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TITLE Selected Readings on School Reform, Winter 2000. INSTITUTION Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, Washington, DC. PUB DATE 2000-01-00 NOTE 141p. AVAILABLE FROM Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, 1627 K Street NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20006. Tel: 888-823-7474 (Toll Free); Fax: 202-223-9226; Web site: http://www.edexcellence.net. PUB TYPE Collected Works - Serials (022) JOURNAL CIT Selected Readings on School Reform; v4 n1 Win 2000 EDRS PRICE MF01/PC06 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Academic Standards; *Accountability; *Charter Schools; *Curriculum Problems; *Educational Change; Elementary Secondary Education; Higher Education; Public Schools; *School Choice; Scores; Teacher Effectiveness

ABSTRACT This collection of selected readings includes articles on the following subject areas: federal issues; charter schools; school choice; standards, tests, and accountability; teacher quality; curriculum and content; higher education; and miscellaneous subjects including absence in the classroom, school consultants, urban education, and principal vacancies in New York City schools. A "Network Notes" section contains short commentaries on various education subjects. (DFR)

Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. THOMAS B: ORDHAM OUNDATION OUTSIDE THE BOX

ycelected _eadings ) on hool eform

Winter 2000 Vol. 4, No. 1

: The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation 1627 K Street, NW Suite 600 Washington, DC, 20006 (202) 223 -5452 (202) 223-9226 (fax)

MENT OF EDUCATION 1(888) TBF-7474 (publications line) nal Research and Improvement ESOURCES INFORMATION http:www.edexcellenee.net NTER (ERIC) t has been reproduced as the person or organization

have been made to uction quality. or opinions stated in this AVAILABLE of necessarily represent BEST COPY osition or policy. Selected Readings on School Reform

Winter 2000 Vol. 4, No. 1

The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation 1627 K Street, NW Suite 600 Washington, DC 20006 (202) 223-5452 (202) 223-9226 (fax) (888) TBF-7474 (publications line) http://www.edexcellence.net

The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation is neither connected with nor sponsored by Fordham University. Chester E. Finn, Jr. Trustees President THOMAS B. Chester E. Finn Chester E. Finn, Jr. David H. Ponitz ORDHAM Thomas A. Holton Vice President Bruce Kovner OUNDATION Bruno V. Manno Thomas A. Holton OUTSIDE THE BOX David H. Ponitz Secretary I Treasurer Diane S. Ravitch

January 2000

Dear Education Reformer,

Welcome to the first (SR)2 of the new millenium. We hope that, before opening its cover, you have already completed our little survey (enclosed with this mailing) so we can benefit from your thoughts about the future of (SR)2.If not, kindly do so now. Then keep reading.

There's plenty here that's worthy of your attention. In Front Lines, you will read that the ranks of the education reformers are swelling: organizations like the Education Commission of the States and individuals such as National Urban League president Hugh Price have recently come out with new declarations of support for "charterizing" the whole system. The "New Democrats" are making interesting noises, too.

Another must-read section is Standards, Tests and Accountability. The long-predicted backlash against standards-based reform seems to have begun. Faced with test-based evidence of weak performance, a growing horde of parents and educators is beating up on the standards and accountability arrangements instead of the system that is producing the bad results. And some teachers, perhaps unable to contend honestly with new accountability measures, have been found cheating for their students. Several articles in this section amplify on these troubling developments. And, of course, The State of State Standards 2000, also enclosed with this mailing, gives you our latest take on which states are and aren't doing well at developing good standards and installing serious accountability systems.

We hope you enjoy this issue of (SR)2 and thanks in advance for providing us with feedback on the survey. See you in a few months.

Sincerely, /1)

Chester E. Finn, Jr. K Ilymis President Prog am Director/ Editor

4 1627 K Street, NW Suite 600Washington, DC, 20006Telephone (202) 223-5452Fax (202) 223-9226 http://www.eClexcellence.netPublications: 1(888) 823-7474 U CONTENTS Vol. IV,No. 1 Winter 2000

Colleges Experiment With CharterSchools NET NOTES 1 By Julianne Bassinger. The Chronicle of Higher Education.*October 29, 1999... 48 THE FRONT LINES 7 Urban Education: A Radical Plan SCHOOL CHOICE 51 By Hugh B. Price. Education Week.* December 8, 1999. 8 The Voucher Seduction By Peter Schrag. New Democrats' 10 Key Reforms for Revitalizing The American Prospect.* November23, 1999. 52 American Education By Al From. A Liberal Case for Vouchers Blueprint: Ideas for a New Century. * Fall 1999. 11 By Paul E. Peterson. The New Republic. * October 4,1999...... 57 Governing Well: Two Approaches From a National Commission For Honing the Enterprise to Support In Michigan, School Choice WeedsOut Costlier Students Better Schools By Tamar Lewin. By Donald McAdams & Adam Urbanski. The New York Times. October 26,1999. 59 Education Week. * November 24, 1999. 15 Whittling Away the Public SchoolMonopoly Lured Away and Forced Out, Principals Leave NYC By Thomas Toch. Schools at Record Pace The Wall Street Journal. November15, 1999. 60 By Lynette Holloway. The New York Times. September 20, 1999. .... 18 The Marriage of Standards-basedReform and the Education Marketplace Scientific Ignorance Wins a Small Victory By Chester E. Finn Jr. By Mark Winston 1999 National Education Summit 62 Vancouver Sun. December 9, 1999. ...20

STANDARDS, TESTS, AND 67 FEDERAL ISSUES 23 ACCOUNTABILITY The GOP Congress Fails Again Academic Standards Eased Asa Fear of Failure Spreads By Chester E. Finn Jr. By Jacques Steinberg. The Weekly Standard. November 29, 1999. 24 The New York Times. December3, 1999. 68

Department A Haven For Clinton Loyalists Soccer Moms vs. StandardizedTests By Judy Pasternak. By Charles Sykes. The Los Angeles Times. October 3, 1999. 26 The New York Times. December6, 1999. 70

If Schools Get to Hire New Teachers Ignoring State Curriculum CausedPoor Scores By Anjetta McQueen. By Anemona Hartocollis. Associated Press. November 12, 1999. 30 The New York Times. November9, 1999. 71

Colorado School Districts Promiseto Make the Grade CHARTER SCHOOLS 31 By June Kronholz. The Wall Street Journal. October29, 1999. 73 Charter Hypocrisy Editorial. A Babel of Standards: StudentsFace a Confusing Array The Wall Street Journal. October 20, 1999. 32 of Tests and Assessments By Michael Kirst. Dropping Out? National Crosstalk.* Fall 1999. 75 By Laura Lang. The Washington City Paper. October 22, 1999. 33 Discrepancies Mar New SchoolGauge By Brigid Schulte. The Fight Over What Kids Learn The Washington Post. October 24,1999. 77 By Anna Bray Duff. The Investor's Business Daily.* November 29, 1999. 41 Taking A Chance On Promotion By Debbi Wilgoren. Charter Experiment Goes Awry The Washington Post. September27, 1999. 79 By Dennis Willard and Doug Oplinger. Akron Beacon Journal. December 12, 1999. 43 When Teachers Cheat By E.J. Dionne. The Washington Post. December14, 1999. 81 Lessons: One Standard Doesn't Fit All HIGHER EDUCATION 111 By Richard Rothstein. The New York Times. December 8, 1999. 82 Moving On To College, Going Back to Basics By Steve Twomey. The Washington Post. September 23, 1999. 112 TEACHER QUALITY 83 Why One College Jettisoned All Its Remedial Courses Students Say 'Fake' "Teach" Was Grade A By Lois Cronholm. By Susan Edelman. The Chronicle of Higher Education. September 24, 1999.114 The New York Post. October 1, 1999. 84 The 20 Percent Solution Not Free to Teach For Free? By Linda Chavez. By Kathleen Burge. The Denver Post. December 1, 1999. 117 The Boston Globe. November 22, 1999. 85 The Scholarship Game Neediest Students Get Least Prepared Teachers By Debbie Goldberg. By Nanette Asimov. Washington Post Magazine. October 24, 1999. 118 San Francisco Chronicle. December 3, 1999. 87

Rewarding Teachers For Work Well Done GRAB BAG 121 Editorial. The Baltimore Sun. September 12, 1999. 88 Absence in the Classroom By Fred Bayles. Opposing Forces Tug on Teachers USA Today. November 15, 1999. 122 By Richard Lee Colvin. The Los Angeles Times. December 8, 1999. 89 A Taboo Erodes: The Truth about Blacks and Education By Abigail Themstrom. Caning the Teachers National Review.* December 20, 1999. 126 The Economist. * October 23, 1999. 90 Practicing the Piano the American Way Horrifies the CURRICULUM & CONTENT 91 British By Greg Steinmetz. Constructing Knowledge, Reconstructing Schooling The Wall Street Journal. November 12, 1999...... 128 By John Abbott and Terence Ryan. Educational Leadership. November 1999. .. 92 Online Service Broadens Access to AP Coursework By Jonathan Fox. Summerhill Revisited Education Daily. * November 30, 1999. .130 By Alan Riding. The New York Times. November 7, 1999. 95 The Parent Trap By Tom Loveless. The Schools They Deserve: Howard Gardner and the The Wilson Quarterly.* Autumn, 1999. 132 Remaking of Elite Education By Mary Eberstadt. Are School Consultants Worth It? Policy Review.* November 1999 98 By Tyce Palmaffy. Investor's Business Daily. * October 22, 1999. ... , .. 135 If It's Tuesday (In Chicago), It Must Be Polygons By Abraham McLaughlin. Christian Science Monitor. October 26, 1999...... 103 * Reprinted with permission; all rights reserved. Our sincere thanks to all the publishers, journals, and writers who graciously gave assent to Educators, Parents See Magnets' Flaws use their works in this publication. By David Nakamura. The Washington Post. November 23, 1999. 104

Students do Better in Small Schools, So Why Have We Been Making Schools Bigger? By Philip Langdon. The American Enterprise. * Jan./Feb. 2000. 106

BEST COPYAVAILABLE

iv Network Notes

Choice & Charters program and some comparisons with other Choice and Community: The Racial, Economic and Edgewood students. The focus is on demographics, Religious Context of Parental Choice in Cleveland opinions, background characteristics and initial test A new report prepared by Jay P. Greene for the scores. For the most part, participants resemble the Ohio-based Buckeye Institute disproves one of non-participants, although there are some non-trivial school choice opponents' favorite allegations: that differences. (Participants' families are less poor, for choice will lead to increased segregation. Greene's example.) This report provides no results but will study (prepared in conjunction with the federal nonetheless be interesting to those trying to stay courts' current examination of the program's abreast of important school choice research. constitutionality) shows that the Cleveland voucher The pair of reports is numbered PEPG99-03. program actually fosters racial integration as well as Contact the Program on Education Policy and economic and religious diversity within schools. (It Governance, Taubman 306, Kennedy School of should be noted, however, that the vast majority of Government, 79 John F. Kennedy St., Harvard voucher-accepting private schools in Cleveland are University, Cambridge, MA 02138. Phone 617 -495- religious.) 7976, fax 617-496-4428, or surf to On the whole, Greene points out, private schools www.data.fas.harvard.edu/pepg/ CEFjr participating in the choice program are better integrated racially than their public school The Impact of Parental Choice on Three Canadian counterparts. Whereas only 5.2% of public school Public Schools students in Cleveland attend schools that match the Daniel J. Brown of the University of British racial make-up of the metropolitan area, 19% of Columbia has prepared this study of choice in British participants in the voucher program attend such Columbia. It's based on a policy of providing schools. The majority of public school students in "alternative" schools within the public school system; Cleveland attend schools that are almost entirely some 10,000 B.C. youngsters are enrolled in such white or entirely black. Indeed, it seems difficult to schools. This study of three of these schools imagine a system more segregated than the one we examines their origins, missions, delivery methods, have now. student characteristics, and evidence as to their Choice and Community can be obtained online at effectiveness. One of the three schools studied www.buckeyeinstitute.org or by calling Buckeye at specializes in Japanese language and culture, plus 614-262-1593. KLA technology. The second emphasizes "direct, purposeful instruction and high expectations for An Evaluation of the Horizon Scholarship Program student content and performance." The third (and in the Edgewood Independent School District, San newest) of them is a parent-initiated "traditional" Antonio, Texas: The First Year school that stresses "academic excellence and a Paul Peterson, David Myers and William Howell, disciplined environment." Here are some of Brown's under the aegis of the Harvard Program on Education findings: Policy and Governance (PEPG), have published a *They have remarkably strong organizational report on the first-year (1998-99) evaluation of the integrity. large, privately-funded voucher program in Edge- * Student achievement is at a high level, particularly wood, Texas. It's in two short volumes, the second for the traditional schools, relative to others in their being a data appendix prepared by Mathematica districts. Policy Research. Because the Edgewood program * Levels of student and parent satisfaction are strong. offered to aid any or all low-income youngsters in the * The schools benefit from a high degree of parent school district, it did not practice any kind of random involvement. selection. Hence the evaluation design relies on * They offer equal educational opportunities. comparisons with children in similar school districts Brown concludes that "parental choice makes an (and with the districts themselves, as "district effects" importance difference in the lives of children, parents are a major interest of this, large intervention project). and educators." Maybe you knew this. But here's These two initial volumes provide baseline data about evidence from our great Northern neighbor, albeit the Edgewood youngsters who are participating in the evidence gathered within the public school system.

7 1 For your own copy of this 130-page study, contact Greg Garn, we learn, for example, that charter the Society for the Advancement of Excellence in schools do not necessarily produce innovative Education, 201-1451-B Ellis Street, Kelowna, BC curricula. On the other hand, Arizona Superintendent MY Y 2A3. Phone 250-717-1163, fax 250-717-1134, of Schools Lisa Graham Keegan writes that charters e-mail [email protected], or surf to www.saee.bc.ca. have wrought nothing less than a revolution in NB: The Society has published or republished several Arizona education, broadening options for parents other recent studies on education that you may obtain and forcing regular public schools into earnest from their website or by e-mail from Helen Raham at reform. the address given above. CEFjr School Choice in the Real World will interest anyone wanting to know more about charter schools. Charter Schools in Action: Renewing Public It is published by the Westview Press (www. Education westviewpress.coni), 5500 Central Avenue, Boulder, Back when yours truly and his colleagues were CO 80301 and costs $65. You can contact them by associated with the Hudson Institute, you may recall phone at 800-386-5656 or by fax at 303-449-3356. that we undertook a multi-year study of the then- JRP revolutionary charter school phenomenon. Underwritten by the Pew Charitable Trusts, and Competition in Education: A 1999 Update of School staffed by. (among others) Bruno Manno, Louann Choice in Massachusetts Bierlein and Gregg Vanourek, we produced a whole Since the introduction of charter schools in 1993, series of studies and reports. Shortly after you read and contrary to everything we thought we knew this, the very last of these will emerge in the form of about its political leanings, Massachusetts has an honest-to-God book, published by the Princeton become something of a hotbed of school choice University Press, co-authored by Bruno, Gregg and activity. By 1998-99, charter schools served 9,930 myself We respectfully submit that, at least for a students in 34 schools. (Well, OK, not exactly a while, this will be one of the defining works on hotbed, in a state with nearly a million kids in school, charter schools. It explores many aspects of them, but certainly an active site.) including their relationship to civil society, the Competition in Education, issued by the excellent problems they face, the challenges that will shape Boston-based think tank, the Pioneer Institute, their future, and what an all-charter community focuses on the effects of this charter school would look like. (This last is especially germane to proliferation on Massachusetts's public schools. those who read the recent school-governance report Author Susan Aud concedes that it is still too early to of the Education Commission of the States and the witness wide-scale reform in Massachusetts public excellent essay by Hugh Price of the National Urban schools as a result of charter schools, but predicts that League.) We hope you might want to see for charter schools will likely have this effect in districts yourself Its title is as given above. Its ISBN number where they are prominent. She bases this prediction is 0-691-00480-3. The price will be $27.95. You can on an earlier study of the effects of Massachusetts's check with your local bookstore or contact the open enrollment policy, also conducted by the Princeton University Press at 41 William Street, Pioneer Institute, that found that the more money a Princeton, New Jersey, 08540 USA. The website is district loses to other schools through choice http://pup. princeton.edu/ CEFjr programs, the more likely it is to institute reforms, combined with the fact that charter schools are taking School Choice in the Real World: Lessons from a much greater percentage of funds from many Arizona Charter Schools districts than open-enrollment policies. The charter school explosion in the United States To get a copy of Competition in Education, call is still new and not well. understood. Though there the Pioneer Institute at 617-723-2277 or visit them at have been a number of accounts of successes or www.pioneerinstitute.org. Competition in Education failures of individual charter schools, on the macro- is White Paper No. 6, released in September 1999. level there is as yet little to be gleaned. School JRP Choice in the Real World thus helps fill an important void. Financing Charter School Facilities in

It's a collection of essays about the effects of Pennsylvania . school choice via charter schools on students and A lot of people are interested in how to ease the schools alike, using the Arizona charter experience as facilities crunch that many charter schools a case study. The book's authors provide a mix of experience, due to the fact that those who grant their vantage points and opinions. From Robert Stout and charters rarely provide them with buildings in which 8

2 to operate their schools (and, under most state charter who believe that teacher standards and tests are not laws, their budgets consist only of operating funds, the best tools for distinguishing good teachers from not capital funds). With help from the Annie E. bad will find little to sink their teeth into here. Casey Foundation, the Charter Friends National Teacher Preparation Assessment: The Hows and Network has prepared a short "policy brief' aimed at Whys of New Standards can be ordered from National the Pennsylvania situation. Written by Amy Berk Evaluation Systems, Inc. by calling 413-256-0444 or Anderson and Bryan C. Hassel, this nine-page faxing 413-256-1153. Single copies are free. MK document sketches what several other states have done and outlines several approaches for Making Standards Matter 1999 Pennsylvania's consideration, mostly involving tax- The American Federation of Teachers is back exempt bonds and loosening the strings on what with its annual report card on state academic charters can do with their operating budgets. standards and accountability. If this sounds familiar, Interested readers will also want to have a look at it's because the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation Paying for the Charter Schoolhouse, another report, The State of State Standards 2000 (included publication of the National Network. That with this issue of (SR)2), does much the same thing. organization can be found on-line at www. We, of course, believe that we do it better. charterfriends.org and phoned at 651-649-5479. Mr. The major finding of the AFT report is that state Hassel can be found at 704-370-0357 and standards are improvingby their reckoning, 22 [email protected]. Ms. Anderson can states now have decent standardsand that more be reached at 303-494-3720 and [email protected]. states are making them matter. Our report differs in Bruno Manno of the Annie E. Casey Foundation is two important ways. First, our criteria are more also glad to help: 410-223-2983 and comprehensive and demanding. While the AFT BrunoM@aecforg. CEFjr limits their judgments to whether or not standards are clear and specific (and is agnostic regarding content), we also want to know whether the states demand the Standards & Tests right body of challenging knowledge and skills. Second, while the AFT focuses on pupil Teacher Preparation Assessment: The Hows and accountability (ending social promotion, exit exams, Whys of New Standards etc.), we are more interested in adult accountability Published by National Evaluation Systems, Inc., identifying low-performing schools, reconstituting the nation's largest creator of state-specific teacher failing schools if necessary, etc. (Funny that the tests (as opposed to the uniform, ETS-produced teachers' union is less interested in that approach!) Praxis series), this 280-page book is a compilation of To get a full picture of the standards movement, papers presented at the group's October 1998 take a look at both our report and the AFT report. conference on teacher certification testing. This Get Making Standards Matter 1999 off the web at event focused on linking certification tests to new www.aft.org/edissues/standards99/index.htm. (In a teacher standards. sign of this cyber-age, hard copies are not available.) The thirteen chapters that form the meat of this MJP book are all accounts of individual states' efforts to tackle the teacher quality problem. While some useful initiatives are describedCalifornia's efforts The Public View to ensure that teaching candidates are exposed to research-based reading instruction methods, for Doing Comparatively Well: Why the Public Loves instancemost of the reforms being implemented Higher Education and Criticizes K-12 sound like more of the same old stuff. The new Why does the public love higher education and standards and assessments may be better than the old criticize primary and secondary? That's the subtitle ones but there have been no real efforts to determine of this slim report by John Immerwahr of Public exactly how (and if) they are linked to effective Agenda. Weaving together the findings of numerous teaching, defined as producing more student learning. studies by Public Agenda and others, it presents a The overview and policy pieces included in this wealth of information on the differing public volume call attention to the frequent mismatch perceptions of K-12 and higher ed. between what teacher training institutions do and That the public does view K-12 and higher ed what actual K-12 schools need, yet most of the very differently is clear: according to Immerwahr, authors seem convinced that the solution lies in higher ed is "teflon-coated" (immune to criticism), creating better standards and assessments. Those while K-12 is "velcro": criticisms thrown at it tend to

9 stick. People see American higher education as a world-class product while giving public K-12 schools Community Resources low marks for quality. When people say their local schools are doing well, they usually mean compared Catalyst: for Cleveland Schools to schools in other areas, not compared to how they During the heyday of site-based school reform in should be doing. The public tends to assign Chicago, a little magazine named Catalyst functioned responsibility to the schools for the shortcomings of as the indispensable chronicler. (Though we haven't their students, while college students' failings are seen it lately, we hear it's still a valuable resource.) seen as their own responsibility. Now, with the help of several foundations, Catalyst While the report doesn't really answer the key has come to Cleveland, to be published bi-monthly question posed in the subtitle, the finding that most and sent to local education movers and shakers. It is people think they know a lot about the schools in not meant to track Cleveland's much-reported their communities yet claim to know little about what voucher program but, rather, developments in and goes on in institutions of higher education might have around the Cleveland Municipal School District, something to do with it. which is now accountable to Mayor Michael White. For a copy of Doing Comparatively Well, contact How about a Catalyst in your community? the Institute for Educational Leadership at 202 -822- Meanwhile, if you'd like to see the Cleveland version, 8405 (phone), 202-872-4050 (fax), or [email protected], contact Urban School News, 1621 Euclid Ave., Suite though at $15 for an 18-page report, you might think 1530, Cleveland, OH 44115. Phone 216-623-6320, twice about ordering one. MK fax 216-623-6651, surf to www.catalyst- cleveland.org or e-mail editorial@catalyst- On Thin Ice: How Advocates and Opponents Could cleveland.org. CEFjr Misread the Public's Views on Vouchers and Charter Schools ParenTechParenting in a Digital Age Recently issued by the respected research Ameritech and the North Central Regional organization, Public Agenda, On Thin Ice Educational Laboratory have developed a provides an in-depth study of public awareness and comprehensive package to help parents help their opinion on issues of school choice. Its chief finding children learn the fundamentals of technology. is that Americans just don't know very much about ParenTechParenting in a Digital Age comes these things. Sixty-three percent of those surveyed complete with an interactive CD-ROM and three 16- say they know "very little" or "nothing" about page parent guides: "When I Grow Up" (focusing on vouchers and a whopping 81% say that about charter technology and careers); "Does it Compute?" schools. Even in Cleveland and Milwaukee, sites of (focusing on technology and education); and "Fast the nation's most prominent school choice programs, Forward to the Future" (focusing on technology and three-fifths of parents say they know little or nothing society). These guides will assist parents with a about these programs. And about half of parents shaky grasp on technology, by explaining such items living in areas rich in charter schools say they know as bits, bytes, microchips, and bandwidth, but they little or nothing about them. are mainly geared towards making technology Some other findings offer more solace to choice familiar and accessible to children, particularly proponents. Once the idea is explained to them, 57% middle-schoolers. The guides suggest a variety of of the general public and 68% of parents favor the resources for students and plenty of ideas for how idea of providing a voucher to families to fund all or parents and their children can approach the vast part of tuition at a private or parochial school. world of technology together. Seventy-nine percent of the public strongly agrees "ParenTech" can be investigated at www. with the statement that "parents should have the right parentech.org. Orders for the kit can be placed by to choose the school they want their child to attend." calling 1-877-298-7273. ParenTech Kits are available On Thin Ice is a must for anyone interested in the free to families, schools and libraries in Illinois, condition of the school choice movement in America Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin, but the todayand in the very considerable obstacles three parent guides are available to everyone at no confronting those who hope to build public charge on the internet site. KLA awareness and enthusiasm. You can get a copy from Public Agenda for $10 by calling 212-686-6610 or Transforming Education Policy: Assessing 10 Years visiting their website (www.publicagenda.org). of Progress in the States JRP In June, the Business Roundtable issued a pair of somewhat self-congratulatory reports on its long- 10 lived "education initiative." This one provides mainly and Dorothy Shipps describe how market principles a state-by-state account of progress on education and autonomy can combine to produce high-quality reform over the past ten years, as seen through the community schools (which they define as schools eyes of the B.R.T.'s state-specific projects. (The that serve families who are like-minded with regard companion report, No Turning Back, appraises the to educational philosophy or who simply live in the B.R.T.'s overall work in this area, and can be found same neighborhood) in large urban areas. on the organization's website.) In addition to one The authors outline four main characteristics of page per state summarizing what's happened, there's a decentralized, community-linked school systems: list of "10 lessons learned" (most of them pretty school-level autonomy and leadership; new obvious), several examples of "effective business responsibilities for the central office; external support leadership," and a one-page excerpt from a paper by for schools; and accountability. They then illustrate Dick Elmore about "where reform stands." how providing professional development, Contact Susan Traiman, Director, Education establishing site-level governance, focusing on Initiative, The Business Roundtable, 1615 L Street achievable outcomes, and stimulating market-style NW, Suite 1100, Washington DC 20036-5610, phone competition, among other changes, have led to higher 202-872-1260, fax 202-466-3509 or surf to quality schools in six large cities across the country. www.brtable.org. CEFjr They also describe some of the obstacles each community faced and the strategies used to overcome those obstacles. Teachers and Teaching While none of the cities in the studyincluding Los Angeles, Chicago, and Seattleachieved A Matter of Quality: A Strategy for Assuring the "dramatic, large-scale reform," the authors conclude High Caliber of America's Teachers that the changes made were worthwhile, as school- Lowell Milken, chairman and president of the level responsibility led to improved student Milken Family Foundation, has developed a brave achievement. and pathbreaking plan for overhauling U.S. teacher If you would like a copy of this report or the preparation and certification that he calls the paper on which it was based Decentralization in "Teacher Advancement Program." It has five Practice: Toward a System of Schools, contact the essential elements: (1) Multiple career paths for Annie E. Casey Foundation at 701 St. Paul St., teachers; (2) Broad ranges of market-driven Baltimore, MD 21202, or call 410-223-2890. You compensation for teachers; (3) Multiple entry paths, may also want to check out the Foundation's website thus broadening and deepening the teacher pool; (4) at www.aecf.org, or contact them by fax at 410 -547- Performance-based accountability; and (5) Serious 6624. LEF and sustained professional development. In most of its particulars, the Teacher Advancement Program parallels the analysis and recommendations of this Catholic Education Foundation as set forth in The Teachers We Need and How to Get More of Them and Better Teachers, CHS 2000: A First Look Better Schools. (Both have previously been sent to The first report of a national survey of Catholic (SR)2 readers and remain available on our website.) high schools, CHS 2000 provides a valuable look into But even if it weren't similar, the Milken plan the makeup of such schools. It paints a picture of deserves attention and plaudits. institutions that are increasingly ethnically diverse It's contained within a very useful 77-page report and that depend more heavily than ever on lay people that you can obtain by contacting the Milken Family as teachers and administrators. In 1983, for example, Foundation, 1250 Fourth Street, Santa Monica, CA 40% of chief administrators of Catholic high schools 90401; phone 310-998-2800; fax 310-998-2838. were Catholic sisters; fourteen years later, just 23% Website: www.mff.org. CEFjr were. Yet the schools are clinging to their Catholic heritage. 81% of Catholic high school students are themselves Catholic, and 89% of the schools are Urban Education governed by Catholic religious institutions. CHS 2000 is introduced by the eminent Catholic Improving Community-School Connections: school guru, Andrew Greeley, and concludes with Moving Toward a System of Community Schools commentaries by leading Catholic church figures and In this new report by the Annie E. Casey by historian Diane Ravitch. Foundation, co-authors Anthony S. Bryk, Paul Hill, 11

5 Get a copy for $20 by emailing the National Catholic Education Association at [email protected], by calling 202-337-6232, or by writing to 1077 30th Street, NW, Suite 100, Washington, DC 20007. (ISBN 1-55833-220-0) JRP

Book Review

Educrisis! What To Do When Public Schools Fail In writing Educrisis!, Texas, business attorney James T. Evans set out to diagnose the ills of the American education system and to suggest remedies for them. He ranges widely, from the legacy of Al Shanker to the need for better discipline in schools to the pros and (mainly) cons of the Clinton administration education program. The book shines when it pauses in the intersection between politics and education. It's not so strong on issues of teaching and learning. And it's generally stronger on diagnosis than prescription. Evans's main cure for what ails K- 12 education in the U.S.a market-driven voucher systemoccupies just six pages (out of 246) and most of that is a recitation of the history of the voucher movement. Educrisis! was published by the West Eagle Publishing Company, 2103 Commonwealth, Houston, TX 77006. It retails for $16.95 and can be ordered from the publisher's website, http://www.westeagle.net, or by calling 800 -991- 7191. The ISBN number is 0-9640388-1-1. JRP

Network Notes in this issue were written by Chester E. Finn, Jr., Michael J. Petrilli, Marci Kanstoroom, Kelly Amis, Leo Fuchs and John R. Phillips.

6 (S R)2 Selected Readings on School Reform Front Lines

When the presidents of the National Urban League and the Democratic Leadership Council tout school choice (well, some forms of it), merit-based teacher incentives without tenure, and alternative certification, it deserves to make the front lines. In "Urban Education: A Radical Plan," published in Education Week, the Urban League's Hugh Price presents a bold four-point strategy for improving urban schools. He calls for strong state leadership, "charterization" of all urban schools, large salary increases for teachers, and a major shift in the roles of superintendents and school boards.

Al From, president of the Democratic Leadership Council, chimes in with the "New Democrats' 10 Key Reforms for Revitalizing American Education." The "New Democrats" advocate alternative certification, merit-based pay, and increased (public school) choice for parents.

Like From and Price, the Education Commission of the States senses that change is in the air. The question is: What kind of change? It seems they can't quite agree among themselves. The recent ECS report, Governing America's Schools: Changing the Rules, offers not one but two bold and very different approaches to school governance. You can get the report on the web at www.ecs.org, by contacting the ECS Distribution Center, 707 17th St., Suite 2700, Denver, CO 80202-3427; or by calling 303-299-3692. To illustrate the debate that occurred within the ECS panel that gave birth to this report, we have included two pieces that ran side by side in Education Week by Donald R. McAdams and Adam Urbanski, members of the Commission who disagree on which approach is best.

Speaking of governance, who is going to lead our schools if the good principals disappear? In "Lured Away and Forced Out, Principals Leave New York City Schools at Record Pace," Lynette Holloway of the New York Times describes a worrisome situation: "New York City," she writes, "is grappling with what experts say is the largest number of leaderless schools in its history."

Our neighbors to the north offer a scathing critique of Kansas's no-confidence vote on evolution in "Scientific Ignorance Wins a Small Victory," by Mark Winston, published by the Vancouver Sun. Watch our future mailings for a full report by Dr. Lawrence Lerner on how the states handle evolution. It seems that Kansas is not alone.

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713 Education Week, December 8, 1999

that they educate the vast majority of youngsters Urban Education: A Radical Plan remotely up to their potential. For the sake of public education and, above all, for the sake of the children, what's urgently needed is truly radical reform that By Hugh B. Price structures public education so that its raison d'être is student success. The saga of public education played out on both sides of the Hudson River this fall. At the IBM Conference According to the longtime urban educator and leader Center in Palisades, N.Y., the nation's self-proclaimed Anthony J. Alvarado, the sole focus of the educational education governors and corporate leaders convened enterprise should be student learning. Everything else, totakestockoftheeducationaccountability he argues, is "details." "A typical educational system movement and map plans for improving the caliber of is so top-heavy with details," says Mr. Alvarado, "that public schools. learning can suffocate under the tonnage." I advocate a four-point plan for transforming all urban schools Directly across the river, the city of Yonkers, N.Y., into high-performing schools: was roiled by a rancorous school strike. At issue was aninstructionallysoundproposalbythenew (1) Assert no-nonsense state leadership superintendent to devote more classroom time per day and responsibility. to fewer core subjects. The local teachers', union cried foul, the school board called their bluff, and the union Conventional wisdom holds that public education is a walkout was on. So the grown-ups in charge of the local responsibility. But the reality is that the quality school district made a sorry mess of a solid idea that of school graduates is a compelling societal concern principals and teachers probably could have sorted out that justifies aggressive leadership by states and by the rather easily in their respective schools. federal government.

These days, it seems that tough love is about the only In the agricultural era, youngsters tended to live where remedy for low achievement that impatient politicians they were reared. But contemporary children often and anxious school administrators can come up with. grow up in one town, only to live and work elsewhere. End socialpromotion,theyproclaim.Send the Employers and society at large have the overriding laggards to summer school and hold them back if they stake in the caliber of education delivered by every still cannot cut it academically. school. America's very civility and competitiveness depend on it. These tough-love measures are too timid structurally and off target pedagogically. Ending social promotion In recent years, states have stepped up to the plate to alone won't educate all youngsters to their fullest impose loftier standards and high-stakes tests. Having potential. America's most vulnerable childrenin set thebar,states now bear the primary moral, low-income urban and rural communitieswill bear financial, and legal responsibility for seeing to it that thebruntof thiseducationallybankrupt policy all children have a fair chance to clear it. No longer because, as things stand now, they'll be left behind in should poor and minority children be held hostage to droves. communities with low tax bases, weak commitments to quality education, and skinflint taxpayers who Successful schools produce successful pupils. Not a oppose providing adequate support for local schools. smattering of superstars per building, mind you, but No, longer 'should children be crippled by school the bulk of the student body. After a generation of districts saddled with unqualified teachers, insufficient research and experimentation, examples abound of books, and antiquated schools. Having imposed high urban and rural schools that serve low-income and standards on all children, the states must step in and minority pupils quite admirably, with some even guarantee high-quality education for every child. outperforming their more affluent suburban counterparts. (2) "Charterize" all urban schools. Urban schools should be liberated from the stifling Yet try as big-city school boards and administrators district bureaucracy and given the latitude to operate might, few if any urban districts can honestly claim the way independent secular schools do. Under the 8 scenario I propose, each school would be overseen by a governing board comprising, for example, local Once each school's allocation was set, the actual business and communityleaders,educators,and utilization would be left entirely to the board and alumni who view student success as the school's professional staff of each school. In other words, paramount mission. The boardsshouldbeself- schools should be accountable for how many students perpetuating, so that they are spared the potential they graduated, not for how many gallons of paint they turmoil and unpredictability of elections. purchased. Eachschool would berunby aprincipal,or headmaster, hired by the board. The principal would (3) Professionalize the teaching serve at the pleasure of the board, subject to due profession. process. The principal in turn would assemble the Giventheprojectedshortageof principalsand faculty, whose members would serve at the pleasure of teachers, plus the need to increase teacher quality in the principal and board, subject again to due process. urban and rural schools serving low-income children, the compensation offered educators must be improved The district superintendent would grant each school a dramatically in order to create a strong demand for revocable contractor charterto operate for 10 to these jobs. 15 years. The school would be accountable for seeing that, say, 75 percent of its students meet the state's This can be done by increasing salaries to levels real-world proficiency standards. If the school met this comparable with other professions and by offering standard, it would retain its charter, which could be attractiveinducementslikegenerousstudent-loan renewed. If the pass rate fell below this threshold, the write-offs for graduates who enter the profession. Why school would be placed on a watch list and required to not offer starting teachers with master's degrees the come up with an improvement plan. same initial salaries as young M.B.A.s, attorneys, and engineers? Since most urban and rural districts are If, after a reasonable period, the school failed to boost strapped financially, the federal and state governments its performance, then the charter could be revoked should take theleadinfinancing the economic without waiting for the term to expire. This means that incentives needed to attract stronger educators to these the governing board and faculty responsiblefor districts. operating the educational enterprise in that building could be dismissed and replaced with a new team. If These special incentives should only be available to needbe,thefacilityitself couldbeshuttered educators with master's degrees who are certified by temporarily or even permanently. the state and who sign up to teach for at least five to 10 years in low-income communities. If they left the Given the public nature of the school, pupils should be profession early, the loan relief would cease. chosen via' a mix of self-selection and lottery. This The critically important quid pro quo for paying would prevent the creation of what are perceived as educators like real professionals is that they in turn "loser" schools that are filled with students who must relinquish those contract-based protections that weren't chosen by some other school. other professionals do not enjoy. I speak of tenure, The state would allocate an annual amount to each 'seniority, overtime, guaranteed class size, length of school based on its enrollment. The allocation formula class periods, and other provisions that severely should be sufficiently generous to guarantee small impede the ability of principals to run their schools in classes, modem facilities and equipment, sufficient the best interests of children. supplies,andabundanthigh-qualityprofessional development. Unions should be allowed to bargain districtwide, indeed statewide, over salaries and fringe benefits. The state education agency could negotiate purchase But, subject to appropriate oversight by their boards, agreements with vendors of textbooks, food, and principals should make all personnel decisions, such supplies, sothatindividual schoolsget,an as whom to hire and for how long, as well as the advantageous price. The stateswould also assume 'standards for measuring staff performance and the responsibility for ensuring that individual gchOols consequences if staff members fall short. wereproperly.sizedandfurnished,andfor guaranteeingthattherewasno'disparityin Itisn'trealisticpolitically to expect districtsto resources, teacher quality, or physical plantbetween redefine the scope of union agreements this radically. urban, suburban, and rural communities. So it's up to governors and state legislators who

9 proudly claim to be the engines of education reform to This school reform agenda is premised on what we muster thepoliticalcourage to override existing know can workindividual public schools that are agreements and grant individual school boards and given the wherewithal and the room to succeed. It principals the discretion they need to run their schools parts company with the failed efforts to reform urban in the best interests of the children. school systems.

(4) The 21st-century superintendent When the clock strikes midnight this New Year's Eve, accreditation, not operation. thepolicymakers,administrators,educators,and Localschoolboardsandcentraladministrators unions that share responsibility for public schools had represent a major source of the "tonnage" that cripples betterleaveallthoseexcusesandallthat the schools. Rare is the boardelected or appointed bureaucratic tonnagein the litter baskets along with that would be considered an asset to the educational the noisemakers. process from the perspective of poor and minority children. Superintendents come and go so quickly that It will be a new millennium for humankind. If urban they seldom leave alasting mark, much lessa public education is to survive in the 21st century, it favorable one. Just below the surface, the central had better be a new day for urban children. school bureaucracies ruleand stultify.

So what is the solution? The oversight of public schools needs to be professionalized and depoliticized. To cite Anthony Alvarado again,his experience indicates, he says, that urban youngsters can learn at high levels. But, as he cautions,"it takes time, continuity, concentration of focus."

Revolving-door superintendents, ongoing rhetorical battles between mayors and superintendents, mayoral use of fiscal support to hold school boards hostage allcontributechaosandconfusion,insteadof continuity andconcentration,totheeducational enterprise. Children in low-performing schools are the primary victims.

The role of thelocalsuperintendent should be converted from operations to accreditation. In'-other words, the superintendent should be responsible for awardingandrevokingschool charters and reporting to the public on whether the individual schools meet their targets.

If a school does, the superintendent can extend its charter. If it falls short, the superintendent can monitor the school's revitalization plan, revoke the charter if need be, and award it to a new educational team.

Given the state's dominant role in ensuring education quality, local superintendents should be appointed by and ultimately accountable to the state education agency. The superintendent in turn can be assisted by a local board of advisers, chosen by the superintendent and drawn from such sectors as parents, business, organizedlabor,the religious community, higher education, and community organizations. 16 10 Blueprint: Ideas fora New Century, Autumn 1999 original published by DLC New Democrats' 10 key reforms for revitalizing American education

The challenge for AsTHE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION RESHAPED AMERICAN SOCIETY AT THE all of our schools is beginning of this century, the philosopher John Dewey wrote: "Our social life to give students has undergone a thorough and radical change. If our education is to have any meaning for life, it must pass through an equally complete transformation." Out the skills they need of that impetus, the 20th century public school system was born. to succeed in the Today, at century's end, new forces are again altering American life. Skills New Economy and innovation drive growth and prosperity in the New Economy of the and as American Information Age. Changes in our social structure require a new balance citizens. between work and family. Global economic competition means that American schools must be transformed again. But before any profound change can occur, we first need an honest assessment of the status quo. Today, America is a tale of two public school systems: one that works reasonably well, although it could certainly be better, and one that is by almost any standard a disaster. The one that's enjoying reasonable success is found in affluent and suburban communities, where most students stay in school and continue their education after high school. Despite great pockets of mediocrity, test scores in these schools often compare favorably with our global competitors, and parents, for the most part, are satisfied. The school system that is failing is found in poor communities. Dropout rates are high, and even the students who graduate often lack the skills to get jobs. Test scores are abysmal worse than almost any other developed country. Satisfied parents are almost non-existent. The challenge for both systems is the same: to give students the skills they need to succeed in the New Economy and to fully participate in American life as citizens. But they are very different in degree. The challenge for urban school systems is urgent: they need a complete overhaul. The dramatic turn-around of the Chicago public schools is encouraging, but unfortunately, an anomaly. Millions of youngsters in too many big cities are being denied the quality education they need for an equal opportunity to climb the economic ladder. Suburban school systems must also improve to meet the challenges of the New Economy. But their challenge is to root out mediocrity where it exists. And while parents, not governments or schools, bear the responsibility for by Al From raising children, schools can no longer be norm-free zones. Schools are where children become young adults and learn the habits of American citizens. The Al From is the president curriculum, and the learning environment, must reflect and reinforce the values of the Democratic that bind us as Americans. Schools must become repositories not only of knowledge, Leadership Council and bui of standards; not only of learning, but of values. They should at once encourage Publisher of Blueprint. individual achievement, demand discipline, and reinforce community.

1 7 Above all, they should be safe. The tools for lifting the performance of both mediocre and abysmal schools are the same: set high standards, offer parents and students public school choice with real competition among schools, and demand real accountability. Despite the clear need for change and many commendable efforts at reform, the bottom line is that the kind of systemic overhaul necessary to offer all students a high quality public education is not taking place. That's why the time has come for a whole new look at public education not just inching ahead with incremental reforms, but a total transformation of how we educate our children. In this issue of Blueprint, we present some of the most innovative thinking on school reform today. Our writers discuss a broad full range of challenges to our educational system, and present compelling possible solutions. To spark the discussion, Blueprint also offers its own list of 10 key ideas for retooling public education for the Information Age. Taken together, these reforms would transform the school system from one designed to serve the adults who run them, not the children who depend on them. PROVIDE CHOICE WITH CHOICES. Our public education system is still too monopolistic. In too many cases, it offers a "one-size-fits-hardly-anyone" model that strangles excellence and innovation. We must offer parents a plethora of choices about what types of public schools their children may attend. Giving them the freedom to make those choices unleashes the power of market competition where it is needed most. For nearly two decades, blue ribbon commissions have produced volume after volume of recommendations on how to improve public schools. However, the guardians of the status quo members of the education establishment have had little incentive to change. We need a public school system where the choice for failing schools is simple: Change or perish. After ten years and thousands of successful models, it is time to declare that charter schools work. These flexibly organized schools which receive relief from red tape in exchange for results have become oases of innovation in a larger desert of monopolistic and cookie-cutter schools. The time has come to bring life to the rest of the desert by introducing the same forces of choice and competition to every public school in America. We should rid ourselves of the rigid notion that public schools are defined by who owns and operates them. In the 21st century, a public school should be any school that is of the people (accountable to public authorities for its results), by the people (paid for by the public), and for the people (open to the public and geared toward public purposes). The school system of the future should be a network of accountable schools of all shapes, sizes, and styles with their own decision-making authority each of which competes against the others for its students.

MAKE EVERY SCHOOL A HIGH-PERFORMANCE SCHOOL. Every school should be forced to sign a performance contract that sets clear goals for student achievement. Using all the carrots and sticks we have at our disposal, schools should be impelled to reach these goals. Those that fail would have their licenses revoked and be shut down. In diverse neighborhoods all over America there are examples of schools that work and provide their students with a real education. We should not tolerate anything less.

INSTITUTE NATIONAL STANDARDS A.1\111) TESTING. If parents are to wisely choose schools for their children, and if schools are to bring real results in the classroom, we need a clear sense of where we are and where we are headed. To understand our starting point in this journey, we must have a comprehensive and 3cohesive national model for standards and testing. Yet the notion of "national testing" strikes fear and loathing in many political hearts. Too many Republicans are scared off by the word "national;" too many Democrats are worried by the word "testing." Yet national standards and testing do not necessarily mean prescriptions imposed from on-high by the federal government. Instead, America's governors could agree on core standards to be embedded in assessments across state lines. To push them in this direction, the federal government should tie itseducation dollars to the states' imposing core standards and testing.

12 18 PUSH SCHOOLS TOWARD A 12/12 SCHEDULE. In an Information Age with 24/7 cash flows and business cycles, our antiquated public school calendar is still based on the pace and seasons of farm life. Schools should examine ways to operate year round, giving children more instruction time and minimizing the learning they lose over the long summer vacation when working parents must scramble for day care. In addition, public schools should no longer observe "school day" hours. Instead, their doors should be open longer. These extra hours should be used to give children more time to learn and to keep them off the streets while their parents are at work. Schools should also be centers for lifelong learning and community activities. Private and nonprofit operators, using school facilities, can help fill this void. Moving from a nine-month calendar and a seven-hour day toward a 12-month/12-hours-a-day schedule is the best way to advance these goals.

INSTITUTE UNIVERSAL ACCESS TO PRESCHOOL FOR ALL CHILDREN. Even as we keep students in school for more of the day and the year, we should expand the amount of time they spend learning. As the Industrial Age 5picked up steam, it became apparent that a high school education was needed for success. In the Information Age, no one disputes the need for post-secondary learning. We must also recognize the importance of pre-kindergarten instruction. Numerous studies have shown that the early years of a child's development play a disproportionate role in shaping its future cognitive abilities. At a time when parents are trying harder than ever to juggle work and family, an investment in universal pre-kindergarten is both timely and urgent.

PAY TEACHERS MORE, BASED ON THE IMPROVEMENT THEY BRING TO THEIR STUDENTS AND END TEACHER TENURE AS WE KNOW IT. At the core of education is the relationship between teacher and student. Both intuition and research show that good teachers are critical. However, 6because of low pay and tough working conditions, too few of our brightest young people become teachers. Those talented students who do choose teaching rarely teach in the worst schools the ones most in need of creativity, energy, and idealism. Worse, teachers unlike doctors, lawyers, and other professionals are not usually compensated on the basis of performance. This should change. Teachers who add value to the classroom by bringing measurable improvements to their students over the course of the school year should receive bonuses com- mensurate with the increase in their students' achievements. Teachers who perform best should be rewarded most. A performance-reward pay scale would add a material incentive to a teacher's professional and personal dedication to do well by their students. It would also be society's concrete statement of the value of the teacher's work. Special rewards should be offered to teachers who work in the most troubled schools those where students have the greatest possibility to improve. When President Clinton, as a candidate in 1992, called for an end to "welfare as we know it," it struck a chord with the American people because welfare represented a system at odds with the basic American values of work, family, and personal responsibility. Today, the practice of teacher tenure which gives educators a virtual lock on their jobs regardless of how they perform offends those same values. While we should pay good teachers more, we shouldn't tolerate incompetent teachers at all. America's children deserve at least that. Teachers like every other employee in the country should have protection from being fired capriciously or arbitrarily, but they should not be kept in the classroom if they are not up to the job.

LET THE BEST AND BRIGHTEST TEACH. 'In today's public school system, Bill Gates teach.a class in Computer science, Maya Angelou couldn't teach an English course, and Stephen HaWking couldn't teach students physics. That's because education schools still have a stranglehold on who is allowed to enter the classroom. We should certify teachers based on their abilities and knowledge, not on the basis of a degree from an education school.

13 s_ CREATE A NATIONAL TEACHER CORPS. To tap into the determination and energy of young people who want to serve their country as teachers in the toughest schools, we should create a National Teacher Corps where future teachers are sent 8to the neediest schools in exchange for help in paying for college.

ENSURE THAT CHARACTER EDUCATION IS PART OF THE CORE CURRICULUM. Schools must do more than teach the basic three R's; they must also teach young people about responsibility, reliability, and respect. 9Children are not born fully formed, but need to be taught the difference between right and wrong. Parents have the primary obligation in this regard, yet schools must play their part in forming the character of young Americans.

GIVE NON-COLLEGE BOUND HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES A SKILL DEVELOPMENT OPTION. The New Economy places a high premium on a college education. As a result, the income gap between college graduates and high school graduates is widening. To address this gap, we need new post-high-school institutions that do not sharply separate "training" and "education" as colleges and that employers view as imparting skills needed for workplace performance at levels as high or higher than four-year colleges. The nation's two-year community colleges are ideally suited to the task. Horace Mann, the father of America's public schools, called education "the balance wheel of social machinery." Today, for many students that balance is seriously off-kilter. By failing to institute substantial change to our public schools, we doom millions to a bleak future and hinder millions more from reaching their dreams. For Democrats and for all Americans the drive to truly improve public education is a test of whether all children are to be afforded the same shot at success that is given to our most privileged children. The future of America will be determined by how well we meet that test.

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20 14 Education Week, November 24, 1999 GoverningWell

Two Approaches Froma National Commission For Honing the EnterpriseTo Support Better Schools

By Donald R. McAdams By Adam Urbanskl

Govemance matters. Of course it does. t will take a lot to make public schools Effective public school governance more effective for all students: greater does not guarantee high-performing academic rigor, higher standards of con- schools, but without effective gover- duct, more parental involvement, mean- nance, good schools are the excep- ingful professional development for teach- tion-mot the'rule. ers,1 stronger incentives for the students America's public schools are not the waste- themselves, and, of course, more access to land some critics charge. But in this informa- health and social services for the many stu- tion age, with school reform a priority in every dents who are in need of such. To that list, we advanced economy, does anyone think even our must add two critical factors that matter a lot: best schools are good enough? And what about creating more responsive school governance our worst schools, especially those serving structures; and expanding teachers capacity to America's poorest children? Need I ask the have more professional discretion over their question? own practice. So, school reform, or renewal, or just continu- What matters most in education is what hap-

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School boards would Teachers too often be more effective if have to engage in they governed more creative insubordination and managed less. to do right by students. ous improvement, whatever one wishes to call pens between the student and the teacher. Yet, it, is a national priority, and rightly so. Since A teachers are least empowered to make deci- Nation at Risk in 1983, school reformersgov- sions about teaching and learning. Saddled ernors, legislators, business leaders, superin- with "adminstrivia" and remote-control man- tendents, principals, teachers and teachers' dates, teachers all too often have to engage in . union leaders, scholars, school board members, creative insubordination to do right by their and othershave proposed and implemented students. Is it any wonder then that so many massive changes. Standards and accountability, Jonathan Bouw teachers lament that they love to teach but restructuring, and the introduction of market- hate their jobs? place forcescharters and public school choiceare improving America's That is why school governance matters too. It can either enhance or im- public schools. pede teaching and learning. There is a growing realization that how we or- But a great deal more improvement is needed. The existing governance Continued on Page 33 system works well for some children in some districts. But would anyone take the position that governance is unrelated to school performance or that Adam Urbanski is the president of the Rochester (N.Y.) Teachers Association, public school governance cannot be improved? a vice president of the American Federation of Teachers, and the director of the Apparently. The Education Commission of the States, which launched its Teacher Union Reform Network Mum) of AFT and National Education Associ- National Commission on Governing America's Schools in February and ation locals. He is also a member of the Education Commission of the States' throughout the year has solicited input from nearly every conceivable in- National Commission on Governing America's Schools terest group, and evdn shared its working papers, has been criticized for even putting this issue on the table. This reaction indicates to me that a Continued on Page 32 Donald R. McAdams is a trustee of the Houston Independent School District, a professor and the director of the Center for Reform of School Systems at the University of Houston, and a member of the Education Commission of the States' National Commission on Governing America's Schools..

BEST COPYAVAILABLE 15 Governing Well by definition, one-size-fits-all policies cannot be bold. And even when bold reform policies Almost are approved by the board, the McAdams: A Board bureaucracy has a way of water- by definition, ing them down in the implementation. So underneath the Member's View one-size-fits-all froth of policy churn, little changes. Continued from Page 44 put forward two approaches to policies cannot The two approaches developed K-12 governance. The first is a by the national commission public debate on school gover-system of publicly authorized, be bold. And make it more difficult for school nance is clearly needed. publicly funded, and publicly op- boards to micromanage. In ap- This month, the national com-erated schools: Sounds like what even when bold proach one, school operations mission has released its report,we have now. But "Governing are at arm's length from the "Governing America's Schools:America's Schools" describes a reform policies board of education. In approach Changing the Rules." (See Edu-"fully evolved" version of this two, the board cannot reach into cation Week Nov. 10, 1999, andsystem, one stretched to the are approved, the school operations with a 10-foot related story in this issue onlimits of what it is currently pole. Board members can tell page .18.) Let the debate begin. authorized to do. The tradi- bureaucracy has a constituents,or vendors or pow- tional, one-size-fits-all school erful political friends who ask Everyone has a stake insystem becomes a diversified way of watering for favors the truth: They have public education. Noand high-performance system of no influence over school opera- doubt, there will beschools. them down. tions. In approach two, they a wide range of re- As schools increase their abil- also have little influence over sponses to the commis-ity to achieve district standards, Jonathan Bow* district operations because very sion's report. Those directly in-they gain increasing freedom tostates, districts, schools, commu-rate, and reliable informationfew school operations remain at volved in governanceprimarilyaccomplish results. This free-nities, and public and privateabout schools; and renews, can-the district level. state legislators and school boarddom diversifies instructionalorganizations. It describes a sys-cels, or alters contracts as school Governance is another matter. membersand those most di-models within a district andtem of publicly authorized, pub-operators meet, fail to meet, orIn both approaches, school boards rectly affected by itsuperin-thereby expands choices to par-licly funded, and independentlyexceed contract terms. can much more easily transform tendents, principals, and teach-ents and students. Individual operated schools. Within a system of indepen-schools. In approach one, because erswill have a lot to say. Soschools receive funding on a In this approach, the boarddently operated schools, thereresources are equitably distrib- will parents, whose voice I hopeweighted per-pupil basis; writeof education contracts with in-will still be a superintendentuted to schools, because schools we hear. their own budgets; determinedependent entitiesindividualand centraladministration. have control over budgets and My own view, the view of astaffing patterns and class sizes; nonprofit or for-profit organi-However, their roles and respon-personnel, because district ser- school board member, is that thehire, evaluate, and fire teacherszations, cooperatives, sole pro-sibilities will change signifi-vices must compete with exter- commission's report provides anand other school personnel; de-prietorships, and the liketocantly. The superintendent andnal providers, and because stu- exciting opportunity for boardstermine employee salaries; andoperate a majority of the schoolshis or her staff will negotiatedents have choice, market forces to make the two changes thatpurchase services from the dis-in a district. Specifically, theand manage contracts; evaluateare at work within the district, will most improve the perfor-trict or outside vendors. board authorizes schools; dis-school performance; collect andand the board can hold schools mance of the schools they serve: The second approach, which I tributes public funds to andpublishschoolperformanceto.ever-higher standards of ac- Govern more, and manage less.personally prefer, significantlyoversees schools; educates, re-data; interact with the state de-countability. Let me explain. redefines the roles, responsibili-cruits, and refers staff memberspartment of education and other In approach two, the board The national commission hasties, and interrelationship offor schools; provides timely, acu- external regulators and funders;has even more power to trans- and provide or contract for es-form schools. Now there is no sential management and sup-need to design one-size-fits-all port infrastructure. policies or worry about how the There is a lot more. Implemen-district bureaucracy will dilute tation of the second approachreform initiatives` School by raises a host of complex legal,school, contract by contract, year management, and transitionalby year, the board can set stan- issues. Most of these are consid- dards, provide resources, and ered in the commission's report.demand results. No one doubts that the devil's in the details, but the commis- ne of my colleagues sion has thought through imple- on the commission, mentation issues sufficiently David Osborne, the co- to demonstrate that approach author of Reinventing two is practical and doable, and Government, makes a in the end no more complex0powerful point with a metaphor than approach one or what pre-about steering and rowing. vails today. One characteristic of high- Both of the approaches putperformance organizations; he forward by the national commis-points out, is that steering and sion challenge policymakers torowing are separated. Those think deeply about what I con-who steer don't row. Those who sider to be the core problemrow don't steer. with America's current system The two approaches to public of governance. As effective asschool governance developed by most school boards are, theythe national commission make a would be even more effective ifclear distinction between steer- they would govern more anding and rowing. As a board manage less. member, I am excited about the Micromanagement by boardpossibility of having the tempta- members and boards is a prob-tion to row taken away from me lem. Just ask a superintendentand being given the power to re- off the record, of course. Andally steer. most board members will ac- I hope policymakers, superin- knowledge that they are fre-tendents, principals, teachers, quently asked by constituentsand all of those who are inter- or vendors to influence a person-ested in improving America's nel or contract decision, andschools read "Governing Amer- maybe sometimes have triedica'sSchools: Changing the to do so. Rules" and join in the debate. At the same time, many boardWhat could be better for our BEST COPY AVAILABLE members are frustrated by theirdemocracy or our children than lack of power to fundamentallyan extended and deep discus- change schools. Bold reformsion about how best to govern policies, because they will haveour schools, and then some bold a negative impact somewhere ininnovation here or there to see if the system, are rejected. Almostmaybe we can do better? 16 Governing Well Urbanski: The Teacher's Perspective Our goal should not be to help Continued from Page 44 made at the school level. embodied in this approach have Parents should have morebeen successfully implemented some opt out; ganize and govern our schoolschoice about which public schoolsin states, districts, and schools can be pivotal to our ability totheir children attend. across the country: school-based rather, it must be make all the other necessary Good information on student,decisionmaking, performance - improvements. teacher, and school performancebasedaccountability,public to help all children The Education Commission ofshould be available for parentsschool choice, and standards- the States has been looking atand the community. based teaching and learning. gain access to promising approaches to improv- The commission's final report, Yet, strategies such as these are ing schools by changing the way"Governing America's Schools:the exception, not the rule. This good schools and they are organized and gov-Changing the Rules," puts forthnewly crafted governance op- erned. As part of this three-yeartwo governance options to con-tionof publicly authorized, pub- a good education. effort, the. ECS formed the Na-sider. These two approaches are licly funded, and publicly oper- Jonathan Flouw tional Commission on Governing based on available research aboutated schoolswould allow and America's Schools. During thethe relationship between gover- enable schools and communitiesprofessional issues, investing intricts move forward, they must last year, the commission has nance systems and education re- to bypass the bureaucratic mazethe knowledge and skills oftest these proposals for changes been taking a serious look atsults; the experiences of states,and provide greater authority atteachers, and shifting greaterin governance against a set of school governance, consideringdistricts, and schools in changingthe school level. In a less central-flexibility and authority to thecriteria that not only asks what components of governancetheir governance systems; andized system such as this, the fac-individual schools. The "thinwhether the reform measures are currently working in somethe various perspectives of com-ulty, staff, and parents in eachcontract" idea that Americanhave a chance for increasing states and districts, thinkingmission members on this issue. community and at each schoolFederation of Teachers Presi-school achievement and school about what the future holds for The two approaches are: would have greater authority anddent Sandra Feldman recentlychoice, but also whether the op- education, and discussing vari- (1) A system of publicly autho-capacity to tailor the teachingproposed is a good example oftions will be likely to serve the ous governance approaches that rized, publicly funded, and pub-and learning methods to meetsuch a promising direction. That most fundamental purposes of might merit consideration. licly operated schools, based onhigh standards as well as theproposal would give school-levelpublic education: promoting a The national commission'sresearch, models of high-perform-unique needs of their students. professionals the authority andshared set of American values members represent n broad spec- ing school governance systems in flexibility to adopt programs,and a common understanding of trum of views about which gov- other countries, and the more fixing governance,strategies, and schedules thatour history and traditions. ernance approaches could leadpromising trends within our cur- though, must be accom-work best for their students. We are a diverse nation, to improved student learning. rent system of public education. panied by the develop-Such a model is very much inone that is threatened by a While individual members might (2) A system of publicly autho- ment of new models ofstep with decentralizing schoolgrowing disparity between the favor one option over the other, rized, publicly funded, but inde- labor-management rela-governancestrengthening col-rich and the poor, blacks and we have been able to find much pendently operated schools, based tions. Without it, it is tantamountlaboration and local control. whites, and those with access to common groundunity without on some of the more promising al- to one hand clapping. School au- As the National Commissiontechnology and those who are unanimity. ternatives to the current systemthorities and teachers must findon Governing America's Schools isolated from it. Any governance The commission agrees that: of public education governance. ways to use the collective bargain-concludes its work, the discus-change must ameliorate these Our public system of educa- I favor option one. This ap-ing process to negotiate provisions sion about school governance ininequities as well as address tion should be strengthened, notproach preserves public educationthat increase the prospects forstates and districts is just begin- academic excellence. undermined or discarded. and democratic control over our student success. ning. The ECS is already working Excellence without equity is not Improved student achieve-schools. It builds on the strengths They can do so by collaborat-with interested states and dis- excellence, it is privilege. Our goal ment should be the primary focusof the existing system by increasing on improving low-perform-tricts where leaders are rethink- should not be to help some to opt of an accountability system. ing its capacity for adaptability,ing schools, further expandinging their systems of governanceout; rather, it must be to help More operating decisions flexibility, and accountability.the scope of collective bargain-to help improve student perfor-all children gain access to good affecting students should beSome of the ideas and strategiesing to include instructional andmance. But, as states and dis-schools and a good education.

