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--- Monday --- April 15, 1996 --- Vol. 6 --- No. 34 ---
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THE NATIONAL UPDATE ON AMERICA'S EDUCATION REFORM EFFORTS
A service of the National Education Goals Panel
__________ __________
NOW THAT'S PROGRESS | SPOTLIGHT |
Immunization levels for young | |
children have increased from | GROUP HUG |
55% three years ago to 75%, | |
announced Donna Shalala, Sec of | Deal making behind closed |
Health and Human Services. | doors appears to be a relic |
According to the N.Y. TIMES, | of the past for more and |
the federal government is | more school systems. Today |
spending $938M for immuniza- | school leaders are taking |
tions and the purchase of vac- | their ideas and strategies |
cine this year, an increase of | for improving schools to |
over $400M in 1993 (Pear,4/11). | the community, parents and |
A Department of Health and | any one else with a vested |
Human Services spokeswoman said | interest in public |
that some states and cities use | education. Consider: |
federal funds to develop | |
immunization plans "tailored to | PITTSBURGH: A school |
local needs, opening new | board proposal to end |
clinics and hiring employees," | busing and to construct |
writes the paper. | in its place "cluster" |
The federal government also | schools has been sent out |
runs radio and television adds | for community review. (#4) |
on the need for immunization | |
and has distributed a similar | CLEVELAND: Judge George |
message on jars of baby food. | White vowed to resurrect a |
It also has a toll-free | school desegregation |
telephone number to provide | advisory committee that may |
information (800/232-2522). | include the mayor, unions |
The TIMES also reports that | and the school board. (#5) |
13 states have been granted | |
permission from the federal | LITTLE ROCK: Parents for |
government to require parents | Public Schools is charged |
to immunize their children as a | with connecting schools and |
condition for receiving | their communitites. (#3) |
welfare. |_____________________________|
============== QUOTE OF THE DAY ==============
"I think it behooves all of us, whether we agree or disagree, to
find some forum to talk." -- U.S. District Judge George White,
on Cleveland's school problems. (#5)
_______________________________________________________________
| 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
ADVANCED PLACEMENT: High schoolers rise to challenge.(#1)
GOAL SEVEN: SAFE SCHOOLS
SIMULATED STUDENT ARRESTS: A crime-deterrence program. (#2)
GOAL EIGHT: PARENTAL PARTICIPATION
PARENTS FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS: A community liaison. (#3)
CITY HALL
STEEL CITY SCHOOLS: Redistricting plan on the table. (#4)
FROM COURTHOUSE TO SCHOOLHOUSE
CAN WE TALK?: Judge George White hopes Cleveland can. (#5)
SERVING THE COMMUNITY
SPRING BREAK: It was fun, but no sun, for MIT students.(#6)
===== GOAL THREE: STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT AND CITIZENSHIP =====
*1 HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS RISE TO THE AP CHALLENGE
Half of the nation's high schools offered the Advanced
Placement (AP) Program "to challenge students to maintain high
academic standards during the e 1994-95 school year," (COLLEGE
BOARD NEWS, Feb./March 1996). Among the high schools offering AP
classes, 504,893 students took at least one AP Exam to obtain
credit or placement at colleges or universities. The College
Board sponsors the AP Programs.
Donald M. Stewart, president of the College Board: "The
impact of this program grows every year,as more schools realize
that students respond when they are given an academic challenge
like AP to reach for." Stewart also noted that 18 states pay for
AP teacher training, and four pay AP Exam fees for economically
disadvantaged students.
Last year, three-fifths of the students who took the AP
Exams received credit from colleges and universities nationwide.
Students also gain skills, experience and the motivation needed
to succeed in college, writes the NEWS.
"No one should doubt that theses students are learning at
the college level," Stewart said. The College Board conducts
surveys of college instructional philosophy, curricula and
technology to make sure that AP courses match college courses.
The exam also is administered to college students who have
attended equivalent courses "to ensure that AP Exam grades exceed
those at selective colleges," the paper writes.
Exam score comparisons between high school students and
college students reveals that the top AP Exam score of 5 is
equivalent to the top half of college students who receive an A
in the given course. According to the paper, the comparisons
cover "all AP grades, from 1 to 5, and are repeated at least
every five years."
The College Board's AP Program provides curriculum guides
for 29 courses and 16 subject areas, reports the paper. The
guides are designed by school and college faculty, who also help
develop and grade the exams. More than 20,000 teachers
participate in AP workshops or summer institutes every year.
