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--- Friday --- February 23, 1996 --- Vol. 6 --- No. 18 ---
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THE NATIONAL UPDATE ON AMERICA'S EDUCATION REFORM EFFORTS
A service of the National Education Goals Panel
__________ __________
NEW ADDRESS | SPOTLIGHT |
Please note the DRC's new | |
address: 1255 22nd Street NW; | GETTING THE JOB DONE |
Suite 502; Wash. D.C., 20037; | |
202/632-0952; 202/632-0957(F) | ... When the job is |
| preparing students for the |
NOT WASTING ANY MORE MINDS | world of work, getting it |
The United Negro College Fund | done increasingly means an |
this week announced plans to | overhaul of outdated |
establish a research institute | vocational ed programs. |
with the sole mission of | |
studying the education of black | Some Calif. educators say |
students in America, from pre-K | "Think regional." They |
to graduate school (Bernstein, | promote regional occupa- |
N.Y. TIMES, 2/22). | tional programs that cross |
Michael Nettles, an education | district boundaries and |
professor at the U of Michigan, | offer training tailored to |
will head the new Frederick D. | meet the demands of the |
Patterson Research Institute, | marketplace. (#1) |
named after the College Fund's | |
founder. | A Minn. reporter lauds |
Nettles said the institute | the Minneapolis Youth Trust |
"has the potential of moving | program. Youth Trust is |
academic research to a more | built on a partnership |
public audience." | among schools, businesses |
William Gray 3d, the fund's | and communities. (#2) |
president, conceived of the | |
institute. Gray said that | And John Vatterott, |
while he served as the majority | president of Vatterott |
whip in the House of | College, urges Mo. to allow |
Representatives he often did | private career schools to |
not have enough information | apply for state grants to |
about the education initiatives | enhance vocational |
that came before him, writes | training. (#3) |
the paper. |_____________________________|
============== QUOTE OF THE DAY ==============
"Most rules and regulations that tend to micromanage districts
trouble me." -- Texas Gov George Bush (R). (#8)
_______________________________________________________________
| A service of the National Education Goals Panel |
| Published by the Education Policy Network |
| 1255 22nd Street NW; Wash, D.C.; 20037; 202/632-0952 |
| The DRC hereby authorizes further reproduction and |
| distribution with proper acknowledgement. |
| Publisher: Barbara A. Pape |
Staff Writer: Elizabeth Gage |
|_______________________________________________________________|
============== TABLE OF CONTENTS ==============
GOAL THREE: STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT AND CITIZENSHIP
CAREER TRAINING: Think regional. (#1)
YOUTH TRUST: Minn. project links schools/work/community. (#2)
A PITCH FOR PRIVATE: Career schools in Missouri. (#3)
GOAL EIGHT: PARENTAL PARTICIPATION
INQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW: Parental rights in Georgia. (#4)
HIGHER EDUCATION
NOT FOR INTELLECTUALLY CURIOUS?: Fee for excess credits.(#5)
CHARTING A NEW COURSE
CATCHING FIRE: Charters in Massachusetts. (#6)
CHARTER COMPROMISE: May bring charter schools to Ill. (#7)
CHARTERS: Count six more for Texas. (#8)
STATESIDE
GOV BUSH'S BATTLE CRY: Keep education local. (#9)
===== GOAL THREE: STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT AND CITIZENSHIP =====
*1 CAREER TRAINING: THINK REGIONAL
Career training opportunities run by Calif. county education
offices are an "anomaly in K-12 education," writes THE SACRAMENTO
BEE (Alcala, 2/11). More often regional needs are left unmet,
writes the paper. "We need to start planning as a region and
historically we have not," said Brenda Gray, executive director
of Linking Education and Economic Development (LEED). Working
with the business community, LEED advances education programs
that match job-skill training with the demands of regional
employers, writes the paper.
Regional occupational programs (ROP) best illustrate LEED's
philosophy because ROPs have been "crossing district boundaries
for decades," notes the paper. ROPs are operated by the
Sacramento County Office of Education. Currently there are 72
ROP agencies statewide, most located in county education offices.
According to the paper, the regional programs offer training
that is economically inefficient for local districts to run
because they require heavy capital outlays for equipment and
machinery. In Sacramento, funding goes to the county office, but
about half of the program is contracted out to districts that
offer instruction, reports the paper. While ROPs teach skills
associated with traditional vocational training, they also teach
new skills demanded in the current market, such as training in
hazardous material containment.