BEST COPY AVAILABLE

218 The New York Times, September 20,1999 Lured Away and Forced Out, Principals Leave New York City Schoolsat Record Pace

By LYNETTE HOLLOWAY School districtsinWestchester affluent school district in Long Is- County, New Jersey and Long Island land. New York City principals are leav-pay principals up to $30,000 more ing their posts in record numbers, For five years, he was principal of than the city, which has a minimum one of the city's prized schools: Ben- propelled by a festering four-yearaverage salary of about $70,000. New contract battle with the city, higher jamin N. Cardozo High in Bayside, York City principals have not re- Queens, where almost all graduating salaries in the suburbs and a cam- ceived a raise since October 1995 and paign by the Schools Chancellor to seniors go on to four-year colleges. In have been without a contract since.1998, Newsweek magazine rid the system of what he considersFebruary 1996, widening the gap be- listed failing leaders. Cardozo as one of the top 100 schools While other large cities across thetween what the city and the suburbs in the country. country are also facing a shortage ofpay. When a new salary scale for Mr. Goldstein said that he was principals, New York City is grap-teachers goes into effect in Decem-reluctant to leave, but that the deci- pling with what experts say is theber, the most experienced teachers sion was an economic one. As princi- largest number of leaderless schoolsworking in the new Chancellor's dis-pal of Jericho High School in Jericho, in its history. While some principalstrict of 40 failing elementary andN.Y., he makes about 50 percent were dismissed in .a drive to weed out middle schools will make $80,000 more than the $80,000 he made in poor performers, some of the sys-more than many principals. New York City after 25 years of tem's most highly regarded leaders City leaders, however, paint theservice. Cardozo is more than six have left for other reasons. exodus in positive colors, saying ittimes larger thanJericho High, The exodus comes at a time when reflects the efforts to rid the systemwhich has about 700 students. the very top teachers' salaries willof incompetent principals. Dr. Crew "It was a difficult decision," said soon surpass those of most princi- and Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani haveMr. Goldstein, who grew up attend- pals, when schoolchildren face thebeen reluctant to sign an agreementing New York City public schools and toughest promotional standards inwith the principals' union, sayingwho landed his first teaching. job in decades and when the system has they believe the tenure system pro-the system. "It took me several. been thrown into confusion by flawed tects inept school leaders: Under theweeks to decide to go for it. It was an reading-test scores and the mistakencurrent system, which is written intoopportunity' to work ina small assignment of thousands of students state law, principals cannot be trans-school, and the salary certainly was to summer school. ferred without union permission anda factor. I had to take it." "There are more vacancies for Henry L. Grishman, the Superin7 principals and a greater dearth of tendent of Jericho's public schools, qualified candidates than I've seen in was unabashed in his recruitment of the last 40 years," said SeymourFewer takers for jobs Mr. Goldstein in March. The Superin- Fliegel, a senior fellow at the Center tendent said he had waited until 4e for Educational Innovation, a Newleading troubled could offer Mr. Goldstein a position York City research institute. "It's at a high-achieving school. only going to get worse. If they care urban schools. "There is an awareness in the sub-; about the children, the city and the urbs that principals are working in union will settle this right now." the city without a contract and are When the school year began on not well paid or highly appreciated," Sept. 9, about 16 percent, or 195 of the cannot be demoted or dismissedMr. Grishman said. "That obviously city's 1,200 schools, opened without without what can become long disci-makes it easy for me to recruit atop permanent principals, Board-of Edu-plinary hearings. high school principal from New Yo'rk cation officials said. The city has offered the principals'City." Neither the New York City Board union a raise of 33 percent and three- Saul Yanofsky, the Superintendent of Education nor the principals'year renewable contracts if princi-of the White Plains School Distiict,* union, the Council of Supervisors and pals give up tenure and work a long-said that New York City has some' Of Administrators, could provide exacter year. The union represents aboutthe best trained public school eduCa7 figures on how many principals have4,500 principals, assistant principalstors in the country. This yeaf,%he left the system for the suburbs. But and other administrators. hired two assistant principals fedtii union leaders, who have been negoti- But the city is in a bind. WhileCommunity School District 2 in Man- ating for pay increases, estimated trying to weed out underperforminghattan as principals. that about half the vacancies wereprincipals by repealing the tenure Last year, Melvin B. Katz left as created when principals were lured law, it is losing principals like Arnoldprincipal of Middle School 141 in away for higher pay. M. Goldseein, wholeft in June for anerdale, the Bronx, to lead Glenfield

18 2 4 BEST COPYAVAILABLE Middle School in Montclair, N.J..He "Superintendents all over the cityheadquarters in downtown Brooklyn, now makes $92,500, about $12,000are telling me they cannot get peoplesaid Jill Levy, executive director of more than he made in New York City_who want to work as principals," Mr. the Council of Supervisors. after 33 years. Fliegel said. "Stuyvesant is the city's The reassignments underscore the "I left because of the money andflagship school. Hundreds of peoplecity's need to do away with tenure? low morale," Mr. Katz said. "Thereshould want to work there." said Robert R. Kiley, president of the was less respect and increased re- Peter NI. Comeau, a co-director of New York City Partnership and sponsibility, which I could have dealtthe Principals' Leadership InstituteChamber of Commerce, one of the with. I think you will find that true ofat Teachers College, Columbia Uni-city's largest business groups. almost all my colleagues who haveversity, surveyed about two dozen "Principal tenure is a bizarre self-, left." principals and about a half dozendefeating system for the very peopl Not only are principals leavingsuperintendents last year when thewho shouldn't need it," said Mr. Ki- New York City, but, in addition, fewfledgling group drew a weak re-ley, who helped to pass the school', qualified teachers are willing to stepsponse from people interested in thegovernance law. "A person's job. up to the plate because it would meantraining. should rise and fall based on the a pay cut for a far more stressful job. "The lack of a contract was key,"performance of a school. The govern: Filling the 195 vacancies will not beMr. Comeau said. "They didn't talkance law provided some reform, but easy. It involves committees corn-so much about the money as much asit's still an uphill battle." prising parents, teachers and unionthey did about the losS of respect that Some principals agree. Last year, representatives, and can be a drawn-seems to accompany the negotia-a dissident group of about 200 high out process tainted by petty politics.tions." school principals announced that, it New York, whose school system Over the years, principals became wanted to break away from the. was once the most prestigious in ,thedemonizedaspoliticalhirelings. Council of Supervisors and give up-, country, is not alone. From Washing-Some were handpicked by memberstenure protection. Members said ton to Philadelphia to Los Angeles,of the city's 32 community schoolthey wanted to exchange tenure fort school systems report a shortage ofboards as favors to friends or rela-higher pay and greater authoritS, principals, said Vincent L. Ferran-tives. But the 1996 school governanceover hiring and firing. dino, the executive director of thelaw removed the power to hire and The group never mobilized to se-. 30,000-member National Associationfire principals from school boardscure collective bargaining power of Elementary School Principals, aand turned it over to district superin-But Jesse Lazarus, principal of Traii: nonprofit organization based in Alex-tendents. sit Tech High School in East New andria, Va. The aim was to stamp out patron- York, Brooklyn, and president-elect, A number of factors have comeage and corruption, and Dr. Crewof the organization, said he still 'sup:: together to make leading a school farwas given broad new powers to re-ports modifications to the tenure lavi lessattractive than in the past.move underperforming principals,if the new process is divorced from These include higher salaries forchiefly on charges of "persistentinternal and city politics. teachers, increased accountability,educational failure." When he failed longer hours, a longer year and high-to remove principals immediately, stakes testing, where one flagginghe was roundly criticized. Dr. Crew performance by a school's studentscontended that the job protections of can cost a principal a job. While mosttenure forced him to place the bad cities used to provide principals withprincipals elsewhere in the system. tenure, many, like Chicago, repealed But in June, Dr. Crew announced the laws in the face of failing schools.the dismissal of 58 principals at fail- Now, they offer renewable contractsing schools in the largest shake-up in' based on performance. the history of the school system. A' The principal shortage is so pro-majority had planned to retire any: nounced that New York's crown jew-way, and critics asserted that Dr' el, Stuyvesant High School, whichCrew included them in the tally admits students based on a stiff en-which included even principals with trance exam, received only aboutdistinguished careers to stanch two dozen applicationslast yearcriticismthat he was not doing while searching for a new principal.enough to remove failing principals. That number was down about 75 Of the rest who were removed, percent from previous searches, in-some principals reverted to their cluding five years ago when Jinxprevious job as assistant principal or Cozzi-Perullo was hired, Mr. Fliegelteacher. About a dozen went to work said. Ms. Cozzi-Perullo retired andelsewhere in the system, sometimes was replaced this fall by Stanleydoing paperwork or supervising ad: Teitel. ministrative projects at district offices, or at the Board of Education

BEST COPYAVAILABLE 192 The Vancouver Sun, December 9, 1999

and vocal detence for evolutionary theory from Scientific Ignorance Wins a Small Victory teachers and scientists, and even unequivocal support for the theory of evolution from priests, Mark Winston ministers and rabbis representing the large majority of mainstream religious groups in North America. It hasn't gotten around to burning at the stake, yet. In fact, the penalty for teaching forbidden subjects What is it about evolution and related topics that remains vague. repel the conscious mind of the public who otherwise are comfortable with scientific The issue has, however, generated bumper stickers, a knowledge? The precepts of evolutionary theory are sure sign that it's a hot button item. My favorite so elegant in their simplicity. Life changes over time, or far: "Kansas, where evolution has been outlawed and evolves, and those changes are dictated by natural the monkeys are in charge." selection, so that individuals with characteristics best suited to their environment will survive and produce Elimination of evolutionary biology from the more offspring. classroom is the centrepiece of new law in the state of Kansas that dictates science curriculum. It is not, These concepts are as close to fact as electricity however, the only banned subject. A few other making our lights go on and the Earth revolving cornerstones of human intellectual achievement also around the sun, yet some part of our human brain won't be allowed in the classroom, like the big bang continues to deny the reality of evolution. It's not theory, the concept of time in the earth's geological the rational, how-to part of our psyche that's having history and radioactive decay. the problem.

What's left is seductively simple creationism, with Today, modern genetics and ecology have provided its easy-to-grasp tenets. God created the Earth and us with enough of the nuts and bolts of evolutionary the life on it 10,000 years ago, it took six days, end mechanisms that our earlier lack of knowledge of story. The only necessary textbook is the Bible, concerning how organisms evolve and change is no which saves school districts a considerable sum of longer a barrier to belief. money, since there are many groups ready to provide books free of charge. No, what confuses the human mind is the absence of "why" in evolutionary theory. Evolution is The ban on teaching evolution and related celestial directionally neutral and there is no guiding point of subjects is unlikely to stick. Evolution bashers have the compass leading evolution forward. Rather, it is tried in many other states, and failed. A focused by random chance that any species is here, including campaign in Kansas to restore sanity to the ours, and it is unlikely that we or any other species education system is under way and knowledge will will remain extant forever. likely once again be disseminated to students soon. It is this pointlessness that we cannot grasp and the What is most astounding in this oft-repeated creation lack of meaning in evolution that confuses the vs. evolution script is how many people still don't human mind. If evolution has no point, then we are believe in evolution. Polls consistently indicate close not important, and perhaps there is no fundamental to half of us believe that a strict biblical view of rationale for morals and ethics, and no high purpose creation is correct, and most of the rest believe that forhuman endeavours. God at least has directed evolution towards its inevitable pinnacle, mankind. Except that evolutionary theory is neutral on this subject and makes no claims about the human This is truly remarkable given the overwhelming experience. Indeed, all science is objectively scientific evidence supporting evolution, consistent impartial and at its best only describes the properties

20 26 of the universe around us. Science tells us that electrons rotate around the nucleus of an atom, and Rather, we need to move forward toward a third DNA divides within the nucleus of a cell, but revolution in human development, a merging of our finding meaning in these patterns is beyond the belief in purpose and our acceptance of science as a objective boundaries of scientific observation. neutral descriptor of nature. We need to discover another fundamental truth, that there is no conflict Nevertheless, it should tell us something about our between belief in divinity and scientific knowledge. human nature that we continue to insist on imposing meaning on these patterns and rebel at unfiltered Our challenge in schooling our children is to merge science that descends into our classrooms without the how of science and the why of religion and any judgement about underlying purpose. Perhaps ethics, and only then will human thought move from we biology professors who teach evolution have banning the knowable because it can't explain the been mistaken in taking such a purely objective unfathomable. approach to a subject that evokes a non-rational, visceral response in our students and their parents. Mark Winston is a professor of biological sciences at Simon Fraser University and a regular contributor to It's not that we should be teaching religious Insight. creationism in the schools or qualifying evolutionary theory with the "maybe" and "it's not proven" demands of creationists. Rather, we need to add an accompanying dimension to how we teach evolution, and all science, that asks students to ponder the meaning of their existence in the light of scientific fact.

There have been two great revolutions in human thinking. The first, occurring many thousands of years ago, was the concept of one or more divine beings, as represented by religion in all its diverse forms. The second, and more recent, has been the growth of rational explanations through scientific knowledge for virtually every aspect of our existence.

These two strands represent two distinct branches of the human psyche that come into tangible conflict when evolution and religion meet in the classroom.

We need to better balance our religious and scientific beliefs, because the capacity to believe in both God and the scientific method are integral and companion parts of our human nature. A fundamental aspect of what makes us human is our drive to impose purpose, and science ultimately will fail to influence the human agenda if it fails to address the meaning of our presence.

Banning the teaching of evolution is driven by this paradox, that we as humans are compelled to pursue scientific, objective knowledge while simultaneously being motivated to find some meaning behind our existence. Our solution to this dilemma will not lie in denying evolutionary theory, nor will it be found in dismissing the divine. 2 7 21 (SR)2 Selected Readings on School Reform Federal Issues

For the first time in decades, the Republicans control both the House and Senate at the same time that the mammoth Elementary and Secondary Education Act isup for reauthorization. This would seem to be the perfect time for the GOP to stakeout its own distinctive education policies and fire people up for some much-needed changes in the way Uncle Sam goes about his business in this domain. So far, however, the majority party seems to be settling for relatively minor nips and tucks in existingprograms. In "The GOP Congress Fails Again," published in the Weekly Standard in November, Checker Finn deplores some opportunities lost (in the House) andsome that lie ahead (in the Senate).

Meanwhile, President Clinton has found plenty of ways to strengthen his, and the Democrats', hold on education at the national level. One such mechanism is to fillan unprecedented number of key Education Department posts with friends and party loyalists. While patronage is not new to the White House, Mr. Clinton has taken itto a new level, at least in education. Read about it in "Department a Haven for Clinton Loyalists," by Judy Pasternak of the Los Angeles Times.

Lastly, Anjetta McQueen of the Associated Press casts doubt on the practicality of the Administration's (and, now, the Congress's) initiative to hire hordes ofnew teachers, asking, for instance, where all the new classrooms will come from. Her AP piece displays some of the knotty details that make this crowd-pleasing idea sucha challenge in the real world.

KLA

23 The Weekly Standard, November 29, 1999 The GOP Congress Fails Again Congressional Republicans capitulate to some really bad education ideas. BY CHESTER h. FINNJR. THE NEW YORK TIMES'S lead a mistake. Twice is fecklessness. "portability," this would have trans- educationreporter seemed That pretty much describes the formed the federal role from one of surprised by his own discov- first half of the 106th Congress when subsidizing school bureaucracie's to ery: Hiring more teachers for U.S. it comes to education. Lyndon John- one of directly aiding needy children. schools is harder than it sounds. In son might as well still be in charge. Instead of ever Weightier regulation, it New York City this year, seven- Big, categorical, Washington-knows- would have introduced accountability eighths of those teachers hired with best programs remain the order of the via the marketplace. Washington's help have been doubled day. Education Department enforcers Yet portability was voted down in up in classrooms with other teachers. ride high. State reform schemes and committee, and two separate versions There was nowhere else to put them local priorities are undermined. And were clobbered on the floor. Although (and the city had to spend part of its Clinton runs political circles around the Student Results Act purports to windfall to show them how to team- Capitol Hill. No wonder surveys find allow children trapped in low-per- teach). Moreover, just half are certi- voters more inclined to trust Demo- forming schools to exit to other (pub- fied in their subjects. In tiny Ray- crats with the education issue. lic) schools, their federal aid dollars mondville, Missouri, on the other Though the new teachers program hand, there's plenty of classroom got most of the ink, the year's premier space but the federal aid formula blunder was the House's renewal of yielded barely S7,000 for the whole the Elementary and Secondary Edu- school system, enough to hire just one cation Act. This was the first time a part-time classroom aide. Republican majority has ever had a School officials in both communi- chance to recast the centerpiece of ties welcomed the extra cash, of Washington's role in K-12 schooling, course,butastheirexperience and, mostly, they blew it. showed the Times reporter, "It takes Take the so-called Student Results more than money to put aneffective Act, which Education Committee teacher in front of a classroom." chairman Bill Goodling described as That's what makes Congress's "the largest component of [the GOP] capitulation to the White House on strategy this Congress to improve ele- the fractious class-size-reduction pro- mentary and secondary education." It gram so pathetic. Just asRepublicans doesn't,even deal with the .whole of are starting to wraptheir minds the Elementary and Secondary Edu- around a coherent strategy for over- cation Act, mainly just the $8 billion hauling federal education aid, Clinton Title I program for disadvantaged roars back with a politicallyshrewd, youngsters. Here, the House Great Society program that wastes embraced the core Clinton strategy: money, ignores most ofthe research, Since Title I, by common consent, shovesstatesandcommunities hasn't worked these past 35 years, around, focuses on what goes into tighten the regulatory screws. And it schools rather than what comes out, rejected the only serious idea for over- creates manifold new problems,and hauling the program: Strap federal fails to accomplish anything impor- money to the backs of low-income tant for children. Yet for the second. youngsters and let them take it to the year in a row, Congress caves. Onceis schools of their choice. Dubbed

24 2 9 BEST COPY AVAILABLE stay in the failing schools. make decisions for themselves? Some muscular yet flexible stance urged by One beam of light, however, shone say they don't trust Washington to George W Bush in his recent trio of through the gloom. A few hours after maintain funding for block grants education speeches. Likewise, porta- .wimping out on the Elementary and.and other nebulous categories that bility has the potential to take the Secondary Education Act, the House lackspecificconstituencies. The principle of school choice, which narrowly passed the "Straight A's" deeper explanation is that they've suc- enjoys ever wider public support, and bill, which treats participating states cumbed to the Stockholm Syndrome, apply it to federal K-12 programs and cities like giant charter schools, the peculiar bond that develops without losing their focus on needy offering them sweeping freedom to between captor and captive, between kids. Both ideas promote accountabil- spend federal dollars as they see fit in terrorist and hostage. They've been ity combined with freedom, the dou- exchange for palpable gains in pupil locked up for so long by the public ble-barrelled school reform strategy achievement. Should this measureschool establishment that they've that is making such promising head- make it through the Senate and sur- begun to see their jailers' interests as way in states and communities. Taken vive a White House veto threat, it their own. together, they contain a coherent would herald a new chapter in U.S. Congressional Republicans display alternative to 35 years of failed big education policy. a touch of the Stockholm Syndrome, governmentprograms,onethat Yet Straight A's was bobtailed dur- too. Their longtime captorsDemo- would resonate with voters while trig- ing the first stage of its legislative jour- crats in general, the Clinton adminis- gering needed change in their chil- ney, turned into a pilot program for no tration in particular, the teachers' dren's schools. They are the exact more than 10 states, and shackled by a unions, and other elements of what opposite of things like Clinton's class- "hold harmless" provision that assures Bill Bennett calls "the education size-reduction scheme, the Women's districts as much money as they would blob"have them brainwashed and Educational Equity Act, and the get from the Title I program absent cowering. Republicans have repeated- hyper-regulatory approach to Title I. StraightA's.Theseconcessions ly pumped extra billions into dubious But the House's weakened version bought only a couple of Democratic Education Department programs of Straight A's (and the even weaker votes and no White House support. billions more than even the White "Ed-Flex" measure a few months ear- They were made to keep skittish House has sought. Another symptom lier) was as far as the 106th Congress Republicans on board. The prospect was the House's decision to keep the could get in escaping from its captors. of actually altering the ground rules of Women's Educational Equity Act. Next year is the Senate's turn. The federal education policy gives palpita- This tiny program purports to early signals are not encouraging. tions to GOP "moderates." combat school-based discrimination Important reformsStraightA's, To be fair, Republicans were not against girls. In reality, it funds left- portability, and morecan be found exactly overwhelmed by home-state wing groups to continue harping on in bills written by Slade Gorton, Judd clainor for change. While the Educa- alleged injustices that have been Gregg, Bill Frist, and Tim Hutchin- tion Leaders Council, a group of dis- resoundingly disproved by such Son, as well as Joe Lieberman across sident education officials such as Ari- scholars as Diane Ravitch and Judith the aisle. zona's Lisa Graham Keegan, pushed Kleinfeld.Duringtherenewal But Education Committee chair- hard for Straight A's, and individual process for the Elementary and Sec- man Jim Jeffords, working behind governors wrote in support of it, the ondary Education Act, the education closed doors with ranking Democrat Council of Chief State School Officers committee proposed to scrap this bit Ted Kennedy, has drafted a Stock- was bitterly opposed. And the Nation- of federally funded agitprop. But a holm-style measure that makes the al Governors' Association, reportedly predictable uproar ensued, and when House look daring. It basically leaves deferring to North Carolina's Jim it was hinted that Republicans were the Elementary and Secondary Edu- Hunt, said it could only support being unkind to girls and women, the cation Act intact and adds a whop- Straight A's if Title I were excluded. leadership crumpled. The House ping new early-childhood education Theproblemisthatprogram reversed its committee. The Women's program. If the Senate heads down accounts for two-thirds of the money. Educational Equity Act endures. The that road, serious reformers' might No sane state will take the sizable risk terrorists remain in control. prefer legislative gridlock until a real ofStraightA'scommittingto Prior to their autumn collapse, education president can take the stronger achievement for poor and House Republicans were showing wheel. But the GOP will have squan- minority kidsif the National Gov- signs of emerging from captivity. dered one of its best opportunities to ernors' Association prevails. Straight After all, they advanced some good repair American education and to A's without Title I is Thanksgiving ideas. 'Straight 'Ns" still "represents a retain control of Congress. without the turkey. major poliey inno'vaiiiin that is rhile's f Why do state and local officials ahead of the slash:iind-butn'approaCh cling to old-line categorical programs of 1995 and fully compatible with the rather than welcome the freedom to BEST COPY AVAILABLE

25 30 Los Angeles Times, October 3, 1999

Department a Haven for Clinton Loyalists Clinton frequently calls it a pressing domestic priority, and polls show that voters agree.

By: JUDY PASTERNAK Just four years after congressional Republicans tried to TIMES STAFF WRITER kill the department, lawmakers now are committing more money to Education than ever before, increasingits WASHINGTON-When Carol Moseley-Braun lost her discretionary funding since 1996 by 46%, from $23 U.S. Senate seat last fall, she didn't worry long about her billion to $33.5 billion. And, for the first time since the next paycheck. agency's inception in 1979, front-runners for both the Democraticand GOP presidentialnominationsare Just before her term expired, the Illinois Democrat signed promising to expand it. on as a consultant to the Department of Education at $453.84 per day. The Education Department is charged with addressing particular needs and problems in the nation's schools, Her contract called for her to provide expertise on "school such as improving student performance, curbing violence construction issues," although the agency has no money and ensuring equal opportunities for poor, disadvantaged to build classrooms. students. Local school districts, which receive federal grants, administer the programs. When Carol H. Rasco wanted out of her influential post as White House domestic policy chief, she also found a Education Secretary Richard W. Riley says that the lucrative berth at Education. Rasco, who is paid $125,900 department's new place on center stage is precisely why annually, runs a skeletal reading program that Congress so many appointees are needed. To launch new initiatives, has refused to fund. he said, his hires have "to forge political connections" with governors and school superintendents. Moseley-Braun and Rasco have plenty of well-connected company: The Clinton administration, which has made "I'm very pleased with the people we have attracted improvingschoolsatoppriority, is usingthe here," Riley said. Report Finds Flaws in Patronage government'sleadeducationagencytoprovide System employment for assorted Democratic loyalists. But, in the past, a high level of political patronage at the Althoughthehiringofpoliticalappointeesand agency has not corresponded with effectiveness. In the consultants outside normal Civil Service channelsis 1980s and '90s, the department was criticized repeatedly nothing new in Washington, the patronage system is more by the General Accounting Officefor management pervasive at Education than at any other federal agency. problems and lackluster results.

The smallest Cabinet department, with 4,800 employees, A work force too dependent on appointees can hamper Education has 167 appointees-one to every 29 workers, performance because the appointees seldom stay for even according to the Office of Personnel Management. The one full presidential term, experts say. At Education, it is average ratio for Cabinet departments is one to 807. also common for them to be diverted-for as much as a year at a time-for White House projects unrelated to Previous administrations have considered the Education improvingschools.Theseincludethepresident's Department, then an obscure agency that came under little commission on race and First Lady Hillary Rodham scrutiny, an ideal holding spot for political appointees. Clinton's historic-preservation effort. The Clinton administration wanted to change all that and, infact, managed to limit the numbers of appointees The agency's political ranks are a curious mix: a former during its first term. But since Clinton's reelection in Stanford University education dean, a onetime suburban 1996,ithas resumed thetradition of packing the NewYorkschoolsuperintendent,thepresident's department with loyal supporters, campaign workers and goddaughter, the Transportation secretary's sister-in-law their relatives. andmyriadClinton-Gorecampaignveterans.The children of a former Democratic governor, a former At the same time, Education has grown. in importance. Democraticsenator and a former Clinton Housing The department'smissionof improvingAmerica's secretary have passed through the department's payroll. schools has moved to the top of the national agenda.

26 31 In addition, two men are working at Education despite having been scarred by professional scandal elsewhere. One of the consultants, Moseley-Braun, was "concerned, One appointee previously was named in connection with a as anyone would be," when she faced the loss of her cover-up of Treasury bond fraud. Another pleaded guilty Senate salary of $136,673 after election defeatlast totheft and possession of forged checks during a November, said a former aide, Steven Collens. campaign. She told her Senate staff that she had been promised "Here is a department that is promoting standards and nomination as ambassador to New Zealand, a process that excellence [for schools] but appears to have less of a she knew could take months. She went to Riley. commitment to high standards for itself," said Paul C. Light, director of the Brookings Center for Public Service The secretary offered her a contract to "develop outreach and an expert on the federal government. plans and initiatives to convey information on the need for school reconstruction to communities, officials of state White House spokesman Barry Toiv said the Clinton and local government, parents, business leaders and administration turned a neglected department into an school administrators." instrument for helping states and communities improve education. "While Republicans have tried to weaken and Beforeenteringpolitics-whereshe became one of even kill the department, the president has improved it Clinton's most dependable votes in the Senate-Moseley- with strong leadership and adequate resources so that it Braun had been an assistant U.S. attorney in Chicago. Her can carry out his ambitious agenda for improving our Senate defeat, after one term, followed questions about schools and expanding access to higher education," Toiv her personal and campaign finances and her meeting with said. a discredited Nigerian dictator.

In1993,theincomingClintonadministration was Despite Moseley-Braun's lack of education experience, cautioned in a GAO report that the tradition of so many Riley called her "a very logical choice." As a senator, she appointees at Education created "management promoted federal financing for school buildings. Twice, challenges." Increases Began in Reagan Years she led efforts to fund school construction, but Congress rejected the idea on grounds that it was a local and state Educationhasaccommodatedprogressivelylarger responsibility. numbers of appointees since President Carter created the agency. According to reports published by Congress, Moseley-Braun'scontract called for intermittent about 75 appointees served under Jimmy Carter in 1980 employment,allowinghertimetopursueother and about 166 under George Bush in 1992. opportunities, such as speechmaking. From mid-January through mid-July, she received $23,145.84 from the The increase began when Ronald Reagan's department. administration, which wanted to abolish the agency, used Education as a place to stash campaign supporters and Rasco informed Clinton in 1995 that she wanted out of appointees who hadfallenout of favoratother the hectic environment at the White House. The solution: departments. a job at Education.

Midway throughClinton'sfirstterm,Education's A former middle school counselor and longtime Clinton inspector general began warning that the department aide from Arkansas, Rasco had been a controversial lacked employees with critical computer and financial choice among the president's advisors as policy chief. skills and that it needed people with expertise to oversee Education provided her a similar six-figure salary and a outside contractors. position directing America Reads, a program she helped design while at the White House. But without funding This shortage has continued while increasing numbers of from Congress, Rasco was left to give speeches around appointees have been added, said Dianne van Riper, who the country urging parents to read to their children and retired in January as the department's assistant inspector calling on colleges to get work-study students to tutor at general for investigations. local schools, even though no money was available to train tutors. "When you decide to spend a dollar on hiring one kind of employee and not on another, you're making a decision," Perhaps the ultimate political plum at Education is held Van Riper said. by former Philadelphia Mayor W. Wilson Goode: a $105,269-a-year post coordinating regional In addition to its growing roster of political appointees, representatives whose public relations jobs are heavy on Education has 63 advisory board members*-by far the most ceremony and light on substance. Goode served as the in the Cabinet, and retains 38 consultants, the second- mayor of Philadelphia from 1984 to 1992 and as a Clinton highest proportion. fund-raiser in the '92 campaign.

27 32 By contrast,the number of politicalappointeesat "It is somewhat puzzling," said John Puckett, a University Education has grown by 19% since 1996, from 140 to of Pennsylvaniaeducationprofessor who monitors 167. Philadelphiaschools."Ihonestly don't know what qualifications Wilson Goode would bring." Education is regarded as an executive-branch parking place for friends and campaign workers, particularly those As mayor, Goode had no direct oversight over schools. who lack training for other administration posts, said His authority was limited to appointing some school Derrick Max, a former congressional staff member who board members from a pool of nominees. In an interview, dealt with education policy before joining the libertarian Goode said that he has nurtured "a passion for education Cato Institute in 1998. for 35 years. My wife and I were active in our children's public schools." He also began teaching a political "You need to be a lawyer to work at Justice," Max said. science courseatEastern University before joining "You need to know something about health to work at Education in 1993. HHS. But everybody went to school." The biggest growth at Education in Clinton's second term Goode serves as Riley's Philadelphia representative and has come in the categories of "special assistant" and also oversees the work of his counterparts and their "confidential assistant," with salaries averaging $74,000 a assistants in nineotherregions. Theprimary year. The department added 30 such slots-a 28% increase responsibility of these officials is to represent Riley at since 1996. local school events and meetings. While many of these employees are bright and well Among the16 appointees, whose combined salaries educated, it didn't hurt that they also had well-placed exceed $1.3millionayear,are many Democratic friends or relatives. activists: two former teachers' union officials, the wife of a Texas state senator, a former mayor of Berkeley, a Sarah Staley, the president's goddaughter, is paid $58,027 longtime friend of Riley's who worked at IBM, a former as a special assistant in public affairs. After she'd worked Senate staff member for Vice President Al Gore and a briefly as a reporter, anchor and sales associate at onetime Vermont House speaker who campaigned for television stationsin Greenville, Miss., and Sulphur, Clinton there. Okla., Staley and her mother proposed the idea for "Bill Clinton: Rock & Roll President," a 1997 documentary on When George Bush was president, department officials VH-1 television about Clinton's musical tastes. Angela J. contemplated eliminating the regional representatives. But Wilkins, sister-in-law of Transportation Secretary Rodney a former Bush appointee said no one could summon the Slater and daughter of an Arkansas state lawmaker, is political will to do it. paid $68,570 topreparebriefingsfor Goode. She previously managed her mother's legislative office, sold Unlike regular government employees, appointees are not real estate and volunteered in the 1992 Clinton campaign. required to take Civil Service exams or compete for In 1990, her resume says, she spent three weeks teaching posted vacancies. night school classes in English, math and office machines.

The Clinton administration has had its share of problem Judith H. Wurtzel makes $49.32 an hour as an Education appointees. Among them: transferred White House aide consultant developing a math tutoring program. She is a Linda R. Tripp and presidential paramour Monica S. 1983 graduate of Yale University and a 1988 graduate of Lewinsky, who both got political jobs in the Pentagon's New York University Law School. Her father is Alan L. public affairs office. Another: John Huang, who was Wurtzel, vice chairman of Circuit City electronics stores, awarded a political job at Commerce in 1994 through the who along with his wife has donated $171,600 to influence of loyal Clinton donors. Two years later, Huang Democratic causes since Clinton first ran for president. emerged as a central figure in the campaign-finance scandal. The two men working at Education who have been linked toprofessionalscandalselsewhereareDonald M. The Huang saga led Secretary Bill Daley to vow to slash Feuerstein and Sterling Henry Jr. political positions when he took over at Commerce in 1997. "There is a place for politics in public life, but there Feuerstein, 62, joined Education as a special assistant in is no place for politics in any of the decisions that are 1993, two years after being forced to resign as chief legal made at the Commerce Department," Daley said at his officer of Salomon Brothers after the firm covered up confirmation hearing. false bids submitted at Treasury bond auctions. Feuerstein Appointee ranks at Commerce are down one-third, from was not individually sanctioned, but was cited by name in 197 in 1996 to 131 this year. a Securities and Exchange Commission report as one of four senior executives who failed to act after learning about the fraud.

28 33 organize Mrs. Clinton's Millennium Tour. She is not The report led Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), now minority being replaced. leader, to return a 1990 Feuerstein campaign contribution of $1,000. But Feuerstein's role in the scandal "was never Even junior staffers are drafted from all sections of the an issue" for the Education Department because he did department-while remaining on Education's payroll-for notfacecriminalorcivilcharges,saidEducation tasks that range from handling requests for the president's spokeswoman Julie Green. appearances to arranging the first lady's travels.

Feuerstein's connections at Harvard University-where he For example, Education specialassistants served as earned his law degree and raised money for the education support staff for Mrs. Clinton during a Los Angeles school-helped him get his federal job. Feuerstein has synagogue stop, a mosque visit in Egypt and a dinner, since returned the favor. The government pays him a given by the Greater Detroit Chamber of Commerce on $91,410 salary, which he said he donates to his alma Michigan's MackinacIsland,anannualeventfor mater. politicians and prospective campaign donors.

He is assigned to research student loan processes and Diane Rossi, Education's White House liaison, explained construction tax credits. Apparently, Feuerstein said, he the rationale: "When people go on assignment for the qualified by virtue of his Wall Street work, even though president, the vice president and the first lady, well, he served as a lawyer, not a banker. "In the land of the they're all very focused on education too." blind, the one-eyed man is king, so I'm the finance guy," he said. Times researchers John Beckham and Robin Cochran contributed to this article. Henry became a special assistant in the Historically Black Colleges section after running the Clinton-Gore campaign office in the District of Columbia in 1992. He took a vacation in 1995 to help bring out black voters for a Democratic gubernatorial candidate in Kentucky, where he was indicted for cashing checks made out to campaign workers. Though the amount involved was only $175, his guilty plea last year on theft and forgery charges brought him two years' probation and a court-ordered ban from Kentucky politics.

Henry, 40, receives $67,697 a year from Education to develop federal goals for helping black colleges. The department decided that no action against him was warranted, Green said, "due to the nature of the charges and his job performance here." Henry declined comment.

Other appointees at Education have been assigned to duties unrelated to education reform.

In 1997, General Counsel Judith Winston transferred out for a year to direct the president's race initiative, taking with her four special assistants on loan.

"It's not like she was going off on something that had nothing to do with education," Riley said. When asked the connection, he added: "It was a major thrust of the president, and we support the president."

Riley's scheduler, Regan Burke, organized a 1996 White House ceremony to celebrate Clinton's reelection effort while on the Education Department's time and dime, Green said. Burke, whose salary is $99,474, continues to supervise various White House events.

Stephanie Jones, Riley's Chicago regional representative, is taking a year's leave from her $93,198-a-year post to 3 4 29 The Associated Press, November 12, 1999

By ANJETTA McQUEEN, AP Education Writer The Raymondville district received $7,000 in new- teacher funds: "We had to make up the difference and If schools get to hire new teachers under the class-size we're on a really tight budget," Spacek said. reduction plan just reached by President Clinton and congressional leaders, where would the extra Even if he gets more money this time around, Spacek classrooms come from? worries about having enough classrooms to accommodate new teachers- or about having enough And where are the skilled applicants willing to teach in classroom space to accommodate computers. urban or remote locations? What can help a district too small to hire even a single teacher under the "Facilities are almost impossible for a small district to population-based formula that's been agreed upon? build," he said. "The only way to do it is with a bond issue." The questions puzzle educators, even though they welcome the president's bid for an army of 100,000 Additionally, school systems must find ways to attract extra teachers in the next five years. or keep quality teachers. Under the new deal reached this week by Clinton and Republican lawmakers, the Despite this week's budget deal offering an additional percentage of funds that could be used for training $1.3 billion and greater leeway in how it's spent, would increase from 15 percent to 25 percent. hiring quality educators is far from a simple proposition once it gets to the local level. The Milwaukee school system, which hired 97 teachers with its $6 million and brought the average "A teacher is just a teacher to most of the world," said early grade class-size down to 18, wants to focus on Richard Spacek, superintendent of a 145-student professional development. district in the Ozark town of Raymondville, Mo. "But there are a lot of different issues out there. The big one "It's also a very critical part when you are working in for us is how do we entice someone to come into our urban environment," said Arlene Sershon, an communityit's not a very high pay base." administrator in the 155,000-student district. "Many teacher candidates or new employees are new to urban For the second year in a row, President Clinton has areas, and they need assistance in teaching and successfully argued that more schoolchildren, an aging working with children in high concentrations of teaching force and the demands for a well-read, savvy poverty." work force all cry out for making smaller classes a national priority. Even in districts with enough room and skilled hires to reduce average class sizes, administrators still face the He also won $450 million for after-school programs, uncertainty of a lasting commitment: The agreement an increase of $250 million. Funding for GEAR UP, a funds Clinton's five-year proposal for just one more college preparation program, nearly doubled to $200 year. million. A 1,150-student district in East Helena, Mont., hired The first round of money - $1.2 billion approved after two teachers with its $33,000. The educators make a partisan budget debate last year - was doled out in about $16,000. July to most of the nation's 16,000 school districts. "We have tremendous fear about whether this is going Based on calculations of the number of poor children to be funded on an annual basis," said superintendent in a given area, the awards varied widely. Big, urban Thomas Lockyer. "But we've learned if you don't take districts got tens of millions. The smallest or the advantage of whatever is available at the time, wealthiest only got a few hundred dollars. somebody else gets those dollars."

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

The charter school movement has to deal with many "false friends": self- proclaimed supporters who quietly create new obstacles for struggling charter schools. In a Wall Street Journal editorial, "Charter Hypocrisy," we find that one of these"false friends" sits in the White House. Despite much rhetoric to the contrary, the Clinton Administration is busy throwing sand into the charter gears. In this instance, the Justice Department is seeking to close a K-8 school for at-risk children in Baton Rouge, citing decades-old desegregation laws. Apparently the racial balance of the neighboring schools is more important than retaining a successful school that parents want to keep.

In Laura Lang's long, perceptive "Dropping Out?," published in the Washington City Paper, we learn of another small school that parents love but that is being threatened with closure. Up to now it's been a "regular" public school, albeit one with rare success. Despite its strong academic record and popularity, however, District of Columbia officials have been angling to close down the Hearst school. This article details the lengthy and bitter battle between seemingly spiteful district officials and parents who were simply struggling to keep a good thing. In exasperation, the parents havedecided to try to convert Hearst into a charter school.

Anna Bray Duff writes in the Investor 's Business Daily that many parents whose cries for change have fallen on deaf ears with school administrators are now taking the initiative to determine just what their children are being taught. In "The Fight Over What Kids Learn," Duff points out that many parents are dismissing the progressivism that characterizes most public schools and turning instead to charter schools for more traditional curricula.

In Ohio, charter schools are meeting with strong hostility. Dennis J. Willard and Doug Oplinger's Akron Beacon Journal article, "Charter Experiment Goes Awry," paints a bleak (and we judge inaccurate) picture of the charter movementin the Buckeye state. You oughtn't believe everything you read, but you should see what charter enemies are up to.

On a lighter note, the University of California at San Diego, like several other institutions of higher learning, has created its own innovative charter school on campus. Julianne Bassinger describes this phenomenon in "Colleges Experiment with Charter Schools," originally published in the Chronicle of Higher Education.

KLA

31 The Wall Street Journal, October 20,1999 Charter Hypocrisy

"Wizen I became president, there was In meetings with local officials Parish, near the Mississippi River, the one independent public charter school in and school advocates, the Justice De-civil rights division used yet another all of America. With our support, therepartment let it be known that it haddesegregation order to block that pro- are 1,100 today. My budget assures that concerns about the project, amongject. The New Vision Charter School in early in the next century, there will be them that the new school might drawMonroe was luckier. Though Justice 3,000." too many white children from neigh-had set its sites on the school, federal -PRESIDENT CLINTON, boring,schools,upsettingthoseJudge F.A. Little Jr. let the project pro- 1999 STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS. schools' racial balance. "What the ceed. Another lie, it turns out. When it parents want isn't important to me," This mode -of attack on charter comes to actual treatment of the na- a Justice official told Rolfe McCollis- schools, moreover, is by no means con- tion's fledgling charter schools, the ter, a charter backer. "I'm interestedfinedto Louisiana. Nineteen of the 30 Clinton Administration follows an- in the law." states that have charter laws also have other policy: It tortures them. This struck locals as ridiculous.areas that are under some sort of de- Consider whatitisdoingto First of all, what matters more, skinsegregation order, all potential battle- Louisiana's United Charter school:color or education quality? Second, itfields for Justice litigators. In a recent Back in 1995, Louisiana lawmakers wasn't clear that, after years of forcedhearing before Congress, Deputy As- surveyed their failing schools. After busing, there were enough whites insistantAttorneyGeneralAnita decadesofdesegregationorders, the community left to recruit even ifHodgkiss testified that the Justice De- mandatorybusingandsoon, United Charter sought to do so. Aspartment has opposed charter schools Louisiana school kids, half of whom Roger Moser, the local system's school in three other states: Texas, Missis- are black, ranked 49th in the nation in board president, told the Greater Ba- sippi,and South Carolina. overall achievement. Distressed, leg- ton Rouge Business Report, United Some argue that the never-con- islators passed one of the nation's Charter "has a chance of either im-firmed Bill Lann Lee is the exception more far-reaching laws for charterproving education dramatically forin an otherwise centrist Administra- schoolspublic schools that are given blacks and /or evolving to the point ittion. In fact, Mr. Lee represents more autonomy to try their own educational could be desegregated. But given thethe pattern than the exception. His approach without bureaucratic over- location it would have, I don't see any counterpart at the civil rights division sight. Among the new schools planned way it would ever become a high proof the Education Department, Norma was United Charter, a K-8 center for portion of white kids. ". Cantu, spent months harassing an- 650 at-risk children in an abandoned Nonetheless, the feds continued toother infant school, New York City's mall in inner-city Baton Rouge. Again, pepper the fragile project with ques-Young Womens Leadership School, bear in mind we're talking about a tions. Particularly frustrating to locals with the threat that its single-sex pro- public school. Applications flowed in. was that the government's lawyersgram was discriminatory. According "It's something our kids need," parent never laid out their case against theto Kimberly Schuld of the Independent Estella Percy told the local paper. school on paper. Soon thoroughly in- Women's Forum, Ms. Cantu backed off This didn't sit well with Mr. Clin- timidated, Baton Rouge authoritiesonly after her boss at education, ton's civil rights czar, Acting Assistant halted plans to open United Charter.Richard Riley, began making re- Attorney General Bill Lann Lee. To That's why parents, represented bypeated positive references to charter Mr. Lee and his fellow crusaders at the Washington-based Institute forschools in speeches. Justice, are now turning to the courts Justice, it seems, the actual welfare of We wish we had confidence that the flesh-and-blood students ranks a dis- to try to resurrect their dream. exposure of the Administration's ongo- tant second to abstract notions of Unfortunately, United Charter ising hypocrisy toward charter schools "rights." Tucking a 43-year-old court far from the only school to find itselfwould shame it into better behavior. desegregation decree under their col- harassed by Justice police. WhenBut so long as the Democratic Party's lective arm, Mr. Lee's attorneys de- SABIS International, a private schoolfuture is tied to the teachers unions, scended on Louisiana to block United management firm, tried to open an-the opposite is more likely. Charter. other charter school inSt. Helena Washington City Paper, October22, 1999

DroppingOut? By Laura Lang A school system that's struggling to reform itself can't seem to accommodate schools that are already working.

Six-year-old Ivan Oliver is a problein student. Burns' interest in Ivan was returned. He found a That is, he was a problem student, back when level of comfort with his teacher that was hard to he started kindergarten at Phoebe Hearst come by in a new school and an unknown country- Elementary School in the fall of 1998. Charlie Oliv- By the end of the first few weeks, he had started to er and Claudia Pabo had adoptedIvan* only a few call Burns "Mama," using the only word he knew. months before from an orphanage in Cherepovts, a that would describe the warmth and interest she'd city in the northern part of Russia. shown, says Ivan's father. Gradually, Ivan became By the time he went to school, Ivan more engaged in class, paying attention to his course could speak only a few words of work and engaging socially with his classmates. His English and had a hard time paying innate intelligence, skilled teachers, and accorruri&-:. attention in class. He spent most of dating school all added up to a very different student the time wandering about the class- by the end of the year. Ivan had become an adade4... room. Staffers realized Ivan was mic star in his kindergarten class and was growing having a hard time fitting in when wise to American slang. After one teachable . they found him perched on a jungle moment last year, says Burns, a rapt Ivan respond= gym, peeing onto the pavement ed with a short Pause and then: "Wow. No shit.' below while the rest of the kids "It was likewhat's his name?Rip Van played around him. kle, where he wakes up and the world is new,"..14i But Ivan's teacher, Brenda Burns, now a pre-kindergarten teacher at GarrisOn Burns, saw some sparks behind Elementary SchooL "It was so wonderful to see Ivan's slightly crossed gray eyes. In him take delight in everything around him...-.[IVari] her 17 years at Hearst, a school that has just an unbelievable perceptiveness aboufpeoz teaches pre-kindergarten through ple and language and what it all means." . third-grade students, Burns had Had Ivan been put into one of many other seen plenty of kids with conflicted trict schools, he might have been marginalized and backgrounds and believed that perhaps ended up as a special education case. But there were ways to teach someone Hearst isn't like most D.C. schools. A small institu= like Ivan. During the first few tion set in swanky Cleveland Park, Hearst bai high months of class, she spent time working individu- standardized test scores, students from all quarteri ally with him, finding ways to engage him in class and conversation. She learned that he was well- spoken in his native tongue, and that back in Russia, he would tag along with the orphanage custodian, helping to change light bulbs and build toy boats. Ivan was fond of singing along to a piano.

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33 of the city, and a reputation as a school that works in and more involved parents is a scary one. a school system that doesn't. "Hearst is a microcosm of a major aspect...of In fact, though, the very things that make Hearst what's wrong with our public systemthat it is not Hearstits small size, its service to out-of-boun& sensitive to [schools that are] good and nurturing," ary kids, its choice locationare the same things says At-Large D.C. Councilmember Phil Mendel: that have led, almost, to its undoing. District of son, a former advisory neighborhood commis- Columbia Public School (DCPS) officials considered sioner in the Hearst area. "The parents are sick of closing the school twice in the 1990s. And even it. I think this is a test for the school system. The though Hearst survived, it picked up some deep school system is going to have to figure it out and bruises. Last year, after months of conflicts between give some assurances to Hearst, or I think it's parents and then-Principal Shirley Hopkinson, going to lose Hearst." Superintendent Arlene Ackerman transferred Hop: Ackerman, for one, agrees that charter schools kinsonwhich made Hearst parents very happy77 have the potential to drain public schools of finan- but she also transferred two of the school's most cial and other resourcesfor little or no payback. popular teacherswhich made Hearst parents very "Right now, they're untested," she says. "So we angry. Burns was one of them. have to see if they do a better job, if they're going to, The transfers were followed by a mass exodus of be an answer." teachers, and many parents took their kids else: Ackerman says she tries not to worry too much, where. Those who remained feared that the go: focusing instead on improving existing schools so round over the principal had brought the school one that parents won't feel the need to go looking for step closer to extinction. Add in the set-tos around education elsewhere. "I hope that we will crate closings and staffing, and die-hard Hearst parents some systemic reform initiatives that will allow pair thought the school might be better off outside of a ents and the schools to feel that they can stay with: system that too long considered it an easy target. in the school system and they can thrive," she sayi. Last summer, they decided to submit an application But Ackerman has to put a positive spin on what to make Hearst one of the city's newest charter could become an ominous trend. There are other schools. As a charter, the school would receive pub: people close to the system who are a little more Open lic funds diverted from DCPS money but would with their concerns. They've watched as parenti operate independently of the school system. and teachers at one high-performing school, Paid "I viewed [the transfers] as a declaration of .war Junior High School, set out to convert the school M. on our particular little neighborhood," says Char: a charter; the process now seems well on its way. If lie Oliver. "I believe that if you put the control of Hearst is only the first school to follow in line;the schools in hands of parents, they would be better worst-case predictionsthat charters will drain die off than if either the school board or Ackernian school system of the best and the brightestMay had any involvement.: .. Just get downtown Out come true, perhaps more quickly than anyoite of the picture. Sell the administration building.. thought possible. Just eliminate them and send checks. That would "The worst thing that could come from this char be far superior." ter-school spin is that all activist parents would get Not everyone at Hearst is as ready to bolt as Oliy: out of DCPS and leave the system as a warehouse for er. And there's a long way to go before the charter:. residual students," notes schools watchdog and school idea becomes a real -. DCPS parent Philip J. Blair Jr. "I fear that." ity Whether it happens.or not, the parents at Hearst Things are rarely calm at Hearst, and t,- are sending a strong Signal morning is no different. Of course, stillness to the central administra- is hard to come by in a room full of 20 tion that there could he 4-year-olds. They sit in a quasi-circle on the edge of consequences if DCPS, a bright square of carpet in Carla Hillery's pre: leadership continues to kindergarten class as the clock clicks past 9, squirm- push them around. The ing and chattering away until the room feels as if it charter option allows might crack open. satisfied parents real lever- The controversy this morning surrounds anew age, a chance to speak out student, Anastassia, a towheaded girl dressed in a in a way they've never done Barbie-pink sweat suit and bright gold earrings, beforenot just by taking who has, as two of the girls report, ignored their their children to another inquires about her name and origin. Hillery sits school, but by taking their atop a small wooden chair at the edge of the carpet, school along with them. already looking exhausted, and explains that Ana- Given the current state of stassia is not responding because Anastassia not public education in the speak English. District, the prospect of That's good enough for the kids. They're used to DCPS losing even some of this kind of thing. In most schools, "diversity" is a its better-prepared kids cliche that lives mostly in the printed handouts from the principal; it generally means that a handful of 34 students don't match the dominant skin color of the to send administrators scrambling in search of other student body. At Hearst, there is no dominant skin targets. In the end, the board agreed to spare the colornot really. The school population is largely school, but only by a single vote. an even split between white and black kids, and It's not as if the system's officials didn't have their there are reasonable numbers of Latino and Asian reasons for preying on Hearst. It served only a hand- children. Like Ivan, Anastassia is Russianwhich is ful of District kids, a majority of whom were from more than the kids need to know They hear her out of its boundaries. And, more important, at least name and can think only of the animated movie from the perspective of DCPS, Hearst occupied with the same title. "I have that video," gasps Julia. some very precious real estate in Cleveland Park, Julia turns out to be Anastassia's new best friend, valued at $1.89 million in 1997. charged with showing her around the large class- But what looked like a honey pot of money to room during "choice time," the part of the day school officials was revealed as a hornets' nest when when the kids get to scatter to different stations in they tried to put Hearst on the block. Hearst parents the room. Holding Anastassia by the hand, Julia are very savvy defenders who can run circles around drags her from table to table, blabbering enthusias- the system when the school comes under attack. The tically as she describes the stations for drawing, for, last threat even bred a mantra: "Don't close it. Clone reading, for playing with Play-Doh. Anastassia may it." Parents believe that they have constructed an not understand a word Julia says, but she seems educational model that is far more valuable than a pleased enough to have the company. one-time infusion of cash for the system. And the The two finally settle in at a table used to practice brushes with closing have left parents at the school lettering. Anastassia picks up her backpack and suspicious and ready to start shooting the minute an pulls out a few books in her native language. "Na lle unfriendly head peeks over the horizon. Puh" reads the title of one, atop a picture of the "I know, as a former Hearst parent, there is round little bear most of the kids in the room know, always lurking in their minds: When is it going to' as "Winnie-the-Pooh." As Anastassia flips through happen again?" says Tonya Vidal Kinlow, a former the pages, reading them aloud in Russian, another Hearst PTA president and now an at-large member girl, Gabrielle, sits down next to her. "I speak of the elected D.C. Board of Education. "It's dis- French, too," she says, helpfully. ruptive to the lives of the children and everyone else It's a lovely picture, but it's not the only reason that's there." that District parents drive their kids over hill and dale And even after the DCPS officials decided that to get to Hearst. Parents say they're drawn to the they couldn't sell the place without taking a massive school because of its small size (170 students), its hit from its tiny band of adherents, they seemed to, commitment to early-childhood education, and its fmd other ways to get the people at Hearst angry.. strong support from parents who are happy to lavish When then-Principal Hopkinson, new to the, their time, money, and endless energy on the school. school in the fall of 1998, was tagged as being inac In 1990, DCPS designated Hearst a "demon- cessible and insensitive to student and parent con-.. stration center," which meant that teachers and cerns, the business of staffingAhe school becamea administrators would come from all over the sys- tug of war between the parents and the adminis-; tem to learn about its program. The school's cur- tration. The administration stood by Hopkinson, riculum emphasizes both academic and social even though it was clear she lacked the support she learning, and includes class time for art, dance, and needed to run the school. music. The "responsive classroom" technique, It got worse: When parents complained in Decem- another hallmark of the Hearst program, corn.- ber about an unidentified dust that lay on desks in one bines group and solo activities, structured lessons of the kindergarten rooms, for example, Hopkinson and open-ended projects. dismissed the concerns, say several parents. Days' Those elements have combined to create a school later, DCPS officials tested the substance and found that attracts people from all the various corners of that the dust came from lead paint and had significant the city, who latch on to Hearst not only as a place toxic implications. That fiasco, along with several that educates their child, but as if Hearst itself were others, was enough to permanently damage Hop- their own flesh and blood. kinson in the eyes of many Hearst parents. When that child er, schoolis in danger, par- "I found [Hopkinson] condescending, demean- ents react with ferocious protectiveness. Back in ing, distant, unresponsive, inaccessible," says for- 1993, DCPS administrators first considered closing mer Hearst parent Mina Veazie, who has since the school in an effort to cut costs for a financially moved her son to a charter school. (Hopkinson, now strapped school system, but opted to shut down a principal at Barnard Elementary, declined to com- couple of others instead. When the then-newly appointed D.C. Emergency Transitional Educa- tion Board of Trustees, a board created to oversee management of public schools and included then-Chief Executive Julius W. Becton Jr., came back to try to shutter the school anew in 1997, parents activated a network of media manipulating, grass-roots organizing, and loud, sustained protest

