h:\doc\web\97\08\educ.txt OK, my email request did come through for the new WA teacher requirements. , I got chapter 180-78A WAC approval standards for performance-based preparation education programs for teachers, administrators, and educational staff associates and -79AC Standards for Teacher... certification In short, the standards are now official and final, to go into effect in the year 2000, it's the teacher training part of an integrated "performance-based" P-12 program. It's a tough read, this is the translation I got from Dr. Beverly Kooi at the State Board of Education: Under the old rules, you came in with a degree, and some more basic credentials, and you got your starting teaching certificate, to continue, you did a certain number of hours and taught a certain number of years, and you got to continue. Now there's this huge laundry list of performance based skills linked to the "state learning goals" and "essential learning skills", and evidently teacher careers are going to be linked to the new test scores their kids get, teachers who flunk will be given a "personalized list of strengths and weaknesses" and a "personalized plan for improvement". Every college in the state has to overhaul their certificate programs to reflect the new rules by the year 2000, and they're not sure what to do with out of state people who haven't adopted comparable reforms. Sounds like re-education to me, and anybody that isn't 200% for the new reforms is probably going to get weeded out by the new process. It's pretty scary stuff if you ask me, you can ask kconway@ospi.wednet.edu for more requests for this document Send requests to be added to this performance-based education alert mailing list to arthurhu@halcyon.com \Date sent: Thu, 09 Oct 1997 10:56:43 -0400 To: joaneb001@aol.com From: Fred Battey Subject: Action: Needs Help: Chicago Math >X-POP3-Rcpt: fredb001@blue >Return-Path: >From: Quentin49@aol.com >Date: Wed, 8 Oct 1997 22:04:32 -0400 (EDT) >To: education-consumers@tricon.net >Subject: Chicago Math >Sender: owner-education-consumers@tricon.net > >Does anyone on the loop have information or pointers to information about a >math curriculum called Chicago Math? It may have been renamed recently. > >I am interested in what quality level this program is at and what it's basic >philosophy is? Thanks. >EDUCATION CONSUMERS CLEARINGHOUSE > > To: The LOOP:; From: "James Kilpatrick" Subject: October 8, 1997 News Clips Copies to: The News Bunch:; Date sent: Thu, 9 Oct 1997 07:24:05 -0500 CA Testing Bill Signed (5) Commentary ? CA Academic Standards Kentucky State Board Takes Over Cheating Investigation Dallas Supt. Pleads Guilty, Resigns LEARN Chief has Children in Private Schools Q & A With New Chancellor of CSU Republican Agenda to Focus on Education ******************************************************************************** San Francisco Chronicle State OKs Standardized Tests for Kids Fast-track plan has first exams next spring Nanette Asimov, Greg Lucas, Chronicle Staff Writers Sacramento Before school lets out in June, parents of kids in California's public schools can expect to learn how well their children have mastered basic math and reading skills under an ambitious statewide testing plan signed yesterday by Governor Pete Wilson. ``Our most precious product is educated children, yet we have no quality control. This will provide the basis for comparison and accountability,'' Wilson said at a Capitol news conference before signing the bill. California last tested students across the state in 1994, when the ill-fated California Learning Assessment System -- the CLAS test -- was administered for the second and final time. The new multiple-choice, machine-scored test will be taken by pupils next spring. Results will be disclosed by the end of the school year. The new legislation also calls for a second test to be developed that, like CLAS, will require students to submit actual writing samples and show their understanding of literature passages and how they arrived at math answers. This test could be ready by spring 1999. Meanwhile, all students in grades 2 to 11 will be tested this spring on reading, writing and math skills. In grades 9 to 11, they will also be tested in science and history. Unlike the CLAS test, scores will be made available by individual student. Results will also be scored by grade level, school, district and county. Statewide results will be tabulated and can be used to compare California to other states using the same test. California is one of only eight states with no statewide achievement test, a situation many educators find frustrating because there is no way of measuring how well students and schools are doing --or to see which academic programs are succeeding. Many school districts already use their own achievement tests to gauge pupils' progress. The state will pay for the costs of administering those tests this year -- at $5 a pupil -- but will require students to also take the state test. Wilson and the Democratic majority Legislature tussled over what form the test should take. Originally, Wilson wanted the test to be given only in English. But the GOP governor bowed to Democrats' insistence that it was unfair to test pupils with limited English in English. Wilson agreed that the first time the test is given, everyone must take it in English but that the same test be given to English learners in their primary language -- assuming that a test is available in that language. The GOP governor said he knew only of tests in English and Spanish. Nearly 100 different languages are spoken in California schools. To meet the fast-track time line set by Wilson, state schools chief Delaine Eastin will recommend a suitable test to the state Board of Education by the end of this month. Eastin is expected to base her selection not on which test is most popular among school districts, but which test most closely matches a landmark set of proposed academic standards in reading, writing and mathematics that is now pending before the Board of Education. The standards are the state's first set of precise guidelines for teachers, which are intended to help all students learn approximately the same thing at the same time in each grade. Eastin and other educators across the state, including the California Teachers Association, have long argued that the board should first adopt standards, and only then pick a test so that the test could match the standards. That way, children would be tested on what they have learned. Wilson rejected that idea. At its November 14 meeting, the Board of Education, whose members are appointed by Wilson, will select the test -- before the new academic standards are adopted. But the legislation signed by Wilson yesterday requires that any new test be altered to match new standards, which means that by spring of 1999 the state test would change yet again. Sources say that among the more than 50 possible tests the state can choose from, four tests are leading contenders: Terra Nova, the California Achievement Test, the SAT9, and the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. Terra Nova is the latest edition of the old workhorse, the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills (CTBS), and is used by 80 percent of school districts, including San Francisco, Oakland, and Palo Alto. ``No matter which one is picked, someone will be screwed,'' said Pat Anderson, testing director for the San Francisco schools. Anderson echoed the sentiments in many school districts around the state that are anxious to find out which test the board will choose because many districts have already bought a test for next spring. Even though the state will pay for next year's costs of administering a local test that is different from the board's selection, that offers only modest help for some school districts. Mount Diablo schools, for example, last year spent nearly $100,000 on a new test called CASE, which had been expected to last four or five years. ``Basically, the test booklets we have in storage would be useless,'' said Joe Marsich, a research specialist in Contra Costa's 33,000-student district. ``But we haven't ordered new scoring sheets or bought the copyright for the scoring software yet this year. All of that is on hold until we hear from the state.'' ******************************************************************************** San Jose Mercury News Single exam to put schools to the test Standard measure for pupils in grades 2-11 BY LORI ARATANI Mercury News Staff Writer SACRAMENTO -- Next spring, California will get a picture of how well its public schools perform in reading, writing and mathematics -- and how districts compare -- for the first time in three years. Under legislation signed by Gov. Pete Wilson on Tuesday, all students in grades two through 11 will be given a standardized grade-level test. High school students will also be tested in history, social science and science. Scores will be posted in June on the Internet by grade, school, district, county and statewide levels. ``Over the past year, I've spent a considerable amount of time visiting classrooms, meeting with parents and hearing their concerns for their children's future,'' Wilson said. ``Time and time again, they've described to me how uninformed they feel -- that they are in the dark as to how their kids are progressing.'' State schools chief Delaine Eastin is expected to recommend by the end of the month what test should be given in the new Statewide Testing and Reporting Program (STAR). But the Wilson-appointed state board of education will make the final decision at its November meeting. Already, test publishers, including the big three -- Houghton-Mifflin, CTB/McGraw Hill and Harcourt Brace -- are lining up, eager to be the one chosen for the California contract. The new testing legislation, sponsored by Sen. Deirdre Dede Alpert, D-San Diego, is the product of frenzied closed-door negotiations and compromise. Wilson had threatened to derail millions in funding for other educational programs if legislators didn't approve the test. But Democrats were opposed to provisions of the governor's plan -- including his insistence that the test be given only in English, even though more than a million public schoolchildren aren't proficient in the language. Ultimately, the governor prevailed. The $34.5 million program requires that all students be tested in English. Democrats won some concessions, though. Students who aren't fluent in English may also be tested in their native language. Both tests will be funded by the state. Districts will be reimbursed $8 per student. Another point of contention was whether the exams would be used to evaluate teachers, based on their students' performance. Even though there is no such provision in the final legislation, Wilson said Tuesday that good principals would look at the scores and draw conclusions about teacher performance. ``I think it will be a great help to principals,'' he said. ``I don't know how they can miss doing that.'' Local districts say they are anxious to know which test will be selected. Under the old program, districts could choose from among 64 different exams. Now that only one test will be given, many fear they'll have to abandon their testing programs just as they are beginning to yield valuable data. Cobbling a new program together by spring will also be a challenge, educators said. ``The sooner we know, the better for us,'' said Phyllis Lindstrom, assistant superintendent for administrative services in San Jose's Evergreen School District. ``Testing students in grades 2 through 8 will be a substantial undertaking. We'll need some lead time.'' Maribeth Smith, associate superintendent for educational planning and development in the Fremont Union High School District, said the test publisher selected will face a monumental task providing enough materials for the estimated 4.5 million students who will be tested. ``We'll get the testing done, if they can get everything into our hands,'' she said. This is the second time since the state abandoned the widely criticized California Learning Assessment System exam in 1994 that the state has shifted gears on its testing program. Two years ago, schools were paid for giving one of the state-approved commercial tests. While many educators urged the governor to hold off on changing the program until California's new learning standards were in place, Wilson was determined to have a test that would allow districts to be compared to one another. ``This (single test) will provide us a basis for comparison, and therefore accountability, for every grade, every school, every school district and for the state of California,'' he said. The governor maintains that the test can be linked to the statewide standards once they are adopted. The state board of education has scheduled public hearings on the proposed reading, writing and math standards this month. Final standards are scheduled to be adopted by Jan. 1. History, social science and science standards will be completed by November 1998. Wilson also approved three measures related to student safety. One would require schools to develop campus safety plans. Two others require districts that provide bus service to prepare transportation safety plans and school bus drivers to lose their certificates for three years if they test positive for alcohol or drugs. ******************************************************************************** San Diego Union Tribune Wilson signs standardized test measure Examinations to begin next spring SACRAMENTO -- California's public school students will be assessed by the same standardized tests beginning next spring under a bill signed into law yesterday by Gov. Pete Wilson. The governor also signed measures to ease class-size reduction and improve safety planning on school campuses and school buses, but he vetoed a bill requiring high school students to take both art and a foreign language. "This will provide us a basis for comparison, and therefore accountability, for every grade, every school, every school district and for the state of California," Wilson said of the testing bill at a signing ceremony in his office. The compromise measure, by Sen. Dede Alpert, D-Coronado, creates the Statewide Testing and Reporting Program, or STAR, to require students in grades 2 through 11 to take a single, mandatory test in reading, writing and math, adjusted for grade level. Students in grades 9 through 11 will also be tested in science and history/social science. The bill was passed on the final day of the legislative session, over complaints by some Democrats that testing should be delayed until the state Board of Education adopts educational standards next year. Wilson insisted on immediate implementation of the test, withholding $200 million in programs Democrats wanted in the budget until agreement on standardized testing was reached. The legislation does not allow reports comparing performance of individual classes on the basis of the tests -- a provision Wilson wanted but that was successfully opposed by teachers' unions. Under the test bill, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin has until Oct. 31 to make recommendations of tests to the state Board of Education. The board must choose a single test by Jan. 1. Wilson said that without standardized tests parents have felt "really in the dark about how their children are progressing." "There is not a manufacturer in the state that prepares a product for market without subjecting that product to rigorous testing for quality control," Wilson said. "The most precious product we are producing as a society are educated children, and yet we have no real quality control -- no means of learning what they are learning. This test will change that." Under the testing law, students with limited proficiency in English will have to be tested in both English and their primary language the first year, assuming a test in that language exists. Currently tests are only available in English and Spanish. In subsequent years, school districts will have the option of testing in both languages. The dual-language provisions were a key element in reaching a compromise between Democrats and the governor, who wanted all students tested in English. The Board of Education has until Jan. 1 to adopt new standards in reading, writing and math, and until Nov. 1, 1998 to adopt new history, science and social science standards. Once those standards are adopted, the test will be aligned to reflect them. Wilson vetoed a bill by Assemblywoman Shelia Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, that would require students take both a course in visual or performing arts and a course in a foreign language to graduate from high school. In his veto message, he said the Kuehl bill, unlike the testing bill, should wait for the adoption of academic standards. Wilson also signed three bills relating to student safety and two measures to ease school district's expansion of the class-size reduction program into all kindergarten through third grade classes. One class-size reduction bill, by Assemblyman Rod Pacheco, R-Riverside, would make it easier for out-of-state teachers to comply with California's teaching credentialing requirements. Districts have complained that the lengthy California credentialing process has been an impediment to recruitment of new teachers. Another bill, by Assemblyman Curt Pringle, R-Garden Grove, is aimed at relieving a classroom crunch created by the move to smaller classes, by allowing districts to lease commercial buildings for school purposes, if the buildings meet certain safety requirements. Wilson also signed a measure by Sen. Teresa Hughes, D-Inglewood, requiring school districts and county offices of education to develop comprehensive school safety plans by Sept. 1, 1998. A school bus safety bill was signed into law in response to the death of a seven-year-old Laguna Niguel student who was killed after disembarking from a school bus into traffic. The measure, by Assemblyman Bill Morrow, R-Oceanside, requires every school or district providing school bus transportation services to prepare a transportation safety plan, including procedures to be followed by bus drivers. ******************************************************************************** Sacramento Statewide school tests come back: Wilson signs mandatory plan By Dan Smith Bee Capitol Bureau Insisting that a statewide student test is needed to better assess smaller class sizes and new instructional methods, Gov. Pete Wilson on Tuesday signed legislation returning mandatory testing to California's public school classrooms next spring after a four-year hiatus. "It's every parent's dream that their child will be better educated than they . . . and certainly every parent's right to demand to know that their schools are teaching their children what they should," the governor said. Wilson suggested that school principals should use student test results to evaluate the performance of teachers, even though that practice is specifically forbidden by state law. He called teachers unions "disgraceful" for opposing his testing plan. But while Wilson said the test is a necessary component of the state's school improvement efforts, some educators complained that it will provide one-time results largely incomparable to those from future tests and disrupt voluntary testing programs already in place in some school districts. "I think it's going to be mostly empty gesturing," said Sandra Jackson, spokeswoman for the California Teachers Association. "It's a waste of time. It's a waste of effort. It's a waste of money." Prompted by a proposal he unveiled in May, the law Wilson signed Tuesday requires all districts to administer a standardized test to all students in the second through 11th grades by May 25, 1998. Individual test results will be available to parents, teachers and school administrators by June 30. Results by school, grade level, district and state will be posted on the Internet by the same date. State schools Superintendent Delaine Eastin has until Oct. 31 to make recommendations to the Wilson-appointed state Board of Education, which has until Nov. 14 to choose a single test publisher for the statewide contract, estimated to be worth $50 million a year. The governor contends that a single, off-the-shelf test is necessary for the state's educators and policy-makers to evaluate the usefulness of reduced class sizes and the switch to phonics-based reading instruction, and to compare performances of schools and districts. While California has administered statewide student tests for about 30 years, the test to be given next year will be the first since the California Learning Assessment System, or CLAS test, folded amid controversy in 1994. The present testing system is voluntary, with the state paying only part of the cost and districts choosing from a list of 56 approved tests. The state will pay the full cost of the mandatory testing program, dubbed the Statewide Testing and Reporting program, or STAR. Opponents of Wilson's plan, including Eastin and the teachers association, said the state should wait until the Board of Education adopts academic standards, expected next year, and then purchase or develop a test that matches those standards. Because the new test will have to be adapted to the new standards in 1999, they said, the 1998 version may be virtually useless -- incomparable to future STAR tests and to past tests administered by some school districts under the voluntary program. At San Juan Unified School District, Superintendent Ray Tolleson said he hopes at least some elements of the new test can be compared to a test the district has given for several years. "We hope we can pull some elements out and make some comparisons," he said. "The worst-case scenario is we start all over with our testing data." Eastin said she still has problems with the proposal. "It could cause some confusion," she said. "Comparability could be a problem. But we will make it work." Under the new testing program, students with limited English proficiency will be tested in their primary language for the first year after they are enrolled. After that, a district could give a non-English primary-language test at the district's expense. The bill, however, requires all students to take the English-language test regardless of how long they have been in the country. Wilson had sought to have test scores reported by classroom. Legislative Democrats and the teachers union balked, however, saying it is unfair to evaluate a teacher's performance based on test scores. They argue that teachers have no control over which students are placed in their classes or the instruction they receive in earlier grades. But Wilson suggested that principals should look away from "one of the more misguided" state laws that forbids teacher evaluations based on test scores. "Regrettably, we will not be able to make a report and compare classrooms, though I think any diligent principal will undertake that comparison. . . ," Wilson said. "I don't think a principal worth his or her salt is going to fail to look at all those test scores . . . and draw some inference." Wilson also laid into the teachers association for opposing the test program. "I think that's disgraceful," he said. "Here's an organization presumably devoted to children (which) I think has failed them abysmally. They are more interested in protecting mediocre teachers than encouraging excellence in their students and in their teachers." ******************************************************************************** Commentary Peter Schrag: The new school standards: A cheer and a caveat GIVEN THE difficulty of its task, the work of the commission charged with developing new standards for California schools in math, reading and writing deserves, at the very least, respectful attention, and