A program running in the Meadowview area of Sacramento
combines the old with the new in career training, writes the
paper. Building trades are strongly represented in the
coursework; but the program also offers the more up-to-date
course in hazardous material training. Meadowview's construction
program, which typically would be held in a training center, is
now located in an area of high unemployment. Students completing
the construction program also get on-the-job experience building
low-cost housing in the same neighborhood, writes the paper.
ROPs originally were established to serve and train high
school students. However, as adult enrollment increased over
time, student enrollment dropped. Educators want to reorganize
ROPs to serve and train high school students once again,
according to the BEE. ROP directors in the districts of
Sacramento County and Washington Unified in West Sacramento are
working to get ROPs back to the traditional training centers and
back to serving high school students.
One way to achieve theses goals is to use the "academy"
concept, a variant of the ROP model, writes the paper. Academies
are schools-within-schools that focus on careers. For example,
the Health Academy at Encina High School in the San Juan district
teaches students academic subjects like science and math, but
also offers students work experience at hospitals, reports the
paper. And health workers serve as mentors to the students.
Merle Padilla, director of school-to-work programs in the
San Jan Unified School District, explains that although academies
are not a part of ROPs they could incorporate ROP skills courses.
For example, nurses's assistant programs could be joined with a
health academy. "We obviously want to look at the community as a
whole (and determine) what, in the Sacramento area, are the
employment opportunities," Padilla said. " I see a bright future
working but we need the business community working with us."
Jim O'Malley, directed of the Sacramento County ROP program,
noted that "what we need to do is create a system that will adapt
to a district's needs and to a community's needs."
LEED is trying to bridge the gap between businesses and
schools by establishing a school-to-career alliance. Gray hopes
this will "help schools to develop what career training is needed
where on a regional basis," pens the paper.
*2 YOUTH TRUST: MINN. PROJECT LINKS SCHOOLS/WORK/COMMUNITY
The Minneapolis Youth Trust program tackles "two of the
greatest challenges" facing the city: connecting schools and
careers and connecting youth with adults, pens Leonard Inskip, a
Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE columnist and editorial writer (2/13).
The project is underway in two high schools and four middle
schools. According to Inskip, Youth Trust provides a "supportive
facilitating role between schools, community groups and agencies,
and business." It already has helped organize more than 100
school-business partnerships, writes Inskip.
At the forefront of Youth Trust is the New Workforce
program, which involves multiple partnerships to help connect
youth with work. For example, 24 high school students last week
began Internet training at Augsburg College, reports Inskip. The
students attend weekly three-hour, after-school classes for
several months. They also will visit businesses and other
Internet users. According to Inskip, the Internet program is a
partnership among Youth Trust, Minneapolis Employment and
Training, Minneapolis Public Schools and Augsburg College.
Students receive one credit for the program, notes Inskip.
Another partnership involves the Minneapolis Fire
Department, in which students are taught medical-emergency
skills. The after-school program includes visits to a hospital,
the 911 dispatch center and the airport fire station, writes
Inskip.
A third program, scheduled to be unveiled in June, involves
the Minnesota Air National Guard. Students will learn about the
airline industry, including computer-simulated flight training,
explains Inskip.
Inskip also describes the efforts of Akmed Khalifa, one of
two New Workforce site coordinators at Franklin Middle school.
Khalifa helped organize a Junior Achievement company and
establish an environment teaching team at Olson Middle School.
Khalifa also is credited with bringing successful African-
American professionals into the classroom, including former
football star John William, who currently is a dentist.
According to Inskip, Youth Trust learned lessons from its
various projects. For example, "teachers don't have time to
design new activities with outside groups," which is why New
Workforce places part-time coordinators in the six schools,
writes Inskip. New Workforce also has hosted meetings to deal
with teacher frustrations and is working with the Business
Economics Education Foundation on securing workplace experiences
for teachers.
Youth Trust and the Minneapolis Youth Coordinating Board,
which represents government agencies, have formed a new Workforce
Policy Council. Inskip explains that the council intends to
"bring clout and resources to the New Workforce vision. Carol
Truesdell, executive director of Youth Trust, said one goal of
the council is to "guarantee access to experiences" students need
for college or careers.
Inskip concludes: "Youth Trust is starting to produce nice
returns on what was only a dream a few years ago."
Youth Trust is located at 81 South Ninth Street; Suite 200;
Minneapolis, Minn. 55402; 612/370-9185
*3 A PITCH FOR PRIVATE: CAREER SCHOOLS IN MISSOURI
Private career schools are key to enhancing vocational
training and should be tapped by the state to provide those
services, posits John Vatterott, president of Vatterott College
(ST. LOUIS POST DISPATCH, 2/20). Vatterott explains that the
Technical Education Resource Group, a subcommittee of the state
higher education board, is charged with developing a plan to
coordinate the delivery of vocational education. He welcomes the
possibility that the group may use private vocational education
services.