35 40 ment, directing all questions to Ackerman. "I'm not working at Hearst any longer," Hopkinson said.) Board, one of the two boards in the city that reviews Parents say they got the runaround when they charter-school applications, gave first-stage approval to the Hearst parents' application. The took their complaints to Hopkinson's superiors, such as thenAssistant Superintendent Audrey petitioning parents will resubmit the application in January and could open their charter as early as next Donaldson. (Donaldson has since left DCPS for the fall. They may also defer for another year. Chicago school system. She did not return a call for comment.) Finally, last spring, Ackerman made a "I don't think it's something we can afford to drop, because the school is vulnerable, and we need personal visit to the school, to interview the princi- to ensure [its] longevity," says Carlson. "And the pal and teachers. The next day, she granted a vol- future is very unpredictable in DCPS." untary transfer to Hopkinson. Unfortunately for Ackerman, she also gave involuntary transfers to Aday's worth of rain has smeared the hand- two popular teachers, Burns and Karen Dresden. Parents were furious. They circulated a petition made sign posted in front of Hearst one Sep- tember evening. But you can still make out protesting Burns' transfer, gathering the signatures the words: "Back to School Night." The flaw only of abbut 85 percent of parents. The effort did noth- adds to the building's schoolhouse charm. A large, ing to change Ackerman's mind. "I felt like there red-brick structure with a wide red door, Hearst sits needed to be an opportunity for that school to near the corner of 37th and Tilden Streets NW rebuild the climate," says Ackerman now "Cer= behind the sprawling campus of the exclusive Sid- tainly, it was so divided at that point, we needed to well Friends School. Large, comfortable single- give people the opportunity to start oven " family homes spread from the building on all sides. But it didn't end there. Aside from Dresden and Inside, the current Hearst principal, Betty Burns, four of the other nine classroom teachers also transferred to other DCPS schools or left the system Shamwell, starts the festivities with a greeting in altogether. Then another two asked to be trans-- broken Spanish, in honor of Hispanic Heritage ferred. Their requests were denied, they were told, Month and the parents and students who speak because of a systemwide policy to cut off teacher Spanishand there are many. Shamwell stands on transfers for the year. a small stage at the head of the "Big Room," a la'rie As for Hearst, parents worried that the hemor- rectangular area used for meetings, as well as for the rhage of teachers would be fatal for the school. A kids' drama and dance classes. A former assistant lack of experienced educators could kill the model principal at Bruce-Monroe Elementary school, program and dissuade many parents from staying, Shamwell has had decades of experience in early- they feared, meaning the school district might be childhood education. She's genuinely warm and more likely to close Hearst. If DCPS wouldn't pro-. friendly, with a smile that bgams a welcome to tect Hearst, they reasoned, they'd do it themselves. everyone in attendance. Parents say she's a good That's when the charter gambit became a weapon-- addition to the school, and they give her high marks and a potent one at thatin the parents' battle to for leadership and an ability to reach out to the maintain custody of the school's future. small children who fill Hearst's halls. In July, parents from the Hearst PTA submitted After Shamwell speaks, the teachers parade the application to convert- the school to a charter: across the stage to introduce themselves, to hearty "We feel as if we were driven to this point," says applause. PTA President Anne Herr gives a short Andrea Carlson, who worked to compile the appli-, speech and is followed by parent Lisa Greenman, cation, which was approved by about 50 parents., who talks about the latest fundraising project. For Meanwhile, DCPS hired a new principal and many parents, everything at Hearst seems as it teachers. The parents thought that, for the time should befor now, anyway. They're content to being, the school had been saved. In August, they wait it out and see if Hearst can survive in the sys- changed their application from a conversion request tem. The charter effort; in the minds of some, is an to a petition to create a new charter school. The insurance policy they hope they won't have to use, revised application meant that parents could build but will surely cash in ifand probably whenthe a new school based on the Hearst education model, school system makes another move on the embattled but would not have any claim to the Hearst building. school. "My hope is that Hearst is not going to Unlike conversion requests, the new application need to become a charter school," Greenman says didn't require eventual approval by two-thirds of later. "If we were assured that the school would be the school's parents and teachers. Only the ones who permitted to thrive as part of DCPS, I think that's wanted to go would leave. where we would prefer to be." In September, the D.C. Public Charter School

36 41 The parents' commitment to the public form of base payment, with additional money allocated on education is more than rhetoric. There are parents, the basis of age and special programs. Hearst par- many of whom could afford private schools, who ents hope to get about $6,500 per pupil, according sought out Hearst because they wanted their kids to to the application they filed, which would amount to benefit from the publicness of public schools. To about $1,235,000 for a 190-student population. many of them, citizenship in the District includes a Parents also say that additional funding from the commitment to the school system in spite of its PTA and school activities could tack on another manifest deficiencies. $35,000 a year. They plan to apply for a start-up That's why the charter option is seen as a last grant from the federal government, which could resort, to be kept behind glass that will be broken only bring in another $100,000, according to an applica- if efforts to educate their children in an environment tion they submitted this summer. carefully crafted to produce excellence are monkeyed If all of it came through, it would add up to a sigz. with. For many, the idea of turning Hearst into a nificant amount, well over the yearly DCPS budget charter goes against their philosophy of education. for Hearst. But DCPS also currently pays for sig- "What I wanted was an administration that nificant overhead costs, including record-keeping, worked," says Greenman. "I didn't want to opt out computers, and janitorial service, that are not of that.... I wanted to see reform from within included in the specific Hearst budget. If Hearst spreading out....I really think public schtlols Should parents do create a charter school, they will have to work for everyone." cover those overhead fees, as well as start-up costs; But when those two values come head to head like recruitment and training for new hires. saving public education or saving Hearstit's not It's a problem that all of the other 27 charter even a close call. "Although I was reluctant to see our, schools in the District faced when they started community pursue [the charter option], I felt it out, and many have gotten past the challenge by was necessary to do so," says Greenman. "I feel like teaming up with big corporations or nonprofit there's a need for a place like Hearst to exist, and I'm groups. Hearst parents hope to get resourcesfrom not confident that DCPS is supportive of that." the D.C.-based National Association for the Edn The parents see a host of practical problems cation of Young Children and the Greenfield, Mass.based Northeast Foundation for Children, along the path to creating a charter school. They are not a naive bunch, and the sheer logistics of build- both national nonprofits that provide training and support in early education. But so far, they have no ing a school almost from scratch are daunting. Many of them are putting as much as they can into the real commitments from any large organizations. school as it is. Carlson says that parents had little time for out- "I just see it as more hard work," .saysrpaitfit reach when they submitted the first application, but that they plan to expand their efforts in the Denise Nwaezeapu. "I view charter schools as more next few months. "That's certainlysomething vulnerability than security " that, in the next phase of planning, we'll be con- Getting first-stage clearance from the charter centrating on," she says. school board was a big accomplishment. But mak- Hearst parents would also have to find a new ing Hearst a charter would translate into serious home for their charter family. If DCPS closedthe homework for parents already balancing jobs and public school, as some think will happen, thepar- child-rearing. By now, they believe that Hearst's ents could lease or buy itsveryexpensivebuild- educational model is a moveable feast, but they ing, which would only add on to their yearly costs. would have to either find and hire a board of trustees If that building did not become available, they'dbe and other staff or run the school themselves. on their own in finding new digs. Fundraising would have to go beyond the already Ackerman says she has no intention of closing constant rounds of selling everything from gift wrap Hearst and says DCPS has invested in the schoolover to sweat shirts. To create a school similar to Hearst the summer by hiring new staff and making some ren-. in program and size, they would have to come up ovations to the building, like adding new windows. with the equivalent of the $900,000 yearly budget But new windows aren't the type ofcommitment the school district sets aside for the school, which some parents demand. They wouldprefer changes covers most costs specific to the school, like staff in Ackerman's fundamental ideas forschool-systern, salaries, supplies, and textbooks. reform, which some say are antithetical to Hearst's According to the 1995 D.C. School Reforin Act, concept. Ackerman's attachment toStanford 9 which laid the groundwork for charter schools in the achievement tests and standards-based evaluations District, new schools are entitled to the same per of schools, for example, has some parents worried pupil funding as regular public schools: a $5,500 that a unique program like Hearst'smight be squashed down into the DCPS box. "I'm actually more passionate about [the charter effort] now," says Hearst parent Karl Jentoft, whois married to Anne Herr. "I think Betty Shamwell isa

37 42 very nice principal, and she's done a great job of vocal about the charter process, rarely talking to the preventing a collapse of the school.... But she's on press for fear of complicating her efforts. "I'm not a one-year contract.... a person who pushes me," she says. "I'm a person, "Last year's problems are over," adds Jentoft. who pushes children. I believe every child is due a "I think there's a whole set of new problems good education." now The program hasn't recovered.... You may At Paul, Middleton initiated the kind of sweeping be able to create a decent school called Hearst Ele- reform that many District schools will have to under- mentary School, but it won't be the same pro- go in order for the system as a whole to prosper. She gram. I'm pessimistic that [Ackerman is] flexible started by moving and renovating a rundown library enough to include Hearst as it was." and adding space for new classrooms, says Paul Ackerman says standardized tests are only the teacher Bill Kappenhagen. Middleton also revamped beginning of her ideas for reform, and that future the school curriculum, cutting out classes like home types of evaluation, like writing tests, will accom- economics to make room for a greater emphasis on modate more programs like Hearst's. "How do basic education. She added a few extras to the idea of you know how well you're doing unless you can "basic," making Spanish mandatory for Paul stu- compare yourself?" she asks. "If you look at dents and including class time for visual and per- school districts that are really progressive, they're forming arts. The new, revised Paul also has an already doing [standardized tests]. We're just extended schedule for structured clubs and other catching up from behind." activities, as well as mentoring programs with com- But Ward 3 Councilmember Kathy Patterson, munity and other groups, like the John F. Kennedy who represents the ward where Hearst is located, Center for the Performing Arts and the consulting claims that if a school like Hearst has to leave the firm Booz Allen & Hamilton Inc. system to thrive, that could be a setback for larg- Middleton's efforts, according to parents, have er school reform. "It can be detrimental to the turned the school around. Since 1990, both enroll- public perception of school reform if a school ment and test scores have gone up. Last year, more feels it must become a charter school to survive," she than 80 percent of Paul students scored at the baSic says. "I hope that's not what's happening here." level or better on the Stanford .9 test for reading; about half scored Basic or better on the math por= Paul Junior High presents another clear and tion. Paul students go on to attend some of the best present threat to business as usual at DCPS. high schools in the city, like the School Without Hearst and Paul have almost nothing in corn; Walls and the Duke Ellington School of the Arts. mon as educational institutionsnot size, not look, Not everyone's been supportive of Middleton's not location, not student body. But the one thing reforms. School officials have "stymied" a number of they do sharea way of working for the kids who Paul's initiatives, notes Kappenhagen, either by attend themis the reason people at both schools direct intervention or by the sheer hassle they have are thinking of leaving the administration behind. created for coordination efforts. DCPS heads put the Housed in a massive three-story building in the brakes on plans to send a couple of Paul teachers to middle of the Brightwood neighborhood in North- a national conference for professional development. west, Paul serves about 775 kids, most of than They also put' a kink in a program with nearby from the neighborhood, most of them black. Tile- Whittier Elementary, which used to send some of its area around the school is largely residential, like highest- performing students to Paul to attend class- _Hearst's. But the homes are narrow row houses or es. "Because of the logistics of getting it straight with boxy, brick apartment buildingsnice homes .that the District, we just gave up," says Kappenhagen. give a good neighborhood feel, but hardly as state- In 1997, Middleton and Paul teachers thought ly as their Cleveland Park counterparts. . they could navigate the road of reform more deftly The school has a sort of academic rags-to-riches , without a big, broken school system dragging story that rarely happens in DCPS. Back in the behind them. That summer, they submitted an 1980s, Paul students performed poorly on stand- application to the D.C. Public Charter School Board ardized tests, their scores falling in the bottom half to convert Paul to a charter school. of all District students', except in science. Enroll- But the type of DCPS complications that had dri- ment also declined steadily in the late 1980s. In ven Paul teachers to seek a charter also stalled their 1990, the school had a population of only about 450 effortsat least temporarily. In the fall of 1997, students, less than two-thirds its capacity. DCPS officials had to delay the start of the school year Paul's academic savior, current Principal Cecile to make repairs to school buildings, like Paul's, that Middletdn, Lame to the school in 1990. A longtiMe couldn't meet fire-code standards without last- District educator, Iviiddleton has experience as both minute patch-ups. The delay meant that Paul teach- a teacher and a school administrator. Parents and ers couldn't meet up with parents in time to gather the school advocates praise Middleton as a good leader signatures needed for a conversion by the October and reform-minded educator. But Middleton is not deadline, says Kappenhagen. So Middleton applied

38 43 again the next year; again, the school opening was But these two are only part of a much larger char: delayed and the teachers came up short of signatures ter-school movement, one of the largest in the coun- Paul teachers decided to apply a third time, am, try. In only three years, D.C. has been breeding this time, they got started in the spring. They scored ground for 30 charter schools. Twenty-seven of the needed signatures and the board's approval this those are currently operating and enroll almost September. Paul is scheduled to open as a charter 7,000 studentsmost of whom came from DCPS school next fall. schools, says FOCUS's Cane. Cane estimates that Middleton and others like to say that their con- another 1,500 students are on waiting lists to attend version is about improving the school system, not existing charter schools. leaving it. They hope their charter status will allow Parents and students at Hearst and Paul would them to be a research-and-development branch for not be the first to leave the school system bound for the larger system. "Paul will always be a public charters. But they would be the first to tote their school," she says. "It's just that it'll be operating successful school programs along with them. And independently of the Board of Education." some fear that Hearst and Paul could be leaders with But to many, the move looks like an effort to get long lines of followers. "I don't see it as a slow away from a school system that has little to offer death," says Gushue. "I think one day we'll wake up Paul. "That's really a vote of no confidence in the and find that half our schools are charter schools." system," says DCPS parent and school activist Susan Some charter-school advocates argue that suti Gushue. "What Paul is saying is, 'We're better off proposition would offer "healthy competition" for without the services that the larger system can give DCPS. "I see a future where half of schools in the us.' That's really an indictment. People should take District are charter schools," says Richard Wenning, that very seriously " a former DCPS administrator who now heads Wen- Paul's not in the clear for a conversion just yet. The ning Associates, which provides administrative sup -' charter legislation says conversion charters should be port to charter schools. "That's very possible and able to remain in their buildings, but DCPS hasn't very desirable." come up with the same interpretation, says Nelson But some education watchdogs say it's still too Smith, executive director of the D.C. Public Char- early to count on charters as a way to reform the' ter School Board. Last year, the elected school board school system. "We have not had enough charter passed a resolution that says it has to conduct reviews schools in enough places to say that competition of all empty buildings to see if they should be used works, that it really improves schools," says Delabi for alternative or special education. Ackerman says an Rice-Thurston, executive director of Parents school officials have to give a once-over to the Paul United for the D.C. Public Schools, a local group of building to see if it's needed elsewhere in DCPS. parent and teacher advocates. "We've had compe But Robert Cane, executive director of Friends of tition from tons of successful private schools, and it Choice in Urban Schools (FOCUS), a local nonprof7 did not lead principals to say, 'What can I do to it, says DCPS already has plenty of empty space to recapture these kids?'" work with without Paul's building. "The irony here Board of Education member Vidal Kinlow. says is that there are approximately 3 million square feet, that the District may not be able to support a sys- of empty space in DCPS," says Cane. "So it's very tem in which half the schools are charters. "I don't, hard to make the argument that the [Paul] school know that it would be very healthy for the public building is needed for either of those purposes." school system to have a 50-50 split," she says. "It Ackerman says DCPS and the Board of Education becomes almost impossible to maintain." have not yet decided what to do about the Paul build- Right now, the D.C. Public Charter School Board ing. "We have to see what the community wants," says and the Board of Education's subcommittee on Ackerman. "This has now triggered a process we'll charter schools, which Vidal Kinlow chairs, oversee have to put in place that looks at the entire issue." the 27 charter schools currently operating. Each Whatever the outcome, Paul teachers still hope to body can approve 10 new charters a year, for a total open as a charter next fall. When they do, they could of 20. The D.C. School Reform Act has a five-year very well be blazing the trail for others who want to life span, but most charter-school advocates plan on take a similar route out of DCPS, their schools in pushing for an extension, says Vidal Kinlow. If the tow. "I think all eyes are on us to see how we do, ". extension is granted and the growth of charter says Kappenhagen. "If we're successful and the schools continues at its rapid pace, District officials District doesn't improve drastically, we'll see an will have to come up with a way to build a body.t? influx [of interest in going charter]." oversee all those charter schools. "We're going to need to look ai how we createa n their own, and even together, Hearst and Paul more systematic oversight meCtianisin, which means hardly seem like a threat to a behemoth orga- creating another bureaucracy," says Vidal Kinlow. 0nization like DCPS. After all, even when you Ward 7 D.C. Councilmember Kevin Chavous, add up the numbers, the schools account for feWer who chairs the council's Committee on Education, than 1,000 kids in a system with more than 70,000. remains hopeful, noting that the existence of char- l't qt;':', .z. 39 4 4 ter schools has encouraged DCPS administratorsto the Ivan Oliver doesn't really like to talk about cede more control to parents and teachers. "I like school. Of course, not many 6-year-olds do. idea of giving more authority to these schools," says He tells me a little about recess and about tunes Chavous. "I think public schools are headed in that he sings in music class, like "Jingle Bells" and "Frere direction. For some schools, we may not be moving Jacques," but when I ask too much, he cuts me off in that direction fast enough." "Shhh. No talking," he says. "Let's be quiet." In the meantime, some worry that the supposed Ivan is swinging from "a rope his father.has man- give-and-take relationship between charter and aged to drape over a high, high tree limb in the regular schools may be a little one-sided. Obvious-. family's backyard..He's got only a few minutes ly, every time a student chooses a charter school the system loses a before he has to head off to school. *He wants to over a regular public school, enjoy them in peace. portion of its funding. Ivan's parents say their son has had a hard time Virginia Walden, executive director of D.C. Par- that pro- adjusting to the new Hearst: He misses Burns and ents for School Choice, a local nonprofit can't understand why she's not his teacher any- vides school information to parents, says the differ- moreor, at the very least, at the school. So far this then has ence shouldn't matter, because the system year, says Ivan's morn, her son has called his new one less child to educate. teacher a "liar" and a "butt." But it's not that easy. Since DCPS puts a portion Ivan's still swinging out back. I push him a little of its per pupil revenue into systemwide expenses, more on the subject. He pauses, seeming pensive the system comes up short when kids leave, says more thoughtful than I thought a 6-year-old could Mary Levy, director for the Public Education Pro- be. "She's a stranger," he says of his new teacher. ject at the Washington Lawyers' Committee for "She looks like a stranger tome." Civil Rights. School officials can eventually down- Ivan's only 6. It can be hard to please a 6-year-old. size those systemwide costs, on the basis of decreas- Besides, he'll eventually get over losing Burns. But immediate es in students, but the process isn't an his parents are also troubled. His father continues to nearly as fast' one, says Levy "[DCPS] can't cut costs write letters to school and government officials, as enrollment declines," she says. asking that something be done about last year's That's exactly the reason parents choose charter. forced transfers. Ivan's mother is hopeful about the schools, say advocates: because more money goes new year, but admits she's worried how Hearst will directly to their kids. "DCPS is given more money continue to thrive under a standards-focused Ack- every year, and we're still talking about'reforming.' erman administration. "There are times when you Something's not working," says Walden. "[Charter wonder whether Ackerman wants to bring schools schools] are taking less money and having more successes. They ought to get off the moneykick. up to those [like Hearst] or bring [those] schools down to others," she says as we walk Ivan to school There needs to be another argument." There is: Public school advocates say the system's one weekday morning. greatest loss is not of money, but of parents, stu- When we arrive at the Hearst playground, Ivan dents, and teachers who are committed to educa- runs off to join the students already lining up with their respective teachers. He has put on his round, tion. "When parents make their choices and choose with their feet, you're losing resources in a lot of dif- plastic glasses, which are covered with corrective tape to help with his crossed eyes. I saw him exactly like this ferent ways," says Vidal Kinlow. Mary Budd, publications director for Boston= when I visited Hearst weeks before, but I didn't know him at the time. Even so, this little boy with a mop of based Advantage Schools Inc., which assists 16 charter schools around the country, including onein blond hair and weird glasses walked up to me and gave me a quick hug on the way into the building. D.C., says she's tired of this "skimming" argument. It's hard not to get swept up into the Hearst fam- According to Budd, most charter schools develop in underserved areas, and cater to low-income and ily. It's a warm, tight-knit community that you minority studentsnot the sort of cream:of-the- probably wouldn't find at most schools, certainly not crop students charter-school foes have in mind. with the same mix of people. You can almost under- That theory may usually be true, but in the cases stand why parents get so gaga about saving the of Hearst and Paul, the schools looking to leave the school, with or without DCPS. school system are among the system's best. If other "It seems DCPS wants all schools to look the schools follow in line, the trend could become just same," says PTA President Herr. "If that's the case, the drain of resources some fear. "I don't want to see they should embrace charter schools....I would real- parents who choose and who are active enough to ly rather see a public school system that is respon- choose a school like Hearst leaving the public school sive to the community. I think that would be a good system," says Rice-Thurston. "They have been outcome for everyone. But I don't think we're head- strong advocates. It's a small school, but it has pow- ed that way " CP erful parents. They work for that school."

BEST COPY AVAILABLE 40 45 Investor's Business Daily,November 29, 1999

THE FIGHT OVER WHAT KIDS LEARN Parents Use Charter Schools To Change Curriculum

By Anna Bray Duff gg elementary and middle schools Investor's Business Daily didn't offer a coherent curriculum. Of all the contentious is- What students learned depended on You get the feeling' as a sues what the teacher wanted to teach; facingpublicschools, And that flexibility, they felt, often one stands out: curriculum. parent that you can't know gave math and science short shrift. When it's time to update the cur-nearly as much as the What's more,shesays,itleft riculum or get new class materials, many parents unable to judge how, school boards all over the countryeducation establishment. well the schools were really doing. face what's known as the curriculum "In theory, there was a curricu-' wars: the fight between parents whoThey'll listen to you, but lum, but you couldn't understand want to see schools take a more tra- whenstudentswere supposed tc ditionalapproach andthose whothat's about all. learn what," Nappi said."It never said, 'Students should learn,' or `StU-' want the schools to focus on progres- Kelli Kreienkamp, sive education. mother, licensed teacher and co-founder of dents should know,' but instead that Still, many parents none more the Verona Core Knowledge Charter School theyshouldexperiencesomething. so than traditionalists often feel What does that mean?" their inputisn't welcome whenit )3 Nappi, with other parents, was comes to deciding what istaught, troubled by studies showing a. grow and how. Frozen out of the decision-fewer issues parents care more abouting gap between poor, minority stu: making process, some parentsarethan what getstaughtinpublicdents and wealthier, white students setting up schools that embody theirschools, and how it gets done. withintheprestigiousPrinceton own vision of education. The Princeton Charter School inschool system. In 34 states and the District ofNew Jersey is an example. "What the students learnedde-' Columbia, parents can set up char- When some parents couldn't swaypended totally on what the teacher ter schools which give them thethe school board to adopt what theywanted to do, and that left gaps in authority and the funds to changeviewed as a more rigorous curricu-their education that might never. be how theirkids are educated.- lum, they started their own school, Nappi said. And a number of groups criticaloffering kindergarten through eighth They set out to reform the curricu- of progressive education the reign-grade. lum but didn't get very far. ing orthodoxy in the public schools Chiara Nappi, now a visiting phys- Some pointed to the district's sky-1 are helping them find the class-ics professoratthe University ofhigh SAT scores to show the schools room materials they needto put SouthernCalifornia and one-timewere among the best in the country. their vision into practice. Princeton school board member, re- When the"curriculumists" as Thecharter-schooltrendmay counts her experience in "Why Char-Nappi and the other parents were make public schools take parents'ter Schools? The Princeton Story,"dubbed pointed out that not all concerns more seriously by showingpublished by the Fordham Founda-children were doing that well, their how many parentsare drawn totion. opponents said the real problem was these schools.Afterall,there are Nappi and other parents felt the

41 4 Foundation publishes a complete cur-sory committees, but they are far' out- low self-esteem. Until the school sys-riculumforkindergartenthroughnumbered by teachers or other school- tem stopped alienating minority chil-eighth grade based on the ideas ofdistrict appointees, he says. dren, they wouldn't be able to doE.D.Hirsch,aleadingcriticof And the parentsinvitedto take' challenging schoolwork. today's schools. part aren't usually the vocal critics of , Maureen Quirk, an electrical engi- Other parents, worried about progressiveeducation."There'sthis neer,was one of thosetryingto"fuzzy" math, look to textbook analy-echo-chamber effect," Braunlich said. change the curriculum. She joined theses put out by a group or mathemati- "You get the feeling as a parent effort after seeing the limited exposurecians and scientists known as Mathe-that you can't know nearly as much to math and science that her youngmatically Correct. And parents whoas the education establishment," said. Kelli Kreienkamp, a mother, licensed daughter got. want phonics instruction can look to "By the time my daughter was inresources such as the National Rightteacher and co-founder of the Verona Core Knowledge Charter School in' fifthgrade, Irealizedthesystem to Read Foundation. wasn't going to change," Quirk said. "There are many parents out thereVerona, Wis. "They'll listen to you, "We just did a lot ourselves, with pri-now with Ph.D.s and Master's de-but that's about all." grees, and with the Internet they have On her school district's curriculum vate math and foreign language les- committee, there was just one parent sons. But it rankled that we had . tothe ability to communicate their views and their own knowledge to a lot ofand six district appointees. teach these things ourselves when we Kreienkamp and several other par- got it in the schools." people," said Christian Braunlich, pres-ents decided to start Verona, which Armed with a 1996 New Jersey lawident of the free-market Alexis de Toc- queville Institute and member of theopened in the fall of 1996. It offers a allowing charter schools, Quirk and mix of the Core Knowledge curricu- Fairfax, Va., school board. "They are severalothers startedthe Princeton lum as well as Direct Instruction an Charter School. not, going to defer to the school sys-education model with a tightly script= "We had gone to the schools to asktem anymore." ed role for teachers' that flies in the for a more academically challenging Braunlich argues school choice canface of what the current school estab-' strand within the elementary schools,help resolve what has become an im-lishment feels is best. and I felt they were laughing at us,"possible conflict for public school sys- ThedistrictwhereKreienkamp'.s Quirk said. tems. children were in school had set up "But when we started, 25% of all "Look at the amount of energy ex-pilot program in Direct Instruction. eligible students in the district appliedpended in this country trying to de- But parents weren't allowed to 'elicit:1'u toour charter school and wecide what works better is it betterwhether their kids got to take part? didn't even have an address yet," sheto have uniforms or not, phonics- or "My kids have one shot at getting, said. Last year, the school got 250 ap-whole language, Core Knowledge ora good education, and this is what 1. plications for its 26 open slots. critical thinking?" he said. "If parentsknew they needed," Kreienkamp said., "If we had only been concerned had a choice of schools, we could ruse"There isn't a private school in jour with our own children, we wouldthatenergytohelpsustainthose area that does this." never have set up a public charterchoices and.make more available." Likewise, Marilyn Keller Rittmeyer school," she added. "It's very much Curriculum conflicts aren't easy forand other parents started the Thomas' simpler to do some home schoolingpublic schools to resolve. Many par-Jefferson Charter School in 'Chicago' or send children to a private school.ents want different 'things for theirthis year. "We wanted a classical edu- But there were disadvantaged childrenchildren, and so any choice always up-cation, one that used time-tested texts who were suffering and were losingsets someone. And parents' concernand teaching methods," she said. ground." over curriculum doesn't always mean "We tried to get the existing system Their experience trying to reformthey have the expertise to design one. to provide that as an option, but they the district's curriculum gave Quirk Still, in most school districts, par-refused to do it." and others a clear idea of what they entsaren'tinvitedto get veryin- Could greater school choice help wanted in their charter schools. volvedincurriculumdecisions.Inbring an end to the curriculuM wars ?, Other parents aiming to start char-Braunlich's own district,the school"The answer is yes," Braunlich said. ter schools with a focus on traditionalboard recently voted not to even let Added Kreienkamp: "We're never content and methods have turned toparents review a family-life curriculum'going to go back to the time when outside resources many availablebefore it was final. moms and dads baked cookies and for free on the Web. Typically, a few parents are invitedraised money for the schools, but oth- For example, the Core Knowledgeto join school district curriculum advi-erwise kept their noses out."

42 4 7 Akron Beacon Journal, December 12, 1999

Lawmakers did not fund an oversight office for CHARTER EXPERIMENT GOES AWRY charter schools until the program's second year and after more than 60 contracts had been approved and 15 schools had opened. The undermanned office is SCHOOLS FAIL TO DELIVER hard-pressed to complete routine checks for fire safety and criminal backgrounds, and is barely EDUCATION, SAFETY LEFT BEHIND IN monitoring academic progress. OHIO'S RUSH TO OPEN ACADEMIES Children are bearing the brunt of the charter school problems. The state has allowed charter schools to open without textbooks or indoor toilets. Students By Dennis J. Willard and Doug Op linger, Beacon have attended class in unsafe buildings that lacked Journal staff writers sprinklers or fire alarm systems. And local police in Ohio, already No. 1 in the '90s for putting public dollars Columbus were called 12 times in two months to one into private schools and last in the nation for placing charter school to investigate disturbances, including children in safe and sanitary buildings, is on course to one case of sexual assault. earn a new distinction in the next decade. Most charter schools are not models for reform. First- The state is ready to rival Arizona, California, Florida and year test scores indicate students in charter schools Michigan for funneling state and local tax dollars to a new are doing dramatically worse than public class of schools-charter schools-that are public in some schoolchildren, and the new schools are not ways and private in others. incubators for innovation as proponents promised they would be. Two years ago, Ohio did not have a charter school law on Profits are being reaped, but there is no evidence that the books. But state lawmakers, former Gov. George charter schools are reducing education costs or saving Voinovich and current Gov. Bob Taft have made up for Ohio taxpayers money-despite lower pay for teachers lost time-paving the way for 48 charter schools to open and exemptions from 191 state mandates that hike the statewide in just the past 15 months. cost of education in public schools.

While making good on promises to provide parents with The result is that parents pick the school of choice for educational options, state leaders and lawmakers were their children while Ohioans foot the bill. And despite the busy making choices of their own. millions of taxpayer dollars pouring into charter schools annually, there appears to be little government regulation. They opted to bully charter laws onto the books. They granted the state unchallengeable authority to create "I think it's a mistake to have the state charter these charter schools in existing public school districts. And schools and turn them loose with little or no supervision," they denied local communities any say in the matter, not said John Gilligan, Ohio's governor from 1971-75 who even allowing public hearings. was elected to the Cincinnati Board of Education in November. Now, less than five months into the second year-as charter schools move from concept to reality-serious questions While he believes some charter schools have been and disturbing problems are starting to arise. successful, others have been fiascoes, he said. Private, profit-minded companies, known as "In the meantime," he said, "we're going to experiment education management organizations, are making with our children's welfare." strong inroads into the state. In doing so, these EMOs * * * * * * * * are concentrating school ownership in the hands of a few and brushing aside the people who were to be EMOS DOMINATE given control of their local charter, or community, At the dawn of this decade, charter schools didn't exist schools-parents, teachers and community members. anywhere. The Ohio Board of Education, responsible for oversight, is rubber-stamping contracts as fast as it In 1991, Minnesota was the first state to pass a law can without thoroughly reviewing the written permitting them. By this year, an estimated 350,000 proposals or hearing from a single charter school children were enrolled in about 1,700 quasi-public representative. One reason: Most board members say schools in 36 states and the District of Columbia, they have almost no authority to reject a proposal. according to the U.S. Department of Education. 43 4S. Ohio's entree, albeit belated, has been dramatic. By law, only nonprofit organizations, and not private for- profit companies, can start a charter school. But the During the 1998-99 school year, 15 charter schools were nonprofits and EMOs work hand-in-hand, often so close it up and running. An additional 33 charter schools opened is difficult to determine which came first or if they truly this year. The state will spend more than $52 million to are distinct entities. enroll about 10,400 students. For example, identical contracts for several White Hat And it's just getting started. Taft and state lawmakers Management-managed schools were submitted together to have made a substantial commitment and investment in the state board although the schools are supposed to be charter schools, extending their reach to Ohio's 21 largest run by independent governing authorities-the private cities and poor-performing school districts. With that, the equivalent of school boards. number of schools and enrollment is expected to double by next fall. These governing authority members, unlike public school board members, can have a financial interest in the Charter schools were a simple concept. To break the schools, give contracts to friends and relatives without public school mold and monopoly, a local building would competitive bids, and are not required to undergo criminal be turned over to parents, teachers, educators and background checks. community members. Those liberal doses of public funding with few strings Former state Sen. Cooper Snyder, R-Hillsboro, an early attached make Ohio attractive to EMOs. sponsor, made it sound like local folks would run a school building the way parents organize a little league baseball The state gives charter schools the same basic funding per team. pupil as the local public school district, but Taft and lawmakers upped the ante for the quasi-public schools "A good education system is central to any community," this June with increased money for computers, all-day Snyder said in 1995. "My proposal simply allows the kindergarten, textbooks, aid to poor children, special community to make significant contributions to the education and startup funds. process and, in the end, I think we'll see better schools as a result." Even charter school advocates are split on the issue of EMOs and the privatization of public education. Although profit is not a dirty word to charter school backers, Snyder and other lawmakers never mentioned it. Brennan and other entrepreneurs say a market driven by Nor did they talk about private companies coming in from parents will decide the fate of charter schools while others all corners of the country to open schools. think charter schools should be limited to filling niches not addressed by local districts. Now education management organizations dominate the charter school movement. Ohio is already following other The Ohio Department of Education is struggling with this states that have EMOs, such as Michigan. issue, largely because more than half of the 60 contracts proposed for next year are from EMOs or charter school A study completed in October by three Michigan State developers already operating in the state. University professors found 70 percent of the charter schools in that state were run by EMOs during the 1998- But their internal debate may be wasted effort because a 99 school year, up from 50 percent a year before. majority of the state Board of Education, empowered with creating charter schools, say they do not have the "I think this was an unexpected development," said David authority to reject a legal contract. Arsen, one of the MSU professors. "Is it a good or bad thing? We don't know. What we do know is this is a * * * * * * * * terrifically important development. It's quite possible that linking the profit motive to improvement will work. It's MASTERS OF OVERSIGHT possible that the opposite is true," Arsen said. To paraphrase Will Rogers, the state board has never met In Ohio, EMOs run 16 of the state's 48 charter schools. a charter school it doesn't like. Although they represent one-third of the charter schools, The board rarely questions individual contracts. It voted the EMOs control 45 percent of the state and local funds for 37 contracts with a single roll call on April 13. and enroll 46 percent of the students. State board members -- 11 of them elected and eight By far, Akron entrepreneur David Brennan's White Hat appointed-are responsible for approving 36 of the state's Management is Ohio's EMO leader. 48 open charter schools. The remaining charter schools White Hat runs 11 schools with 3,267 students and is are in the Toledo area, created by public agencies in projected to take in $16 million-or almost one of every Lucas County. three taxpayer-funded charter dollars-this year. By next Jennifer Sheets, an elected member from Meigs County, fall, Brennan and White Hat could have more than 30 said the state board has no discretion and must approve charter schools in Ohio.

44 49 any contracts that meet standards established by state But city fire inspectors eventually did. A month after lawmakers. classes began, fire inspectors forced the school to close because it did not have fire alarms or sprinkler systems. The gray area, of course, is the standards. The state let the school move to a different building The board relies on recommendations from state without a working alarm-a problem once again cited by education department staff, who review the proposals, city, not state, officials. point out legal, academic and operational problems, and In October, staff from the Office of School Options-which raise questions for the board to consider and discuss. oversees a majority of charter schools in Ohio-made site Some contracts, like those for the Ida B. Wells and Edge visits to the 36 schools approved by the state board. Ten Academy charter schools in Akron, are thorough. Staff charter schools were not in full compliance with fire reviews indicate little or no problems with those inspections, 17 did not have completed occupancy contracts. permits, and nine schools were not in full compliance with health and safety inspections. But they are not the norm. Most contract proposals are flagged by staff for numerous problems. Some contracts More than a month after opening, seven schools were not have as many as 20 areas marked "no," meaning they are in full compliance for any of the three critical areas- not acceptable in those areas. occupancy, fire or safety and health. The schools are providing the state with weekly updates on their While Department of Education staff is expected to iron inspection status. But there was almost no progress four to out the problems with the charter school, the state board six weeks later. has been more interested in getting schools open and approves almost all contracts on a conditional basis. Only one school had secured an occupancy permit while none of the schools noted in the first visit had reached full State board members, however, do not follow up on the compliance on fire, or health and safety inspections. outstanding conditions in the contracts, and the education department reviewers who originally noted the problems Steve Ramsey, assistant director of the Office of. School are not asked to sign off on any negotiated changes. Options, said the state board will continue to approve contracts that do not list a specific location, but operators Diana Fessler, an elected board member from the Dayton must have a facility by June 15 beginning next year. All area, has criticized the board for not doing homework or occupancy permits and fire, safety and health inspections addressing important issues. She also could not get must be completed before a school can open next year, education department staffers to send her contracts to Ramsey said. review and was not given access to the thousands of pages until shortly before the April 13 meeting. Still, state board members appear to be looking no further than the last page of the contract summary for a "It would have been humanly impossible for someone to recommendation. In doing so, they are not asking read and absorb," Fessler said. questions or discussing problems brought to their Melanie Bates, an elected board member from Cincinnati, attention by the department. said she supports charter schools and voted to approve the And the board doesn't always follow recommendations. 37 contracts. But some schools in that bunch should not open, she said. When contracts for Cincinnati's Riverside Academy and Hope Academy Lincoln Park in Cleveland were approved "They are bundled. I think the full board should vote on in April, they came with this staff recommendation: The these individually," Bates said. Brennan schools should be allowed to open only "upon One of the contracts approved was. the Cleveland satisfactory completion of the state auditor's report of the Alternative Learning Academy, run by a Maryland-based current Hope Academy charter schools for the 1998-99 company that also opened a school in Dayton. school year." Department staff reviewing the Cleveland contract cited But when the schools opened in September, State Auditor 17 deficiencies on Feb. 23, noting the proposal appeared Jim Petro's office had not yet received financial data from to have been completed in a rush. the Hope schools. And the audit results won't be ready Six weeks later, the deficiencies were never discussed as until next year. the state board approved the contract without mentioning Neither state board President Martha Wise nor state the school. school Superintendent Susan Tave Zelman were aware of In another possible problem, most charter school contracts the decision to allow the schools to open-a decision made do not list potential locations for school officials to check by education department staff without their bosses signing out before approving a binding contract. That may explain off. why no one from the state board or department inspected There is one part of the contract that state board members the Cleveland Alternative school before it opened in have been sticklers for-a clause that clearly states they are August. not personally liable as individuals or as a state panel for

45 50 any damages or personal lawsuits brought against the the early '90s, has opened two types of cookie-cutter charter schools. schools. And state lawmakers, after being lobbied aggressively last His Hope Academies and Life Skills schools rely on the spring, changed Ohio law to ensure charter schools could Josten computer-based education program, which is used be sued, but the individuals operating them were not throughout the nation. One of his schools may begin to personally liable and would not lose their homes or use Direct Instruction. possessions through a court action. Jim LaRiccia, principal of the largest charter school in Wise, the state board president from Avon, defended the Ohio-Brennan's Eagle Heights Academy in Youngstown- board and its actions thus far on charter schools. She was asked to explain the difference in academic noted that the board relied on the state education approaches between his school and the local public department to review and monitor the schools. schools. "We were trying to go as fast as possible and not be "There's a lot of hugs," LaRiccia said. "That breaks down inhibitors for choice for parents and their children," she a lot of walls." said. "The term would be due haste. We were working as * * * * * * * * fast as possible." Ramsey said the state will "have egg on its face" at times NO SAVINGS as these schools start to open, but the setbacks are worth Charter schools also are supposed to save money, but the effort to increase competition in the public school there is nothing in the law that requires them to do so. monopoly, provide choice to parents and reduce overall education costs. In February 1997, the state's Legislative Service * * * * * * * * Commission prepared a 13-page memo that identifies 191 sections of Ohio law that charter schools are not required to follow. Public school administrators maintain they LITTLE, IF ANY, INNOVATION would spend less if they were given the same exemptions Charter schools were supposed to spur healthy from mandates that charter schools enjoy. competition and innovation. While some laws pertain to bureaucracy and "Charter schools can make it really easy to innovate in the recordkeeping-a cost that cannot be ignored in public classroom," said former state Rep. Sally Perz, R-Toledo, schools-other areas require the public schools to spend an early sponsor. considerable amounts of money. To date, the state has no program designed to share Public schools must continue to notify parents when innovations if there were any. students are absent and meet per-pupil ratios for librarians, guidance counselors, nurses and art, music and Many charter school operators rely on nationally physical education teachers. Many charter schools offer developed, alternative education programs that many these services part time or not at all. public schools would experiment with if money was available. In public schools, gifted children must be identified and provided special attention. Not so with charter schools. There are two Montessori charter schools in Ohio. At the Millennium School in Columbus, Jim Cowardin uses LaRiccia, the Eagle Heights principal, said he doesn't test Direct Instruction. In Akron, 120 miles away, Susan and the school's 732 students to determine if any are gifted, David Dudas bought the same program from McGraw and there are no special classes or pullout programs for Hill for their Edge Academy. the children. "Innovation does not equal success. It's results that That helps keep costs lower for the charter school. count," Susan Dudas said. Clint Satow, Ohio Community School Center assistant The large EMOs often bring the same cookie-cutter director, said charter schools already spend less per pupil approach to their schools that charter school supporters than local public schools. While he is correct that public have argued are problems in public schools. After all, schools spend more, the differences can be accounted for developing new educational approaches takes time.and by hundreds of dollars spent by public schools for school money. bus transportation and federal, vocational and gifted programs. Edison is one of the few EMOs that is credited with investing in research and development, but it still relies on Some charter schools avail themselves of those services, Success For All, a widely used reading program. which would push their per-pupil expenditures much closer to that of the public schools. The charter schools David Brennan, who denounced the cookie-cutter can also receive up to $150,000 over three years in federal approach used by public school "educrats" as chairman of and state start-up grants that public schools do not. Gov. George Voinovich's school choice commission in

5 .4 And Taft and state lawmakers this year made sure charter For example, Harmony Community School in Cincinnati schools would receive the same amount of money per will receive nearly $485,000 more this year in guaranteed pupil or more than a local district in almost every state special ed money as a result. The money for the guarantee and federal funding area. comes from Cincinnati. "I have to pay Harmony for not educating that student," Gardner said. Ironically, due to the complexity of the state's funding system for public schools, charter schools are actually Those problems aside, charter schools appear to be here to costing local property taxpayers more money for their stay. And each state is faced with designing its own laws local school system. and policies. That's because the state guarantees 100 percent funding "The rules matter," MSU professor Arsen said. "You have for each child enrolled in a charter school, but does not to have rules, and you have to get the rules right." extend the same to the public school student. In Ohio, charter schools are expected to keep opening at a Why? State funding increases are capped at 11.5 percent quick pace. Millions of state tax dollars will continue regardless of enrollment. flowing into them. And the state will be deducting dollars from local school districts that in effect will move local That means Cincinnati, the largest urban district affected property taxes into private hands. by the cap, will lose $8 million in state aid this year. The cap forces the district to pay 100 percent of the funding But the idea of the charter school has changed a great deal for the local charter school students, including the state's without much public debate. share. Gone is the talk of communities controlling a local school "The impact is there," said Richard Gardner, Cincinnati building. More and more, charter schools are a schools treasurer. "The state would say it is just a pass- privatization of public schools although supporters are through. The problem is that really doesn't happen. The reluctant to acknowledge this idea. cap kicks in. We don't get any more money because of At a workshop held once a week by the education the community schools." department to help people prepare proposals for charter Gardner said charter schools will cost his district $7 schools, Dr. Patricia Hughes, a consultant hired by the million this year, and a levy approved by local voters in state, was recently talking about the types of charter November was needed to pay the bill. schools that have opened in Ohio. The state is picking Cincinnati's and other urban district's Like most people at the statehouse, Hughes calls them pockets in another way. The state guaranteed to the 15 "community schools." original charter schools that they would get as much She noted there was one type of community school that special education money as last year-regardless of had not emerged as the state began working to open more whether special ed students actually enrolled there. schools in the third year of program. Four schools in Toledo and two in Cincinnati opted to "Right now, we don't have a neighborhood community take the guarantee, which will cost the local districts school," Dr. Hughes said. $500,000 each. And she said it without a hint of irony. But under the guarantee, if the child returns to Cincinnati, the money doesn't follow the student. It stays with the charter school.

47 The Chronicle of Higher Education, October. 29, 1999

minority students for admission are high for the San Colleges Experiment With Charter Diego campus, says Henry M. Levin, who directs a Schools new center at Columbia University's Teachers Institutions see the academies as sources of College that studies alternatives to traditional public students and laboratories for research education. "Symbolically, San Diego's charter school By JULIANNE BASINGER is important, because it shows the university is La Jolla, Cal. committed and willing to take some risks," he says. The youngest students at the University of California "But if they fail, they really have egg on their face. at San Diego hope to be admitted there It's really putting your money where your mouth is." six years from now. The push to create a charter school at first drew This year, their main worry is getting through middle opposition from faculty members, who worried that school and the rigorous college-preparatory their research budgets would be cut to fuel the new curriculum that the university has helped create for endeavor. Some questioned whether educating the charter school that opened on its campus this fall. schoolchildren was even the responsibility of a research university. Part of the controversy also While dozens of colleges and universities across the stemmed from the fact that the school would be a United States have sponsored or formed partnerships charter school, a kind of public school that has with charter schools, the organizers of the San Diego generated fierce debates since the first one opened in school say theirs is the first to be run by a research Minnesota in 1992. university and housed on its campus, with the aim of helping low-income, minority students prepare for Thirty-six states and the District of Columbia now the institution's competitive admissions process. have laws allowing anyone -- including parents and business groups -- to apply to start a charter school. The idea for the Preuss School sprang from the furor The charter is a contract between the aspiring that followed the vote by the University of California founders and the state to establish a school, specify System's Board of Regents in 1995 to ban the its programs, and outline how it will measure its consideration of race in decisions on admissions, success. Charter schools receive public education hiring, and contracting. California voters a year later funds but are free of many of the state and district had approved Proposition 209, which banned regulations that apply to regular public schools. affirmative action in all state agencies. Such schools have opened in all but four of the states The regents then encouraged the system's eight that allow them. More than 1,700 charter schools undergraduate campuses to work with middle and across the United States now enroll about 350,000 high schools in helping to prepare students for students, according to the U.S. Department of college, so that the universities' enrollments could Education. remain racially and economically diverse. The university system now spends $140-million a year on Charter-school proponents have said that creating such outreach efforts -- more than double what was them would spur changes in school districts by spent before the ban. driving competition and innovation. But districts have worried about losing funds to charter schools. But on the San Diego campus four years ago, a handful of faculty members and administrators They and other critics also have questioned the doubted that those measures would suffice to expand schools' accountability and have cited examples of the pool of minority applicants. "We came to the some that exclude a diverse range of students or that opinion that we have to be more invasive," says Cecil fail to offer special education. Lytle, a provost who led the push to create the charter school. "Until you affect what happens between 8 and Most researchers and policy makers say it is too early 3 o'clock, you're just tinkering toward utopia." to measure the charter schools' overall success. But that uncertainty has not stopped colleges from The stakes of running a school to nelp prepare stepping up their involvement.

48 Seven states have laws that allow colleges or Doris Alvarez, the school's principal, says the universities to grant charters, according to the university chose students who had scored in the National Conference of State Legislatures. middle 50 per cent on standardized tests, but had Michigan's public universities have authorized the otherwise demonstrated strong academic potential. most schools by far. Some institutions have granted "We didn't get the top kids," she says. "We looked at charters for and oversee dozens of schools because of the students who we thought that, given the right the strong role given to universities in the state's law. supports, could make it." But their role has led to controversy on their campuses and criticism of their performance as Applicants were required to submit essays and overseers. portfolios of their academic work, and their parents were asked to help their children succeed. The school Other states that allow universities to grant charters held a lottery to select 150 students from among the are Minnesota, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, 500 applicants. The result was a diverse group of and Wisconsin. Florida allows state universities to students -- 54 per cent Hispanic, 24 per cent African establish schools in consultation with local school American, 12 per cent Asian, and 10 per cent white. boards. Many of the students spend more than an hour on a More than 50 colleges now have some other bus every morning to reach the university's involvement in the schools, including teacher training oceanfront campus in posh La Jolla. Most of the and educational research. But few have taken on sole transportation costs are covered by state money that responsibility for running a school. was set aside under a ruling in a San Diego desegregation lawsuit. San Diego's new school is one of the most ambitious and comprehensive of such efforts. This fall, 150 Patricia Edon, whose son, Dion, is an eighth-grader at students, in the sixth through eighth grades, enrolled. the school, says the opportunity is worth the As they advance, the school plans to expand to inconvenience. "He doesn't mind it," she says. "It's a include high-school grades, for an eventual chance to be in a university setting, and they have enrollment of 700. The first class will graduate in exposure to university facilities." 2004. The school offers a single-track, college-prep The students now attend classes in temporary curriculum, with longer class periods than in district facilities here, but the university has raised nearly schools, allowing more in-depth instruction. The $13-million in private donations to build a new school day and academic year also are longer. And school on its campus. Peter Preuss, a California all students take Spanish classes. regent, donated $5-million. The school, named in his honor, is scheduled to be completed by next fall. Most university faculty members now favor having the school on their campus. But when the proposal Students will continue to use campus recreation was presented to them two years ago, they voted it centers and attend occasional classes taught by down. Mr. Lytle, the provost who had fostered the professors in their laboratories or classrooms. The idea, resigned in protest. children's uniforms -- khaki pants with maroon or navy polo shirts -- make them stand out all the more "The school, as proposed, was too small and wouldn't as they walk in groups across the campus. have had any effect," says Georgios H. Anagnostopoulos, a philosophy professor who led the The university chose to open a charter school, Academic Senate at the time. "And it had no research because it wanted to use public funds, and to component that connected the school with the innovate without district and state regulations. It also university." wanted to attract students whose families couldn't afford to pay private-school tuition, the school's Robert Dynes, the chancellor, was among those who organizers say. perceived flaws in the initial proposal. But he felt public pressure to have a charter school on the To be admitted, students must come from families university's campus -- from local citizens, members qualifying for the federal subsidy for free or reduced- of the Board of Regents, and then-Gov. Pete Wilson. price school lunches. And their parents cannot have So Mr. Dynes appointed a group of faculty members graduated from a four-year college. to revise the proposal.

49 university's Board of Trustees the right to The revision passed the faculty's muster, and Mr. authorize and oversee charter schools, and to Lytle, who also is a concert pianist and a music revoke their charters if they don't meet state professor, agreed to stay on as a provost. The new requirements. The law, enacted last proposal had two key changes: It assured a financial December, calls for SUNY to authorize the "firewall" between the university and the school, so chartering of 50 schools. The trustees this that no university funds could be siphoned away, and summer approved three charter schools, it called for creating a research center to coordinate which opened this fall. None of the schools all of the university's work with public schools, are operated by colleges. including the charter school. The University of Southern Colorado in 1994 opened the Pueblo School for Arts and That helped frame the charter school more as a Sciences, which now enrolls about 380 research laboratory for testing educational students from kindergarten through high innovation, says Hugh Mehan, a sociologist and school. The high-school students attend director of the university's teacher-education classes in the library building on the program. Mr. Mehan was named to direct the new university's campus, while students in the center, which will help to relay the results of what lower grades attend school downtown. works at the charter school to the local public schools Students in all grades are offered a single- that have partnerships with the university. track curriculum that weaves arts instruction with academic work. Students at the Preuss School, meanwhile, will be The University of South Florida last year doing some research of their own -- observing life at opened a charter school that now enrolls a university. "When they look out the window, they about 140 students from kindergarten see 15,000 examples of what they should be doing," through third grade. The University of South Mr. Lytle says. Florida Charter School, which is located in a museum off the campus, accepts low- HIGHER EDUCATION'S INVOLVEMENT IN income students from the local county. CHARTER SCHOOLS Wayne State University in 1993 opened an In the 32 states, plus the District of Columbia, that experimental middle school, University now have charter schools, at least 50 colleges have Public School, for disadvantaged minority some official involvement in about 200 charter children. Professors in many disciplines schools, out of a total of more than 1,700. Most of the helped design the school's curriculum, and institutions are in Michigan, where eight state faculty members work with teachers on universities and one community college have granted pedagogy and academic issues. The school charters for 151 schools and are responsible for their is located in a downtown-Detroit building oversight. Nationally, the degree of colleges' owned by the university. involvement varies widely, from approving the schools' creation and collaborating in partnerships to actually running the schools. Some examples: California State University at Los Angeles since 1994 has run an elementary school, the Accelerated School, in the South-Central area of Los Angeles. The school, which enrolls minority and low-income children, is part of the Accelerated Schools Project founded by Henry M. Levin, an economist and education professor now at Columbia University's Teachers College. The project offers an accelerated, single-track curriculum for helping disadvantaged schoolchildren catch up and do grade-level work by the end of elementary school. The State University of New York this year created a Charter Schools Institute, to help carry out a new state law that gives the

50 5 5 (S R)2 Selected Readings on School Reform School Choice

While many today tend to think of school choice as an issue belonging solely to conservatives, history shows that its roots are to be found on the political left.Peter Schrag points out in "The Voucher Seduction," published in the American Prospect in November, that "Thirty-plus years ago, school choice was almost entirely a cause of the left." And while its current advocates are primarily conservative, that's far from universal. Paul Peterson, a self-described liberal, is living proof that not every member of the left feels obliged to defend the education status quo. In his "A Liberal Case for Vouchers," published in the New Republic, Peterson dismisses the "creaming" argument that so many choice opponents make. Reviewing data from the Edgewood private voucher program in San Antonio, Texas, Peterson shows that participating private schools do not skim off the highest achieving students. (Edgewood's own analyses, we understand, show the same finding, but for some reason have not been made public.)

A different twist to the "creaming" argument appears in "In Michigan, School Choice Weeds out Costlier Students" by Tama Lewin writing for the New York Times. While students are not "weeded" by academic achievement level, the authors conclude that Michigan's charter schools are not taking their share of the students who cost the most to educate: disabled youngsters and high school students (who require labs, athletic equipment, etc.).

For those still unconvinced that sundry school choice reforms are here to stay, Thomas Toch's Wall Street Journal article, "Whittling Away the Public School Monopoly," shows just how deeply rooted the largest profit-seeking public school contractor has become: running 79 schools serving 38,000 students nationwide (and that was before a big new agreement was reached in Dallas), ChristopherWhittle's November IPO for Edison Schools stocks soared at $760 million in November.

Lastly, Checker Finn's "The Marriage of Standards-based Reform and the Education Marketplace," which he presented at the recent National Education Summit, discusses how competition-based and standards-based reforms should not be viewed as competing agendas but rather as complementary movements. While each approach has its advantages and disadvantages, together they create a potent synergy of checks and balances that can help keep both movements on track towards dependable reform.