probably a great deal more. Its new proposals, rooted in a firm foundation of basic skills and demanding a far higher standard of proficiency than anything now in place on a statewide basis, represent a major step in upgrading California school curriculums from kindergarten through the end of high school. Nonetheless, no official commission in a state as complex and large as this can escape the perils and controversies inherent in writing a set of guidelines for every student in every school, and this one certainly hasn't. The danger is that too much will be taken on faith. That's particularly the case with the commission's math proposals, which, while they demand a higher degree of math achievement than the weak requirements now in place in many California high schools, also venture into uncharted realms of curricular organization for which there is no systematic evidence of success and, in some respects, no track record at all. The state Board of Education, which has the final say on the standards, will hear plenty about that when it begins its deliberations this week. The 21-member standards panel, officially the California Commission for the Establishment of Academic Content and Performance Standards, built on the foundations of the revised California frameworks in reading and math. That means, among other things, language arts teaching rooted in systematic phonics and phonemic awareness, elements now regarded as essential to effective reading instruction. But at the other end of the line, particularly in math, there may be major problems, pedagogical and political. In essence, the commission's math panel proposes to fuse the teaching of algebra and geometry in the eighth, ninth and 10th grades and in some respects to stretch them over four years instead of treating them as distinct areas (algebra I in eighth grade, geometry in ninth, algebra II in 10th grade), which, of course, is how they have traditionally been taught. Since many mathematical ideas and principles stretch across the fields, that proposal is attractive in concept, particularly for good teachers and good students. But can it succeed if it's implemented across the board? The defenders of the proposal say, among other things, that that's how the Japanese do it. But even if that's the case and there is considerable doubt that it is the claim may owe more to current academic fashion than to any evidence that it would work here. The new program will not provide a set of Japanese parents for every student, much less the rest of the Asian cultures with which our educational wannabes so relentlessly compare our schools these days. When commission members and staff were asked last week to provide examples of the successful use of their proposals in other states or communities, their answer was pretty much a blank. One staffer said he had heard that the integrated approach was being used in Davis, but commission chair Ellen Wright cautioned that since they had just heard about it, the panel wasn't sure it was the same thing they were proposing. Either way, the reply was hardly one to generate confidence in the proposal. And since stretching out and combining algebra and geometry would also require middle-school teachers to teach geometry, even though most were never trained for it, makes the prospects even more worrisome. There are, in addition, questions about the difficulty of the standards not that they are too low, as some dissenting commission members complain, but that they are so high that they will not be taken seriously in the schools where they are most needed. Wright is surely correct when she says that this state has to expect more of its students and schools than it now does. She's also right that those "fixed, knowable, understandable" expectations should extend to all students, not just the college bound. But are we now on the verge of lurching from the desert to the rain forest? Can all students, in the pursuit of what may be mythic "world-class standards," really be expected to complete three years of math, including a second year of algebra? (Currently just over half do). Can all fourth-graders really be expected to read a half-million words a year outside school, as the commission proposes, and all 10th-graders 2 million words the equivalent of more than two major adult books a month? Of course these are just goals, but if they're set at absurd heights, how many schools will even try? The commission relied considerably on experts who said its math standards are comparable to those used on the much cited TIMSS (Third International Math and Science Survey), a survey of achievement on which U.S. schoolchildren ranked no more than average, well below the likes of Japan and Singapore, the current favorites in the "world-class" race. But TIMSS was composed of items on which there was a good deal of international negotiation among school officials trying to make sure their curriculums were well enough represented so that their students would get respectable scores. President Clinton first wanted to use TIMSS as the basis for his proposed national test in math, then quietly dropped it because it seemed not to be a reliable standard for U.S. students. It might be worth finding out precisely why. If the commission wants to try promising but unproven ideas, it could well propose tests in a select number of districts or schools. But why risk a set of strong proposals on the uncertain ground of one risky innovation? ******************************************************************************** Lexington Herald Leader State board taking over KIRIS cheating inquiries By Lee Mueller HARDIN -- The Kentucky Board of Education has joined in a crackdown on alleged cheating in the state's high-stakes student testing program. Spurred by recent reports of alleged cheating, the board approved a change in an ethics code for local school officials who administer the tests, strengthening the state's role in supervising the Kentucky Instructional Results Information System testing. All teachers who give the test must read and sign the ethics code. The changes, approved late Monday night at the state board's meeting at Kenlake State Resort Park, make the state -- not local superintendents or boards -- responsible for investigating all reports of alleged cheating, even from anonymous sources. Under the new rules, local superintendents will collect only requested information for state investigators. Education Commissioner Wilmer S. Cody, who instituted the new rules in August, will have final say in investigations and in doling out punishments. The tests are very important to schools, which can see cash rewards or sanctions, depending on the scores. James Jackson, director of the state education department's division of management assistance, told a KIRIS oversight committee this week that the agency has already investigated 20 to 25 complaints of cheating, "a small percentage" of which were filed anonymously. Panel members expressed concern about accepting anonymous tips, which used to be simply passed along to superintendents for informational purposes. But Jackson said some turned out to be accurate. More aggressive approach He said the state notifies local superintendents after receiving complaints, and asks them for information from teachers and students. "In the past, we tried to avoid interviewing kids," Jackson said, "but we've tried to take a more aggressive approach." Investigators wound up spending three days in one system, Jackson said in an interview, although he declined to identify any districts involved in investigations. Because state funds are involved in rewards for schools that do well on the tests, state board member Samuel Robinson asked board attorney Kevin Noland whether persons involved in cheating might also face criminal charges. Possibly, Noland said. Cody told the panel the new method is more efficient than attempting to keep track of how well 176 school districts are investigating their own complaints. A Herald-Leader review of four years' worth of cheating allegations in July found that while the state had dealt with 151 complaints about cheating, it handed 140 of those investigations over to local superintendents. 'We almost have to do this' Officials at the Office of Education Accountability, which has been critical in the past of the Education Department's test-security measures, have said they were pleased with the changes. The KIRIS tests are used to rate all of the state's schools. Faculties at schools that surpass the state's test-score goals can win cash bonuses from the state's reward fund. Schools that decline on the test face sanctions including state intervention and possible firings. District officials also are eligible for rewards and sanctions, depending on the overall performance of their schools. Margie Pope, a state board member from Paducah, said it was regrettable the action had to be taken because a few school systems failed to enforce the code. "But we almost have to do this. I wish we didn't have to," she said. It will be at least six months before the change takes effect. The board must hold two public hearings and take a final vote. The board also took a step toward adding an extra $1.5 million to the $27.5 million in rewards to schools and districts whose test scores were depressed because of errors by Date sent: Wed, 08 Oct 1997 20:02:01 +0000 To: arthurhu@halcyon.com From: James Burts Subject: phone numbers and web addresses Dear Arthur I have a phone call into the person that got the info to see where she got it in the mean time you can get the draft of teacher certification which the dates have changed but not the content. contact Dr. Ted Andrews, Director Professional Education and Certification State board of education old capital building Po Box 47206 Olympia wash 98504-7206 phone 360-753-3222 or fax 360-586-0145 ask for Washington Teacher Certification for the 21st Century also ask for a copy of the {approval standards for performance-based preparation programs for teachers, administrators, and educational staff associates.} it is the wac's then ask for the field tests that were done this summer that you would like a copy of that they should have it. In the mean time I'll be talking with this other person when they call me back. web site Dee Dickenson teacher training out of shoreline and international group real liberal and lots of new age stuff http://www.newhorizons.org Also get if you don't already is the goals 2000 update newsletter from the federal goals 2000 1-800-usa-learn you can order items from them for free our tax dollars at work. get the {Achieving the goals Goal 4 teacher education and professional development]. real interesting stuff in this one.the update newsletter comes once a month no charge. call our goals 2000 office here and get a book called [Washington goals 2000 report to the legislature Feb 96 draft ]call 360-753-3223 and also ask for the [framework for excellence called High standards opportunities to learn career preparation april 96.] they may give you a hard time and say that the feb issue is out dated tell them you want it any way because it is not out dated. if they have anything new get that to. that will give you more info Julanne Burts Date sent: Mon, 13 Oct 1997 09:19:29 -0400 To: joaneb001@aol.com From: Fred Battey Subject: Re: (Fwd) RE: Goals too high, innovations unproven in CA >X-POP3-Rcpt: fredb001@blue >Return-Path: >Date: Sun, 12 Oct 1997 21:57:04 -0500 (CDT) >X-Sender: Linda-SP@popd.ix.netcom.com >To: fredb001@spectra.net >From: LindaP >Subject: Re: (Fwd) RE: Goals too high, innovations unproven in CA > >Fred, again I must ask you to fwd this reply, I get some message about a >'currcular' something when I try to send it myself.. > >At 12:53 AM 10/12/97 +0000, Arthur Hu wrote: >>It's all fine for those of use who can >>afford it to pull our kids out and home >>school or private school, but as long as >>public schools are the dominant education >>system, I don't think we should leave it to >>the PC crowd to run it unopposed. >> >>My Chinese family got all 7 kids into MIT, >>Stanford or both with 50th percentile Renton >>WA schools, I pray the schools now in the >>affluent suburb of Kirkland aren't >>worse than the ones we had back in the >>60s and 70s. > > >I am not sure we can afford to NOT pull our children out of the public >school system. As long as those children are under the influence of the >govt. public ed system- what YOU and I want per an academic education for >our own children will be found severely lacking. And we shall have to >watch the little 'robots' being formed in this dominating system. > >I've watched the public ed system attacked for years, for many reasons and >from many sides, yet little has changed, other than allowing the govt. run >schools to now fully introduce their original goals. (STW-?) I believe the >intent all along was to corrupt and correct- in their own methods. > >I know that most Americans cannot financially afford the cost of private >schools, and that many feel unqualified to home-school. My own family is a >single income family- we have one daughter in private school, two in the >public school system. Next year we hope to have saved enough money to put >all three children in private school- if not, we will home-school or hire >appropriate tutors. We are far from wealthy- but we are hoping to apply our >money where our mouth is. > >Part of my goal- and I admit it- is to shut the doors to the public ed >system. If we have to rebuild it from the ground up- fine, at least we will >know what we are getting then. I find the current govt. public schools to >be criminal in action and intent. Yes, in the walls of such you will find >many dedicated educators and many who THINK they are dedicated. But even >their dedication has not been enough to stop the actions of those with more >power, money and influence. > >In my review of different school systems, I find that the more affluent the >neighborhood, the easier it is for the system to plant their goals. If it >looks good, feels good, and doesn't upset the agenda, it passes. >In the less affluent neighborhoods, the needs are greater than the academic >focus, so it is easier to bluff. > >The majority of protestors I have met are the 'middle ground'- those who >understood the basic need for solid academics, those most likely to have >received such. Most are two-income families, and it takes every penny of >that income to provide roof, food and clothing for the family- there are few >luxuries. > >Now for my point :) which I have been getting to slowly enough- >I do not believe in vouchers or charter schools or any other 'nonsense' that >still allows govt. control of our schools. IF we are to continue with a >public education system, I believe that all federal, state and local current >power over such must be dismantled, and that the American public must not >allow any taxation for such a system. I believe that the 'public' school >system should TRULY be returned to the local level, and that monies for such >expenses should be shared by the parents who want to place their children in >that public school. >I think one school building every 5-10 miles should be adequate, and those >empty school buildings can be sold off to the businesses which run them now. >I think Americans have become lax in their appraisal of the tax system, and >that yearly check they write for 'school taxes' is a perfect example of >taxation without representation. >It's time for a tea-party. >LindaP >~~Madness takes its toll... >Please have correct change.~~ > > Is Norman Matloff on this outcome based "all students can achieve" and "let's toss the notion of elites and merit out the window" camp? This is what's taking over the K12 world, god help us all, affirmative action is small change compared to this wave of madness. Norm Matloff has indicate he favors selective admissions switch to random selection, or that they be abolished altogether. He also claims that Asians are not only not better than average Americans in academic ability, but are inferior because they are culturally incapable of creativity, and opposes immigration of skilled engineers to the US. For more on this guy: Arthur Hu's Norman Matloff page http://www.leconsulting.com/arthurhu/index/matloff.htm ------- Forwarded Message Follows ------- Date: Mon, 13 Oct 1997 09:03:55 -0400 To: joaneb001@aol.com From: Fred Battey Subject: Fwd: honor roll >X-POP3-Rcpt: fredb001@blue >Return-Path: >From: LScheffers@aol.com >Date: Sun, 12 Oct 1997 21:55:05 -0400 (EDT) >To: FredB001@spectra.net >Subject: Fwd: honor roll > >Another "devalue academic achievement" post from the GiftedNet listserv:( > >Lauren >--------------------- >Forwarded message: >From: schiess@meol.mass.edu (Robert Schiess) >Sender: giftednet-l@warthog.cc.wm.edu >Reply-to: giftednet-l@warthog.cc.wm.edu >To: giftednet-l@warthog.cc.wm.edu (Multiple recipients of list) >Date: 97-10-12 15:23:49 EDT > >Whole notion of "honor roll" fascinates me. Have thought much about >this. The concept seems somewhat anachronistic to me. It seems to date >to a "bell curve" time of learning, i.e. the top succeed, the bottom >fail, and the middle receive a ton of C's. I'd like to think we are more >dedicated to a learning system where all students can achieve. Don't >mean to be a Pollyanna. Parents love them - especially if their own kids >are on them. Is it absurd to suggest that learning is an end in itself? >Guess you know where I stand on those "My child is an honor student . . " >bumper stickers! Don't mean to discourage you, but I would encourage you >to clearly define the purpose of instituting this formality in your school. >Mary > > subj: VA test includes material inappropriate to grade level "high standards"? Looks like WA isn't the only state throwing in material way beyond grade level to instill a sense of crisis with their new tests. "The governor may call this piling on of material inappropriate to a child's grade level higher academic standards," " Washington Post Accountability Is Good, but These Standards Are Not Virginia Gov. George Allen has called the adoption of new standards for public school accreditation "the most enduring legacy" of his administration. He could be right, but that legacy may not be good for the children of the commonwealth. The amount of school time that will be devoted to the governor's 800-percent increase in standardized testing, for example, should give most parents pause, especially because the tests essentially will measure only how much material children have been able to memorize from the new Standards of Learning. These standards were adopted by the state Board of Education over the objections of many educators and parents, and the tests that go with them will give no indication of how well Virginia's children are doing compared with children in the rest of the country. What's more, the state Board of Education adopted a requirement that 70 percent of the students in a school must pass the new tests in order for the school to be accredited. This requirement was mandated before the tests had been fully developed and is a purely arbitrary number without a basis in any accepted test or measurement principles. Many parents will be upset by the grade-level inappropriateness and biases in the social studies and English standards. The governor may call this piling on of material inappropriate to a child's grade level "higher academic standards," but missing from the program is any emphasis on critical thinking or problem-solving. Allen has criticized teachers who oppose his new standards as being part of the "educational establishment." Yet, ironically, he quotes the American Federation of Teachers' opinion that the standards are "exemplary." The specificity of the standards may appeal to a work-to-the-rule labor union, but they hardly inspire creative or innovative teaching. Instead, they will encourage drills and teaching to the tests. The Allen plan will have a detrimental effect on local school boards too. The family-life-education program, which was operating effectively for 98 percent of the parents, has been bounced to the local school boards as an optional program by the state board, whose members can be counted among the 2 percent of parents who did not like the program. At a time when local school boards face challenges of budget, discipline, aging facilities, etc., they are going to face regular petitions to drop family-life education, even though not one local school board asked the state to make this program optional. In fact, the School Boards Association opposed the action. The governor's call for educational accountability sounds good, but as implemented by the state Board of Education, it is open to many questions. In the year 2000, when the governor is looking at a run for another public office, people will be asking who got us into this mess. It's a legacy our governor should have to live with. -- Kenneth R. Plum a Democrat, represents Fairfax County in the Virginia House of Delegates. FYI, dates were removed because they are all from the same date. I also want to add that for the Seattle Times University of Washington piece, it is the first piece I've ever seen that mentions that Euro- Americans are under-represented, than economic affirmative action won't work because there are too many poor Asians who are smart, and that I'm the one that made the complaint that lead to the reforms that the UW looked for inspiration. The article did not mention that it is likely that, like California, Filipinos are considered to be "under-represented" even though all the evidence is that Filipinos have NEVER been under-represented in higher education, with the possible exception of Berkeley, which recently caused the Filipino admission rate to fall below all other groups, including foreign admits, which would indicate bias AGAINST filipinos, but strangely, there has been zero protest, evidently Asian activists are so afraid of criticizing affirmative action, they won't touch it, even though they were successsful in defeating anti-Asian policies in the 80s. My affirmative action stuff is at http://www.leconsulting.com/arthurhu/index/afact.htm Most of the people who support affirmative action are the same education reformers who are pushing the new K12 reforms, similar ideas, but different form. Except affirmative action only screws the top 10% of white kids, this new K12 stuff threatens to screw all kids of all races and ability levels. ------- Forwarded Message Follows ------- To: arthurhu@halcyon.com From: "James Kilpatrick" Subject: Re: October 15, 1997 News Clips Date: Wed, 15 Oct 1997 17:29:40 -0500 >Can you attach a date to the articles, or >can we assume it is the same date as the >header? >arthurhu@halcyon.com http://www.halcyon.com/arthurhu Arthur, Your comments are a real treat. These articles are pulled each day and header date does correspond with the article from major newspapers around the country. Jimmy Jimmy Kilpatrick Phone 713 520-9715 Coordinator of Community Programs Fax 713 520-7214 Advisor for Reading and Reading Disabilities University of Texas at Austin Home 281 265-2368 Charles A. Dana Center Mobile 281 536-4713 1723 Westheimer Road Houston,Texas 77098-1611 Every conventional test rates Washington students at about national average, and considering that America is tops on verbal tests, and only lags the workaholic Asian nations on the math tests, yes, current levels, at least at the 50th percentile level are FINE, thank you. If you want kids to perform higher, great, but this idea of setting the standard so that 50th percentile equal ZERO performance is simply insane, and shows how illiterate even the highest public education official can be, especially when she tells everybody that as soon as the new reforms that haven't even been formuated yet are instituted, 100% of students are going to perform at a higher level than