, theyon how to help adox,"Weisbeig think, drives out understanding. students remem- seems that in the area of Said. "There is "These valid Objections tO purelyber what they'reeduCation, there is the dencethatdeep verbal, fragmented and passive educa-taught. Bornstein immersiohisre- tion have .. .been used as a blunthas watchednotion that all we have to do (Inked In a disci- 'instrument to attack all emphasis onschools slowly plinebefore YOtt factual knowledge and vocabulary,"move away from is give a child a critical produce anything *role ED. HirsCh in "The Schools Westressing drills. of great novelty Need." "It's a tra-insight Or inspiration and Before YOu look :California' learned the hard way thatgedy,"hesaid, everything else will fall into simgetitfi::; acte: roMintic theories of .education don't"buttoo many work as well ai direct instruction. Yeers' of clap schools now as-place: . The.State Board of Education resume kids will just . immersion to gain versed its position in '95 on *holepick up things as ° ers° knOWledge." *oi Carnegie-Mellon Uni!ersity professor language reading theory. Whole lan-they go along." fie'noted, guage says that kids learn to read the Someexperts ii "There is this cop-. same way they learn to speak by:argue that the ed- Ceptthatgenius absorbing new words in the readingucation establishmenei downplaying ofhas leaps of insight way beyorid everk- situatioh: Instead of teaching kids todeliberate practice helps explain Anted-body else. If you look at the back- :sound out words and break downcan students' lower test scores. grounds of these people ,. there is much harder words, they woUld learn to guess In the Third Inteniational Mathemat-more of a progression. They don'i Make words' meaning from context. ics and Science Study, American stu-leaps they build in small pieces." In other words, kids were largely leftdents were near the bottom. U.S. high On their ovin to "discovee how to readschool seniors scored 19th out of 21 Studies show that the brain actually and spell. nations in math. In science, they scored Changes with deliberatepractice. A -After alniost a decade of practicing16th. report in the journal Science shows that this method, the 'state scored at the the cortical aims of the brain devoted to bottom of natiOnal reading tons. The American kids get nearly an hour less homework a day than the foreigncontrolling the fingers actually exPand nation's biggeot state 'now backs using for expert violinists. direct instruction ! including phonics. average 1.7 hours compared with 2.6 instead of whole language. to 'teachhours. Of course, repetitive drilling has ite reading. A study by James W. Stigler, profes- skeptics. "Children tiary in the amount ofsor of education at the University of California, Los Angeles, found that the "If deliberate practice just meant rote ! practice that is required for autontaticity and Roney in reading to occur," theaverage Japanese student gets instruc-memorization, then I wouldn't like itf' state's Comprehensive' Reading Lead,tion 90% of the time spent in thesaid Boiton College psychology profes- inthiP Program found.. "Some need to*classroom. American kids get it onlysor Ellen Winner: "If (it) Means working . read a worct only once to recogniie it46 A of the time. at Something until you got it just right, again Avith greater speed; others need But cognitive research shows practice'like in a play, then I am all for it::

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120 Investor's Business Daily, March 6, 1998

ARE SCHOOLS TOO HARD ON KIDS? No, And It May Be Hurting Them, Research Shows

By Matthew Robinson desire for higher standards. It's a very Investor's Business Daily patronizing view of Americans." A1997 Education The argument against grades, hard Hard classes, lots of home- classes and testing is old and deeply work,rigoroustests,tough Department study found entrenched. As far back as the '20s, William Heard Kilpatrick, the president grading. Do they help kids, ormore than four of five of Teachers College at Columbia Uni- do they just crush their self- versity argued for getting rid of them students who took algebra esteem? all. and geometry courses went William Glasser made the case even The answeris more boldly in '69. In his seminal book, WHAT WORKSclear to many in on to college twice the "Schools Withouf Failure," he argued the education es- against objective tests and tough curric- tablishment: It's share of kids who didn't ula. thelatter.They Glasser wrote thatgrading "was arguethatkids' take such courses. probably the school practice that most egosarefragile produces failure in students." He also and thatif you futures by not expecting more of themsaid that it was' an "unpremeditated demand too much now? plot to destroy." While politicians and the public turn of them they can BY and large; education professors, shatter. tohigher standards,the education No.47 in an IBD series bureaucrats and teachers union officials establishment still embraces many of on education reform Butthelatest don't think so. They're opposed to Glasser's and Kilpatrick's ideas. . research.- has found enforcing tougher 'standards and cre- The result has been decades of Jess that cc:44h course woit benefits young ating competition in the classroom. challenging teitbooks, 'easier classes, students in the long run. By developing . In a recent poll by NewY6rk-basedfewer homework assignments, social sharp cognitive skills,.kids can go on toPublic. Agenda, education professors gteater success incollege and the promotion and falling study time. back less competitive grading. Some Harvard Professor Paul E. Peterson :workplace, where competition isin- 64%. think schools should avoid compe- likens the. modern school to shopping tense. tition. And half, of theprofessors malls, where "students are treated as Still, the publie ichool system is not surveyed think kids should be graded in customers with differenttastes and convinced that's tnie, and it eschews teams rather than as individuals. objectives." tough grading for' :methods that are "To put it in a nutshell, at the college Public schools have no incentive Meant to boost sel&esteem. Purportedlevel, rank-and-file professors and peo- system to reward success and, 'stop social benefits aside, academic results ple in leadership are in denial," said J.E. failure, critics say. In effect, their job are resoundingly ,Poor especially, in Stone, an .educational psychologist at has been reduced from challenging kids inner-city schools: . East Tennessee State University. "They to learn all they 'can, to simply ware- Are We shOitehatiging out children'sthink we just need to pacify the public's

135

1 2 1 This is bad news. American high mental power, not just the academic housing them until graduation day. schoolersrarelypress ontothese record. "The shopping mall high school has tougher math levels. Almost a third of What are challenging courses? been constructed on what might be high school graduates earned less than Those that prepare students for col- called an incarceration theory of educa- two math credits. lege such as algebra, calculus, chemis- tion:Itis more important to keep Meyer also found that courses such as try, physics and English. students inside, the school's four wallschemistry and physics can significantly Such findings seem intuitive.Still, than to make sure they take qualityincrease knowledge and raise achieve-they have a hard time getting noticed in courses," Peterson wrote. ment. In fact, they boost them by almost academia. In recent years, avant-garde educa-half as much as "The single big- tors have backed the even more radical traditionalmath 66 gest problem is "open classroom." Open classrooms courses.. thateveryonein don't place students in classes ranked by This, he says, is the education com- ability or age. Kids are free to learn at an argument for The'shopping-mall' high munity is, for all their own pace. more challenging practical purposes, "In the progressive-Romantic view ofwork. school has been constructed anti-achievement," education, to give numbers or letter "The evidence said Stone, the grades to students in the classroom or on what might be called an seems toshow East Tennessee on tests is a fundamental educational thatyou can't incarceration theory of edu- State professor. mistake," wrote E.D. Hirsch in "The lookfor easy, And any higher Schools We Need," a book critical of quick fixes,"cation: It is more important standards that are modern education. Meyer said. "We to keep students inside the tried in the schools According to progressive educators, have to make sure "willbe washed grades "send an implicit message that reforms take the school's four walls than to out" by education one child is better or abler than an- harder path even professors, he other," Hirsch added, "and thus fosters though it may be make sure they take quality added. "They are undesirable competition instead of co- harder to teach." the ones who gave operation." But tough cur- courses. us what we've got But competition works, recent studies ricula don't just Paul E. Peterson, now." show. Tougher classes and hard grading Harvard professor prepare kids for Hard classes and help kids learn and don't turn them off. college. Research 951 testing also create A 1997 U.S. Education Department says thathard pressures that redi- study found that kids who took tough classes can also boost cognitive abilities, recttroublemakers towardlearning, math classis were more likely to go to which helps people their entire adult life since every student is in the same boat. college. More than four of five students in the working world. who took algebra and geometry courses Withoutrigorousstandardsand went on to college twice the share of "Hard academic coursesinhigh exams, Peterson said, "Kids form cartels kids who didn't take such courses. school can make a difference," Peterson that harass students who work hard, For low-income students, the value of said. and that creates a milieu that hurts math holds. Of those who took algebra Peterson and his fellow researchers learning." and geometty, more than seven of 10 found that if a student raised his grade- went to college. Still, only 46% of low- point average by one point and sought Education Professor John Bishop of inoome students take the tough classes. tougher academic classes,the effort CornellUniversitycallsthis"nerd harassment." University of Chicago Professor Rob-resulted in a 13.1% increase in "com- ert Meyer found that math knowledge isposite cognitive skills." In IQ terms, this It can take many forms. Often mi- boosted most by the hardest math,means a jump of eight points in highnority students who aim high can be classes such as trigonometry, geome-school alone. attacked for trying to "act white." This try, pre-calculus and calculus with So it's not just a matter of highercan be especially prevalent in inner-city :little effect coming from basic math. education. Tough classes can boost schools.