KLA

51 The American Prospect, November 23, 1999 "EVOUCHER SEDUCTION ate this summer, just as, Texas Governor George W. Bush was beb:nning to convince a lot of people around the country that his state's public school BY reforms were lifting the test scores of even the poorest students, along PETER SCHRAG came presidential candidate Bush bearing an altogether different message: when we fail, let them eat vouchers. If he becomes president, Bush told a group of Latino business leaders in Los Angeles, he will take steps to transfer federal Title I money from consistently failing schools $1,500 per child per yearand give it to parents to use in any tutoring program or in any alternative school, public or private, that the parents choose: "Whatever offers hope:'

Maybe even Bush isn't convinced that Texas, which had Party generally: governors Jeb Bush in been getting lots of adulatory media attention for its self- Florida, Tom Ridge in Pennsylvania, proclaimed high achievement standards and its tough school Robert Taft in Ohio, and Tommy accountability program, is such a great reform model. Thompson in Wisconsin; the Christian Bush's proposal is loaded with questions and unresolved Coalition; the right-wing Bradley and problems. The $1,500, really a semivoucher, isn't nearly enough John M. Olin foundations; and an array to cover tuition at most private schools or even at parochial of educationally minded conservatives, schools. And in taking money from the public schoolsmoney among them William Bennett, Lamar that's supposed to go to schools serving large numbers of low- Alexander, Chester Finn, Jr., and Diane income kidsBush may leave the kids who remain in even Ravitch, all of whom served in either the worse shape. To compound the questions, if the money can be Reagan or Bush administration. used in parochial schools, there are major unresolved church- state issues. If it cannot, there may be few accessible alterna- MINORITIES AND VOUCHERS tives, especially in the inner cities, where most of the schools But for anyone who looks closer, the news with low test scoresthe schools that are generally defined as comes from a very different place. In most failingare located. surveys, the majority of Americans give their local schools high marks, and most nd yet nobody should underestimate the political appear to be willing to spend more money potential of Bush's proposal, and not only among toimprovethem.Butinthe Republicans and conservatives who, in recent years, annual Gallup Poll for Phi Delta Kappa, have been the chief apostles of what they call the percentage of Americans that sup- choice. On the contrary, proposals like Bush's are pitched at a ports some form of voucher has grown wholly different constituencyat moderates, at minorities, from 24 percent in 1993 to 51 percent in like the Latino business people before whom this proposal was 1998; among blacks it's 59 percent; among first delivered, maybe even at liberals, and beyond them at the Latinos, 68 percent. And while a recent great American middle. poll conducted by National Public Radio, To be sure, the loudest voices for vouchers, an idea dreamed the Kaiser Family Foundation, and the up by free market economist Milton Friedman some 40 ).ears Kennedy School of Government at ago, are still the voices of conservatives and of the Republican Harvard shows Americans as ambivalent and "divided" on vouchers, with 42 percent in favor and 54 percent opposed, in a similar survey done for the Joint Center

52' 5 7 BEST COPY AVAILABLE for Political and Economic Studies, which focuses on black who recently formed a Partnership for Parental Choice; the issues, 43 percent of the general population supported vouch- predominantly Latino Parents for School Choice in San ers, more than half the blacks supported a means-testedAntonio; Professor Michael Nettles at the University of voucherone that would go only to the children of moderate-Michigan; Cleveland City Councilmember Fannie Lewisis and low-income parents. In the Northeast and Midwest, black long and getting longer. support for vouchers was well over 60 percent. (In Philadelphia, according to a poll conducted in April 1999 by the Annenberg 1\/1ore important, perhaps, is the shifting rationale Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, 72 per- that accompanies that growing minority support. cent of blacks and 79 percent of Hispanics favored vouchers.) Much of the campaign for "choice" has been Among blacks between the ages of 26 and 35, support for driven by Christian conservatives in pursuit of vouchers went through the roof. private-school subsidies. But ever since vouchers and There are other signs: tuition tax credits resurfaced as a major issue in the Reagan era, the policy argument, reiterated by people like John Chubb and In Florida this spring, the Urban League of GreaterTerry Moe in their book Politics, Markets and America's. Schools, Miami, breaking with the National Urban League, signed on to,had largely rested on Friedman's original free market theory. support Governor Jeb Bush's bill, now law, that establishesSchool monopolies, they maintain, are like all cartels. They give Florida's statewide voucher program, the first in the nation, clients no choice and producers no incentives to improve, and which allows children in failing public schools to transfer eitherare thus subject to the same inertia, inefficiency, and arrogance to another public school or to a private or parochial school as Soviet-style collective farms and steel plants. with a 5-1,000 voucher. Support also came from black Choice, write Chubb and Moe,"is a panacea." (The Democratic legislators like Beryl Roberts and Willie Logan and fact that the teachers' unions have long been one from Miami's African-American Council of Christian Clergy. of the Democrats' largest sources of funds has, of "It was a natural for us," said T. Willard Fair, the president of course, added passion to the Republicans' theory). the Urban League of Greater Miami. But every time open-ended, market-based In New York, the privately financed Children's vouchers have been proposed in the states in Scholarship Fund (CSF), one of some 30 such programs, which recent years, they've been defeated, either in the this year gave 40,000 private school scholarships to low-income legislatures or, as in major initiative campaigns kids in scores of cities, announced that it had 1.25 million in Colorado and California, at the ballot box. applicantsnearly all children from poor and low-income Since there was no means test in those voucher familieseven though its scholarships provide plansand, in order to accommodate the only part of the tuition and parents are expected Christian right, there were few other restric-- to contribute some portion from their own tionsthe biggest chunk of tax money would resources. CSF is funded largely out of the deep have been taken from the public schools and pockets of New York investor Theodore given, at least initially, to middle-class families Forstmann,Wal-hlart heir John Walton, and for- who already had children in private schools. mer Disney President Michael Ovitz, but its That made those proposals fat, easy targets for advisory board includes, among others, opponents to shoot apart. Southern Christian Leadership Conference The new rationale is principally an equity President Martin Luther King III and former argument, and the policies that follow from it are more finely Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Colin Powell. tuned: The rich have choices, first because they can pay private In Texas, two years ago, the state board of school tuition and, more importantly, because they can buy the League of United Latin American Citizens their way into the neighborhoods that have the good schools. (LULAC), the nation's oldest Latino civil rights Fairness demands that the poor, whose children are caught in organization, came close to endorsing a state failing schools, have the same opportunities. "You can't tie the voucher plan before backing off in the face of passengers to the deck of the sinking ship," Howard Fuller says. protests from influential members.. "You have to give them a chance to get off." In Cleveland last summer, when a federal The strongest version of that argument comes from John judge named Solomon Oliver, Jr., ruling that E. Coons, a retired Berkeley law professor, who has probably constitutional challenges based on church-state thought longer and harder about equity in school finance than issues had a good chance of prevailing, temporarily blocked theanyone around. A Democrat and longtime voucher advocate, city's voucher program, the poor and working-class parentsCoons contends that the left has completely lost its way on this who used the program saw the decision as a disaster for theirissue. "Here is an educational system which prides itself on children. Oliver quickly amended his ruling to allow those who being 'public' but which provides access to the best schools had been in the program to remain in private schools for only for the rich, meanwhile herding the workers and the poor another semester or until the case was decided. into the state schools that operate in those neighborhoods In Milwaukee, with a school enrollment of roughlywhere they can afford to live," he said in a recent speech. He 110,000, where some 8,500 poor kids are now attending privatecontinued: schools under a state voucher plan, Howard Fuller, the city's former superintendent of schools, now a professor at Where ... were the Marxist theorists whose vocation it Marquette University and director of its Institute for the is (or at least was) to expose such nasty instruments of Transformation of Learning, is talking about creating a class warfare? For that matter, where wereand where national network of blacks that supports options to existing arethose Democratic politicians who so constantly school structuresvouchers, charter schools, and other alter- assure us of their deep concern for the not-so-rich? So far natives to the existing systembecause"we have to change the as I can tell, the Democrats (my own party) are either face of school choice to make it clear that support is not just running these state schools that warehouse the poor coming from whites or from conservatives." The list of poten- orwith the help of the teachers' unionsare busy in tial membersformer Atlanta Mayor and UN Ambassador the legislatures and Congress making sure that nothing AndrewYoung; former Congressman Floyd Flake in NewYork; in this system changes except its ever-expanding cost. state representatives Polly Williams in Wisconsin and Dwight The rich choose; the poor get conscripted. Evans in Pennsylvania; the black Baptist ministers of Detroit

53 ,5 a BEST COPY AVAILABLE Because that rationale becomes more credible if vouchers inequities between rich and poor communities in California's are not perceived as subsidies to the affluent (who already have property taxbased school funding system, a theory that has choices), every politically viable tax-funded voucher plan now since been used successfully in many other states. They showed in operationMilwaukee's, Cleveland's, Florida'seither has that even where poor communities burdened themselves with a means test or, in what amounts to almost the same thing, exorbitant property tax rates, they could not generate as much allows only students in failing schools (as in Florida) to get tax- revenue per pupil as wealthy communities could with much supported funds to go to private schools. The money goes, at less effort. And since schools were ultimately a state responsi- least initially, to minorities and the poor. For people like Jeb bility, the state was violating its own equal protection guaran- Bushor George W.that may simply be the best way to get tees. When the California Supreme Court in its two Serrano v. to the full-blown voucher programs that the right seems, at Priest decisions (one in 1971, the other in 1976) upheld the least in the abstract, to be committed to. But it is nonetheless a constitutional challenge, the state became the equalizer, first by major departure from a generation in which, to use Coons's providing additional support to poor communities and imposing what were, in effect, revenue caps on affluent dis- words, "pro-choice rhetoric ... featured a self-defeating emphasis on market theory." And it ought to be a wake-up call tricts, and later through the fortuitous effects of Proposition for the left. 13, which in essence turned the property tax into a state tax. But in a series of books and articles, Coons and Sugarman VOUCHERS AND THE LEFT argued that that form of equalization, which still assigned each For those who have been around long enough, the new terri- student to a particular school, was never an ideal remedy tory may not be entirely unfamiliar. Thirty-plus years ago, that the natural corollary to Serrano-like cases was a system school choice was almost entirely a cause of the left. In the under which the money would go directly to parents, provided heady days of the 1960s, radical reformers looked toward the that, like means-tested college scholarships, its value u-as open, child-centered schools that critics like Herb Kohl, Jules pegged to family income. In the 1960s, when there was serious Henry, Edgar Friedenberg, Paul Goodman, and John Holt talk about vouchers in connection with Lyndon Johnson's War dreamed about. Implicitly, their argument had the advantage on Poverty, school choice belonged to the left. In the 1960s, of celebrating American diversity and thus obviating our both the feds and the Ford Foundation funded experiments chronic doctrinal disputes about what schools should or with alternative schools. In the early 1970s, Representative Leo shouldn't teach. Ryan, a liberal Democrat (who was later killed in the Updated, their analysis has just as much salience today. Jonestown Massacre), started to organize a drive to provide all Children are all different and learn in different ways, so aren't California children with vouchers that they could use in either parents best equipped to decide where their own children are public or private schools. most likely to thrive? In a field where experts can't agree While all that seemed to have ended with the ascendancy of where there are endless debates between the advocates of free market politics in the late 1970s, when, in Coons's words, structured, phonics-heavy curricula and whole-language pro- "it became fashionable to argue for the deregulation of schools grams, about teaching math facts and discovery learning, as if they were functionally the equivalent of banks or airlines," about testing and multicultural- things seem to be turning again. Where vouchers had been eas- ism and multiple intelligences, ily perceived as attacks on the poor, they are now, with the help about the virtues of unisex of that growing number of urban black leaders and with the schools for girls, about prayer growing ability of conservatives like the brothers Bush to and religion, about sex educa- exploit the issue, being increasingly represented as an instru- tion and classroom discussion ment to help the poor. "Proponents seem at last to be con- of sexual preferencesa single vinced," says Coons, "thatat this stage in historypopular model prescribed by the state acceptance requires that choice be seen to help those who need will always be a set of unhappy it most. In due course a universal system may follow, but it will compromises that offends the be the poornot the market itselfwho shall lead us." private beliefs of a lot of parents and thus undermines their THE RISKS authority as educators of their The question is where. Is this the beginning of a slippery slope own children. in which the poor are simply the poster children in a process In the 1960s, egalitarians that will gradually erode support for all public education? Will believed that sooner or later the real choice go to the private schools, which can, in one form school integration would equal- or another, cream the best and leave the toughest, casesthe ize resources and in this way costly special-ed kids, the slow learners, the discipline prob- bring quality education to all lemsto a public system that has to take all corners? For American children. Then, as voucher advocates, Jeb Bush's Florida "opportunity scholar- now, educational pluralism had ship" plan, which Coons helped design, provides at least a par- worrisome centrifugal implica- tial model. The vouchers, which are the equivalent of what the tions: the common school, after state would spend on the same child in a public school, go to all, was supposed to be one of our essential instruments of children in failing schools and can only be used in other pub- assimilation and citizenship. The radical reformers of the 1960s lic schools or in private schools that accept them as full pay- made a tactical mistake, seeing alternative schools largely as a ment for tuition, thereby making certain that schools won't social or pedagogic vehiclea way to get away from the old- simply raise their charges in proportion. It also requires private fashioned desks-screwed-to-the-floor schools they regarded as schools to accept voucher stu- coercive instruments that thwarted children's natural growth dents "at random without and curiosity; they thought too little in economic terms. And regard to the student's past aca- while there was much talk about alternativeseven about demic history" and allows them competition for public schoolsequity issues rarely came up. to expel them only in accor- dance with their published This is where liberals like Coons came in. It was disciplinary procedures. In Coons and his colleague Stephen Sugarman who, addition, the schools may not in the late 1960s, developed the legal doctrine that discriminate on the basis of supported the constitutional challenge to the race, their teachers must meet BEST COPYAVAILABLE ,_t "2., 54 a9 minimum qualifications, their words of Michael Nettles, a professor of education at the facilities have to comply with University of Michigan and executive director of the Frederick state health and safety codes, D. Patterson Research Institute, who has collected great vol- and they must provide a school umes of data about the education of black children, "[T]he profile that includes student pool of talent is too thin to expect public schools that prima- performance. rily serve African Americans to become quality schools any- But in Cleveland, which time soon." (The same point was made recently by Arthur began its voucher experiment in Levine, the president of Teachers College, a liberal and long- 1996-97, a considerable share, time opponent of vouchers and one of the most respected though hardly all, of the first voices in American education, who announced that it was time vouchers went to low-income for "a rescue operation aimed at reclaiming the lives of kids who were already in private America's most disadvantaged children" that would "involve a or parochial schools; addition- limited voucher program focussing on poor, urban children ally, the American Federation of attending the bottom 10 percent of our schools" and that could Teachers (AFT), among others, has charged that the Cleveland be used "at nonsectarian private schools or better public vouchers are soaking up state tax money that could have gone schools in the suburbs.") Such assertions grow not from to the restoration of full-day kindergarten and other improve- theory but from desperation: who can in good conscience argue ments of the public system. In Milwaukee, meanwhile, com- that the more able or motivated poor students have to serve as plaints have been filed by People for the American Way, which, hostages in dangerous or failing schools to protect the less able next to the teachers' unions, has become the nation's leading or, worse, to serve the cause of some political abstraction? opponent of vouchers, charging that schools violated the state's What's almost certain is that the nation's intensifying con- voucher law by trying to discourage some applicants or bycern about educationthe great ed scare of the '90shas telling parents their children would be required to participate intensified the voucher issue as well. In state after stateTexas, in prayer and religion classes. California, Virginia, Florida, North Carolina, Kentucky, Which, in turn, raises other questions, particularly about theMassachusetts, Michigan, New Yorkthere's no end of debate fate of the failing schools and the students that, for one reasonabout tougher standards, about the end of social promotion, or another, do not or cannot leave. Coons argues that in places about high-stakes testing, and about increased accountability like Milwaukee, it is often the marginal students, not the best, for schools, teachers, and principals. And almost everywhere, who seek the vouchers, but in general, as one survey puts it, itstates are allowing the creation of charter schools, schools that is "the most advantaged of the disadvantaged" who are most are, in varying degrees, free of education codes and downtown likely to seek out alternatives to the neighborhood school. bureaucrats and thus (at least in theory) provide choice and Voucher advocates claim that their scholarships usually cost less alternatives within the public system. than what the public schools would spend on the same children,VOUCHERS AND CHARTERS thereby leaving more resources for the remaining pupils, but the The charters have functioned as a kind of controlled-burning accounting is dubious if the costs of social services and educat-alternative to the fire of vouchers. Yet ironically, the debate ing handicapped children are included. And however muchand the factsabout charter schools has itself begun to mir- voucher proponents argue that once there is demand, suppliers ror the controversy, pro and con, over vouchers. In 1998-99 will appear to take even the most difficult students, the public there were 1,200 public charter schools around the country, schools will always be the default system for those who can- up from two in 1992-93, and their numbers are certain to notor will notfind another place: Nor is there certaintygrow. In some states, they enroll a disproportionate number about the new suppliers. In Milwaukee, at least some of themof minority children and offer all sorts of programs and appear to be inner-city churches for which the vouchers maybethemes: technology, math, the arts, school-to-work. Some not only a way to help children but also a means of generatingfocus on low-income or at-risk students. In all those respects, revenues for themselves. Where that's the case, the constitu- they reflect the diversity rationale of the radical reformers of tional church-state issue will be all the more difficult. the 1960s. But for all their promise, and despite the fact that they are Acrucial question is whether children who taketheoretically accountable to a local district or to the state, a vouchers to parochial and private schools actually growing number of charters have become indistinguishable do better than comparable kids in public schools. As from private or even quasi-religious schools that offer Bible in a lot of other educational research, the samplesreading, give equal time to creationism, and, in some cases, are tend to be small and the variables too numerous to be conclu- staffed by people who have only the most perfunctory train- sive. These include students who change schools or drop out,ing. In Fremont, California, an Islamic charter school, which the differing levels of motivation of students and parents, and gets full state funding, offers its 74 students a morning of the corresponding levels of discipline (including expulsion) academic training each day that's provided largely by parents that choice schools can exercise as well as the varying amounts under the supervision of a "facilitator"; in the afternoon, stu- of money spent. [ See "Vouchers: The Evidence," opposite.) dents attend the Annoor Islamic Institute in the same class- But in this controversy, the philosophicaland the politi-rooms. In Michigan, according to The Wall Street Journal, calissue of choice may be far more important than any sta- National Heritage Academies, sponsored by entrepreneur J.C. tistics on achievement. For many parents who opt out ofHuizenga but tax funded as public charters, tilt so heavily inner-city public schools, safety and school discipline are atoward evangelical Christianity that they are drawing scores of higher priority than academic programs, which is probablystudents away from private religious schools. Elsewhere why, in places like Milwaukee, parents give their vouchercounty school districts have awarded charters, and the tax schools high marks even when there is no demonstrablemoney that comes with them, to Internet distance-learning improvement in their children's test scores. Not surprisingly,"schools," whose students, most of them home schoolers, can people who have chosen their schools --,by moving to the sub- be hundreds of miles away, and where no one is quite sure urbs, by gettiit'g fritt:;'.ie'lecti;:re'or specialized urlian schools, or where all the money goes. The charters have also provided a by buying their way into the Daltons and the Deerfieldshavemajor opening for the Edison Project and other for-profit a psychological stake in their choice and usually give thoseeducation companies, which now operate about 10 percent of schools high marks. the nation's charter schools. Poor black children, however, have no such choice. In the

6 0 BESTCOPYAlm 55 177 And often, of course, the charter alternative is not availableschools while the educational establishment and its political at all. Charters, requiring a critical mass of organized supportallies have dithered. from parents and/or teachers, are often hard and time- The new politics of vouchers rest increasingly on the sim- consuming to set up, especially for poor working parentsple question that follows that neglect: what is the state going to facing the rigid school bureaucracies and unions of the innersay to the parents of the children who are the conscripts in cities. Some demand significant parent involvement, and,those officially identified awful schools? Thereare plenty of despite laws in many states requiring that they enroll a stu-problems in even limited vouchers, but until that question is dent body representative of the community where they'reanswered, people like George W. Bush will have an issue. If the located, some are subtly as selective as private schools.left doesn't understand that, the right will drive educational (See Richard Rothstein, "Charter Conundrum," TAP,reform on its own terms. JulyAugust 1998.]

Wat's changed far too little, even after nearly two decades of reform, is the huge achievement gap between whites and Asians on the one hand and blacks and Latinos on the other and, more generally, between high-performing (largely suburban) schools and the low achievers in the cities and many rural areas. The most important thing the new reform-driven testing programs have done is to make those gaps all the more apparent. Worse, despite all the talk of reform and accountability, and despite some marginal improvement in minority test scores, public systems have not yet been willing to take the costly and unsettling measures, including merit-based hiring and promotion, that would get them the experienced, committed teachers and the quality courses that they, of all schools, so desperately need. In California, which has launched a great bar- rage of reforms, the state is now publicly listing schools by deciles according to their scores on a standardized test, from those that are in the top 10 percent to those in the worst 10 percent. But only a small fraction of the worst schools will be eligible for even the paltry and underfunded shape-up program that the state has put in place. Which is to say that while 800 schools (of 8,000) will be listed as the worst, only about 100 of them will get any help. There are ample reasons to worry about the centrifugal social and cultural effects of a tax-supported voucher system. But by now school integration is largely a dream of the past, particularly for the young urban blacks who favor vouchers so strongly, and as it fades so, unfortunately, does the power of the argument about the importance of the common school,in forging communities and assimilating the young. The forces of ethnic particularism that have often been cheered on by the left the Ebonics programs, the widespread disdain among many teachers for what they regard as the Eurocentric melting pot, the political cor- rectnessas well as the unvar- nished racism in school districts like Oakland. And the right's flirtation with school prayer and creationist curricula is as apparent in many of our public schools as it is anywhere else. None of these is an argument for a Friedmanite system. But that's not where the debate is now focused. What's on the table is more subtle, nuanced, and morally complex. And it carries a lot more political firepower. "Some say it is unfair to hold disadvantaged children to rigorous standards," George W. Bush BEST COPY AVAILABLE declared in Los Angeles. "I say it is discrimination to require anything lessthe soft bigotry of low expectations." For more than a generation, those children have been stuck in those

6 1

56 The New Republic, October 4, 1999

New data counters old fears. A Liberal Case for Vouchers By PAUL E. PETERSON continue providing them until that child graduated from high school, as long as he or she still lived in Edgewood. In pERHAPS YOU'RE FAMILIAR with the "skim- addition, students could use the vouchers anywhere in San ming" argument against school vouchers. As this Antonio, even in public schools outside Edgewood that were line of thinking goes, the parents most likely to willing to accept them. In the program's first year (the opt for vouchers will be the ones who are already 1998-1999 school year), approximately 800 Edgewood stu- most involved with their children's education dents made use of the vouchers. which, on average, will mean the parents of the most moti- The Texas Federation of Teachers howled that private vated and gifted students. Once the best and the brightest schools would "cherry pick" the best students and predicted flee to private schools, public schools will only get worse; this the program would "shorten the honor roll" in public schools. debilitating cycle will continue until the best students are "Right now, I don't have the profile of every child," Edgewood skimmed off and the only kids left in public schools are those School Superintendent Dolores Mufioz said on PBS's 'News with the fewest skills and the least-involved parentsin Hour with Jim Lehrer," "[but] I guarantee you that at least other words, the students most in need of help. "Vouchers are 80 percent will be the high-achieving students:' like leeches," says North Carolina Governor Jim Hunt. "They drain the lifebloodpublic supportfrom our schools." Bob TO MAKE MATTERS worse, stories of private Chase, president of the National Education Association, schools shutting out applicants quickly circu- concurs: Establishing a system of vouchers, he says, would lated. Edgewood's school board president, be like "bleeding a patient to death:' Manuel Garza, wrote in the San Antonio We liberals are sensitive to this argument because we know Express News that he had received a call from that needy students are now getting the short end of the edu- "a mother ... for help because their application to the [Hori- cational stick. Yet, while liberals are right to be concerned zon program] had been denied.;.. I asked why she was about these students, new data from a privately financed denied. The mother said she was a single mom, had two voucher program in Texas suggest that we should give vouch- jobs, and was told she was unacceptable because she could ers a second, more serious look. Far from aggravating income not dedicate time for extracurricular requirements, like and' racial disparities in education, vouchers may actually helping out with homework and fund-raising:' In other help to ameliorate them. words, not only were the voucher students an unusually In April 1998, the Children's Educational Opportunity strong group academically, but the private schools were then (CEO) Foundation offered vouchers to any low-income child allegedly winnowing their ranks even further. in San Antonio's Edgewood school district. Almost all of the But data from a recently completed evaluation (funded by district's 13,490 students were eligible for the program, the Packard Foundation) that included results from tests of because Edgewood is among the poorest of the city's twelve student achievement and questionnaires filled out by par- school districtsmore than 90 percent of its students are ents during testing sessions yields a more complicated, economically disadvantaged, and 93 percent are Latino. and more encouraging, picture. (Standard techniques were (Nonetheless, the district, which receives 90 percent of its employed to ensure a representative sample, and Mathemat- funding from state and federal aid, spends more than ica Policy Research, a well-respected evaluation firm with $6,000 per pupil, which exceeds the state average.) contracts with the Department of Education and other gov- The vouchers were hardly paltry: Providing up to $3,600 a ernment agencies, collected the data.) year for elementary school students and $4,000 a year for It's true that the private schools had only limited capacity, those in high school, they would cover tuition at most San in part because the program was unveiled in April and went Antonio private schools, which for voucher students aver- into effect the very next August. Yet there is little evidence ages less than $2,000 annually. And, once a child's family that the schools were weeding out all but the best students. decided to use vouchers, the CEO Foundation promised to For example, on the math component of the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, on which the national median score falls at the PAUL E. PETERSON is Shattuck Professor of Government, fiftieth percentile, the voucher students, upon arriving at director of the Program on Education Policy and Gover- their new schools, scored at the thirty-seventh percentile, nance at Harvard University, and a member of the Koret while the students who stayed in public school scored at the K-12 Task Force at the Hoover Institution. thirty-fiftha difference that is not statistically significant.

BEST COPY AVAIL- .13!.7 57 04 In reading, voucher students scored at the thirty-fifth per- in cities. According to a recent survey undertaken at Stanford centile, while public school students scored at the twenty- University, 85 percent of the inner-city poor favor a voucher eighth. This difference is significant but is hardly the gaping plan, compared with 59 percent of more advantaged parents disparity voucher opponents predicted. In addition, just 23 who live in the suburbs. Asked if they "strongly" favor a percent of the voucher students had been enrolled in pro- voucher plan, 58 percent of poor urbanites agreed, compared grams for gifted students, while 29 percent of the students to just one-third of upper-middle-class suburbanites. who stayed in public school were. More important, though, vouchers have the potential to These results are consistent with analyses conducted by the improve socioeconomic and racial integration, as long as research department at the Edgewood public schools, which they are generous enough-to cover most of the tuition and as compared the test scores of students who later accepted long as schools are prohibited from racial or ethnic discrimi- vouchers with the scores of those who remained behind. nation in admissions. Remember, our public school system is Never made public, perhaps because it directly contradicted already plagued by vast inequalities. Because most school the school superintendent's assertions, the research did not funding comes through local property taxes, disparities show a significant "skimming" effect. In the authors' techni- among affluent suburban schools and city or rural schools cal language: "[F]ew statistically significant differences [in are legendary. The story on race is no better: Despite three average test scores] are to be found between [the voucher] decades of busing, public schools today are more segregated, students ... and those not ... identified" as voucher students. not less. In 1997, 69 percent of African Americans attended Apparently, families have many reasons for choosing pri- schools composed predominantly of minority students, up vate schools. They may be looking for better schools for chil- from 64 percent in 1973. For Latinos, the increase is much dren who are doing poorly just as often as they are looking for 'steeper, from 57 percent to 75 percent over the past 25 years. otherschools for bright youngsters. But admission to private Today, despite federal interventions ranging from Head Start school is one thing; keeping one's place in school is another. to compensatory education, we have disturbingly large test- Since private schools can suspend or expel students more score gaps between cities and suburbs, as well as between easily than public schools can, critics say, they are able to blacks and whites. According to one 1994 survey, only 43 weed out the worse students. Again, the numbers refute this percent of urban fourth-graders read at a basic level, com- seemingly logical argument. Suspension rates were equal for pared with 63 percent of students in nonurban areas. the voucher students and the Edgewood public school stu- dentsaround five percent for both groups. And what about pR1VATE SCHOOLS, ON the other hand, are already income? Average household income was nearly identical more racially integrated than public ones. Univer- right around $16,000. The students' ethnic background (96 sity of Texas Professor Jay Greene estimates that percent Latino) and their levels of welfare dependency and private school classrooms are seven percentage residential stability were also extremely similar. Quite apart points more integrated than public schools. Exam- from suspensions, the voucher students were more likely to ining Department of Education data, he also found more remain in the same school for the year and were just as likely interracial friendships in private schools than in public ones to return to that school the next year. (as reported by students) as well as less interracial fighting (as This isn't to say that there were no distinctions whatsoever reported by administrators, teachers, and students). And, among the students. Eight percent of voucher students were sure enough, in all the voucher programs for which we have enrolled in some sort of special education, while the figure been able to obtain ethnic data, students were less likelyor for public school students was 16 percent. There were also at least no more likelyto be attending segregated schools some modest demographic differences between the two than students remaining in public school. This isn't surpris- groups of parents. The average mother of a voucher student ing, given that private schools can draw students from across had completed twelve years of education, compared to school district boundaries, and religious schools provide a eleven years for the average public school mother. Half of the common tie that cuts across racial lines. voucher-student mothers worked full time, compared to just Oh, yes, and how about those voucher families in Edge- 37 percent of the mothers who kept their kids in public woodwhat do they think of their new schools? More than school. Only 22 percent of voucher-student mothers were on 60 percent say they are "very satisfied" with the schools' aca- food stamps, but 33 percent of public school mothers were. demic quality, compared to 35 percent of the Edgewood public school parents. Similar differences in satisfaction levels BUT THESE SMALL distinctionsare hardly are reported by parents regarding school safety, schooldisci- enough to justify the extreme resistance to pline, and quality of teaching. vouchers. For one thing, those helped by vouch- There are, of course, many other arguments against ers were far from well-offthe parents reported voucher programs, from the church-and-state issue to ques- making less than $16,000 a year! There are tions about for-profit schools. I don't happen to buy those plenty of other government programs, from Pell Grants to arguments, either, but I'm happy to continue letting pilot the Earned Income Tax Credit, that predominantly benefit programs provide a testing ground. Given the potentialof the working poor, and nobody (well, almost nobody) protests vouchers to achieve more racial and socioeconomic diversity them on the grounds that they don't 'benefit people further in educationone of the great goals of education reformers down the economic ladder. Support for vouchers is particu- since the 1960syou'd think more liberals would be open to larly strong among minority families, especially those living experimenting with them.

63 BEST COPY AVAILABLE 58 The New York Times, October 26, 1999

IN MICHIGAN, SCHOOL CHOICE WEEDS OUT The study also found that three-quarters of the charter COSTLIER STUDENTS schools offered no special education services, and even the few that did enroll special-needs students By TAMAR LEWIN provided them with fewer and less costly services than nearby public schools. A University of Michigan study of the state's school- choice programs found that the spread of charter The report points out that when charters enroll low- schools and inter-district transfers had created new cost students and exclude high-cost students, they educational opportunities for many of the neediest increase the average costs for public school districts families and serious problems for only a few of the that must still provide the more expensive services. state's school districts. But it said that most of the programs were designed to attract only the students Last year, 3 percent of Michigan's students used who cost the least to educate. school-choice programs, with 34,000 attending one of the state's 138 charter schools, and another 15,000 Over the last five years, as school choice programs attending a school outside their home district. This have grown, many experts worried that charters, year, some 50,000 children may be in charter schools, publicly funded schools that are not required to follow giving Michigan the third-largest charter population, teacher union or local school board rules; vouchers, after Arizona and California. public money that can be taken to any private school, and programs that allow students to transfer to About half the school districts in Michigan now accept neighboring school districts, would attract the brightest out-of-district student transfers, but many of the most students and those with the most involved parents. The affluent, fastest-growing districts do not. result would be that the neighborhood schools would be left with the least motivated, most difficult students. "We've gone past the time when we can put the genie back in the bottle," said Gary Sykes, another of the That has not been the case in Michigan, the study study's authors. "This is here to stay. It's time to shift found. But many of the choice programs are taking the the attention from the debate about whether choice is students who comprise the cream of the crop good or bad to figuring out what mechanisms work." financially. The laws governing school choice vary enormously by "We didn't find the academic creaming so many state. "Our basic finding is that the rules matter," said people worried about early on," said David Arsen, one David Plank, the third author. "Different rules create of the three University of Michigan professors who different incentives and different outcomes." wrote the report. "What we found instead is creaming on the basis of cost. Charter schools generally are For example, in Michigan, where charters must make taking the students who are cheapest to educate, and their admissions choices by lottery, most charters are leaving behind those who are more expensive." in urban districts and enroll more poor and minority students than neighboring districts. In Michigan, the state pays schools the same amount, almost $6,000, for each student enrolled. But because But in California, where charters are allowed to select younger students are cheaper to educate than teen- their students and require parents to contribute agers who need laboratories, athletic equipment, resources, most charters are in suburbs or small towns, extensive libraries and specialized teachers, most of and enroll fewer poor and minority students than those who have opened charter schools have chosen to neighboring school districts. open elementary schools.

f ` "i`- 59 6 4 The Wall Street Journal, November 15, 1999 Whittling Away the Public School Monopoly Edison Schools Inc., a company that hasstandardized tests. Symbolizing Edison's run public schools for profit since 1995, be-devotion to the poor, Mr. Whittle is plan- came a $760 million business last Thursdayning to move its headquarters from mid- when its stock began trading on the Nas-town Manhattan to Harlem. daq exchange. Its initial public offering Edison has proved that the market marks the return of company founder andforces are just as likely to spur innovation chief executive Christopher Whittle, thein public education as in other sectors. flamboyant former owner of Esquire mag-With its survival as a business tied directly to its performance in the classroom, Edi- son has come up with several ingenious so- Manager's Journallutions to pedagogical problems. When the company opened its first mid- By Thomas Tochdle schools three years ago, it found that its reading curriculum was far too advanced for its many students who could. barely azine and Channel One, whose high-profileread. So the company hired the creators of publishing and marketing company, Whit-Wilson Reading, a highly regarded adult tle Communications, crashed and burnedliteracy program, to adapt the program for in the mid-1990s. preteens. As a way of shrinking staff ex- More importantly, Edison's successfulpenses and enabling outstanding teachers IPO reflects the momentum behind a mar-to reach more students, Edison this sum- ket-based movement that is changing themer entered a partnership with APEX, a very nature of public education. With 79companylaunchedbyMicrosoft.co- schools and 38,000 students, Edi- founder Paul Allen, to make Advanced son is merely the largest of many Placement courses available to Edison new providers of public educa- high schools via the Internet. tion that are now vying with tra- Edison tracks student achievement ditional public schools for stu- and school performance to a. degree dents. Churches, YMCAs, unprecedented in public educa- universities, at least two tion. Every student's dozen for-profit compa- progress in basic subjects nies and many other types ismeasured monthly, of organizations are oper- and the results are deliv- ating publicly funded char- ered to the company's ter schools and, in Edison's headquarters. Edison case,traditionalpublic surveys parent, schools under contract to teacher and student local school boards. satisfaction in every The company knew school annually. Edison from the outset that it principals are awarded would have to attract stu- performance-based dents away from conven- bonuses of up to about 20% tional public schools. So it of their salaries. And the created a school design with at- company swiftly fires prin- tractive features such as home cipals and teachers who don't computerslinkedtoschool- perform. based networks, and it length- Have such steps produced ened both the school day better-educated students? In and the school year so as to a handful of scientific stud- give students the equiva- ies comparing Edison stu- lent of four extra years of dents' classroom perfor- instruction. mance over several years The company deliversitsupscale against that of students school design not to rich suburban kids with similar backgrounds, but primarily to disadvantaged urban stu- Edison students have reg- dentskids conventional public schoolsistered greater gains. And on the 300 or so haven't educated very well. Nearly half ofstate and national tests students have Edison's students are black, and 60% aretaken in different Edison schools, their from impoverished families. The averagepassing rates have risen or their .scores Edison student comes to the company'shave ratcheted up faster than expected school scoring at the '30th percentile onabout 75% of the time. Student attendance

65 BEST COPY AVAILABLE is generally high in Edison's schools, andand supplies (some even lacked desks) be.- dropout rates are low. cause of purchasing blunders.Inre, Critics argue that for-profit companiessponse, the company sacked its entire pur- aren't necessary to introduce such re-chasing staff. forms and that the money Edison makes Nor has Edison yet turned a profit; it. in profit should be returned to students.lost $27.6 million last year. Losses have led But it's clear that outside catalysts areto cost-cutting moves. The company ha. necessary to bring about real change. Intrimmed back expensive features of its Toledo, Ohio, facing the prospect of Edi-school designcutting the length of its typ- son opening a local charter school, the lo-ical school year from 210 days to 200 (the cal teachers union joined forces with thepublic school average is 180) and beginning school system to reconstitute a traditionalits home-computer program in third grade public school to look a lot like an Edisonrather than in kindergarten. And Edison school; They lengthened the school daycannot profitably operate schoOls in much and school year and brought in the sameof the South, the Rocky Mountain states highly regarded reading curriculum thatand California because of low state educa- Edison uses. They abandoned seniority-tion spending. As a result the company has based hiring in order to ensure that theyturned to philanthropy; it opened eight got the possible teachers. schools in California with the help of mil-. Edison hasn't been successful every-lions of dollars donated by Don and Doris where.SeveralofitsschoolshaveFisher, founders of the Gap. foundered, and last spring it temporarily . Edison's model is not excessively ex. suspended two struggling high schools.pensive. The company received an average Some Edison schools have inadequatelyof $5,555 a student last year, less than the served special-education students. Many$6,392 that the average public school spent of Edison's teachers have failed to use itsper pupil. The company is counting on such expensive technology effectively in theirthingsascheapercomputersand classrooms. And most of the new Edisoneconomies of scale to put the company into schools that opened this year lacked booksthe black. If the company grew to about 700 schools, it would have the revenues of a Fortune 500 company. Whatever Edison's flaws, the mostly disadvantaged kids on Edison's campuses are by and large in more attractive, safer schools with higher standards, more resources and a greater sense of purpose than the traditional public schools most would otherwise attend. And that'S not because Edison employs a bunch of educational ma- gicians. It's because the company has to compete for every student it enrolls.

Mr. Toch is a guest scholar at the Brook- ings Institution.

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61 66 1999 National Education Summit

The Marriage of Standards-based Reform and the long-term gain. Education Marketplace by Chester E. Finn, Jr. Why so painful? Because individuals and institutions don't like to change their accustomed behavior, Standards-based education reform and competition- particularly when changing means working harder based reform enhance each other; indeed, they are and being held accountable for their results in ways mutually reinforcing. Change-minded governors, they previously were not. And because public-sector business leaders and education movers and shakers monopolies are possibly the most change-averse should recognize their synergy and embrace them institutions that ever existed. The upshot: The both. systemic approach alone has not yet generated a reliable, cost-effective and politically feasible A Little History strategy for sufficiently altering individual and When the governors and President Bush met in organizational behavior to yield stronger pupil Charlottesville, competition-based reform was barely achievement. a blip on the radar screen. What was fresh and exciting - and nervy and controversial - in 1989 was The Systemic Approach Is Not Enough the setting of national goals and the intensification of We're coming to understand that education results a nationwide push toward standards-based reform. change only when people's actions change. Johnny will learn more when he studies more and harder. But A country that had long operated as if the way to get what will induce him to do that? What will cause his better education results was to pump up school teachers, principal and the other adults involved in inputs, resources and services now found itself his education to alter their accustomed ways so as to grappling with a very different idea: The way to get yield better-than-accustomed results? better results is to stipulate the results you want, make sure you have sound means of gauging Systemic reformers still assume that standards-based progress toward them, create incentives (and schemes, properly executed, will trigger the disincentives) tied to such progress and "align" the necessary behavioral changes. The oomph in this pieces of the delivery system such that all move strategy comes from the top downward and the center harmoniously toward the same ends. outward. It relies on authority for its enforcement. It is, in fact, much like any other government A decade later, such systemic strategies remain the compliance system. Why it seems so novel is that we primary focus of most reform efforts at the state and are unaccustomed to enforcing results-based behavior national levels and in a number of localities. But in K-12 education. they've turned out to be very hard to install, and they don't always work as intended. They consume vast From where I sit, the systemic approach takes an political energy and run into dogged resistance, awful lot of doing, and it isn't yet paying off in many vested interests and deep-seated inertia. Back in 1989 places. Perhaps the most important reason is that the - and even, I think, at the 1996 Summit we didn't "consequences" don't really touch many of the fully fathom the arduousness of moving from broad players. Kids still get into college somewhere, even if goals to specific, high-quality content standards, they do poorly on the state tests. Few employers pay demanding performance standards, workable much attention to their transcripts or scores. As for assessments and forceful high-stakes accountability teachers and principals, not many have their jobs or systems. Today, only a few states have all these salaries on the line. And the public school system still elements in place and can see them paying off to a enjoys almost the same near-monopoly that it always degree that justifies the effort. Indeed, some has. However poorly it educates its students, it still jurisdictions are already backpediling becatie-,to put holds onto them and the moneys that come with it simply, they're finding that the short-term political them. cost of serious standards-based reform rivals the

62 67 The Marketplace Alternative and mostly small, in no small part because opponents Ten years later, another approach to education have staunchly resisted the well-designed, large-scale change also has begun to figure seriously in U.S. experiments that would yield more definitive data.) school reform efforts: a marketplace strategy in which the impetus comes mostly from the bottom up Visible Benefits and Systemwide Change and the outside in. It's a very American approach - We also are starting to see evidence that the messy, entrepreneurial and opportunistic. Its marketplace approach, once it grows large enough to underlying theory is much the same as that of be felt by the regular public school system, is capitalism itself: Competition leads to efficiency, beginning to influence it. When a significant number quality and consumer satisfaction, while forcing of alternative education providers arise, the system ineffective providers either to alter their ways or go starts to compete with them. The superintendent asks: out of business. Change within a system comes from What must I do to get my students back - or keep competition outside that system. Competition thus them from leaving in the first place? If The charter benefits not only the children who exercise choice people are offering an after-school program, why but also the schools and school systems that they can't we offer that within our system? You say that forsake. Precisely because the latter institutions lose parents want school uniforms? A back-to-basics their monopoly, they must begin to worry about curriculum? A Montessori school? A gifted-and- attracting and satisfying their customers with quality, talented program? Why should they have to turn to effectiveness and efficiency. Those customers - charters and private schools? Why can't we offer parents and students - now have options. those options? School systems that think this way find themselves, often for the first time, becoming Though this looks new in K-12 education, it's been consumer-minded and market-conscious. This is the norm for several decades in higher education and triggering real change in how they organize for longer than that in the private K-12 sector. themselves and what they provide. As choice strategies spread, more such system change will This is no place for a full discussion of the theory and follow. practice of school choice. I would just make three points about the "marketplace" approach. In a handful of cases, the school system has even embraced the charter strategy for its own purposes, Varied Options, Combined Approaches using it to create unconventional schools or programs First, the marketplace approach comes in many that would be difficult or impossible to establish flavors, from bland, vanilla kinds (such as public under conventional laws, regulations and contract school open enrollment and magnet schools) to provisions. In a couple of communities, the school Rocky Road offerings (such as home-schooling, system has, in effect, chartered itself, thereby gaining vouchers and tax credits). In between, one finds a high degree of regulatory freedom for all its many variants, including today's most prominent schools. In others, the system has used the charter variant, charter schools. What all versions have in law to establish R&D schools, develop demonstration common is acceptance of the fact that schools can programs or experiments, or circumvent rigid and should be different, not identical, and that the certification requirements and collective bargaining ability to choose among them should extend to constraints. (School systems also are using everyone, not just to wealthy families. outsourcing and privatization opportunities to deliver new education options and remake failed schools.) Second, there is no state today where a pure marketplace approach is the only education reform The system's response to charter schools, open strategy under way. While most states have some enrollment plans, vouchers and other forms of school school choice - and a few have quite a lot of it - in choice shows how the marketplace strategy leads to every instance it coexists with other reform schemes, behavioral change - not because someone farther up most commonly with some version of "systemic the regulatory hierarchy dictates it, holds out rewards reform." or threatens sanctions. No, it happens because the marketplace signals that change must occur for the Third, most available evidence suggests that choice survival of the system itself. programs are benefiting the children they serve. (Research is not yet conclusive with respect to pupil Compare and Contrast achievement because the choice programs are new Today, the "systemic" approach to education reform

63 and the marketplace approach are both vigorous, states have the authority to reconstitute failing sometimes in the same places, sometimes with schools, only three have actually exercised that different degrees of energy in different places. option.

The Ability to Improve Education The marketplace strategy is also hard to execute. It Each approach has its pluses. "Systemic" reform is relies on good consumer information about school clear about its desired results, comprehensive in its effectiveness (data that often aren't available), and it ambitions and orderly in its strategies. It exploits the presumes the existence of large numbers of fussy, rationalism of the central planner, the know-how of motivated parents who prize academic quality above the expert and the talents of the professional. If it all else (parents we don't always have). Real works as intended, it will lift all boats, leaving no one dynamism hinges on a "supply response," i.e., the out. Although it alters routines, procedures and willingness of education entrepreneurs to create, incentives, it disrupts no basic structures. replicate and expand institutions, so the political environment must be stable enough and funding must "Market-style" reform is dynamic, fluid and be generous enough to make this possible. We rarely adaptive. It eschews standardization and believes that see such circumstances. opportunity comes from choices rather than compliance. It trusts consumers more than producers, School options do some people more good than laymen more than experts and entrepreneurs more others. (They are, for example, less viable in rural than planners. It reallocates power. It is quick to communities and less meaningful for seriously create, overhaul and terminate institutions. It has dysfunctional families.) There are sundry political, little tolerance for approaches that don't meet the statutory and constitutional barriers to the provision pragmatic test of whether anyone wants them or not. of a full range of choices (though here, the politics, It also opens the door for more people and once worked through, may ease, as the marketplace organizations to engage themselves in the education takes over). And there remains the risk of enterprise, and thus appeals to many teachers and "balkanization" if what is taught in one school bears other school innovators. scant relationship to what children learn in another, or if schools begin to market themselves to people The Dculties of Effecting Change solely on grounds of ethnic or social identity (or Each has its minuses, too. The systemic strategy is simple convenience and glitzy amenities) rather than vulnerable to election returns, personnel changes and academic effectiveness. holy wars over what's important for children to learn. Its legitimacy hinges on hard-to-achieve consensus Each approach thus has important virtues and about standards - many states have gone to great liabilities. Neither is complete unto itself. As Denis pains to develop thoroughly mediocre standards - and Doyle has written, "Without choice, the standards hard-to-perfect assessment systems. It partakes of a debate is almost certain to become an empty exercise. one-size-fits-all view of curriculum, which may not There is simply no reason to believe that every work in the pluralistic society Americans now school in every district in every state will hold itself inhabit. to the same high standards; it can't be done politically, it can't be done logistically. Only highly The systemic strategy also is affected by politics. Its centralized school systems even attempt such an impact hinges on hard-to-implement accountability approach. American commitment to local control schemes because its energy comes from the top - and rules out any centralized solution." those at the top are subject to political control and therefore vulnerable to stakeholder influence. Such Plenty in Common political considerations never really go away, which It turns out that the two approaches have more in means that actual behavior-changing rewards and common than their most zealous fans and critics like punishments for individuals and institutions are slow to admit. Standards-based reform treats the individual in coming. That's why we see so few examples of school as the key accountability unit, insists on top-down accountability systems taking bold action school-level report cards, welcomes the publication to, say, close down a failing school. Disastrous of school-by-school test scores and employs other schools seem to remain on probation for years with market-oriented strategies. Many "systemic" nothing really happening to change them. Education reformers also talk of empowering individual schools Week's 1999 Quality Counts reported that while 16 to achieve the desired results in the manner they

69 deem best, casting off needless rules and regulations Choice offers the means of keeping that promise. In that tend to standardize school practices. the two "poster states" most often touted by systemic reformers, Texas and North Carolina, we also see Though not all choice advocates want government vibrant charter programs (and, at least in Texas, other agencies setting standards or imposing tests, virtually new-provider and choice schemes) operating in all agree that well-informed consumers and tandem with statewide standards, tests and top-down comparable data about schools are necessary for the accountability structures. In Chicago, we see the marketplace to thrive. Most acknowledge that system using charters to create new options for schools must make their standards and results public. families in low-income neighborhoods burdened by Most welcome external audits of school performance. low-performing schools. In Arizona, Massachusetts, Most leave room for government licensing, lottery- Michigan, Pennsylvania and other jurisdictions too style admissions, civil rights enforcement and other numerous to mention, we see both strategies regulatory strategies meant to protect equitable operating at once. What's most interesting is how access for children. Most hope to create ways of often nowadays we see them buttressing each other, channeling private investment toward public ends, compensating for each other's weaknesses, such as the birth of new school-provider maximizing each other's virtues. organizations that then operate as publicly accountable charter and contract schools. Though Moving Forward defenders of the status quo tend to depict proposals Standards-based reform must modify behavior to like charters, outsourcing and vouchers as greedy succeed, yet it has grave trouble doing this market solutions, that's not really what they are. exclusively through top-down rewards and sanctions. They are more like new ways of doing the public's It needs to leverage change in institutions and business, often with the help of private dollars and individuals, yet finds them resistant to regulatory entrepreneurial energy. manipulation. Choice lubricates the system, makes movement possible and alters behavior without It's hard to visualize a standards-based system command-and-control tactics. Indeed, it alters working well without opportunities for the creation behavior in the most natural possible way: by of new schools and the entry of new providers. allowing alternatives and options. It doesn't eliminate Unless states are prepared to create new education standards or exempt people (or schools) from options for children whose schools are not teaching assessments. In effect, it adds another set of them satisfactorily, standards-based reform could consequences. Think of choice in this context as an turn out to be an elaborate ruse that puts some additional accountability strategy. pressure on schools but doesn't continue on to its own logical conclusion: If existing schools cannot or Yet the marketplace doesn't work well unless each will not meet the standards, but children nonetheless school's performance is transparent, consumers have need to be educated to the standards, then we need ample information about that performance vis-à-vis new and different schools. some kind of standards or benchmarks external to the school itself, someone outside the school is auditing But the converse is true, too. New schools need to be that performance and somebody is ensuring that basic held to, and measured against, the same standards as rules of fairness are followed so that children don't the schools they replace and those they compete with. fall through the cracks. Systemic reform can furnish Properly crafted charter laws, for example, insist that those essential elements of a well-functioning the charter school show its progress against the state marketplace. It also can supply enough commonality standards as well as satisfactory performance on the of content across otherwise variegated schools to state test in order to get its charter renewed. (The mitigate the "balkanization" problem. This means, in school also may have other goals and indicators of its the words of a colleague, that "standards make choice own choosing.) safe for liberals." (One might add that choice also can make standards acceptable to conservatives.) Thus we shouldn't be surprised to see a hybrid strategy appearing in many places. That's certainly Charter schools again illustrate this synergy. They are what Florida's new voucher law offers: The state accountable in two directions at once: keeps its promise to children and families by "upward" to the public entity that issued ensuring that kids do not remain trapped in schools the charter, which monitors their that repeatedly fail to meet the state's own standards. performance in relation to their singular

65 70 promises as well as the standards of the state K-12 education in general. in which they're located, and which can shut them down if they fail to deliver the results Think of blending standards-based reform and they pledged; and marketplace strategies as the surest way of producing "downward" to their clients and customers, within elementary and secondary education the all of whom are there by choice and all of "tight/loose" management structure that has worked whom may leave if they're not satisfied with for so many modern organizations: tight with respect the school's performance. to the results that must be produced and the ways These are two forms of serious accountability - each these will be measured and reported (these elements placing the school's very existence on the line - in being provided by the standards-based approach) but contrast to a regular public education system that loose as to the means by which those results are commonly has neither, at least not in any functional produced, with tolerance for diversity and plenty of sense. competition among production units (with these components furnished by the marketplace approach). Policymakers should view charter schools as an accountability prototype. Once it becomes clear that Combining today's two premier strategies of these schools exist under a contractual relationship education change can produce more than either alone with the state and can be shut down for is apt to deliver, perhaps even more than the sum of nonperformance, we face an important question: their parts. This is also a pretty good way to strike a Why should any school have a permanent lease on balance between uniformity and diversity - and institutional life - and a permanent claim on tax between accountability and freedom - in a country dollars - if it is unable to produce satisfactory results that palpably wants all those things (and more) from for its pupils? Unless the state is prepared to apply an its K-12 education system. eternal double standard to its schools - holding some accountable for student achievement, while Chester E. Finn, Jr., a former assistant U.S. continually funding others that produce few or no Secretary of Education, is senior fellow at the results - the charter school prototype will point the Manhattan Institute and president of the Washington, way toward more serious accountability policies for D.C.-based Thomas B. Fordham Foundation.

71 66 (SR)2 Selected Readings on School Reform Standards and Accountability

As standards gain traction, problems and issues arise. The basic theory is familiar: set a high standard, install suitable tests, rewardsand sanctions, and those who are measured will achieve more. But a number of states and communities are finding this easier saidthan done. In some places, students, teachers, and principals are meeting the standardsbecause the standards are coming (down) to them. Jacques Steinberg describes this phenomenonin his New York Times article, "Academic Standards Eased as Fear of FailureSpreads." Charles Sykes then takes us to a deeper explanation, saying that everyone loves standardsuntil they affect their own kids. A lot of parents don't want to hear that their little Johnnyis less than perfect, Sykes notes in his New York Times op-ed, "Soccer Moms vs. StandardizedTests." Writing in the New York Times, Anemona Hartocollis presents a differentexplanation for the non-attainment of standards. In "Ignoring the State Curriculum Caused PoorScores," she indicates that students would be more apt to do well on state tests if theirschools taught the content that those tests are designed to appraise. This comes as E.D.Hirsch praises outgoing Chancellor Rudy Crew's solitary curriculum for the state of New York.Read his appraisal, "One Curriculum For New York," published in the New York Times. Meanwhile, a duo of Colorado school districts offer their own solution to theproblem of low test scores: They will guarantee that their students make the gradeprovided that local taxpayers agree to provide more funding for them to do so.Read about this proposed quid- pro-quo in June Kronholz's piece from the WallStreet Journal, "Colorado School Districts Promise to Make the Grade." Stanford professor Michael Kirst adds another dimension to the standardsdiscussion. In his National Crosstalk piece, "A Babel of Standards," he finds abasic disconnect between high school preparation and the skills needed for college success. In "Discrepancies Mar New School Gauge," from the WashingtonPost, Brigid Schulte shows that alternative methods for assessing schools can yield contradictoryresults. In Montgomery County, Maryland, new superintendent Jerry Weast has shakenthings up by rating schools according to their degree of improvement rather than their absolute test scores. Many schools whose scores had long been high but static were quite upset. Some people argue that it will do more harm than good to hold studentsaccountable. In "Taking a Chance on Promotion," Debbi Wilgoren of theWashington Post tells the story of a student who was promoted inorder to salvage her self-esteem but then given crucial remedial help so she could keep up with her classmates. The outcome...well,you'll just have to keep reading. Yet not all teachers are inclined to provide extrahelp; instead, some just cheat on students' behalf. E.J. Dionne, in his Washington Post opinion piece,"When Teachers Cheat," analyzes the recent case of a pack of teachers caughtcheating for their students in New York and what it bodes for the standards movement. Finally, Richard Rothstein, with whom we often disagree, is perceptive onthis issue. In his New York Times article, "One Standard Doesn't Fit All," he statesthat you can't have a single standard that both sets a minimum expectation that all students mustattain and establishes a lofty goal toward which they are meant to strive.

LEF 72 67 The New York Times, December 3, 1999 Academic Standards Eased As a Fear of Failure Spreads By JACQUES STEINBERG The tough academic standards Massachusetts, having establishedproper support structures to help that state policy makers and othersa sweeping new curriculum w4.rlg-.them meet the high goals. have invoked over the last, three set the ..passing Many teachers report being unpre- years as they imposed, high- stakesgrade low in a range'pared, and at times confused, by tests. on students areeginning todescribed as at the bOttinn of ','needswhat the states have written. They yield uncomfortable re§ults:Ioci feWI nprovement" and. just. above maintain that more money needs to of the students are making the new .when it calibrated an exambe spent on professional develop- grades, many are at risk of droppingrequired for high school graduation.ment and smaller class sizes. Stu- out or being held back, their parents New York, too, has set a low pass-dents complain that they are being are venting frustration and .:schooling grade 55 out of 100 on itstested on material to which they systems are beginning to pull back.college-preparatory Regents Englishhave not yet been exposed. And par- . The states areacknowledging*that,exam, now required of all high schoolents lament that their children are often because of financial concerns,graduates, and teachers here. havebeing penalized for the failings of -.they have not put in place the train-objected that grading guidelines foradults. ing programs for teachers, the extrathe tests are overly generous. "Teachers and principals simply help for students and the other sup- And Los Angeles school adminis-do not know how to do what they are port necessary to meet suddenly ac-trators, who calculated that theyexpected to do with the new stand- celerated standards. In some .in-would have had to hold back nearly 1ards," Richard F. Elmore, a profes- stances, they have also suggestedof every 2 students if they wentsor at the Harvard School of Educa- that they may have expected toothrough with a plan to end automatiction, said this week in Washington, at much, too soon. promotions in all grades, said thisa conference marking the 10th anni- The state that is believed to haveweek that they were now considering retrenched the furthest is Wisconsin,whether to erect such gates in just which acceded to parent demandstwo grades. last summer that it withdraw a test "The standards movement has that every student would have had tomoved from the early stages to the`Backpedaling is pass to graduate from high school.stage where the consequences are on But at least a half dozen other statesthe verge, if you will, of being test-smart when you are and large districts are also movinged," said Jerome T. Murphy, dean of. to soften the expectations for stu-the Harvard Graduate School ofheading over a cliff.' dents that have been drafted, in ev-Education. "People are backpedal- ery state except Iowa, in at leasting." some form and in some grades. "I'm of the view," Mr. Murphyversary of the first national educa- After it was announced last weekadded, "that backpedaling is smarttion summit meeting. "Until you can that only 1 out of 10 Arizona sopho-when you are heading over a cliff."walk into the average classroom in mores had paSsed a new state math The idea of setting high standards,the average school and find the contest last spring, the Arizona Board ofand writing tests to ensure that theytent being taught in a way that would Education agreed to the loud de-are met, has been advanced by ahelp the average student meet the mands of parents -at a meeting inbroad chorus of policy makers Sandstandard, it is not fair to penalize the January that it reconsider the test.educators, including Mr. Murphy.students." In Octo her, the Virginia Board ofThe advocates believe such policies That the politicians are tuning in, Education agreed in principle to. re-offer insurance that students in richand responding, to such rumblings Vise a :poliCy it :had only recentlyand poor schools alike will cover thewas obvious in October, when many aaOpted that obligated schools, as asame ground, as well as a tonic to aof the 24 governors who gathered at condition of 4CCieditation, to sh6wnation that has grown weary of itsan education summit meeting in Pal- that .70 percent of students :Were-.:hildren's academic shortcomings.isades, N.Y., conceded that they had Meeting* state testing requirement8 But in moving rapidly to put suchbeen taken aback by the demoraliz- . by.2007..After. only 7..percentof Yie .expectations on the books of the 49ing effects of their new policies. ginia sthools-.Met that standard lattstates that have standards, no two In urging them to stay the course, spring,in, the second year of the test.-exactly the same, all but 14 wrotethe organizer of the Meeting, Louis ..the':'420ard proposed waivingthem in the last three years theV. Gerstner, chairman of the Inter- tosanCtiOnSsome, against those sCho'n1sstates have been criticized by teach-national Business Machines Corpo- that have failed but are able to ers, parents and students for beingration, asserted: "We understand onstrate progress. slow to put in place, and pay for, thethe pain. And we're going to have to

68 73 deal with it. But we're not going to And yet, in what Mr. de Beck la- deal with it by backing off." bels an "educational disaster," half At the end of the two-day gather-of those students were retained and ing, the governors were among thehalf were passed on to ninth grade-- signers of a mass pledge that, ifwith no ready explanation from ad- carried out, would give students andministrators. Now the board is re- teachers the very underpinning theyexamining the entire policy, with have requested, including help forsome members hungry to repeal struggling students before they are In Massachusetts, Anna Ward, held back or denied diplomas. parent of two daughters in the Cam- But the political ramifications ofbridge public schools, said she had widespread student failures are al-yet to distill the rationale of the state ready beginning to be felt, and manyboard of education in setting the of the states, and school systems, arepassing grades on the new state reassessing policies that have hingedtests, including the passing grade on on the belief that all students shouldthe high school exit exam: 220, on a be able to vault over high bars andtest with a minimum score of 200 and not merely clear minimum hurdles.a maximum of 280. Indeed, some experts believe that "My initialreaction was that the states have, routinely confusedthey're just playing around with minimal standards with lofty goals,these numbers and they're not ad- and while preparing students for thedressing the educational problems," former they are demanding that theysaid Ms. Ward, an administrative meet the latter. Others maintain thatassistant in the mathematics depart- itremainstobeseen whetherment at the Massachusetts Institute schools, working on their own, canof Technology. "It feels arbitrary to succeed in lifting all students to meetme. I don't think that this test is rigorousacademic standards,-ingoing to indicate whether my child light of outside factors like familyhas what it takes to be a graduate of and neighborhood. high school." The implementation of the new While Massachusetts was seen by policies has led to some awkward,some as easing the burden on stu- and confused, moments. dents it had once threatened to pun- The five-member school board inish, Todd Bankofier, a member of the San Diego, for example, voted unani-Arizona Board of Education, said he mously in February 1998 to beginwas undaunted by the results of his holding back third graders who couldstate's new math test, which 89 per- not read at grade level and eighthcent of all sophomores failed. graders who had failed at least one "When we fired this missile, we course, beginning in June 1999. knew we had to guide it," Mr. Banko- But by June, the board had yet tofier said of the new testing program. agree on way to measure grade"It's going to take some left turns level, so it let all the third gradersand some right turns, but it would be pass. Of the 1,400 eighth graders WhOwrong to turn it completely back." had failed at least one course, 700 were still deemed to be failing at the end of summer school, said John de Beck, a board member and former high school teacher.