"Tapping into [the private career school] network as a
statewide vocational-technical instruction system is formed would
help save taxpayers money and would complement the use of public
training institutions," he writes. Private schools also could
help lower the state's cost of delivering "high-quality
vocational-technical training. It would avoid costly start-ups
of new programs and wasteful, costly duplication of facilities
and equipment," he adds.
Vatterott claims the use of private career schools also
would enhance job placement accountability. "Our students
typically are sophisticated consumers who would not enroll
without strong evidence they can get good jobs," he writes.
Every training program on his seven-campus system boasts an
employers' advisory board "that keeps us informed of what we are
doing right and wrong." Vatterott adds that his system has the
"flexibility to modify our programs quickly as needs change
within the job market."
According to Vatterott, state contracts with private career
schools could be performance-based, "using job placement as a
primary measure of assessing quality." Vatterott concludes by
noting that providing job skills to the increasing numbers of
workers who must meet today's higher workforce standards cannot
be achieved "by any one segment of the post-secondary educational
sector." He states: "We will have to use all available
resources to produce an effectively trained work force for the
21st century."
==== GOAL EIGHT: PARENTAL PARTICIPATION ====
*4 INQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW: PARENTAL RIGHTS IN GEORGIA
A group of Ga. parents and state legislators are promoting a
"parental authority bill" that others complain will wreak havoc
in classrooms statewide (White, ATLANTA JOURNAL/CONSTITUTION,
2/20). The bill would force schools to let parents view any
textbook, pamphlet, filmstrip or worksheet prior to its use in
the classroom. It also would require teachers to receive written
parental permission before giving exams or letting students meet
with a counselor.
"Parents who want to know exactly what their child is being
taught should be welcomed, but they're given the runaround," said
Lou Souder, a metro Atlanta mother who supports the bill. "This
law would put the rules on the table, so every parent and
educator knows up front ... what parents have the right to see."
Critics complain that the bill is "dangerous, despite the
apple-pie appeal of 'parental rights,'" writes the paper. "This
could play havoc with schools," said Bob Cribbs, government
relations specialist for the Georgia Association of Educators.
"It would allow every parent to demand a textbook or a curriculum
different from the one being used, so a teacher with 30 students
could conceivably have to have 30 different lesson plans."
Specifically the bill would require schools to: provide
copies of exams and justifications for them in advance; find
alternative books, lessons and tests for any child whose parents
object to the curriculum; explain to each parent each year what
information will be collected about their child and why, reports
the paper. Parents who allege a school is not in compliance with
the law could sue
"What this bill would do is require a lot of wasted money
and redundant paperwork without doing anything to make parents
more welcome in our schools," said Wendy Martin, chairman of the
Lee County Board of Education and president of the Georgia School
Boards Associations. "The right of parents to see records and
to have input is already there for any parent who wants it," she
added.
Deanna Duby, director of education policy for People for the
American Way, said the Ga. proposal is one of more than a dozen
similar bills introduced around the country.
===== HIGHER EDUCATION =====
*5 NOT FOR INTELLECTUALLY CURIOUS?: CHARGE FOR EXCESS CREDITS
The Fla. Board of Regents last week approved an
"intellectual curiosity tax" for students who take too long to
graduate from college (Date, Orlando SENTINEL, 2/14). State
university students can expect to pay between $27 and $180 extra
per course under the new plan. The proposal will be drafted into
a bill that will be presented during this session of the state
legislature.
According to the bill, the purpose of the proposal is to
dissuade students from taking more than the minimum number of
courses needed to graduate in order to make room for new students
at the state's crowded universities, writes the paper.
However, most of the ten university presidents oppose the
measure. They complain that the rule penalizes students who are
sincerely interested in pursuing coursework outside their major
and other students who spend "years and years attending college,"
writes the paper. The SENTINEL explains that the universities
were under an edict by last year's Legislature to devise a plan
to reduce "what it considered excess credit hours."
===== CHARTING A NEW COURSE =====
*6 CATCHING FIRE: CHARTERS IN MASSACHUSETTS
Mass. Education Sec Michael Sentance last week announced a
"flood" of charter school applications (Mueller, BOSTON HERALD,
2/17). According to the paper, 23 communities are seeking to
create charter schools. Sentance must "winnow the number to a
handful by mid-March," writes the paper.