===== GOAL SEVEN: SAFE SCHOOLS =====
*2 SIMULATED STUDENT ARRESTS: A CRIME-DETERRENCE PROGRAM
Cason Lane Academy (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) students in grades
4-7 were handcuffed and taken to jail on charges ranging from
assaulting a sibling to bringing a gun to school (Warren, THE
TENNESSEAN, 3/26). The students were participating in a
simulated arrest and lockup program sponsored by the Tennessee
Bar Association's Legal Eagles.
Students were handcuffed and brought to police headquarters.
After mug shots and fingerprints were taken, students were
brought to cells at the Rutherford County Juvenile Detention
Center. During the subsequent two days, students were
represented by a private or court-appointed lawyer, reports the
paper. Some took part in a mock trial; others settled out of
court.
Patrol and D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education)
officers made the arrests in an effort to teach children about
"their rights and the consequences of breaking the law," the
paper writes. The simulated arrests also teach students about
how the legal system works while simultaneously deterring crime,
according to program officials.
"It felt weird when I was in jail," said 10-year old Austin
Drake. "It's loud when they close the door." Austin also
admitted that he felt scared when he walked past the real people
in jail. "There were murderers there and everything," he said.
==== GOAL EIGHT: PARENTAL PARTICIPATION ====
*3 PARENTS FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS: A COMMUNITY LIAISON
A key mission of Parents for Public Schools of Little Rock
Inc. is to spur community involvement in the Little Rock School
District (Howell, Arkansas DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE, 3/26). The group,
which recently met to discuss methods of increasing membership
and school reform issues, is one of the newest chapters of a
national organization that boasts branches in 18 states.
According to Kelly Butler, executive director of National
Parents for Pubic Schools, the organization's chapters serve as a
"liaison between school districts and their communities."
Members are to serve as agents of change in their community,
writes the paper. For example, chapters have campaigned for
school tax increases, establishing a parent complaint hot line,
working to secure safer schools and changing school curricula.
"In a climate of skepticism and despair, PPS members stand up to
proclaim the good news and the important role that public schools
play in a community," Butler said.
The group plans to collaborate with other school-related
organizations such as the Parent Teacher Associations. The 35-
member Little Rock chapter is currently recruiting new members
and setting goals, notes the paper. People interested in more
information can contact Parents for Public Schools of Little Rock
at 502/375-7588.
==== CITY HALL ====
*4 STEEL CITY SCHOOLS: REDISTRICTING PLAN ON THE TABLE
School data from the Pittsburgh, Pa., public schools
revealed that "more and more youngsters," both black and white,
were leaving the city's public school system after elementary
school (Lee, Pittsburgh, POST-GAZETTE, 3/25). City school
officials organized a committee for assessing the situation; and
the outcome is a call for the end of busing and a resurgence of
neighborhood schools.
The committee polled parents, parent groups and principals
by the committee to determine "more attractive choices among
schools for parents," writes the paper. To the surprise of no
one, safety was one of the top concerns in the surveys.
According to the paper, declining enrollments in Pittsburgh
public schools coincided with an increase in gang violence.
Neighborhood schools emerged as a possible solution to the
student-flight problem. "Some wanted neighborhood schools
because they felt their kids would be safer if they were closer
to their homes," explained school district spokeswoman Pat
Crawford.
The school board has proposed creating clusters of schools
throughout the school district, "each including a high school and
elementary and middle schools that would feed into it," reports
the paper. Many parents complained that sending their children
to public middle schools meant that the student typically would
have to endure a 40-minute bus ride.
School Board President Ron Suber remarked that the cluster
school plan would "virtually eliminate forced busing" in the
city. Meanwhile, the Pa. House of Representatives this Jan.
passed legislation that would prohibit the state Human Relations
Commission from requiring districts to bus students to achieve
racial integration, notes the paper.
However, opponents of the cluster concept complain that the
plan will return the system to separate and unequal schools,
"where white students got the best and black students the
leftovers," reports the paper.
According to school officials, the plan is not yet "a done
deal." They are seeking community input; although they would
like to have a plan in place by September. "We have to vote on
something," said school director Liz Healey. "The question is
whether it's going to be this plan."
However, at the request of the Urban League of Pittsburgh
Inc., Charles V. Willie, a sociologist and professor of
education and urban studies at Harvard U, addressed the
Pittsburgh school community and suggested that the proposed plan
to reassign students to cluster schools be postponed until 1997
(Walsh, Pittsburgh POST-GAZETTE, 3/26). Willie called on school
officials to instead consider adopting the "controlled choice"
plan operating in Boston.