7 4. 69 The New York Times, December 6,1999 Soccer Momsvs. Standardized Tests After suburban parents lobbied par-for high standards came with an ent-teacher organizations, the Stateunspoken caveat: they were quite all By Charles J. Sykes Legislature voted to scrap the grad-right when they were applied to uation test before a single studentsomeone else's school and someone had taken it. else's child. MILWAUKEE In New York and Massachusetts, So instead of sounding an alarm fter decades of endless goldofficials yielded to pressure to setabout the need to change the way we stars, happy faces teach our children, one state after and inflated grades,absurdly low passing grades for their new tests, while in Virginia andanother is fudging the test. And a AmericanparentsArizona, state boards of educationremarkable number of parents have apparently were notare already backing away fromgone along with the move to ratchet ready for a realitytests that proved to be too tough fordown the standards, expectations check about how much our schoolseven the so-called better schools. Inand consequences. are really teaching our children. Virginia, only 7 percent of schoolsReforming the schools sounded Across the country, new, higher like a good idea until it hit home. academic standardsthatstatesmet new achievement standards, adopted in a spirit of educationaland in Arizona, 9 out of 10 sopho-Charles J. Sykes is the author of mores failed a new math test. "Dumbing DownOur Kids." reform are being dumbed down, and For much of this century, the edu- supposedlyrigorousgraduationcational establishment has behaved tests are being diluted or dropped, asas if it were addicted to bad ideas, .evidence mounts that too many stu-indulging its own wishful and ro- dents will fall short of the highermantic thinking even in the face of expectations. It is not surprising that more rig-mounting evidence of failure. The orous state standards have comenew tests were supposed to counter- under fire from the usual oppositionact the trendy experimentation, wa- malition of civil rights groups, pro-tered-down curriculums and ques- gressiveeducatorsandteachertionable teaching methods by intro- unions. What is striking though, isducing both accountability and con- the opposition from soccer moms. sequences for failure. In Wisconsin, where legislators But for decades, the schools had backed off plans to require a highbeen allowed to obscure the fact that school graduation test, most of themany children were not mastering opposition. to the exam came notbasic subjects. The constant positive from troubled urban schools, butreinforcement of unrealistic grading from affluent suburbs. A group call-and easy tests was meant not only for the children, whose self-esteem remained strong in the face of shaky math and reading abilities, but for their parents, as well. For some parents, For many of these parents, the new tests were a very rude shock. the word 'fail' can'tAccustomed to thinking of educational difficulties as somebody else's apply to their kids. problem, they and their school districts suddenly faced the possibility of failure. ing itself Advocates for Education 'As reformers have belatedly discovered, they badly underestimated and based in the Milwaukee suburbthe extent to which parents as well of Whitefish Bay, insisted, "High-as teachers and bureaucrats had a stakes testing will be detrimental tovested interestinbelieving that education and unfair to children."whatever else might be wrong with Suburban critics in many parts ofAmerican education, their own chil- the state fretted about the pressuredren were above average. Support that tests would place on children.

70 The New York Times, November 9, 1999 Ignoring State Curriculum Caused Poor Scores By ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS ::';',Judith Rizzo, deputy chancellor for ,'instruction in New York City, where 'When New York State announced777,percent of eighth graders failed to Scores on a math ttie poor results of its tough new1.,theetthe new mathstandards, fourth- and eighth-grade math tests'agreed. test stun districts n'n Friday, the dismay was not con-4-!'1 know everybody wants to blame fined, as so often in the past, to New:the test," Ms. Rizzo said. "But you 'York City and other big cities. Many;can't. There's nothing wrong withboth rich and poor. parents, teachers and administra- .'this test. It's that it measures stand- ttirs in the state's wealthiest areas q,..fcls that, across the state, people Where people buy expensive homeshave not been preparing kids for:enced by the council, toughened its thinking that they are also buyingAnd it's that simple." own math standards. Five years lat- 4tstanding public schools were in;',".'.Stung as they were by the dismaler, seeing a need to make those :i-hock, too. tr:esults, some education officials saidstandards more concrete, the state For decades, residents there hadthe test revealed problems that per-put out a new math curriculum for teen lulled into a sense of compla-nifideeighth-grademathclasseskindergarten through eighth grade. :tency because the state had used aacross the country, and not just inThese were the standards used for minimum competency test to meas-New York, including shortages ofthe latest tests. iire student perforthance, a test on:qualified teachers, early tracking of Now that the results are out, the itrinch children in places like West-:gtudents and a focus on rote learningnext step, Mr. Mills said, is to use gitester County and Long Island rou-kther than understanding. those results as a force to improve tinely scored near 100 percent sorr,sThe lack of testingin middlethe curriculum and teaching. high that there was no statisticalpoolalso explains why fourth grad- "This is not a pop quiz," Mr. Mills, 'soom for improvement. reki did better than eighth graders onthe education commissioner, said. .That complacency was rudelythe new test, said Lynn Richbart, a"We had standards, curriculum, test iltattered last week when one out ofmathematics specialist for the stateresults. If you don't like the results, :five children in even the most exclu-Education Department. Fifty-fourwhat do you do? First of all, you look Sive suburbs, like Rye, Great Neckpercent of eighth graders failed out-at what is actually taught in every and Mamaroneck, failed to meetside New York City, but just 23 per-school in every classroom." statestandardsineighth-gradecent of fourth graders did (it was 50 Echoing Mr. Mills, several math' percent in.New York City). teachers said yesterday that the con- Whatwent wrong?parents Since 1965, Mr. Richbart said, thecepts used in the eighth-grade test throughout the state wondered. Wasstate has tested heavily in thirdare not particularly difficult and that Olt test asking the wrong questions,grade through sixth grade, forcingthe problem is they have too often .were schools failing to teach whatteachers to focus on state standards.been taught by rote, or not at all. ;children should know? But this is the first year that eighth Many elementary schoolteachers, '.'From Syracuse to New York City, they said, suffer from a kind of math educators said yesterday that theygraders have been required to takephobia, often brought on by lack of believed the test itself was not tomath tests, he said. training, that limits them to teaching 'Mame. State officials said that the The new tests are in many ways asimple calculation and formulas, far from expecting chil-reaction to the freedom, experimen-without giving students a richer un- flew test tation and idiosyncratic curriculums kiten to demonstrate an unprecedent- derstanding of the abstract concepts 0 level of knowledgewas actuallythat came to. characterize Americanthe calculations are based on. IbeaSed on elements of the state cur-schools in the last generation, educa- Martin Davis, a math teacher in ;i7iculum that have been in place fortors said. In New York City, curricu-New York City, said that he began !more than 30 years. lar unorthodoxy was heightened bythe last school year by trying to problem, they said was that decentralization. teach algebra to his ninth graders at ,gspecially in the middle grades The tests, given during the lastBayard Rustin High School for Hu- ',those standards had never beforeschool year, grew out of a broader re-manitiesinManhattan. As they been tested. And since no one wasexamination of how, students acrossasked questions, he said, it became watching, officials said, teachers feltthe nation were being taught math.clear that many of them did not know {free to ignore the state curriculum,In 1989, state officials said, the Na-how to multiply two double-digit elying on inadequate textbooks ortional Council of Mathematics rec-numbers, and he had to start over. ',their own judgment. ommended new math standards. "Theoretical math, in essence, is "I wasn't surprised," the state In 1993, New York State, influ-really play, it's games," said Mr. :educationcommissioner,Richard Davis, who has since moved to a Mills, who pushed the State Board of Regents to adopt the new tests, said 'yesterday.

71 different school. "If kids don't start playing those games and thinking KEEPING TRACK about them, and thinking about strategies, they miss out on a great oppor- Solving Problems tunity to succeed in seventh- or Students taking the eighth-grade math tests were asked questions like those in the examples below. They are asked to analyze eighth-grade math." mathematical situations, construct generalizations that describe Dr. Rizzo said she expected scores patterns and develop an understanding of real-world number usage. to improve when the test was given a second time this year. But even if NUMBER AND NUMERATION Steven's dad is researching an old they do not, she said, the city will use family recipe. He has found that members of the family do not agree on the amount of flour needed for the recipe. The following the next scores as one factor in deter- is a list of measurements he received from different people for the mining whether students move to the number of cups of flour needed. next grade. 1 1 6 1 "If the kids don't have the skills 1 -- 1 -- 1.5 1 and they're not going to succeed at '4 3. the next grade level, what's the He wants to use the largest amount of flour. Which measurement point?" she said. above should he use? 5 or an equivalent expression 2 Like Dr. Rizzo, officials in District ANSWER 1 or1.66 2, one of the city's most successful 3 of this number, such as 3 districts, which runs from TriBeCa to the Upper East Side, believe that MATHEMATICAL REASONING Dina wrote the following facts about teacher training is the key to success three different numbers: a, b. and c. on the new test. For the last three Fact 1: ac = a Fact 3: a+ bRa Fact 3: abc =1 years, the district has assigned master teachers to work all year long in If Fact 1 and Fact 2 are ,rue, explain why Fact 3 is not true. classrooms with individual teachers ANSWER Fact 3 cannot be true because'Fact 2 requires b = 0. This and with groups of teachers. makes abc = 0 instead of 1. "You can't teach what you don't What are the values of each of the variables in Fact 1 and Fact 2? know," said Lucy West, director of ANSWER a = any real "water. b = 0, c = 1. mathematics for District 2. Fifty-two percent of the district's eighth graders met the math standards, more MATHEMATICAL PATTERNS In the figure below. is ADE is than double the citywide average. similar toABC. Ina suburban setting,Sherry King, superintendent of Mamaro- neck schools, said she chalked up the first year's performance to unfamil- 10 feet .E iarity with the test and to the prob- 15 feet lems of children who are in special education or who do not speak Eng- What is the length in feet of BC ?. tv 15 lish fluently. ANSWER = = 6 x 15+ 10 x = 9 feet The tests, Dr. King said, are just 6 x one measure of what schools are (Any proportion which reduces to 10x = 90 or x = 9 is correct) doing right. "They don't pay any attention to our rich focus on the What is the length in feet of AB? arts, to what we're doing in creating community, in keeping our schools ANSWER 152 + 92 = (AB)2 5c) AB from becoming like Columbine; to 225 + 81 = (Age 17.5 feet = AB the growing issues of economic and social diversity." 306 = (AB)2 Mr. Mills said he had little pa- tience with the argument that disad- Source: Now York State Education Department vantaged children could not be held The NOW York Time to the same standards as more afflu- Her son, Michael, now in the fourth ent ones who came to school withgrade, is being taught much more more learning from home. In the jobsophisticated math than her daugh- market, he said, they would all faceter, now in seventh grade, was taught the same demands. just three years ago, she said. Mi- "People don't say before we havechael has become skilled at writing this job interview, would you pleasehis own mathematical story prob- tell me did you come from a goodlems, long the bane of schoolchildren school or a bad school, an advan-everywhere. He keeps a journal of taged community or a disadvan-his thoughts and ideas for English taged community?" he said. and .a similar journal for math. Susan S. Lewen, the mother of two The schools are teaching to the childrenin Mamaroneck schools,test, Mrs. Lewen admitted, but to her said that while she took the testsurprise,shedoesn'tobject."I scores "with a grain of salt," shethought I might feel badly about it, could not help but use them to compare schools. but I don't," Mrs. Lewen said. "I think to some extent, this test does reflect best practice in the classroom." 72 77 BEST COPY AVAILABLE The Wall Street Journal, October29;.1999 Colorado School Districts PromisetoMake the Grade By JUNE KRONHOLZ student performance stagnates or even Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL falls, voters have become distrustful of You get a guarantee from your auto me-school authorities. To pass a school-tax in- chanic. Why not from your public schools?crease now, he says, "you have to have a That, anyway, is the thinking of tworeform packagedescribe it as raising Colorado school districts. They are askingachievement." voters to give them more money in ballot Meanwhile, to hold their universities measures on Tuesday and are promising toaccountable, 13 states base funding at least raise student performance in return. in part on an array of performance indica- "We're saying, 'Look, we'll be account-tors including graduation rates, pass rates able,' " says Robert Moore, chief financialfor students taking the bar and other pro- officerofthe31,000-student Coloradofessional exams, and even the faculty's Springs district. It is promising that 15%success in attracting research grants. Ear- more children will be reading at gradelier this month, the Colorado Commission level in two years or the district will foregoon Higher Education, which oversees 28 millions of dollars in future funding. colleges and universities, announced that In a similar measure, the 80,000-studentthree-quarters of any new funding it gets Jefferson County district is promising afrom the state will be awarded to schools 25% improvement on reading and mathbased on 30 performance indicators. scores in two years, if voters agree to a $25 State spending accounts for only 14% of million increase in yearly operating funds.state-university budgets in Colorado, and "It's a performance guarantee," saysthe commission is asking for a modest $35 Alvin Meiklejohn, a member of the com-million increaseabout $26 million of mittee promoting the ballot measure. which would be given out based on perfor-. With public dismay mounting over themance. Still, says Jeanne Adkins, the com- schools, and voters increasingly hostile tomission's director of policy planning, spending increases linked to their prop-"funding does drive change." erty taxes, Colorado's ballot measures areTax Curb the most extreme attempts at holding Schools accountable for their spending. That certainly is the message that ballot But they aren't the only 'ones. At least 40promoters in Colorado Springs and Jeffer- states now issue report cards on their dis-son County are trying to send. Colorado's tricts and schools, some of them listing av-Taxpayer's Bill of Rights, a voter initiative erage teacher salaries and the amountthat,passed in 1993, prevents any tax increase that doesn't have voter 'approval. spentoninstructioncompared with That means that when property values rise sports. afterColorado'severy-other-yearre- Florida Grading assessments, tax rates must fall so that tax Increasingly, states also are rankingbills never increase. their schools against one another as a way The state government has committed to to hold them accountable for what theirtopping off school district budgets to take students do. Florida this year began givingaccount of enrollment growth and infla- its schools letter grades from A to F. Stu-tion. But because it is constrained by the dents in a school that receives an F twosame tax limits, it has funded inflation years out of four will be eligible for vouch-only once in the last decade. Rudy Andras, ers to attend private schooland as manya municipal-finance analystfor Dain as 65,000 children in 80 schools may be eli-Rauscher, an investment bank, and ad- gible for next year, researchers say. viser to Jefferson County, says the dis- Ballot measures now routinely tell vot-trict's funding is up 31% since 1989, to ers how new school funds will be spent:$4,774 a student, but inflation is up 42% in Colorado Springs is saying it will hire 240the county in the same decade. more teachers and offer tutoring to prob- To get around the curb set by the tax lem readers, among other things. "Beforepayer's Bill of Rights, Jefferson County the 1980s, you could just ask for moreand Colorado Springs are following other money," says Michael Kirst, a professor ofdistricts around the state in asking voters education at Stanford University. But asto pass a freeze on the property tax rate.

73 7 Guaranteeing Better Test Scores How the proposed Jefferson County, Colo., tax increase for education would work:

1999.2000 school year: improve 7.5% (as an exam- Children In grades 3,4,5,7 ple, if 57% of children are WYOMING 0 '100 'NEBRASNA;: N111.£5 and 8 take state exams in rated proficient or advanced reading, writing, math and on the four tests, compared Jefferson ,V,Denver science. District gets $25 with 53% a year earlier), the county Y million increase in its $455 district gets $31 million. UTAH million budget COLORADO 2002-2003: If scores 2000-2001: Children take improve by, 15% over the tests again that are com- baseline, to 61% proficient NEW MEXICO pared to the baseline year. or advanced, the District District gets the $25 million gets $7 million or advanced, the District increase, the same funding gets $45 million. 2003 -2004: If scores as the previous year. improve by 25% over the 2004.2005: Increase is 2001-2002: If scores baseline, to 66% proficient capped at $45 million.

Source: Quality Education Drive, a Jefferson County ballot supporters coalition

That means the tax rates wouldn't be low- That's possible now because technology ered when assessments riseand the can track students' weekly reading or school districts would get the additional math gains, pointing out problems that can money. Colorado Springs, with a $165 mil- be quickly attacked with tutoring. "We're lion budget, is asking for a permanent at the point where we can start quantify- freeze that would generate an additional ing" performance gains, says Mr. Andras. $11 million a year beginning in 2000. Jeffer- "For the first time, we can answer the son County, with a $455 million budget, is question: Will money do any good?" asking for a five-year freeze that would add Douglas Bruce, who wrote the ',Tax- $25 million a year. For the owners of a payer's Bill of Rights and is leadineoppo- $180,000 home, the average in Jefferson sition to the ballot measure 'in Colorado County, the measure would raise school Springs,insistsit won'tor anyway, taxes to $900 a year, a $90 increase. shouldn't.Ifstudent performarwe im- Unlikeotherdistrictsasking'or proves with more money, he says, it shows freezes, though, Jefferson County and that the schools "are holding backnow, orado Springs are promising improved per- and so we would be rewarding people for formance. In Colorado Springs, 52% of sev- doing less than their best." If performance enth graders now are either proficient or doesn't improve, it shows "they're already advanced readers based on Colorado's doing their best and money isn't going to statewide test. In Golden, which include. do anything," he adds. Columbine High School, the scene of last Even supportersof the two ballot April's gun rampage, it's 61%. measures,concede they face a tough If the two districts meet their perfor- fight. Teachers unions, real-estate agents mance targets, they will receive revenue and most businesses support it. But Col- increases from future reassessments, too, orado Springs voters approved a $100 mil for an expected $29 million a year in Col- lion bond issue three years ago, promis- .orado Springs seven years from now,' and ing to improve scores within five years in $45 million in Jefferson County three years return for construction funds and new from now. If the schools don't meet their technology. The district doesn't face a targets, they would get increases from only penalty if it doesn't meet that promise; and with two years to go, it hasn't. Jef- the first reassessment, and the tax rate ferson County, meanwhile, hasn't passed would begin to fall again after that. "We a property-tax increase for its schools live in a fiscally conservative community," says Kenneth Burnley, superintendent of since 1982. "There's a substantial amount of nega- Colorado Springs. "We have to show them tivism about the public schools," says Mr. the beef." Meiklejohn, "but a great deal of curiosity about the guarantee."

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74 - 79 National Crosstalk, Fall 1999

solely to prepare and sort out students for A Babel of Standards university entrance. Now that England sends Students face a confusing array of tests and about the same percentage to universities as the assessments U.S., this system uses two exams that are By Michael W. Kirst designed to align K-16 standards.

EDUCATION STANDARDS have swept across We rely on the SAT (Scholastic Assessment the U.S., engulfing almost every state. Forty-six Test) and ACT (American College Testing) to states have created K-12 academic content provide some uniformity, but neither of these standards in most academic subjects, and all but assessments is aligned with the recent up-surge Iowa and Nebraska have statewide K-12 student in K-12 standards. The situation is even more achievement tests. disjointed concerning higher education placement tests. In the southeast United States, At the state level, there is progress toward for example, there are nearly 125 combinations focusing on, and clarifying: 1) what students of 75 different placement tests devised by must be able to know and to do in the K-12 universities with scant regard to secondary grades, and 2) how to align standards, school standards. The only nationally aligned K- assessments, textbook selection, and 16 standards effort is the Advanced Placement accountability measures at the K-12 level. A program a stalactite that extends from gaping hole in this reform strategy, however, is universities, utilizing a common content syllabus the lack of coherence in content and assessment and exam. standards between higher education institutions and systems and K-12 systems. The result of this confusion is that K-12 and university entrance and placement assessments Unless we close this standards gap and align K- usually utilize different formats, emphasize 16 policies, students and secondary schools will different content, and take different amounts of continue to receive a confusing array of signals time to complete. and will not be able to prepare adequately for higher education. The current scene is a Babel of For example, Kentucky's K-12 assessment relies standards, rather than a coherent strategy. heavily on writing examples, but the SAT and ACT assess writing through multiple choice. The roots of this problem go very deep in the history of American education standards policy. Massachusetts' state K-12 assessment contains The U.S. created two separate mass education performance items that are dissimilar to the systems (K-12 and universities and colleges) closed-end multiple choice format of SAT and that rarely collaborated to establish consistent ACT. California's newly-augmented STAR test standards. Often, economically disadvantaged includes math that is considerably more students are overrepresented in non-honors advanced and difficult than SAT and ACT. courses and do not receive college admissions- Texas' K-12 assessment (TAAS), however, does related information from either school or non- not include sufficient algebra or geometry so it school sources. Improving the policy signaling is not as challenging as the SAT. process, and the alignment of K-16 policies, will benefit all students. Some state K-12 assessments permit students to use calculators, but the university placement Not all countries have a history of such a exams do not. Texas has a statewide disconnect between education systems. In postsecondary placement test (TASP), but many England, for example, senior secondary Texas universities also use their own placement education exams and standards were designed exams. Interviews with students demonstrate

75 80 that they have no idea about placement gubernatorial and legislative specification of standards. Many state assessments do not go admissions criteria. Because each state has a beyond tenth grade and do not test every pupil distinctive K-12 standards and assessment (they use a matrix sample). Consequently, they system, it is not clear what can be done do not provide individual scores for use in nationally. President Clinton's advocacy of a admissions or placement. Illinois is national voluntary test has died after protests implementing an expensive new state test to be about states' rights in education. Perhaps the given in the 11th and 12th grades, but there are College Board could assume a leadership role. no plans to use it for college admission and placement. Some states provide examples of a possible resolution. California tests each 11th grader for Universities provide some. good reasons why 400 minutes on math and language arts, and has they pay little attention to K-12 standards or additional state tests for science and social assessments. Universities emphasize that they studies. Unlike Texas' TAAS test, the California were not involved in the process of creating or state assessment is geared to university refining K-12 standards. Moreover, state K-12 preparation needs. Indeed, California 11th grade standards keep changing because of political or math is considerably more advanced than the technical problems. The K-12 assessments are SAT or ACT. not evaluated to see how well they predict freshman grades (although this is not difficult to Consequently, California universities could use do). Universities hope that the SAT and ACT the end-of-11th grade test for university will make adjustments to accommodate these admission, and restrict the SAT and ACT to out- new K-12 standards, and feel more comfortable of-state applicants. Also, the California K-12 with the two assessments they know and can assessment could be used instead of separate influence. university placement tests, like the entry-level math and English tests required of all first-year These disjunctures will be hard to fix unless students in the 22-campus California State there is an institutional center for K-16 reform. University system. Very few states have any policy mechanism that can deal with K-16 standards alignment. As Other states like North Carolina and Texas have president of the California State Board of implemented end-of-course statewide tests for Education for several years, I never met with my college preparation courses. These tests could be higher education counterparts. reviewed by universities, and then incorporated within admission criteria. Higher education coordinating bodies do not include K-16 standards alignment within their Something should be done to assist students, purview. In short, there are few regular who increasingly are asked to pass a bewildering opportunities for K-12 educators to discuss array of K-12 and higher education tests and standards issues with college and university assessments that might make sense individually, faculty or policymakers. The professional lives but that do not add up to a coherent whole. of K-12 and higher education proceed in separate orbits. Michael W. Kirst is a professor of education at Stanford University. From 1975 to 1981 he was In some states, the governor's office is the most a member of the California State Board of logical place to put these fractured standards Education, and was board president from 1977 systems together, but higher education leaders to 1980. want to guard their political independence from

81 76 The Washington Post,October 24, 1999

the analysis needs refinement. And that, says Board of Educa- Discrepancies Mar tion member Stephen N. Abrams (At Large), is exactly why he voted' to hire Weast. "Gunslingers do New School Gauge that," Abrams said. "Shoot first, ask questions later.Ilike the style." Montgomery Stresses Gains, Weast promised to be a "change agent" when he reported for duty Not Just State Test Results Aug. 2. So within two weeks, he came up with the productivity map By BRIGID SCHULTE that he gleefully said turned the Washington Post Staff Writer mythology of Montgomery schools on its head. In the coming weeks, excited staff and parents will wrap The mythology goes like this: Ashburton Elementary School with a giant blu' ribbon. On Schools in affluent Potomac, Be- Friday, it will be among a handful honored by the White thesda and Chevy Chase are the House as one of the best schools in the country, a national best. The "W" cluster, which in- Blue Ribbon school. cludes Whitman, Wooton and Win- But for some, a slight nagging worry underlies all the ston Churchill, is the most deSir- pomp and festivities. The new Montgomery County able. And thefarthereast of schools superintendent, Jerry D. Weast, has pushed fora Interstate 270' a school is, the new way to measure schools, by their "productivity." His worse it gets. But on Weast's map, staff analyzed test scores and meticulously drew a map to schoolswithhighstatetest illustrate the results, coloring "good" schools in green. scoressuch as Potomac, Ban- The one other county school chosen as a Blue Ribbon nockburn, Ashburton and Wyn-. school, Brooke Grove Elementary, is green. gateelementarieswererated The "bad" schools are red. And Ashburton is one of "less productive" because their test them. scores, though high, have not im- Staff members were puzzled. One school official was proved much. And schools with blunt: "It just makes us look stupid. You go through a lower scores in the eastern part of rigorous process to be named a Blue Ribbon school, and thecountysuchasGalway, the next day, you find out you're not productive. What, Kemp Mill and Beall elementa- process is real?" rieswere rated "more produc- The "productivity map" has ...aused confusion and tive" because their results have consternation but has definitely grabbed people's atten- been climbing. tion. It measures the rise or fall of the scores of a subset of But to confuse matters further, students over several grades. And it says less about the of the 22 schools just recognized state of Montgomery County schools than the style of the this year by Maryland education new superintendent. Weast has since acknowledged that. officials for making the most gains on theirstatetestscores, on Weast's map, eight were rated productive. Four were in the red. And the rest were average. Weast's map, handed outt( reporters and published in the School Bulletin, sent shock waves through county schools. Weast had made clear that the map would help him intervene with or weed out bad teachers and principals. The map, he said, would guide him in deciding which school got more teachers, attention and money.

82 BEST COPYAVAILABLE 77 The map would help him identi- For his productivity map, Weastgy: When you're really good, it's fy those doing a good job so otherstook math and reading scores fromhard to get much better. But could follow their lead: For' in-the county's Criterion ReferencedWeast's unofficial motto is: To stance, Brooke Grove might beTest and tracked how a student didwhom much is given, much will be considered a model, with voicefrom third grade to fourth grade orexpected. mail for every teacher and brain-from fourth to fifth. Thus, the "Some schools look good,- but storming sessions across grade lev- when you consider the kind of els that Principal Eoline Cary leadsproficiency, or the high test score,student they have, they should be at staff meetings. Parents takewas not what mattered, but thedoing better," said Board of Educa- tests on parents night, and themovement from year to year. tion member Mona M. Signer PTA provides breakfast, snacks "Whether it's moving from 90 to(Rockville-Potomac)."Sotheir and beverages on student test day.92 or 30 to 40, the expectation ofscores are high, great. But I look at But Ashburton is hardly a slack-parents is that we're moving eachBroad Acres [Elementary], where er. The school's scores on countychild. That there's growth. Thatchildren come to school with so and state tests are among' thethere's value added regardless ofmany problems, and they do ex- highest. Teachers don't have tothe ability," Weast explained re-tremely well there." report to work until 8:20 a.m., andcently. "There ought to be some William Sanders, pioneer of this the parking lot is full at 8 a.m. Therecognition that you're adding val;growing national "value added" community is involved, spots inue regardless of where you start."approach to measuring how well the on-site child-care center are It's a message that resonatesschools do by their students, calls coveted, volunteers are plentifulwith Ellen DeYoung, former prin.high-scoring suburban schools that and children are happy, recognizedcipal of Kemp Mill, where nearlyaren't reaching as high as they not only for their grades but alsohalf the students are poor andmight "sliders and gliders." for their SHINE program, whichmany don't speak English, yet the Is that what Ashburton is? Laptop encourages neighborliness, help-scores improved enough to garnercomputers and 'sensitive weather fulness, imagination and enthusi-the school a "productive" rating.forecasting equipment are arriving, asm. "Our scores aren't super high," sheawards from the state are givenjor- "Ten years ago, our nicknamesaid, "and, typically, what newspa-scoring so high on tests. Hallways was Trashburton, thefacilitiespers do every year, they publishare plastered with photos of "Ash- were old, 'we had high staff turn-the scores, and naturally parentsburton Superstars." Plaques and cer- over and the community was old-and real estate agents judge you. IttificateslinePrincipalBarbara er," said Wendy Cimmet, an assis-can get really discouraging whenHaughey's office bookshelves. tant in the media center. "But weyou have a needy population. This "No one is being laissez faire got a new building, a new princi-is a nice affirmation that we areabout any kind of indicator. This is pal, our scores went up and realworking hard and it's showing." about increasing rigor, and I em- estate agents are now touting the Weast then looked at schoolsbrace that," she said. Then she school. Now we're one of the bestwith similar demographics to com-paused and added,' "At the same pare their "productivity" ratings.time, we at Ashburton are going to schools in Montgomery County. I celebrate our successes, of which don't really understand it. I don'tWhat he found were swings by as much as 100 points. "We've got tnthere are many." know what they're missing." startexamining why thatis," Weast is now saying that thisWeast said. particular map is only a "concept" The analysis has drawn criti- and that staff is working on a newcism because Weast used only a one. But if his intent was to shakefew students' scores to judge the things up, he succeeded. whole school. And with the stakes "They are shaking things. Boy,so high, many said that was unfair. are they shaking," said one teach- "My daughter was suffering er, who asked not to be identified.such bad allergies when she took "This has really put everyone onher fifth-grade CRT, her score their ear." dropped 150 points," said Linna "There was a real buzz amongBarnes, president of the Montgom -, ery County Council of, PTAs. "She teachers on back-to-school night,"could have skewed the test scores said Maureen Fox, who has beenwith such a small sample. This map active in the parents group atis exactly what people have been Bannockburn, a "low productive"asking for, but it uses too narrow a school. measure." In fact, many in the county, For the new map, Weast direct- including teachers and principals,ed staff to track more students' actually like what Weast was try-scores across more grades. ing to do: measure schools not just For higher-scoring schools, such by their static test scores but byas Ashburton, the rating can be how much the scores move eachhard to swallow. Critics of the map year. have used a Michael Jordan analo- , ,

78 8 3 The Washington Post, September 27,1999 TAKING A CHANCE ON Some D.C. Schools Try Advancing Students With High Ambition but Low Test Scores By DEBBI WILGOREN test scores fell below Ackerman's rec- But in the face of growing nation- Washington Post Staff Writer ommended minimum, Ketcham Princi-alconcern about low student pal Romaine Thomas and others re-achievement, school districts, Shaky grammar and spellingtained fewer than half. states and the Clinton administra- could not mask the ambition in The discrepancies reflect how com-tion are searching for ways to keep 10-year-oldDonnaMontgo-plicated the question of whom to pro-students in school and move them mery's journal entry: I thinkmote can be. Principals weigh the abili-closer to grade level. that summer school is great. Because Ities of individual students and teachers, "Educators must know they have am learning much more than I did ina child's motivation to move aheadalternatives to holding back stu- regelar school. I hope i learn more and whether the school can providedents... which can be as detri- than i know so that i can go on to thehim or her with extra tutoring andmental" as promoting those who next grade. other help. are not ready, Education Secretary The choppy sentences were closer to Thomaswho denied promo-.Richard W. Riley wrote in a guide fourth-grade level than the sixth-gradetions to 18 of 42 possible stu-he issued this summer to school class to which Donna aspired. Just like dentsbelieved Donna had built adistricts nationwide. "Otherwise, the dismal test scores that landed her instrong bond with Shields andthey may be reluctant to end the summer school, they confirmed that would benefit from being one of herpractice of social promotion." she had not come close to mastering24 students, rather than returning The District does much of what the fifth-grade curriculum. to a significantly larger fifth-gradethe federal government espouses: But Donna's teachers and principal class.At herrecommendation,improving teacher training and promoted her anyway. She is now a Donna is receiving tutoring andschool curriculum, offering remedi- proud member of this year's sixth- other supplemental instruction thisal Saturday and summer classes, grade class at Ketcham Elementary year. and basing promotion decisions on Sehool in Anacostiastill struggling "Just retention for the sake of re-more than standardized tests. f4 below grade level but, according to tention does not work," Thomas But the District has not devel- her teacher, making progress. said. "You've got to design a pro-oped transitional programs, as Ril- "The light bulb turned on with Don- gram that will meet [a student's]ey recommends, with small classes na the last three weeks" of summer needs." and intense instruction that could school, said Myrna Shields, a 29-year Shields is keeping close tabs onhelp students catch up. Such pro- Donna, who says her concentrationgrams are succeeding in Cincinnati, veteran who has Donna now and taught Long Beach, Calif., and elsewhere. her this summer. "Given the opportuni- has improved, as well as her reading and math skills. Asked if similar methods would ty . .. she can perform." help Donna and others like her, In Chicago and New York, which like "I tried my best," Donna said on a recent lunch break, "so I could goShieldsnoddedenthusiastically. the District have launched massive re- She imagined working with 15 stu- medial summer programs in recent to the sixth grade." dentsthe summer school limit years, promotion from certain grades or even fewer, assisted by an aide depends on standardized test scores be- specially trained in reading strate- fore and after the summer session. For years, research has shown that youngsters who repeat a gradegies, a counselor to help youngsters But D.C.Superintendent Arlene put aside problems that plague Ackerman lets principals and teachers are more likely than their peers to lose interest in school. Those heldthem at home and other special re- decide who will advance, using class- sources. room performance as well as the stan- back twice almost always quit. Thomas,Ketcham'sprincipal "Just inundating them with the dard measurement, the Stanford 9 skillsthat they need,"is how Achievement Test scores.Students since 1971, has read such studies. She sees retention as an absoluteShields described it. "Because their took the test in the spring, and did not minds are open, and they have basic retake it after summer school. last resort, especially at her school, where most youngsters come fromunderstanding." While some D.C. elementary schools Ackerman said she wants indi- held back virtually all students whose poorly educated, low-income families. vidual schools to "create the pro-

79 84 grams that they think will support It was hot in the room, but Shields's class this school yearin-. their children the best, rather thanShields's swnmer battles went be-eludes Donna and 11 others, she mandate" a district-wide option. yond the heat. Workbook deliveriestaughtthis summer. "I still get kids But such initiatives are expen-were delayed by more than a week,who can't even copy from,:ithe sive and difficult for schools to cre-so she made do with materials leftboard," Shields said. "In all .,fairy ate on their own. over from the Saturday remedialness ... Donna works better Allan Ackermanwho closely moni-program. When she received thesome kids who were passee on the. tored summer school and promo-new books, they were a lower skillbasis of their scores. tion decisions in 1998said shelevel than she wanted, and she was The class, including Donna, got has barely studied the issue thistoldwrongly, according to a topoff to a good start this fall and year because she has been dis-school official interviewed for thisshould all be on grade level by tracted by other crises. She had notstorythat the more advancedspring, Shields said.. asked how many students were de-books were reserved for middle "I don't know if it will. be high nied promotions until The Wash-school. sixth-grade level, though I will- at- ington Post requested the informa- Some of Shields's fifth- and sixth-tempt to do that," Shields saidafter tion early this month. graders read so poorly that theyschool one day. "But I know,will' Principals reported that 2,767 were most comfortable with chil-see significant improvement -±I can or 9.2 percentof last year's first-dren's picture books she kept on atell that already." throughfifth-graderswerere-table in her classroom. As the swn- tained, about 300 fewer than lastmer progressed, they slowly mas- year. Nearly 700 students whosetered the stories in their work- On a recent morning, Shields scores were below therecom-books. But they faltered whenasked her fledgling sixth-grad,ers.to mended cutoff were promoted afterShields handed out booklets titledread the introduction to a, story, summer school. "Taking the Terror Out of the Stan-then guess what the plot wouldzbe. "In the last two years ...we'veford 9," filled with difficult reading-Donna raised her hand shyly ,to..of- gone from promoting everybody tocomprehension questions likefer an answer, smiling as Shields holding 3,000 kids back," Acker-those on the test. told her she had done well. man said. "We're making progress. Donna, and many of her class- When her turn came to read, she What we're trying to do is givemates, struggled to get even half ofmade no mistakes: Moving. slowly these children extra time to learn."the answers right. over damp brown leaves,'...lenny New York's strict reliance on test Shields said most of the young-could sense her ears tingle and fan scores proved disastrous this sum-sters were working on a fourth- or,out as she listened for,1,;thick mer,whenscoringerrorsbylow fifth-grade level. All butiDorma,breathing from the trees.. CTBS/McGrawHillmeantashad -Stanford9. .scores "Excellent, Donna," Shields,said. many as8,000students wereabove Ackerman's minimum ,:for Downstairs, Thomas pondered wrongly told they had to improvepromotion to the sixth grade.,But,whether she had made the right de- or be held back. Chicago, which pi-those scores still left them at thecision. "This is areal challcage to oneered the crackdown on promo-high end of the "below basic cate-the whole nation," she said. tions five years ago, will rely ongory, which the testing company Thomas has arranged for-Donna teacher recommendations as welldefines as "having little or no.mas-and other struggling students to re- as test scores starting this year. tery" of grade-level skills. ceive specialized reading and math Ackerman said she will continue "I guess you've got to start: theminstruction several times a week. to study the D.C. data and trackon a level where, they can work;When a tutoring program staffed whether students retained this yearthen build them up," Shields saidby Howard University students receive the help they need to suc-one day. Another time, she Avon-gets underway, Donna will be ceed. dered Whether having the higher-matched with a tutor. She will also level workbooks might have helpedbe encouraged to attend remedial bridge the gap. math and reading classes to be held "What sound?" Shields snapped Donna was too ashamedlto,-tellon Saturdays starting next month. her fingers in her summer schoolher mother that she might have Ito Donna's progress will be meas- classroom one day, and the stu-repeat fifth grade. All summer, sheured in large part by how she does dents pointed to an underlined por-missed only two days of class.. Sheon diagnostic Stanford 9 exams tion of a word in their workbooks.rushed home each afternoon :to dothat all D.C. students begin taking The exercises broke words downhomework, with the help of hertoday, and how much she improves into syllables and soundsagainprized dictionary, before headingwhen she takes the end-of-the-year and again and again. outside to play. exams next spring. Er! they chorused. "I'm going to feel embarrassed if "I'm hoping it will work out," "What word?" Pow-er-ful! I stay back," Donna explained oneThomas said, her eyebrows anx- "What sound?" Sh! sticky morning. "All the otheriddsious. "And if at the end of the year, I "What word?" Blushed! will pass, and I'm going to. ,thehave to retain her at Ketcham "Very good." only one still in fifth." school, we'll feel comfortable in doing that."

80 BEST COPY AVAILABLE The Washington Post, December 14, 1999 It was no miracle. There 'was As with almost everything in New E. J. Dionne Jr cheating. "What you see in some of York City schools, there are political the miracle schools," Stancik says of overtones. They have to do with his investigation of four years.-of feuding between Mayor Rudy 'Giu- testing, "are kids who were in, theliani and school Chancellor Rudy 10th percentile one year, in the 90thCrew and the timing of Stancik's re- When percentilethenextyear,thenport. switched schools, were back in the That's for the New York polplp 10th percentileand then droppedsort out. For the rest of us, Stancik Teachers ,out." hai taught some lessons. School In a campaign in which presi-ministrators and teachers who Pite dential candidates will talk in?th-more about their careers than thqir santly about school reform, the Neivkids don't belong in the schd011. Cheat York City experience is an injectionTesting won't do any good if thefe'S cheating, and it's a meaninglesslOot In the midst of phone calls fromof painful reality. New York isn't the radio and television networks inonly place where school adminiStia: -unless it's used as a road map td im- Britain, Germany, Australia andtors have cooked the testing books:proving teaching and learning. In October the school board in Ails.- And that won't happen unleAs Canada, the man who uncovere4 fi tetin, Tex., avoided a criminal trialpncandidatesfor president andfor New York CityCischool cheating scan of tampering with achieve -local dal took time out to reflect on why it school boardstalk about ment test scores by reforming thewhat improvements they'll rriakejzf- has caused such a stir. tem. Connecticut and Kentu,c19r ter the test resultsare. are in HO- "It's like a man bites dog story,"system. have also suffered through cheiting 'stakes testing without Ed Stancik, the special investigator and the manipulation of scores. reform will simply show whaflow for New York City's schools, said in an interview. "The teachers ,a{e The worst response to all ;Cis stakeSve place on children. cheating on the kids tests." would be to throw out testing. "The Man bites dog indeed. What Stanantianti-test, anti-accountability pe'dple cik uncovered withth help, it Must say: Look what happens when you put stakes on these tests and pUt be said up front, from some honest teachersare cases where teacherspressureoneducatorsaroubd them," says Kati Haycock, president changed kids' answers on standard- of the Education Trust, a group that ized tests from wrong to right. pushes for better teaching. If used Stancik, a former rackets investigator in the Manhattan Districi At-Properly andhere's the real torney's office, fingered 43 teackets, partin in conjunction with two principals and two other schoblschool reform, she says, testing can workers, in 32 schools for particial-help identify failing schools and lead to help for students who need ing in some form of cheating. Why would teachers do such a The New York scandal, says Sal- dra Feldman, president of the Anitr- thing? Welcome to the world,:tif "high stakes testing." The new wiveican Federation of Teachers, "Will be in education reformand it's theused not just by foes of pUblic schools who say public schools, are rightght waveis for "accountability" in schools and "high standards,"hopeless but also by foes of higher There are only so many ways'Youstandards." She wants to prerye but proclaiming them can ensure accountability and staii- dards. One of the main ones isAstandards, tt-isn't enough. "You can't assume that. just by having the standard in.place, ing. Careers, pay and the amount fkids are automatically going to meet it." money states confer on schools The United Federation of Teach- hang increasingly on improving test ers, the New York City AFT affiliate,af results. Now we learnleasome teachers and principals don't seem to carehad a rather more ambiguous.rc- sponse. While denouncing cheating, how they do it. UFT President Randi Wein en That fact was a powerful tipoff for w Stancik's investigators. "We startedsaid her union was sponsoring .its own investigation. She questidn&l to look for stories based on miracle turnarounds," he said. There was,whether Stancik painted .with :too for example, The Miracle at P.S.much of a "broad brush" in suggeit- 234, where the proportion of third-ing that "cheating is rampant and widespread." But even shelulowl- graders reading at grade level ',sky- rocketed from 29 percent to 51 per thatthe cases Stancik pointed to were "egregious." cent. B EST COPY AVAILABLE

1. 81 6 The New York Times, December 8, 1999

Lessons: One Standard Doesn't Fit All right, with Eli Marrero (hitting .192) at the left. By Richard Rothstein Most players are approximately average hitters, as most Standards-based reform" has two contradictory meanings. students are approximately average learners. The middle Some policy makers want minimum standards representing two-thirds are "typical," bunched in the bell's bulge. what all students must know for promotion or graduation. Others want high standards as goals toward which all Statisticians measure their "bunched togetherness," using students should strive but not all may achieve. Schools the term "standard deviation" for the point range of about need both, but one standard cannot do both jobs. This is one-third of all scorers whose achievement is just below why ill-conceived efforts by many states to force one set of(or just above) average. In batting last year, the standard standards to serve simultaneously as minimums and goals deviation was 34 -- surrounding the .277 average, about are putting the entire accountability movement at risk. two-thirds of batters hit between .243 and .311. Another sixthwere below or above this range. New York, for example, has adopted high standards, the Regents exams, a goal previously indicating academic Student achievement is similar. Consider the National readiness for college. If those become a minimum that all Assessment of Educational Progress, given to a nationwide graduates must pass, the state must deny diplomas to a student sample. On most N.A.E.P. tests, fourth grade third (or more) of its adolescents, with disastrous social scores that are only one standard deviation above average consequences. (fourth grade scores at about the 84th percentile) are higher than average eighth grade scores. To postpone this, passing scores were lowered this year. If they remain low so most students can pass, Regents exams We should push students to do betterraising the floor by will no longer challenge students who scored just below tightening the left tail, and shifting the entire bell curve to the old higher passing score and, with hard work and betterthe right. But even if we achieve these distinct objectives, instruction, might qualify for college. Preparing more all students will not perform identically. Many fourth students for college is a worthy goal. But by confusing this graders above a new higher fourth grade average still are with the more dubious one of requiring that all qualify, likely to overlap with many eighth graders below a new "standards" have backed New York into a corner. higher eighth grade average.

Even with major changes, normal differences in student We simply cannot set one standard applicable to all. The abilities and teachers' skill will cause a wide variation in passing point on any test will reflect abilities of students at achievement. Typically, scores are distributed around an that point along the bell curve, and can challenge only average. Most are close to average, some far distant. those whose abilities are just below that point. For the rest, it must either be impossibly hard (leading to unacceptable In graphs, scores look "bell" shaped. A middle bulge failure rates), or too easy (leading to little overall represents most students performing near average. Left and improvement). right "tails" represent the few who are far below or above it. But this simple statistical truth is nearly taboo because a New York once had two standards. Regents Competency widely publicized 1994 book, "The Bell Curve," asserted Tests were a minimum, Regents exams a goal. We should that race determined academic potential. Many people gradually have raised the content of both. Instead, we have hesitate to acknowledge normal bell-shaped distributions tried to make one test do both jobs, baldly asserting that if of ability, fearful of reinforcing the book's discredited some students can reach high goals, all can. The result is argument. But we can reject the racial claims and still that policy makers, educators and students have been recognize other normal variation. embarrassed by high failure rates.

Bell-shaped distributions are common, not unique to Expecting all students, with their wide variability, to aim testing. You could, for example, graph batting averages of for one goal is statistically foolish. It is like demanding that last year's regular National League players. A bulge at the every ballplayer hit .277: After we sent all below-average bell's top represents average .277 hitters. The graph tails batters back to the minor leagues, few major league teams off at each end. Larry Walker (hitting .379) is at the far could take the field. t.A

82 8 7 (SR)2 Selected Readings on School Reform Teacher Quality

Would-be teachers must typically pass through all sorts of hoops and hurdles en route to the public school classroom, but Thomas L. Williams falsified his identity and got there anyway. It was not until after students, parents, and administrators agreed that he was doing an outstanding job that they learned he was a fake, at least in terms of his formal credentials. His story provides an interesting commentary on the current state of teacher certification. Just how badly needed are those credentials that Mr. Williams didn't get? Read it in Susan Edelman's New York Post article, "Students Say 'Fake' Teacher was Grade A."

In a similar vein we find the tale of Bill Corrow, a retired Air Force colonel who volunteered to teach a history course about world conflictsomething he knows quite a bit about. Like Williams, Corrow has been lauded by parents, administrators, and fellow teachers. The unions, however, want no part of him, claiming that he threatens the jobs of other teachers because he has no certificate and refuses to be paid. Get the details in Kathleen Burge's Boston Globe story, "Not Free to Teach for Free?"

Even as many qualified people who want to teach find it difficult to gain entry, a lot of schools suffer from a dearth of quality teachers. And, as Nanette Asimov points out in the San Francisco Chronicle, it is the nation's least fortunate students who most often seem to get the least able instructors. In "Neediest Students Get Least-Prepared Teachers," Asimov describes this sad state of affairs for students in Oakland and Los Angeles in particular.

One approach to boosting teacher quality is by "Rewarding Teachers for Work Well Done." While some argue that it's unfair to pay some teachers more than others, this Baltimore Sun editorial points out that it is deeply unfair to students to withhold merit pay from teachers who are effective. What kind of incentive system is appropriate? In his Los Angeles Times article, "Opposing Forces Tug on Teachers," Richard Lee Colvin describes the certification that master teachers can obtain from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. While not many have earned it yet, those who have done so in California, for example, can receive bonuses as large as $10,000 and raises of up to fifteen percent. (Not everyone is enamored of the National Board,of course, especially since it does not tie teacher rewards to student performance.)

The U.S. is not the only nation struggling with these issues. In Britain, the Economist's "Caning the Teachers" tells us, Prime Minister Tony Blair continues to gain both allies and opponents as he seeks to modernize his country's schools in part by proposing to institute performance-related pay for teachers.

LEF

83 The New York Post, September 30, 1999

STUDENTS SAY 'FAKE' TEACH WAS "He didn't abuse anybody. He didn't hurtany GRADE A kids. If anything he tried to help the kids," said Franklin Walker, whose daughter, Cabria, had Susan Edelman Education Reporter Williams last year.

"But I would prefer to have honest people teach Parents and kids say an accused scam artist my children." charged with faking his credentials was one of the best teachers they ever had. Meanwhile, sympathy mixed with anger as parents met with Principal David Cutie to find "He knew his job," said Winston Hughes, whose out how the Board of Ed could put a convicted son, Lenny, had alleged teacher-impersonator felon - Williams was convicted of impersonating Thomas L. Williams in fifth grade last year at a nurse at Harlem Hospital in 1987 - in PS 110 in The Bronx. classrooms for more than three years.

"When my son messed up in school, Mr. While working as a teacher in 1997, Williams Williams called my house at night to let us was busted on charges of assault and aggravated know. When Lenny was falling back, Mr. harassment against his "live-in boyfriend." Williams picked him up," said the grateful dad. "The Board of Ed let the children down," said Lenny, 11, said Williams- who took the class on Claudia Harper, whose son, Jeffrey, was put in trips to McDonald's, an aquarium, and the Hall Williams' fifth-grade class this month. "How did of Science - was his hero. he slip through the cracks? We need answers.".

"He helped me read, he helped me in math, and No one from the Board of Ed or District 9 came he helped me with social studies when I really to the meeting to offer any. needed it. I was shocked to hear that he was in jail." Cutie barred The Post from the meeting and refused to comment, but parents said he was Williams, arrested Monday and being held at the furious about the fraud, apologized, and vowed Manhattan House of Detention, stole the identity to check the credentials of other recently hired of a former city teacher named Thomas E. teachers. Williams, using his birth date, Social Security number and Board of Ed file number to get hired The principal admitted that he too was fooled. in 1996, prosecutors say. Each time he observed Williams in class, he liked what he saw, the parents said. Williams got The 33-year-old faces eight charges, including the highest ratings. grand larceny, forgery, criminal impersonation and defrauding the government. Special Schools Investigator Ed Stancik is still tracking how Williams tricked the Board of Ed- One dad was torn. and whether it ignored red flags that he was a fake.

84 Boston Globe, November 22, 1999

Vermont, like most states, does not mandate special classes for the gifted, estimated to be about 15 NOT FREE TO TEACH FOR FREE? percent of the school population. Even the smartest students, if they are bored in class, can act out or UNION TRIES TO OUST VOLUNTEER TEACHER AS VT. drop out, said Virginia Palmer, president of the SCHOOL RALLIES BEHIND HIM Vermont Council for Gifted Education.

By Kathleen Burge, Globe Correspondent, 11/22/99 "I get a lot of calls from people wanting to know what we can do for these kids," she said. The effects "of WILLIAMSTOWN, Vt. - After a quarter-century in not paying attention to these kids, and not providing some of the world's most troubled places, Bill for them what's appropriate, can sometimes be Corrow came home to Vermont. A former teacher severe. We don't want to lose these kids." and retired Air Force colonel, Corrow started volunteering at the local high school, teaching a In Williamstown, the parents have been abuzz with course called "Conflict in the 20th Century." the news of the Corrow controversy. People have been talking about the brouhaha when they run into The class quickly became a magnet for the school's one another in parking lots and at the bank, even at best students, who liked Corrow's first-hand a teachers' meeting two towns away. Many parents knowledge and his insistence on hard work. The have told Corrow they support him, saying they will school's guidance counselor began recommending sign petitions and do whatever they can to keep him the class for college-bound students. teaching.

Yet as word of his teaching spread, Corrow found "They are appalled," said Roxann McLam, a himself drawn, again, into the fray. The union that registered nurse whose daughter is in Corrow's represents the teachers demanded that class. "We should be thanking him, not putting him Williamstown Middle-High School fire Corrow, who in hot water." has been blunt at times in his criticisms of the quality of teaching at the school. The union argues that he Williamstown is the kind of town where tourists rarely is not properly certified and that he violates the venture, where the local gasoline station advertises union contract by teaching for free. hunters' breakfasts, harvest suppers, and snowmobile safety courses. It is not a lack of beauty "We have a district curriculum," said Kevin that keeps tourists away. The main road that glides Lawrence, an English teacher at the high school down a hill into Williamstown reveals a stunning view who filed the initial union complaint against Corrow. of the Green Mountains. The curriculum cannot be ignored, he said, asking, "What if a teacher wanted to teach a course on the But Williamstown does not have the well-kept inns, fact that the Nazi experience never happened?" coffee shops, and bookstores that compete for sidewalk space in the tourist haunts. There is a The school argues that Corrow's teaching is legal church, a bank, and a minimart, but no newspaper, and that, more important, he challenges the best radio station, or movie theater. Mobile homes dot the students in a class that would not exist without him. town's main roads. To keep him, they will, in the words of Superintendent Clif Randolph, "go all the way to the At the combined middle school-high school on the Supreme Court." hill, there are about 50 students in each grade. The squat, flat-roofed building was constructed in the Last week, the union tried to reach a settlement with golden age of the open classroom, and flimsy, the school district. Corrow could continue teaching, makeshift walls separate the classrooms. union negotiators suggested, if he worked under the supervision of another teacher and his course did Here, there are barely enough teachers to cover the not carry credit. basics. This year, the school dropped Advanced Placement English because there was no one The fight resonates in many of the smallest, poorest available to teach it. schools in New England. They cannot, they say, afford to hire the teachers to offer enough "VVilliamstown's one of those schools where challenging electives such as the one Corrow teachers come, learn how to become a teacher, and teaches. go off somewhere else where there's better pay," said Jaime Pullman, a junior in Corrow's class. "He's here for us."

85 9 0 It also rankles NEA officials that Corrow is teaching Students planning on college worry that their a class on his own, with credit and full responsibility transcripts will offer little to catch the eyes of for grades. As a volunteer, Corrow could help out in admissions officials. Junior Laura Mc Lam is taking a another teacher's class, talking about his military class at nearby Norwich University to keep from experience or coaching students on their writing, having three study halls in a row. "If [Corrow] wasn't Hage said. offering this course, I'd have to take gym or art or something I don't need," said Mc Lam, who said she School officials "certainly know what the laws of thinks the class is so important that the school Vermont required," Hage said. "For reasons I don't should make it mandatory. fully understand, they chose to ignore them."

Corrow is direct in his criticism of the school, and Hage emphasizes that he is not condemning that bluntness, coming from someone who is not a volunteers wholesale. When he was a teacher career teacher, has irked some colleagues. "I felt himself, he often brought in community members to that some of the teaching in our classrooms was speak to his students. Now he volunteers at his inadequate," he said. "We were graduating kids who son's school. had difficulty reading, who didn't know when to use 'their' or 'there,' or how many o's are after which Other administrators, too, have used volunteers 'to."' without the controversy that has followed Corrow. When Palmer coordinated a gifted education Corrow is a large man, with sharp blue eyes, gray program at a small school in New Hampshire, she hair, and wire-framed glasses. His hero is retired brought in volunteers to help students with projects. General Colin Powell. In town, Corrow is considered A poet helped a 10-year-old girl write her own both demanding and gentle. This year, he gave his poetry. An engineer volunteered to help two boys class a list of five books to read over the summer, an build a model solar car. unheard-of assignment. And he returns papers covered with comments. In Williamstown, the principal, the school board, and the district superintendent have rejected the union's But he also gives students his home telephone argument. If the school district does not accept the number and calls them, affectionately, "gang." union's offer this week, the dispute could go to an arbitrator and then to the state's labor board. Corrow's own career he left the small town of Newport, along the Canadian border, to see the Corrow has assured his students that the class will world "shows someone from Vermont can go out in not be canceled midyear. But he, too, is frustrated the world and make a difference," Mc Lam said. by the clamor. "If Lawrence of Arabia arrived here and said, 'I would like to do a course in Anglo-Arab "Or make it at all," Pullman added. studies,' unless he was certified to teach he couldn't do that?" The National Education Association does not deny that Corrow has been able to reach students. "I'm not here to talk about good job/bad job," said Lawrence, the teacher who filed the complaint.

But to the union, turning to volunteers means abandoning the idea that instructors be certified to teach their subject.

"Every other teacher is held to those standards," said NEA representative Mark Hage. "I see no reason Mr. Corrow should be allowed to side-step them."

Lawrence said he is also frustrated that the course was not designed to complement the school's existing classes. Sometimes when he starts teaching a new subject, Lawrence said, his students tell him they have already covered the material in Corrow's class.

86 San Francisco Chronicle, December 3, 1999

teachers on staff who need such training, the less able schools are to NEEDIEST STUDENTS GET LEAST-PREPARED TEACHERS: provide it. STUDY FINDS SITUATION CUTS ACADEMIC SUCCESS "One in five schools in the state falls into this category," the report Nanette Asimov, Chronicle Staff Writer said.

California's lowest-scoring students are five times more likely than A disadvantaged child who spends a year with an inexperienced high-scoring children to be placed in classrooms with underqualified teacher will generally improve less than a similar student with an teachers, makingitthat much harder for them to catch up experienced teacher, said Linda Bond, a director with the California academically, top educators say in a report to be released today. Commission on Teacher Credentialing and an adviser on the study.

They say the problem is so bad that half of California's estimated "After two years with an inexperienced teacher, you have severely $2.6 billion budget surplus should be spent on improving the quality impaired the children's ability to catch up," she said. "Research of the teaching profession,enticing experienced, credentialed shows that having an experienced teacher can make up for the teachers into low- performing schools and drawing qualified people disadvantages that come with poverty." into the profession. How California traded in one of the nation's most admired public Not only doesCalifornialack suchincentives,thesystem school systemsfor one now infamousforitsrock-bottom discourages prospective teachers from finishing their education by achievement is the story of soaring enrollment, below-average making it easy for them to get a paid classroom jobusually in funding, and, according to the new report, a willingness to let overcrowded districts such as Oakland and Los Angeles that are underqualified instructors into the classroom. desperate for instructors. The report recommends 23 changes to California's teacher- training Those are some of the conclusions reached by educators from the system that it says -would cost $1.3 billion. Here is a sampling of the University of California, California State University, several school proposals: boards and districts, county offices of education and research groups. Raise the beginning salary from $32,000 to $40,000 for "There is tremendous overlap between underperforming schools and qualified teachers. the ones with underprepared teachers," said Margaret Gaston, co- Pay at least $20,000, plus tuition fees and book costs, to director of the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning, a those who complete a teacher preparation program and go Santa Cruz research group that co-sponsored the study. on to teach in a hard-to-staff school for at least four years. This would expand current programs that pay an $11,000 "More than a million children in California go to school where they incentive. haveparticularlyhighconcentrationsof teachers who are Provide grants of $350 per student for up to three years to underprepared to teach them," she said. "You can argue that, of help schools attract and keep qualified teachers. anyone, poor, minority children ought to have first crack at prepared Phase out credential waivers and emergency permits over teachers." the next five years. Review local practices to reduce delays in hiring teachers Last year, the state handed out 85 percent more "emergency and identify steps that districts and teacher unions can take credentials" thanit did just three years ago: 28,500 in1998, to pair qualified teachers with the students who need them compared with 15,400 in 1996. This surge of instructors who have most. not been completely trained has helped ease a shortage caused by the Provide incentives of up to $250 per student for high quality reduction of elementary school class sizes. on-the-job training of teachers. Most of the underqualified teachers went straight into classrooms filled with students of poverty who have low scores on academic performance tests. THE INTERNET

The study found that, on average, 21 percent of teachers lacked credentials in schools where the reading scores of third- graders The new report, "Teaching and California's Future: The Status of the averaged in the bottom 25 percent of state tests. Teaching Profession," will be available, after its release, on the Internet at www.cftl.org, or from the Center for the Future of By contrast, just 4 percent of teachers lacked credentials in schools Teaching and Learning, at 133 Mission St., Suite 220, Santa Cruz, where the reading scores averaged in the top 25 percent. CA 95060.