only the top 20% were able to manage before. ("every student will pass the standards") Have you ever seen an IQ test where 100% of the population passes at the 115IQ level? It will never happen, as a matter of fact, blacks scored 1 full Standard Deviation lower than whites on this test, making it fully equivalent in relatively difficulty to standard IQ tests that peg blacks at 85IQ / 15th percentile vs whites. Are you telling me that you fully agree that Bergeson knows what she's doing when her test shows 50th percentile = 0 performance, and she refuses to acknowledge any notion of making the test easier, or that the test is too hard for 4th graders, espeically when any expert who looks at the test and knows anything about grade level can see it's deliberately set at the 6th grade or higher? Just because the top 20% can hack it doesn't mean it's reasonable to expect every 4th grader to perform 2 years ahead of grade level. Or do you think it IS realistic for everybody to study as if they were Asian or Jewish? I'd like more info on these alleged "effective teacher" studies, the only students who perform at the 85th percentile or better are those in Mercer Island schools, private or better, and the only ones at 45 or lower are minorities, regardless of whether they are in poor urban areas, or affluent suburbs. More likely, your so-called "effective teachers" are the ones in affluent white/ASian communities with "effective students". > From: DaveTNCLE@aol.com > To: To:arthurhu@mail1.halcyon.com > Subject: Are you as Smart as your 4th Grader > Frankly, Arthur, I'm having difficulty following you on this. > > Are you arguing that current achievement levels in WA schools are just fine > and that the tests should be set at those levels? > > Also, standardized tests should ALWAYS test above and below grade level. > Otherwise, you create an incentive for teachers to teach only to that group > just below the pass/fail cut line. Of course, state testing system should > always be accompanied by a value-added analysis component such as that used > in TN. Based on the work of Dr. Bill Sanders at the University of Tennessee, > this system appropriately focuses teachers on helping ALL students learn. It > also produces extremely useful information such as: > > Students blessed with three straight years of highly effective teachers from > 3rd through 5th grade AVERAGE between the 85th and 95th percentile on the > CTBS/4 test in math. Those subjected to three straight years of highly > ineffective teachers average 50 percentile points lower (from the 35th to the > 45th percentile)! > > Although the results from individual teachers and schools show high achieving > students can make gains, those students (and especially the minority ones) > are typically the poorest served by schools. > > In general, students do not "recover" or "bounce back" from even one year > with a highly ineffective teacher. > > In general, only the most effective teachers help high achieving students > make gains. Third or even fourth quintile teachers may be effective with > other groups, but typically the highest achieving students will stagnate in > their classrooms. > > Dave Shearon > Nashville, TN > > > I was also in the Eastside Journal, finally tracked down the article: BTW, I finally got the actual distributions, the 50th percentile students scored a "1" in math, which means equivalent to getting 0 right out of 100 problems. We're declaring grade level (equal to getting a decent percentage of problems right) to be equal to zero achievement now? And nobody thinks there's anything wrong with that? We're in really big trouble. \doc\web\97\08\busibeat.txt "Businessman beats drum for education reforms" Eastside Journal (Bellevue Wa) September 24, 1997 p. A2 Molly O'Connor. F101697 Bellevue -- Hire students who take tougher classes. Get involved in school proram jplanning. Don't let school board candidates dismiss low test scores during elections this fall. And ask your local school distrit for individual results on the state's new assessment test for fourth graders. > From: DaveTNCLE@aol.com > To: arthurhu@halcyon.com > Subject: Re: Are you as Smart as your 4th Grader > In a message dated 97-10-16 15:16:44 EDT, you write: > > << > Every conventional test rates Washington students > at about national average, and considering that > America is tops on verbal tests > [What in the world are you talking about? Verbal tests in what, English? That's the flip side of these internatinal competitions, the US does quite well in verbal tests, every nation uses its own language > How about NAEP data showing that approx. 1/4 of all _high school seniors_ > can't read proficiently?] That suffer from the same problem as the WA test, when you say 40% of student's can't read as well as expected, but 50% is the definition of grade level. The standard is set arbitrarily, whereas the curve is wherever the curve happens to be. > > , and only lags > the workaholic Asian nations on the math tests, > > [WOW! "workaholic"? Value judment here. And again, where are you getting > your data. This isn't the result of the TIMSS study for 8th grade, and the > 4th grade study was skewed by lack of participation by some of the higher > performing students.] > > yes, current levels, at least at the 50th > percentile level are FINE, thank you. > > [Wonderful. Even the kids think they aren't being challenged enough (at least > at the hs level, but you're happy with the way things are. Great.] Kids are welcome to score above the 50th percentile if they want to, half of the kids always score above that level. Who decided that all of a sudden we must make a quantum leap in expectations to "compete in the 21st century?" That's just plain stupid. You improve on what you have, not start a whole new moon shot approach, which is exactly what you are doing when the new standards calls grade level equal to zero knowledge. > > > Or do you think it IS > realistic for everybody to study as if they > were Asian or Jewish? > > [We're way past value judgments here and into the area of racist sterotypes. > But, yes, I do think students should work, hard, at getting an education.] > From my view as an overachieving Asian, I don't think Americans are so stupid in choosing to NOT place academic achievment above all else as Asians choose to do. Harvard is considered to be a better college than MIT, but it has lower SAT scores. > > I'd like more info on these alleged > [You do love biased language, don't you.] > > "effective > teacher" studies, the only students who > perform at the 85th percentile or better are > those in Mercer Island schools, private or > better, and the only ones at 45 or lower are > minorities, regardless of whether they are > in poor urban areas, or affluent suburbs. > More likely, your so-called "effective teachers" > are the ones in affluent white/ASian > communities with "effective students". > > [Wrong, again. The 1995 Graphical Analysis of TVAAS data, available from the > Tennessee State Department of Education, or, if they're out, contact Dr. > William Sanders at the University of Tennessee, shows that schools 100% > minority schools ranged above and below national norm gains just as did 100% > majority schools.] > > You may well be right that the test proposed in WA isn't a good one. But to > suggest that 4th grade standards today are exactly what they should be seems > completely unreasonable. In TN a few years ago, writing standards were > developed, by teachers, for a new writing test. The scoring system was from > 1-6 with 4 being the lowest level of proficiency. Imagine the surprise when > the results came back and even good schools with well-off kids placed hardly > any kids at a 4 and 5's and 6's were virtually unheard of. There's pretty > good evidence that teachers, when pulled out of the classroom where they are > confronted with children they care for, will set achievement standards that > they think their children can meet which are way higher than those children > are actually achieving. The work of the New Standards Project in Houston has > shown that this happens, but that if the teachers will take achievement > seriously, the kids can meet the teachers' expectations. > > Dave Shearon > Nashville, TN > > > The main problem with the "all students will learn" mantra is that what really happens is that the unprepared are slapped on the same track as the wiz kids when they haven't even mastered the basics, so that they're really up a creek without a paddle. You stick an underachiever at MIT, and they absolutely won't "achieve to expectation", they'll just flunk out. I'm very skeptical of these Tennesee results because of my survey (see the National Review) of several school districts that show that the ONLY places with very high test scores are either magnet schools or rich schools, and minorities do poorly no matter how good or integrated the school system is, with the exception of magnet schools. > Date: Thu, 16 Oct 1997 09:27:14 -0700 > From: "Dale R. Reed" > Reply-to: dale-reed@postoffice.worldnet.att.net > To: arthurhu@mail1.halcyon.com > Subject: Re: ed briefs > Arthur, > http://www.leconsulting.com/arthurhu/index/washtest.htm >>>>>>> Oops! > > This link does not work for me. And I am trying to understand where you > are really coming from on this issue. I have this, > I've got no problem with high standards, but it's got to be based on something realistic. This crap is simply setting the bar at 115 IQ and then promising that everybody will meet it just by saying "all children will learn", and clicking your heels 3 times. If you want EVERYBODY to be up where the Jews and Asians are, it won't be with this silly dumbed down "I hate facts, let's talk about higher level thinking" crap. We know exactly what separates the performers from the laggards, and that's precisely what the reformers want to shoot down as "unfair" and "elitist". You've got to study your brains out to get on top, and that means more of the old fashioned stuff, not this new fangled feel good nonsense. Setting standards so high now only serves the purpose of raising an alarm to justify radical, unproven reforms. Bergeson doesn't have a clue as to what reforms they're actually going to do, she just says that when we reform, we'll all meet the new test. That's just stupid and ignorant, and only people in high office with credentials can get away with saying such idiotic statements with a straight face. > But what do you think can be done about what we both think is > foolishness? I pity the poor children and teachers being put under such > pressures but most conservatives believe in "high" standards. The > Chinese family that lives across the street from my home believes in > "high" standards. They have their little third grade shy girl in both > the government school and are payin $70/month to Kumon. > > Arthur do you believe in performance or just seat time? > > The truancy laws just forced seat time but now it appears that the State > expects the prisoners to pay attention to all the gobbly gook. > > I have lots of ideas about lots of things. But I am not a leader or > politician and wished the reference URL worked so I could better > understand where you want to go with all of this. > > Actually I am not a very good follower either but we will not go into > that right now. Most of Arthur I am not so much interested in what does > not work as to what might work better. It seems to me that we would > have to reach some agreement on what would be better so we will know > when we have accomplished our mission. Even little daily evidences that > we are not wasting our time would be nice. > > Even before we name our effort. Especially before we name our effort. > > I have copied an older letter of mine below so you can better understand > where I am coming from. Dale > > Homesch1.doc > > HIGHLINE TIMES Wednesday, October 14, 1981 > > PARENT PRAISES HOME SCHOOLING > > Editor: > I have just returned from a two-day Northwest Home Schooling conference > in Arlington, Wash., where hundreds of parents exchanged ideas on the > best ways of educating their children. It was very encouraging to see > all the bright-eyed boys and girls and their interesting young parents > from Washington, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and California working together > on a project that was obviously very important to them. It certainly > did not jibe with the comments of Superintendent Steele(Seattle School > District Superintendent Donald Steele) on television recently that > families are becoming extinct and the children will be raised by large > governmental institutions in the future. > There must have been tens of different political, religious and > educational philosophies held by the conference participants, but I > believe we all agreed that we parents wanted primary responsibility for > determining our children’s values. We believe that children should be > taught by the people that love them and that children should participate > in the larger adult world, learning how real decisions are made. > The home schooling movement is growing. The results are positive and I > heartily recommend that parents who want to be responsible for their > children’s character development obtain a copy of John Holt’s "Teach > Your Own" and carefully consider his advice. Holt told us at the > conference that learning is not being taught tricks (how to get a high > test score) and that external discipline never turns into internal > discipline. > It’s my opinion that the basic question is whether we want a society of > humans who will jump when the authorities say jump, or would we prefer > that each individual develops his or her own moral code and be educated > well enough to confidently act independently of the group. The decision > is being made by the parents of today’s little boys and girls. > Dale Reed > Burien > -- > $ dale-reed@worldnet.att.net Seattle, Washington U.S.A. $ > Date sent: Fri, 17 Oct 1997 08:55:58 -0400 To: joaneb001@aol.com From: Fred Battey Subject: Re: Tests I think Charlies last paragraph is super. Fred >From: Cmr1234@aol.com >Date: Thu, 16 Oct 1997 23:24:43 -0400 (EDT) >To: mcnee@sthelens-net.co.uk >cc: EDUCATION-CONSUMERS@tricon.net (clearinghouse) >Subject: Re: Tests >Sender: owner-education-consumers@tricon.net > >Mona: YES!! Tests are absolutely necessary for accountability. > >In my learning center we did a lot of testing, and insisted on 90% as a >passing grade in everything (or no more than one wrong if it was a short >test)! And the kids loved it! > >Sometimes they would even ask to take the test for the next unit, knowing >they could skip the work if tyhey could make the grade. It was also very >comfortable for them because they early learned that we would not give them >a test without there being a good probability of their getting a 100! > >Kids like tests, as long as they're fair, as a way to show what they can do. > Kids do not hate tests. Weak teachers hate tests. What kids hate is >failure! > >Charlie > >EDUCATION CONSUMERS CLEARINGHOUSE > > Date sent: Fri, 17 Oct 1997 08:38:23 -0400 To: arthurhu@halcyon.com From: Fred Battey Subject: Re: ed briefs Arthur - Well said. Fred At 09:54 AM 10/16/97 -0700, you wrote: >> Date: Thu, 16 Oct 1997 09:27:14 -0700 >> From: "Dale R. Reed" >> Reply-to: dale-reed@postoffice.worldnet.att.net >> To: arthurhu@mail1.halcyon.com >> Subject: Re: ed briefs > >I've got no problem with high standards, but it's got to be based >on something realistic. This crap is simply setting the bar at >115 IQ and then promising that everybody will meet it just by >saying "all children will learn", and clicking your heels 3 >times. > >If you want EVERYBODY to be up where the Jews and Asians >are, it won't be with this silly dumbed down "I hate facts, let's >talk about higher level thinking" crap. We know exactly what >separates the performers from the laggards, and that's precisely >what the reformers want to shoot down as "unfair" and "elitist". > >You've got to study your brains out to get on top, and that means >more of the old fashioned stuff, not this new fangled feel >good nonsense. Setting standards so high now only serves the >purpose of raising an alarm to justify radical, unproven >reforms. Bergeson doesn't have a clue as to what reforms they're >actually going to do, she just says that when we reform, we'll >all meet the new test. That's just stupid and ignorant, and only >people in high office with credentials can get away with >saying such idiotic statements with a straight face. Cantu is also famous for threatening any college that admits without racial preferences with its "investigation" of U Cal. She then wrote a letter to the Wall Street Journal explainaing that nothing in the law requires colleges to give racial preferences. Say what??? > Date: Fri, 17 Oct 1997 08:25:22 -0400 > To: joaneb001@aol.com > From: Fred Battey > Subject: Biling Ed/US DOE-OCR/MALDEF > >X-POP3-Rcpt: fredb001@blue > >Return-Path: > >From: TibTerry@aol.com > >Date: Thu, 16 Oct 1997 18:23:03 -0400 (EDT) > >To: fredb001@spectra.net, Dollarman9@aol.com, AHANDFHAND@aol.com, > > LYTK73A@prodigy.com > >Subject: Biling Ed/US DOE-OCR/MALDEF > > > >Just found out today from head of English First that the Office of Civil > >Rights (OCR), U.S. Dept. of Ed, is now headed by ex-MALDEF leader Norma > >Cantu. MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund) was > >represented at the CA Assembly Education Committee re SB 6, where I testified > >against SB 6 because it allows 3 of 4 approaches to teaching English that > >focus on native language. MALDEF attorney (Martha Jimenez?) also testified, > >falsely, claiming the Collier-Thomas Study as "proving" the need for > >native-language instruction. Then, she whipped out a letter from OCR - DOE > >threatening a suit if bilingual education is replaced by ESL. OCR has been > >involved in Marin Co., Orange, and Oakland school districts, (and I'm sure > >more) forcing the expansion of native-language bilingual education under > >threat of suit. OCR is suing Orange Unified for the Board's Decision to go > >with ESL, under the guise of violation of civil rights. Attorney Peter Roos, > >also an ex-MALDEF attorney, filed suit against the district. Apparently, > >Orange has been forced to spend more money on its legal defense against the > >OCR - DOE challenge than on students! The MALDEF-OCR/DOE link explains this > >"one, two" punch that has paralyzed efforts to reform bilingual ed. Terry > >Graham > > > > > The intenational TIMSS is not broken down by race, but the US-based NAEP IS. The data points that I have used are 1. most reports are that the Japanese are about 2 years head of the US. The NAEP tags Asians at somewhere between 1 and 1.something years ahead of national average in math, so the gap is the same. In test.htm, the NAEP gives the race numbers. 2. If you take the over-representation at the top levels of the Koreans vs. the US, and compare them against the SAT, compensating for the fact that the SAT only tests the top 50% of the US, the over-representation of Asian Americans on the SAT is about the same. I need to put these numbers back up on the web, if you have the TIMSS numbers, you can compare them to the SAT distributions I have on test.htm 3. In most cities and suburbs (with the exception of places like Seattle and DC where whites are much more affluent and better educated than Asians), Asians score much higher than whites on math. This is true in almost every Seattle Suburb, San Francisco bay area, and Boston. And urban whites are often above national average to start. 4. Stevenon of U Michigan has taken the position that this isn't true, but he has only taken a survey of Minneapolis, where Asians are much worse than their national average, since it is dominated by poor refugees, and white IQ's are generally acknowleged to be higher than average. 5. SAT math scores broken down by language are only slightly lower for those with english as a 1st language as those where it isn't. 6. It's also obvious that whether or not the Asian Amercan lead is just as big as as the Asian foreigner lead, it's a big lead, and if anything, Asians on average to to WORSE schools than whites when you count the large number in urban centers like Oakland, San Francisco, Boston and Seattle. Only a small percentage of Asians go to "juku" type classes. I did an asian week piece on this topic, but I can't find it, I'll have to rescan the print version. Myself, I'm split as to whether Americans really want to be as smart as the Asians. From my viewpoint, whites really "have it made", and they don't have to work their butts off just to compensate for discrimination like the Asians think they have to, and they may be justly shocked and disgusted with the lengths that Asian go through to make sure their kids end up on top. If you saw "Girls Like Us" on PBS following 5 inner city girls, it was a "nonjudgemental" look at teen girls, it was fine for the 3 that got pregnant or dropped out, but it was the Asian girl who was singled out for having parents from hell who wouldn't let her daughter have sex or even date even in the senior year. Guess who ended up in an Ivy league school? And do think Americans want parents like this? The American attitude towards success is if you're rich and smart you get in , otherwise you don't, vs. Asian "I'll die of shame if I don't get into MIT with straight A's", or the black "it's my !