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--- Wednesday --- September 30, 1998 --- Vol. 1 --- No. 56 ---
NATIONAL EDUCATION GOALS PANEL
NEGP Weekly
THE UPDATE ON AMERICA'S EDUCATION REFORM EFFORTS
In cooperation with the DAILY REPORT CARD
WHAT I SAW
A new program of the Council
for Basic Education will
attempt to "demystify" the
concept of world-class
standards. SAW, Schools Around
the World: An International
Study of Student Academic Work,
is an international
professional development
project that will place
teachers in nine countries --
Australia, the Czech Republic,
France, Germany, Hong Kong,
Japan, Portugal, the United
Kingdom and the U.S. -- and
build on the work of TIMSS.
In an issue brief, "Looking
at Student Work Around the
World," Katherine Nolan, co-
principle investigator for SAW,
explains that the creation of
international networks of
teachers is critical "if
teachers are to develop world-
class expectations for
students." SAW's plan: Teach-
ers will gather to review
student work in light of high
achievement, and to discuss
"what it takes to support
children in the pursuit of that
achievement."
For more info, contact CBE:
202/347-4171; www.c-b-e.org.
__________ __________
| SPOTLIGHT |
| |
| THE READING RACE |
| |
| Education groups are |
| boldly stepping up to the |
| plate, taking a swing at |
| defining the best ways to |
| teach young children how to |
| read. The latest at bat is |
| the Learning First Alli- |
| ance, a consortium of |
| national education groups. |
| The Alliance recently |
| issued a report, "Every |
| Child Reading," which |
| spells out the essential |
| elements of a reading plan |
| for pre-K through second |
| grade and beyond. |
| |
| Many of the strategies |
| defined in the report |
| parallel recommendations |
| made by the National |
| Research Council in its |
| study titled, "Preventing |
| Reading Difficulties in |
| Young Children." Both |
| recommend a balanced |
| approach that stresses |
| phonological awareness, |
| phonics and reading for |
| meaning. (#1) |
|_____________________________|
============== QUOTE OF THE DAY ==============
"The content and context of tests play a crucial role in
influencing what both teachers and students come to believe are
the implicit goals of mathematics education."
From "Setting Higher Sights: A Need for More Demanding
Assessments for U.S. Eighth Graders." (AFT) (#2)
_______________________________________________________________
| (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
LEARNING FIRST ALLIANCE: Issues reading plan. (#1)
GOAL FIVE: MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE
MATH TESTS: Too easy for U.S. eighth-graders. (#2)
MATH AND COMPUTERS: A bad combination, so far. (#3)
GOAL SEVEN: SAFE, DISCIPLINED AND DRUG-FREE SCHOOLS
JUSTICE RULES: Courts on side of dress codes. (#4)
IN THE NEWS
NEWS BRIEFS: Vouchers, charters. (#5)
===== GOAL THREE: STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT AND CITIZENSHIP =====
*1 LEARNING FIRST ALLIANCE: ISSUES READING PLAN
Strategies to help children read at grade level tops the
education want-list of most educators and policymakers. Last
month, the Learning First Alliance issued their plan for
improving children's reading ability. Called "Every Child
Reading: An Action Plan," the publication clearly states what
children should be able to do in their early childhood years, in
first grade, and beyond.
The Learning First Alliance, which consists of a dozen
national education associations, calls on educators and policy
makers to "adopt practices that are consistent with available
research on how to teach reading effectively." Numerous reading
experts, including Robert Slavin, Johns Hopkins U, and Reid Lyon,
National Institutes of Health, provided assistance in the
development of the report. Some of the findings that emerged
from the National Research Council of the National Academy of
Sciences report, "Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young
Children," also are presented in the action plan.
"What will it take to ensure the reading success of every
child?" queries the action plan. Extensive professional
development, effective new instructional tools and strategies,
smaller class size for reading instruction, district, state and
national policies that "set high standards of performance, to
support effective classroom instruction, and improved teacher
training programs," writes the report.