"At some point, as the percentage of underqualified teachers grows, Information about how to earn a teaching credential can be found on the school's overall functioning is impaired," the study said, noting the Web site of the state's Commission on Teacher Credentialing, at that many schools must provide on- the-job training.. The more www.ctc.ca.gov or by calling (916) 445-0184. 87 9 2 BEST COPY AVAILABLE BALTIMORE SUN,NOVEMBER 17, 1997

REWARDING TEACHERS FOR WORK WELL DONE Pimlico Elementary teachers got no bonuses in 1997 when Editorial their students posted 17-point gains over their previous year's score on state reading tests. There was no incentive Incentives: Another way to look at student performance and plan that inspired them to get the school's basic-skills test compensation issues. scores to rank with those of better-off elementaries like Mount Washington and Roland Park.

SAY "performance pay" in the company of most teachers and The best Ms. Horsey could do was a crab feast and endless you'd better duck to avoid being pelted with questions about accoladesnice reinforcements, but hardly the same as fairness. cash.

How can youholdteachersresponsibleforstudents' "We celebrate our successes, believe me," Ms. Horsey academic achievement, they ask, when so many kids come to says. "But money would make a difference. Some will do school with empty bellies, raggedy clothes or deep emotional their best work because of an intrinsic desire to have our scars from their chaotic lives? How can you expect teachers kids do well, but others need that external prod as well." to teach without sufficient pencils, books, or without enough support? Ms. Horsey knows it wouldn't be fair to expect teachers with the slowest children to make the same progress as teachers Those are reasonable questions. with the quickest students. She knows if teachers don't think a performance pay system is equitable, they won't buy into And as the idea of linking teacher pay to student achievement it. catches fire in Maryland and around the country, no one ought to dismiss the obstacles that trip up good teachers who try to But she also knows her teachers deserve better than they're make a difference. getting. And they give even more despite the lack of incentives. New Prince George's County Superintendent Iris T. Metts needs to balance expectations against classroom realities as ThirteenofMs.Horsey'sexperiencedteachersare she pursuesperformancepayinherschools.State mentoringrookieinstructorsthisyear.Teachers and Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick must ensure fairness administrators in the school have helped build a PTA that doesn't get trampled in the rush toward teacher accountability draws as many as 300 parents to meetings. statewide. And this year, when one of her first-grade teachers fell ill, the But here's another smart query about performance pay for others stepped in so Ms. Horsey didn't have to hire a teachersone that doesn't always receive equal attention in substitute. the debate: Is the current pay structurewhich rewards only length of service and level of educationfair to teachers who They worried that a substitute might take too long figuring gettheirstudents'achievementtosoar despitetheir out the school's reading program and the children would fall environments or lack of materials? behind.

You only need look as far as Pimlico Elementary in Northwest So they asked to divide the sick teacher's children among Baltimore to answer that question with a resounding "No." themselves, raising their own class sizes and increasing their workloads for the good of the school. At Pimlico, nearly all the students come from impoverished neighborhoods near Upper Park Heights.Supplies and "Shouldn't they be rewarded for doing that?" Ms. Horsey parental support are no more abundant than they are at other asked. "Teachers just want to be appreciated for all they do. city schools.It's a place where Principal Sarah Horsey's Is that so unreasonable?" playful singing in the halls masks problems like drug-addicted parents or abused children. It's not. And as this debate unfolds, teachers who might benefit from a good performance pay system shouldn't be That hasn't stopped Ms. Horsey and her staff from excelling shouted down by those who fear what will happen to those with their children, but the current pay system hasn't rewarded who won't make the cut Pimlico's instructors any differently than teachers whose children can't read or write.

88 93 Los Angeles Times, December 8, 1999

Opposing Forces Tug on Teachers for research, think the criteria are too squishy and philosophical and promote teaching methods that do little to raise test scores. By RICHARD LEE COLVIN But Betty Castor, a former Florida commissioner of education Wednesday, December 8, 1999 and university president who now heads the board, says: "I want to sit down with Finn and show him what they have to know." Whither teaching? There's nothing easy, she says, about being prepared to write Isitblossoming into a true profession, with a body ofabout 52 classics of literature, which the board requires high knowledge and accepted practices that must be mastered?school English teachers to do. History teachers must, for With salaries that rise with accomplishments? example, be able to look at a political cartoon from, say, the 1920s, and write about the issue that prompted it and how it Or is it a grim way station on the way to a real career that isplayed out. more lucrative, more respectable or, at the very least, less frustrating? Castor was in town last week to promote board certification in California. The goal is to have 100,000 such teachers by 2006, Typical of the crosscurrents that rip through education, there'sand without participation here, that won't happen. She also evidence for both. knows the board must prove that students of certified teachers learn more. Support for the first scenario can be found in the career arc of Celeste Fobia-McClure, a first-grade teacher at a magnet school for music, the Hillcrest Center for Enriched Studies inMeanwhile, a counter-trend is at work: the growing number of the Crenshaw area of Los Angeles. Now in her 28th year onteachers working under emergency permits, which in many the job, she has spent the past seven mentoring youngercases is but a bureaucratic fig leaf that means they walked in teachers. Last month, she earned certification by the Nationaloff the street. Those numbers are so greatthree in four Board for Professional Teaching Standards. teachers hired inL.A. Unified this yearthat "on the job" training is becoming the norm. That accomplishment took her two tries and, she estimates, more than 400 hours in which she assembled lesson plans,The problem is that most don't stick around long enough for critiqued student work, demonstrated her skills in a videotapedthat training to pay off, with as many as half quitting in the first lesson and provided examples of her interactions with parentsyear. Teaching in many urban areas has become a temporary and colleagues. In addition, she had to pass tests on academicjob like waiting on tables while looking for that big break in subjects and cognition. show business.

"This has recharged my battery," she says with infectiousIt's understandable why many quit. One such teacher, who enthusiasm. "I'm so impressed with the quality of the people Iworks at a middle school in South-Central, was nearly in tears worked with. To be part of this is the most rewarding thing I'veas she described her experience. ever done." An aspiring screenwriter, she had never taught before and The goal of the Michigan-based board, created in 1987, is toreceived only five days of training in things such as how to promote good teaching by figuring out what it looks like andrecord attendance. When she arrived at the school this fall, she then certifying those who do it. Support has come from majorwasn't even given a lesson guide. She had 10 books for 40 foundations and the federal government, which have pouredstudents. She's been all but ignored by the principal and her more than $120 million into the effort. more experienced colleagues. Students curse at her and threaten her. One student who is still in school there slapped a Now, it's achieving critical mass. In 1998, there were more thanteacher. 1,800 board-certified teachers. This year, 3,000 more joined them. Once she taught an entire period in a classroom with blood on the floor and desksfrom a student fight. Janitors had been Thirty-eight states and numerous local districts now offercalled but didn't show up. incentives for teachers to participate. California, for example, hands out a one-time bonus of $10,000. And the Los Angeles"It's the most horrible, horrible place I've ever been in in my Unified School District grants a raise of 15%. That's led to 118entire life," she said. district teachers achieving certified status, a number greater than in 46 states. Still, she needs the job, so she didn't want her name used. She hopes to stick it out until at least after Christmas. But she's not Not everyone is enthusiastic. Some conservatives, notablyconfident she can. Then, the revolving door will turn and some Chester Finn Jr., a former assistant U.S. secretary of educationother aspirant will take her place.

89 94 The Economist, October 23, 1999 Caning the teachers

Mr Blair has also threatened to wielda big stick against the LEAS. They have beenac- Tony Blair hopes that head teachers will be his allies against the "forces of cured of retaining too much of the money conservatism" in Britain's schools that they receive from government for their own bureaucracy. All LEAS have now been WHEN Tony Blair declared war on theters, teachers will qualify for a special assess-set targets to hand on more money to "forces of conservatism" at the Labourment once their pay reaches £23,000. Theschools. According to government figures Party conference last month, he did not onlyhead, or another senior teacher, will decideKensington and Chelsea, in London, spends have the political right in mind (see Bagehot).what pupils in these teachers' classes could£167 per pupil on administration, while Ox- He has also trained his sights on "conserva- be expected to achieve by the end of the year.fordshire spends just £17. The average is £49. tives" on the left. In a speech on October 21stIf the classes meet these expectations, teach-Mr Blair warned LEAS this week that Mr he fired a salvo at one group of them: teach-ers would be paid morean extra £2,000 atBlunkett will cap the money they hold back ers who are opposed to his government'sfirst, rising to perhaps £7,000 in later years.for administration if they do not meet the plans to reform Britain's schools. "We mustAssessments will be scrutinised by externaltargets. Many of the offending LEAS are La- also take on," he said, "the culture of excusesmonitors to ensure faimess.The governmentbour-controlled, which promises battles be- which still infects some parts of the teachingestimates that no,000 teachers (out of a totaltween the prime minister and members of profession." of 415,00o) would reach the top of the regularhis own party. The prime minister sees education as thepay scale, and so qualify for such assess- Like PRP, this will increase the manager- key to his efforts to "modemise" Britain. Hements, at some point in their careers. ial role of head teachers. The government and David Blunkett, the education secretary, This gives the heads both more responsi-hopes that power will follow money, and have pressed ahead with reform plans,bility and more power. It could also set headsthe heads and school governors will gradual- building (strangely) on ideas inherited fromagainst both teachers and their unions: thely take over responsibility for running their those die-hard opponents of progress, theNational Union of Teachers, the biggest un-own schools from the LEAS. And, say minis- Conservatives. There are now more, andion, has damned PRP as divisive.So ministersters, there will be no lack of money to spend: more detailed, league tables of schools' ex-are also offering heads incentives to com-they claim to be dishing out an extra £19 bil- amination results. The private sector haspensate them for the extra burden.There willlion on education over the next three years. been brought in to run state schools whichbe a new "Leadership College" for head There is no doubt, given his huge parlia- have performed badly under the control ofteachers, at Nottingham University. The col-mentary majority, that Mr Blair can press on local education authorities (LEAs). Some fail-lege will give head teachers managementwith his reforms. Nor are teachers so popular ing schools have been closed altogether. Thetraining and other support. And as part of awith the public that their unions can expect teaching unions and the LEAS loathe most of£3om package to improve head teachers'to face him down. But the question remains: this. Moreover, the unions and LEAS are bas-training during 2000-01, every new one willwill his reforms actually improve education? tions of left-wing politics. This makes thembe given a free laptop computer. In particular, PRP may keep good teachers in prime examples of left-wing conservatives. If all goes to plan, the first PRP schemesthe classroom, but it is unlikely to entice However, Mr Blair is doing more than could be in place by next autumn. Downingmany into the teaching profession. identifying enemies in schools. He is Street officials claim that their PRP system is a Relatively poor pay and the wealth of seeking allies too. He gave this week's pioneering one. This is just as well, as the PRPjob opportunities in a buoyant economy speech to a conference of vo-odd schemes that have been tried in Americahave made teaching, like many other public- new head teachers, an event spon- have not met with great success. Nonethe-sector jobs, unattractive (see chart). In Lon- sored by the Department for Educa- les?, the city of Denver,Colorado, has just in-don, a graduate starting in teaching earns tion and Employment. He hopes that heads,troduced an experimental "merit pay" sys-£17,700, rising to £25,50o at the top of the scale, especially these younger ones, will be thetem with the reluctant co-operation ofif he or she stays in the classroom. According vanguard of further reforms. In particular,teachers' unions (see page 28). to Incomes Data Services, a graduate could head teachers are being pressed to take the In Britain, however, the forces of conser-expect to start on £25,000 as a solicitor, or lead role in implementing two of the govern-vatism are promising fierce resistance. Left-£28,000 as a chartered accountant. And the ment's most cherishedand most contro-wingers in the National Union of Teacherssalary gap widens with experience. versialreforms. These are the introductionhave called for a strike and have formed a In the hope of attracting bright gradu- of performance-related pay (me) for teach-pressure group, School Teachers Opposed toates, Mr Blunkett is promising that those ers, and breaking the grip of the LEAS onPerformance Pay. They point to a recentwith first-class or upper second-class de- school budgets. Both are steps towards mak-opinion poll which showed that only 27% ofgrees will be given a £5,000 bonus at the start ing head teachers, in effect, the chief execu-those teachers eligible for assessment underof their teaching career. Thereafter they will tives of their schools. the government's proposals would applybe eligible for fast-track promotion and high- Ministers consider that teachers' payfor extra pay.ln London, 60% of teachers said.er pay, rather like fast-stream civil servants. must be linked to pupils' performance ifthat PRP would not be fair. But the govern-This will help, but may not be enough. standards are to be raised and the best teach-ment hopes that it can bring enough teachers And to make their reforms work, minis- ers are to be kept in the classroom. Currentlyround. Some of the smaller unions have giv-ters will eventually have to win round the a classroom teacher can earn no more thanen PRP a cautious welcome. But ministers'"forces of conserva tism" in the teaching pro- £23.000 (S38,000) outside London, and a littlebest hope lies in the long-term effect of PRPfession. Many heads, as well as classroom more in the capital. If they want more pay,on what teachers can expect to earn. As oneteachers, are opposed to the government's teachers have to take on administrative re-government source put it,"For teachers whoplans. So even if many head teachers do join sponsibilities and spend less time teaching.are just doing a competent job, they will losethe prime minister's pioneer corps, the mod- Under the PRP scheme proposed by minis-nothing. Teachers can only gain." ernisation of education promises to be a painful struggle.

90 BEST COPY AVAILABLE (SR)2 Selected Readings on School Reform Curriculum and Content

We start with "Constructing Knowledge, Reconstructing Schooling," an article from Educational Leadership. According to authors John Abbott and Terence Ryan, recent studies of the brain suggest that students learn more when their curiosity is given the chance to take over and guide their schooling adventure. This research, they believe, lends credence to constructivism, the approach to education that emphasizes experiential and student-directed learning. "Summerhill Revisited," by Alan Riding of the New York Times, takes us to A.S. Neill's famous (or infamous) progressive/constructivist school in England, which has fallen on hard times and is strongly challenged by those who prefer a more traditional education for their children.

Mary Eberstadt is one who cautions against the hegemony of progressivism and constructivism. In "The Schools They Deserve: Howard Gardner and the Remaking of Elite Education," published in Policy Review, she suggests that egalitarian rhetoric can seduce those who educate disadvantaged students even as it removes "all means by which they might elevate themselves," i.e., objective criteria such as grades and tests. Elite students who come from advantaged backgrounds, she says, may endure testlessness and score well at the other end. She sets long odds, however, for those who do not have concerned, educated parents to come home to. (She also digs a pretty deep grave for some of Gardner's ideas.)

"If It's Tuesday (In Chicago), It Must Be Polygons" describes a semi-militaristic school management strategy in Chicago where nothing is left to chance and teachers are given "a regime of strict marching orders that spells out exactly what, when and how to teach," writes Abraham McLaughlin of the Christian Science Monitor. Someoften youngerteachers find the scripts they receive helpful skeletons upon which to build their lessons. Others contend that scripted direct instruction of this kind strips teachers of creative outlets while undermining accountability. (The contention that teachers cannot legitimately be held accountable when they are only doing exactly what they are told.)

Schools are not just compromised by bad ideas and dubious theories. They can also be undermined by crowding, inadequate facilities and lack of commitment. In a Washington Post article, "Educators, Parents See Magnets Flaws," David Nakamura describes how Flintstone Elementary and 27 sister magnet schools struggle against such odds to attain the somewhat contradictory goals of racial integration, academic rigor, and curricular variety.

One of the many pressures that Flintstone faces is its size. For all the attention being paid to smaller classes, little has been focused on school size. In "Students do Better in Small Schools, so Why Have We Been Making Schools Bigger?" Philip Langdon, writing in the American Enterprise, makes a persuasive argument that smaller schools can help cure many of the ills others try to solve by adjusting curricula.

LEF

91 A 96 Educational Leadership, November 1999 Constructing Knowledge Reconstructing Schooling Note: "Constructing Knowledge, Reconstructing Schooling," by John Abbottand Terence Ryan, outlines the major principles of Constructivism. It is one in a group of articles printed in the November 1999 issueof Educational Leadership. We recommend the entire issue to anyone interested in a fuller understanding of this topic.

The emerging brain research that support, and the amount of independent reading supports constructivist learning collides (Abbott & Ryan, 1999). Inquisitiveness is what drives children's learning, and head-on with many of our institutional constructivism is the theory that cognitive scientists arrangements for learning. have devised to explain how an individual progresses from inquisitiveness to new knowledge. just how does ike many adults, I was slow in coming to terms this work? with using the computer. It was not so for my 1then 9-year-old eldest son, Peter, who, frOm the Constructivism and Brain Research moment he had a home computer, cluickly learned to In searching for answers, researchers in the 1990s have manage an increasing range of sophisticated programs. uncovered a massive amount of interrelated evidence in He either taught himself or learned to solve problems the brain sciences. the biological sciences, and even by working them out with friends. At an early stage, archaeology and anthropology. This evidence is starting teachers asked for his help as his school acquired more to show in considerable detail how humans actually computers. learn. We now can see why learning is much more than A common enough story, repeated time and time just the flip side of good teaching and schooling. Instead again: Young people learn a tremendous amount when of thinking of the brain as a computer, researchers now deeply engaged in tasks that fascinate them. see it as a far more flexible, self-adjusting entitya A year or so later my second son, David, three years living, unique, ever-changing organism that grows and younger than Peter, decided that he, too, wanted to use reshapes itself in response to challenge, the computer. At first, Peter was immensely patient as a with elements that wither if not used. teacher, and David learned fast. But then I noticed As scientists study learning, they are something curious. Peter sensed that David was coming realizing that a constructivist model to rely too much on him to explain new processes, reflects their best understanding of the instead of using what he already knew to find the brain's natural way of making sense of answer for himself. One evening, Peter's frustration the world (Feldman, 1994). Construe- erupted: tivism holds that learning is essentially active. A person learning something Dad, David is just being lazy; by asking me to tell him what to do, he will never learn to solve problems for new brings to that experience all of his himself. That's the only reason that I know what to or her previous knowledge and current dobecause I had to work it out for myself. If David mental patterns. Each new fact or expe- doesn't learn to work it out like that, then he'll never rience is assimilated into a living web of really learn! understanding that already exists in that That sage observation came from an 11-year-old who person's mind. As a result, learning is had never heard of constructivism, but who understOod neither passive nor simply objective. exactly that by bringing all his previous experience to Constructivist learning is an intensely bear on a new problem, he could construct his own subjective, personal process and struc- novel solutions. As a boy, Peter learned to listen intently ture that each person constantly and to everything that he heard and to note everything that actively modifies in light of new experi- he saw because he realiied at a profound level that it ences. Constructivists argue that by defi- was he alone who could direct his own learning. nition, a person who is truly passive is This anecdote bears out the truth shown in recent incapable of learning. In constructivist long-term research studiesthat four of the greatest learning, each individual structures his predictors of eventual success at the university level are or her own knowledge of the world achieved before a child even enters school: namely, the into a unique pattern, connecting each quantity and quality of discussion in the child's home, new fact, experience, or understanding the clarity of value systems, the level of peer group in a subjective way that binds the indi-

92 9 7 BEST COPY AVAILABLE vidual into rational and meaningful rela- for most of human history people Research from the biological sciences tionships to the wider world (Wilson &tended to live in relatively small groups,shows the innate nature of these collab- Daviss, 1994). individuals must develop these skills orative higher-order skills and attitudes. Such a view of learning contrasts collaboratively; few individuals ever With appropriate stimulation at an early harshly with the perceived wisdom of possess all these attributes. age (as would have been the case in pre- many education specialists. A European The speed with which our inheritedindustrial times), young people quickly professor of education recently wrote predispositions evolve is incredibly develop these skills. Children are born to us, slow: Researchers think that there havewith latent predispoiitions, equipping Those involved in school manage- been no major changes in brain struc- them to function successfully as part of ment draw a sharp boundary ture during the last 30,000 years. Withina community. However, during much of between the areas of education that a single generation, the influences of this century, formal schooling has strug- are reserved for professionals (for millions of years of human developmentgled, absent the support of the larger example, teachers), and those in which other members of the commu-mingle with the priorities of a particularcommunity, to provide appropriate nity (such as parents or retired culture. As Nigel Nicholson stated, "Yousimulation of real-life situations. Thus, people) can legitimately be involved.can take man out of the Stone Age, butschools have met with only limited Although many schools encourage you can't take the Stone Age out of success. the involvement of members of the man" (1998, p. 135). We are enor- The reason for this from a construe- community for certain activities, those activities are clearly separated mously empowered by an array of tivist perspective is all too obvious. from the "professional" work of predispositions that enable us to adapt Such limited learning environments teachers. It is very difficult and to vastly different circumstances, yet stretch only part of young people's indeed might well be foolhardy to trythese predispositions inhibit us as well.intellectual and social predispositions. to blur this distinction. As we learn more about the brain andFor all those who have been able to how it naturally learns, we must devisesucceed in the decontextualized setting In the light of recent research on learning environments that go with theof the school, there are as many for how children learn, this distinction is grain of the brain. We are now in a far whom schooling has had very little now dangerously outdated. As neurosci-better position to understand that impact. These children are the ones entists Chang and Greenough noted in "grain." Psychobiologist Henry Plotkinwho often feel school, and-indeed 1978, two sets of neurons enable us to aptly summarizes the relationship society, has no place for them. learn. One set, they suggested, capturesbetween nature and nurture: "Nature general information from the immediatehas itself evolved. Nurture can only be New Questions environment while the other constantlyfully understood in light of historical for School Reform searches through an individual's earlier causes. Nature has nurture" (1997, We must now ask deeper questions experiences for meaning. Recent p. 19). This goes a long way about the institutions of schooling than research at the Salk Institute suggests toward explaining just why have so far been raised in the school that this is a false dichotomy. Instead ofhumans learn the way they do. reform movement, with its short-term representing two distinct strategies The balance between panaceas of more accountability, site- within the brain, these are two separateemotion and logic, the role of based management, standardized tests, parts of the same process (Quartz & intuition, and the relationship prescribed curriculums, and longer Sejnowski, 1997). Constructivist between intrinsic and extrinsic hours for teachers and students. We learning is the dynamic interaction motivation are all part of the have to accept that we are dealing with between the environment and the indi-"complex adaptive system" a deep systemic crisis. Constructivism vidual brain. that best describes the brain's collides head-on with so many of our ability to deal with the messi- institutional arrangements for learning. The Community's Role in ness of ordinary life situations. It is a cruel twist of history that systems Constructi-vist Learning By drawing on the full range set up with the noblest of intentions can, In a constructivist model of learning, of a learner's experience, over the course of time and changing nature and nurture don't compete; theyconstructivist learning circumstances, create the next generation work together. We humans are who westrengthens the individual's of problems. Isn't this what educators are are largely because of our species' expe-ability both to find novel now grappling with? Isn't it because we rience over millions of years. Each newconnections and to harness have-long misunderstood the nature of generation has a powerful toolkit of peripheral perception (Bruner, early learning that we now have such predispositions that help explain our 1974). Rather than a focus on difficulty in secondary education with ability to learn language, cooperate intense, encyclopedic recall, bored and disillusioned adolescents? successfully in groups, think across constructivist learning leads to Doesn't this misunderstanding explain problems, plan for the future, and deep understanding, sense- why the conventional reaction of empathize with. others. Predispositions,making, and the potential for teachers to such criticism has been to both in young children and adolescents,creativity and enterprise (Kalbfleisch, assume additional responsibilities provide individuals with a whole range1999). that are surely more appropri- of skills that enable them to relate flex- This is where it all becomes fasci- ately undertaken by parents and ibly to their environment. Yet, because.natingand essentially hop'efte Community? Are we not stuck

BEST COPY AVAILABLE 93 98 with an education system that Considering Student targets does not support genuinely has progressively turned child- Development creative. or entrepreneurial learners. An hood into an extended virtual Everything that we understand about ever-increasing pace of change has made holiday and has shut the class- our intellectual development suggests the ability to learn far more important room door on the world of adultthat before the age of 7 or 8particu- than any particular skill set. affairs and social responsibility? larly before the age of3weare heavily, Neurology's emerging under-dependent on external encouragement Toward Dynamic Learning standing of adolescence and stimulation to develop the ability toThe territory between the schools and suggests that we are trivializingcollaborate and to see across issues. If the community presents difficulties for the energy and the idealism.of such skills are not stimulated at an earlymany policymakers and the general young people at the very stage stage, then learning them later on is public. More people now recognize that when they need support and simply far more difficult. In late 20th a dynamic form of learning such as encouragement to learn to century terms, the functional skills of constnictivism requires strong partner- mediate and direct their ener- reading, writing, and numeracy also fit ships among all those who help children gies and emotion. The truth is, into the category of survival skills. At anlearn and grow. Yet, professional educa- we can't bring children up to beearly stage of life, every youngster needstors and community leaders still do not intelligent in a world that does to make great demands on adults if he fully understand this "middle ground" not seem intelligible to them. or she is to master these basic survival that incorporates the home, the school, Only recently, however, has skills. Good parenting is essential to theand the community and is sometimes it become possible to put all thedevelopment of a child's mental facul- facilitated by new technologies. pieces of this argument together. The ties and social skills. There is an irony in all this. Those learning theory that dominated educa- The natural tendency of young people most actively challenging the tion in the late 19th and early 20th people when they begin puberty is to protected and isolated nature of current centuries was generally behaviorist: reverse their dependency on adults. educational arrangements are those People expected rewards to do tasks; They want to be in control; hormonal who are often the greatest proponents their brains were blank sheets awaiting changes are pressing them to show thatof education focused on outcomes. instruction; and intelligence was innatethey can now use what they learned Those who most strongly support the and largely inherited. As rapidly industri-earlier to become fully functional, inde-concept of constructivism are those alizing nations created education pendent people. If they do not have with unlimited faith in public education, systems for the masses, these systems basic survival skills, adolescents are and they often are least prepared to reflected the industrial factory model. desperately ill prepared to deal with therecognize the need for major institu- When universities gave advice on the physiological changes of adolescence. tional change. curriculum, they suggested a highly They end up mentally, emotionally, and We call for an organized middle way. reductionist model of learning. To such socially adrift. To repeatconstructivism is not only an early educational experts, the study of Consider the current model of open-ended form of learning; it is essen- learning was a strictly academic affair. schooling. In many countries, elemen- tially about reality, connectivity, and.the They measured what happened in class- tary school 'children are in large, imper-search for piirpose. Growing evidence rooms when people performed abstractsonal classes when their predispositionssuggests that a constnictivist form of tasks, but they hardly ever deigned are at their most fertile. In secondary learning matches the brain's natural to study the calculating ability of a schools, we have instructional learning patterns. Constntctivist learning working apprentice or a street trader. approaches that clash with the adoles-dictates that learning arrangements must It is true that this late 19th century cent's increasing wish to be indepen- move beyond what occurs in a class- compromise among the scientific under-dent. Many adolescents, for the most room; it requires a whole new under- standings of the day, the needs of natural of reasons, get completely standing of a learning communityand industry, and the desire to give all chil- turned off by schooling at about age 14that involves everyone, not just teachers. dren basic skills increased productivity because school simply does not seem Constructivism provides the debating and lifted standards of living.signifi- real in comparison to the emotionally points for those involved in education candy. But this came at a cost. Deep charged environments that they experi-reform and those responsible for the down, many children became frus- ence away from school with their peers.revitalization of communities. trated, with so many of their predisposi- For the brain's predisposition toward tions stifled by the routine of instruc- constructivist learning to thrive, we mustJohn Abbottis author of The Child Is tion. The daily challenge of making consider all aspects of a child's learning Father of the Man: How Humans Learn (Bath Press, 1999) and President ofthe sense of their environment had been environment. Constructivism is open- 21stCentury Learning Initiative, 11739 replaced by a dull recognition of ended, as is the neural structure of the Bowman Green Dr., Reston, VA 20190- waiting to he told what to do and how brain. Education that focuses on specific3501 (e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: to do it. outcomes and national curriculum www.21Iearn.org).Terence Ryanis Senior Researcher at the 21st Century Learning Initiative.

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94 9 9 The New York Times, November 7, 1999

Summerhill Revisited of Zo Readhead, Neill's daughter, a lanky farmer's wife of By ALAN RIDING 53 who attended Summerhill in her father's day. Ms. Leiston, England Readhead has turned her modest office at the school into battle headquarters, where she sells T-shirts and coffee mugs to raise money for the cause, and lobbies parents, IN A DAMP AND WINDY CORNER OF EASTERN alumni and politicians for support. She has appealed three England, a large run-down Victorian mansion stands as an of the government's six complaints to an autonomous unlikely monument to a revolutionary idea in education. It government agency, the Independent Schools Tribunal, was here in the 1920's that a Scottish teacher founded which is to meet in February. If she loses, she plans to carry Summerhill as the first modern "free school," where classes the fight to England's courts. If frustrated again, she says were not compulsory and key decisions were made by an she will turn to the European Commission for Human assembly of pupils and teachers. The objective was even Rights. more unorthodox: that children should be happy at school. The perils of defying the government are very real. A It proved to be a powerful idea that challenged the formal letter from the Registrar of Independent Schools authoritarian tradition of British schooling and appealed to addressed to Ms. Readhead as the proprietor warned that anti-establishment intellectuals. In the 1960's, Summerhill Summerhill might be struck off the official register if her became a role model for alternative education in the United appeal is rejected and she fails to carry out the States, and to this day, the prolific and passionate writings "remedies"improved accommodation and "efficient and of its founder, A. S. Neill, are studied widely by progressive suitable instruction"that have been demanded by the educators. government. "The penalties for conducting an independent school which is not on the register," the letter added darkly, Yet, 26 years after Neill's death, the school is largely "are set out in Section 39 of the Criminal Justice Act 1982." forgotten in Britain. Or, rather, it was until last spring, when the British government threaten-ed to close it after Still, for the moment, daily school life seems largely inspectors from the Office for Standards in Education, or unaffected. One drizzly morning in late September, the Ofsted, concluded that "Summerhill is not providing an pupils, in their baggy jeans and loose sweaters, were doing adequate education for its pupils." Suddenly it was back in what they normally did: hammering in the woodworking the news. It had last been featured in London tabloids in room, playing with computers, even going to class. Set in 1992, when a television documentary showed teachers and four acres of woodland a few miles from the North Sea, the pupils swimming naked together. This year, newspapers school has a main building surrounded by cabins and one have had fun with headlines like "Kool Skools Rool O.K.?" mobile home, which are used as classrooms and sleeping and references to "Lord of the Flies" aplenty. quarters, and which the inspectors complained were "very basic." (The report also noted that sharing toilets by boys, But if Summerhill is used to controversy, the recent Ofsted girls and staff members contravened government report was cause for particular alarm, because it attacked the regulations, and that some floors had "dangerous" holes in school's defining policy of allowing children to decide them. The holes, it turned out, were not too large.) whether they wanted an education. "The school has drifted into confusing educational freedom with the negative right Despite the somewhat crude conditions, the children not to be taught," the report said. "As a result, many pupils seemed cheerful enough. have been allowed to mistake the pursuit of idleness for the exercise of personal liberty." "I hated state school," said Alexander Coad, a boisterous 14-year-old whose home is in Ipswich nearby. "At first, I This verdict did not come out of the blue. Ofsted inspectors was really scared here. But once you get settled, it's very have been dissatisfied since at least 1990. Traditionally, friendly." His sentiment was echoed by John Benneworth, British schools have been reviewed every five years or so, 11, who came here last year after he received a diagnosis of but inspections as a whole have become tougher and more dyslexia. "In primary school, they did things I didn't want frequent since 1997, when Prime Minister Tony Blair's to do, like tests," he said softly. "Here they don't make you Labor government took office, pledging to raise educational do things. I like that." standards across Britain. Many of the children seem remarkably self-assured perhaps A spokeswoman for Britain's Department for Education and because of the twice-weekly gatherings of students and Employment said that the Secretary of State, David teachers --one a democratic assembly, the other a "tribunal" Blunkett, had a duty to ensure that children were safe and to deal with disciplinary questionswhere they learn to being educated. She added, "He has said that he cannot speak up. At one recent hourlong assembly, sternly presided allow what is happening at Summerhill to continue." over by Daniel Kaburger, a 14-year-old German student, debates were followed repeatedly by voteson whether Now Summerhill is fighting for its life under the command machetes could be carried around the school, on whether a

95 10 classroom and teacher should be assigned for late-evening derive pleasure from doing so. It is that view that Ms. homework, on whether everyone should be obliged to see Readhead is unwilling to abandon. an antismoking video. Young Daniel even chastised a teacher for being late. "You're free to do as you like as long as it doesn't interfere with anyone else's freedom," she said. "Neill's basic idea Considering its fame, the school seems small, with just 59 was that kids should be treated as human beings, that their boys and girls ranging in age from 6 to 17, all but 11 emotional and social life was as important as their boarderswell below what Ms. Readhead considers the education." ideal: 75. But Summerhill may well be Britain's most international school: there are 18 British pupils, 14 The Ofsted report, which was based on a five-day visit in Germans, 10 Japanese, 6 Taiwanese, 4 Koreans, 3 March by eight of Her Majesty's Inspectors of Schools, Americans, 2 Swiss, I French and 1 Israeli. A Japanese nonetheless zeroed in on the lack of regular class edition of Neill's most influential book, "Summerhill attendance. "Whether the pupils make sufficient progresi School: A New View of Childhood," and at least four and achieve the standards of which they are capable is left Summerhill-inspired schools in Japan explain why, at one to each child's inclination," the report stated. "As a result, time, half the pupils came from there. Although Summerhill those willing to work achieve satisfactory or even good has a Japanese teacher and offers classes in French and standards, while the rest are allowed to drift and fall German, English is the lingua franca. behind." But the remarks follow a disclaimer: "This report cannot and does not pass judgment on the unique The school's nationality breakdown clearly underlines the philosophy on which Summerhill is founded." lack of interest in alternative education in Britain. Similarly, in response to protest letters about the threat to That is not surprising. When Neill founded Summerhill in Summerhill from the school's defenders, Mr. Blunkett, the 1921, teaching in Britain was infamously repressive. In fact, secretary of state, has stated that "we are not requiring it was Neill's own unhappy childhood and early teaching Summerhill to abandon its educational philosophy and force experience in Scotlandunder the tutelage of his father, a children to attend all lessons and follow particular stern, puritanical schoolmaster in the village of Forfarthat educational courses." inspired him to find a way of "liberating" children. But today, Neill's philosophy is overpowered by the But for Ms. Readhead and her supporters, this is precisely marketplace, in which the aim is to raise standards by the government's objective. In a heated response, which stimulating competition among schools. To do so, the was posted on the school's Web site and will serve as the government issues school performance tables based on basis of the appeal in February, Ms. Readhead called the results in annual nationwide examinations, which report's style and language "emotive and unprofessional" newspapers publish in order of excellence. All of which and its contents "biased and prejudicial." leads to the prevailing equation: good results equal good colleges equal good jobs. Few parents, it seems, are ready to "Ofsted has its role and place in the educational system," experiment with their children's education. she wrote. "It should not be allowed to bully those who do not agree with it." In contrast, alternative education has always stirred interest in the United States, where there has been a sharp increase Nonattendance, she said, generally occurs at what Neill in home schooling and even "unschooling," in which home- called "the gang stage" of early adolescence, when children schooled children can choose their own curriculum. Dozens tend to rebel. But as the children's interests become more of "free schools," like the Sudbury Valley School in defined, she noted, they are eager to sign up for classes. "At Framingham, Mass., have adapted Neill's ideas. Summerhill, we have been observing this process for 78 years and find that students do return to learning with fresh "The British have always been the least interested in interest and enthusiasm as they get older and mature." Summerhill," said Ms. Readhead, who took over the school when her mother, Ena, retired in 1985. (Her father died in Summerhill charges about $10,500 a year, far less than the 1973.) "I think the ideal for many people is a school with average $24,000 other private boarding schools in Britain Summerhill's philosophy but one where kids have to attend charge. One side effect of its lower fees, however, is high classes. But this is the raw edge of our approach. You have staff turnover because teachers are paid poorlyabout to be prepared to stand back and watch a kid take another $15,000 a year, as well as board and lodging. Those who path." stay on, on the other hand, are true believers in the school's philosophy of social and emotional development over Neill himself set little store in formal education. formal education, and the report found that 75 percent of the "Personally, I do not know what type of teaching is carried teachers were "satisfactory or better." on, for I never visit lessons, and have no interest in how children learn," he wrote in a typically provbcative vein. Paradoxically, the school follows a traditional government- The freedom to skip classes, though, was a consequence of approved curriculum. "We have no new methods of his fundamental view that, left to their own devices, teaching," Neill wrote in a book, "because we do not think children find their own ways of learning, and eventually that teaching very much matters." Thus, students at a school 96 101 built around the notion of personal freedom, even to the said. "I can put you in touch with a doctor who was here detriment of learning, must sit for the same examinations as who is no happier than another man doing a part-time job students in more conventional schools. It is by these results and playing music." that Summerhill is judged by the government. And yet there appears to be no shortage of former The school does not prepare pupils for college entry, which Summerhillians who have successful careers, from the in Britain usually requires 18-year-olds to take the so-called actress Rebecca De Mornay to John Burningham, the "A" level examinations in at least three subjects. Rather, the children's book author and illustrator. curriculum here ends with the General Certificate of Secondary Education exams, taken by everyone at age 16 Alex Ruhle umlaut on u, a29-year-old equity analyst for a and, in the best schools, involving 9 or 10 subjects. At hedge fund in New York, was sent to Summerhill at age 9 Summerhill, since students are usually drawn only to the by his German diplomat parents, who worked in Paris then. subjects they enjoy, they are more likely to test in only three "The school in Paris was so strict that I no longer wanted to or four subjects. Thus, if they continue studying with a view go," he recalled. "Once I got to Summerhill, I definitely to attending college, they have to try to catch up. enjoyed it. You have a real sense of freedom to develop what you want." He left with only two general-certificate It is therefore not surprising that Summerhill does not qualifications, but he promptly collected five more and feature in the performance tables,which tend to list the 500 passed four A-level exams. "I was very motivated, much to 1,000 schools with the best results. Because of more than the others," he said. He then attended the insufficient data from the school, the government says it University of Sussex and completed an M.B.A. at Baruch cannot compare Summerhill test scores with the national College of the City University of New York. average, but in 1998, 75 percent of the students who took certificate-qualification exams passed. When Martha Neighbor, 39, returned to the United States at age 14 after five years at Summerhill, she had difficulty "We don't pay attention to the league tables," Ms. adjusting to more orthodox schooling, and even dropped out Readhead said. "Everyone recognizes that in a school of 60 after two years at the University of Arizona. But she has no children, they don't tell you anything. Also, in a school regrets. "I think academically Neill's theories were right," where only one-third of students are British, two-thirds are she said. "Once 1 found my motivation, I finished well and sitting exams in their second language." was very disciplined." Today, with a degree from Hunter College in New York and a master's in art history and More important to Summerhill, when pupils pursue further museum studies from the University of Southern California, studies it is because they are motivated to do so, and in Los Angeles, she is the managing director of Risa therefore have an advantage over their peers. The evidence Jaroslow and Dancers, a modern dance troupe in New York. supporting this is mostly anecdotal. But, with a view to answering Ofsted's criticism, the school is now collecting Still, the experience of these and other alumni may not be information on the activities of alumni who have left considered relevant when the Independent Schools Tribunal Summerhill in the last 12 years. Ms. Readhead herself hears Summerhill's appeal. By demanding that "the school seems to give little importance to higher education: she ensure that all pupils engage regularly in learning," the dropped out of art school and became a horseback-riding government seems more intent on attacking the very idea instructor before returning to Summerhill. Despite her title behind Summerhill. Perhaps the only real surprise is the as head teacher, she does not teach. timing of the attack. Summerhill survived the conservative orthodoxy of Margaret Thatcher's long rule. Now, under a "For me, what's important is who you are, how you feel Labor government, its days may be numbered. about yourself, how you feel about your fellow man," she

97 102 Policy Review, October & November 1999

The Schools. as the historian Diane Ravitch once put it, but the fact that these precepts had gotten twisted around in They Deserve. practice to become "justification for educational practices that range from the unwise to the bizarre." It was a message that reached an ever-wider audi- Howard Gardner and the Remaking ence of the concerned, as the statistics on everything from reading to the SATS piled up worse by theyear. Of Elite Education But the harshest blow to progressive ideas, and what ought to have been the most demoralizing,came in the even more unexpected form of the writings of literary scholar E.D.Hirsch. A Gramsci- quoting, self-described political liberal, Hirsch didmore than deplore the By MARY EBERSTADT excesses of progressivist practice; he attacked the creed itself head-on, and on moral grounds to boot. In 1987, his profoundly influential book Cultural Literacy argued that progressive ideas in the schoolswere depriving all students, particularly those least advantaged, of the knowledgerequired for citizenship and a decent life. Someyears later, in The Schools We Need and Why We Don't Have Them (1996), Hirschwent even further, arguing in (.9UR POSTMODERN TIMES, it is often observed, are rough timesmeticulous detail that "the mistaken ideas" of progressivism hadled to "dis- for orthodox belief. But religious beliefs aren't the only onesastrous consequences," and that "since mistaken ideas have been theroot being put to the test these days. Certain established secularcause of America's educational problems, the ideas must be changed before creeds, too, seem to be taking their lumps. the problems can be solved." Whatever the educationalestablishment may Consider the ostensible fate of one particularly long-running such ortho-have made of all this was of littlemoment next to Hirsch's actual resonance doxy, educational progressivism. It is true, of course, that classrooms acrosswith readers across the country. The ideas in his books along with his the country continue to exhibit progressively inspired practices, from "nat-Core Knowledge Foundation and its grade-by-grade, content-laden K-6cur- ural" ways of teaching math to "whole language" rather than phoneticriculum effectively laid the groundwork for what was, and is,an anti- reading methods; true, too, that one of the doctrine's most cherished dicta progressive educational counterculture. its preference for "critical thinking" over what is disdainfully called the Nor is that all. What must have been even more gallingto progressives, "mere" accumulation of facts is enshrined in the heart of almost everypriding themselves as they do on the tradition's claimto speak for the com- teacher and embedded in textbooks and teaching plans from kindergartenmon man, is that during the same years in which their creed itself was being on. All this has long been so, and must bring some consolation to the rank thrashed in the middle and higher reaches of public opinion, millions ofpeo- and file. ple who had never even heard of Rousseau or Dewey turnedout to be busily But it is also true that educational progressivism, in practice and in theory, repudiating their legacy down below. This is the real meaning of whatis is fast losing ground. For almost two decades, in fact, that particular set ofoften referred to as "the ferthent in American schools." For almosttwo ideas grounded in Rousseau, transplanted in America by John Dewey anddecades now, alarmed by all the same things that alarmed the authors and his followers, and disseminated through the educational establishment byreaders of America at Risk, parents and school generations of loyal acolytes ever since has suffered what must onlyboards across the country have seized on one educa- appear to the faithful as one ignominious setback after another tional experiment after another in the hopes of There was, to begin with, that famous some would say infamous improving the schools experiments that by their 1983 report by the National Commission on Excellence in Education,very design send shudders through the enlightened America at Risk, documenting the distinct mediocrity of the nation's stu-heirs of Dewey. dents and by corollary the impressive failings of its schools. These failings, Many districts and states, for example, have certain observers were quick to point out, had risen more or less exactlyopted for mandatory standardized testing. They alongside the ascendance of progressive ideas in the public schools. At thehave, further, adjusted the curriculum to cover the same time, and even more annoying to progressives, such critics were turn-contents of those exams in the deploring phrase ing out to have echoes at the highest levels of politics. After 12 years ofof progressive educators, "teaching to the test." Republican governance including most notably William J. Bennett'sOther districts are experimenting with financial tenure as secretary of education "standards," "testing," "achievement,"incentives that these same educators also deplore and other terms regarded by progressives as ideological fighting words weremerit pay for teachers, school vouchers for disad- once more in national circulation. vantaged families. Some schools have completely Yet even that much in the way of public criticism, one suspects, couldreconfigured their courses according to exactly the have been comfortably countenanced by the flock;sort of fact-based learning progressives most heartily they had, after all, grown accustomed in the courseoppose; some 400 schools across the country, for of their long history to challenges from traditional-example, the vast majority of them public, now ists of different stripes. But then, as the 1980s woreclaim to be based in whole or in part on Hirsch's on into the '90s, came an outpouring of influentialCore Knowledge program. Finally, and just as dra- books and articles from critics who could not possi-matic, is the fact that still other parents have voted for standards and con- bly be written off as tools of reaction. Some of thesetent with their feet by fleeing to the burgeoning rolls of private and parochial claimed sympathy with progressivism's aims whileschools or in a phenomenon that progressively-inclined educators barely dissenting from what had been committed in itseven mention, so much does it affront their first principles into the also- name. For these critics, what mattered was not theburgeoning home school movement, now numbering some one and a half "otherwise unassailable precepts" of progressivism,million students.

98 BESTCOPYAVAILABLE 03 Jr is all the more curious, then it is in fact a puzzle begging for solutionlenged the professional convention of dividing intel- that in the elite circles of higher education where the progressivist tradi-ligence into verbal and mathematical forms, and tion still burns bright, the public drubbing their doctrine has endured forinsisted instead on the existence of seven (he would nearly two decades now has induced little more than the occasional flinch.later say eight, and is now equivocating about a In these circles, quite unlike those school districts across the country nowninth) separate "intelligences" of "equal priority," noisy with democratic experimentation, an altogether different atmospherethose being the mathematical-logical, linguistic, spa- reigns. Here, the very innovations for which many in the public clamor tial, bodily kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, and intrapersonal. Dense and jargon-ridden, as well as vouchers, school choice, charter schools, standardized tests, and all the rest mildly esoteric its main target, as Gardner has continue to be designated, when they are mentioned at all, as reactionary written, was Jean Piaget's conception of intelligence or nostalgic exercises in discontent. Here, the ideas of the progressive tradi- as scientific thinking Frames of Mind was execut- tion's sharpest recent critics, above all those of Hirsch, continue to be dis- ed, and indeed intended, for a limited scholarly audi- missed with genteel contempt. Here, as anyone can see, the long-running ence. "I believed," as the author himself put it late; doctrine of progressivism continues to reign serenely, exactly as if the rising "that my work would be of interest chiefly to those tide of criticism and the mass defections into enemy territory were not shak- trained in my discipline, and particularly those who ing the philosophy's throne to its foundations. All of which suggests that this studied intelligence from a Piagetian perspective." may be a particularly opportune time to examine what form progressivism The professional world, for its part, was uncon- now survives in, and the source of that form's appeal. vinced. As Gardner accurately summarized the book's reception late; "a few psychologists liked the theory; a somewhat larger number did not like it; "First among equals" most ignored it." In the New York Times Book Review, psychologist George Miller pronounced the theory "hunch and opinion"; in the New York Review of Books, meanwhile where Gardner's own essays on subjects ylICE ANY OTHER successful academic orthodoxy, including others inside and out of his chosen fields are frequently featured psychologist that have come to be rejected by the ordinary people in whose Jerome Bruner praised the book for its timeliness, but went on to conclude name they were devised, the tradition of educational progressivism that Gardner's "intelligences" were "at best useful fictions." has never lacked for friends in high places. Indeed, it is no exaggeration to And these were just the friendly' critics. In The Bell Curve (1994), to no say that in the professional world of education itself, the doctrine has a near- one's surprise, Charles Murray and Richard J. Herrnstein dismissed Gardner perfect monopoly on academic prestige. One highly eminent figure in this as a "radical" whose work "is uniquely devoid of psychometric or other world is Theodore Sizer, chairman of the Education Department at Brown, quantitative evidence." Yet others with no visible dog in the fight over intel- whose Coalition of Essential Schools project includes over 200 high schools ligence turned out to echo the charge. Robert J. Sternberg of Yale observed organized according to progressive principles student "exhibitions" that "there is not even one empirical test of the theory"; Australian specialist rather than tests, an emphasis on "habits of mind" rather than accumulation of knowledge, a passion for relevance (one class recently studied Othello forMichael Anderson complained similarly that "the scaffolding is the theory." its parallels to the O.J. Simpson trial), and so on. Many other figures lessThough some put their kindest face forward, praising the author of Frames well known bring a similar cast of mind to related experiments and projects.of Mind as "brilliant" and his thesis as "original" or "powerful," few of his And, of course, given the ideological homogeneity of the field, these like-professional peers would venture, then or since, that anything Gardner was thinking educators often work togethe; with the largest and most heavilyup to amounted to science. Piaget, at least so far as the professional world funded of their projects typically collaborative efforts. was concerned, did not stand corrected. Yet if, in this collegial world, a single figure could be said to be "first Nonetheless, there was one audience-in-waiting positively electrified by among equals," as James Traub put it recently in the New York Times, orGardner's message, and it was moreover enthusiastically indifferent to the "the premier American scholar addressing educational reform," in thebook's scholarly critics. That audience, as it turned out, came from the ranks words of the like-thinking Sizer, it would have to be psychologist andof private school administrators and teachers. As Traub put it last year in the celebrity intellectual Howard Gardner professor of Cognition andopening of another article on Gardner, this one for the New Republic, Education and adjunct professor of Psychology at Harvard University; "Howard Gardner first realized that he had struck a adjunct professor of Neurology at the Boston University School of Medicine; chord in the national psyche when he gave a speech co-director since the early 1970s of Project Zero at the Harvard Graduate to private-school administrators on his new theory School of Education, whose many programs and institutes continue to of 'multiple intelligences' and saw the headmasters attract educators from all over; author of some 18 books and hundreds of elbowing each other to get into the hall." Gardner articles; and recipient of 12 honorary degrees and "many honors," as his lat- himself recalls the moment with dramatic detail in est book jacket copy puts it, including but hardly limited to a 1981 his 1993 Multiple Intelligences: The Theory in MacArthur fellowship. Gardner's ubiquity both inside the world of educa- Practice: tion and out almost challenges description. He is a leader in more projects Some months after the publication of and studies than can be listed here, a steady contributor to tomes from the Frames, I was invited to address the annual higher journalism to the specialized literature on down, and a fixture on the meeting of the National Association of lecture circuit (he delivers some 75 talks a year) whose professional interests Independent [i.e., private] Schools. ...I span everything from classical music to studies of the brain damaged, politi- expected the typical audience of fifty to seven- cal advocacy to developmental psychology, oversubscribed teacher work- ty-five persons, a customary talk of fifty min- shops at Harvard to a more recent sideline in corporate consulting. utes followed by a small number of easily Daunting though it may be to contemplate, this resume does not even anticipated questions. Instead ... I encoun- begin to convey Gardner's overriding influence in one particular realm of tered a new experience: a much larger hall, American education, and that is the world of elite private schools. Today, entirely filled with people, and humming with excitement. It was almost more than any other single figure, he seems poised to leave his stamp on a ''`as if I had walked by mistake into a talk given by someone who was generation of students at many of the country's most prestigious schools. famous. But the audience had in fact come to hear me: it listened atten- Gardner's influence has a surprising history; as he himself has written and tively, and grew steadily in size until it spilled into the hallways on both other reports agree. In 19S3, the story goes, Gardner sides of the room.... [A]fter the session had concluded, I was ringed by published what is still his best -known and most interested headmasters, teachers, trustees, and journalists who wanted to influential book, Frames of Mind. There, he chal- hear more and were reluctant to allow me to slip back into anonymity.