) 23 (SR)2 Selected Readings on School Reform Higher Education

As ground zero in the culture wars, colleges and universities have long been the site of battles between Great Society-style strategies to enforce equality and the marketplace's demand for excellence and flexibility. Three articles serve as reports from the front. Jessica Gavora authored "Clinton's Classroom Quotas" in The Wall Street Journal, tackling the dilemma of gender equity in higher education. She highlights some of the pitfalls associated with enforcement ofTitle IX of the Higher Education Act, which mandates equal gender opportunity at institutions of higher education. It seems that the Clinton administration is extending its enforcement activities even into student course selection patterns. Next, The Chronicle of Higher Education documents the recent fuss over Mayor Rudoph Giuliani's plan to eliminate remedial education at the City University of New York. The resulting compromise allows remediation to continue at CUNY's community colleges but reinstates solid academic standards and entrance requirements at the four-year campuses. (Also be sure to read our Fordham Report, "Remediation in Higher Education: A Symposium," included in this mailing.) Finally, Ted Marchese, writing in the AAHE Bulletin, details the emergence of a new academic industry, combining the profit motive with distance learning and other technologies to create a series of major competitors for traditional colleges and universities. As corporations partner with academic institutions to provide virtual courses to a growing market, will the academy move frominstitution to industry?

MAS

1231 3 7 Wall Street Journal, April 219 1998

Clinton's Classro tas leges and universities dropped their men's formed into a quota machine, and they By JESSICA GAVORA golf teams in 1994-96, and 24 did away with Say, here's an idea: The federal gov- meant to declare emphatically that Title ; men's wrestling during the same period. DC should not be used in this way. ernment should regulate the number of Overall, the number of men playing sports boyspermittedtotakebiochemistry Those good intentions, however, lasted has declined by 10% during the past five only seven years. In 1979, the Carter ad- courses in American universities. Sound years in institutions that belong to the Na- crazy? Not to President Clinton, who hopes ministration's Department of Health, Edu- tional College Athletic Association. cation and Welfare issued a policy inter- to do just that. In fact, his Justice Depart- At the time of the Cohen v. Brown trial, ment is now drafting regulations that Richard Epstein of the University of pretation that replaced the old standard of would police the ratio of men to women in equal opportunity with a new re- 1 Chicago Law School warned that if the ; quirementofequalout- almost every realm of academia. same principles were applied to acade- Usually coy about favoring quotas, the comes. And now, 20 years mics, "Title IX would be read.to require a on, the Clinton adminis- administration in this case is openly in- ' rough proportion of men and women in. en- sisting upon them. The effort represents tation is determined gineering and science on the one hand, and; to bend the law an enormous expansion of federal power art and literature on the other, even though under Title IX, an amendment to the 1964 most certainly far more men are engaged even further and Civil Rights Act passed in 1972. Originally in the former activities, and far more demand.equalout- conceived, simply as a guarantee of equal comes in every educa- women students are engaged in the latter." tional program that re- access to education regardless of sex, the That appears to be Mr. Clinton's inten- law has Of late been used to force colleges ceives so much as a single . tion. He boasted at the White House cere- federal dollar. , to expand women's sports programs and tmony that his administration has already To understand how breathtakingly cut back athletics for men. Last June at a 1"stepped up enforcement" of Title IX in ; White House ceremony celebrating Title areas such as "access to advanced math sweeping an agenda this is, recall that the DC's 25th anniversary, Mr. Clinton an- federal government funds education in land science programs." Tbis job has been many places other than traditional class- nounced: "Every school and every educa- undertaken by the Department of Educa- tion program that receives federal assis- rooms. The House Education Committee tion's Office for Civil Rights, headed by reports that 40 federal departments, com- tance in the entire country"that is, yir Norma Cantu, one of the country's most tually all of them "must understand iha ardent advocates of sex and race quotas. missions and agencies dole out more than 1 complying with Title IX is not optional. Last year, the office investigated more $96 billion in annual education funding, is the law and the law must be enforced." which goes to museums, state and 'local than 30 school districts that have an "un- governments, and. private businesses as Devastating Effect derrepresentatibn" of girls in advanced well as to schools, colleges and universi- Judging from the way Title a has been math and science classes and in gifted programs. ties. enforced in college athletics, the inevitable On top of that is the money spent on result will be academic quotas. This con- What is most amazing about all this is training programs conducted by the fed- clusion stems from a court case called Co- that Title lX itself clearly notes that schools are not required to "grant prefer- eral government itself: schools operated hen v. Brown, which concluded last year. by the Department of Defense and the Bu- Brown University had built an exemplary ential treatment" to women "on account of reah of Indian Affairs, and la* enforce- women's sports program, beginning in the an imbalance which may exist" between men and women. The Congress members ment training conducted by the FBI. Every early 1970s. But in 1991, facing a budget one of these activities, whether directly or crunch, Brown cut off funding to four of its who voted for Title DC in 1972 had, already indirectly subsidized by government, will athletic programstwo men's teams and seen the original Civil Rights Act trans- now come under scrutiny for evidence not two women's teams. A group of female ath- of sex discrimination but of sex imbalance. letes sued, arguing that because the stu- Too many men in gunnery school? Too few . dent body was 51% female but only 38% of "Title IX would* be men getting day-care training from Indian student athletes were female, the univer- Affairs? You've got a federal case. sity was guilty of discrimination un- read to require a rough This is too vast an empire even for ' der Title IX. Federal district and ap- proportion of men and Norma Cantu to rule. So new regulations peals courts agreed, and last year the being drafted by the Department of Justice U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear women in engimering will extend, to every federal department , Brown's appeal. and agency the power to conduct Title IX Cohen v. Brown has had a devastat- =el science on the one investigations and random compliance re- ingeffect on collegiateathletics. hand, omd art omd litera- views of their own. Women simply don't turn out for com- Perhaps most troubling is the possibil- petitive sports at the same rate as wifeontheother," ity that Title IX will affect government men, so schools meet their "gender eq- warned one funding of medical and scientific research. . uity"requirementsbyscrapping scholar. The National Science Foundation gives out men's teams. Colleges have shut down That appal/a to be Mr. more than $109 million to undergraduate I hundreds of male sports. UCLA dropped science, engineering and mathematics its men's swimming program, which had Clinton's in,tention. programs each year. Should that money be : produced 22 Olympic competitors. Boston cut back to ensure that no more men than University ended its 91-year-old Division I women become scientists and technolo- football program last year. Thirty-one col-

124 I 3 3 gists? What would happen to thestudy of within five percentage points of the total a is riding an unprecedented wave of disease if the National Institutesof Health, proportfon of female athletes. That same commercial and political sucCess. When which grant more than $200 millionin month, President Clinton appointed Bill the Women's National Basketball Associa- funding to postsecondary schools, were Lann Lee acting assistant attorney gen- tion debuted last year, the league and its told to allocate its budgets by sex?And the eral for civil rights. Mr. Lee is a longtime corporate sponsorsbehemoths like Coca- Department of Health and HumanSer- advocate of race and sex quotas, and it will Cola, Nike and American Expressfes- vices doles out more than $70 millionin be under Mr. Lee's authority that the final tooned stadiums with banners that read: training nurses each year. Is it preparedto Title DC regulations are issued. "Thanks Title DC." The law has accumu- cut back on that training unlesshalf those The few congressmen who are paying lated a constituency of powerful special-in- nurses are men? any- attention to the issue are muttering terest elites willing to brand any politician Though the Justice Department has yet that it would behoove the Justice Depart- "sexist" who disagrees with their by-the- to make the new Title IX regulationspub- ment to check with Coniress before issu- numbers vision of sexual equality. licor even 'share them with Congress ing any new Title DC regulations. If not, Will a Republican Party terrified of the there are ominous signs of what theirfinal they warn, Congress has the authority to "gender gap" really stand fast as sex quo- form might take. In December, the De- conduct hearings on proposed regulations tas move from the playing field to the partment of Education ratcheted up its and ultimately to black them if they don't classroom? Michael Williams, who held regulatory commitment to quotas, notify- reflect the intent of the statute. Since the Ms. Cantu's position in the Bush adminis- ing some universities that "exact propor- statute explicitly forbids quotas, Con- tration, sadly observes that the quota ad- tionality" would now be required when gress's authority is clear and ample. vocates "won the sports battle." As things awarding financial assistance to female Wave of Success stand, they look likely to win the battle for the classroom and the research lab, too. athletes Previously,schoolshadat- But don't hold your breath. Though its tempted to achieve "substantial propor- original meaning has been distorted and tionality" by bringing the proportionof its day-to-day effects are destructive, Title Ms. Gavora is policy director to former their scholarship-assisted female athletes Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander. This article is adapted from The Women's Quar- terly... The Chronicle of Higher Education, June 5, 1998

