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--- Wednesday --- February 18, 1998 --- Vol. 7 --- No. 33 ---
NATIONAL EDUCATION GOALS PANEL
NEGP Weekly
THE UPDATE ON AMERICA'S NATIONAL EDUCATION GOALS
www.negp.gov
__________ __________
YOU CAN CALL ME NERDY | SPOTLIGHT |
It's a feeding frenzy for top | |
engineering students, says John | GOING PLACES |
Hennessy, Stanford U dean of | |
engineering. Almost all of his | Educators and politicians |
400 students who graduate with | nationwide are rallying |
master's degrees in engineering | around reading. Some state |
and computer science have well- | lawmakers are enacting |
paid jobs before they leave | legislation that requires |
Stanford. The Philadelphia | early phonics instruction, |
INQUIRER notes that 1 in 10 | school districts are |
high-tech jobs in the U.S. | requiring more reading time |
remains unfilled (Lelyveld, | in class and President |
2/11). | Clinton wants to call up an |
Some industry experts say low | army of volunteers to tutor |
enrollments in high-tech fields | young children in reading. |
at universities are due to | |
misconceptions -- specifically | Read Across America is |
that the widespread layoffs and | the National Education |
defense industry cutbacks of a | Association's reading |
few years ago will continue. | initiative. It culminates |
The U.S. Department of Labor | on 2 March, in honor of |
has created an $11M program to | what would have been Dr. |
retrain older workers as | Seuss's 94th birthday.(#2) |
programmers. The Commerce | |
Department has established a | Leave it to Dr. Seuss to |
$17M program geared to lure | pen the most sage advice |
low-income people into the | for young students facing |
high-tech job market. Others | the challenge of cracking |
say the "nerd" image of | the code: "The more that |
programming has hurt the field. | you read, the more things |
But that's changing. "You can | you will know. The more |
call me nerdy all you want, but | that you learn the more |
I'll be the one driving the | places you'll go." |
nice car," said one new hire. |_____________________________|
============== QUOTE OF THE DAY ==============
"Society is not doing itself a favor by taking kids we see as the
most troubled and removing them from the one institution we have
established to deal with children." Ray Wallace, a Mass.
attorney, arguing against toughened suspension/expulsion laws.
(#6)
_______________________________________________________________
| (c) by the Education Policy Network, Inc. |
| 1255 22nd Street NW; Washington, D.C. 20010; 202/724-0124 |
| EPN, Inc. hereby authorizes further reproduction and |
| distribution with proper acknowledgement. |
| Publisher: Barbara A. Pape |
|_______________________________________________________________|
============== TABLE OF CONTENTS ==============
GOAL THREE: STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT AND CITIZENSHIP
THE ARTS: Alive and well in Redondo Beach. (#1)
READ ACROSS AMERICA: NEA gearing up for March campaign. (#2)
GOAL FIVE: MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE
MATH WARS: Controversy over standards. (#3)
REGULATING RIGOR: Arkansas moves for tough math. (#4)
GOAL SIX: ADULT LITERACY AND LIFELONG LEARNING
SHARING KNOWLEDGE: One way to beat high cost of training. (#5)
GOAL SEVEN: SAFE, DISCIPLINED AND DRUG-FREE SCHOOLS
OUT THE DOOR: Expulsions/suspensions up in Massachusetts. (#6)
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===== GOAL THREE: STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT AND CITIZENSHIP =====
*1 THE ARTS: ALIVE AND WELL IN REDONDO BEACH
Art education has flourished in Redondo Beach, Calif.,
public schools, primarily due to strong community support
(Johnson, L.A. TIMES, 2/12). The district's arts program is so
successful that the President's Committee on Arts and Humanities
traveled to Redondo Beach to see first-hand how it works.
The committee is working in partnership with the Goals 2000
Arts Education Partnership, a group committed to promoting arts
education in primary and secondary school nationwide, writes the
paper. Both groups intend to use the information gleaned from
traveling to sites such as Redondo Beach to create a World Wide
Web site that other district officials can access to discover
strategies for implementing an arts education program. The site
is scheduled to open in June.