99 BEST COPY AVAILABLE 1 0 4 The event that proved a turning point in Gardner's personal life would these realms might be approached. To gain an also mark a turning point for his admirers in the tonier schools. Today, as if understanding of truth, he suggests, students might in vindication of the judgement of those enthusiasts who catapulted his ideas study the theory of evolution; of beauty; Mozart's to celebrity heights, Howard Gardner bestrides their worldas no other single influence or figure of inspiration. In addition The Marriage of Figaro; and of morality, the to his omnipresence on the Holocaust. These choices, the author readily lecture circuit, Gardner's books and videotapes and software are in constant acknowledges, are "time-bound," "place-bound," demand (his CD-ROM tour of the intelligences sells for $435 for a set of five); and even "personal"; they are not intended to signal his workshops for teachers and other educators at Harvard are early sell- a "fixed canon," which the author himself ardently outs; and hundreds of schools now claim, in varying degrees, to have opposes. One could easily substitute other instantia- remade themselves in keeping with multiple-intelligence theory.And though tions in their place, he goes on to explain for some of those schools are public there is no shortage of fundersor educa- example, approaching truth through "folk theories tors interested in trying Gardner's ideas there can be no doubt that it is about healing or traditional. Chinese medicine," the private school world, today as in 19S3, that is clamoringfor multiple- beauty through "Japanese ink and brush painting" intelligence products, paying for Gardneriana, and conforming theirclass- or "African drum music," and good and evil rooms to his dicta. Indeed: In what may be the single most telling detail of through "the precepts of Jainism, the stories of Pol Gardner's influence in the world of elite education, Traubreports that Pot and Mao's Cultural RevolUtion," or "the gen- "when the directorship of one of New York'smost prestigious private erosity of bodhisatrvas." The point, it appears, is not schools recently came open, almost every candidate for thejob mentioned to "privilege" any particular set of examples; not one is "sacrosanct," and in Gardner in his or her one-page educational-philosophy statement."In sum, any:.,event, Gardner writes, "I do not believe in singular or incontrovertible as one educator put it to Traub, "Howard is the guru, and Frames of Mind truth, beauty or morality." "No doubt," the author goes onto acknowledge, is the bible." "there are various routes" to such understanding (later in the book, he will identify six such "pathways"); the one outlined here is merely hisown "preferred path." Progressivism, properly understood Anyone reading this far into his argument may long since have started wondering what a curriculum to say nothing of a lowly classroom F s 0, THE HOLY WRIT has now been enlarged once more, and themight look like when cut to the specifications of all thesepurposes, virtues, reader curious as to what the private schoolsare clamoring for needand pathways. But the reader must be patient; list-wise, we have only just look no further. For this year Gardner has publishedyet anotherbegun. The Six Forces That Will Remake Schools are easy enough to digest book, The Disciplined Mind: What All Students Should Understand(Simon(as is the by-now obligatory point that "changes inour worldare,so rapid Ec Schuster; $25.00). Unlike Frames of Mind, whichas we have seen reachedand so decisive that it will not be possible for schools to remainas they were the general reader only inadvertently, The Disciplined Mind takesno suchor simply to introduce a few superficial adjustments"). Similarly, the Six risk; it is overtly aimed at "individuals" indeed, "individuals all over the"most prominent ideas ushered in by the cognitive revolution"can be man- world" who "care about education." Here, the author promises withtyp-aged without headache. So can the Seven "mind and brain findings" that ical sweep, he "seek[s] to synthesize over thirtyyears of research in the cog-"ought to be kept in mind by anyone concerned with education," offthe nitive and biological sciences, and over fifteen years of involvement inpre-track of Gardner's main point though they may be. collegiate education," to find the features of "good educations... every- It is when the author returns to his main subject that the conceptual chal- where in the world." lenge begins in earnest. For it turns out that thereare not only Four Somewhat incongruously, progressivism's most visible public defenderApproaches to Understanding ("learning from suggestive institutions," opts here for an Olympian tone. He is "weary," he explains, "of debates"direct confrontations of erroneous conceptions," "a framework that facili- that array one educational philosophy against another." Though it istrue, hetates understanding," and "multiple entry points"), but that the fourth of elaborates later, that "much of what I write aboutcan be identified with thethese, in keeping with multiple-intelligence theory, is itself subdivided into educational tradition of John Dewey with what has been called progres-seven further categories (the entry points in question being narrative, numer- sive or neo-progressive education," it is also true,as he acknowledges, thatical, logical, existentiallfoundational, aesthetic, hands-on, and interpersonal), this tradition has become a code word in the minds ofsome for low or noand that room must be left for metaphor, similes, model languages, and standards and poor work. In that sense, Gardner writes, "I reject the bag- other means of makingsense of the consequent gage that has ... come to be associated with this label." Contrary to what "multiple representations of the Core Concept." critics have suggested, "one can be progressive while also espousing tradi- What all this means for the classroom is any- tional educational goals and calling for the highest standards of work, body's guess, but what Gardner himselfsays it achievement, and behavior." This book, in the author's telling, isa statement means looks something like this: A "narrative entry of that other progressive philosophy; progressivism properly understood point" into the subject ofevolution,,for example, not the old and tarnished version of yesteryear, but a kind of souped-up vet_ might be the story of Darwin's voyage on the Beagle, sion, a muscular version, a kind to which even conservatives and traditional- or the tale of his fellow evolutionist and grandfather, ists, or so the author seems to hope, might warm. or the saga of the Galapagos finches. A "numerical Where does this new progressivism lead? Theanswer is something of a entry point" might be a study of the beak size of the mystery, at least at first. For Gardner is also "weary," as it turns out, of same finches. Other entry points might include, say, what he calls the "instrumental or momentary" issues in education today breeding fruit flies ("hands-on"), watching a docu- issues like "vouchers," "charter schools," "teachers unions," "localcon-mentary("aesthetic"), or recreating the debates that trol," "national standards," "international comparisons," and all thequo-followed publication of Darwin's theory. Similarly, tidian rest. Such issues, Gardner argues, "skirt the most fundamentalques-the Marriage of Figaro might be studied via the tion" of the purposes of education itself. These purposes he identifiesas ahuman struggles it contains (existential-foundation- "quartet" across "educational time and space": "to transmit roles;to con-al), comparison of meter and rhythm in two arias vey cultural values; to inculcate literacies; and to communicate certain disci-(numerical), or performing parts of the score (hands- plinarycontent and ways of thinking." or.). As for the Holocaust, one might, say, study the history of artistsperse- Alongside this quartet of purposes, the author simultaneously outlinesacuted under Hitler (aesthetic entry point), read the literature of survivors "trio of virtues" that "should animate education" truth, beauty, and(existential-foundational), or focus on a specific event such as the Wannsee morality and produces examples of how each ofconference (narrative). A classroom designed by Gardner, in other words, might do all these things or it might, even more important, do none of the

loo BEST COPY AVAILABLE 105 above; we are reminded repeatedly, as he puts it toward the end, that "theseMind's imagined classroom, turn out to date to an exceedingly influential choices are illustrative only." document published by the Bureau of Education and Well, so be it. Now, if the content of such an education is indeed ad hoc,called The Cardinal Principles of Secondary arbitrary, in permanent flux, then we can only evaluate that education byEducation published in 1918. The main focus of means of its methodology. About that methodology Gardner is quite clearthis document, as it happens, was an attack on the he favors "depth over breadth," (pursuing a small number of topicsidea one resonating these 80-plus years later in rather than conveying large amounts of information); "construction overGardner's arbitrary trio of evolution, Mozart, and accumulation" of knowledge (an emphasis on personal questioning ratherthe Holocaust that subject matter per se should than memorization); "the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake over theanchor a curriculum. "This hostility to academic obeisance to utility"; "a- individualized over a uniform education" (a pref-subject matter," writes Hirsch, "has been the contin- erence that allows "thL natural inclinations of the human individual toued focus of educational 'reform' ever since unfold and endure"); and "student-centered" rather than "teacher-centered"Cardinal Principles a tradition that needs to be education (meaning that students join in the process of "assessing" them-kept in mind when current reformers attack 'mere selves). Personal relevance, student-led classrooms, hands-on, performance-facts' and 'rote learning.' " oriented activities does any of this sound familiar? Just as what is significant in The Disciplined Mind is not new, so its particular novelty that "Learning by doing" was a central element in the ... curriculum ... architectonic of trios, quartets, sextuplets, and sep- [as were) educational methods that discarded the mere accumulation of tuplets of principle, intelligences, and entry points knowledge and made learning a part of each student's life, connected to and all the rest is not terribly significant. In fact, his or her present situation and needs. These were schools of the future the most vaunted part of that architectonic the freedom and an ... because they exhibited "tendencies toward greater identification of the multiple intelligences, and the identification of the child's school life with his environment and out- insistence on a curriculum intended to elicit all of them is, unfortunately look." for the rest of Gardner's argument, its weakest link. The description here comes from Diane Ravitch in The Schools We Consider only what multiple-intelligence theory forces him to say about Deserve, and she is quoting John Dewey. The year in question is 1915. one of his own chosen subjects, the teaching of the Holocaust. No one could object to the reading of survivor stories, say, or to an in-depth look at Eichmann's trial in Israel in 1961, or to reviewing the literature on the The shock of the old Wannsee conference. But the insistence that these are mere "entry points" for certain kinds of "intelligences," entry points no more or less "privileged" N SUM, the vision on which Gardner insists so passionately in Thethan any other, will not stand up. It is very difficult to accept that the author Disciplined Mind is not exactly new. It is, in fact, older than mosthimself believes it. After all, the Holocaust could also be "entered" through people now alive, as was demonstrated most elegantly by the pro-a study of, say, how concentration camps boosted local employment rates. gressives' nemesis, E.D. Hirsch, three years ago in The Schools We Need andWould Gardner really sanction that approach, rather than appear to "privi- Why We Don't Have Them. Gardner, of course, is profoundly aware oflege" conventional sources? Hirsch's opposing perspective, which he describes in his latest book as "a Even worse are the tortured passages where the cumbersome require- view of learning that is at best superficial and at worst anti-intellectual."ments of his theory force him to invent other "entry points" aligned to the (That's when Gardner is minding his literary manners. On the lecture trail,more avant-garde "intelligences." It is hard, for example, to read under he prefers the jab of "Vanna White knowledge.") Yet it is an interesting fact"interpersonal points of entry" his assurance that "The Holocaust provides that Gardner, for all that he describes his own latest book as part of a "sus-many opportunities for role play" without a twinge of uneasiness. tained dialectic read disagreement," with Hirsch himself, in fact mentionsOccasionally, one feels the strain of his material stretching round his theory his adversary only a few times, while The Schools We Need and Why Weto the ripping point as in his admission that "when it comes to the rela- Dqn't Have Them appears not at all. tionship between the Holocaust and artistry, one must tread carefully," or in Interesting, but not at all surprising. For that last book of Hirsch's, pre-the howler, "Hands-on involvement with the Holocaust must be approached dating Gardner's though it did by three years, uncannily provides the intel-carefully, especially with children." To say that the multiple-intelligenCes lectual genealogy of just about every tenet of The Disciplined Mind, most ofapproach runs the risk of trivializing serious subjects a risk Gardner them presented by the author as if they were thought up just yesterday. briefly acknowledges here is one thing. But to advance beyond those "Changes in our world are so rapid and so decisive," Gardner's argument claims about entry points to say that it does not even begins, "that it will not be possible for schools to remain as they were." matter whether the Holocaust is taught, much less "The claim that specific information is outmoded almost as soon as it has how, is to enter a zone of relativism where few read- been learned," writes Hirsch in The Schools We Need and Why We Don't ers would care to follow. Clearly, Gardner expects Have Them, "goes back at least as far as [William Hearst] Kilpatrick's good taste to govern the classroom. But this prefer- Foundations of Method (1925)." Subject matter, Gardner argues, should not ence must go unspoken, since to introduce it is to be "privileged"; what matters is that education be centered on the child open the way to objective "standards" and other rather than the subject. "Dewey's words, disposing of the polarity between rigidities he disavows. child-centered and subject-matter-centered education," Hirsch observes after What, finally, of the author's promise to deliver quoting them, "were published in 1902." What of the concomitant idea progressivism with a difference? For all the reassur- also part of the "child-centered" curriculum that testing amounts to ances ("I am a demon for high standards and "spitting back" material, and that children should instead "construct" demanding expectations"), for all the talk of "rigor," answers for themselves? "The campaign against giving students tests," "high standards," and the rest, no ways and means Hirsch explains,."is an integral part of a Romantic progressivism that goes are introduced here that would translate these terms back to the 1920s.... [O]rchodox educational doctrine since the 1920s has into accountability none, that is, beyond the been consistently opposed to testing and grading." upholding of "regular assessments," and what that And so on, and on and on. The superiority of "hands-on" experimen- means is anybody's guess; As James Traub put it tation versus "drill-and-practice" teaching, the importance of "individual pointedly in the New York Times Book Review, differences," "learning styles," and an "active learning environment"? These "One would like to ask Gardner, an erudite and buzzwords and all they represent, the nuts and bolts of The Disciplined wide-ranging thinker, if that was how school equipped his own mind."

BEST COPY AVAILABLE Gardner, of course, would protest that such ideasjoke has it, every baby is a "normal genius child." Add to that naturalaver- have never really been tried. "Educational experi-sion the fact that, at the upper reaches of the private school world,some mentation" in this century, he believes, "hasparents are paying $10,000 to $14,000 a year per child; these sums alone occurred chiefly on the margins"; progressive educators "have had relatively are a powerful disincentive against giving parents little impact on the mainstream of education throughout the contemporary bad news. Many parents send their children to pri- world." The argument that something has never been tried, that last gasp of vate school, after all, precisely so that they do not exhausted ideology, is in this particular case quite wrong; the Everyclass all have to worry about their education. Grades and these educators love to hate one with "prevalent lecturing, the emphasis standardized tests are a constant reminder that prob- on drill, the decontextualized materials and activities ranging from basal lems might still surface at any time. Thus, private readers to weekly spelling tests," as Gardner puts it has been out of fash- school parents, possibly more than others, may be ion and in many schools stigmatized, apparently without the progressives' susceptible to multiple-intelligence-style ideas that ever having noticed it, for decades now. To the extent that it is reviving in emphasize the talents of their children, while not American schools today; it is on account not of the establishment education- putting those talents on the line in any way that will al culture, but of a counterculture that is now declaring, whether overtly like rouse parental concern. There is also, of course, no the educational reformers or tacitly through the many experiments now denying the fact that classrooms like these have under way in the schools, that a hundred years of 'progressive experimenta- always had a certain snob appeal. Grades and tests, tion is enough. they imply; are for the ordinary- kids; no means of measurement could do justice to ours. But there is a larger, more sociological explana- To each, according to his means? tion for the success of such a vision in the private schools today; an explanation that ought to make r APPEARS, then, that progressive educational ideology has comeprogressives themselves uncomfortable if they ever take occasion to reflect full circle. Born near the turn of the century in hopes of raising theon it. For the fact is that in placing their bets on the most advantaged chil- downtrodden up, it survives now as the ideology of choice of, by; anddren" those children of the kind of people who have taken rnultiple-intelli- for the educational elite. gence theory to heart progressive educators can hardly lose. Indeed, it is increasingly recognized as such. Consider this comment by How could they? Teach those children Inuit and Swahili all you like; they, Nathan Glazer, writing last year in the New Republic of the sharply opposedunlike their less advantaged counterparts, will pick up the French or Italian visions of E.D. Hirsch and progressive educator Theodore Sizer. "The ques-or whatever they need when the time comes for travelling abroad. Withhold tion of what's best for the classroom," Glazer concluded, "may simply be afrom them all that distasteful factual information with no fear of penalty matter of class -- social class. In some schools, with some students, one canmost of them, again unlike their less fortunate fellows, will pick up the facts teach for understanding and depth.... For others frankly and regrettablyfrom their reading and conversation outside the classroom. Deny them, if there are no such things." Gardner, similarly, for all his talk of an "educa-you like, geography; they will find, say; Madrid or the Euphrates from the tion for all human beings," notes that "for those disadvantaged childrenairport when they get there. Refuse to administer tests excepting of who do not acquire literacy in the dominant culture at home, such a pre-course the intelligence tests so tellingly required by' almost every private scribed curriculum [as that recommended by Hirsch and others] helps toschool in the land again, with impunity; most of them will have individ- provide a level playing field and to ensure that future citizens enjoy a com-ual tutors for the SAT and AP exams when the time comes. mon knowledge base." Progressivism, it appears, is not for the weak or All of which is to say that when the children of today's Gardner- or Sizer- the backward, or the poor. influenced schools go on from strength to strength later in life, that fact will So what's in it for the elite all those headmasters and teachers and par-tell us very little about the intrinsic worth of progressive ideas or the merits ents still elbowing their way into Gardner's lectures? Why the enduringof the classrooms where those ideas roam free. All success will prove is that appeal to them of progressive ideas? Three sorts of explanations come tothe overwhelming advantages with which most of those students are blessed mind. the homes packed with books, the money that'makes travel and other The first is institutional. The means by which academic ideologies perpet-forms of personal enrichment a fact of life, the literate and high-functioning uate themselves have been closely studied elsewhere; the particular case ofparents and peers, the expectations and, for many, the genetic advantages progressive ideology has probably been explained best, again, by Hirsch inwith which they are born amount to more human capital than any class- The Schools We Need and Why We Don't Have Them. Almost all the lead-room, including mediocre and worse ones, can reduce by much. ing figures in the field of education all the most prestigious institutions Viewed this way, the revival of progressive ideas among elite schools and are considered, and consider themselves, heirs to Dewey's tradition. This factstudents may seem a harmless enough experiment; and so, from the perspec- is important. It means, for example, that graduate students seeking out thetive of those particular individuals, it probably is. All the same, this ideologi- "best" schools and professors will find themselves educated . and, ofcal renascence has its dark side. The more the private schools tack to the course, penalized or rewarded in their professional lives by peoplewind abolishing grades, eradicating tests, and otherwise disposing of the imbued with the ideas that overwhelmingly dominate these schools. It alsoinstruments that have traditionally allowed worse-off students the means by means that teachers, headmasters, and others who pride themselves on stay-which to elevate themselves the harder it will become for any child to join ing au courant will likewise gravitate to the same ideological home base. those schools except through accident of birth. A second way of explaining progressivism's latest lease on life is more After all, they will not be able to join them by dint of hard work; the cur- prosaic, and concerns those on the consumer end of private education. In ariculum is constantly in flux, so there is nothing to prepare for. Nor will review of Gardner and his ideas for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Roberttheir graded schoolwork elsewhere grant them entrée; this merely proves Holland recently quipped that multiple-intelligence theory "encourages thethey have been "force-fed" facts. As for more subjective measures, like a egalitarian delusion that we all are utterly brilliant in equally importantteacher's recommendation well, that teacher was almost certainly not ways," thus providing "an escape route from accountability." He is, oftrained according to theory; she probably just was "privileging" certain course, absolutely right; that "delusion" is the main source of the theory'skinds of performance in the usual suspect way. The school without recogniz- very human appeal. able assessments and a fixed curriculum the school of which progressive On any bell curve, after all, half the results will fall below the norm;educators, today or yesterday, continue to dream is a school stripped of somebody is going to be in that bottom quintile, or two quintiles, and so on.handholds from below. Now, parents everywhere have a natural aversion to thinking their ownAs for the poor and disadvantaged themselves well, as enlightened child is average or worse; from the parental point of view; as the Russianvoices are now saying, let them have Hirsch. Come to think of it, the implied contest there has a certain charm. Let the games begin.

' 102 1 BEST COPY AVAIL,91...F. The Christian Science Monitor, October 26, 1999

IF IT'S TUESDAY (IN CHICAGO), IT MUST BE can I expect to have her cover?" asks Lewis. "Before this, POLYGONS who knew?"

By Abraham McLaughlin, Staff writer of The Christian Indeed, the lesson planswritten by 100 of the city's top Science Monitor teachers - set out specific skills students should learn. Those skills are linked to the standardized tests students will take. There's a new military-style order being injected into And the tests aim to cover all the basic skills a child needs. Chicago public schools - and it includes just about So, in theory, if a teacher covers each skill in the curriculum, everything but the jack boots and kevlar helmets. students will learn everything they need to know.

In the nation's boldest experiment in building more structure One major criticism, however, is that it sucks all creativity into the classroom, administrators here are giving teachers a out of teaching. "It assumes a kind of factory mentality" in regime of strict marching orders that spells out exactly what, which teachers treat kids "like widgets," says Jacqueline when, and how to teach. Ancess of the National Center for Restructuring Education Schools and Teaching at Columbia University in New York. To be sure, the regime is voluntary teachers aren't drafted into it. But once they sign up, they're given a schedule of But Paul Vallas, chief executive of the nation's third-largest Pattonesque precision. If it's day No. 8 of the school year, school district, argues the realities of an urban system Algebra 1 students discover polygons. If it's day No. 21, demand some standardization. He hires 1,500 new teachers a first-graders use sugar cubes to learn about geology. And so year who may need help getting up to speed. Also, up to 10 on. Every lesson in every grade spelled out with specifics. percent of teachers are teaching out of their specialty area. And up to 7 percent of teachers are substitutes. Others are Called a "structured curriculum," the idea is to ensure a basic burned out or overwhelmed or both. level of quality in chaotic urban public schools. But critics say the approach, taken too far, turns teachers and students All these teachers need help, he says. And in corporate into automatons and stifles creativity. Is this school or boot America or in the military, these kinds of employees would camp? get help. "Only in public education," he says, "do we rarely give teachers standards or help on instructional methods and The idea grows out of the "accountability" or "standards" then say, 'OK, go to it.' " movement sweeping American education. Nationwide, districts are tightening the reins on teachers. But Chicago has Others worry Mr. Vallas is undermining his nationally gone the farthest. recognized efforts to hold teachers accountableto set high standards and reassign or fire those who don't measure up. "Chicago leads the parade on this one," says Chris Pipho, an "You can't hold someone accountable if you tell them what analyst at the Education Commission of the States in Denver. to do every minute of the day," says Michael Petrilli, But "the standards movement is putting the screws on people program director at the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation in to produce, so we may see more of this as the movement Washington. He worries teachers will say, "You can't fire continues to kick in." me, I used your curriculum."

One school that's fully embracing the idea is the Harold Vallas says he's willing to take that risk. So what do people Washington Elementary School deep in Chicago's South in the trenches think? Many are lukewarm. "We take our jobs Side. In a desert of potholed streets, worn houses, and much too seriously" to rely on it completely, says Emil sinking poverty, this place is a brick-solid oasis of order and DeJulio, a principal on Chicago's North Side. discipline. Principal Sandra Lewis insists on it. But at Harold Washington, where 26 of 31 teachers have While the 750 uniformed students move through the halls, been on the job for less than two years, most say they love it they must stand quietly in line with their arms crossed over (even out of Lewis's earshot). "It's a skeleton we can build their chests (so they can't tweak their classmates). Every our lessons onto," says first-grade teacher Daniel Baker. It teacher - new or old - must use the new curriculum or give allows teachers to "go step by step or be creative." Dr. Lewis an alternate lesson plan. "I don't want to have soldiers, but I sure do want order," Lewis says. In a recent science lesson, for instance, the curriculum directed teachers to teach about solids and liquids. Mr. Baker When the structured curriculum was offered as a pilot had his kids make ice cream, turning liquid milk into solid program last year, she jumped at it. Over the years, she says, dessert. It wasn't in the curriculum, but it covered the bases. the many swirling educational-reform movements have So Baker was happy. Lewis was happy. And the kids? They muddied what exactly a teacher is supposed to teach. "What ate it up. 103 108 The Washington Post, November 23, 1999 Educators, Parents See Magnets' Flaws Pr. George's Looking for Remedies

and you have an administration notProgram (MSPAP) tests and inade- By DAVID NAKAMURA familiar with the program," saidquate support and commitment Washington Post Staff Writer Russell Butler, one of the parentsfrom the central office. who want all Montessori students Perhaps most affected are the Walk into a Montessori classgrouped in their own schools. county's six traditional academies at Flintstone Elementary and That is one of the many optionsand academic centers, which offer you'll see many of the hallmarksschool officials will be consideringmore rigorous academics, includ- of that program: students of var-over the next six months as theying Latin, and stronger discipline, ious ages working by themselvestry to determine how to revamp thesometimes including uniforms. or in small groups and usingcounty's 28 elementary magnet At Middleton Valley Elementary blocks and beads instead of text-schools. A recent report by a schoolin Temple Hills, the orderliness of books. system task force found that manythe building is noticeable. Boys in Butyou'llalsosee manyare falling short of their goals. uniform navy slacks and ties and things that conflict with the The school system founded thegirls in plaid skirts are quiet and Montessori approach. An-magnet programs to encourage in-well behaved as Principal Deborah nouncements over a loudspeakertegration and offerstudents aJ. Moore walks through the build- distractstudents fromtheirchoice of curricula, many withing doing a "necktie check." work, portable classrooms leavemore-rigorous academics. But the But peek inside the classrooms, pupils no room to spread outreport said 11 of the schools haveand some of the problems that have and no running water is avail-not attracted enough white stu-contributed to low test scores be- able for hands-on science experi-dents to meet their racial goals andcome clear. ments. And while the Montesso-nine do not teach the specialized Forexample, theschool's rimethodsuggestshavingcurricula they advertise. fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade class- music, computer and gym in suc- And while the magnet schoolses all have 34 to 39 students. Some cession, those classes are brokengenerally posted higher averagesmust share terminals in the com- up with academic lessons. on state exams than non-magnets,puter lab, which has only 33 work- The problem, parents and ed-researchers concluded that was pri-stations. Moore saidthat she ucators at the Prince George'smarily because students with high-would like to add two teachers to County school say, is that theer academic ability entered the pro-help relieve the crowding but that school is not committed to thegrams. the central administration has not Montessoriapproach. Only Superintendent Iris T. Metts andbeen able to find candidates. about half of the 683 studentsschool board members say they are CynthiaMason-Posey, ':whose are enrolled in the program,committed to magnet schools as asixth-grade daughter is in a class of which was created 13 years agoway to continue encouraging in-38 students, is outraged that a to help encourage integration attegration as the system phases outschool that is supposed to offer the predominantly African25 years of court-ordered busing.more rigorous academics does not American school. The other halfBut they also promise to place ahave enough teachers. are taught the county's regulargreateremphasis on academic "We're extremely unhappy. We academic curriculum in moreachievement. don't know what to do," said Ma- traditional classroom settings "The purpose is no longer theson-Posey, who has considered With two distinctly differentsame," Metts said. "We have tosending her daughter to private academicphilosophiesundermake sure the schools are account-school. "The [school] Web site says the same roof, it's only naturalable and ... meet their academicthey offer Latin, but they get it one that they would conflict, parentsgoals." hour a week from a part-time teach- say. Furthermore, growing en- Parents, teachers and adminis-er. It's idle promises." rollment has contributed to se-trators say many magnet schools Teachers are not the only re- vere crowding, forcing Flint-must overcome myriad problems:source in short supply. The task stone's computer, music and artcrowded classrooms, a lack of ade-force report found that the cash- rooms to be converted into class-quately trained teachers, a de-strapped school system had not ad- rooms. emphasis of the specialized cur-equately updated technology in the "You do not have a pure Mon-riculum infavor of instructioncommunications and the science tessori.You haveahybrid.gearedtowardtheMarylandand technology magnet schools. There are too many variables,School Performance Assessment "I've always said that magnets

104 10 cannot succeed in an underfunded ing nations and do not have U.S. school system," said school board teaching certificates, said Francis Chairman Alvin Thornton (Suit- Renson, the magnet coordinator. land), who helped develop them. Parents support that philosophy In addition, some parents and and say the teachers' diverse back- principals say an increasing focus grounds help their children learn on state test scores has undercut the French language and culture the once-unique curricula of some more quickly. magnet programs such as tle tal- "The program deliberately seeks ented and gifted magnets and tradi- people who are native speakers of tional academies. French, as this is one, of theaca- "If you're truly. committed to demic and cultural strengths, of the magnets, then the system has to al- program,"said Ann Davidson, low some more flexibility and free- whose daughter placed first in ana- dom for magnets to do what tional French competition last year. they're supposed to do," said Joan Still, Davidson believes oneway Roache, a parent and member of to improve academic performance the task force that wrote the mag- in magnet programs is to set aca- net report. demic admissions standards. Only And the most successful magnet the talented and gifted program programs, such as French immer- has such criteria. Admission to oth- sion and creative and performing er magnet programs is based on arts, often are heavily supported by race, to promote diversity within parents who volunteer and help schools, and students are selected fund the programs. by lottery. For example, Rogers Heights El- The lottery system has been ementary in Bladensburg offers a complicated in recent years by the French immersion program that is changing demographics ofthe among the most popular and suc- county. Today, 76 percent of the cessful magnets in the county. student body is African American, About half the school's students and many black students remain on are in the magnet program, but waiting lists as schools seek non- their parents raise money that black students to fill the slots. helps fund field trips for all stu- Metts and school board mem- dents. The parents also run after- bers said they may develop a new schooltutoringand computer system that would give students of classes and oversee clubs for art, all races greater access to magnet music, chess and drama, which all programs. students can join. "The demographics of the coun- "When we go on field trips, we ty have changed dramatically from have more French immersion par- the time the federal court got in- ents than we need," said Kona- volved," Metts said. "If you are go- Facia Freeman-Nepay, a fourth- ing to have a multicultural goal for grade teacher. magnet schools, you have to reex- Remarkably, the school is one of amine it in terms of the current the most crowded in the county, population makeup." with 11 portable classrooms. But the principal has been able to hire .nore teachers to reduce class sizes in part because she does not fear hiring uncertified teachers. Most of the French immersion teachers come from French-speak-

1051 1 0 The American Enterprise, January/February 2000 studemts do bate, 011 Sal beeK, schools- bier?

By PkcItp Leurgdoit,

ne of the most dubious educational campaigns of moderntwo dozen small, locally owned stores, eight or ten eating and times was the long-running effort to consolidate manydrinking establishments, four churches, a movie theater, a small schools into centralized large schools. I know becausecreek, a dump, a trailer park with drives named Fleetwood and 0I attended a small school that was wiped away by consoli-Ventoura, an assortment of closely spaced housesand one dation fever. I also know because I've spent recent weeks readingschool. The sober, two-story red brick school stood on leafy the increasingly plentiful research showing that small-school stu- Willow Street smack in the center dents do better than big-school students in almost every way. of the borough, summoning In June 1965, 58 other seniors and I walked onto the stage youngsters from kindergarten all of northwestern Pennsylvania's Wesleyville High School to ac- the way up through twelfth grade. cept our diplomas. The following year a consolidated institu- Children walked to school in the tion, lioquois Area High School, opened in the neighboring morning, walked home for lunch, Lawrence Park Township, and walked back for afternoon ses- Wesleyville's building was de- sions, then walked home again moted to an elementary school. when classes were over. Gone was the home of the Bull- But the Cold War provided dogs, for decades a source of pride a formidable rationale for doing and unity among the 3,000-plus away with such schools. Harvard inhabitants of our one-square- President James Bryant Conant, mile borough. leader of the campaign to abolish Wesleyville's history stretched small schools (especially high back to about 1810, when religious- schools that graduated under 100 minded people named their settle- students a year), asserted that ment near the south shore of Americans who resisted consoli- Lake Erie for John Wesley, founder dation were "still living in imagi- of Methodism. By 1850 concern nation in a world which knew nei- among residents about moral issues ther nuclear weapons nor Soviet ran so strong that Wesleyville be- imperialism." Declared Dr. Co- came a station on the Underground nant darkly: "They believe they can live and Railroad, helping runaway slaves es- prosper in an isolated, insulated United cape across the lake to Canada. States." His arguments, which brought to cul In 1959, when my family en- mination a long history of progressive rolled me in sixth grade, Wes- thinkers' attacks on small schools, helped leyville, just eight blocks wide and spur state governments into closing great 11 blocks long, had been overshadowed by the adjacent city ofnumbers of schools and herding the students Erie, a manufacturing center that blessed the world with Kold-into bigger institutions with more modern Draft beer coolers, Hanmiermill paper, General Electric loco-equipment and more advanced curricula. motives, Marx toys, Bucyrus-Erie construction equipment, and There was just one problem: Students do not actually fare the output of an untold number of tool-and-die shops. Wes-better in big schools. At Wesleyville, where the final, 59-person leyville was still, however, a lively little place containing aboutClass of 1965 was by local standards a big class (the pre-baby

BEST COPY AVAILABLE 106 ill boom Class of '61 numbered just 32), students knew one an-out that teachers who deal with a limited number of youngsters other's names, personalities, and often their families, religious learn how to read their moods and understand how tocommu- affiliations, and other attributes. At Wesleyville no one got lost innicate with them. This encourages teachers to expend extra ef- the crowd, not even those who considered themselves "loners," fort. At \Vesleyville, math teacher Anthony Foffi sometimescame like Bill Wittenberg. Wittenberg, a 1964 graduate who now man- in early or gave up his lunch hour to help a student whowas hav- ages the borough government, says the school's intimate atmos-ing trouble. Wittenberg, who came from a family with difficul- phere helped him immeasurably. "Being able to walk down theties, remembers Doris Johnson, the plump history and social hall and say,'Hi, Lynn, hi, Terry' bolstered my spirit, my self-con- studies teacher who lived three blocks from the school,as pos- fidence:' he recalls. "I had the opportunity of knowing every- sessing an uncanny ability to sense his needs. "Whenmy father body in the classes I was in as a senior and of knowing most ofwasn't in a position to help me," Wittenberg says, "Miss Johnson the school's students all the way down to seventh grade." would ask, the you doing anything this weekend, Bill?' I'dsay no, The recent mass murders in American high schools haveand she would ask, 'Could you come by and do my windows?' demonstrated that adolescents' state of mind is important.And when I'd washed a few windows, she'd give mea $20 bill School massacres have been disproportionately a large-institu-which was a lot of money in those days." tion phenomenon. Columbine High School in Littleton, Col- It's not that teachers in big schools have lessgenerous orado, where a pair of students killed 13 others and then them- souls. They simply cannot get to know a large number ofstu- selves, had an enrollment of 1,965. Thurston High School in dents. If teachers are to act on their best instincts, they needan Springfield, Oregon, where a 15-year-old boy shot 24 students,environment that fosters closeness. had 1,500. Research since the mid-1980s has consistently found Meier, who led a low-income, mostly Hispanic and that big schools exacerbate antisocial tendencies. "BehaviorAfrican-American high school in Harlem to impressive acade- problems are so much greater in larger schools that any possiblemic achievement, says small size is also a key to effective school virtue of larger size is canceled out by the difficulties of main-governance. Only when the number of teachers in a school is taining an orderly learning environment," education researcherssmall can they hash out policies and procedures together and Jean Stockard and Maralee Mayberry declared in a 1992 study. avoid the bureaucratization that deadens big institutions. "We It isn't just horrendous events like school shootings thatcan reschedule one afternoon and put a new agenda into prac- should be of concern. What matters is the ability to form satisfy-tice the next morning. We can undo them just as fast," Meier ing relationships. Thirty years ago approximately 40 percent ofwrites. "Changes don't require Herculean coordination or time- Americans considered themselves shy, according to Philip Zim-consuming bureaucratic arranging." bardo, founder of shyness research at Stanford University. Today A small faculty can assess one another's work. "Only ina about 50 percent say they're shy. Most likely this rising social dis-small school can teachers know who talks well but doesn't teach comfort stems from daily life's having become more isolatingwell, and vice versa," Meier observes. "They know who is late, and impersonal. Youths have their own bedrooms, their own TV who is unprepared, and who in quiet and unexpectedways sets, and detached pursuits such as computers, and they have lesscomes through for their kids and colleagues." The ideal size of meaningful contact with parents, aunts, uncles, and local people.school, according to Meier, is one small enough so that all the Small schoolssuch as high schools with no more than 100 stu-teachers can go into one room and gather in a dents per grade levelare valuable in part because they providecircle. When they can do that, the school is in a a setting full of familiar faces, an encouraging environment forposition to take initiative, refine its methods, learning social skills and community responsibilities. and develop a distinctive character.

Tronically, one argument for consolidation was the array of ex- Yet schools continue to get bigger. From 1940 Itracurricular activities big schools could offer: more clubs, to 1990 the number of elementary and sec- more sports, more choices. Unfortunately,ondary public schools fell from about 200,000 experience proves that as school size grows,to 62,037, a 69 percent dropdespite a 70 per- the rate of participation drops. Just try to be-cent rise in the U.S. population. Officials go on come a cheerleader or a basketball player in a.trying to make schools more "efficient" through school of 2,000 or 3,000 (a common size forconsolidation, as if the manufacturing sector's today's high schools). The result will usuallyeconomies of scale could be applied to the edu- be rejection. "The bigger the schools get, thecation of human beings. more people who are marginalized," says ed- Harry Farnbaugh, who taught history ucation researcher Kathleen Cotton. and social studies at Wesleyville and later at Iro- Not only do a higher proportion of students in smallquois (which was about two-and-a-half times Wesleyville's schools join in extracurricular activities. "They have an ability,"size), insists bigger schools do have some advantages. Whereas says Cotton, "to fill more important roles." That certainly ringsWesleyville had only the most rudimentary science facilities, true with me. Despite being nervous in front of groups, I served"Iroquois had a planetarium and a full-time planetarium as president of my class one year, as editor of the yearbook, pres-teacher, who taught adult classes in the fall," Farnbaughnotes. ident of the debate club, president of the chess club, and as Barry Athletic facilities were far superior at the new school. Goldwater's representative in the school's 1964 mock presiden-Sports fields lay right out the door. At Wesleyville, by contrast, tial election. In a small school, show some enthusiasm or a littlebehind the school was only an asphalt playground. The football ability and you have plenty of chances to prove your mettle. Asteam had to walk three blocks down Eastern Avenuepast Cotton says, "In a small school, you can be somebody?' Messiah Lutheran Church, past a pizza joint, across busy Buf- At the same time, small-school students benefit from closerfalo Road, and past Russ's Dinor (yup, that's theway they spell ties with teachers. Deborah Meier, author of The Power of Theirit), and other businessesto reach the football field off Pearl Ideas: Lessons for America from a Small School in Harlem, pointsAvenue in the poorer side of the borough. No coach would wel-

BEST COPY AVAILABLE 107 1 1 2 were taught at Wesleyville: Latin and a dubious French. Every stu- come that daily excursion. But come to think of it, the trek dent from the quickest to the slowest shared the same English, through the business area helped make the maroon-and-white- history, and science classes. On the occasions when everyone in a uniformed Bulldogs the community's team. 30-person English class took turns reading paragraphs aloud Our school so badly needed participants that some boys from Silas Marner or some other torpid novel, I was astonished on the football team changed uniforms at half-time and joined by how haltingly some kids picked their way through the text. the band. When the musical performance was finished, they Wesleyville had no Advanced Placement courses. Harry Farn- would switch back and became football players for the game's baugh, a teacher of serious mien who en- second half. riched our "Problems of Democracy" class Basketball facilities in Wesleyville were quirky. Wesleyville with excerpts from The New Republic and U.S. couldn't afford both a gymnasium and an auditorium in 1918 News e- World Report, outspokenly told us when the school was built, so the Bulldogs played in a peculiar that the school was not as innovative as it combination facilitythe basketball court actually occupying ought to be. He was probably right. the school stage, elevated about four feet above the auditorium's Yet we came out of that small school floor. Sports reporter Doug Smith at the Erie Times-News usedwell-motivated. The 59 individuals, from a to write snidely about the "court on a stage" orhis alternative range of white-collar and blue-collar families, have accom- insultthe "matchbox court." Some people thought Wes- plished much more than school consolidators might have ex- leyville enjoyed an unfair home-court advantage: Visitingpected. Howard Roth, whose father worked as a foreman at the teams, they maintained, were afraid of running off the stage andGE plant, earned a Ph.D. and by his forties became the chief falling to the auditorium floor. Maybe so. My own theory is that economist of the nation's fourth largest bank. Nancy Coleman, the Bulldogs had winning seasons in basketball (despite being the brainy daughter of a plumber, settled in the Washington area the smallest school in the league) because the court's miniatureand played a key role in the public relations and media cam- size allowed the team to perfect its shooting game; the court waspaign against the Supreme Court nomination of Robert Bork. so small that the center circle touched the semicircles that ex-Mark Ripley, a quietly industrious Eagle Scout whose father was tended from each of the keys. In four of the home games in the borough secretary, has carried out challenging assignments 1963-64, the Bulldogs scored over 100 points. By the end of aacross the country for GTE and its cellular phone service. Bill game, the ears of everyone in the auditorium would ring fromSaxton, son of a Wesleyville teacher, became a campus minister the shouting, whistling, clapping, and stomping. to international students at Penn State after serving in, among We took low-budget sports facilities for granted. What mat- other places, Calcutta with Mother Teresa's organization. I lost tered was that students who would have been relegated to spectator track of the bitter boy who used to arrive late, supposedly from a status at a big school got the thrill of contributing atlittle Wesleyville. reformatory, with a pack of cigarettes bulging from the arm of After every basketball game, a well-muscled student from his T-shirt; the teachers may have been unable to save him from Wesleyville such as the handsome, stout-hearted Jim Langleywhat looked to be a hard road. But the majority of the class would take on the opposing school's tough guy in a fistfight. seems to have done all right, and some have performed out- The fight was almost as regular an event as the game itself.In standingly. A number of classmates achieved successful careers retrospect, these battles were probably pretty tame.But anticsin engineering, law enforcement, and the military. like those, and small-town rivalries in general, struck theschool Meanwhile, the national results of consolidation have also consolidators as hopelessly parochialjust one more signthat been tallied. In extensive research conducted mostly in the 1980s something as crucial as the educational system of the leaderofand '90s, small schools have overwhelmingly been found to gener- the free world should not be entrusted to local yokels.Bigate better outcomes among students. Small-school students "ex- schools were the prescribed antidote, transferring power to pro-perience a much greater sense of belonging," Kathleen Cotton fessionals who understood education's true ends. wrote in a 1996 report that summarizes the results of more than Too bad. The professionals turned out to be the agentsof100 studies and reviews. Attendance and dropout rates are better bureaucratic entanglement. Too bad, too, because small-schoolin small schools. "Not only do students in small schools have passions stirred intense local pride. \ Vhen robust localrivalrieshigher attendance rates than those in large schools," says Cotton, waned, a void was created. People need things that bring mean-"but students who move from large schools to small, alternative ing to their lives, and I suspect the disappearance oflocal en-secondary schools generally exhibit improvements in attendance." thusiasms made people more susceptible to substitutethrills Social disruption? Students in small schools commit like drugs. fewer infractions, major or minor, says Mary Anne Raywid, a Small-school events brought the community together, in-professor emerita at Hofstra University. "The states with the cluding adults who had no children in the school. AtWes-largest schools and school districts have the worst achievement, leyville High, one man who cheered students on was thelateaffective, and social outcomes," Cotton observes. Raywid says Gus Dusckas, a tall, effusive Greek-American who ranDusckasresearch shows that "students learn more and better in small Funeral Home. Gus had a knack for bucking up others' spirits.schools." They progress toward graduation more rapidly and He hired Wesleyville kids for political errands likedistributingare more satisfied with their school. All this, says Raywid, "is leaflets for county Republican candidates. He helped studentsparticularly true for disadvantaged students, who perform far find summer jobs. He was generous with money. Heacted asdifferently in small schools and appear more dependent upon \ Vesleyville's benefactor. them for success than do more fortunate youngsters ?' Digests of many of the school-size studies have been compiled by the Edu- Nof everything was wonderful. The small numberof studentscation Resources Information Center's Clearinghouse on Rural limited the range of instruction. Only two foreign languagesEducation and Small Schools, in Charleston, West Virginia

. BEST COPY AVAILABLE 108 (800-538-3742). The advantages of small schools hold firm whether the schools are rural or urban. What is the best size for a school? Lim- its of 350 students for elementary schools and 500 for high schools have been recommended by the Cross City Campaign for Ur- ban School Reform. Some researchers have suggested an effective range is from 400 to as high as 800 or even 900, though 900 is rejected by others as too big. The low end of the range, which seems to produce the greatest community benefit but perhaps not the greatest individual achievement; is inter- preted by some as suggesting 300 students for a school containing grades 10, 11, and 12, or suggesting 400 students for a school encompassing grades 9-12. Supporters of consolidation have often contended that bigger schools are more cost-effective. That claim often is correct when measured in cost per student. But many of the students attending enormous high schoolsNew York City has high schools whose enrollments approach 5,000drop out. A better measure is the cost per graduate. By that standard, small schools come out less expensive. Cotton, like many other researchers, believes size is a crucial factor for any improvement that people want to make in public education. As long as students continue to be herded into big schools, other approaches to school reform are, she says, "like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic." Existing oversized schools can be, and increasingly are being, subdivided into "small schools." Each small school doesn't need a separate building. Meier argues that what's important is that each small school have genuine autonomy. The school must have the power to hire and fire faculty and staff and the ability to make a whole range of decisions without the interference of a larger bureaucracy. Small schools can also band together to deliver certain services they cannot provide adequately by themselves. Michael Klonsky at the University of Chicago has started a Small Schools Workshop to help people organize and maintain small schools. New York and Los Angeles have also shown strong interest in small schools. "The small-school movement, whether we're talking about charter schools or small public schools coming into being, has been experiencing a real groundswell," Cotton notes. Reversing the trend toward large centralized schools will require determination. "The big, mindless high school, no matter how dysfunctional, has many fans, including kids," cautions Meier, who now heads a 150-student K-6 charter school in Boston. "When we talk with school officials and local politicians about restructuring large high schools, the first thing they worry about is what will happen to the basketball or baseball teams, the after-school program, and other sideshows; that the heart of the school, its capacity to educate, is missing, seems almost beside the point." But failure has been a stern teacher. America now has plenty of proof that bigger and more centralized is not better. Now the nation needs to act on that knowledge, state by state, district by district, school by school.

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109 114 (S'12 Selected Readings on School Reform Higher Education

U.S. institutions of higher education continue to face many challenges posed by incoming freshman who have not been well-prepared by the K-12 system. In "Moving On To College, Going Back To Basics," Steve Twomey of the Washington Post describes the trouble that Montgomery College English instructor Jack Saruda and others are taking to raise the basic skills of college freshmen to the high school level.

Taking the other side of the remediation debate, Baruch College Provost Louis Cronholm suggests (and we tend to agree) that only by ending remedial education in postsecondary institutions can colleges help spur needed reform at the K-12 level. Read his explanation in "Why One College Jettisoned All Its Remedial Courses," published in the Chronicle of Higher Education. In a similar vein, Linda Chavez argues in the Denver Post's "The 20 Percent Solution" that affirmative actionincluding its new forms currently taking root in Florida, Texas, and Georgiaare distractions from the underlying problem: the poor state of our elementary and secondary education system.

Fortunately, not everyone needs remediation. At the other end of the spectrum, we find top students being wooed by competing colleges and universities. Debbie Goldberg illustrates the lengths to which universities will go to get the best. In the Washington Post Magazine's "The Scholarship Game," she describes the packages that top schools put together to attract those who score well.

LEF

115 111 The Washington Post, September 23, 1999 Moving On to College, Going Back to Basics

Many Students Need Remedial Courses

By STEVE TWOMEY Tested and found wanting :by spring said a diploma from 'their Washington Post Staff Writer Montgomery College, the students school was no guarantee that have been told that to ensure their student knew the basics, and a third Jack Suruda, a college instructor own success, they must begin the felt social promotions were at least of English, has just tested a. bitch pursuit of their college degree in common," it's not surprising of hisfall students. All but a Room 252 of the Humanities Build- that many graduates wind up rieea- handful own a 1999-model diploma ing on the college's Germantown ing help in college. Still, there-Wit from a Cadillac school systeni Campus, in Suruda's. those who wonder whether colleges Montgomery County'sand tradi- `Today," he announces on day two should have to fix the problem. tionally Suruda launches each se- of the fall semester, "we're starting "Academicians, trustees,legisla- mester by plumbing abilities. with these units on subjects and tors and average citizens have queS: Scattered on a table are the verbs." tioned the wisdom of providing students'answercardstoa "Ifs hle in elementary schoO1,1ilte Service in college that supposedly', multiple-choice challenge. Surnda in language arts, lilce in.fourth grade," was paid for in elementary and Sec-. :picks up each card, scans and Jennifer Oliphant, 19, a graduate of ondary school," the Maryland Highei ,scribbles, tabulating depth of 'o- Gaithersburg's Watkins Mill ',gel Education Commission said in iw cabulary and grasp of written pas- School, says of Suruda's class:But 1996 study of remedial educationln sages. History tells him what's she says, "I'm kind of glad, because I the state. `These voices have beethrie likely to come nexthe's been at really need it." more frequent in a period in Which Montgomery College 22 years Sean Tobin, 18, who attended higher education has to corni*te but his distress is apparent none- Quince Orchard in Gaithersburg,. got with other state priorities for limited theless as the harsh numbers and a GED and now must spend :time resources" with Suruda, says he was 'mad at Maryland public colleges :vent! up. first: but nOw believes that had he $17.6 million on remediation in fiscal "Whoa," he says t6 one result. been put in a college-level course, "I 1995, the most recent total available:. "Phew," he says to another wouldn't have known anything." Virginia officials estimate remedial "Geez," he says to a third. Suruda's is one of 35 entry-leVel courses cost $40 million. The Uni- Not all 22 class members took remedial English courses listed In versity of the District of Collin& the entire test, but of the 17. Who Montgomery College'sfall said- estimates it spends about 5 percent Of did, none demonstrated skills com- uleand one of thousands of reme- its budget, $12 million, on such mensurate with 12th grade. Most dial courses at colleges nationwide, Courses. of these college students can do no involving tens of thousands of 'du- Most of the costs must be picked more than seventh-grade work. dents, new and returning. Most are Up by taxpayers, because tuition some no more than fifth-grade. at community colleges blce Mont- covers only about two-fifths of in.": The comma? An alien. form, gomery, whose schedule also includ- structional costs, according to Mark Suruda says. Spelling? They offer ed 25 entry-level remedial reading C. Hampton, director of institutional him "listing" for "listening" and courses and 58 remedial math cans- research for Virginia's State Courial "memeries" for "memories." They es, although the college preferS the of Higher Education. That burden have trouble organizing thoughts term "developmental" even led to an unsuccessful legislative on paper; they composesentences Such courses have become a trou- attempt in Florida to require public of rudimentary structure, and they bling barometer of how well public schools "to reimburse colleges for the., struggle with grammar, he says. school systems are priming students cost of remedial courses for their So they have commenced college for higher education, a destination graduates," the Maryland HigherEd- life, not with dreamy explorations of that might have been a nice optinn in ucation Commission report noted. new intellectual heights, butby visit- times past but is virtually a necessity New Maryland figures released ing basic lessons no one made them in a high-tech world. Tuesday show that of its 1997 high master before passing them on to the Given that nearly half the area school graduates who enrolled in a future, not even Montgomery Coun- public high school teachers surveyed Marylandcollege,27percent-,7 ty's legendary public school system. by The Washington Post in the 4,240needed remedial math. Fif-

112 teen percent had to take remedial With .perhaps surprising candor, assumption that all students need English, and 17 percent remedial many students blame themselves for reading. (Some students take more to emerge ready for some forin'Of their shortcomings. They didn't take post-secondary education. than one course.) school seriously, they say, and did no In Virginia, 25 percent of the 1997 In addition, Mary Helen Srnith more than the minimum. associate superintendent for In- public high school graduates needed "I didn't really do anything in high at least one remedial course when struction and program develop- school," says Eric Hickerson, 18,,a ment in Montgomery County, says they got to a state-supported college graduate of Quince Orchard and now in the commonwealth. The Universi- "a dialogue is about to begin" in a member of Surtida'sclass."I her school system about what de- ty of the District of Columbia says wouldn't be in a class like this if rd less than 10 percent" of its 5,300 fines "successful completion of a paid attention. I partied too much? course." Smith, who says low students are in classes spedfically Says Suruda: "They're humble. designated as remedial. grade-level abilities of county grad- They're not really resentful. They uates at Montgomery College are That's not an entirely distressing say, 'I really need you. You have to be portrait of college reality. Thousands "not good at all," also notes that patient with me, Mr. Suruda.' " her system Bow has "a formalized .of remedial studentsmore than haN' A big, expressive man of 60 who partnership"with MontgoinerY in 'Virginia, for exampleare adults crackles with enthusiasm after .34 seeking to improve minds and years of teaching, Suruda doesn't College to make transitions seam- sumés after a hiatus from formal dwell on .why or how his students got less. learning and wanting to brush up on to this point. He merely seeks to help "Fm the Pollyanna here," Gras- rusty skills. For others, English is not them now. Indeed, many educators mick says, "but if we can achieve their native language, and, under: say remedial classes are a sign :Of our purpose with these high school standably, they need help. something good: Students haven't assessments . . . if we can literally What is controversial is reniedi- given up. At a direct cost to theng end social promotion, if we ran ation for non-immigrants fresh outof selves in.the form of tuition, they are provide for the support systems high school Cliff Adelman, a senior reaching higher, having perhaps rec- . . . ifall that comes together, you research analyst for the U.S: Depart-. ognized belatedly the value of college.. would hope there would be no merit of Education, says many .fao. "A lot of them will say, 'This is the torssuch as behavior and family student entering college who re- first time Tve understood math','," quires remedial education." lifecan explain why a student isn't King says, and they thank her. "I tell ready for college. But, Adelman says, them, It's not me; it's you, because don't let.. school. systems "off the you are ready to do it now...You hook? weren't in high school' " "If the school systems can't pre7 In some ways, that makes teaching pare them for some sort of postsee- a remedial course easier than teach- ondary education ... then they 'are ing a high school level course. not doing justice by their studenti,".' da, in fact, sympathizes with the task Adelman says. "The family has every facing high school teachers: too marry right, and their states have every . students; too many of them lacking right, to go out and hang them?. motivation. Sharon Teuben-Rowe, an assiitant But for all the willingness of SUP. professor at Montgomery Colic:0'a dents to blame themselves for being Takoma Park campus, says incoming in remedial classes, "it's our students are often "shocked " .when too," says Nancy S. Grasmick, Mary- told they must take remedial claws. land's superintendent of schools.

. lace hers. They think they can Once upon a time, high schools And they can, she saYs. What bedeV7 weren't geared toward preparing O. fis them is interpreting what .they. ery student for college. Many could read. They'll often miss nuance; hti- graduate to a factory job and be fine. mor or sarcasm. But, Grasmick says, "those jobs are If they read a passage about absolutely disappearing in the 21st in the schools and are asked century." what the author's intent was, they'll Aware of that, many students.Who reply, "He's telling us about violence might have been content to stop after in the schools," Teuben-Rowe says. a high school diploma are heading for, When it comes to math, Suarin collegeonly to find they aren't King says, 'Tll tell you what they ready. It's as if course requirements have trouble with: fractions, Word and grading standardsinhigh problems, percents. Which are baSic schools haven't beenretooled to meet topics." King, who teaches "pre-alge- the times by making it impossible to' bra" at the Rockville campus, :Says'. coast to graduation with D grades or that if asked to add fractions1/4 simple course loads. and 1/2, saythey might add nti, But now Virginia and Maryland merators and denominators, corning are raising the graduation -.:bar, up with 2/6, instead of the correct implementing tough new tests 3/4. signed to find students. with Prob- lems and provide them help on the BESTCOPYAVAILABLE 117 The Chronicle of Higher Education, September 24, 1999 Why One College Jettisoned All Its Remedial Courses

By Lois Cionhohn

ARECENT REPORT by a commission to study But can those achievements alone justify the burdens the City University of New York has re- of remedial work? Given the thousands of hours that ignited the debate over the role and value colleges and universities invest in remediation, it is not of remediation in higher education. Among surprising that some success is achieved. Even the lim- other recommendations, the report urged ited success, though, comes at excessive costsfar be- CUNY to limit remedial education exclusively to its two- yond those measured in simple dollars and centsfor year colleges, backing a policy that had already beenfaculty members, students, and our entire system of adopted by the Board of Trustees and that will begin topublic higher education. take effect in January. Curricular deflation and grade inflation are two of the Yet, well before Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani's com-highest costs we pay. Teaching underprepared students mission issued the report, and without any requirement unquestionably lowers standards; I defy anyone to find by the trustees, CUNY'S Baruch College removed reme- a faculty member offering regular college courses who dial courses on its own initiative. Based on my firsthand would say otherwise. I'm not talking about less-tradi- experience as provost and then interim president oftional students, such as immigrants or persons who Baruch when we made and carried out that decision in have been out of school for many years. Returning 1998and my examination of remediation from manyadults and immigrants struggling to learn a new lan- perspectives over the past 20 years as a senior adminis-guage confront hurdles that traditional students do not. trator at other major urban universitiesI have con-In fact, I do not oppose the special programs that col- cluded that offering pre-collegiate work in colleges andleges and universities have set up for those groups. By universities is a grievous error. "underprepared," I mean those traditional students I respect the good intentions of those who advocatewho come to college unable to add fractions or read a remediation. It is comforting to visualize remedial stu-book used in eighth grade. dents in a kind of seamless progression, moving through I conducted my first studies of remedial students al- their remedial classes, into college-level work, on tomost 20 years ago at the University of Louisville, and graduation, and then into profitable postgraduate ca-have repeated those studies at Temple University and at reers. That is the view from 30,000 feet. But, on the Baruch. In each instance, I found that the great majority ground level, the effect of remediation on the studentsof students attending remedial programs are indeed tra- and the institution can be devastating. ditional college-age men and women with high-school Proponents of remediation argue that the benefits ofdiplomas. Yet those diplomas do not begin to signify the the practice outweigh the costs. It's true that, evenlevel of academic achievement required for the students though the success rates of remedial students are belowto succeed in even the most basic college courses. those of students who start out prepared for college- Too often, administratorsunder pressure from leg- level work, some of them do benefitthey graduate and go on to highly successful careers. As a citizen and human being, I feel very good about .those successes.

114 118 islators and members of the publicblame faculty The theory behind remediation is that underprepared members if they fail to pass those students in regular students are quite capable of succeeding in a rigorous courses. Too often, the public castigates entire colleges high-school program. Think about it: Why else would it for a poor graduation rate when policy requires them to be assumed that they will succeed in a remedial pro- admit underprepared students. Small wonder that many gram in college? institutions eventually lower their standards for gradua- We cannot do an experiment and see what happens tion as they attempt to meet the impossible conditions when we take a group of students, control for all vari- thrust on them. ables, and then intentionally place half of those students Remediation unquestionably imposes heavy costs on into a high school with a good record for graduating students. It has a demoralizing effect on well-prepared students with strong skills and half into a high school students who are in the same classes as remedial stu- with a poor record. However, since that is what hap- dents. Worst of all, remediation hurts those students pens in effect to students as they are assigned by dis- whom it is meant to benefit. Most remedial students trict, we can retrospectively study the differences be- receive some form of tuition assistance that requires tween graduates based on the schools they attended. full-time attendance in credit-bearing courses. Yet re- In establishing our policies, Baruch administrators medial students who are required to sign up for college- did just that: We attempted to correlate the various level courses often fail those courses. And, as a cohort, characteristics of the students with the schools from they end up with significantly lower grade-point aver- which they graduated. We discovered that students ages than other students in those classes. with similar backgroundseconomically, socially, cul- Imagine if we were coaching athletes in the high turally, geographicallywho differ only in which high jump, but we didn't tell them that in order to succeed schools they attend have vastly different outcomes they must get a running start. And then, to compensate upon graduation. We found that the majority of students for their lack of preparation, we simply lowered the bar. from certain schools require remediation while many What would be their chances of success when they had students from other schools do not. Those findings al- to compete against properly prepared athletes? low me to predict that many remedial students would There are other hidden, but measurable, costs. Laur- have been successful at an earlier stageand perhaps ence Steinberg, a psychology professor at Temple Uni- would not have needed remediation at allhad they versity, noted last year that his institution's require- attended a different school. ment for two semesters of psychological statistics for The fact that remediation is not more effective in majors is not a cause to celebrate high standards. Rath- correcting the deficiencies of students from certain er, it is an admission that it now takes two semesters to schools points to one of my deepest concerns: The learn what used to be done in one, and that students public's agitated insistence on maintaining remediation now get eight college credits instead of four for the same may be obscuring fundamental issues of brain develop- level of knowledge. If, as a country, we had that level of ment and cognitive maturation. For example, in The monetary deflation, we would declare ourselves in a Language Instinct, Steven Pinker, a cognitive scientist depression. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, describes students' diminished ability to learn language skills as VER THE LAST 30 YEARS, we have seen a they age. Despite the seemingly infinite procession of massive disinvestment of tax dollars in new theories of education, over many years we have public higher education. That is the rea- developed some common understanding of what should son we have crowded classes, and stu- be taught at various grade levels. dents who increasingly cannot find even Given that we have found that students from some required0 courses regularly in the schedule, to say noth- high schools seldom need remediation, and given that ing of the courses formerly available solely for intellec- we assume that remedial students can do the work if tual enrichment. they are in the right learning environment, why are we Remediation may not be the sole cause of the decline focusing on remedying the student's education at the in the quality of public higher education, but to the college level? Wouldn't it be far better if we focused on taxpayer, it has become the foremost symbol. Educa- changing the elementary- and secondary-education sys- tors claim that the problem with education is the lack of tem so that students master the knowledge they need at resources, but the public believes that the problem with the most appropriate ages, based on specific learning education is the lack of academic integrity. And the aptitudes and abilities? public is not going to give educators resources until it is For more than 20 years, I have heard the argument convinced that education is a good investment for soci- that we must give ourselves time to reform our K-12 ety. system. Yet, that laissez-faire approach is one reason What can be done? To me, the fundamental issue is why the system has not been reformed. The only way that we are looking in the wrong place for the answers. we can change the status quoand the current exces- We are focusing on students, when we should be re- sive need for remediation of high-school graduatesis examining our entire educational system. to reserve college for those who can do college-level work. 115119 El MT COPY AVAILABLE Much of the controversy surrounding the CUNY re- a powerful rejoinder to today's focus port concerns the relationship between remediation and on esteem as a self-contained conceptsevered from accomplishment. open enrollment. I believe that the need for remediation Baruch's enthusiasm in college is, in fact, a repudiation of the practice, if not, comes from a student body and faculty who know thatreal self-esteem comes from the principle, of open enrollment. Our country's great meeting a real challenge. urban universities were created to open their doors to I urge administratorsat both high schools and institu- anyone prepared to work hard for a college degree, tions of higher education regardless of economic background, religion, or ethnic- to work together to reform the system, and bring an end to ill-advised ity. Public education was promulgated as a "leveler" to attempts to reform the student. When pre-collegiateinstitutions know produce educated individuals from all strata of society. that public colleges and universities But that policy was based on the assumption that a high- have justifiable standards that they hold inviolate,K-12 schools will school diploma represented mastery of high-school sub-' behave toward public institutions jects; for this principle to work, public colleges and as they do toward private colleges and universitiesandadjust their stan- universities had to have the same high standards as. dards to insure the ability of private colleges and universities. It's inevitable that their students to attend. When students and familiessee that public colleges and public institutions won't be able to fulfill the original universities mean business about principle of producing equally educated persons from reforming the system, they will know what theymust demand of the schools all social and economic backgrounds if we must accept and of themselves. And all students with a high-school degreeincluding those we will return public higher education to its rightful role insecuring the American students whose lack of preparation would exclude them dream for future generations. from any private institution. Today, more than ever, we need high standards in elementary through graduate school, if we as a country are to maintain our place in today's changing world. We must demand more, not less, of educational institutions. That is the fundamental reason why Baruch raised its admissions standards and removed remedial courses from the curriculum last year. We did not drop remediation to save money. We intensified our summer programs to help prepare incoming freshmen to meet the new standards.