A controlled choice plan would allow students to attend
elementary and middle schools within one of three attendance
zones. They then could attend any high school in the city. Each
zone could include at least 20 elementary schools and five middle
schools. Students entering grades 1, 6, and 9 could select as
many as five schools and rank their choices.
Under Boston's controlled choice plan, students are slotted
in one of their five schools of choice based on "racial fairness
guidelines," the paper writes. Students who wish to attend a
neighborhood school are granted that wish. According to a 1994-
95 assessment of the plan, more than 90% of students received
their first or second choice school, and more than 90% who wanted
to attend a neighborhood school were able to. In addition, "less
than 7% of the students were mandatorily assigned," said Willie.
===== FROM COURTHOUSE TO SCHOOLHOUSE =====
*5 CAN WE TALK?: JUDGE GEORGE WHITE HOPES CLEVELAND CAN
U.S. District Judge George White, who last month joined
Cleveland's school desegregation case, has decided to "resurrect"
a school desegregation advisory panel (Stephens, Cleveland PLAIN
DEALER, 4/5). He called on the mayor, union leaders, the
Cleveland school board and county commissioners to take part in
the new committee. "I think it behooves all of us, whether we
agree or disagree, to find some forum to talk," said White last
week during a hearing on the desegregation case. "This will be a
representative group that will help solve this case."
According to the paper, the original committee was created
in 1978 as part of the Office on School Monitoring and Community
Relations, an agency that oversees the desegregation case for the
court. However, after a May 1994 decision to conclude the case,
the committee was disbanded and eventually the Cleveland school
district was placed under state control.
White's call for a new committee met with widespread
approval. "I think he's trying to forge some kind of consensus,"
said state schools Superintendent John Goff. "It's very
encouraging. I think the judge is a very inclusionary person,"
remarked Gerald Henley, a school board member. "I think it's
going to be a breath of fresh air," noted James Hardiman, the
attorney for the plaintiffs in the case, a group of black
students and their families.
County Commissioner Timothy Hagan said White's creation of a
committee is "the first time in my memory where a judge, by
invitation, brought all the interested parties together to work
toward a consensus."
A Cleveland THE PLAIN DEALER editorial praised the efforts
of both Judge White and Cleveland Mayor Michael White (4/7).
From the paper: "The schools are fortunate to have both men
involved. Now the community must show whether it will prove
intelligent enough to answer their call."
Judge White cautioned that he has no "immediate plans to
make dramatic, sweeping changes in the case," writes the paper.
The PLAIN DEALER notes that a motion made by the state to end
racial balance guidelines in making student assignments is still
pending before Judge Krupansky, "and White hinted he had no
intention of ending state control anytime soon." White: "Don't
look for me to vacate prior orders quickly."
==== SERVING THE COMMUNITY ====
*6 SPRING BREAK: IT WAS FUN, BUT NO SUN, FOR SOME MIT STUDENTS
A group of Massachusetts Institute for Technology students
spent their spring break volunteering at Paul Junior High School
in Washington D.C. (Hohler, THE BOSTON GLOBE, 3/27). "This is a
great chance to widen our understanding that success is not all
about going to good colleges and graduate schools and getting a
home in the suburbs," said Iun Cheng, a computer science and
creative writing major. "It's also about personal satisfaction
and making a contribution."
Cheng and Jacob Orenstein-Cardona helped Paul Junior High
School students create "quiz board" games as a way to explore the
fundamentals of circuitry. The students were so captivated by
the lesson that they did not want to leave class when the period
was over, notes the paper.
"I had everything; it was all set up for me," said
Orenstein-Cardona, a product of private schools in Puerto Rico.
"These kids don't have that. But give them the resources and the
attention, and they can achieve as much as anybody outside this
troubled city."
The group of 25 MIT volunteers helped 40 teachers in the
Teach for America branch of AmeriCorps, President Clinton's
national service initiative. Anthony Ives, a senior at MIT,
recruited the student volunteers, coordinated classroom visits
and found temporary housing for the volunteers with MIT
Washington-based alumni. He learned about Teach for America last
year at a conference organized by Break Away, a group that
organizes alternative spring breaks, reports the paper.
Teach for AmeriCorps, which operates under a $2M grant for
AmeriCorps, placed 900 recent college graduates in urban and
rural areas to teach, according to the GLOBE. Participants agree
to a two year commitment in exchange for a $7,500 living
allowance per year and $4,725 a year to cover tuition expenses.
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