"In the last 15 years art programs have been cut all across
the country," said Dawn Ellis, a member of the President's
committee. "There is a desire to reverse that ... but many
districts don't know how to bring arts back. We're hoping that
this project provides some answers."
Ellis and other commissioners have visited four school
districts from Vancouver, Wash., to Miami, Fla., to see how
district's on shoe-string budgets have managed to keep their art
programs alive and well.
Redondo Beach students can participate in a joint program
with the Getty Education Institute, where they study one
classical artist per month. Students also can participate in the
Arts Knowledge Center, an online art library. And they can
operate BeachNet, an Internet provider, which allows them to
create Web sites for the city and local businesses.
Redondo Union High School students are offered an after-
school institute for arts and entertainment education, called
"Broadcast Showcase," in which students learn all aspects of
producing a dramatic production and videotaping it, writes the
paper. Other students are writing, directing and producing a
musical with students in Illinois and Texas via video
conferencing. All students will gather in Redondo Beach in March
to perform for the National School Board Association. The
musical also will be aired live on the Internet, writes the
paper.
According to the paper, community support has been key to
maintaining an arts program in Redondo Beach. The Parent
Teachers Association pays for the Hands on Art Program, "which
trains parents to teach art in the classrooms, local businesses
kick in money for several other programs and the city picks up
the bill for the district's music program" reports the TIMES.
*2 READ ACROSS AMERICA: NEA GEARING UP FOR MARCH CAMPAIGN
The National Education Association is making preparations
nationwide for the union's "Read Across America" campaign (NEA
Today, February 1998). The reading initiative culminates on 2
March, marking the birthday of the late Dr. Seuss.
Many NEA local unions are involved in "Read Across America"
efforts, including the following:
Fall River, Mass. -- Third-grade teacher Gloria Morrissette
reads from Dr. Seuss books to her students during the last
20 minutes of the school day. Her students also are
studying Seuss's life.
Grand Rapids, Mich. -- A partnership between retired
teachers and a local bookstore has emerged, with energies
directed to newly arrived immigrant students.
West Lake City, Utah -- Sixth-graders, led by student
Jessica Burnside, are urging bookstore staff to donate books
for her class's homeless shelter pen pals. From her letter
to bookstores: "We're earning money with aluminum cans, but
we need your help. If you help us with a discount, then we
can help you by shopping at your store."
Screen Actors Guild Foundation's Book Pals program -- The
foundation is seeking celebrities to sign up for public
readings.
Random House publishers -- The publishing house has sent
materials to 2,000 bookstore managers, urging them to
sponsor events on 2 March.
According to the NEA magazine, the union's partner
organizations -- The American Library Association, the PTA and
Reading Is Fundamental -- also are organizing events around
Seuss's birthday.
For more information, see the Read Across America Web site
at www.nea.org/readacross, or call "Read Across America's " Fax-
on-Demand service at 888/747-READ.
===== GOAL FIVE: MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE =====
*3 MATH WARS: CONTROVERSY OVER STANDARDS
The Education Commission of the States reports on the battle
raging between teaching mathematical basics versus advanced
skills (COMMISSION CONNECTION, February 1998). Calif. typifies
the struggle over control of math curricula, with one camp
promoting standards developed by the National Council of Teachers
of Mathematics and the other championing more traditional math
curricula, writes ECS.
According to ECS, "the research is not clear on whether a
contextual, problem-based approach to teaching mathematics is
better than a traditional one characterized by memorization and
repetition." The group raises several "tough questions" to be
addressed by educators and politicians engaged in the math
debate:
"Is there enough evidence to make thoughtful policy choices?"
Recent brain research has found that while young children "are
able to learn more complex concepts at a younger age than
previously thought, it also confirms the importance of repetition."
"Are teachers adequately prepared to teach an expanded
mathematics curriculum? -- Teachers with limited math
backgrounds often are expected to teach to higher standards.