CU Y's 4-Year Colleges Ordered to Phase Out Remedial E ucation

University officials say the controversial plan could halve new enrollments

By PATRICK HEALY

NEW YORK admissions at CUNY will remain in effect -- and limiting access to public colleges for minority and disadvantaged Trustees of the City University of New York voted last students. week to phase out most remedial education in the system's 11 four-year colleges beginning in September "This is an absolutely preposterous and very poor 1999, transforming CUNY's historic commitment to decision," said Albert H. Bowker, who was chancellor of open admissions. CUNY when it instituted open admissions, in 1970. "If it's true that people graduate from high school and need After two hours of bitter debate and interruptions by remediation, why blame the students or the colleges?" student and faculty protesters, the Board of Trustees voted 9 to 6 for a rollback plan that was pushed by The effects of the policy change are hard to predict. Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and New York Gov. George CUNY officials hope that more underprepared students E. Pataki, both Republicans. will attend the summer programs, as about 7,400 incoming students -- or 28 per cent -- do now. But no one Under the new policy, applicants who fail one or more knows if that will come to pass, or if the financial and university tests in mathematics;reading, or writing will teaching resources will be available for a massive have to successfully complete a free summer program, or expansion of those programs. pass remedial classes at a CUNY community college or elsewhere, before being admitted to a four-year college. If the summer programs do not grow, CUNY estimates, Last year, 13,000 incoming students at the four-year up to 12,000 freshmen -- or close to half of the new colleges, or about 50 per cent of the total, required some baccalaureate-degree students who entered the senior remediation. colleges last fall -- would be excluded from a senior college until they complete remedial courses elsewhere. Unlike some previous proposals by the trustees, this one Roughly two-thirds of the students would be Asian, left remedial education intact at CUNY's six community black, or Hispanic, according to a report that CUNY colleges -- though CUNY officials said limits may be officials prepared for the board. placed on those campuses down the road. After factoring in the savings that would come with a Architects of the new policy said it would produce higher reduction in students, CUNY stands to lose about $18- academic standards and a better learning environment for million in tuition once the plan is phased in. Privately, incoming freshmen. "It doesn't help the students if they some officials foresee enrollment declines and ensuing have to take high-school work in college, at the same cuts in state aid that would accumulate to a loss of $50- time they take college work," said Herman Badillo, the million or more. board's vice-chairman. But critics said the vote marked a turning point in the "We don't know what the consequences will be -- what history of CUNY, a public university of 200,000 students the racial consequences will be, what the social that is widely known for its open-admissions policy for consequences will be, what the educational consequences the city's high-school graduates. While the senior will be," said the Rev. Michael C. Crimmins, a Pataki colleges have adopted some entrance criteria in the past appointee who opposed the plan. "This is simply too two decades, the concept of open admissions has come to much, too soon." symbolize the university's mission of offering higher education to immigrants, the poor, and minority students. Several trustees who supported the change said the new policy would not cut enrollments as much as CUNY More broadly, many educators saw last week's vote as administrators have suggested. Mr. Badillo, the board's part of a trend of transferring remedial education from vice-chairman, charged that administrators had given the universities to community colleges -- where open data to reporters in hopes of "torpedoing" the policy.

126 1 Q "They were playing the race card, and it was an assured him that "the goal isn't to shrink remedial outrageous thing to do," he said in an interview. CUNY education but to relocate it" at the six community administrators "used every tactic possible to prevent the colleges or in the hands of a private provider. He was vote and create the most destructive atmosphere that also pleased that the changes would not apply to students could be presented," he said. who speak English as a second language and who received a high-school education abroad. Christoph M. Kimmich, CUNY's interim chancellor, said the enrollment estimates were provided in response to Anne A. Paolucci, chairwoman of the board and a requests from trustees. "There will be a considerable proponent of the new policy, said she wanted more impact on students admitted to the senior colleges," he language-immersion programs, as well as new said in an interview. "If figures like that are "strategies" to help applicants who are not deemed ready inconvenient, it's certainly not the fault of the for college-level work. messengers." "We need more remediation, not less, but the venue is The argument over the numbers was one of many different," said Ms. Paolucci, who was appointed by Mr. disputes that arose over the policy change at the trustees' Pataki. meeting last week. The plan will take effect in September 1999 at Baruch, One board member, George J. Rios, said the plan Brooklyn, Hunter, and Queens Colleges; in 2000 at City, sounded a "realistic warning bell" that students must be John Jay, Lehman, and New York City Technical better prepared, and that "we as educators will no longer Colleges and the College of Staten Island; and in 2001 at tolerate mediocrity and failed opportunity." Medgar Evers and York Colleges.

But others argued that the policy would elevate CUNY's The trustees' decision pleased Mr. Giuliani. "Open placement tests in math, reading, and writing to the level enrollment has been a big, big failure," he said before the of admissions criteria, which they were not designed to vote. "We should stop playing make-believe. We have a be. (Administrators expect to overhaul the tests by 1999.) lot of Critics also charged that Mayor Giuliani and Governor people at CUNY who were given high- Pataki had interfered with the board's decision-making school diplomas that aren't worth the paper they're process by leaning on trustees to support the remedial written on." curbs, rather than allowing them to "vote their conscience." Early in the board's debate, Ms. Paolucci ejected most Members of the audience after "This is radical surgery on the mission and role of the a handful of CUNY students and faculty members began City University of New York, and the first step in a plot chanting "Stop the racism," "Stop the bastards," and to downsize the university that has been picked up by "Stop the war on CUNY." radical conservatives," said James Murphy, an appointee of former Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, a Democrat. Later, 14 people were arrested -- including state Assemblyman Edward C. Sullivan, chairman of the Assembly's Higher Education Committee -- and given All five Giuliani appointees on the 17-member board summonses for disorderly conduct when they would not supported the plan, with Richard B. Stone, a Columbia move from a street outside CUNY headquarters here, University law professor, casting the swing vote after said New York City Police Capt. Richard Loehmann. sending mixed signals about his position. Nine votes were required to pass the policy; one trustee was absent, The trustees also directed CUNY administrators to and the faculty representative does not have a vote. present a plan to carry out the new policy by September. Louise Miner, CUNY's vice-chancellor for academic "I would have preferred, perhaps, a true comprehensive affairs, said she would focus on fine-tuning the summer plan," Mr. Stone said. "But I concluded, on the basis of programs by summer 1999. very extensive discussions with other trustees, with governing authorities, and with many other people, that "The first line of defense for students' needs are now the this was not to be -- that the moment had indeed arrived summer immersion programs," she said. "We'll need to take a dramatic first step." additional resources, and I'd front-load all of it now into summer programs." Mr. Stone said the Mayor's office and other trustees had

127 141 AAHE Bulletin9 M y 1998 Not-So-Distant mpetitors How New Providers Areem the Postsecondary Marketpace