The report also calls for "intensified research" and support
from parents and guardians to prepare their children for school.
"Every Child Reading" states that the "foundations for
reading success are formed long before a child reaches first
grade." Quality pre-school experiences and parents who shower
children with lots of language and books are critical for a
child's later reading success. During their pre-K and
kindergarten years, children should develop: language skills,
background knowledge (a key predictor of successful reading
comprehension); appreciation of stories and books; concepts of
print; phonemic awareness; and alphabet and letter sounds.
The first-grade year is "arguably the most important in a
student's schooling," according to the report. During this year,
children should be trained in the alphabetic basics, including
how to blend isolated sounds into words. In order to write, they
also must be able to break words into their component sounds,
notes the report. From "Every Child Reading:" "First-grade
classrooms must be designed to ensure that all children have a
firm grasp of these basics before formal reading and spelling
instruction begins."
A "proper" balance between phonics and meaning must be
achieved during the first-grade year, according to the report.
The Learning First Alliance concludes that "it is probably best
to start all children, most especially in high-poverty areas,
with explicit phonics instruction," accompanied by on-going
monitoring of children's progress.
Texts for children at the beginning of first grade should
feature a high proportion of new words that use the letter-sound
relationships they have been taught, notes the report. While
conceding that it is difficult to get meaningful text written at
this level, it is possible to create meaningful context by
"embedding decodable text in stories that provide other supports
to build meaning and pleasure."
Other ways to integrate research-based instructional
practices to the teaching of reading are: teaching
comprehension; writing programs; smaller class size; curriculum-
based assessment; effective grouping strategies; tutoring
support; and home reading.
"Every Child Reading" adamantly states that children who are
not reading and comprehending well by the end of first grade
"need immediate special attention." For children meeting all the
expectations of a first-grade reader, second grade and beyond
should focus on: literature, expository text, reading
comprehension, vocabulary, writing and cooperative learning,
according to the report.
Issues related to older nonreaders, English language
learners, supplementary services (Title 1), and special education
are discussed briefly in the report.
The report concludes with a series of strategies for
educators intent on reducing the number of third-grade students
who are not reading adequately. These strategies include:
base educational decisions on evidence, not ideology;
promote adoption of texts based on the evidence of what
works;
provide adequate professional development;
promote whole-school adoption of effective methods;
involve parents in support of their children's reading;
improve pre-service education and instruction;
provide additional staff for tutoring and class-size
reduction;
improve early identification and intervention;
introduce accountability measures for the early grades.
The report also calls for intensifying reading research.
Specifically, educators must know more about issues such as
developing strategies for the children who do not succeed even
with high-quality instruction and tutoring, and effective
strategies for pre-K and kindergarten reading instruction.
The Learning First Alliance consists of a dozen national
education groups, including the American Association of Colleges
for Teacher Education, Council of Chief State School Officers and
the National Education Association.
For more information: Learning First Alliance; 1001
Connecticut Avenue NW; Suite 335; Washington, D.C. 20036;
202/296-5220; www.learningfirst.org.
==== GOAL FIVE: MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE =====
*2 MATH TESTS: TOO EASY FOR U.S. EIGHTH-GRADERS
The simplicity of eight-grade math tests has much to do with
how poorly U.S. students perform compared to their international
peers, according to a new report issued by the American
Federation of Teachers. "Setting Higher Sights: A Need for More
Demanding Assessments for U.S. Eighth-Graders" provides an
analysis of eighth-grade math tests from three large commercial
publishers as well as statewide tests from New York and Texas.
Four math experts, including two AFT members, "classified
the content of the various tests and rated the difficulty of the
test items as easy, middle-level or hard," writes the AMERICAN
TEACHER (Gursky, "The Math Gap," October 1998). While test
publishers determine whether a question is difficult based on the
number of students who get it right, the AFT panel assigned
difficulty levels to the items based on the intellectual demands
of the question.
The report found:
Tests taken by a large percentage of U.S. students assess
low-level content and skills.