Among the applications are: a school for performing arts
and a joint proposal from Newton, Needham and Dedham to establish
a single school targeted to students with drug and alcohol
problems or who are at-risk of developing such problems, reports
the paper.
*7 CHARTER COMPROMISE: MAY BRING CHARTER SCHOOLS TO ILL.
Ill. Gov. Jim Edgar (R) and legislative leaders may reach a
compromise this week that would bring charter schools to the
state (Ziegler, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 2/21). The legislation's
"stumbling block" is a House provision that would guarantee jobs
to charter school teachers even after their positions have been
eliminated, reports the paper.
"The main provisions were never the dispute," acknowledged
Rep Mary Lou Cowlishaw (R), sponsor of the House bill. "The main
dispute from the beginning was over a very few minor points."
According to the paper, compromise language changes the
House bill to offer teachers job security "at a level for which
they are certified." Districts would not be required to create
jobs and the compromise is premised on normal turnover, notes the
paper. Members from both houses and the governor have voiced
agreement with the compromise language.
If the bill is passed, Ill. could have 45 charter schools:
15 schools in Chicago, 15 in the counties surrounding the city,
and 15 Downstate.
*8 CHARTERS: COUNT SIX MORE FOR TEXAS
Six new charter school applications were approved
unanimously last week by the Texas State Board of Education, and
all of the schools plan to start classes in the fall (Stutz, THE
DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 2/17). Action was deferred on two other
charters. A Corpus Christi charter received local opposition, so
the board proposed a public hearing (Sanchez, FORT WORTH STAR-
TELEGRAM, 2/17). The other application did not meet technical
requirements; the board agreed to offer technical assistance to
help charter leaders fulfill the application. Both will be taken
up at the board's April meeting.
One charter that won unanimous approval is the Renaissance
Charter School in Irving (Stutz, DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 2/16). Don
Jones, an Irving public school teacher and chairman of the
steering committee for the Renaissance school, said Renaissance
"will be focusing on changing the way curriculum is delivered to
average students so they can increase their academic
performance." According to the paper, Renaissance will offer
smaller classes and teacher aides in each classroom. The school
also will keep students and teachers together for at least two
years. Students will wear uniforms and take computer courses
every year, reports the paper.
Robert Key, vice president of the Coppell School District,
spoke against the Renaissance charter, saying the proposal would
cause his district to suffer a loss of revenue. The NEWS writes
that districts that lose student enrollment to a charter school
must relinquish funding for those students. Key added that high-
property-wealthy districts such as his already lose some property
tax revenue, and the charter would make the district take a
"double hit." "This will cause significant escalations in the
property tax in our school district," he warned.
The other charters include: The Cypress, sponsored by the
Dallas Cypress Youth Foundation, which will be a residential
program for at-risk youth; the Austin American Institute for
Learning Charter School, a grades 9-12 dropout recovery, year-
round program; the Houston Medical Center Charter Schools, a K-5
program that blends traditional and innovative instruction for
primarily children of Texas Medical Center employees; Houston
SER-NINOS, a pre-K-4 program that would serve disadvantaged
families in the Gulf area; and the West Houston Charter School, a
program for grades 7-9 that targets economically disadvantaged,
special education and limited English populations, writes the
NEWS.
Gov George Bush (R) addressed the board, praising charter
schools as a way to improve statewide literacy rates. 'Charter
schools will help education in general and reading in particular
by creating competition," he said. "Basically, what we've said
is: If you've got a better way to do it, feel free to do it."
===== STATESIDE =====
*9 GOV BUSH'S BATTLE CRY: KEEP EDUCATION LOCAL
Texas Gov. George Bush (R) urged the State Board of
Education last week to "think twice" before mandating new
regulations for local school districts, including a measure that
requires a minimum passing-grade standard (Stutz, THE DALLAS
MORNING NEWS, 2/21). However, board members "tentatively
endorsed the 70 percent passing standard" as part of a curriculum
plan, writes the paper.
Bush and Senate Education Committee Chairman Bill Ratliff
(R) reminded board members that the intent of last year's school
overhaul legislation was to give local school boards more
decision-making authority. "We ought to set the standards, but
not tell districts how to achieve those goals," said Bush. he
added: "Any time the state sends new rules and regulations out
of Austin, it normally flies in the face of the spirit of Senate
Bill 1 [the overhaul law.] Most rules and regulations that tend
to micromanage districts trouble me."
Ratliff noted that the Legislature last year removed the 70%
standards from state law. "We felt it tied the hands of local
school boards," he said. "Some districts may want to make it 80
... I am not going to quarrel with that."
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