by Ted Marchese

uite suddenly, in just two or three What's different about Phoenix is that it is years, American higher education explicitly for-profit, well capitalized, idea-driven, has come face-to-face with an and national in ambition. From next to nothing a explosive array of ndw competitors. handful of years ago, Phoenix suddenly has 48,000 On campus, the surest conversa- degree-credit students at 57 learning centers in 12 tion-stopper today is "University of states. Its parent, the Apollo Group, recently Phoenix." To some academics, reported quarterly profits of $12.8 million (before Phoenix looks like the first-sighted tip of an ice- taxes) on sales of $86.5 million. Apollo also owns berg. But it probably won't be the one that sinks the College for Financial Planning (22,000 non- whole ships. Bigger bergs are forming. Charting credit students), Western International University them is difficult. To find these "new providers," we (1,800 students), and an Institute for Professional sought them out on the Web. Here's what we Development that provides contract services for found. "program development and management" at 19 colleges. Once-tiny Cardinal Stritch has parlayed The Convenience Market the Phoenix formula into an enrollment of 5,300 By one light, Phoenix is just the most aggres- students. Apollo's Phoenix division now has an sive manifestation of a larger, branch-office trend online campus that offers computer-mediated that's at least a decade old. Dozens of private and distance education programs enrolling 3,750 stu- regional-public colleges, for example, now offer dents (up 53% from last year). Phoenix's phenome- degree programs in the Washington, DC, area. nal growth has been largely driven by niche Wisconsin recently counted more than 100 out-of- programs at the BA-completion and master's- state degree degree levels, providers within especially in busi- its borders; there ness, IT, and are 37 in _teacher educa- Milwaukee alone. tion. It taps new Last month I and "left behind" passed a busy markets: 97% of intersection in its students are Lake County, adults who Illinois, where a started earlier former gas station elsewhere; 57% had become a are women, 37% branch campus of minority. Missouri's At the under- Columbia College. graduate level, In the convenience two long-estab- end of the market, lished proprietary everybody goes competitors have after the other expanded aggres- guy's lunch. sively. Chicago's 128142 DeVry Institute of Technology now has 15 cam- sees WGU becoming the "New York Stock puses in the United States and Canada enrolling Exchange of technology-delivered courses." 48,000 students in business and technical pro- A lot of other people have had variants of the grams; DeVry owns the well-regarded Keller same idea. California opted out of the WGU com- Graduate School of Management (4,700 students). pact to create its own, more modest California Indianapolis-based ITT Educational Services Virtual University; CVU's catalog already lists 700 counts 25,800 students in its 62 institutes. courses from 81 public and private institutions. In the not-for-profit sector, dozens of existing SREB's Southern Regional Electronic Campus universities and colleges have developed remote- spans 15 participating states and aims to create a site strategies. St. Louis-based Webster University marketplace of courses offered by TV, the Internet, now boasts 15,000 students in 64 U.S. locations and otherwise; its online catalog now lists 100 plus six overseas. Chapman, National, Park, RIT, mostly Web-based courses from 42 colleges. Ottawa, and Central Michigan also teach afar. The Colorado's community college system offers associ- Maricopa district's Rio Salado Community College ate's degrees in business entirely over the Internet operates at 129 locations. The University of (for students anywhere) and coursework tailored Maryland's University College for WGU; it got there fast by teaches 35,000 students at hun- working with Denver-based Real dreds of sites; it holds commence- In 1995,according Education, a firm that promises ment ceremonies in College Park, "to get your university online in Heidelberg, Tokyo, Okinawa, to a"flash 60 days." The Fort Collins-based Seoul, Schwabisch Gmand, National Technological Irkutsk, and Vladivostok. estimate" released University, a 14-year-old non- this spring by the profit, uses satellites to beam Courses at a Distance engineering coursework from 50 If not "Phoenix," the scare U.S. Department major universities to clients words of choice are "Western worldwide. Governors University." Again, of Education, Several states Georgia, though, distance education is not Missouri, Indiana, Oklahoma, a new phenomenon: American fully a third of all Minnesota, Utah, Virginia are universities offered correspon- institutions offered looking to gear up earlier invest- dence courses a century ago. In ments in IT infrastructure for 1995, according to a "flash esti- distance education distance learning capability. The mate" released this spring by the University of Wisconsin's system U.S. Department of Education, courses, and office partnered with Lotus to fully a third of all institutions put together a Learning offered distance education another quarter Innovation Center in Madison, courses, and another quarter planned to. But with for-profit and not-for-profit planned to. But the way the field arms, to vend UW courses and is moving, 1995 is distance edu- the way the field degrees worldwide; 565 courses cation's olden days. WGU's are available. The University of founding back in 1996 created is moving, 1995 Hawaii uses two-way video, quite a stir, but it will fight for cable, satellite, and the Internet attention when it actually opens is distance to deliver 13 full degree pro- next month. Nimble competitors education's grams to citizens statewide. The have already come to market. University of Nebraska char- WGU's ambition, though, will olden days. tered a for-profit entity to parlay be second to none. Its founders its long history in distance learn- include 17 governors; its 14 "busi- ing into a worldwide operation. ness partners" include IBM, Sun, AT&T, KPMG, Penn State expects big things from its World Cisco, 3COM, Microsoft, and International Campus. Thomson. WGU won't employ teaching faculty, Individual schools are'also making their moves. develop courses, or deal in credit hours: its online Two institutions with long histories of high-end academic content will come from a range of qualify- continuing education, NYU and Boston University, ing providers (colleges or businesses, here or have corporate partners that have helped them abroad), and all degrees will be competency-based. win impressive training contracts. Lansing WGU's aim is to be the broker of choice within an Community College now has its own virtual col- academic common market that it helps create. Its lege; SUNY's Empire State enrolls more than "founding phirosophies" are "partnerships" and 6,000 students; Duke now offers a top-end Global "competition." Its business plan envisions 95,000 Executive MBA; by plan, a fourth of all courses at students by early next century.... notjust from Florida's new Gulf Coast University will be taken the West (Indiana joined up in April). As courses online. Established graduate-level players such as are added from national universities, corporations, Walden, Fielding, Nova, the New School, and and publishers, Utah governor Mike Leavitt fore- Arthur D. Little are looking to expand. Stanford's I 29 1 4 3, Office of Educational Ventures hopes to capitalize ter on sales of $78.2 million. It is growth and on the university's 30-year history of distance margins. like this that has investors chomping learning; UCLA and corporate partners launched at the bit. ETS, with its ever-closer ties to the for-profit Home Education Network; UC- Prometric, has taken a 1.4% ownership position in Berkeley's partner for online offerings will be UOL Sylvan, worth $22 million. Publishing. Jones Education Company (JEC), the brainchild The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has put $15 of cable entrepreneur Glenn Jones ("Let's get the million into some 40 campus projects, looking for cost of real estate out of education!"), offers breakthroughs in access, pedagogy, and outcomes instruction via cable (Knowledge TV), courses and via asynchronous learning networks. degrees from existing universities "anywhere, any- time" (College Connection), and self-paced video More Competitors and CD-ROM learning products (Knowledge 'lb Wall Street and entrepreneurs-at-large, the Store). JEC's College Connection online catalog postsecondary education and training market offers six certificate and 11 degree programs from looks huge and ripe for the picking ... an 14 partner universities, including Regis and "addressable market opportunity at the dawn of a George Washington Universities. The nonprofit new paradigm," in the breathless words of Morgan Virtual Online University offers instruction from Stanley Dean Witter. In dollar terms, close to $300 K through 16; its Internet-based Athena billion is spent a year on the function, $635 billion University uses MOO technology to engage stu- if grades P-12 are added in. Several Wall Street dents in curricula spanning eight academic divi- houses have set up "education industry" practices sions, each headed by a dean. The Electronic to attract investors. A report from NationsBanc University Network, started in 1983 and a feature Montgomery Securities characterizes the industry of America Online since 1992, has launched the with words such as "inefficient," "cottage indus- World Learning Network, whose "learning commu- try," "low tech," and "lack of professional manage- nity" software aims to end "the isolation of the dis- ment." It claims $1.7 billion has been raised on tant learner." In January it was acquired by Santa Wall Street since 1996 to finance new competitive Barbara-based Durand Communications. ventures. Specialty for-profit higher education companies Alternative and distance providers claim just include Fairfax, VA-based Computer Learning 2% of the postsecondary market today, but a com- Centers (computer, IT training; 1997 sales of $64 bination of pent-up demand, changes in the tax million, 1998 of $97 million); Pittsburgh's law, and today's E-commerce boom could quickly Education Management Corp. (arts, culinary; $183 balloon that market share by a factor of 10... at million); and Educational Medical of Rosewell, GA which point larger transformations could kick in. ($49 million). CLC's high-flying stock plunged 46% As unthinkable as this might seem to established in March when Illinois sued the firm for false higher education, Wall Street offers reminders claims of job placement. In early May, Illinois rein- that aggressive competitors cut the banking estab- stated CLC's permission to operate. lishment's share of household financial assets A recurring problem for proprietary providers from 90% in 1980 to 55% today. like these is that employer reimbursement often Baltimore's Sylvan Learning Systems (1-800- hinges on the award of college credit. As an exam- EDUCATE), a Wall Street darling, aims to be the ple of how that problem is solved, students taking world's "leading provider of educational services to Microsoft or Novell certification courses which families, schools, and industry." Its five business can cost more than $10,000 in any of 100 areas are K-16 tutoring (700 sites), contracted ser- authorized ITCAP centers around the country get vices to schools, computer-based testing the credits they need through Tucson's Pima (Prometric), adult professional education, and County Community College. English-language instruction around the world. In Want to learn HTML? Learn It Online, a new March, Sylvan and partner MCI spun off their service from publisher Ziff-Davis, offers the course Caliber Learning Network; Caliber successfully you need, with chat group, for $29.95. brought an $80 million initial public offering to A host of new providers'hope to be the broker of market May 5th that will help build out its net- choice for the flood of courseware hitting the Web. work beyond the present 48 shopping malls and CASO's Internet University, essentially an index- business centers. Caliber's business goal is to offer ing service, points the way to 2,440 courses. World brand-name professional education nationwide. It Lecture Hall, at the University of 'Thxas, lists already has deals with Johns Hopkins (health) thousands of courses in 95 disciplines. The Global and Wharton (business) and agreements with Network Academy, a 'Thxas nonprofit, lists 250 other "medallions" (Berkeley, MIT, Georgetown) to providers, 770 programs, and 10,000 online offer brand-name courseware and degrees in other courses. Extensive listings also exist on websites fields... at amall near you. at the Universities of North Carolina and Houston Sylvan's revenues rose 35% last year, to $246.2 ("archive.edu"). Virtual University Enterprises million. Total revenues for the quarter ending (acquired by National Computing Systems) con- December 31, 1997, jumped 51%; the company centrates on listing corporate education programs, reported net income of $11.8 million for that guar- worldwide. A Web-based consumer's guide to dis- 130 144 11 III: 171 I ,nnetn tance education is maintained by the Western tional materials, a new industry has emerged to Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications. provide the necessary consulting, marketing, and tools. Any recent Chronicle carries prominent dis- More Niches play ads from would-be vendors: Cisco Systems, One of the most closely watched start-ups is the SCT, Collegis, Lotus, and the like, plus repeated Michigan Virtual Automotive College (MVAC), a "executive briefings" in 24 cities around the coun- creation of the state of Michigan, the Big Three try from a Microsoft-Simon & Schuster-Real automakers, the United Auto Workers, and the Education combine. state's two flagships, Michigan and Michigan State. The IBM Global Campus offers a sophisticated Its president is former Michigan president Jim set of interrelated tools and services for distributed Duderstadt; MSU president Peter McPherson learning environments and distance education. chairs the executive committee. MVAC's mission is Products from IBM's Lotus division, including to become the essential hub for auto industry edu- Notes and LearningSpace, promise enhanced forms cation and training to offer the of distance learning. Some 30 best courses from any provider campuses, including the anywhere to corporate employees, Wisconsin and California State be they on assembly Huai, at The essential idea University systems, use Global drafting boards, or in executive Campus services. SCT claims suites. If engineers need the lat- behind MVAC 1,100 collegiate customers; last est course in computer-aided that an industry fall it partnered with Asymetrix design, MVAC can locate best to offer a "total solution" for experts in the subject, design the group can combine online learning. Microsoft teams course, custom deliver it on-site or with San Francisco's Convene elsewhere, evaluate and continu- to produce its International to provide an ously improve it ... and ulti: own education Exchange Server-based distance mately vend it to the 27 major learning system for universities auto companies and 5 million enterprise, entry- and businesses; Phoenix, Golden auto industry workers worldwide. level through life- Gate, and UCLA Extension are MVAC's watchwords include cus- among its customers. On April tomer-driven, competency-based, long learning, and 29th, Educom's Instructional and standards for delivery. In its Management Systems project first 16 months of operation, it cease reliance on a a consortium of 29 software mak- has put together some 115 "cottage industry" ers and universities released courses with professors or units technical standards that will from 27 universities (including of existing allow learning materials and dis- Phoenix); 300 students are now campuses tance education systems from dif- enrolled, 2,000 set for fall. When ferent vendors to "interoperate." suppliers, dealers, repair shops, has strong The trade journals are full of and retail outlets are taken as ads, too, for authoring software part of the auto industry, enroll- appeal among and templates that help individ- ment projections soar to six and corporate execs, ual professors and IT centers put seven figures. courses on the Web. At a more The essential idea behind especially where elaborate level of presentation, MVAC that an industry group dissatisfaction MVAC officials budget $10,000- can combine to produce its own $12,000 per instructional hour to education enterprise, entry-level with traditional prepare the courses they offer:At through lifelong learning, and a higher level still, for mass-mar- cease reliance on a "cottage higher education ket courses put together by an industry" of existing campuses is high. Andersen Consulting, for exam- has strong appeal among corpo- ple, the "design and build" budget rate execs, especially where dis- typically runs $80,000 per class satisfaction with traditional hour .. . so a three-credit, 45- higher education is high. In the face of such a com- clock-hour course might have a development and bine (and such course quality), observers feel, few marketing budget of $4 million. Who might invest colleges could maintain competitive offerings, on in such a course? Publishers such as International campus or off. Already the money has come Thomson, AWL, McGraw-Hill, John Wiley, and together for like-minded start-ups in plastics, fur- Simon & Schuster, who are angling to become con- niture, and tourism. Could health care, teacher tent providers for Web-based courseware. One unit education, accounting, or information technology of an Ivy League university is looking toward Wall be next?_ Street for the $15 million in start-up funds it would take to put its core courses online competitively. An Industry Forms Another part of the emergent industry looks to With all the interest in creating online instruc- provide cost-effective delivery channels for distance