@#$% right to have 12% blacks at MIT" Can I officially join "Mathematically Correct" so that I can tell the press that I'm part of this organization? Otherwise, I'm just a lone nut nobody pays attention to. Your endorsement or deputization would help out a great deal, and I'd help evangelize your movement. I'll have to look into these other schools. I just found the Baltimore Sun K12 test score page, and it ranks Barclay well above county average, but well below state average, so maybe it isn't all that high. Still, your examples are consistent with the "ganas" theory that the only places where minorities perform is a place where performance is the focus of the purpose, not just a generic "balanced" education. I'm convinced that you'll never get the vast majority of minorities to perform with their current life view, but if you work on those with desire, it might catch on later. Asians are evidently the only group that is infected with this mindset from the poorest on up. (perhaps the Jews have this too) > Date: Thu, 16 Oct 1997 21:53:14 -0700 > From: Mike McKeown > Subject: Math score data > To: arthurhu@halcyon.com > Cc: pclopton@vapop.ucsd.edu > Reply-to: mckeown@salk.edu > Mr. Hu, > > Your article in National Review was forwarded to me. I have no > trouble accepting the conclusion that hard work, well applied, makes a > significant difference in academic achievement. In many ways this is > extremely heartening news. > > One thing you reported in the NR was that Asians in the US score as > well as Asians in Asia on various tests. This is an important piece > of information, especially in shaping US education policy. > Specifically, if what you say is true, then various conclusions from > the TIMSS report would seem to be discredited, if not completely, at > least significantly. > > We checked with various people associated with TIMSS and all of them > claim that there was no breakout of US data that included Asians as a > specific scored group. Thus, the TIMSS people claim not to have data > relevant to your statement. > > Could you give us a short summary of the data, or at least pointers to > the appropriate places in your homepage, that would allow us to have > the data that you used to draw your conclusions? > > This request is not based on the desire to prove you wrong. Rather > those of us in California may need these data to work for high state > math standards. We are faced with a set of draft state math standards > that are, at the high school level, watered down from what our best > students are now doing. The excuse has been that they need to be more > like Asian standards, but the reality is that they are far less > rigorous than standards that would match the Japanese texts we have > seen. Unfortunately, one of the "consultants" to the California > Department of Education is William Schmidt, author of the TIMSS study. > Of all of the the people reporting on TIMSS, he is the one who most > strongly advocates the idea that the diffence between the US and East > Asian countries is curriculum, especially number of topics per year. > This is an interesting conclusion in that the fraction of variance in > TIMSS scores attributable to number of topics per year is only about > 3%, less than the approximately 8% of variance contributed by amount > of algebra taught in grade 8. > > Solid data showing that math achievement in US East Asians approaches > or matches that of East Asians in Asia would significantly contradict > many of Schmidt's assertions and get us back to working on truly world > class, high, rigorous, testable standards. We need these data to > inform our state board while they still have time to fix the draft. > > Change of topic ------- > > Are any of the Barklay school data available in a more complete form > than on your page? Some of them seem to reference to specific files > that are not accessible from the web. > > I suggest two schools for you to look into. Both are in Inglewood, > CA. Both are 98-100% African American or hispanic. Both are ~70% or > more subsidized lunch. The one for which I have the most information > is Bennett-Kew Elementary, the other is Kelso School. The keys are > high standards in reading and math, careful monitoring of student > progress, immediate remediation and negative consequences (failure) > for not meeting established standards (one bets there is hard work > going on also). By grade 5, Bennett-Kew students score at the 70th > NCE in math. The Principal of B-K is Nancy Ichinaga. The name of the > principal at Kelso escapes me at the moment, but FYI, she is white. I > can send the phone number and recent data if you wish. > > Thanks for help on documenting the relative success of US Asians vs > Asians in the far east. Sorry to have rambled. > > Mike McKeown > Mathematically Correct > Wait a minute. you're talking about 85th percentile in "value added?" and not 85th percentile on national scale of ability? What the heck is that supposed to mean? Now I'll have to add this to the entry I stuck under "effective teachers". It doesn't matter if it's becuase your poor or not, somebody with low percentile scores still knows a lot less than somebody with high scores, and poor Asians get scores as high as whites making $30,000 more or blacks making $70,000 more per year. Income explains differences within a race, but not between races. > From: DaveTNCLE@aol.com > Date: Thu, 16 Oct 1997 22:56:38 -0400 (EDT) > To: arthurhu@halcyon.com > Subject: Re: Are you as Smart as your 4th Grader > In a message dated 97-10-16 19:59:53 EDT, you write: > > << > The main problem with the "all students will learn" mantra > is that what really happens is that the unprepared are > slapped on the same track as the wiz kids when they haven't > even mastered the basics, so that they're really up a > creek without a paddle. You stick an underachiever at MIT, > and they absolutely won't "achieve to expectation", they'll > just flunk out. > > [Here we agree. Although many talk about high standards for all, few schools > have high standards for any. My oldest son was at a "literature" magnet > school for a while where they were giving out "A's" to students reading less > than one book per six weeks, with weak grammar and spelling skills. > > Schools around here refuse to even acknowledge weaknesses in incoming > students, frequently because, in doing so, they would create racially > identifiable programs. That is the unpardonable sin. Far better to let > students fail until they drop out. Then it's their problem.] > > I'm very skeptical of these Tennesee > results because of my survey (see the National Review) of > several school districts that show that the ONLY places > with very high test scores are either magnet schools or > rich schools, and minorities do poorly no matter how good > or integrated the school system is, with the exception of > magnet schools. > > [I'm obviously not explaining the value-added system well. It measures > gains, not raw scores. Raw scores tell more about the SES of entering > students than about the quality of the schooling. Minorities, frequently > overrepresented in low SES levels, don't come in very high. The tragedy is > that they are often allowed to fall further behind, and those who are high > achievers are offered even less challenge and rigor than their white counter > parts.] > > Dave Shearon, > Nashville, TN > > Date sent: Sat, 18 Oct 1997 20:50:51 -0400 To: joaneb001@aol.com From: Fred Battey Subject: Re: More on Best Practices Copies to: gkcunn01@ulkyvm.louisville.edu This is, in my opinion, an excellent post on John Stone's Clearinghouse. I have been watching this exchange with great interest as what George is saying is so close to my own view and I suspect also with many on our loop. However, he has said it so much better than I could have done. What they are discussing is in one of the primary areas that has been instrumental in creating this dilemma we face today. It is also one of the "puzzles" that we must overcome in defeating the academic morass that is prevalent today. Anyone who thinks defeating this problem, along with all of the rest of the educational chaos, is going to be easy must consider the enormity of the problem and address it with resolve to do so. Fred >X-POP3-Rcpt: fredb001@blue >Return-Path: >From: gkcunn01@ulkyvm.louisville.edu >X-Sender: gkcunn01@ulkyvm.louisville.edu >Date: Sat, 18 Oct 1997 12:01:09 -0400 >To: education-consumers@tricon.net >Subject: Re: More on Best Practices >Sender: owner-education-consumers@tricon.net > > >At 11:27 AM 10/17/97 -0400, I wrote, in part: > >>>I am a professor in a school of education so let me give you my slant. >>>What professors in schools of education teach has nothing to do with supply >>>and demand of teachers. Whether or not their graduates get jobs or are >>>effective doesn't affect their employment a bit. If there are fewer >>>students, that means less work for them. The only audience they need to >>>please are their academic peers. A teacher who insisted on teaching whole >>>language methods in the face of public opposition would be considered a >>>hero by their colleagues. Whether or not graduates are employed or >>>employable has never been that much of a concern of universities in general. > >and then at 03:00 PM 10/17/97, Dan Connell wrote: > >>You raise an interesting point, and I wonder: How, then, can one hope to >>see reform in today's public education on a grand scale without some change >>occurring in the way future teachers are taught? >> >>I ask this question in total sincerity. For the life of me, I can't >>rationalize major reform while colleges and universities continue to churn >>out thoughts and ideas -- reduced to pedagogy -- that, in some minds, at >>least, equate to the antithesis of meaningful reform. > >You raise an important concern, but one without an immediate solution. >Universities in general are not that concerned about preparing their >graduates for any particular job. Do you think that English professor are >concerned about what kind of jobs their students will get or how well >prepared they are? Professors in schools of education function the same >way. I suppose that enrollments could drop to the point where there were >problems, but that seems unlikely. > >I must add though that small private schools, trade schools, and some >junior colleges are very concerned about keeping their students. Not so >for larger, state supported institututions. > >Besides, it is a sellers market. Teaching, thirty years ago, was a last >choice occupation. It was something students majored in when they couldn't >do well elsewhere. This is no longer true. There are plenty of students >who want to major in education, way more than there are jobs. Some of the >best students go into teaching now. They want teaching jobs and they can't >get one with out a teaching certificate which they can only get from a >school of ed. They are not that concerned about what they are taught until >the disillusionment of their first teaching job when they realize how ill >prepared they are. Our economy is changing and good jobs for college >graduates are in short supply. Louis Gerstner (CEO for IBM, chairman of >ACHIEVE and the Educational Summitt) runs around the country telling >educators how they need to get their act together and start preparing the >technical savvy workers his company needs. Meanwhile IBM just announced >another big lay-off of these self-same technical workers. Next to a >training program to be a manager of a Taco Bell or a Jiffy Lube, teaching >begins to look pretty good. You have tenure and pretty good fringe benefits. > >Besides who makes the decisions about which teachers to hire? I would >recommend to anyone looking for a job in education that they are better off >being conversant in whole language than phonics. > >Education professors, like most professors believe they know more than >anyone else anyway. They will remain steadfast in their devotion to >progressivism regardless of what evidence is presented to them. The >phonics proponents in the Department of Education, which are gaining in >influence, have made a clever move. They use the phrase "research-based >reading programs" to denote phonics. That does not phase the academics who >support whole language, because they don't believe in science. > >What if you read the following statement to describe the thought processes >of scientists at INTEL trying to figure out how to make their chips more >powerful. > >"An intense debate is occurring in computer science about the legitimacy >and theoretical bases of various methods used to arrive at explanations for >some our our most perplexing phenomeno. It first involved the extent to >which such research could be carried out as a kind of science. The debate >has gone on, however, in recent years to address the very nature of >science, now questioning whether science has any claim to a unique way of >knowing." > >Any one who thought that way would soon be looking for a new job. But this >statement with "educational research" where "computer science" now appears, >is the lead statment in the lead article in the American Education Research >Journal, the most prestigious research journal in education. This is >mainstream thinking in education. > >Devotion to progressivism is much more related to politics than any search >for what methods are most effective. Remember, schools of education like >the rest of universities, are full of 1960s liberals. This is particularly >true of deans and associate deans. > >George K. Cunningham >University of Louisville >EDUCATION CONSUMERS CLEARINGHOUSE > > From: "Bob&Barbara Tennison" To: "Aldo Bernardo" Subject: H.R. 2264 & Sec. Riley Date sent: Sun, 19 Oct 1997 11:08:21 -0700 Copied verbatim for research United States Department of Education The Secretary September 16, 1997 Dear Members of Congress: As the House continues its consideration of H.R. 2264, the Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations bill, I understand that an amendment may be offered by Representative Hoekstra to shift all funding from at least 29 programs administered by the Department of Education into a formula grant under Title VI (formerly Chapter 2). For several reasons, I urge you to oppose this amendment. First, it would undo the bipartisan budget agreement reached earlier this year. That agreement specifically agreed to the levels of funding included in the Presidents Fiscal 1998 budget for education technology, Goals 2000 and bilingual education. Each of those programs and others would be terminated for Fiscal 1998 under this amendment. Second, this amendment would have a very significant distributional impact, moving critically needed financial resources away from states and districts with large concentrations of low-income, at-risk students. It would also eliminate targeting to benefit particular populations with special needs including disadvantage students, students in need of assistance in learning English, homeless youth and immigrants. Third, it would disrupt -- in midstream -- work that has been undertaken in good faith by local school districts and other local entities under a variety of competitive grant programs -- including technology innovation challenge grants, parental assistance centers, the school-to-work program and others. This amendment would clearly undermine the work that individuals have put into these efforts to improve education in communities around the nation. Fourth, the shift that would occur under the amendment would eliminate most program accountability that has been written by Congress into the various programs from which funds would be shifted. This is a particularly troubling development just at this time when the Government Performance and Results Act is yielding important information in the area of program results. Finally, you should be aware that this amendment would potentially reduce funds available to local school districts by shifting funds into an account permitting state governments to reserve up to 15% for administration and their own activities. Many of the programs for which these funds would be transferred allow much smaller state set-asides. In fact, the largest of the programs that would be transferred -- Title I -- permits no more than 1% of funds to be reserved by the states. In just that one program, this amendment would allow over $1 billion I FY 98 funds --which under current law would go to local education agencies -- to potentially remain in state hands. If you have any questions whatsoever about this amendment or how it would impact your constituents specifically, the Department's Office of Legislation and Congressional Affairs will be glad to provide further details. The can be reached at 401-0020. Again, I strongly urge you and all of your colleagues to reject this ill-conceived amendment. Yours sincerely, (signed: Dick Riley) Richard W. Riley ##### Now, I have a comment or two. 1] get a copy of the amendment and see if it is something this loop wants to support. 2] if so, get those letters, fax machines and telephone calls started. 3] notice that the Secretary left nothing out....technology, STW, Goals 2000, bilingual education, at risk kids, special needs kids, disadvantage kids and even PARENTAL ASSISTANCE CENTERS.... 4] he plays heavily on the fact that the state will retain a great deal of the money. Don't they "control" the money now? They certainly do in Oregon. If we don't "go along" we don't "get any money," so what changes. I do believe this amendment "block" grants funds directly to the school districts. Let's check it out. Take care, Barbara (BET) Oh yeah, somebody just sent me an article about Columbia, complaining that it started out as somebody's vision of an integrated utopica, but it's turning into just another affluent white suburb with blacks trailing badly. my notes: Suburb developed to be multi-racial and cultural, but not utopia, and turning to just a basic upper level suburb "Columbia's Child" Baltimore (magazine) March 1993 F081897 "it's too affluent across the board, with a median household income of more than $55,000. The county's blacks, largely limited to Columbia, constitute the third most affluent black population in the nation" ------- Forwarded Message Follows ------- Date: Sun, 19 Oct 1997 05:03:24 -0400 From: KEISIOUX <75713.1375@compuserve.com> Subject: Problems with Maryland Test To: "INTERNET:arthurhu@halcyon.com" just a quick demographic fyi re Maryland tests: not sure how familiar you are with local geography there, but Howard County is basically the town of Columbia, a residential suburb (not unlike say Bellevue or kirkland or Bothell in some ways) of - I forget, 25-50k? - halfway between DC and Baltimore. It was an early project of the Rouse Co, the group who did Westlake Center, Baltimore's Harborplace, Boston's Faneuil Hall, etc; far as I know, it's the only city they've done, and probably one of America's first planned communities (commercial sites are integrated into the residential areas, some so well as to be invisible and impossible to find). I'd assume it's mostly white but there are a lot of blacks in the general area (besides the two major cities of course, Prince Georges Co covering the east of DC is south of Howard Co, and even Montgomery Co, the most white and well-off of Maryland's DC suburbs, is fairly well integrated). Howard Co is basically rural and, in the last few decades, residential; it also includes Fort Meade and therefore a fair bit of the US intelligence community. I've only briefly visited there; a cousin who grew up in Montgomery Co and went to med school in Baltimore lived in Columbia for ~2 years during his internship. If you need to know more local geography to understand the article, let me know. I doubt I can get detailed stats but "very general feel" kind of info I can provide. From: jlhoffm@ibm.net Date sent: Mon, 20 Oct 1997 18:32:59 -0400 To: arthurhu@halcyon.com Subject: Re: Certificate of Mastery Arthur Hu wrote: > > Where the heck does this certificate of > mastery idea come from that popping up > all over the place all of the sudden? > > Does it always come with OBE / PBE? > It's a bad idea > right?======================================================================== The Certificate of Mastery is what the schools will now be presenting to high school graduates after they have learned how to flip burgers properly. COMs are now given...high school diplomas are not. And no, this is not a joke. Jodi Hoffman "When an opponent declares, "I will not come over to your side", I calmly say, "Your child belongs to us already"... --Adolph Hitler (Adolph Hitler, speaking about the schools and their indoctrination of the Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth Corps). Date sent: Mon, 20 Oct 1997 18:07:08 -0400 To: joaneb001@aol.com From: Fred Battey Subject: Christian Prayer >X-POP3-Rcpt: fredb001@blue >Return-Path: >Date: Mon, 20 Oct 1997 16:11:02 -0500 >From: marjorie/gene malone >To: fredb001@spectra.net >Subject: Christian Prayer > >Fred-for Loopies. If you like the Prayer-use as you will. gene malone > > A CHRISTIAN STUDENT'S PRAYER > BY-Gene Malone-public school teacher-retired > > > > Dear God, please guide me in the ways of Truth through this > >school day. Please forgive us for expelling you from our schools so > >long ago. > In science we are taught that all are evolved from apes. Some >protest that our pledge to our flag has the part, "One Nation under >God." The school believes thare are no absolutes and the counselors say, >"Don't tell your parents." Our history texts have been edited to be >politically correct. How we feel, or self-esteem is extra important. >Our learning of information and clear thinking seem unimportant, and now >we must always work in groups and share our efforts with those who don't >care. Spelling is inventive, penmanship is printing, math is thought >problems without data. We cannot carry your word, the Bible. We may >not say grace at government-provided lunches. Our sex-education class >says,"Do your own thing," excellence has been replaced by equality and >mediocrity, and the new OUTCOME BASED EDUCATION (OBE) makes me feel so >dumb. It is such a long, purposeless day, Lord. > > One more thing ,Lord. We must memorize the -now eight-national >goals (2OOO) and always "stay on task." But, Dear Lord, I want you to >know, the OBE -government school will not allow your rules, the Ten >Commandments, to be posted in my school. One thing, though, Lord: I >have memorized as a guide these words from your book, the Bible: "For >God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and >of a sound mind." (2nd Timothy l:7) > > Dear Lord, I'll talk more to you later. My minute's up for the >day. I'd really like to be free and believe that the things unseen >(love, courage, Faith, truth, patriotism, friendship, kindness and many >other things) unseen are important in the life you gave me ,too, and not >just the OBE process measureable computer bits and pieces. Thank you-my >friends and I will visit you longer-again-Sunday-Amen. > > "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not on > thine own understanding. In all ways, acknowledge Him, and He > shall direct thy paths." (Proverbs 3:5-6) > > > PRAY FOR ME... > > OK, you're on my list, I guess I might be the front runner for most ticked off guy in the state about these new tests, it appears that they have been deliberately set way beyond anyone's idea of what 4th grade level is, and Bergeson and nearly every educator in the state refuses to say that the math test has been set too hard. It's like setting pass point at 130 IQ, declaring 80% of the population a failure, but then promising that 100% will pass the test next time by clicking your heels 3 times and saying "all students will learn" BTW, since blacks are nearly a full standard deviation behind the white mean, it's just as discriminatory as the classic IQ tests which typically place blacks one standard deviation back. In fact, it's probably worse than an IQ test, since Blacks in WA are much more like "northern" blacks who typically score 90+ rather than 85 IQ, A good place to start is my washington test page at http://www.leconsulting.com/arthurhu/index/ washtest.htm I'm starting to put links elsewhere. I just got back complete distributions, the 50th percentile student fell into the "1" category on math, which is equivalent to "knows almost nothing" I appear to have been the only person ever quoted as stating the test is too hard (seattle times eastside, eastside journal) You can be the 3rd person to quote me on that. It's all a scam to scare people into rushing into unproven reforms where the only track record so far is a trail of disaster, according to mathematically correct, which I now am officially a part of. phone 425-557-1000 x4504 > Date: Fri, 17 Oct 1997 18:21:34 -0700 > To: arthurhu@mail1.halcyon.com > From: Barb Witt > Subject: Washington Loop > Cc: richard.clayton@columbian.com > Arthur: Please post to the loop. > > Richard Clayton is a new education reporter at The Columbian in Vancouver, > Washington. He tells me that he is willing to write factual material > regarding education reform, rather than the usual PR for the schools that > The Columbian usually prints. He requests information. Please ask the > loop to forward the following to richard.clayton@columbian.com > > 1) Information on education reform in general as well as its various > components, i.e., portfolios, journals, testing, block scheduling, STW, etc. > > 2) Books and publications regarding education reform. > > 3) Persons to contact statewide and nationally regarding education issues. > > 4) Web sites. > > > Mr. Clayton is willing to learn, so we need to provide him with enough > information to enable him to form an educated opinion, independent of the > educrats' propaganda to which he is accustomed. Please also send him > pertinent, prior posted info. > > Mr. Clayton would also like to be added to the loop. > > Thanks! > I'd like to note that scoring "average" in a cluster that's far below average is actually pretty good considering the odds. If you can get below average kids to score even average, that's something. quote..... The scores showed mixed results on the Stanford Nine for students at Vaughn--a charter school that has attracted widespread attention from educators and