"Do parents, community members and educators understand why
the content of mathematics that students learn today might
look different than what they were taught?"
COMMISSION CONNECTIONS also includes a "Speak Out" section,
which this month addresses what states are doing to adequately
prepare teachers to teach higher level math curricula.
Robert Bedford, deputy commissioner for educational
programs, Florida DoEd, replied that the focus of math in
his state is on "higher-order thinking skills, content and
encouraging teachers to take higher levels of mathematics."
He also pointed out a partnership among Lockheed Martin, the
U of Central Florida and the National Science Foundation
devoted to promoting math and science education.
Other projects: a consortium of deans of institutions
providing teacher training are "working together to prepare
all teachers with an emphasis on more mathematics content
and skill development."
Marge Petit, deputy commissioner of education, Vermont DoEd
-- Among other things, the state is "aligning licensure and
relicensure requirements with the demands of our state standards,
and are working with higher education and others to develop both
preservice and inservice opportunities that will support this
increased demand."
Ted Stilwill, director of education, Iowa DoEd -- Stilwill
highlights the Governor's Institute for Math and Science,
which "brings together approximately 300 team members from
local and intermediate agencies each summer to focus on
implementing the national math and science standards." He
also points to the "newly implemented state accreditation
process for Iowa's 15 intermediate education agencies,"
which "requires the agency to provide professional
development to the local education staff and evidence that
instructional practice has improved in math and science."
*4 REGULATING RIGOR: ARKANSAS MOVES FOR TOUGH MATH
The Arkansas Board of Education last week voted 7-3 to keep
the current three-units of mathematics requirement for high
school students (Howell, Arkansas DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE, 2/10).
Instead of adding more math courses, board members agreed to
increase the rigor of high school math by specifying two of the
three courses -- algebra I and geometry.
The state's new core curriculum is scheduled to commence
with the class of 2002. Besides the three math courses,
curriculum requirements include four units of English, one-half
unit of oral communications, three units of social studies
including world history, U.S. history and one-half unit of civics
or government, three units of science including one unit of
biology and one unit of physical science; and one-half unit each
of physical education, health and safety and fine arts.
Some board members were drawn to require four units of math,
which would coincide with a recent Board of Higher Education
decision to require four units of math for unconditional
admission to public universities. According to the paper, a
fourth math course "also will be required by Arkansas Academic
Challenge Scholarships."
Ray Simon, director of the state DoEd, said students who
seek unconditional admission to the state's public universities
would be able to take a fourth unit in math.
===== GOAL SIX: ADULT LITERACY AND LIFELONG LEARNING =====
*5 SHARING KNOWLEDGE: ONE WAY TO BEAT HIGH COST OF TRAINING
LearnShare, the brainchild of Rick Corry, is a cutting edge
consortium of private firms that share training courses (Weiss,
AP/Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 2/10). Corry conceived of the idea
while attending a presentation by vendors that promote various
job-training programs.
Corry, director of an Owens Corning sales training and
management program, said he was dissatisfied with the high price
tags associated with many software- and Internet-based training
programs. At the meeting, he stood and said, "I'm just
wondering, why don't we get together and share what we've got and
fund what we need?"
Sixteen months later, LearnShare was born, with a beginning
membership including 3M, General Motors Corp., Motorola Inc.,
Owens Corning, Owens-Illinois, Deere & Co., Reynolds Metals,
Libbey-Owens-Ford, and Aeroquip Vickers. While pursuing members,
Corry discovered that about 75% of all training -- regardless of
industry -- was identical, notes the paper.
LearnShare opened in 1996 with Corry as its president. The
consortium collects courses donated by participants and also
creates courses, write the paper. Classes are offered via
Internet and CD-ROM, and sometimes employees from one company are
invited to another firm for a course. Corry estimates that
member companies save as much as 50% on educational expenses.
Dan Twomey, professor and director of the Center for Human
Resource Management Stuides at Fairleigh Dickinson in Madison,
N.J., said pooling working training resources is the "trend of
the future." It will "drive down costs and drive up quality" of
training, he said.