A/A A I-IP niI 1, OCIR education. All the major telecommunication compa- To track and sort through the maze of regula- nies are in the business. Connecticut-based Campus tory and quality issues raised by the worldwide Televideo and Toner Cable claim to serve 85 univer- spread of distance offerings, a Global Alliance for sities nationwide. Want to broadcast abroad? Transnational Education has formed. Australia's Washington-based World Space is creating a global Monash University and United States-based

satellite-digital radio network... amedium of International University recently completed choice for reaching Third World learners. GATE's "certification" process. Academic leaders are keeping an eye on indus- In Canada, with its long history of distance edu- try ventures springing up in the K-12 arena. cation, several universities are deeply into extend- Knowledge Universe, for example, founded by the ing their reach, among them Simon Fraser, UBC, Milken brothers and Oracle's Larry Ellison, is a Athabasca, Laval, and Cape Breton. Several univer- $600 million venture that's been snapping up soft- sities are partners in Theme Seven, an infrastruc- ware, IT-training, and consulting businesses. Last ture that provides teacher professional development October it signed a deal with cable giant TCI to in the use of information technologies ... aneed position itself as an online content provider, poten- that hardly stops at the border. On April 16th, tially to include a virtual university. In March, TVOntario, which sells educational programming in "global multiple-media publisher" Harcourt 136 countries, signed a deal with Israel's Arel General hired Massachusetts's high-profile educa- Communications and Software to provide satellite- tion commissioner Robert Antonucci to head its based interactive classrooms at 400 sites across the ICS Learning Systems division, which serves province. (Arel has opened an office in Atlanta to 400,000 students worldwide. A NationsBanc market its Integrated Distance Education and Montgomery Securities publication describes at Learning system in the United States.) Canadian least three dozen well-financed K-12 competitors presidents (like their U.S. counterparts) fret pri- (labeled "education management organizations," vately that their existing distance learning initia- "specialty service providers," and "content tives will not be able to withstand well-heeled providers"), more than a few of which could competitors operating across national borders. become postsecondary players. Not to be overlooked, too, is the explosion of dis- For established colleges and universities, the tance learning programs within industry. It competitive threat is fourfold. First, all face already spends $58 billion a year on employee threats to their cOntinuing education, degree-com- training and development and sees distance tech- pletion, or extension arm ...which in more than a nologies as a way to save time and cut costs (by few cases is a key financial base for the institu- 15% to 50%); an estimated 85% of the Fortune 500 tion. Second, in the convenience part of the mar- now deploy some form of remote training. Health ket, less-selective colleges will feel real pressure giant Kaiser Permanente is doubling its distance on their base enrollments at the associate's, bache- learning sites from 150 to 300, eating into "univer- lor's, and master's levels. Third, most institutions sity business" by offering bachelor's and master's and their faculties will confront difficult, market- degrees for nurses and continuing education for and quality-based questions about whether to physicians. MetLife, on the other hand, teamed replace existing, home-grown courses with nation- with Drexel to bring its employees a master's ally produced courseware. Fourth, all institutions, degree in information systems. Ivies and medallions included, may see their How big is this new industry overall? TeleCon undergraduate franchise eroded as enrolled stu- East is an annual trade show cosponsored by the dents appear in the registrar's office with brand- United States Distance Learning Association and name course credits taken over the Web. GE Spacenet. In 1994, its 65 exhibits drew 1,386 More broadly, an essence of distance learning is attendees; in 1997, 200 exhibits drew 6,595 view-' that it knows no boundaries of time or place; it is, ers; 1998 attendance will surpass 10,000. inherently transnational. A big fear among US. university leaders and postsecondary start-ups Competitors From Abroad? alike is that just as happened in banking and The developments recounted here are hardly health care major international combines will confined to the United States. Most of the emerge to quash today's smaller-time competitors. Australian universities now have for-profit enter- What would the postsecondary marketplace look prises to market their courses and degrees, at home like if (say) Microsoft, Deutsche Telekom, and abroad. A quick tour of the Web turns up vir- International Thomson, and the University of tual universities from Peru to Malaysia. Britain's California combined to offer UC courses and much-admired, 168,000-student Open University, degrees worldwide? In time, its only competitor already a major player in Eastern Europe and the could be a combine of like standing and deep pock- Far East, will enter the U.S. market in partnership ets: an IBM-Eleevier-NEC-Oxford combine, for with domestic universities (so far Florida State, example. We shall see. CSU campuses, and WGU); it soon will announce the Open University of the United States, a non- Acknowledgment profit entity that will incorporate in Delaware and AAHE research associate Caitlin Anderson performed seek Middle States accreditation. searches and provided data for this report. 132 146 (SR)2 Selected Readings on School Reform Grab Bag

As we reach into our grab bag this summer season, we find a swell collection of odds and ends. Our first two articles have the same moral:unbiased, honest research is hard to come by in education. "The Diogenes Factor," anEducation Week piece by Herbert Walberg and Rebecca Greenburg, examines a recentstudy of eleven widely disseminated reform programs. Robert Slavin served asthe primary reviewer. He himself developed a reform program, "Success for All,"which conveniently emerged as the most effective program. Meanwhile,independent reviews suggest that the program has questionable educational effect. As David Hoff describes in his Education Week article, "Federal Class-Size Reports Do an About-Face," the U.S. Department of Education is not immune to similarly fudging research results. Current DOE class-size reports implythat small student-teacher ratios improve student performance. Under other administrations, the Department's research in this area reached the opposite conclusion.What's going on? Hoff implies that the Department is retrofitting the research tojustify the President's demand for more teachers. In our April edition, we brought you a special "Parents" section. Here we squeeze in another story about moms anddads, Amy Stuart Wells's "For Baby Boomers, A 90's Kind of Sit-In" from The New York Times Education Life. Wells calls attention to a growing trend throughout the countrymore and more parents are gaining more and more influence intheir children's school. The old days, when home and school occupied separate spheres, have given way to an era of"bridging the gap." (To read more about this topic, check out our Network Note on thelatest MetLife survey of the American teacher.) We close with a few words on technology in the classroom from the brilliant computer scientist David Gelernter. In his Time magazine essay, "NoLearnFirst, Surf Later," he blasts the Clinton/Gore plan to Wire every Americanclasrooni to the Internet as "toxic quackery." He argues that at best this should be a peripheral concern of schools, not their foremost objective.The idea that children should master math, science, reading, writing, and history before leaping intocyberspace isn't rocket sciencenor computer science. But it is obviously needs repeating.

BRW

147 133 Education Week, April8, 1998 The Diogenes Factor

Why It' s Hard To Getan UnbiasedView Of Programs Like 'Success for All'

The federal government and founda- By Herbert J. Walberg sures. The federal government, for example, tions sponsor report after report de- and Rebecca C. Greenberg has spent more than $100 billion on the Chap- scribing programs said to raise student ter 1/Title I program to raise the achievement achievement, particularly that of poor, of poor children. With such huge amounts of urban, and minority children. Many articles in money at stake, program developers, adminis- scholarly and practitioner journals also de- trators, and evaluators have strong financial scribe programs that apparently raise students' test scores. interests in showing success. Their jobs, salaries, and perquisites depend Yet, the best long-term indicator of achievement, the National Assess- on continued funding. What's more, program developers, who have been ment of Educational Progress, shows no consistent upward trends dur- supported by government and foundations, increasingly are selling their ing the past three decades. The latest international achievement com- materials and services to schools. parisons, moreover, show U.S. students ahead in the early school years When for-profit firms offer programs to schools, educators remain on but falling to the back of the pack by the senior year of high school. The guard: Let the buyer beware. Government agencies, foundations, and longer they are in school, the further they fall behind the averages of other not-for-profits are often thought to be superior in knowledge, ob- other countries. What explains this paradox of successful programs and jectivity, and altruism. They, however, are increasingly driven by mone- failing students? tary and political pressures, which are not necessarily in the public or Despite many reports of success, we find few objective evaluations con- students' interest. The same government agencies and foundations that ducted by independent investigators. Staffs of government agencies and fund the programs, for example, hire evaluators, evaluate the programs program developers apparently believe their programs work, and usu- themselves, or allow, program developers to evaluate the programs. Hav- ally commission or carry out their own evaluations to prove their point. ing said the programs would succeed, can agency administrators easily. Consciously or not, their beliefs can strongly affect the design, conduct, return to Congress or their foundation's governing board to say they and results of evaluations. were wrong? Are they likely to hire independent-minded evaluators? Bias can even affect "pure" research results even when politics, jobs, and money are not at issue. To avoid such bias in medical research, for The principle of "conflict of interest" is hardly news. Aristotle example, investigators use double-blind experiments. Neither patients warned his fellow citizens to consider the source, and the ancient nor caregivers know which patients get the experimental medicine and Romans asked who would benefit from proposed conclusions and which receive placebo pills known to have no physiological effect. This decisions. What is new is the pervasiveness of what we will call procedure enables the investigators to separate the effect of the drug "the Diogenes factor" in program evaluation. According to ancient Athen- from the effect of patients' suggestibility or belief in treatment efficacy. ian lore, Diogenes searched, with a lighted lantern, through daytime In educational evaluation, placebo effects are usually built in rather than controlled since program developers, administrators, and teachers all know that they are employing a new program and that they are being watched. This, of course, may make programs appear more successful than they would be in normal practice. 4 Federal support of education programs, moreover, raises powerful pres-