political figures, including First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. Four of the school's five grades posted higher scores than their counterparts at neighboring campuses in reading, language, spelling and math. For example, the median first-grade score at Vaughn was in the 36th percentile nationally in the four subjects combined, the highest composite rank any grade at the school achieved. That compared to the 25th percentile for the median first-grade score in the school district's administrative cluster of schools covering Pacoima and San Fernando. But Vaughn's students showed less impressive results compared to students districtwide. Only Vaughn's first- and fifth-graders outscored their district counterparts in the four subjects. Indeed, Vaughn's students ranked about the same nationally overall as other elementary pupils in the district. I've heard a lot about "reconsistitution", is this a scam or what? The main determinant of how well a school does is the SES, race and education of the parents, not how good the teachers are. My philosiphy is that you can put the top 5% in a warehouse with bozo the clown, and they'll learn, you can put the bottom 5% with the best teacher in the best school in the state, and they'll still flunk out. How come there's almost no opposition to reconsistution? From: brucec76@ix.netcom.com Date sent: Mon, 20 Oct 1997 18:46:59 -0500 (CDT) To: arthurhu@mail1.halcyon.com Subject: Re: Certificate of Mastery Arthur, I know you're going to be inundated with answers to this from those who've fought this longer, and understand it better, than I. Clue: To say it's a bad idea is the nicest thing one can say about it. BC On 10/20/97 06:38:35 you wrote: > >Where the heck does this certificate of >mastery idea come from that popping up >all over the place all of the sudden? > >Does it always come with OBE / PBE? > >It's a bad idea right? > > From: LizHupp@aol.com Date sent: Tue, 21 Oct 1997 09:19:01 -0400 (EDT) To: arthurhu@halcyon.com Subject: Re: Mental math and estimation Dear Arthur As a parent, I think the estimation and mental math is a good thing--it is a practical skill! I use it when I am calculating how much I spend at the grocery store. It helps my kids learn that there are times when you don't have to get bogged down with getting the precise answer, that sometimes an estimate is enough--and then to practice getting one. I wish I had more of that skill. In my opinion, students should be allowed to graduate from high school with low grades and test scores. If you want to signify graduation at some minimal standard of performance, there should be a separate credential. Tests are good for sorting out students on a curve, but not for setting cutoffs of minimal levels of competence Attaching test scores to graduation or grade promotion seems to be a central point of all of the new reform schemes. We don't need to raise standards, we just need to increase the number of students who meet or exceed the standards we already have. Black hs grad rates are comparable to whites, but their skill levels are not, that doesn't mean they should not graduate, but more emphasis should be placed on measuring skills as an additional credential. > Date: Mon, 20 Oct 1997 23:01:00 -0800 > From: family > To: Alaska Ed LOOP > Subject: Alaska Math Performance Standards > LOOP: > I just received the following as the Alaska Math Performance Standards > put out for public comment. Once adopted they will be the basis for > establishing a State graduation competancy exam. I would appreciate any > comments or feedback. My understanding is that the DOE will be > contracting the test formation out and it will be brought to the > legislature in April. > > Dr William Pfeifer > ------------------------------------------------- > > Some Questions and Answers > About Performance Standards > > What Are Performance Standards? Performance standards are the specific > expectations aligned with the content standards. > > How Do Performance Standards Relate to the Alaska Content Standards? > The Alaska content standards are the general expectations of our > communities of what students should know and be able to do. The > Performance Standards are more specific and help guide teachers, > students, and parent understand the specific expectations of what > students should know from elementary through high school. > > Do These Performance Standards Contain Everything A Student Should Know > About Math? Certainly not – these performance standards should help > teachers plan lessons and create assessments, but these standards are > not a substitute for detailed daily planning by teachers and curriculum > coordinators in school districts. > > What is the purpose of the Performance Standards? The purpose of these > performance standards is to help writers of assessments and > instructional units identify what constitutes "proficient" student > performance in relationship to Alaska academic standards. In addition, > performance standards can help citizens, policy-makers, administrators, > teachers, parents, and students understand the specific expectations for > students that are implied in the Alaska content standards. District and > state assessments should be based on these standards so that students > know in advance what is expected of them and so that teachers can > prepare students appropriately. > > Do the Performance Standards Mean That Every Math Class in Alaska is > Identical? Certainly not. Every district has wide latitude in the > creation and implementation of its math curriculum, likewise every > teacher has wide latitude with regard to how lessons are created and > presented. However, these performance standards do seek to create an > equality of educational opportunity for every student in the state. > Students from Barrow to Ketchikan should all have the same opportunity > to learn math at high levels and a family's choice to move from one > location to another should not put any student at a disadvantage. > State-wide performance standards can help to provide guidance to > districts and teachers so that this equality of opportunity is afforded > to all students. > > Who Will Use These Performance Standards? For districts that are I'm MIT 1980, so I'm not that much younger, we sent 4 to MIT undergrad and 3 to Stanford, plus the last MIT did Stanford grad. It's my opinion based on our experience that you don't have to have an upgraded curriculum as long as you ace the curriculum that you already have. My high school didn't even offer calculus the year I was there, it was and I believe still standard for MIT people to take calculus when they get there as freshmen. What got me into this loop is the new WA assessment test has questions that are way out of 4th grade level (dimensioned 2 view oblique drawings, use similar triangles to measure a flagpole, interpret frequency histograms), the 50th percentile score was "1", meaning zero competency, only 20% "passed" the "standard", and then the superintendent went all around the state telling people that the test wasn't too hard since Bellevue had one school where 70% passed (it had 90% over 50th percentile on the CTBS, and the highest score of any school in the state), and telling people that they expect that 100% of students will be able to pass this test once "new expectations are set" Did you notice that the first year of CLAS, 0% got the top math score and only 5% got the 2nd highest score? The press completely ignored race and income disparity, which is what they hammered traditional tests for, and failed to question a standard that basically said nobody achieved the highest level of achievement in math. At least the Washington press did highlight "horrendous" minority results, but their figures show blacks behind in math by 0.8 SD, which makes it just as discriminatory and "racist" as an IQ test. I don't get it why all the liberals are wild when they get to design new tests, test are fine when they are done the old fashioned way, to measure students on a curve. This "all students will master higher level thinking" looniness is nuts. Please add a link on your page to my washington asessment test page at http://www.leconsulting.com/arthurhu/index/washtest.htm and my math education page at http://www.leconsulting.com/arthurhu/index/math.htm and my general affirmative aciton/education page at http://www.leconsulting.com/arthurhu/hu1st.htm > Date: Mon, 20 Oct 1997 15:03:11 -0700 > From: Mike McKeown > Subject: Re: Math score data > To: arthurhu@halcyon.com > RE>>Math score data 10/20/97 > > Are you Stanford or MIT. I was Stanford 75. > > As you note, the scores I sent are in the middle, not the top, with the > possible exception of Bennett-Kew math. On the other hand, this is testing > all kids (including those who come from non-English speaking homes) in a > situation in which similar schools score in the 20s. In an era when Whole > Language has reduced reading scores in even affluent schools, this is > impressive. > > Mike > > Wrong? There are very, very few exceptions to the rule that outstanding schools either serve affluent neighborhoods, or select the best performers from a diverse large population. Can you name any schools that are outstanding because of their teacher's value added scores??? The underlying assumption that the problem with poor inner city schools is that the teachers are bad overlooks student performance, and performance of African Americans and Hispanics is poor no matter how good the school system is. (see my National Review study) > From: DaveTNCLE@aol.com > To: arthurhu@halcyon.com > Subject: Re: reconsitution > In a message dated 97-10-20 20:49:25 EDT, you write: > > << The main > determinant of how well a school does is > the SES, race and education of the parents, > not how good the teachers are. > >> > > Wrong. Of course teachers and schools cannot totally compensate for external > factors. But they can make a HUGE cumulative difference. Could the help > kids "catch up" in the K-12 time span? Hard to say, but I'd love to pick a > faculty by value-added scores and given them a chance to find out. > > Dave Shearon, > Nashville, TN > My opinion is based on the experience of a Chinese American family that sent 7 out of 7 kids to MIT and / or Stanford with 99th percentile SAT scores out of fairly average / mediocre Renton WA public schools which did not have AP calculus, and about average introduction of college-track courses. That's proof that 1970-era standards are more than good enough for kids to excel, as long as they master them instead of skidding by at 20% to 30% correct out of a battery of tests. My National Review study shows that Asians consistently perform at a level about 1 notch up in affluence compared to whites in suburbs. There is NO difference in curriculum between the two races in any of these neighborhoods. Thus, there is no need for Washington, for example to set standards with a 4th grade test that appears to have been deliberately set at a 6th or 7th grade level, hoping that no one would notice (and almost no one has noticed) > From: DaveTNCLE@aol.com > To: arthurhu@halcyon.com > Subject: Re: Math score data > In a message dated 97-10-21 16:56:13 EDT, you write: > > << > It's my opinion based on our experience that > you don't have to have an upgraded curriculum > as long as you ace the curriculum that you > already have. >> > > > Sorry, but your opinion once again varies from facts. Tennessee's evidence > clearly indicates that failure to provide challenging work (e.g, algebra by > no later than 8th grade, AP courses in high school) results in significantly > lowered achievement levels. Where do you get your opinions, anyway? > > Dave Shearon, > Nashville, TN > Date sent: Tue, 21 Oct 1997 18:36:15 -0400 To: joaneb001@aol.com From: Fred Battey Subject: Re: Education issue of Time Magazine >X-POP3-Rcpt: fredb001@blue >Return-Path: >From: gkcunn01@ulkyvm.louisville.edu >X-Sender: gkcunn01@ulkyvm.louisville.edu >Date: Tue, 21 Oct 1997 16:06:18 -0400 >To: education-consumers@tricon.net, conserv-exceledu@listproc.bgsu.edu >Subject: Re: Education issue of Time Magazine >Sender: owner-education-consumers@tricon.net > >At 10:54 AM 10/21/97 -0700, Caleb Burns wrote: >>Time magazine focused this week on education, and it really did a number >>on Goodman and the "whole language" approach. The article noted that >>phonics is particularly useful with inner-city minority kids (whose >>families don't have many books) and the article noted that phonics is >>being especially denied to these youngers, etc., etc. (Also, an article on >>school vouchers, etc.) >> > >Yes this is good article and it provides more evidence that the pendulum is >swinging towards more phonics. As an indication of how misguided some can >be, on another list I received a message in wich Ken Goodman recommends >this article. The article makes Goodman look pretty bad I thing. > >You can access this article on the web. Go to the the Drudge Report. This >should be on everyone bookmarks. Address is www.drudgereport.com. In >addition to gossip and late breaking news, this site has connections to >nearly every magazine, newspaper, and columnist in the country. It has few >graphics so it is very quick. From Drudge Report click on Time Magazine, >and then the issue on education. > > >George K. Cunningham >University of Louisville >EDUCATION CONSUMERS CLEARINGHOUSE > > From: LKFS43A@prodigy.com (MR JOHN D SHEPARD) Date sent: Wed, 22 Oct 1997 00:46:12, -0500 To: arthurhu@halcyon.com Subject: reconsitution But Arthur, surely you realize that ability-tracking and objective (merit) testing is opposed by the NEA because they feel it lowers the self-esteem of the indolent and the doofuses. That why they devised "portfolio assessments" where you can carry about your colored drawings to show and be praised for without having to actually learn to spell, read or add. Is this a great country, or what?//John I've already complained to the seattle press about why they are so wimpy about asking critical questions about these new inititatives. You think Ohio is bad? They're going to be blowing state money in WA to put copies of sample questions on the placemats in every McDonalds's in the state. At least maybe that will wake up the parents to the kind of luncacy that's going on when they ring the alarm bell that their 4th grade students aren't passing a test written to the 6th or 7th grade level. > From: JeniH80939@aol.com > To: arthurhu@halcyon.com > Subject: Re: Opposing loony standards in Ohio (thank god) > Arthur, > As you read on Diana's web page the press has been on our side of the > education issues. Now go back to Diana's web page and click on the 3rd year > application for STW-it should be the second item or so. Go to Management and > Administration (3.0?) scan through this document until you see Statewide > Marketing Outreach Campaign-$300,000. Read this. Here, it states plainly that > the Ohio STW office is going to spend $300,000 to influence the media with > targeted letters-to-editor and op-ed columns. Think of it. This is our tax > dollars, they will be using to have a campaign against us. They will have > professional letter writers writing letters and op-columns to try and beat us > here in Ohio. Talk about being sleazy. > > Also, if you haven't found it already, Diana's 70 some page report on > education and the workforce is under the National Arena. Her report is > called:Report on the Work Towards National Standards. Tell everyone about her > work. Alot of the people on the loop have read her report as she is a part of > our loop here. > Just so you might know, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Columbus Dispatch > are the 2 largest daily papers in Ohio, with the Akron Beacon being 3rd and > Dayton Daily being the 4th. My letter to the editor on the standards is under > "Put the state board in its place"-Columbus Dispatch with a daily readership > of 375,000+. > If you want to influence your newspaper reporters,you should copy some > articles tht the editors or reporters wrote and send them to a reporter with > a question of "why do I have to read this type of story on education in > another state's paper?" A reporter loves to read why other journalists are > writing. > > Jeni Horn > From: DaveTNCLE@aol.com Date sent: Wed, 22 Oct 1997 06:03:20 -0400 (EDT) To: arthurhu@halcyon.com Subject: Re: reconsitution In a message dated 97-10-20 20:49:25 EDT, you write: << My philosiphy is that you can put the top 5% in a warehouse with bozo the clown, and they'll learn, you can put the bottom 5% with the best teacher in the best school in the state, and they'll still flunk out. >> Wrong again. Are you totally uninterested in facts? This is the exact thinking that allows schools to ignore capable learners while all the time proclaiming how much better they could do if society would just give them capable learners. Dave Shearon, Nashville, TN From: DaveTNCLE@aol.com Date sent: Wed, 22 Oct 1997 11:59:31 -0400 (EDT) To: arthurhu@halcyon.com Subject: Re: reconsitution In a message dated 97-10-22 04:04:56 EDT, you write: << Wrong? There are very, very few exceptions to the rule that outstanding schools either serve affluent neighborhoods, or select the best performers from a diverse large population. >> You are defining an outstanding school as one with high raw test scores. It is this use of test scores which has generated such antipathy in the education community. Yes, raw scores are, _in general_, closely related to SES. That is not the question. The question is the extent to which schools are helping children achieve. All children. Those who are ready and able deserve to be challenged, not held back. Those who enter school behind deserve to be challenged (and encouraged and supported)! Nothing less is acceptable from schools. Arthur, perhaps our misunderstanding, and I think we have one, comes from this. I am not fundamentally arguing with your initial complaint that the Comm. of Ed in Washington is playing games, being ridiculous, or even lying. As a plaintiff in a suit against TN's Comm., I'm probably biased toward skepticisim where state ed. officials are concerned. However, I did question your overall attack on the concept of challenging kids to excel. The vast majority of kids can do more than they are, without damaging their "childhoods", and would gladly do so and be proud of it if we'd just challenge them to do so. << Can you name any schools that are outstanding because of their teacher's value added scores???>> Maryville Middle School, Maryville, TN Barclay School, Baltimore Jaime Escalante's AP Calculus classes. Actually, there is virtually no way to answer your question realistically. Value-added data exists in quantities sufficient to guide decisions only in TN, and here the education community is just beginning to figure out that it is different from raw test scores and can actually help improve student achievement. So, to find a school with high value-added scores is virtually impossible. Increasing student achievement has not been the focus of decision making. Rather, following prescribed procedures, implementing the newest pedagogy, etc., have dominated school approaches, regardless of effects on student achievement. << The underlying assumption that the problem with poor inner city schools is that the teachers are bad overlooks student performance, and performance of African Americans and Hispanics is poor no matter how good the school system is. >> Again, to the extent you're saying they can't achieve high performance levels, it only takes one example to show this isn't true. And, we have multiple exames to show that Black and Hispanic students can achieve far better than the levels we typically see in most inner city schools. So, a significant portion of their non-performance must be laid at the feet of teachers and school systems. If you are suggesting that we should just declare such performance "acceptable" and go on, then you and I are on completely different pages. If you are saying that setting some arbitrary cut score will likely not raise achievement, then I agree. Not because the students couldn't achieve a great deal, but because teachers and school systems will not believe in them. If they did, they'd have to do what it takes to help them succeed, and that would be too hard (assuming that teachers with weak subject-matter competencies even have the capability). Dave Shearon, Nashville, TN > From: DaveTNCLE@aol.com > To: arthurhu@halcyon.com > Subject: Re: reconsitution > In a message dated 97-10-22 04:04:56 EDT, you write: > > << > Wrong? There are very, very few exceptions > to the rule that outstanding schools either > serve affluent neighborhoods, or select the > best performers from a diverse large > population. > >> > > You are defining an outstanding school as one with high raw test scores. It > is this use of test scores which has generated such antipathy in the > education community. Yes, raw scores are, _in general_, closely related to > SES. That is not the question. The question is the extent to which schools > are helping children achieve. All children. Those who are ready and able > deserve to be challenged, not held back. Those who enter school behind > deserve to be challenged (and encouraged and supported)! Nothing less is > acceptable from schools. > > Arthur, perhaps our misunderstanding, and I think we have one, comes from > this. I am not fundamentally arguing with your initial complaint that the > Comm. of Ed in Washington is playing games, being ridiculous, or even lying. > As a plaintiff in a suit against TN's Comm., I'm probably biased toward > skepticisim where state ed. officials are concerned. However, I did question > your overall attack on the concept of challenging kids to excel. The vast > majority of kids can do more than they are, without damaging their > "childhoods", and would gladly do so and be proud of it if we'd just > challenge them to do so. > There's nothting wrong with challenging all students to excel as long as you give them the means to get there. It's just cruel to throw whole language and the new no-facts math at them and expect them to perform like the top 10% > << > Can you name any schools that > are outstanding because of their teacher's > value added scores???