IN ADDITION, Baruch now tests sophomore, junior, and senior high-school students to see if they are on track to meet its admissions requirements. If they are not, the college offers extensive work in their schools, with their teachers, so that when they get their high-school diploma, it will truly indicate that they are ready for the next level of intellectual challenge. The total costs of those efforts are similar to what Baruch used to spend on remediation for more than half of its student body. We adopted the current approach because we were convinced that it was the rational way to prepare students for college. And it is the way to protect the legacy of Baruch as a haven for all studentsregardless of their color, religion, or net worthwho enter classes prepared to reap the precious benefits that only a rigorous college education can confer. The results? Baruch was the only senior college at CUNY whose enrollment increased last yearfrom 10,968 to 11,380, or almost 4 per cent. If you visit Baruch, which has one of the most culturally diverse student populations in the country, you will see the same motivation in the students today that was there decades ago, and you will find faculty members unusually enthusiastic about their students. The institution is The Denver Post, December 1, 1999

THE 20 PERCENT SOLUTION others - these plans aren't much different than the racial preferences that preceded them. Linda Chavez, And there are other problems as well. Everyone knows WASHINGTON - Remember President Clinton's that not all high schools deliver the same education. 1995 promise to 'mend affirmative action, not end it'? What's more, the worst schools tend to be He did virtually nothing to turn that promise into concentrated in the poorest neighborhoods, and black policy - but now, a new group of menders has stepped and Hispanic students are far more likely to attend into breach, promising to end racial preferences in such schools. Graduating in the top 20 percent of the college admissions while ensuring access to the best- class - or even the top 4 percent from a terrible qualified minority students. school won't prepare the student to compete ata first- rate university, especially if the student hasn't taken The latest is Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who issued his the courses necessary to tackle college work, suchas own proposal a few weeks ago. He asked state algebra. Texas has already discovered that many of its colleges to quit using race as a factor in deciding 10 percenters need remedial classes, and some lack whom to admit, but then urged them to change their even the requisite academic credit hours to be admitted policies to admit any Florida student who graduated in to college. the top 20 percent of his high-school class, regardless of test scores. Texas and California universities have And what about poor black and Hispanic students who adopted similar plans, with the former opting to admit have found their way out of failing public schools and the top 10 percent of graduating seniors, and the latter manage to attend, say, a local parochial school? the top 4 percent. They'll be measured by tougher standards, and takea more challenging curriculum, but this could actually Have these reformers figured a successful way out of hurt their chances of getting into college in Florida, the affirmative-action morass? Or are they creating Texas or California under the new rules. new problems and masking old ones? Racial preferences strike most people as wrong on their face. Let's say a low-income, Hispanic, public-school Giving extra points in the college-admission process to student graduates in the top 10 percent of his class a black or Hispanic student because of his race or with a B+ average, having tackled nothing more ethnicity seems no more fair than taking away points difficult than one year of algebra. His twin brother on those bases. But what about devising new rules that graduates from a Catholic school, having taken not appear to treat everyone the same but really are only algebra, but trigonometry and calculus, plus four intended to maintain a certain racial or ethnic balance? years of science and English literature, but manages only to rank in the top quarter of his class witha solid If, for example, the University of Mississippi, which `13' average. Which student would likely fare better at admitted its first black student in 1962, adopted a the University of Texas? Unfortunately, not theone policy to admit only students whose great- guaranteed admission. grandparents had attended Ole Miss, we would know that the purpose of the new rule was to keep blacks out What needs mending isn't affirmative action, but - even though race was never mentioned. education. It's time to end all public policies that treat citizens differently depending on their race and get When it comes to race, intent counts. No matter how serious about reforming our elementary and secondary neutral - or clever- a policy appears, if its intent is to education system. give some people an advantage and others a disadvantage because of their skin color, then, the Former Denverite Linda Chavez is president of the policy is discriminatory, plain and simple. But what Center for Equal Opportunity, a Washington-based about these states' new plans? If the intent is toensure think tank, and was director of public liaison in the racial balance - to put caps on the numbers ofsome Reagan administration. groups in order to ensure a floor on the number of The Washington Post Magazine, October 24, 1999

larshie Gme In the competition for top students,more an morecollegesare playing let's MakeaDear By Debbie Goldberg

WHEN GEORGEGEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY unveiled its fresh- ary magazine. Harvard and Yale both wanted him. But the man class this fall, there were 25 National Merit ScholarsUniversity of Chicago decided to make a big play for him, students considered to be among the best and brightest, andtooand offered him free tuition for four years, worth about most sought after by colleges and universities. It was a pretty$100,000. "I thought, 'Wow, that's a lot of money,' " Harter good showing for GW, which enrolled 2,100 freshmen thisrecalls. Although Chicago was not originally one of his top year, and one made possible in part by the $15,000 annual choices, the offer made it a contender. In the end, he chose award GW promised to each Merit Scholarregardless of Yale, but not before giving Chicago serious consideration. whether he or she needed the money. With the annual price tag at many private colleges now "I don't know if we would attract the same number with-more than $30,000, it's no surprise that there's a growing out the scholarships," says Michael J. O'Leary, senior associ-backlash against paying full sticker price. "We stuck it to the ate admissions director for GW. "But I wouldn't be comfort-consumer and jacked up the price of going to school," says able experimenting by dropping them. I know what we'reJeff Zellers, enrollment dean at Ohio's Muskingum College. doing right now works." "Now, we're playing all these games on the discounting side." And it works not just for GW. Schools across the country "like April in a used-car lot," is how Stephen R Lewis Jr., are offering scholarships based on, merit to entice highly de- president of Carleton College in Minnesota, describes the sirable students who, without the extra inducement, mightfeverish bargaining that occurs over top students. Small, pri- choose someplace else. While the nation's most prestigiousvate colleges like Carleton are taught in a bind in this com- colleges and universities are swamped these days with appli- petition. Without large endowments, they can't afford to cations from valedictorians, class presidents and straight-Ajump wholesale into bidding wars for students. They're also students, and therefore can reserve their money only forfeeling the heat from state universities, which not only have those who truly need tuition help, the vast majority of the advantage of lower tuition, but also can entice prospects schools are like GW, hoping to win over as many cream-of- with merit scholarships. the-crop high school graduates as they can. And for good Making things even more competitive is the fact that many reason: The better a school's student profilewith higherof the Ivy League schools and several dozen other selective, SAT scores and more honorsthe easier it can be in the fu-private colleges such as Amherst, Bates, Swarthmore and ture to attract students, faculty and alumni donations. So Massachusetts Institute of Technology have tinkered with aid alongside need-based scholarships these schools are now of-formulas in the last two years to create better awards for stu- fering some substantial golden lures. dents, generally resulting in fewer loans and more grants. Just ask Britt Harter. A 1999 Sidwell Friends School grad-Those colleges, which continue to tie scholarship money exclu- uate, Harter had stellar grades and SAT scores, was captain sively to need, say they weren't responding to pressure from of the baseball and basketball teams and editor of the liter-other campuses. But Bates Vice President Bill Hiss acknowl-

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118 edges, "We can sure smell the competition." a-Deal environment," says Charles Deacon, According to guidance counselors at local dean of undergraduate admissions at public and private schools, top students are Georgetown University, which offers only going after the financial bait dangled by need-based aid. Of course, Georgetown such institutions as Emory University, the doesn't have to woo students with money University of Rochester and the University with 13,232 applicants for this fall's freshman' of Maryland, which has bolstered its reputa- class of 1,475, the university rejected half the tion in recent years by luring high achiev- high school valedictorians who applied. ers, in part with merit-based scholarships. "Bribing kids to go from school A to At Maryland about a quarter of each class is school B doesn't seem a good use of getting merit-based awards, which run from money," says Livid W. Breneman, dean of about $1,500 annually to a full ride. the University of Virginia's Curry School of The dance to get the best students often Education. "All the money spent diverting doesn't end with a simple offer. "There are high-income kids is coming out of some- more negotiations on both sides for the most thing, and it may knock needy kids out of qualified and interesting applicants," says higher education, or into second-tier state Nina W. Marks, college guidance director at universities or community colleges." the National Cathedral School in Northwest. At Virginia, hundreds of non-need schol- Savvy families have gotten the message that arships are awarded annually to attract top- money is available, and every April, when ac- flight students and athletes. But with ceptance letters are mailed out, prospective 12,474 undergraduates "our primary goal students and their parents begin calling col- for the vast number of students is meeting leges seeking better financial aid packages need," says U-Va. Dean of Admissions John or more scholarship money Blackburn. "I don't think we're on a slip- Some schools encourage students to pery slope." send in competing financial aid or scholar- Still, nationwide in the last decade or so ship offerseven schools that award only there has been a sizable increase in the need-based aid. While many admissions offi- amount of money going into merit scholar- cers say they solicit the information merely ships. According to Kenneth Redd, senior re- to make sure they haven't misinterpreted a searcher at Sallie Mae, the nation's leading family's financial resourcesthere can be provider of student loans, colleges spent large variation even in need-based pack- $888 million in 1989-1990 for undergraduate agesothers make it clear they'll match or scholarships not based on need; in 1995-1996 beat a student's best offer. that amount had jumped to $1.8 billion. Con- Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh currently, need-based scholarships by insti- is one of those schools that encourage ac- tutions went from $1.8 billion in 1989-1990 to cepted students to send in competing offers. $4.7 billion in 19954996. The largest University officials then evaluate such fac- provider of college aid is the federal govern- tors as how desirable the student is, how ment, which in 1997-1998 supplied $44 bil- Carnegie Mellon stacks up against other lion to students, including through scholar- colleges being considered and how likely ships and loan guarantees. The share of the student is to enroll anywayand then federal funding given to needy students has decide whether to counter the offer. dropped from 86 percent in 1985.1986 to 61 "There's a food chain in this business, and percent in 1997-1998, according to Tom some schools are going to want some stu- Mortenson of the Center for the Study of dents more than I want them," says Bill El- Opportunity in Higher Education. liott, Carnegie Mellon's vice president for Still, as Britt Harter's experience shows, enrollment. The result? Last year, more than it's far from clear how significant money in- half the 800 or so students who sent offers centives are and will become. No one, for in- from other schools got a counteroffer from stance, expects students to start leaving the Carnegie Mellon of up to $5,000 more Ivies in droves for better financial deals else- moneyand more than half of those stu- where. But for colleges below that top tier, dents ended up enrolling. For Carnegie the situation can be quite different. Mellon that's an above-average "yield." Katie Shilton, who graduated last spring Says Elliott, "It's good old market pres- from T.C. Williams High School in Alexan- sure. You can't do what you did 10 years ago dria, had her heart set for years on attending in any business and survive successfully." Swarthmore. But when her acceptance let- Some people aren't happy about the idea ters arrived, Oberlin College dangled a that higher education be run like just an- $10,000 annual scholarship in front of her other competitive business when it comes to and a free pint of Ben & Jerry's ice cream doling out financial aid, and worry that over (Jerry is an Oberlin grad). The offer, she de- time it will wear away the time-honored prin- cided, was too good to pass up. "It's neat to ciple of making sure that all qualified stu- know they really want youit's very, very dents who want to attend college are given flattering." She hasn't looked back. the money to help them do so. "We're not responding to the Let's-Make-

119 123 BEST COPY AVAILABLE (S R)2 Selected Readings on School Reform Grab Bag

First pick from our grab bag section is "Absence inthe Classroom," a USA Today story by Fred Bayles. This article reveals that the idea of bringingmarket forces to play in education has caught on in at leastone area: the hiring of substitute teachers. With more than 90% of U.S. school districts encountering difficulty finding substitutes,"temp" agencies, such as Kelly Services,are stepping up to take their orders.

Next upthat's why we call this section "grab bag"inher National Review article, "A Taboo Erodes," Abigail Themstromsuggests that academics have slipped due to an excess of inappropriately channeled racial sensitivity. Thernstrombelieves it is time for frank discussion of the black-white achievementgap and ways of narrowing it.

As evidence that the education wars aren't confinedto academic subjects, we offer an article about different styles of teaching piano. Greg Steinmetz's WallStreet Journal piece, "Practicing the Piano the American Way Horrifiesthe British," describes two diametrically opposed methods for teaching piano: the Britsbelieve in "direct instruction": every student learns thesame scales and pieces in the proper order, drilling and practicing all the while. The American instructorsare more concerned aboutwhat else?the student's individual needs and personal growth.

In an Education Daily piece entitled "Online ServiceBroadens Access to AP Coursework," Jonathan Fox reports thatmore students will soon have the opportunity to take these valuable classes online, which could level thatplaying field enormously.

In a perceptive Wilson Quarterly article, "The ParentTrap," Tom Loveless of the Brookings Institution zeroes in on how parents needto shoulder greater responsibility for their children's academic achievement. He questionswhether parents are up to the challenges posed by new, high-stakes standards for theirstudents and whether policymakers are keeping in mind that complacentparents could undermine their greatest efforts at reform.

Lastly, Tyce Palmaffy poses the question: "Are SchoolConsultants Worth It?" in the Investor's Business Daily. He questions the authenticity ofitinerant education "experts," in particular the celebrated Willard R. Daggett,who, according to Palmaffy, has hopped from school to school distorting not only hisbiography but also his expertise.

MJJ

124 121 USA Today, November 15, 1999

Absence in the Classroom A measure of the need came recently when Kelly Services, one of the nation's By Fred Bayles largest temp agencies, announced it was getting into the substitute teacher business. Kelly plans to recruit people This morning, an estimated 96,000 through newspaper and radio ads, arm teachers will be marked "absent" in them with a teacher's handbook, an classrooms across the nation. They'll be instructional video and two hours of out for the usual reasons: illness, training, then send them out to schools. personal leave or training. But the task A college diploma will not be required of finding substitute teachers to take in most cases. their places has become anything but usual. "We see this as a great opportunity," says Kim Osborne, a Kelly The economy and demographic shifts spokeswoman. have drained the usual pool of substitute teachers, creating critical scarcity of But the task could be daunting. qualified substitutes throughout the country. Some substitute teachers get less pay and fewer benefits than fast-food workers, Some school districts are so desperate and they can be asked to take over that they now hire people with nothing classes of students who are eager to test more than a high school diploma. a stranger's authority. That often leaves Louisiana schools ask parents to step in school officials with substitutes who are as temporary teachers. Chicago has tried untrained, inexperienced and enlisting off-duty police and firefighters. occasionally dangerous. School districts in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts have Over the past two years, there has been a turned to temporary employment steady increase in the incidents of sexual agencies to do the job. And, according to abuse, drug dealing and even solicitation several education surveys, more than for murder involving substitutes. 90% of the nation's school districts have trouble finding substitutes. Full-time teachers are away from the classroom so much these days that "The main goal is often to get a warm substitute teachers are having a growing body in there," says Max Longhurst, an impact on a child's education, education specialist with Utah State administration and teacher union University's Substitute Teacher Institute, officials say. Emphasis on teacher which studies trends and develops excellence has added more out-of-class programs for substitutes. time for training for full-time teachers. And the federal family leave law has also are turning down assignments in given them more latitude to take weeks, favor of better deals elsewhere in the even months, off to deal with family workplace. So are others with some issues. teaching credentials.

As a result, the Substitute Teachers The school district for Saco and Dayton, Institute estimates that any student who Maine, recently raised substitutes' daily finishes high school today will have had stipends by $10 a day to $60 to remain a substitute for the equivalent of a year competitive with local fast-food of classroom time. restaurants. It turned out to be too little. "Burger King and McDonald's pay $ 68 "We need to take a deeper look at the a day, and they have 401(k)s," issue of educating students with Superintendent Gerald Clockedile says. untrained teachers," Longhurst says. "The closer we get to full employment the harder it is to get people to step into Better opportunities leave job pool a classroom for $ 60." empty. Substitute pay can range from $ 35 a day The shortage of substitute teachers is in some Louisiana parishes to more than due, in part, to a booming economy that $ 100 a day in some affluent suburbs in offers jobs with better pay, benefits and Illinois and New Jersey. The pay spread peace of mind to someone who might between districts can mean one school otherwise face a day of combat with system has the buying power to hire unruly students. The decline in well-qualified substitutes while a substitutes also has its roots in the Baby neighboring school is left with poorly Bust, the drop in the nation's birthrate qualified candidates. during the 1970s. "You wind up fighting over the same "It was a time when we had more people," says Mick Starcevich, teachers to go around than there were superintendent of a Cedar Rapids, Iowa, classrooms," says Jaime Horwitz, a school district that formed a substitute spokesman for the American Federation pool with other schools to end the of Teachers, the union representing bidding war. about half the nation's 2.5 million teachers. The lack of teaching jobs But for many schools, particularly those discouraged college students from in rural areas or in tougher urban majoring in education. Then, in the past neighborhoods, it is hard to get three years, "we've seen this surplus substitutes of any experience. "Not population of teachers vanish," Horwitz everybody is willing to go into some says. parts of the city," says Carlos Ponce, chief of human resources for the Recent college graduates with degrees in Chicago school system. "It's not a education, who were once a reliable part question of racism. Sixty percent of our of the substitute pool, are now hired teachers are minorities. It's the straight from school to fill full-time perception of safety." teaching jobs. Retired teachers

123126 The result: "Schools are taking people an use a federal database. The check they would never consider in the past," would cost the school district nothing. Horwitz says. "We're hearing horror stories from all over." When the school district finds a substitute teacher candidate now, it often -- In Espanola, N.M., a substitute teacher has to wait until the next school year to was arrested outside a junior high with a use the person because the background syringe of heroin that she admitted she check takes so long, according to was trying to sell. school administrators.

-- In suburban Houston, a substitute tried Some schools have taken another tack, to recruit two 14-year-old students to kill using specialized employment agencies her daughter's ex-boyfriend. to find and screen substitutes. Opus, a Wakefield, Mass., company, uses print -- In Los Angeles, a substitute teacher is and radio ads to find potential accused of stripping in front of a fourth- substitutes, then interviews applicants, grade class. The next day, the man was runs background checks and even offers substituting at another school. Word of several hours of training before sending his actions was not passed on to other them on assignment. schools in desperate need of substitutes. "They're not certified teachers, but School officials acknowledge the they're good substitutes who we teach problem. They complain that it is costly, how to teach from a lesson plan," says time consuming and ultimately Michael Brooks, director of educational frustrating.to run background checks on services at Opus. applicants who often quit after a few days in the classroom. Michael One of the Opus substitutes is Robert Contompasis, chief operating officer for Breen, a 48-year-old retired firefighter Boston's public schools, says his office who never taught a course until last can run up to 100 background checks a spring. But with a bachelor's degree in month, with limited 'results. fire sciences and criminal justice and "Background checks need to be as some graduate school level education thorough as possible," he says. "But the courses, Breen has been in demand ever issue is whether they go deep enough." since.

Schools Find Ways to Screen While the pay is low-about $ 70 a day- Substitutes Breen says he loves the work.

Frustrated over background checks that "It's not about money," he says. "It's take up to six months, a Bennington, Vt., about giving back to the community." school board is considering a novel alternative: requiring applicants to buy Filling in recently in a bilingual world handguns. The background checks for history course at Salem, Mass., High handgun purchases required by law take School, Breen is a study in kinetic gun dealers just minutes because they energy as he tries to get his 12 students

127 124 interested in Julius Caesar with a pool program, looking to establisha dialogue cadre of teachers who specialize that jumps from Shakespeare to the in substituting. "Substitute teaching movie Spartacus. needs to be a profession unto itself," Ponce says. "We need someone who can go in like Breen is vigilant for attempts to test him. a relief pitcher and take care of any "Don't try to stall me," he says, as situation." students try to distract him from giving a quiz by asking questions and requesting extra paper and pens. "You have to come One of Ponce's relievers is Latrice in here like it's a multiple-alarm fire," he Thomas, a 26-year-old history teacher says outside of class. who substitutes three days a week so she can spend more time with her 4-month- old daughter. Thomas is listed as a "full- Substitute Teaching as a Field of Its time substitute," a new designation that Own gives her a little more money anda choice of assignments.

Education experts see people such as Breen as a possible solution to the With a broad teaching certificate for substitute shortage. The Substitute kindergarten through 12, Thomas can Teaching Institute's Max Longhurst says jump into many different situations the education system needs to regard within a week. "It's not a problem substitute teaching as a specialty and because I'm pretty mean," she laughs. train staff for the travails of walking "Word has gotten around that you don't into a new classroom every day. play with Ms. Thomas."

"Pay is only one of the problems in For administrators such as Ponce, attracting substitutes," he says. Thomas' specialization is a "Retention is another problem. If prototype for tomorrow's substitute someone is prepared to deal with the teacher. different issues they're going to face, it's going to be a more enjoyable experience and they are going to stay at the job." "All of us are re-examining what a substitute should be," he says. "We have to differentiate between those doing true The Chicago school system is currently substitute teaching as opposed to those restructuring its substitute who are just holding down the fort."

128 125 National Review, December 20, 1999

one of many factors in admissions deci-underachievement. Jencks and Phillips 18 EDUCATION m sions. No selective institution of higherdismiss them all. Income inequality, they education paid the slightest attention.say, plays a very small role in black test Behind soundproof doors, race-drivenperformance;infact,eliminating A Taboo admissions became the norm. The sub-blackwhite income disparities would terfuge worked for a while, but itmake almost no difference in the scores couldn't last. Once the facts. wereof young black children ona basic Erodes exposed, the talk began, and it focused on the core problem: the tiny pool of The truth about blacks black and Hispanic high-school seniors with strong SAT scores and high grades and education who could meet the regular admissions criteria at selective schools. Frank talk, once started, is hard to sti- ABIGAIL THERNSTROM fle. It takes on a life of its own. The new intellectual freedom is evident in The ERIC up, everyone. It's true that Jesse BlackWhite Test Score Gap, an impor- Jackson is doing his usual number tant Brookings Institution volume edit- in Decatur, Illinois. And the Justice ed by Christopher Jencks and Meredith Departmentisthreateningto sue Phillips. The liberal credentials of Jencks Massachusetts over its rigorous and and Phillips are in perfect order, but carefullydesignedstatewidetests their voices (and those of their contrib- because many black and Hispanic stu- utors) break with traditional liberal dents do poorly on them. And yes, Al orthodoxy. Gore and Bill Bradley both have had For instance, they assert unequivocal- kissy-face meetings with the Rev. Al ly that it is lack of knowledgenot Sharpton. But in fact, it's not just the white racismthat makes for unequal same old racial scene anymore. Not only earnings. They report that among 31- to is the status of blacks steadily improving; the winds of freedom are now blowing through public discourse on race related The word is now out: Black questions. The shift is subtle, and easy to miss. and Hispanic kids do not know But think about a phrase George W. enough when they graduate Bush has used in two education speeches: "the soft bigotry of low expectations." from high school. The cruel (and racially indifferent) dumbing down of American educational standards in the name of racial sensitiv- 36-year-old men with cognitive skills ity is an issue a handful of conservatives above the 50th percentile on the well- have long raised, and they paid a heavy respected Armed Services Vocational price for doing so. But times have Aptitude Battery test, the difference changed. The word is now out: Black between black and white earnings is a and Hispanic kids do not know enough mere 4 percentage points. College-grad- when they graduate .from high school. uation rates tell a similar story: Blacks They have been passed along from grade are more likely to earn a college diploma to grade by schools that pursue a callous, than whites with the same 12th-grade softly bigoted self-esteem strategy. . test scores. Inits1978 Bakke decision,the Black poverty, racial segregation, and Supreme Court ruled that colleges and inadequate funding for predominantly universities may consider race only as black schools are standard items on the list of liberal explanations for black

BEST COPYAVAILABLF 126. 1 2 9 vocabulary test. Nor does a school's Council of La Raza, and Edmund W. and Hispanic students 'will catch up in racial mix matter after the sixth grade; it Gordon, the principal author of the college. But the College Board report seems to affect reading scores only in the dreadful New York State 1991 curricu- admits that the best predictor of acade- early years, and math scores not at all. lum guide, One Nation, Many Peoples: A mic performance is prior academic per- The racial identity of the children in a Declaration of Cultural Interdependence, formance. Do well in high school, and district does not affect funding, the which prompted a ringing dissent from success in college followsalthough number of teachers per student, the Arthur Schlesinger Jr. black students do worse than their SATs teachers' credentials, or theirpay. The group contained no conservative suggest they should. The report refers to Schools that are mostly black, however, voices at all, so its recently released the "cultural attributes of home, com- have teachers with lower test scoresin report, not surprisingly, contains much munity, and school," and talks at length part, Jencks and Phillips forthrightly predictable stuff. For example, it says about the attitudes toward school and acknowledge, because black schools that the end of racial preferences in hard work that Asian parents transmit have more black teachers. some states has harmed the efforts of to their children. On the other hand, schools are less colleges "to promote the academic There is obviously -much overlap important than we sometimes think. development" of minorities; that we're between the Jencks and Phillips volume According to Jencks and Phillips, par- not spending enough on urban schools; and the College Board report. Both are ents count more: and that racial and ethnic discrimina- moving beyond racial preferences as a panacea. In fact, the task force refers to Changes in parenting practices might do "affirmative development"a term that more to reduce the blackwhite test score Democrats can play the implies the need for multifaceted and sustained action to address a problem. gap than changes in parents' educational race card from now until attainment or income. ... Cognitive dis- No quick fixes, which depend on fudging paritiesbetweenblackandwhite November; but they cannot inconvenient facts. The College Board preschool children are currently so large hasn't given up on race-based programs; that it is hard to imagine how schools stop the old rhetorical order it explicitly embraces them. But implicit alone could eliminate them.... Changing from continuing to unravel. in the report is an acknowledgment that the way parents deal with their children in many public institutions of higher may be the single most important thing education, preferences may not survive; we can do to improve children's cognitive tion is holding back minority students and that, in any case, after 30 years of skills. academically. It indulges in the usual using preferences, black students are psychobabble about low black self- appallingly behind whites and Asians in This is a tough and startling message. esteem and feelings of alienation from basic, absolutely essential academic More than three decades after the publi- school. skills. cation of The Negro Family: The Case for But the task force also breaks impor- The College Board is no profile in National Action, the Moynihan report tant new ground. The report links black political courage; it would not have that was so terribly distorted by civil- and Hispanic wage levels to poor acade- issued this report had it not felt safe in rights spokesmen, it is finally okay to mic performance, and uses National doing so. This reporttogether with the raise the subject of black-family culture. Assessment of Educational Progress Bush speech, Jencks and Phillips, and Jencks and Phillips suggest social scien- (NAEP) statistics to make clear just how other recent writings and statements tists take a close look at: "the way fami- inadequately non-Asian minorities are signals a change in the framework of the ly members and friends interact with one doing. The document points out that race debate, at least when it comes to another and the outside world"; "how the NAEP results display the same pat- education, the nation's most important much parents talk to their children, deal terns as SAT scores, which correlate race-related issue. Tom Daschle can call with their children's questions, how they well with grades and class rank. the GOP "anti-minority"; Democrats react when their child learns or fails to The task force describes the problem can play the race card from now until learn something"; and "cultural and psy- of underachievement as emerging "very November 2000 and beyond; but they chological differences." In other words, early" and minces no words about the cannot stop the old rhetorical order focus on what's going on in African- fact that black and Hispanic kids "at vir- from continuing to unravel. American homes. Economic and educa- tually all socioeconomic levels do not Change the discourse, and the old tional resources are far less important. perform nearly as well on standardized policies themselves are placed in jeop- Jencks and Phillips might be dismissed tests as their White and Asian counter- ardy. The whole structure of going- as members of a tiny sect called "schol- parts." In fact, the racial gap in academ- nowhererace - consciouspolicies ars with integrity." But they have unex- icachievement iswidestamong whose proponents have been satisfied pectedand importantcompany: the middle-class students from educated with good intentions but few results ever-cautious College Board. In January families. The scores of black and white may be crumbling. If so, we are seeing 1997, it convened a "National Task youngsters whose parents lack even a the first steps towards honestly and seri- Force on Minority High Achievement." high- khool degiee.are more alike. ously addressing the undeniable problem AmongitsmemberswereRaul Proponents of preferential admissions of ongoing racial inequality. Better late Yzaguirre, president of the National often argue that underachieving black than never. NR

127 BEST COPY AVAILABLE The Wall Street Journal, November12, 1999

to motivatestu- Practicing the Piano dents and encourage individual ex- The American Way pression, many teachers teach Horrifies the British whatever they .and their students de- cideisbest. "We They Have Rigorous Methods; give students and teacherscomplete The U.S. Is Rather Loose flexibility," Mrs. Kruger says. "A lot Exponents of the 2 Molds of it is about getting kids to be interested in studying." Posi- By GREG STEINNIETZ Julia Kruger tivereinforcement Staff ReporterOf THE WALL STREET JOURNAL is essential. When it comes to piano teachers, Mar- garet Knight and Julia Kruger are two of In Britain, there is a national curricu- the best. lum. Under a system going back to the From her home in southern New Jer- days of Queen Victoria, students learn sey, Mrs. Knight has taught for 27 years. piano as they would learn karate. They At age 61, she is trying to slow down, but drill the same sets of scales and thesame she still has more than three dozen stu- pieces again and again. Once they passa dents. One of her students represented test for one skill level, they move to the New Jersey in the Miss America pageant a next grade. They can keep going until few years ago, with piano as her talent. grade eight. By then, they're equipped for In Austin, Texas, Mrs. Kruger has Schumann's devilish "Arabesque" ora taught for 29 years, has 46students and has Brahms intermezzo. written several The conflict isn't about which country books on piano produces the best pianists. The cream will teaching. Many of rise anywhere. It's about what's best for her students have children studying pianc0 The British be-. woninternational lieve that without a solid classical educa- competitions. "I tion, there isn't much point. Not only will eat, drink and sleep children fail'eo play properly, but they will piano," Mrs. Kru- also miss the side benefits of confidence- ger says. building and learning about discipline. But thereis a Many Americans believe that if students key difference be- get frustrated and quit, there's even less tween them. Mrs. point to the exercise. Besides, creativity KnightisBritish. and personal expression are important, too. Mrs. Kruger is American. They The different approaches can be seen in don'tkroweach Margaret Knight the way people talk about piano. other. g4t each knows about all she wants Ask an American how well he plays to know about how the other teaches piano. "Americans want to do a lot of thingS and not do anything deeply," Mrs. Knight says. "I'd like to see their dropout rate," Mrs. Kruger says of the British. In America, no instruction method is recognized as superior to all others. Eager

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131 128 Two Routes to Carnegie Hall Continued From First Page through a series of Associated Board ex- piano, and the question tends to become: ams, was completely frustrated. "I haven't What piece is he working on? Ask a Briton, had anyone want to continue," Mrs and the person will give a number carrying Kruger says. the significance of a golf handicap. The She concedes that there is some value in same would happen in Singapore, Hong the British approach. In fact, as vice presi- Kong or most others former British dent of the National Guild of Piano Teach- colonies that have adopted the system ad- ers, an American organization dedicated Ministered by thestandard-bearerof to piano instruction, she herself advocates British music education, the AssOciated exams. The guild will test 119,000 students Board of the Royal Schools of Music. this year. As is not the case with the Asso- Associated Board examiners will visit ciated Board program, students can choose 85 countries this year to evaluate half a from a vast array of music for exam pur- million students, not just in piano, but in poses. But she worries that the Associated all the instruments one might associate Board program, by having a set curricu- with, say; the New York Philharmonic. lum, loses students who could be kept in- Only a few thousand students are in Amer- terested by offering a wider range of ica. But the Associated Board is working to pieces. change that. Mrs. Knight, the British teacher, knows Richard Morris, chief executive of the about the American system and the Inter- Associated Board, has no illusions about national Piano Guild firsthand. When she what he is up against. A few years ago, he came to the U.S., she involved her students broached the idea of national music stan- in the guild "out of desperation." In her dards with the Educational Testing Ser- mind, it had only one thing going for it. "It vice, the Princeton, N.J., organization was better than nothing," she says. known for the SAT, formerly known as the I'm OK, You're OK Scholastic Aptitude Test. He was told The guild's exam system left her cold. American educators prefer community She noticed judges were relentlessly up- benchmarks rather than ones from on beat. One judge was so worried about ofhigh. Then Mr. Morris went to various mu- fending students that he gave each of them sic schools, including New York's Juilliard roughly the same marks. Siblings got iden- School of Music. There he discovered mu- tical marks. "That finished me," Mrs. sic education is far less fundamental in Knight says. America than in Europe. "We're treated Ten years ago, she was talking to a like freaks," one school administrator told teacher in Baltimore who had some mate- him. rials from the Associated Board. "I was So instead of a blanket marketing cam- overjoyed," Mrs. Knight recalls. She got paign, he is focusing on areas with large the name of the board's U.S. representa- Asian communities including San Fran- tive and immediately hurried home to call. cisco, Los Angeles and the Flushing neigh- She is now responsible for recruiting Asso- borhood in the New York City borough ofciated Board teachers in Delaware, New Queens. Many Asian-Americans already Jersey and Pennsylvania. have familiarity with the Associated Board Although she has induced a few Amen- from their homelands. "You're basically cans to sign up, she has had more success trying to win over the hearts and minds of with Asians. She has also had luck with teachers. That's a slow process," Mr. Mor- Russians. "They tell me it's the closest ris says. thing to what they had in the Soviet A Little Ethnocentrism Union," she says, explaining that she Mrs. Kruger, the American teacher, be- means that as a compliment. came acquainted with the Associated Like many Americans, Dena Blizzard Board while on a trip to London. She found started learning piano from a neighbor'. herself on the defensive as British teachers When she wanted to get more serious, she scoffed at the American passion for tailor- turned to Mrs. Knight. But she was still so ing instruction to individuals. "It was such involved in cheerleading and with her 'a point of issue that it was difficult to dis- friends that Mrs. Knight had to sit her cuss the benefits," she says. During a down. "She told me it was time to choose speaking trip to Taiwan, she was sched- between being a jack-of-all-trades or really uled to lecture the same week as a British good at something," she recalls. She got to teacher. The British teacher was offended grade six in the Associated Board and, af- by the presence of an American. ter playing Beethoven's "Pathetique," be- Some of Mrs. Kruger's students started came Miss New Jersey 1995. She despairs with the Associated Board while livingabout thestateof piano instruction. abroad. After they moved to America, they "There are people who have been studying were glad to be done with it. One student, 10 years but can't play anything," she who had nothing but negative critiques.says. "That's really sad."

129 BEST COPY AVAILABLE 13'1 Education Daily, November 30, 1999

Online Service Broadens After pilot testing lastyear, the Seattle-based Access To AP COursework APEX went fully functional thissemester. Now, 300 students are enrolled in virtualAP More than half of American high schools offer classes (of up to 25 students each) through Advanced Placement (AP) classes, which allowAPEX's online network, and 18,000 students ambitious students to earn college credit iii ad-have used APEX to review for APexams. vance. But critics say that's not e'nough,.considering the increasing weight such courses "We're going to make a major contributionto receive in the college admissions process. education," said Sally Narodick, APEX'schief executive officer. "Schools need toopen their A high-profile lawsuit in California has put a minds and bring distance-learning into the spotlight on the issue of disparate access to APclassrooms." courses. Demanding access for all qualified and interested students, the ACLU argues thatShe sees isolated rural schools and under- limited AP offerings in poorer schools hurt low-served urban schools as the APEX'starget income students' chances of acceptance into market, as well as individual families and public colleges (ED, Aug. 3). middle-class schools that simply cannot offer every type of AP class. Robert Vaughan, coordinator of the Seattle Public Schools' gifted and talented program, The company's biggest obstacle, she said,is saw the same problem in his district and else- accesseven in 1999, not all schools are wired where in Washington state. Whereas some to the Internet or have adequateaccess for high schools offered several AP classes, othersprograms like APEX. But federal subsidies for offered none. online access and other initiativesare quickly changing that, she said. His musings on how to bridge that part of the "digital divide" led to the arrival of one of this APEX currently offers versions of four AP sub- decade's more promising advances in educationjects: calculus, statistic, government and poli- technology: online AP courses. tics, and microeconomics (macroeconomics will be added to its catalog this spring). It hopesto In hopes of solving the AP access gap, Vaughanroll out up to 12 morecourses over the next five mentioned one idea to a parent who happenedyears and enroll thousands more students. to work for Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen: Allow online access to APcourses to meet "the Seeding Opportunity needs of that motivated student who is ready In all, the College Board offers 32 APcourses to take an AP class but doesn't havea teacher."in 18 subject areas. Founded in 1956, thepro- gram is seen as one of education's success sto- Allen, now a venture capitalist thatsees onlineries and a rare example ofa rigorous, nation- education as one of Internet commerce's most ally accepted curriculum. Lastyear, over promising fields, quickly spotted a business 700,000 students took more than 1 million AP opportunity. In 1997, he founded APEX On- exams (ED, March 16). Ninety percent of col- line Learning with the goal of democratizing leges offer credit for APcourses. (and profiting from) access to AP coursework and exams, which are administered by the College Board.

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130 The courses, developed by AP instructors, col- "It adds an ethically worthwhile twist to the lege professors and multimedia experts, meet Internet," he said. "It creates opportunity in both College Board and University of Califor- schools with no history of AP classes." nia guidelines. APEX students who do well on AP exams receive the same college credit as For more information, contact APEX Online "bricks and mortar" students. Learning at 110-110th Ave. NE, Suite 385, Bellevue, WA 98004; (800)453-1454; e-mail: Last year, students who participated in the [email protected]; or apex.netu.com. APEX pilot program outdid their peers nation- Jonathan Fox ally: 87 percent of them scored a 3 or higher on AP exams (the threshold for college credit), compared with 65 percent nationally. Instead of merely posting course material online and allowing students to "sink or swim," APEX has sought to create a virtual classroom where students receive individual guidance and support. So far, the company employs 14 online instructors, who conduct online discussions and grade student work. Students correspond with their online instructor almost daily through e-mail, faxes, phone calls and live Internet discussions. Using Technology For Good Students must spend at least five hours online a week to remain in good graces with APEX. If a student falls behind in class, APEX notifies onsite mentors at each school. Mentors and parents receive e-mail reports on each student every week. Each APEX class costs $395. Another program expanding access to AP courses is a relatively new federal grant program that pays the $75 AP exam fees for low-income students. In the recently approved federal budget, funding for the program jumped to $15 million from $4 million (ED, May 22, 1998). Vaughan, who mentors 20 students in Seattle APEX courses, believes schools have a moral imperative to use technology to expand AP access because "we know it makes [students] successful when they go to college."

1 3 4 131 The Wilson Quarterly, Autumn 1999 The Parent Trap

by Tom Loveless

gories dominate, according to Temple University psychologist Laurence A new kind of revolution of rising expectations is sweeping the Steinberg: extracurricular activities, primarily sports, consuming 10 to United States. It is a revolution fomented by reformers who believe that 15 hours; part-time employment, 15 to 20 hours; and a host of social setting higher expectations in the schools is the key to improving acade- activities, including dating, going to the movies, partying, and just hang- mic performance. There is bipartisan political enthusiasm for the cre- ing out with friends, 20 to 25 hours. The national average for time ation of tough new learning standards. Just about everyone wants to end spent on homework is four hours per week, not surprising given the few social promotion, the practice of passing a student on to the next grade waking hours that remain after the whirlwind of nonacademic pursuits. regardless of whether he or she has learned anything. Reformers poke, This distribution of teens' time represents a huge drag on academic prod, cajole, and coax schools to embrace lofty academic expectations learning. More than one-third of the teens with part-time jobs told which, they believe, schools would not adopt on their own. They are Steinberg they take easier classes to keep up their grades. Nearly 40 per- confident that such heightened expectations will yield dramatic increas- cent of students who participate in school-sponsored activities, usually es in student achievement. sports, reported that they are frequently too tired to study. More than In focusing on the schools, however, reformers are taking for granted one-third of students said they get through the school day by "goofing one of the most powerful influences on the quality of American educa- off with friends," and an equal number reported spending five or more tion: the American parent. They assume that parents will do whatever is hours a week "partying." And these self-reports probably underestimate necessary to raise children's levels of achievement. But will they? Do the problem. parents really consider classroom learning the most important aspect of The big story here is that teenagers' time is structured around the their children's education? What are they willing to give up so that their pursuit of a "well-rounded" life. American families might value academ- children will learn more? Will family life change as academic achieve- ic achievement, but not if it intrudes on the rituals of teen existence, ment assumes a more prominent role in education? Will political sup- especially part-time employment, sports, and a busy social calendar. port for reform stay firm if parents recoil from the everyday costs? This stands in stark contrast to the situation in other nations. In Europe There are indications that many parents may have trouble accepting and most Asian countries, it is assumed that the central purpose of the fact that improving education is not a pain-free exercise. In Virginia, childhood is to learn. Part-time employment of teenagers is rare, sports when tough new statewide tests revealed earlier this year that only 6.5 are noticeably subordinate to a student's academic responsibilities, and percent of the schools met state standards, many parents (and others) although there is plenty of socializing, it is usually in conjunction with responded with cries of anger and disbelief. Their anger was directed studying or working with others on academic projects. The American not at the schools but at the standards. There are other signs that par- student's four hours per week of homework is equal to what students in ents' commitment to academic excellence is not very deep. A 1996 the rest of the industrialized world complete every day. Gallup Poll asked: "Which one of the following would you prefer of an Significant cultural differences also appear in how parents judge oldest childthat the child get A grades or that he or she make average their children's academic performance. A study by James Stigler of the grades and be active in extracurricular activities?" Only 33 percent of University of California, Los Angeles, and Harold Stevenson of the public school parents answered that they would prefer A grades, while University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, asked several hundred mothers 56 percent preferred average grades combined with extracurricular from the United States, Japan, and China about the school perfor- activities. (Among private school parents, the breakdown was almost the mance of their fifth-grade children. More than 50 percent of the same, 3/ percent to 55 percent.) American mothers pronounced themselves very satisfied with their chil- If the wording of the question is somewhat ambiguous, the impor- dren's schoolwork, as opposed to only five percent of the Asian mothers. tance of nonacademic activities in teenagers' lives is thoroughly docu- On tests measuring what these same children actually knew, however, mented in Beyond the Classroom (1996), a study of how American teens the American students scored far below their Chinese and Japanese spend their out-of-school time, the portion of their weekly schedule (in counterparts. When asked to explain their children's poor performance, theory at least) that parents directly control. Three nonacademic cate- the American mothers cited a lack of inborn ability. When the Japanese and Chinese children failed, their parents blamed the kids for not working hard enough. American parents see academic achievement as a product of intrinsic ability rather than hard work, as just one of many attributes they want children to possess, and as somethinr, their own kids are accom- plishing anyway. These beliefs, along withwidespread peer pressure against academic excellence (who wants to be a "geek"?), an unrelent-

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132 135 ing strain of anti-intellectualism in American culture, and the weak aca- to school and the desire to keep extracurricular activitiesclose to home demic demands of schools, combine to dampen the importance of aca- appear to. weigh heavily in parents'choices. demics for American youth and their parents. Another reason to doubt that empowered parents will wholehearted- NVe need not let educators off the hook, but parents bear some l insist on higher achievement can be found in the history of American responsibility both for the lax standards in today's schools and for stu- schooling. Schools have always attended to the convenience of parents, dents' mediocre achievement. Parents appear more willing to embrace and, as a result, cultivating the mind has simply occupied one place academic excellence in the abstract than to organize their family's daily among many on a long list of purposes for the school. At thebeginning life in order to achieve it. They enthusiastically support attempts to of the 19th century, education came within the province of the family. change schools in the abstract but are ambivalent when it comes to Children learned reading at home, along with basic arithmetic and schools they actually know. minimal geography, science, and history. Farming dictated the tempo of Polls show that parents believe their children's school have higher family life. Older students only attended school during the winter standards and are of significantly better quality than the nation's schools months, when their labor wasn't needed in the fields. At other times, in general. This phenomenonthe idea that "I'm OK, but you're even toddlers were sent to school, crowding classroomswith students not"also shows up in surveys on health care (my doctor is great, but from three to 20 years of age. the nation's health care stinks), Congress (my representative is terrific, Later in the century, as fathers and mothers abandoned the farm for but Congress is terrible), and the status of the American family (mine is the factory and intermittently relocated in search of work, the modern in fine shape, but families in general are going to hell in a hand basket). public school began to evolve. One of its functions v.as custodial, pro- Such complacency undermines meaningful school reform. Raising viding a place for children to spend the day while busy parents earned a the level of achievement is hard work. Unless children can actually living. The magnitude of the change is staggering. As late as 1870, learn more math, science, literature, and history without breaking a American students attended school only an average of 78 of 132 sched- sweat, then the prospects for reforms that ask children and parents for uled days; today's students spend more than 160 days in the classroom, moremore time, more homework, more effortare not very good. and the modern school calendar runs to 180 days. More than 90 per- We don't hear much about what today's educational reforms may cent of school -age children now attend high school. At the beginning of require of families. Indeed, when it comes to the subject of parents, the the century, less than 10 percent did. rhetoric seldom gets beyond calls for more "parent involvement" or for But the school's power is limited. Its monopoly over children's day- "empowering" parents. Reforms that grant parents control over where light hours never led to the recognition of intellectual activities as the their children go to school, a favorite of the Right, or that offer parents a most important pursuits of adolescents, either outside or inside school. stake in governing local school affairs, a faVorite of the Left, may prove Why do parents allow two-thirds of today's teenagers to work? After- to be valuable public policies for other reasons, but they have not yet school jobs are considered good for young people, teaching them a convinced skeptics that they will significantly increase student achieve- sense of responsibility and the value of a dollar. Most Americansthink ment. it's fine if teenagers spend 20 hours a week flipping hamburgers instead In Chicago, an experiment that involved creating parent-dominated of studying calculus or the history of ancient Rome. school "site councils" to oversee individual schools produced a few The development of young minds also finds competition in the renaissance stories, but also tales of schools engulfed in petty squab- school curriculum itself. For example, the federal government has fund- bling. As vouchers and charter schools become more widespread, will ed vocational education since 1917. Americans have always expected parents actually take advantage of the opportunities to improve the edu- schools to teach students the difference between right and wrong and cation of their children? Buried in the national comparisons of private the fundamental elements of citizenship. In the last three decades, and public schools is an interesting anomaly. Despite well-publicized schools have also taken on therapeutic tasks, spending untold time and research showing that private schools outperform public schools on resources on sex education, psychological counseling, drugand alcohol achievement tests, more students transfer from private to public school programs, diversity training, guidance on topics such as teenparenting, than vice versa at the beginning of high school, precisely the time when sexual harassment, and a host of other initiatives that have little to do one's academic accomplishments really start to matter in terms of col- with sharpening the intellect. lege and employment. Where other kids in the neighborhood are going Some analysts maintain that parents don't support such diversions from academic learning, that these programs are nothing more than the faddish v..hims of professional educators. If so, parents have been awfully quiet about it. A more reasonable explanation is that, with parentsbusi- ly working at two or more jobs, with many of these topics awkwardfor

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136 133 parents to discuss, and with parental authority showing its own signs of wouldn't excuse absences for family ski trips or a student's "ReeR day" of weakening throughout society, parents now look to schools to provide TV soap operas and game shows. And these complaints came despite instruction that they once delivered themselves. the fact that enrollment in the program was by choice, the school's rep- Schools are acting more like parents, and implementing real acade- utation for academic rigor well known, and the policies on these issues mic standards will probably force parents to act more like schools. They crystal clear. will need to stay informed about tests scores and closely monitor their Such conflicts go with the territory. Anyone who teachesand sticks children's progress. Parents of students who fall short of standards must to the principles making the career a serious undertaking in the first be prepared for drastic changes in family life. Summers will be forsum- placewill experience occasional problems with parents. The usual mer school, afternoons and weekends for tutoring. This will cost money conflicts stem from the different yet overlapping roles that parents and and impinge upon family time. Struggling high school students will be teachers play in a child's life. Both are concerned with the sameindi forced to spend less time on sports, to forgo part-tinie jobs, and to keep vidual's welfare, but their roles are not interchangeable. Parents are infi- socializing to a minimum. nitely more important to a child's upbringing, but the teacher is usually No one knows how parents will react to such changes. Higher stan- the most significant nonfamily adult presence in the child's life and, dards are overwhelmingly supported in.public opinion polls, but what ideally, is more objective about the child's interactions with the larger will happen when they begin to pinch? 1'11997, hundreds of parents in world. Teachers pursue goals established by society rather than the fami- an affluent suburb of Detroit refused to let their children take a high ly: They must be warm and understanding, but they must also make school proficiency test, arguing that the nine-hourexam was too long decisions balancing the interests of 30 or more people who have work to and that it would unfairly label children who performed poorly. In accomplish every day in the same small space. Portland, Oregon, the school district invited the parents of 3,500young- The differentiation of parent and teacher roles, which strengthened sters who had failed statewide proficiency exams to send the children to schools and families in the 19th century, may be at the bottom of many a summer school session set up at great expense and amid much parents' unrealistic perceptions of their children's school experiences. hoopla; only 1,359 kids were enrolled. Every state has its share of sto- Just as reformers are probably right that the demand for high education- ries. The elimination of social promotion presents the biggest test. Will al standards must come from outside the schools, the imposition of aca- the parents of children who' are compelled to repeat, say, thirdor fourth demic burdens on children probably must come from outside families. grade, continue to support high standards? Or will they dedicate them- There is some evidence that parents intuitively understand this. In a selves to the defeat and removal of standards? In districts thatsee huge, recent study by the Public Agenda Foundation that examined how par- numbers of students facing mandatory summer schoolor failing to win ents view their role in education, parents said that the most significant promotion to the next grade, will parents push to water down tests and contribution they can make is to send children to school who are lower passing scores? respectful, hard working, and well behaved. They do not want a bigger Some years ago, I came face to face with some of these implications say in how schools are run. Nor do they want to decide curricular con- when I taught sixth grade in a special program for exceptionally gifted, tent or methods of instruction. They trust educators who have earned high-achieving youngsters, students approximately twoyears above their trust, and they want schools to do their job as schools so that par- grade level in all subjects. The curriculumwas accelerated to the ents can do their job as parents. eighth- and ninth-grade levels, and I taught all academic subjects. These seem like reasonable sentiments. But in the same study, par- Students applied for admission to the program., andmy fellow teachers ents also admit that they absolutely hate fighting kids to get them to do and I stressed that it wasn't for everyone. Parents seekingan education their hoMework. They' gauge how things are going at school primarily emphasizing creativity or the arts were advised`to look elsewhere. An by how happy their children seem and nearly 90 percent believe that as extremely bright student who hated doing homework would also have long as children try hard, they should never feel bad about themselves had a difficult time. because of poor grades. These attitudes are potentially in conflict with Getting to know the parents of my students was one of the most satis- more rigorous learning standards. If social promotion ends, many chil-

fying aspects of my job. They were actively involved in the school and . dren will be held back in a grade despite their having tried hard. And indispensable in organizing field trips, raising money for computers, these children w1.1.1.be unhappy. Other children willnot get the accept- putting on plays, and doing anything else that enhanced their children's able grades they once did. A lot of peopleare going to be very unhappy. education. If ever a group supported lofty standards; this was it. But Higher standards and the end of social promotionnow enjoy dealing with parents was not all sweetness and light. Grading policies tremendous popular support. But the true test willcome when words drew the most complaints. One parent threateneda lawsuit because I become deeds. Until now, raising expectations in education has. been gave a zero to a student who cheated on a test. In the midst of a three- portrayed as cost-free. It isn't. Schools and students andparents will hour, late-night phone call, a mother repeatedly told me that I Would bear the costs. If parents are not willing to doso, few of the ambitious suffer eternal damnation because her son had received grades disquali- changes American reformers are nowso eagerly pursuing swill make fying him for admission to an honors program. much difference. Complaints were also voiced because I didn't accept late home- Tom LOVELESS 1 Cireclor of Me Eroun Comaoo Ed.ceion Policy e ngSenicr Fellow at the Brxl. work"We had friends over last night andlohnny simply didn't have irgr Imitation. He it the a utAce crflic Troc'eing WjcSul,, Worm NIceo School Policy (lro9). time to do his history," one father explained in a noteor because I Copyright C 1995 by Tool 1.nclect.

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134 137 Investor's Business Daily, October 22, 1999

ARE SCHOOL CONSULTANTS WORTH IT? Grosse Pointe North High School Principal Caryn Wells, By Tyce Palmaffy, Investor's Daily who pushed to invite Daggett to speak at Grosse Pointe after hearing him at a conference, said she was satisfied with Daggett's response. Asked whether she would invite When Willard R. Daggett gave a day-long series of talks him back, Wells said yes. District spokesman Kathy to the Grosse Pointe, Mich., school district last Roberts said Wells' viewpoint reflected the district's. November, faculty, parents and students thought they were listening to a top expert in education. The problem, said several education scholars, is that Daggett is only one of dozens of self-described education Such an expert, in fact, that Grosse Pointe paid him $ experts who prescribe reforms that are based on shaky 10,000 for the day -triple what respected education research. In some cases they are merely marketing scholars usually get for speeches, several education whizzes who sell videos and books and provide training consultants said. sessions, though they often do no research themselves.

A high school science teacher was skeptical, though. "The education community is constantly and chronically Among other things, Daggett had told the educators that taken in by any peddler of snake oil or witchcraft that the U.S. was the only nation that still taught chemistry comes down the pike," said Chester Finn Jr., president of and biology as separate courses. The teacher looked into it the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation and a former and found no nations that integrated the two subjects. assistant U.S. secretary of education. "They just mutter words that educators like to hear. He sent a note to Gerald Bracey, a psychologist who specializes in education statistics. "If you used the right buzzwords," added Finn, "you could turn yourself into a millionaire. Most of it is just Bracey was livid. In a 1995 article in the education hocus-pocus." journal Phi Delta Kappan, he had taken Daggett to task for talking at length about a study that Bracey couldn't Daggett himself has spoken in dozens of districts ranging find. None of the top scholars he had contacted knew of from Olathe, Kan., to Niagara Falls, N.Y. He's been a the study either. And the study's findings seemed keynote speaker at a Kentucky Department of Education implausible. conference, the Midwestern Governors Association conference and the 1995 National School Boards When he asked Daggett for the sources of that study and Association annual conference. He's even given the several other statistics, he got a letter from Daggett's graduation speech at Georgia Southern University. lawyer. It said, in essence, that Daggett was too busy to help Bracey. The Center for School Leadership and the Kenan Best Practices Center at the University of North Carolina have Yet here Daggett was again, spinning anecdotes and set up a partnership with Daggett's firm. statistics in return for big bucks. Tax dollars, in fact. So Bracey sent Grosse Pointe's top officials a letter. It Sam Houston, the center's executive director, said, "I've detailed several of Daggett's claims and Bracey's known Bill Daggett for years. I think (he) does very good rebuttals, with his sources. work."

The district passed Bracey's concerns on to Daggett. Daggett's firm lines up speaking and consulting Daggett replied with an eight-page letter that attempted to engagements for Houston. answer only a few of Bracey's questions. Even the answers he did give were mostly unsourced and full of In Idaho, the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson foundation paid information irrelevant to the questions Bracey had posed. $ 175,000 to bring Daggett in for a series of talks and workshops with state educators. It also offered hundreds The district's response? In a written statement, district of thousands of dollars to districts that were willing to superintendent Suzanne Klein would only say, "Dr. work with Daggett. Daggett continues to be a popular speaker in other school districts in our area." (Klein refused to be interviewed for "He's very researched-based," Sharron Jarvis, the this story.) foundation's executive director, told the Idaho Statesman.

135 13 "I do like his perspective that we're a global economy." university president in other speeches as well.

The Hernando County schools in Florida paid Daggett $ The two "major" universities he claimed to have been a 8,000 for a day-long speech in August 1998 and sent 10 trustee of: Northwestern Business Institute in educators to Daggett's Model Schools Conference at a Pennsylvania (not affiliated with Northwestern cost of almost $ 10,000. The money came from a federal University) and, formerly, Kent College in Great Britain. School-to- Work grant. Daggett's speeches are a mix of futurism and warning. Hernando County superintendent John Sanders' reaction Some of his observations are vague: "Our children live in to Daggett's talk: "The content of his message is very a technological information society pushed by global pertinent to education today. I've been in the business for competition." over 35 years. Much of what he had to say I've seen firsthand myself." He tells faculty, students and parents that the skills needed for entry-level business are "higher and fundamentally Maryland's Baltimore. County schools took their 160 different" than those needed to succeed in higher principals out of school to hear Daggett talk in 1997. education.

Pricetag: $ 6;000, from a federal grant. For instance, he says, schools teach algebra, but high-skill jobs require knowledge of statistics, logic and probability. "One wonders which is worse," a top education Also, schools teach kids to read novels, Shakespeare and consultant who knows Daggett's work well said, poetry, he says, but businesses need people who can read "(Daggett's) flimsy work or the districts willing to pay technical manuals. him $ 10,000." As proof that high schools aren't teaching much of value, Daggett styles himself a global expert on school reform. he told Grosse Pointe that, according to College Board He claims to have served on school-reform commissions data, 68% of colleges don't require a high school in Germany and Japan and to have worked with reform diploma. How is this possible? Community colleges, he efforts in districts on four continents. said, don't require diplomas, "bar none."

Yet Harold Stevenson, an expert on international Renee Gernanda, who runs the College Board's database, education systems at the University of Michigan, has said the College Board had never calculated that statistic. never heard of Daggett and has no idea where he gets his Asked to do so,-she found that 25% of community international statistics. colleges don't require diplomas. Daggett said her statistic was "wrong," but offered no proof. Daggett claimed in a 1998 speech that 29 countries require four years of technical reading and writing in high Other gaffes included telling the audience that California school (i.e., learning how to read'a computer manual). has 21% of its kids in charter schools. The actually Two years earlier, he told an audience that 19 countries statistic was around 1%. had that requirement He talked at length about a "Harvard study" that took the "Even an expert wouldn't know the details of what top two seniors from 2,100 U.S. high schools and had happens in 29 countries," said Stevenson. Daggett said the them take the ninth-grade exams in math, science and statistics were based on his own travels. social studies. Nearly 90% supposedly failed two out of three exams. After leaving his post as the director of occupational education for the New York State Department of The problem: No one at Harvard's Graduate School of Education, Daggett set up the International Center for Education knew of the study. Daggett says he heard about Leadership in Education. it at Harvard, but didn't provide a source.

It now boasts a staff of seven and several "senior In a long talk on biotechnology, he told the crowd that consultants," nearly all of whom have doctorates. Even Pfizer was able to invent Viagra, its wonder drug for Thomas Houlihan, the former senior education adviser to erectile dysfunction, after scientists discovered the "gene North Carolina Gov. Jim Hunt, is listed as one. domination" that causes male sexual dysfunction. Viagra has nothing to do with the human genome What about Daggett's own resume? In his speech to Grosse Pointe, he claimed to have been a university president and to be a trustee of two major universities. When pressed for their names, Daggett said he had been a professor, not a president. He has claimed to be a former .13 9 136 ... :0') VII 'tli ...-., .....--. ... \ , '',i'*1 1A'l N'tk A14 .11...... MI . kl., 4 P; , ,...N, ,... Z. .7::"---.... ,;.N.N.....: 1 , .,...... - .- - ' . ..:`,;',.&, :::,.. ; ,,,, , i-,;,,T.-=--.77f=.:".*:.k::.;,"I'L . - , //- i 7 -.',.,.------"------.....s-.....-L--....-...- . - .,, , . 1 , , li, ///h. ( , 1 ; / ...... MP I i, i 1. l:,,,,,, /4'l 1 '17, lb _.' '4 e ., . ,\ .4 : :i,i1 iiiii dr- +(Li *...... --;,-----:--fz''''4ig ,=, _ (4i.lif 1: I'11 ill i -,--,' ;73 11 a 1 p "...e` 11111 !III if' I:ll 111:ii gib914 11.1. OW ,jAkt.:iI. ... l: I. ,..- ) ,.(,%.- §, - , .4 Ilbs Is al -. I i<"..--'-11f-'s - .. :arm, ,:.,...,::::1,:-: c.- .: I :.-?-,,,:ik,:11.011.141 vrrtr-=UM" - '`- i, , . ....,.....--'.....- lii/ ,.., \ .t.,s\-`6a"' - 1 i-1 0 PA A S B ORDHAM uNDAI I 0 N CUISWE Illt BOA

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