143 134 Levin'sJr.'s Accelerated Schools, and Core Knowledge, Henry encesgroups; were in twonot educationallycases, the differ- sig- natedaveragenonetheless, and Successshould concluded do for well. All thatstudent He, the math,on reading, science, possibly and2. other Success sacrificing subjects. for All concentrates fortwomentJamesachievement All programsProgram. P. and Comer's Roots that SchoolTheircriterionSuccess and meet Wings. evaluation Develop- their In reveals only forcontrolnificant;gradeis All to students.bringgroups level and all inbyoutscored children two3rdSuccess gradeinstances, Successto forsoor neartheyAll's expressed goal toinstruction,Evenmancefailed fall withto further byreach further the students grade-level behindend Success of continued gradenational perfor-for All 3. effectsestimatesReadingmary on school resultsof the the broad subjects program's are3. range misleading Unlike and overallof skills. pri-standardized national Athens for honesty Though fabri- betweendevoteaccordcolumnto their threewith about forown thisfull the two a assessment,columns otherfifth programs, 11.and of a printthey full and ofdentlatermay pointedthe evaluation,grades.progress University out: In "According normallyanotherRichard of Delaware indepen-Venezky to in the the pro- norms.opersbehind.they Byandwere the independent almostend Thus,of 5th 2.4 thereviewers grade, yearsSuccess for All devel- teredAllpendentachievementand employs tests which evaluators, that individually testsare favor subject used theSuccess byadminis-program to inde- biased for evaluation,programs.comparisons,lectivecation may evidence we These be can which rare easily leadand in favor educationalmisleadingto find mislead- funded se- largesttheSuccessmated average theprogram for numerical ofAll which on Ms.effects achievement, isFashola effectsone ever of and thereof Mr. Slavin esti- cessAllwithimpressions for cites otherAll's its ownprograms, own and evaluators. positivescoring4. In Success its byeffects,Kappan Suc- for comparisons fectiveness.ing'overestimatesamplewhich ofprovides the Diogenes ofaConsider noteworthyprogram factor ef-"Success in ex- a for All," AllwereAllcentileported. students of above theirofIt wouldcontrol-group the estimates,at level theplace 85ththey Success theystudents. consider per- say, for continue tothe support promulgation Federal funds thenotdent negativeits ownevaluations. negative findings findings, of indepen- nor The Success for All evalua- negativedentclareThoughfederally evaluatorsit a evidence. itshuge supported own success, finddevelopers essentiallyprogram. indepen- de- educationally significant. ()n theSuccessdependent other hand,for evaluationAll an by in- Eliza- of evaluation of failed and biased inschool other years countries relative is a tonational those icanThetion poorstory students progressis hardly during ofAmer- unique. the Johnsveloper,Kappan, Hopkins a Robert chief Success UniversityInSlavin, the forJanuary and All col- hisde- 1998 Phi Delta anUniversityand average Denise of effectGottfredson Maryland of near showed of zero the beth Jones and Gary ject'shas own clearly reports, not led Success to all forstudents' All theitsdiffer effectiveness. following hugely reasonsin theirAny probablyestimatesone or all ac- of programs. falltragedy,lion-per-yearpendentand even minority furthersadder evaluations students behind.stillChapter among of Fivewho 1the program inde-poortend$7 bil- to revenuesachievement.programswhichleague widely Olatokunbo 'aremeet Since disseminated expected their Success Fashola, criteria to forreform grow askAllfor thegroups.orscoredthat the Marylandis, same aboutSuccessIn five as the of groupmatched for 1050th comparisons,All found percentile students control that sizes]onlybyachieving[which the reading includedend Success atof or gradeand nearin language thefor 3, grade outcomesevenAll empha-level witharts countlot,adoptpercent forbut the these such of program the differences:schools teachers1. in Success aare secret unusualvote for bal- toAll insists that 80 supporttweenlittlefor disadvantaged achievement program the promulgation and Yetchildren controldifference federal showedandgroups. be-fundsbi- continue to fromviewestedMs.the Roots$15 coming Fashola Successparties. million and year, may TheyforWings, to All,$30 notMr. nonetheless itsmillionbe andSlavin extension disinter- 11 in andother re- twoevaluationseffectsgroupforcontrol All cases, also groupsfromstudents. compiled Successof other Successoutscored The independentsix for Marylandfor estimated AllSuccess All. stu- In KappancessownFasholaassessment." for negativereport. makeAll evaluation Mr. no findings Mr.mention Slavin Venezky in and inof Balti- theirtheir Ms. carried out a Suc- wherehardlystatusEvenin consensus if to suchrun-of-the-millmatched control consensus and inschools, determination. socioeconomic schools, isthey rarely are obscuresgrams.asedproductivenothing. evaluation This the It isproblem,wastes solutions. worse of vastfailed thanand Diogenes,resources, delays doing pro- programs, including E.D. Hirsch 149 dents did better than control more, where the program origi- reached. _ lend us your lantern. 150 Education Week, June 10, 1998 Federal Class-SizeReports Doan About-Face

By David J. Hoff Washington Two Views on Class-Size Reduction Just last month, the Depart- ment of Education released a report stating that the "consen- Two reports from the Department of Educationone issued in 1988 and theother in 1998 sus of research indicates that bring differing perspectives to the debate over class-size-reduction initiatives. class-size reduction in the early From "Class Size and Public Policy: Politics and PanaCeas"in 1988: grades leads to higher student Evidence to date achievement." ... does not generally support a policy of limiting class size in order to Ten years earlier, the same de- raise student achievement or to improve the quality of worklife for teachers;nor does it partmentunder different lead- justify small reductions in pupil/teacher ratios or class size in orderto enhance student ershipwrote that "the cost of re- achievement. Research also fails to support school policies designed to lowerdass size if ducing average class size by even these do not first specify which pupils will benefit and how and why they willdo so. a few stuaents is very large and, of itselt the measure is not likely Roducing to enhance school outcomes." Class Site: The divergent messages raise What Do From "Reducing Class Size: What Do We Know?"in 1998: the question of whether the pub- WeKnow?. Reducing class size to below 20 students leads to higher student achievement. lic can rely on the federal agency However, class-size reduction represents a considerable commitment offunds, and its to provide objective reports re- implementation can have a sizable impact on the availability of qualifiedteachers.... flecting current debates in educa- There is more than one way to implement class-size reduction, andmore than one way tion research. Critics say the to teach in a smaller class. Depending on how it is done, the benefits of class-size public can't. reduction will be larger or smaller. The latest report "is a political document to back-fill a policy that SOURCE: Department of Education [the Clinton administration] proposed, but [that] doesn't have much support," contended Eric A. Hanushek, a professor of economics and public policy at the ident Clinton's plans tospend $12 Research Tilt University of Rochester and a billion subsidizing thesalaries of Democrats complained in the persistent critic of class-size-re- 100,000 new teachersover the duction policies. next seven years. late 1980s that the department, under President Reagan, tilted its Marshall S. Smith, the acting Some skeptics of thepositive impact of research to reflect the conserva- deputy secretary of education, class-sizereduction are tive agenda of then-Secretary of countered that research in the not disturbed by the Education Education William J. Bennett and past decade has documented Department'snew study. Releasing such his assistant secretary for re- successful experiments with reports "is a search, Chester E. Pinn Jr. Saying very appropriate thing for [the de- class-size reduction and that the it wanted to take politics out ofre- new report simply reflects those partment] to do," said DouglasE. Mitchell, an education search, the Democrat-led Con- findings. professor gress in 1994 created a nonparti- Others say the most important at the University of California, Riverside, who is san policy board to oversee the factor in any Education Depart- not convinced department's office of educational ment report is who's in charge of that class-size reductionspurs student achievement. "It's research and improvement. the agency. In 1988, the depart- in the Since the latest class-sizere- ment was part of a Republican ad- nature of things that overdrawn port includes no original re- ministration that actively sought statements will be made.I don't expect them to publish something search, it is not a product of the to curtail federal education spend- OEFa.Instead, the synthesis of re- ing. Now, it's under the control of that's so bland that itdoesn't support anything." cent reports was published and Democrats who are pushing Pres- distributed by the department's