>> > > Maryville Middle School, Maryville, TN > Barclay School, Baltimore > Jaime Escalante's AP Calculus classes. I'll have to look into Maryville Middle school, but I'm familiar with the other two. I've heard that Escalante cheated a bit by recruiting the best performing students he can find, so that falls under the "selecting the best" category, Barclay is sort of an exception in that they put everybody through an academic boot camp, which is fine if the kids will put up such rigor, and then again, it's not a school in the 85-95th percentile category either, though it's better than what one might expect given the circumstances. Any info on test scores for this maryville school? > > Actually, there is virtually no way to answer your question realistically. > Value-added data exists in quantities sufficient to guide decisions only in > TN, and here the education community is just beginning to figure out that it > is different from raw test scores and can actually help improve student > achievement. So, to find a school with high value-added scores is virtually > impossible. Increasing student achievement has not been the focus of > decision making. Rather, following prescribed procedures, implementing the > newest pedagogy, etc., have dominated school approaches, regardless of > effects on student achievement. > > << > The underlying assumption > that the problem with poor inner city schools > is that the teachers are bad overlooks > student performance, and performance of > African Americans and Hispanics is poor > no matter how good the school system is. > >> > > > Again, to the extent you're saying they can't achieve high performance > levels, it only takes one example to show this isn't true. No, it only takes one example to show that it isn't NECCESARILY true. Just because all blacks might have the potential to perform is different that saying that all blacks perform at 100IQ, 50th percentile on average. And, we have > multiple exames to show that Black and Hispanic students can achieve far > better than the levels we typically see in most inner city schools. So, a > significant portion of their non-performance must be laid at the feet of > teachers and school systems. And students and parents. I agree with Escalante that you must have Ganas = desire. You can't help a kid that would rather slack off at the 20th percentile than work off his butt to get to the 80th percentile. If you are suggesting that we should just > declare such performance "acceptable" and go on, then you and I are on > completely different pages. If you are saying that setting some arbitrary > cut score will likely not raise achievement, then I agree. Good! It's senseless to say that the only reason kids didn't all perform at a top level before is because we didn't expect them to perform that way before. Simply saying "all students will learn" and clicking your heels 3 times won't make it happen, and that's all our Superintendent has to stand on to back up her promise. Not because the > students couldn't achieve a great deal, but because teachers and school > systems will not believe in them. If they did, they'd have to do what it > takes to help them succeed, and that would be too hard (assuming that > teachers with weak subject-matter competencies even have the capability). I would hope that at least teachers have mastered 4th grade level material, but given the level some of these tests have been written to, we can't even count on that. > > Dave Shearon, > Nashville, TN > Do you other folks in other states have these private corporate-funded organizations like Washington's OSPI that pays for fancy breakfast meetings and glossy brocures and McDonald's advertising campaigns to promote this education reform silliness? It's bad enough to fight taxpayer funded stuff without having the corporations piling on too. There are restrictions on campaign spending, but no restrictions on this sort of thing. ------- Forwarded Message Follows ------- Date: Wed, 22 Oct 1997 16:44:31 +0000 To: arthurhu@halcyon.com From: James Burts Subject: Julanne Burts loop Dear Arthur I found out who sponsored the tray liners at McDonalds Partnership for learning which is Frank Shrontz group and ospi and washington Mutual Bank.I don't know how they split the money or who paid for it. Julanne Following up on Dave Shearon's claim that Maryvill TN has a great school.... Anybody else know anything about this school or town near Knoxville? It's not next to any government research facility I know about. Blue Ribbon Schools \clip\97\24\tennbest.htm From: DaveTNCLE@aol.com Can you name any schools that are outstanding because of their teacher's value added scores???>> Maryville Middle School, Maryville, TN (Dave Shearon, Nashville, TN) Comment - well, Marysville middle school shows up on a blue ribbon list, and the math test scores are spectacular, with math scores 93-99th percentile in grades 6 to 8, and income and parental education isn't spectacular, $25,000 median houshold income is below average, 24% college income is above average, but nothing like the 50% level typical of a "best" community. But it's 95% white, so it doesn't count as a minority success school, just a great middle class white school. The only examples of these I've found are near high tech military bases and government installations like Hanford where the parents are modestly paid rocket or nuclear scientists. http://edge.edge.net/cgi-bin/schrpt?E%Maryville%Maryville+Middle+Schoo l State Percentile scores How Much Children Learn at Maryville Middle School Language Reading Math Science Social ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- 65.80 60.70 93.70 72.50 5.40 (ranking of "improvment" in scores) How Well Children Score, Grade by Grade Grade Language Reading Math Science Social ----- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- 6 95.00 94.20 93.40 93.70 88.50 7 97.80 97.80 99.80 99.20 91.90 8 95.60 96.50 99.20 97.20 84.90 How students score on math at Maryville Middle School Algebra 1 99.00 Above Sam Houston Elementary School, Maryville County How Well Children Score, Grade by Grade Grade Language Reading Math Science Social ----- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- 2 76.10 80.70 77.20 92.40 79.70 3 91.40 95.10 98.20 88.60 91.00 4 87.60 92.70 94.80 91.60 88.00 5 95.90 96.20 95.80 93.40 93.40 > From: DaveTNCLE@aol.com > To: arthurhu@halcyon.com > Subject: Re: reconsitution > In a message dated 97-10-23 01:39:09 EDT, you write: > > > >> > There's nothting wrong with challenging all students to excel as > long as you give them the means to get there. It's just cruel > to throw whole language and the new no-facts math at them and expect > them to perform like the top 10% > << > > Amen, preach it brother! > > > << > I'll have to look into Maryville Middle school, but I'm familiar > with the other two. I've heard that Escalante cheated a bit by > recruiting the best performing students he can find, so that > falls under the "selecting the best" category, Barclay is sort > of an exception in that they put everybody through an academic > boot camp, which is fine if the kids will put up such rigor, > and then again, it's not a school in the 85-95th percentile > category either, though it's better than what one might expect > given the circumstances. > >> > > Escalante showed that expectations for many students are too low. The point > is that he got way more students to way higher levels than his peers thought > possible and, for his trouble, was met with hostility and disapproval by many > in the education union, uh, profession. Can you say "rate breaker"? > > Barclay's not the only example. Wesley Elementary in Houston under Thaddeus > Lott is another. I suspect Marva Collins accomplished many of the same > things, although I haven't read as much about her. Central Park East > Secondary School in NY (this week's "Time") is out of the "Essential Schools" > format of Ted Sizer and has gotten much higher than normal results out of > inner city students. Are any of these schools "85th-95th percentile" schools > today. Don't know, but I doubt it. No school ever will be if you are > running contemporary numbers. But, could, say, 80% of 8th graders in 2005 > achieve at today's 85th or higher percentile if they started this year with a > highly effective K teacher and stayed with such through the 8th grade? I > suspect so, but it would be difficult to prove. Given the TVAAS data, it > would be possible to set up such a chain, and it might even get approval if > it were done for inner city kids. > > << > Any info on test scores for this maryville school? > >> > > http://www.tennessean.com > > > << > And, we have > > multiple exames to show that Black and Hispanic students can achieve far > > better than the levels we typically see in most inner city schools. So, a > > significant portion of their non-performance must be laid at the feet of > > teachers and school systems. > > And students and parents. I agree with Escalante that > you must have Ganas = desire. You can't help a kid that > would rather slack off at the 20th percentile than work > off his butt to get to the 80th percentile. > >> > > NO! This is the education community's response. Blame parents. Blame > students. Blame society. But never, never accept personal responsiblity. > Barclay doesn't have better parents or students. Neither does Central Park > East SS. Nor Wesley. Nor the highly effective teachers in TN working in the > next room to highly ineffective teachers. The reason the education community > is reluctant to accept value-added is that it lays squarely on their > shoulders the portion of student achievement over which they do have control. > They'd rather say, "You can't expect us to do any better until divorce, > poverty, child abuse, differences in income and all personality flaws are > eradicated." That's not true. They can do better right where they sit, with > the kids they're getting today, from the homes that produced those kids, and > with the resources they currently receive from the public. Given that they > can, they should. Period. No excuses accepted. Now does that mean they can > do as well as your state comm. says? I don't know. But they can do better. > And, if they do, some of the societal problems may be improved thereby. > Teenage pregnancies, for example, are less likely for girls who see a future > for themselves. > > > > << > Good! It's senseless to say that the only reason kids didn't all > perform at a top level before is because we didn't expect them > to perform that way before. Simply saying "all students will > learn" and clicking your heels 3 times won't make it happen, and > that's all our Superintendent has to stand on to back up her > promise. > >> > > Now you're getting to a real point. Part of the reason the ed community > resists demands for higher performance is that they can't achieve it _without > changing the way they teach__! In other words, they'd rather use cooperative > learning, heterogenous grouping, developmentally appropriate > philosophies, whole language, and rainforest algebra than see > students succeed. They are > committed to pedagogies, not to students. And, of course, there's the > teacher union incentive to keep the production rate as low as possible to > protect their members. You can see all of this clearly in Nashville today > with the implementation of the Core Curriculum. > > Dave Shearon, > Nashville,TN > > > > > > From: TFRC@aol.com Date sent: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 00:33:42 -0400 (EDT) To: JeniH80939@aol.com, arthurhu@halcyon.com Subject: Re: Opposing loony standards in Ohio (thank god) Texas is spending $500,000 on marketing STW. Date sent: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 00:22:04 -0400 From: "Dan T. Mildon" <75717.1715@compuserve.com> Subject: (Fwd) School to work/ workforce training To: "INTERNET:arthurhu@halcyon.com" Arthur, thanks for including me on your Washington loop. I am a school board member over here in Eastern Washington and we have done some exciting things in regard to promoting basic academics and promoting the concepts of hard work, responsibility, accountability, and independence long before they became the latest fad. However, due to State law and available funds we are wrestling with the STW issue and the implementation of that within our buildings. It would appear to me that STW was created to fix a problem with the kids who did not have an exposure to a role model of a working parent and/or does not have any chores and responsibilities; living perhaps in an apartment or condo. This student may need exposure to work experiences that they did not have at home (I am guessing). For other students who have the advantages of being made to do chores regularly, take care of animals, or babysit, or have paper routes they have plenty of life experiences to guide them as they become adults. We as a nation seem to be moving to apply a bandaid to a problem that all kids do not have but it would be somehow unfair to single out target students for STW activities. Here in Kennewick we are at present making STW a voluntary program that not all have to participate in. Some kids are just too busy in sports, band, orchestra, delivering papers, getting animals ready for the fair, collecting eggs, mowing lawns, washing cars, etc., etc., to have time for exposure to the world of work through STW. These busy students do not need anyone's in developing a work ethic. They will do just fine. On the other hand for the others if they were required to do more at home perhaps we could concentrate on the academics a little bit more. Dan Date sent: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 15:57:06 -0400 From: Stewart Deuchar Subject: The March of Folly To: Clearinghouse , Educan I have just read Professor John Honey's book, Language is Power, The Story of Standard English and its Enemies (Faber and Faber, London 1997). It is part of a fierce debate among high-level academics in the rarefied world of Linguistics and Socio-Linguistics, with Professor Honey on one side and everybody else on the other. Professor Honey is attacking, with some relish, the orthodoxy which has held sway in this field for decades. The air reeks with the smell of cordite and the tumult is deafening, but future generations will shake their heads in disbelief that this battle ever had to be fought at all. Professor Honey is fighting a number of opponents on both sides of the Atlantic, all of whom he names, and the battle is prolonged and complicated. Sometimes it is hard to follow just who said what to whom, but the issues at stake can be plainly stated. Over the past thirty years there has grown up a strong consensus among the top brass in the world of socio-linguistics around two basic propositions regarding standard English. I summarise these below as fairly as I can. 1. Standard English is largely the product of a small elite in Nineteenth Century England who wanted to use it to strengthen their hold on power and keep the lower classes in their place. 2. All languages, and all dialects of any language, are of equal value, and can be easily adapted to fulfil any to any purpose. (Both these propositions are open to challenge, but let that pass). >From these two propositions the socio-linguistics deduce that it is therefore wrong to try to teach children standard English (including the pronunciation, grammar, spelling and punctuation) in school because it is a) unfair to those who speak differently at home, and b) colluding in the system by which the toffs manage to stay in power. Professor Honey supports all this by direct quotations from the various anti-standard-English protagonists. This train of thought has exerted an enormous influence over the teaching of English in our schools. Recently the National Association for the Teaching of English, which represents the bulk of English teachers in our schools, in its submission to Sir Ron Dearing, who was in process of reviewing the curriculum, expressed its strong objection to any attempt to prioritise standard English in our schools. In the light of all this It is hardly surprising that employers and university authorities have taken to complaining loudly that they are being flooded with young people whose spoken English, grammar, spelling and punctuation leave a lot to be desired. One can only assume, from their own words, that this is exactly what the anti-standard-English brigade have wanted to bring about. But what sense does it make, even in their own terms? The socio-linguists admit that certain languages can confer status, power and influence, and that standard English enjoys this attribute. They profess to want to empower those at the bottom of the heap, yet what they advocate has exactly the opposite effect, as they must have known it would. How can this folly be explained? Yes, future generations will shake their heads in disbelief. Stewart Deuchar Milton Keynes, MK17 0RF England EDUCATION CONSUMERS CLEARINGHOUSE From: Dave TNCLE Date sent: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 16:43:29 EDT To: arthurhu@mail1.halcyon.com Subject: Re: reconsitution Organization: AOL (http://www.aol.com) In a message dated 97-10-23 14:38:47 EDT, you write: << The only examples of these I've found are near high tech military bases and government installations like Hanford where the parents are modestly paid rocket or nuclear scientists. >> Anderson County schools, Oak Ridge, and Tullahoma schools are examples of this in TN. These schools are routinely discounted by education folks on the theory that the results are based on parental support. However, income distribution, etc. is frequently not that different, and, moreover, it seems many schools don't get near the same results from comparable students. Why? Frequently, it's the failure to offer advanced courses such as algebra in 8th grade and AP courses in HS. I've been told, but have not checked myself, that Farragut HS in Knoxville has many more high scoring kids coming out of 8th grade but produces fewer National Merit Semifinalists than Oak Ridge HS. It seems that the presence of parents with math-based careers tends to result in pressure on the system to maintain high standards and effective techniques (no "rainforest" algebra) and teachers. This works to the benefit of all students. Dave Shearon, Nashville, TN I've got more stats on the barclay school (and other outstanding schools for minorities) at http://www.leconsulting.com/arthurhu/index/success.htm#barclay and http://www.leconsulting.com/arthurhu/index/excel.htm [[Barclay School - By emulating a tough private school curriculum, which was criticized by one administrator as "a rich man's curriculum" and "inappropriate for African American children", scores have been raised from the 20th percentile, typical of inner city minorities to above 50 and in some cases 70. TIME MISSED BARCLAY AS AN OUTSTANDING SCHOOL \doc\web\97\08\barclay.txt \clip\97\24\balt.txt http://www.pathfinder.com/@@7BHCTwUAnCZSfOyj/time/magazine/1997/dom/97 1027/box5.html Time Magazine HOW TO SAVE OUR SCHOOLS OCTOBER 27, 1997 VOL. 150 NO. 17 "When the Calvert School, a costly Baltimore private school, tested its nationally renowned curriculum in one of the city's elementary schools, it produced startling advances in achievement and drew visitors from as far away as Japan. But the superintendent in place when the program was first installed branded it a "rich man's" curriculum. "The school system," recalls Robert Embry, whose Abell Foundation helped fund the experiment, "resisted it to the death." " http://www.sunspot.net/sun/schools/alpha.htm Barclay Elementary/ Middle Baltimore City The following table shows what percent of students scored at a satisfactory level on reading and math tests administered as part of the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program. Skill Tested 1996 County State Results Avg. Avg. Reading 3rd Grade 23.1 11.2 35.3 Math 3rd Grade 20.5 8.7 38.7 Reading 5th Grade 12.5 10.9 33.7 Math 5th Grade 22.5 13.2 47.8 Barclay 3rd graders were about twice as high as county average, but still trails state average. \doc\web\96\06\stringf.txt Sam Stringfield, who did study of Barclay comments on value-added vs. schools that just get the best kids. file:C:\priv\96B\03\BARCOLD.HTM THE SUN J.R.L. STERNE, Editorial Page Editor Monday, December 26, 1994 JOHN S. CARROLL, Editor Teaching the Old-Fashioned Way At the Barclay School, this "old-fashioned" approach has produced students who consistently score at or above the national average in reading and comprehension. .. it keeps repeating exercises until the student gets the spelling and syntax right. The reading program is a mixture of children's classics and phonics.. The problen is that it is costly - and that Calvert is not enthusiastic about over- extending its resources. file:C:\priv\96B\03\BARCLAY2.HTM Published by the Johns Hopkins University Center for Research on Effective Schooling for Disadvantaged Students, Baltimore MD. Stringfield, Samuel (1994). Fourth-Year Evaluation of the Calvert School Program at Barclay School. \priv\96B\03\BARCLAFT.HTM By Albert Shanker, President The American Federation of Teachers A Baltimore Success Story Barclay is 94 percent minority and its students come mostly from poor African-American families. Eighty-two percent are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch The average reading scores for Baltimore students in grades 2 to 4 were between the 35th and 40th percentile; the average scores for Barclay students were in the low 20th percentile. Now, according to a fourth-year evaluation of the program by Sam Stringfield, a Johns Hopkins University researcher, Barclay reading scores are "consistently at or above the 50th percentile, and, in one case, approach the 70th percentile"--a gain of 30 to 50 points. Language arts and writing scores, which were consistently below the 30th percentile, are now above the 60th percentile \priv\96B\03\BARCL50.HTM A SYSTEM OF HIGH STANDARDS: WHAT WE MEAN AND WHY WE NEED IT. AT THE BARCLAY SCHOOL IN BALTIMORE, Maryland, where virtually all of the students receive free lunches, teachers use a very specific, challenging curriculum. (It is the same curriculum used by the prestigious, private Calvert School, whose students come from much wealthier families.) After four years of using this curriculum, reading scores which had been under the thirtieth percentile are now at or above the fiftieth. \priv\96B\03\BARCCHOI.HTM "IMPROVING PUBLIC EDUCATION BY CHOICE" I think of the Barclay School and Carter G. Woodson Elementary. The two schools have adopted the rigorous private school Calvert School curriculum, with funding provided by the Abell Foundation. With its strict back-to-basics approach and heavy emphasis on writing skills, the curriculum has exceeded expectations for raising student achievement >>f121495: \doc\95\14\barclay.txt "A better idea" The Economist Dec 2, 1995 p. 23 Barclay public school in Baltimore Md. emulates a tough private school to achieve 85 percentile math, 80 reading scores with 90% black students, 82% free lunch who previously were scoring 20-30 percentile. Superintendent was fired who had opposed "rich black man's curriculum" inappropriate for poor students. It used lots of homework, drilling, spelling tests, world history, literature, and art, and must be adept at writing reports, creative essays and letters by the age of 11. (85% is good enough to get into the University of California system, or UC Berkeley with affirmative action) , = 116 IQ. Its also equal to Seattle area's Mercer Island, which has the best test scores in Washington state and is almost entirely affluent whites and Asians. \priv\96\02\failpriv.txt The New Republic 1/29/1996 p. 10 Failures in school Privatization. LEARNING CURVE By Elissa Silverman Five years ago, Barclay's principal, Gertrude Williams, had to fight both the teachers' union and the former city schools superintendent to bring the Calvert school approach to her public school, but it alas paid off. Calvert focuses on the substance of traditional subjects like phonics, spelling, grammar, reading, writing and math rather than on test preparation, experimental teaching methods or even computers. Their test scores consistently exceed the city average. web: http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/1JOHN.HTM priv\96\04\barclay.htm John Leo US News and World Report April 1, 1996 On Shakespeare and Spiderman. Barclay has no nonsense vs. gobbledygook liberal standards. Doesn't mention it's nearly all black kids normally at the 20th percentile [[Bo > To: joaneb001@aol.com > From: Fred Battey > Subject: TIME's Outrageous Distortions > >our work cut out for us! > Date sent: Fri, 24 Oct 1997 10:50:34 -0400 To: joaneb001@aol.com From: Fred Battey Subject: Bio - Rosemarie Ihde Date: 97-10-20 17:16:04 EDT From: Mr_Feathers@classic.msn.com (Thomas Ihde) To: fredb001@aol.com Thank you so much for your message. I would love to be part of the education loop. About a year ago I met Carolyne Steinke and my suspicion of indoctrination, experimenting, and brain washing of my children in our public schools was confirmed. My husband and I have 2 children, 14 and 16 years old, 9 th and 11 th grade in public high school in Santa Monica, CA. The early years of their elementary school education was o.k. In their third grade and from there on some of the "new" teaching techniques didn't make sense anymore. Fortunately many of their teachers were the old fashioned