For additional information, see LearnShare's Web site at
www.learnshare.com.
===== GOAL SEVEN: SAFE, DISCIPLINED AND DRUG-FREE SCHOOLS =====
*6 OUT THE DOOR: EXPULSIONS/SUSPENSIONS UP IN MASSACHUSETTS
Many educators applaud the increase in the rate of
suspensions and expulsions for Mass.'s disruptive students (Hart,
Boston GLOBE, 2/12). But many of the state's children's
advocates express dismay over the punitive sentences for the
youngsters.
According to state data, Mass. students received twice as
many yearlong suspensions last year as they did the previous
year, writes the paper. The state DoEd survey also found an
increase in the rate of expelled students who were not assigned
to alternative schools. From the paper: "... some 44 percent of
the 1,107 regular education students suspended or expelled
received no further education, compared to 37 percent the
previous year."
Education Commissioner Robert Antonucci: "Suspending and
expelling some disruptive students will strengthen the climate of
learning. Safe schools are a top priority."
However, many child advocates disagreed. "Society is not
doing itself a favor by taking kids we see as the most troubled
and removing them from the one institution we have established to
deal with children," said Ray Wallace, a lawyer representing
several expelled children in several Mass. school districts.
The GLOBE notes state legislation passed in 1994 that
granted principals the authority to expel students who assault
teacher,s carry weapons or drugs in school, or who are convicted
of a felony off school property. Only special-education students
must be provided with alternative schooling, under the state's
Education Reform Act.
Some child advocates are particularly piqued over the number
of young children suspended or expelled. According to the GLOBE,
47 children age 10 and younger were suspended or expelled last
year. "We are seeing younger kids. We are seeing fewer cases of
weapons and more cases about special-needs children acting out in
school because they are not getting the services they need," said
Susan Cole, who handles exclusion cases for the Massachusetts
Advocacy Center in Boston.
House Majority Whip Barbara Gardner (D) has sponsored
legislation that would forbid the expulsion of students under age
11 and that would require school districts to hold hearings every
six months for excluded students petitioning to be returned to
their school, reports the paper.
THE NATIONAL EDUCATION GOALS
* GOAL 1: READY TO LEARN
All children in America will start school ready to learn.
* GOAL 2: SCHOOL COMPLETION
The high school graduation rate will increase to at least
90 percent.
* GOAL 3: STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT AND CITIZENSHIP
All students will leave grades 4, 8, and 12 having
demonstrated competency over challenging subject matter including
English, mathematics, science, foreign languages, civics and
government, economics, arts, history, and geography, and every
school in America will ensure that all students learn to use
their minds well, so they may be prepared for responsible
citizenship, further learning, and productive employment in our
Nation's modern economy.
* GOAL 4: TEACHER EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
The Nation's teaching force will have access to programs for
the continued improvement of their professional skills and the
opportunity to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to
instruct and prepare all American students for the next century.
* GOAL 5: MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE
United States students will be first in the world in
mathematics and science achievement.
* GOAL 6: ADULT LITERACY AND LIFELONG LEARNING
Every adult American will be literate and will possess the
knowledge and skills necessary to compete in a global economy and
exercise the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.
* GOAL 7: SAFE, DISCIPLINED, & ALCOHOL- AND DRUG-FREE SCHOOLS
Every school in the United States will be free of drugs,
violence, and the unauthorized presence of firearms and alcohol
and will offer a disciplined environment conducive to learning.
* GOAL 8: PARENTAL PARTICIPATION
Every school will promote partnerships that will increase
parental involvement and participation in promoting the social,
emotional, and academic growth of children.
_______________________________________________________________
| National Education Goals Panel |
| 1255 22nd Street NW; Suite 502; Washington, D.C. 20037 |
| 202/632-0957 (Fax); e-mail: negp@goalline.org |
| Web site: www.negp.gov |
|_______________________________________________________________|
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