136 151 leadership, spurring questions about its credibility. stay with them, later studies have people who reviewed portions of Indeed, the department put out found. (See Education Week, July it. In a telephone interview last the most recent report six days 12, 1995.) week, Mr. Tomlinson recalled one before Secretary of Education Extensive reviews of Project exchange of letters between the Richard W. Riley held a May 14 STAR and separate studies have two, but said Mr. Smith never press conference with congres- supported the belief that class- said he agreed with the report's sional Democrats heralding the size reduction benefits students, conclusion. formal introduction of legislation Mr. Smith said. For his part, Mr. Smith said he to enact the president's proposal. "They've all seem to come out in did not remember reviewing the Mr. Riley's aides distributed the the same direction ... suggesting 1988 report. that there's something there," he 17-page report called "Reducing Questionable Impact Class Size: What Do We Know?" said. "Had that research come out to members of the press. a different way, the report would Washington insiders say deci- Despite the report's unambigu- have been put out" with those de- sionmakers are rarely swayed ous conclusion, Mr. Hanushek ' tails in it. when a federal agency releases a said, it cites several studies that Mr. Hanushek and other critics report supporting one of its own differ from its thesis. But the remain unconvinced. initiatives. Independent research contrary studiesincluding one "Project STAR is unable to say has a much greater impact on con- of Mr. Hanushek'sare raised what it is teachers did differently : gressional debate, according to and then discredited by other in the small classes," said Tommy Christopher T. Cross, the president reports that the department cites M. Tomlinson, who wrote the of the Washington-based Council that favor class-size reduction. 1988 federal report and worked for Basic Education and a former The rebuttals to pro-class-size- at the OERI until he retired in assistant secretary for research in reduction research raised by 1994. "It's sort of magic. They the Bush administration. Mr. Hanushek and others aren't don't know what they did differ- So far, the department's new mentioned in the department ently" and act as if the size of class-size-reduction report has report. class was the only variable, he had little impact. Shortly after its Mr. Smith, the department's No. added. release, Mr. Clinton agreed to 2 official, said that the May 8 re- If lowering student-teacher ra- support a Senate tobacco bill that port is a fair sample of what re- tiosdoesimprovestudent does not include the money for searchers have discovered in the achievement, the benefits may class-size reduction, as the presi- past 10 years. The most signifi- not be significant enough to jus- dent proposed. cant evidence supporting Presi- tify the extensive costs, Mr. Tom- Mr. Smith said the administra- dent Clinton's proposal, he said, linson's report concluded. tion now is hoping to attach its was gathered in Tennessee's Pro- Ironically, Mr. Tomlinson's re- proposal to a tax bill it will push ject STAR. The longitudinal study port"Class Size and Public Pol- Congress to pass this year. has found students' test scores in- icy: Politics and Panaceas" creased after being in small K-3 listed Mr. Smith as one of several classes. The benefits tended to

1 37 152 New York Times Education Life, April 5, 1998

In response, Federal, state and local legislators across the For Baby Boomers, country have passed policies that encourage or even mandate parent involvement in decision- making. In 1994, Congress added A 90's Kind of Sit-In parent involvement as one of the eight national education goals in Parents are occupying its Goals 2,000 legislation, which provides Federal financing to the nation's classrooms with a new , states to accomplish these ends. set of demands: a say in how In the last 15 years, 25 states have enacted 38 pieces of legis- their children's schools are run. lation increasing parents' role in schools. BY AMY STUART WELLS This more democratic approach can create tensions between schools and parents, SANTA MONICA, CALIF. and between parents who don't share the same ideas,as FROM THE MOMENT SHE ARRIVES AT THE SAN- schools struggle to find the right balance betweenparen- ta Monica Alternative School House at 8 tal voices and teachers' need to control classrooms and A.M., the principal, Viki Montera, is work- curriculums. ing the courtyard and classrooms. She Today's new role for parents is a significant shift. Un- spends about two and a half hours each til this generation of parents, the trend was in the other morning listening to parents' ideas. direction, as the public educational system expanded to More parents show up with more opinions at lunch- serve more students and teachers, and administrators time. Another crowd arrives after school, and yet an- were required to have more professional training. other in the evenings, when parent-led committees meet Teachers gained greater authority and discretionover at this Los Angeles suburb's public school of choice, pedagogical decisions, from how to teach reading to known by its acronym, Smash. whether to include sex education, putting parents ina Some parents want to confer with Ms. Montera on . supportive, secondary role in the education of their chil- typical volunteer issues like the logistics of the bagel dren. sale or book fair. But others want to advise her on the But now the graduates of this same system are rewrit- . type of decisions traditionally left to educators, like ing the rules, placing themselves as parents at the cen- whether students should be separated into fast and slow ter of the decision-making process. reading groups orifthird graders should learn. This movement, primarily in middle-class communi- multiplication tables. ities where parents wield some political influence, can be "I feel rike I am trying to balance between the staff's partly attributed to the baby-boom generation, which perspective and the parents' perspective and hear both 'has parented most school-age children over the last 20 sides and try to urge both sides to see a different point of years. Questioning teachers' decisions and practices is view," said Ms. Montera, who was hired this year to cre- in keeping with their impact on other institutions. ate a better working relationship between staff and par- "It's harder for schools with this group of parents," ents. . said Donna Heider-Pass, whose only child, now a 7-year- Parental input at the kindergarten-through-eighth- old Smash student, was born when she was 40. "And on grade school, founded in 1973 by parents looking for a the parents' side, it is not an easy relationship either, be- more progressive approach to education (and supported cause most of us grew up in a time when the teacher was by parent activists like Jane Fonda), is an extreme ex- the boss, and now we are all challenging that role and not ample of a larger trend: the changing relationship be- sure how that will be played out." tween parents and schools. Parents and educators agree Ms. Heider:Pass's mother, who had eight children, that today's mothers and fathers are far more likely was only peripherally involved in their schools. Ms. than the generation before them to question teachers' Heider-Pass, who serves on a committee that sets ad- authority and demand a voice in decisions that their own missions standards at Smash, looks at the parenting ex- parents would have considered none of their business. perience differently. "I wanted to be involved every step "Parents have been much more vocal and more de- of the way," she said. manding in their relations with the schools," said An- The changing attitude may also be related to parents' nette Lareau, an associate professor of sociology at higher levels of education. According to the Census Bu- Temple University, who studies parent and school inter- reau, adults in their late 20's to late 40's those more action. "The boundaries between professional educators likely to have school-age childrenare almost twice as and parents have become more blurred." likely to have a bachelor's degree as those 65 and older.

138 ganization that helped elect local Board of Education Educated parents, experts say, are far more critical of members supporting parent involvement as well as the teachers and bolder about marching into schools to com- parents' back-to-basics philosophy. plain. "Everyone had already jumped on the bandwagon to According to Joyce L. Epstein, a parent involvement do more fund-raising to build a playground, all the other specialist at Johns Hopkins University, the growth in col- ancillary activities," she said. "There were a lot of well- lege-educated women means that mothers, even work- educated moms and others who were just concerned ing ones with less time, are not about to relinquish the supervision, care and education of their children to teach- about knowing what the kids were being taught." anx- Efforts by parents like Ms. Wall to have more say in ers at a comparable educational level. And they are what their children learn can result in a tug of war over bus that their Children receive and the type of instruction that will who should design curriculum or teaching strategies whose knowledge is more valuablethe parents' under- prepare them to compete for standing of their own children's learning styles orthe coveted slots in the higher edu- teachers' expertise in how different children learnand cation system and Job market. how to address the needs of 25 to 30 students at once. "Because of the pressure of feel society these days and that Often parents get defensive and angry, and teachers hurt and offended. whole achievement thing," said "They' make you feel like you don't know as much as of JudiLevine,co-president you do," said Carrie Ferguson, a teacherat Smash. She Smash's Parent, Teacher and said there is a perception among some parentsthat they Student Association, "parents have to come in and save the schools from theteachers. are constantly wondering, 'How "They don't realize that this staff does researchand has are our kids faring compared theories on what we are doing," she added. "We arenot with other kids, where will they just coming in here and saying, 'Turn to page35." be when they finish year eight Some advocates of increased parental input arguethat and have to go into the high schools should act more like private companiescompet- schools or the private schools ing for customers and less like government-runbureau- and have to compete with every- cracies with captive clientele. This pressure, experts body else? Are they getting it say, has led to changes in local schoolpolicies. In an ef- all?" fort to satisfy parents, for instance, the RochesterSchool Laura Sherman, a veteran Board recently approved a plan to use parent surveys as Smash teacher, agreed. "We part of its evaluation process for teachersand admin- have had parents say, 'If my istrators. child does not learn- the. multipli- "I take the view that parents ought tobe viewed cation tables in third grade, he will not get into principally as our customers," said Clifford B.Janey, Harvard," she said. Rochester's Superintendent of Schools. Kay Wall of Greenwich, Conn., quit her job at a market Sari Knopp Biklen, a professor of educationat Syra- research firm to spend -more time with her son and be- cuse University who has studiedhow teachers' work is .. come involved inhis publicelementary school. Frustrat- defined by their environments, found thatthey were ed with playing the boOster-club role, she and a group of often resistant to what parents had to say. parents started Academic Challenge in Education, an or- "They wanted parents to act like clients,"she said, "and parents, on the other hand, thought ofthemselves