type. They kept on teaching the traditional way and taught phonics to the students. During the middle school years we were confronted with group tests, collective learning, portfolios, groupwork, HIV ed., alternative sex, advisory groups, so no one will fall thru the cracks, etc. I don't know too many people here on the Left Coast, who see the propaganda taught to our children. The propaganda and indoctrination is in every textbook. When Julia shared the loop info with me, I became more optimistic. In the past, when I brought up educational concerns at my children's schools, I was told, that I was the only parent complaining or I just don't understand the new teaching techniques. I learned to bring up my concerns in larger parent groups, but very few parents have the courage to stand up and speak the truth. I was born and raised in W-Germany and have visited East Germany several times during the sixties. I see the same propaganda in the schools here in Santa Monica, as I saw in the former E- Germany. The only difference the banners under the commies were red, here they are still white. The words are the same. I ran photocopies of Karl Marx and I will stick them with earthquake puttie on the banners at their high school. My husband went thru the communistic schoolsystem in E-Germany. He knows about lifelong learning and political indoctrination. In 1958 he defected to West Germany. Though I must say the communists stressed the academics, as well as the indoctrination. ... My daughter had to read "The Giver" in her 8th grade. She challenged the teacher on the book. I explained my opposition to the book to the teacher. Of course the teacher disagreed. The teacher told me, that this book is really great, because the children will learn how lucky we are to have freedom and choice. But how do we know who and what is being taught to our children. The book alone states its real intention. On my visit to Germany last month, I walked into a youth library and asked for "The Giver". It was on the shelf. Germany is also following us with OBE. A friend of mine is a teacher and she admitted the system is changing rapidly. My daughter's honors English teacher shared with her class being a product of whole language. The teacher didn't learn any grammar till she attended UCLA. My daughter said "now I know why she mispronounces so many words". The teacher also shared that her SAT scores were not very high. Maybe the teacher should have kept that information to herself. A quote from a teacher: "If parents really knew what is being thaught to their children, they would come with pitchforks and tear down the school." You see I have many concerns, sharing and hearing from other parents helps. It also helps me talking to the educrats at the school. I use the same buzzwords they use and then watching their faces is very interesting, to say the least. The values I teach to my children at home are challenged every day at their school. I saw a daytime curfew voted into law in the City of Malibu, April 1997 and only two parents oppose it. Sometimes I am so frustrated and wonder when do the people wake up. I speak to many people and share my concerns, very few understand and see what is happening. Sincerely Rosemarie Ihde 20246 Piedra Chica Road Malibu,CA 90265 phone 310-456-3100 fax 310-456-3190 E-mail: mr_feathers@msn.com ( my son selected the E-mail address) P.S. An excellent book, unfortunately out of print " You can Trust the Communists" by Fred Schwarz. From: DaveTNCLE@aol.com Date sent: Fri, 24 Oct 1997 09:08:15 -0400 (EDT) To: arthurhu@halcyon.com Subject: Tennessee Value-Added Scores I'm not sure where you rank Anderson County a "dud". (BTW, I should have pointed you to Oak Ridge, the separate city school system in Anderson County). Anderson county shows high gains compared to the rest of the state in math, reading and language arts, and somewhere around the middle for science and social studies. (Unfortunately, the Tennessean has chosen to convert TVAAS scores from percentage of national norm gain -- the way the state reports them -- to state-based percentiles. This obscures useful data such as the degree of difference in gains between schools.) Oak Ridge also shows high gains relative to the rest of the state, but starts with a much higher scoring population of students. 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tkgrm@juno.com, Tuckerd1@aol.com, tunkel@icx.net, txreadinst@earthlink.net Copies to: VLDZ64A@prodigy.com, VOCALIOWA@aol.com, ward@amath.com, willypete@juno.com Copies to: womack@grizzly.uwyo.edu, wstarr@shell.dialnet.net, XcongressX@aol.com Copies to: yajn69d@prodigy.com, zach@pe.net, zip30@juno.com, ZorroFRR@aol.com Subject: Busy week Organization: AOL (http://www.aol.com) A number of different events happened to me this week related to current educational issues and I wanted to note them. Please excuse any errors, because I have been swamped and am hurridly dashing this off. Also since this is a recounting of personal events in a somewhat gossipy format, please do not post this to any web sites where someday somewhere one of the individuals involved could read about himself/herself. Mary 1. I was able to hear Peterson last night as he discussed his voucher school data. As one would expect from an academic audience, the questions were mostly challenging and the sentiment anti-voucher, but he very calmly and very factually defused his challengers by refocusing them to his current and future data analysis. Peterson's tactic of presenting the voucher issue as a civil rights issue, was disarming to the PC academics and I sensed their confusion in arguing with him after he had just flashed on slides of mainly minority parents whose satisfaction with vouchers was so unambivalent. After hearing his presentation, I heartily wished that the schools he was categorizing were also analyzed in terms of how much of the new constructivist curriculum they incorporated. What a wealth of data that might present. I asked a question to that effect, using schools which implement the fuzzy new math curriculum as an example, but Peterson is totally focused to analyzing "choice" as the factor for satisfaction and test score increases. I found it interesting that as I left the event after the social hour, an educational psychologist whose body language throughout the talk had been confrontational literally jumped in front of me and said, "You have a lot to learn about the NCTM programs and how wonderful they are. You need to become educated about how great they really are." After initially trying to nicely let her know how extensively I have been involved in this debate, I could see that rational discussion was not a possibility. She was angry at Peterson (and my question), had been unable to trip up Peterson and wanted to kick someone. I hurridly left as she repeated her aggressive refrain, "If you just knew more, you'd see how wrong you are." 2. I just finished teaching my first course (it's a half semester course) to incoming sophomore level students who have just entered the special education teacher training program. Worst semester ever since 6 students out of the 30 failed. I have never had this high a number of failures and feel terribly about it, but with one exception the failures were unquestionable....I wouldn't want these individuals teaching my own children. Four of the students could not write one paragraph without numerous grammatical errors, continued to repeatedly make errors when calculating percentages or simple rate per minute calculations - with calculators allowed, and failed every test and quiz. One student, whose skills were some of the best, simply didn't show up for several of the times that he was supposed to be in the schools, and the sixth student was either a very poor test taker, reduced his effort as the course progressed, or became confused when more concepts were introduced. My first question as a teacher would be that if this high a percentage of students failed, isn't there something wrong with the instruction???? Since students fill out ratings at the end of each course, I'm able to get feedback on a continuous basis and my instruction always rates between an 8 to 9 on a 10 point scale, as it did this time, even with the students who were failing taking part in that rating. This course has been finely tuned and when the faculty tracked at students who passed, but performed poorly, almost all of them had difficulty or failed student teaching. I have to add that the department I teach in is unique since I don't know of another education department where I would even be allowed to fail this many students....I would be asked to change the requirements. Now I have to document the failures with all sorts of paperwork and sit in staffings during which the faculty will decide if each student gets the chance to retake the course or is booted out of the program. The four academic failures will certainly be out - they shouldn't be in college. The unprofessional class skipper will probably be made to do penance (spend twice as many documented hours in the field with extra assignements) and given one more chance to "grow up" and prove he is serious. And the questionable student's past transcripts and test scores will be examined to see if he should also have another chance. Probably the most interesting aspect of this whole teacher education tale is that I recently talked to a staff person in the elementary education program who told me that recently two students I had previously failed were just allowed to enter the elementary education program. They are as good as teachers . Sad 3. A former local newspaper reporter called yesterday to tell me that she had a new job and to let me know everything she had wanted to say but couldn't as a reporter. She said that she felt the parents who sat in at the board meetings listening to the (expletive) on the board were saints and that she found the newsletters we produced a wonderful learning tool. She said that she tells all her friends who complain about their children's schools to follow our example, because if they don't no one will care a whit about their children. I basked in her good feelings and realized that the impassive silent faces watching us are capable of support even when they don't feel free to talk. 4. I had an interesting call several days ago from one of the most radical professors I know. This individual is so doctrinaire that within a five minute conversation, he will relate his staunch Marxism around which he basis his beliefs on just about every detail of life. He had overheard me at a faculty function last year talking about educational issues to another parent, when out-of-the-blue a whole language teacher/wife of a faculty member who was also overhearing the conversation began to yell about how wonderful Whole Language was and why did those of us who protested it ignore the research support. I finally had to walk away from that irrational tongue lashing also and my husband still jokes that he can't take me anywhere. ANyway, the Marxist as I'll refer to him since he would approve, remembered this incident after talking with his child's preschool teacher the other day. His four year old daughter is half Chinese and after attending Chinese school every Saturday can now read and write simple sentences in Chinese. SInce this is her second language and she is a bright child, he wondered why she was doing no reading in her preschool and asked the teacher when this would start. The Developmentally Approapriate Practices-indoctrinated teacher replied that such instruction would be frustrating for most of the children and that no matter how early they learn to read, they will all catch up by second grade and be at the same level. She also felt that it was a disservice to teach any young child to ready since the child would be bored in kindergarten and first grade. Well, the Marxist became incensed and immediately called me. KNowing his academic book-approach focus, after I explained DAP, I suggested he read Hirsch, but he replied that he couldn't bring himself to read such a right- wing reactionary. He just wanted answers about what he could do to change the situation. I think that's when I started chuckling and told him that I had come to believe that vouchers were the only solution. When he expounded his "anti-vouchers are only supported by right winger's" view, I reminded him that he now only had his toe in the mire of current education. I wanted him to call me back when he was up to his neck and was actively supporting vouchers. I patiently explained that there were no easy solutions; that he could "phonics-proof his child" and when she reached school, he could try to change the system, but that despite his ardent Marxism he should be prepared to be dismissed by the school administrators as a right-wing fanatic. I then suggested home-schooling at which he blanched; my suggestion of the only private school in the area - a parochial school was met with a similar reaction since his atheism is of such an angry nature. It will be interesting to see him deal with this situation in which there are no easy options for him. This ironic situation has to be happening elsewhere, I would think. Mary Date sent: Fri, 24 Oct 1997 07:26:51 -0500 From: Jim Morse Send reply to: softnetcorp@earthlink.net Organization: SoftNet Corp. To: arthurhu@halcyon.com Subject: SAT Dear Sirs: In response to your question, to wit: "Your SAT score is a better prediction of your income, race, or gender than it is of your ability to perform in college. So why does it not predict your grades in college accurately, and why do college grades not predict income, when SAT scores do?" I think the answer is, because income is tied to job performance, and job performance is more closely tied to the ability to do the work than to the grades a person received in college. And the grades are not necessarily tied to a person's ability to do the work. For example, a person can get work very hard to good grades in college, get a good job right out of school, but if they aren't capable of being competitive in the work field, their financial rewards will lag behind someone who was mediocre in school, but was willing to apply their intelligence for income rewards, and was recognized for that by their employer. My experiences indicate that while employers are interested to some extent in academic performance, work history, employment recommendations and on-the-job performance count for much more when it comes to how much companies are willing to pay for the person. -Jim From: brucec76@ix.netcom.com Subject: NEA Uniserv Salaries Loopies, I had the pleasure of hearing Joseph Farah of the Western Journalism Center speak last Sat. He had with him copies of the WJC's DISPATCHES. The article below from the Oct. 7th issue. Thought you might find it of interest. The WJC maintains a website at http://worldnetdaily.com/ for those who wish to know more. For refresher, Mike Antonucci, who wrote the WSJ piece a couple of months ago on the Coalition for Democracy in New York is a part of WJC. Bruce Crawford ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DISPATCHES, A News Publication of the Western Journalism Center, Oct. 7, 1997 SCHOOL MONITOR Teacher's pet: NEA's UniServ staff is well paid A recently leaked survey of staff salaries at the National Education Association's state affiliates discloses earnings far beyond those of the average U. S. teacher. The 1995 study, conducted by the NEA itself, lists the average salaries in each state affiliate (and NEA headquarters in Washington, D. C.) for both the professional staff and the support staff. Professional staff consists mainly of UniServ representatives — union officials who carry out the tasks of collective bargaining and political organizing in local districts throughout each state. Support staff includes research assistants, secretaries and receptionists. The survey does not include the salaries of management officials (e.g. presidents, executive directors, department heads). The salary list for professional staffers (reproduced at right) reveals the average salaries at each and every affiliate exceeded the average 1995 U.S. teacher salary of $36,744. The New Jersey Education Association led the way with an average professional salary of $85,484. NEA headquarters, Alaska, Connecticut, California, Oregon, Massachusetts, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ohio rounded out the top ten. The study also shows that support staff salaries for five organizations (Alaska, California, NEA, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts) exceeded the average 1995 U.S. teacher salary. While numbers for staff benefits were unavailable, union staff contracts usually contain annual benefits worth 30 to 40 percent of salary. Union will pay taxes At a hastily called press conference, NEA president Bob Chase announced that the 2.2 million -member teachers' union will commit to paying $1.1 million in property taxes to the District of Columbia. NEA has been exempt from property tax since it was chartered by Congress in 1906. The exemption has come under fire since NEA converted from a mostly professional association to an industrial-style trade union in the 1970s. NEA is the only labor organization enjoying a property tax exemption in D.C. The NEA announcement came on the heels of an amendment to the D.C. appropriations bill that would repeal the union's charter. Chase said he hoped NEA's tax money would go toward education. "Although we cannot direct where this million dollars will go, it is our deep hope that it will be earmarked to help the District's thousands of schoolchildren," he said. "A million dollars would pay for a new textbook for every third, fourth and fifth grader in D.C. schools. A million dollars would provide more than 66,000 new hardcover books for the District's public libraries. A million dollars would buy 300 new computers and 900 printers for students." In his laundry list of what a million dollars would buy, Chase neglected to mention that it was an insufficient amount to pay the annual salary/benefits package for a mere 20 Washington, D.C., public school teachers. Thanks largely to the efforts of Chase's union, the average D.C. teacher receives more than $56,000 in salary and benefits. NEA may have surrendered the taxes in order to save its charter. The charter not only grants NEA its tax exemption, but prescribes the organization's powers and location. A repeal of the charter could conceivably cause a bureaucratic nightmare for NEA because of its status as a founding document. Cutoff Angered by a bipartisan tuition tax credit bill passed in the state legislature, the Minnesota Education Association suspended its political contributions. The 47,000-member teachers' union strongly opposed expanded tax deductions for parents of children in private schools. Democrats will be hurt the most by MEA's decision. Last year, the union donated more than $900,000 to Democratic candidates and committees, and less than $40,000 to Republicans. NEA State Affiliate Staff Study Professional Staff—Average Salary for 1995 1) NJ $85484 27)KS 57,402 2) NEA 82,720 28) MO 56,678 3) AK 81,815 29) VA 56,520 4) CT 80,328 30) FL 55,963 5) CA 78,209 31) KY 54,750 6) OR 77,252 32) NV 54,108 7) MA 77,139 33) AZ 53,306 8) MI 76,324 34) UT 52,985 9) PA 75,236 35) AR 51,942 10) OH 74,403 36) HI 51,614 11) IN 72,061 37) GA 50,725 12) MD 71,695 38) OK 47,779 13) WI 71,504 39) NM 47,593 14) IA 70,824 40) ND 47,303 15) WA 70,258 41) WY 47,291 16) CO 69,668 42) ID 45,052 17) IL 68,106 43) TX 44,977 18) NY 67,488 44) LA 43,631 19) MN 66,787 45) WV 43,250 20) NH 65,654 46) NC 43,218 21) VT 63,325 47) AL 42,961 22) DE 62,544 48) SC 40,972 23) MT 62,374 49) SD 39,541 24) ME 60,353 50) MS 37,645 25) TN 60,304 * * * 26) NE 59,834 RI not surveyed. 1994 avg. = $61,774 - 30 - To: The LOOP:; From: "James Kilpatrick" Subject: 10/22: Public Agenda: 'Teacher-educators disconnected' Date sent: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 19:31:40 -0500 Public Agenda's Executive Director Deborah Wadsworth says freshly minted teachers emerge from the nation's schools and colleges of education "prepared for an ideal, but unarmed for the reality..." That's Wadworth's verdict released today in her afterward to a new Public Agenda Report, titled, "Different Drummers: How Teachers of Teachers View Public Education." Public Agenda reported that their polls of teacher-educators and of the American public illuminate what the pollsters characterize as "a type of rarified blindness" among professors, and a staggering "disconnect between what the professors want and what most parents, teachers, business leaders and students stay they need..." Central to the Public Agenda report is a finding that teacher-educators prefer to emphasize the process of learning over the inculcation of specific facts, and report a "lack of faith in standardized tests" for enforcing student achievement. The thrust of the Public Agenda report, in combination with earlier surveys, to depict a gulf between "typical Americans" and "education professors," with the "typical Americans" being described as more interested in classroom discipline, correct grammar, spelling and punctuation and "expecting students to be on time and polite," etc., and with the teacher-educators portrayed as stressing fostering "lifelong learning," "active learning" and "high expectations." The professors' reported views are characterized at one point as translating into "highly evolved expectations of K-12 teachers..." AACTE comment In the midst of preparing a response to the Public Agenda report, David G. Imig, executive director of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, said this morning that he views the "Different Drummer" as "an interesting report; it conveys a very important message that teacher-educators are not in synch with the views of the public and the business communities relative to [those communities'] aspirations for America's classroms. The 'idealistic' view held by teacher-educators is one that the author [Wadsworth] of the Public Agenda report accepts, but [we should should note that she says] that we need to find a way to bring the two views together, and [toward that end she] has committed herself to [participating in] the AACTE annual meeting in New Orleans," Feb. 25-28, 1998. Imig also said this morning, "I think that what Public Agenda has done with this survey [has raised] a series of questions about the methodology used; and by limiting the respondents to campus-based teacher-educators" and leaving out "field-based or school-based educators - has created some false dichotomies." Imig said AACTE is will issue a further statement later today. In a release today, Public Agenda notes, among other items: On Core Curriculum * Seventy-seven percent of professors think it's critical for students to have an understanding of a Western civilization-based core curriculum because "it has defined our culture. * Seventy-six percent think 'any student who receives a high school diploma without being exposed to this core body of knowledge has been cheated in a fundamental way,' but only 16% would require kids to know classic works from Shakespeare and Plato, for example, before receiving a diploma. On the Public Schools * More than two-thirds (77%) of professors of education feel too many public school systems are top heavy with bureaucracy and administration * Fifty-two percent would approve of allowing parents to choose among public schools, and an additional 35% would do so "only under certain conditions." * Eighteen percent would approved of vouchers, and an additional 37% would do so "only under certain conditions." * Two-thirds (65%) say the "decline in public confidence in public schools is a result of negative press coverage." * Fifty-four percent feel many of the criticisms of public schools are