Existing U.S. tests cannot provide information about
advanced performance -- because such performance is not
tested.
U.S. tests assess more arithmetic and measurement, while
international tests focus more on algebra and geometry.
U.S. tests use mainly multiple-choice questions that demand
little intellectually. Questions on international tests are
open-ended, requiring students to show how they solve
problems.
Since existing tests drive what gets taught and what
mathematics materials get published, they cannot move us to
achieve our goal of being first in the world.
The AFT choose eighth-grade math assessments to study
because that is "the point at which American students'
performance on international comparisons, most notably the Third
International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), [exhibits] a
sharp decline compared to the performance of their peer
overseas."
Over the past year, TIMSS reports have found that fourth-
grade U.S. students score slightly above the international mean
in math, eighth-grade students score slightly below the
international mean, and U.S. 12th graders perform so poorly they
out-perform only students from Cyprus and South Africa.
The TIMSS report also revealed that U.S. math curriculum
tends to be extremely broad and not very deep, even at the lower
grade levels. Basing the need for a review of U.S. math
assessments on the truism that "what gets tested is what gets
taught," the AFT decided to examine the content and level of
mastery required of students taking statewide math achievement
tests to "provide clues about the kind and a level of mathematics
that has become valued in the United States," notes the report.
According to the AFT, the report's findings show that the
nation needs "a national, voluntary test that -- unlike current
de facto national tests -- pushes us to make progress toward
meeting the world-class standards that students reach in high-
achieving TIMSS countries."
Yet, the report cautions that tests alone will not produce
higher achieving students. "A well-developed, highly focused
mathematics curriculum must be in place, and teachers must be
prepared, in terms of both pedagogy and mathematics content, to
assist students in mastering new, complex material."
For a full copy of the report, visit the AFT's Web site at
www.aft.org/edissues/mathgap.
*3 MATH AND COMPUTERS: A BAD COMBINATION, SO FAR
Time and money spent on educational technology for math
instruction is not paying off, according to a study issued by the
Educational Testing Service. The study of nearly 14,000 fourth-
and eighth-grade students found that those who spent more time on
computers in school scored worse on math tests than their peers
who spent less time with computers (Mathews, WASH POST, 9/30).
From the paper: "The research ... offers the first solid
evidence of what works and what doesn't when computers are used
in the nation's classrooms." The report concludes that computers
can be a strong educational tool, but only in certain situations
and when teachers are well-trained on how best to use the
technology.
The study also found a racial gap. Harold Wenglinsky, the
study's author, said his research reveals that black children use
computers to learn math skills somewhat more often than white
students, "but that blacks are far more likely than whites to
engage in the less useful drill and practice exercises," writes
the paper.
MaryJo Watson, an instructional technology specialist for
the Fairfax (Va.) County schools, concurs with the study's
findings on drill-and-kill exercises. "When you take the same
material that was on paper, there is not much more to it when you
put it on the computer," she said. "It still does not engage the
student."
The ETS report is "a step in the right direction," said
William Rukeyser, head of the Woodland, California-based Learning
in the Real World organization, which studies educational
technology. He added: "[But] I wish we did not have to have
tens of billions of dollars go down the drain to reach this
point."
The research was paid for by ETS and published by EDUCATION
WEEK with funding from the Milken Family Foundation.
===== GOAL SEVEN: SAFE, DISCIPLINED AND DRUG-FREE SCHOOLS =====
*4 JUSTICE RULES: COURTS ON SIDE OF DRESS CODES
School officials rarely loose court cases when it comes to
enforcing dress codes in schools, according to Perry Zirkel, an
education professor at Lehigh U in Bethlehem, Pa. Educators
nationwide hold student dress codes as a "useful part of a
productive climate for behavioral and academic progress," writes
Zirkel in the American Association of School Administrators'
LEADERSHIP NEWS. (9/23).