139 154 more as customers, and the For instance, Michignn re- California's charter schools re- customer is always right." cently passed a law giving parr quire parents to sign contracts ents the right to review curricu- In surveys of parents and stipulating a certain number of teachers, the Phi Delta Kappan lum, textbook and teaching ma- hours that they will be involved magazine found that only 25 per- terials. The Illinois and New in the school. cent of teachers believed par- York legislatures have mandat- Still, the scope of the parent-in- ed that the Chicago and New ents should have more say in volvement movement is still be- York City districts include par- 'ing debated. Professor Lareau of public-school curriculums, com- ents on school governing coun- pared with 53 percent of parents. cils. Temple University believes the This resistance, some say, is rise in parental input reflects a because nearly 40 percent of Critics argue, however, that minority of parents who are up- teachers in the United States efforts to give parents more de- per middle class and have the have taught for at least two dec- cision-making power often never education and political clout to ades and are set in more tradi- get beyond the paper proclama- challenge educators. Her re- tional ways. "You have some tion. John C. Fager, executive di- search and other studies show older teachers who are a part of rector of the New York City Par- that lower-income parents with the older culture that says, 'Get ents Coalition, said the New. ; less formal education say they out of my classroom,' " said Glo- York law mandating that par- do not feel welcome in schools ants sit on city school councils ' and are not likely to question ria N. Howard, a former teacher irovides only "lip service" to in Providence, R. I., who is a con- teachers' decisions. sultant for schools, working with 'neaningful involvement. These Ms. Epstein, while acknowl- parents and communities. Yet councils, unlike those in Chicago, edging some social-class differ- today's more educated parents, have no decision-making author- ences, noted that programs like she added, know they have a ity,especiallyincontrolling right to demand certain services budgets and hiring and firing from schools. principals. 'Most Charter school legislation was devised to provide a more direct of us grew up ina EDUCATORS WHO OPPOSE giving parents added in- parental role. In addition to oth- time when the er parent-involvement legisla- fluenceareswimming teacher was the against a powerful political cur- tion, some 30 states have passed t laws allowing parents and teach- . rent, with policy makers pushing boss, and now we more and more legislation to ers to create autonomous char- are all challenging make schools responsive. The , ter schools, driven in part by new laws differ from state to parents' visions of what schools that role.' state, from requiring school dis- should be. Many of the schools tricts to develop policies for in- created under these laws en- Head Startforpreschoolers , courage and sometimes require have tried to teach low-income creasing parents' roles, to man- a greater parent involvement in dating that employers give par- !parents that they can play a role ents time off to attend parent- everything from fund-raising to in their children's education. In teacher conferences, to spelling administrating to teaching elec- 1994, the regulations for Title 1, tive 'classes in art, drama and the Federal compensatory edu- out parental rights on matters computers. like visiting classes or accessing cation program for low-income data on schools. Approximately two-thirds of students, were revised to man-

140 date family-school connections they work in open classrooms At a recent morning coffee, 23 and collaborations. Ms. Epstein accommodating children of dif- parents gathered to talk to Ms. is currently directing a network ferent ages. Montera and two teachers. One of 750 schools across the coun- parent wanted to know if the try, including many in urban and pARADOXICALLY, THIS IS THE "chaos"hesawwhenhe poor areas, that is trying to set learning environment the dropped his daughter off in the up procedures to accommodate parents who helped found morning was the way it was parents. Smash 25 years ago were seek- "supposed" to be. Other parents Another issuethatschools ing. Well ahead of the current complained about a lack of daily grapple with is that not all par- trend, they were also seeking to structure. ents are pushing for the same create a school where parents, Ms. Montera kept bringing the ideas at the same time, making students and staff made, deci- discussion back to the contradic- itdifficultforeducatorsto sions together. While Smash par- tions of being an alternative please everyone. ents continue to play a central school in the competitive climate At Smash, where most parents role, they have yet to find a com- of the 90's. Parents with older are affluent and well educated, fortable middle ground on the childrenalsodefendedthe some remain committed to its core curriculum and how stu- school's philosophy, telling progressive teaching methods, dents spend their time at school. newer parents that their chil- while others want a more struc- To help her staff and parents dren emerge with the knowledge tured environment. come to a better understanding they need to pass standardized A group of parents recently of the direction of the school, Ms. tests while gaining more self-es- protested thattheirchildren Montera is creating several new teem. were not learning basic skills, in- forums,includingeducation Getting parents and teachers cluding multiplication and long seminars for parents and parent to collaborate on the direction of division, the way their genera- coffees, where teachers explain a school is not easy, Ms. Heider- tion had in elementary school. their approaches and parents Pass noted. "Although we all Because of the school's philOso- voice their concerns and pose have our children's interest at phy, students learn through inde- questions. heart," she said, "we are also all pendentprojectsinsteadof "That's the way it has to be very ferocious about protecting memorization. Rather than sit- done," she said. "We all have to that and what that means." ting quietly in rows of desks, make decisions together."

141 r."0 Time, May 259 1998

NoLearn First, Surf Later MEDICINE COMES IN TWO VARIETIES: "IRRELEVANT only connect to the latest websites in Passaic and Peru; we'd but harmless" and "toxic:" The Administration's plan to see improvement? The Internet; said President, Clinton in wire Ainerican classrooms for Internet service is toxic February, "could make it possible for every:child With iiece'ss quackery. Four-fifths of U.S. schools have Internetaccess to a computer to streteh, a hand across a keyboard to:reach already; instead of wiring the rest, we ought to lay downa star-., eyery book ever written; -everY Painting everpainted:eyery . . tling new erhicational directive: First learn reading and 't- symphony. eller corriPtised..", ardon me; Mr. President,, ing, history and arithinetic. Then playikrisbee, go fishin but ,this is derriented..MOit'kineriCari children dOnif.knOw surf the Internet. Lesions first, hip secOnd. . what a symphony is. If:We iuddenly figured out hoW to,teach ;I'Ye uaed the Internet nearly everY day since Septeniber each child. one.!meileMent Of, onc sYmphOrii, thit!;Yi:ouki:,6e. 1982., it's, a *great Way to gather information, communicate a miracle. and shop. And in one iense, the Internet is good for the. And Our ikill4ree:Children are OverWhelined, hy:inforrna- : Aineridan Mind. Up through the 'early '90s, everyday written tion even. ibithich4t the Internet. The' gloiiY; Magaiineiioa communication seemed to be dying out. Thanks to: e-,mail hundred7odd ''.cahle:Channela;"the,yideotaPOS,ianA.'ciiiiiNter:i and fax maChines, writing, has,. conie back." In'this respect; the-In= ernet Could...he iv-fine, teaching fl. I tion?. if: the AdininiitratiOn toola .Way :tnishare-gboa, scarce 5 were.annOuncing. that..eYerehild . Writingteachers.Orieteacher ' 1 1 ' 1 ' , nitist has the: fanCiest' could manage a whole -district. of : on the inarketbrit theiekids'clOn't students ilthey were all connected It kno,w how to swim, 414 fitting: electronically:. thenyOut:with scuba gear ,iin't:jnit-!. But the 1.push to net-connect t irreiponsihle;. : every school is an eduCational 'dis- droWn.. aster , in the ..making, Our :chools And:;it,; gets '.Worie::::QUichil- are in crisis. what I ; dren's span's are too' short see every daY as a parent and aCollege educator. My Wife and already, but the.Web ii:aprOpagandarriachineforl.Slibitatten- I haye,a constant struggle:to get our young boys to master the tion spans. The instant yoti getloOred; olick the .nionie;' and basic:skills theY need'arid our ichools hate to teach. Asa col- . you're someplace.else.:90p0hiloon already prefer piCtUres to legeteachet,,,I see the iOrry outeoine: stridents who can't Write words, glitz ta.sObStanceifinCY`,'Pabkaging tn-ieriOUS:OOnterit.. .worth a danin; -Who laCk basic:Math andjanguage skills: Our But the Web propagandizes .relentlesily for eiti schools ar*se4ed tci telt students to sit ,down and shatup and for video ancl.Sty14'PaCkaging;:mici:iktiil6 t7.,g.f.n11.Of firt..rate learn; drill ''..it,-,merruiriie it;: :because You must Master. it . informatiOn; it!s.a0a Whether:it'iftinOr not:: ohildren.,Pay the price for oureduCa- yoking yonCan't eYen deSO,ribe'it:Th0i0"iS fib quality...CO*4)ion tional cowardide. the Internet. I'yeneyer:.met one parent:tirjeacher or student orprin-.- Still, ittiagine:*..well=riinieriOni..iehnol With :akInternet.: .citiat.Ori.eiCeir;cOnipiitart:'ia/eiiirair',Whb 'Clairted- that ,initifii--: hookup inthelibrarY:.ftirOcca:iionaislrietiYitnClentS ander:Sn=:,.; Cient..Veira.iithe root::of-thepiihlein*than Internet Cori7; :peivisiOn .iieCtiorcYcm.,0:11,gatii*,,thelatesK#Oft. .`froM ail.OVer; hilt MO 1:.be so bad? i\ici'.ThOUgh itrankiiroUnCl,944thon*ifstOf Many':American. high:.ichool 'itirOents:1:;#b neVer read:.one .:poitant SchlOOLiinprOY'drkientS;:ifs 04.13ici.iouon:f040;:*', Mark: TWain":.;:noverior,::'Shakeikare:3'plaY,or WOrdsWOrth.,...,Many schools:Will triethe',..Internetlhe.:lianie :WAy they.'1.0*'::::

poerri;:or.,a.serious hiitoryOf the-U.S.; theyare bad*at iCienCe,, . bOmputers therniehres:itentettainChildreat minimalcost ; trieless at inathemati4;hOPeless it Writingbut if theY tOuld. tnteachers.' If children':are .tirine4:1Ooie En net in the. schools.'WOn't '156 a minor bduCationat iniPrOYe7., Gelernter is aprofessbr of computer science at Yale.. His 1991 ment, it will be. a ,inajbk:::diiaiterAnOtheri.: one:'?'Juie :what 5ook,', Mirror Worlds, predicted something like today's Web.

142 15 7 57WeNT5 TRAIL- Wom-9 IN/ IMATill5ctewcE51cu.L.5 C 65, H 00, 7.5sT WHAT (5 TomnkRow qILi- At.io AND 53 cfro.00,%/

9,11c P, .1050 HavIrvvoroc- rvE

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