Zirkel cites numerous court decisions that have upheld
school district rulings on dress codes. Courts particularly are
"supportive" when a district's dress-code restrictions clearly
outlaw attire that is connected with sex, alcohol or drugs, or
violence. Several cases that fall under this category include:
Broussard v. School Board (1992) and Pyke (1994) -- courts
reject the First Amendment expression claims of students who
wore sexually suggestive T-shirts.
Gano v. School District (1987) -- court rejects student's
freedom-of-expression claim over a T-shirt that depicted
several administrators in drunken poses.
Olesen v. Board of Education (1987) -- court upholds
constitutionality of a school district's decision to ban
earrings on males as an anti-gang statement.
Other examples of court decisions that enforce a school
district's decision on dress codes are:
Harper v. Edgewood Board of Education (1987) -- prohibits
cross-dressing at the high school prom.
Baxter v. Vigo (1994) -- upholds principals punishment of a
grade school student who wore a T-shirt that read "Unfair
Grades," "racism," and "I Hate Lost Creek."
Hines v. Caston School Corp. (1995) -- supports an anti-
earring rule based on community values.
Phillips v. Anderson County School District (1998) --
upholds a dress code that prohibits students from wearing
clothing that interferes with instruction.
==== IN THE NEWS ===
*5 NEWS BRIEFS: VOUCHERS, CHARTERS
CHILDREN'S SCHOLARSHIP FUND: Nearly 4,000 Los Angeles
disadvantaged students will benefit from a new privately financed
voucher program established by Theodore Forstmann, a New York
venture capitalist (Cooper, L.A. TIMES, 9/29). Forstmann, who
believes that "competition can save American education" devised
the program to aid low-income families and also to improve what
he calls the "creaking monopoly" of American education.
The Children's Scholarship Fund began this week to accept
applications in L.A. and 37 other cities. According to the
paper, the program will award more than $140M in scholarships to
about 35,000 elementary schoolchildren next year. Scholarships
will be awarded for four years, "with winners chosen by lottery
in April," notes the paper.
Families who can demonstrate that they meet low-income
criteria such as the federal standard for school lunches, and
that their child qualifies for admission to the school of their
choice, are eligible to apply for the scholarships. Applications
are available by calling 800-805-KIDS.
The TIMES writes that most scholarship winners probably will
attend parochial schools, since the financial awards will run
between $600 and $1,600 per year. Parents will be expected to
meet any additional cost of the private schools, which makes the
more expensive private schools out of reach for low-income
families.
Forstmann announced the program three months ago along with
John Walton, the WalMart heir. Both businessmen pledged $100M of
their own money and urged other business leaders to invest in the
scholarship program. The Children's Scholarship Fund enjoys
broad support. It is endorsed by President Clinton, House
Majority Leader Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), former United Nations
Ambassador Andrew Young and former First Lady Barbara Bush.
Although opponents of voucher programs are vocal nationwide,
none have stepped forward to criticize Forstmann's program. The
TIMES reports that even Sandra Feldman, president of the American
Federation of Teachers and an "outspoken foe of using tax dollars
for vouchers," refused to attack Forstmann's program. Feldman:
"I would never interfere with a private citizen's right to spend
his own funds," she wrote in a letter to the New York POST, but
"I would prefer to concentrate on programs that benefit the
greatest numbers of students."
PORTA v. KLAGHOLZ (1998): The U.S. District Court in New
Jersey ruled that charter schools that operate within churches
"pass constitutional muster," as long as they remain religiously
neutral (Goode, ED DAILY, 9/24). From the ruling: "There is no
presumption that the operation of a public school out of a church
premises is a per se violation of the Establishment Clause."
According to the newsletter, the charter school lease
included several provisions that protected it against
constitutional violations, including the prohibition of religious
symbols, artwork or literature within the classrooms or visible
in or around the school and the use of a school entrance that is
separate from the one for churchgoers.
"Through these efforts the court finds that the school has
taken all reasonable and necessary steps" to cover and remove all
religious vestiges, writes Judge Jerome Simandle.
_______________________________________________________________
| 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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