political motivated and "com from right-wing groups who want to undermine public education." SUMMARY OF FINDINGS (10/22/97) Quoting: FINDING ONE: One Vision of Learning Teachers of teachers envision classrooms as places where teachers and students are active, lifelong learners; education is a collaborative enterprise; and the process of struggling with questions is far more important than knowing the right answers. FINDING TWO: In Theory, In Practice Teachers of teachers want to discard what they see as crude and outdated tools of teaching and managing classroooms - techniques the public often sees as part-and-parcel of good schooling. They resist approaches that rely on competition, reward and punishment, memorization, or multiple-choice questions. FINDING THREE: At Odds with the Public Professors of education hold a vision of public education that seems fundamentally at odds with what of pubolic school teachers, students and the public. While the public's priorities are discipline, basic skills, and good behavior in the classroom, teachers of teachers severely downplay such goals. FINDING FOUR: Lingering Uncertainties Even as they advocate an ambitious teaching agenda, education professors harbor serious doubts about whether they are adequately preparing teachers to succeed in the real world. Most education professors have been out of the classroom for many years and they themselves suspect they are too detached from today's schools. Most also have concern about the quality of prospective teachers in their programs. FINDING FIVE: Standards and Curriculum Education professors support a core curriculum and higher academic standards but often balk at requiring students to pass tests that demonstrate relatively simple academic skills and knowledge. Most would not, for example, require students to demonstrate they know proper spelling, grammar, and punctuation before receiving a high school diploma. They also question the reliability of standardized tests. FINDING SIX: Standing by the Public Schools Teachers of teachers think of public education as an almost sacred democratic institution that is under seige and unfairly blamed for porblems not of its making. They rally to its defense and reject reforms that challenge the primacy of public schools. Education professors also believe that their own programs are unfairly blamed and unappreciated. "Different Drummers" was supported by a grant from the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation; the report's principal researcher and author is Steve Farkas, Public Agenda vice president and director of research. The Fordham Web site contains material about the Educational Excellence Network and lists as member of the Board of Trustees and as President Chester (Checker) Finn: http://www.edexcellence.net/een/abouteen.htm For today's Boston Globe's coverage of the report: http://www.boston.com/globe/nation and go to bottom of page in "Education" category For today's New York Times story on the Public Agenda report: http://search.nytimes.com/search/daily/ and enter words "Public" "Agenda" in search blocks provided. Post script: >>" We at Public Agenda find that many educators and business and community >>leaders read our analyses and take them seriously. But few take the time >>and trouble to involve the public so that it, too, can understand the >>trade-offs and reach a thoughtful consensus. Whether it is school safety >>and discipline, teaching techniques, or standards and assessment, we must >>seriously invite parents and other members of the public into these >>discussions and build strategies for addressing the problems together. >>"<< Deborah Wadsworth, Nov. 22, 1995, TEACHER MAGAZINE Excerpted from column, "The Public Will Not Blindly Follow the Experts" full column at: http://www.teachermag.org/ew/vol-15/12wads.h15 Milt Capps Milt Capps Peabody College, Vanderbilt University (615) 343-3212 -- Fax (617) 322-8501 -- Local Page (615) 923-1139 -- Evenings (615) 665-9717 -- Mail: P.O. Box 120975, Nashville, TN 37212 --------------FAE9D77734-- EDUCATION CONSUMERS CLEARINGHOUSE To: The LOOP:; From: "James Kilpatrick" Subject: Fwd: Schools Never Took Critique to Heart Date sent: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 19:25:00 -0500 --------------------- Forwarded message: From: bunda002@gold.tc.umn.edu (Karl M. Bunday) Sender: home-ed-politics@Mainstream.net Reply-to: bunda002@gold.tc.umn.edu To: home-ed-politics@Mainstream.net (Multiple recipients of list) Date: 97-10-23 14:21:11 EDT Steven1997@aol.com wrote: > >From The Washington Times page A12, Monday, October 20, 1997 > Companion Article to Part 2, Dumbing Down of America > > Schools Never Took Critique to Heart=20 > > by Carol Innerst, Senior Education Writer, The Washington Times > > On April 26, 1983,a blue ribbon panel issued a report that concluded > America's elementary and secondary educational systems had made the Unite= > d > States "A Nation at Risk." The report prescribed a cure, but the patient > never took the medicine. One could argue that much of the cure proposed by the Nation at Risk authors, who were ignorant of homeschooling, was worse than the disease. While the reaction to that book shows clearly how resistant the government cartel is to reform, it also shows how silly many of the reformers are: they insist on processes being uniform, regardless of proven examples of children learning through other processes. Homeschoolers surely don't need a mandated X number of years at Y hours per year of English, for instance. They need the freedom to read and to use math in real life and to make foreign friends on whom they can practice languages and so on. If the Nation at Risk standards were applied to everybody, it would be much more difficult to homeschool. I am of the opinion that we do indeed need high academic standards. (I have lived in Taiwan, and what kids there know compared to what American kids know is a disgrace of America.) But we also need diverse and flexible standards, and we tend not to get those from government initiatives. Let me and other pro-high-standards authors write materials for homeschoolers and afterschoolers that set high standards, as E.D. Hirsch, John Saxon, and others have already done, with little thanks from the government. -- Karl M. Bunday Chinese-English interpreter, author P.O. Box 337 Excelsior, MN 55331-0337 bunda002@tc.umn.edu http://www.concentric.net/~kmbunday/ "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous." Matthew 5:44-45 Jimmy Kilpatrick Phone 713 520-9715 Coordinator of Community Programs Fax 713 520-7214 Advisor for Reading and Reading Disabilities University of Texas at Austin Home 281 265-2368 Charles A. Dana Center Mobile 281 536-4713 1723 Westheimer Road Houston,Texas 77098-1611 The new Washington state assessment says that math standards are set way too low to justify setting it to a level where only 20% "passed" the new standard, yet the new education department report says: While U.S. 4th graders scored above the international average in mathematics and science, U.S. 8th graders scored below average in mathematics, and only slightly above the international average in science. Where is the justification for setting grade level content 2 or more years ahead when WA is already equal to the national average and above the internaional average? I also finally got a hold of Gordon Ensign, and the strategy of all this new beyond 4th grade stuff is that he admits that much of it wasn't taught in the 4th grade before, but he claims that it's all in the new standards document, and that the 4th grade is going to have to teach all this stuff that isn't in there yet. He claims the schools that did well are already teaching it, but I think the schools that did the best were all rich schools where the kids have either been exposed by their parents outside of school, or have IQs smart enough to figure this stuff out. The under-prepared are NOT going to be able to figure stuff out they've never seen before, and they're not going to master this stuff if they didn't master the old level before. c:\doc\web\97\08\gensi.txt Talk with Gordon Ensign of the Washington Commission on Student Learining. 10/24/97 Arthur Hu I told him that a few people I had shown the 4th grade test thought it was at a 4th grade level or higher based on skills required to solve them. He says that if the test has questions with 2 view oblique dimensioned drawings, similar triangles and frequency histograms, then it's in the essential learnings, and they fully expect schools to teach them in the curriculum. I said that school aren't teaching this, and it's not in the textbooks and it's unreasonable to call education substandard if it isn't included, but he says that schools where 70% passed the standard show that schools must be teaching this, I said if you look at Somerset, which is one of these 70% schools, they've got very high incomes and 90% over median on the CTBS, which means you've got hi IQ kids who either are smart enough to figure these things out without being exposed to it, or have been exposed to it outside the curriculum by their parents, he said he didn't believe that. I told him that they were using the list of people to hide the people who really put this stuff into the test to raise the level beyond realistic expections. I believed that nobody on the committee had likely checked to see if the knowledge was already in the curriculumm or textbooks, or in the learning standards, but he was positive that this was not the case. He said that the standards were set by committes of academic and industry people, and he had a list of names. I asked him if anybody else had complained that the test was too hard and that they didn't know what they were doing. He said some teachers said the test was challenging and that it was good, but nobody had approached him saying that it was too hard and a bad thing, besides me. He said I was welcome to contact Terry Bergeson and try to arrange something. > To: The LOOP:; > From: "James Kilpatrick" > Subject: Fwd: Mathematics Equals Opportunity - Executive Summary > Department > For the benefit of others on the loop, I've posted what looks like the Tennisons from Oregon were talking about. At least the "essential learning standard in Washington I looked at do contain some specific content, but contrary to what Gordon Ensign told me, there is no reference to frequency histograms, application of similar triangles to measuring flagpoles based on the shadows, or dimensioned oblique drawings, as he insisted that all of the content of the 4th grade assessment which I claimed was at 6th grade level or higher was in the requirements, and already being taught by the best schools. BTW, these are the same Hillary Clinton and Ira Magaziner that were going to overhaul the health insurance system with some grand scheme that would never work, right? The intent in WA is evidently to raise the standard of the high school diploma, which to me is silly. A HS diploma means you got through 12 years of education. The GPA you got and test scores tell whether or not you did well, or did poorly. The concept that you're not going to be allowed to complete 12 years unless you "mastered" it is just crazy unless you want to enforce that everyone performs at an A or B level, however you choose to define it. Seattle has already convinced its school board, as have some other districts, that you won't get a diploma unless you have a C average (the average for blacks in almost every city is somwhere between a D and C), complete community service, and present a research thesis topic with an oral presentation. This is nuts. Not everybody is going to 4 year college that requires this level of performance. > From: "Bob&Barbara Tennison" > To: > Subject: Re: Certificate of Mastery > Date: Sat, 25 Oct 1997 12:55:33 -0700 > Dear Arthur, > > I apologize for the delayed answer. The Certificate of Initial Mastery or > CIM comes directly from the National Center of Edcuation and the Economy. It > is outlined in the publication "America's Choice, high skills or low wages > written by Marc Tucker, Hillary Clinton et. al. > > Oregon legislatures, on the advice of then Speaker of the House, Vera Katz > (who sits on the NCEE board and the board of the Carnagie Foundation) and in > their infinate wisdom and ultimate stupity, made the publication America's > Choice law. It is by statute our law as prescribed in HB 3565 which passed > in 1991. The language was removed in the ammended version HB 2991 that > passed in 1995, but it was too late as the program had already been > implemented and continues today. > > Just in case our legislators weren't convined by Mrs. Katz, Ira Magaziner > was brought in to plead the Clinton administrations case and assure > Oregonians that we would be "on the cutting edge", the leaders, that all > eyes would be on Oregon as we piloted this new education reform movement. > > Is it a bad idea? You bet it is, the program relies heavily on attitudes, > behaviors and the Department of Labor's SCANS report. > > I have a son who has been through the program and it was not a pretty thing > to be involved in. > > Go to our Web page for viewing of an actual CIM, it is enlighting. > > http://www.jb.com/~btennison > > Thanks for asking. > > Barbara (BET) > Date: Monday, October 20, 1997 12:49 PM > Subject: Certificate of Mastery > > > Where the heck does this certificate of > mastery idea come from that popping up > all over the place all of the sudden? > > Does it always come with OBE / PBE? > > It's a bad idea right? > > > eprinted from Eagle Forum EDUCATION REPORTER, June 1997 issue. FOCUS: Certificates of Mastery vs. Diplomas by Oregon State Representative Ron Sunseri The following speech was given at a conference entitled "What Goals 2000 Means to the States" on February 12 on Capitol Hill. What we're doing here is of critical importance to our entire nation. In 1991, I was a member of Oregon's House of Representatives when Ira Magaziner flew to Oregon to make a presentation to a joint session of the House and the Senate to usher in education reform in the state of Oregon. He told us that all eyes were on Oregon, that we were leading the way in education reform. Actually, we weren't leading anything; we were just falling in lock step behind some of the other states. But it is true that Oregon was to become absolutely unique. Oregon is the only state that mandates such "reform" in every school and on every child in our entire state. There is no choice in the state of Oregon. All of our children will receive a Certificate of Initial Mastery and a Certificate of Advanced Mastery. There is no hope except in our private sector, and that's quickly eroding in the state of Oregon. When I first heard about Outcome-Based Education, I was told that we were no longer going to be concerned with getting a child through a class, but that they would learn all the information presented in the class, and that's what is important, anyway. I thought, "Boy, that sounds pretty good. Maybe this is something good we need to investigate here." And so I began to look at different states that had implemented parts of this to see what their outcomes were, since we were going to adopt Outcome-Based Education. Of course, I thought I would see math, science, history, and geography. But that isn't what I saw at all. What I saw was group work, resistance to authority, collaboration, and understanding diversity. It was pretty clear right away that we were shifting from effective education, that is, reading, writing, and arithmetic, to affective education, dealing with attitudes and behaviors of socialization. The academics were simply secondary or ancillary to developing the attitudes and behaviors of the child. Our state developed its eleven outcomes for the Certificate of Initial Mastery. Sure enough, they talked about self-directed learning and collaboration and understanding diversity. And each of these outcomes focused on process, not on content. Clearly, it was an attempt to move our children into a place where their attitudes and behaviors were controlled. Very little was mentioned about academics, even though our law specifically stated that we were to have the best educated students in the world by the year 2000. The law frequently repeated the words "intellectual rigor." The rhetoric was there. What was really taking place was exactly the opposite. We complained so loudly statewide that we got them to say, "Well, we're not going to have outcomes anymore. We're going to eliminate that. We're going to have effective learning skills." They just changed the name, but it's all exactly the same. Nothing had changed at all. In 1991, they told us that there will be no more diplomas. Everyone will get a certificate. I didn't have any idea what that really meant on a grand scale. A Human Resource Development Plan for the United States says that all people that are in the workforce now will come back to these life long learning centers called schools and get all these same values and outcomes and pass the certificate before they go back into the workplace. It's all there, written by the National Center on Education and the Economy. When we insisted on keeping the diploma, we were told that Oregon could keep it but that it is nothing more than a security blanket and has no meaning. And so they put a Certificate of Initial Mastery stamp on the diploma in the state of Oregon. As of 1995, our law requires that all of our students receive a Certificate of Initial Mastery. As I looked at this further, I began to wonder what in the world the federal Department of Labor is doing dictating standards in education with the SCANS report. Clearly, the customer of education is now changing. The customer is no longer the parent and the child, but it is now the world of work. The employer is the customer of education. Now it becomes clear why it is important to change attitudes and control the behavior of the child at an early age. The goal is no longer to give children a broad base of knowledge so they can make their own choices, but to compete with third-world nations under GATT and NAFTA. A compliant workforce facilitates this. And that's what I saw very clearly in the Certificates of Mastery. Our children are not spending 50 minutes a day, as we did, in math class. But don't think your kids aren't getting math! I'll give you an illustration. In Oregon, a math requirement is to learn how to cut down trees in a quarter section. Students spend the first three weeks learning how to feel about cutting down trees. What will it do to our environment? To our ecology? Then they spend a week weighing a number of trees and subtracting this and that, and now you've got your math. But what they have done is hone the attitude and behavior. This process is absolutely essential because a student can't go beyond his Certificate of Mastery until he's demonstrated that he has assimilated the philosophy of the outcomes. The first Certificate of Initial Mastery ever issued in this country was in Cottage Grove, Oregon. This was the jewel in the Oregon Department of Education's crown. However, when it came out that one of the requirements for receiving a Certificate of Mastery was to demonstrate how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, the Department of Education said, "Oh, [the school] got away from us, and they're doing their own thing, and we don't have anything to do with that, and it was a complete error, and they're way ahead of the whole program." It was a catastrophe. Of the 183 students1 in that class, 116 wrote a letter on their own initiative, begging the school district to no longer subject them to this kind of education. What's happening to our children with these Certificates of Mastery is a tragedy. We're told that the academics are there, that we just have to be patient. Forest Grove School District, one of our pilot school districts, declined 36 points in verbal skills and 17 points in math. You will find all manner of rationalization from the Department of Education as to why this happened, and all kinds of numbers trying to justify that this really didn't take place. But the bottom line is that they went down 17 points in math and 36 points in verbal skills. At the Cottage Grove High School, they finally agreed to add some academic content by teaching Shakespeare to the 10th graders. After it was over, we found that they read two comic books and watched the video Roxanne with Steve Martin. So much for Shakespeare. I just met with U.S. Bancorp to discuss education. They have been big monetary supporters of Oregon's education "reform." This company has had so many high school seniors come to be trained as tellers who can't add, subtract, or read instructions that they have had to send them back to high school. They're beginning to rethink this. Industry is not getting the product they thought they were going to get from this program. Required Certificates of Initial Mastery simply lay the foundation. These certificates, or whatever they're called in your state, are the vehicle that pervade the philosophy. That's what is important. Once the children have had their philosophy shaped, they move to Certificates of Advanced Mastery, which determine the vocation the children will have for the rest of their lives. Now what's sad about that? How many kids do we have in college at age 20 or 21 who haven't declared their major because they still don't know what they want to do? How many of you have changed directions, changed jobs? We're asking kids at 15 and 16 years old to choose the industry and vocation they'll be strapped to for the rest of their lives. Can they change? Well, yes, if there is room.2 With the Certificate of Advanced Mastery, this transformational Outcome-Based Education becomes really intense. Grades are eliminated, all subjects are brought into one class, and the focus becomes "problem solving." Do you know any parents who don't want their children to be able to solve problems? Of course not. But what happens is that students focus on one problem, and the only academics they get are those that deal with solving that problem. What you don't get is a year-long, sequential presentation of math or biology that gives a basis of knowledge to reason into other subjects and the mental discipline to teach one's self to learn and to grow. Such "learning" creates gaping holes in children's education, and it is showing up dramatically at the college level now. We just had the president of our local community college make a presentation to our educational committee, and he said that 30% of the kids coming out of high school have to be remediated at the community college level. Thirty percent! In response, we pulled the bill into our committee that will allow the community colleges to charge the high schools for all the kids that they have to remediate. That blew the cap off the Capitol Building because it's millions of dollars. If the taxpayers paid for it already once, why should they have to pay for it again? We paid for those kids to be able to learn those very things. And that's not what is taking place. They're not learning things that are so important. Testing is an essential, key part of the education overhaul. If you're in a state where you're moving toward assessments, then know that you're headed down the wrong road. Assessing is not testing. Assessment determines value or worth. It has nothing to do with norm-referenced tests where parents can measure the performance of their children to others in knowledge content. Assessments are being sold as local control all across the country. But it isn't local control. If they're determining at the state level what the goals and standards are, and they're assessing them, how much local control is that? But you're told that it's local control, and you're expected to believe it. Just like you're told that there's academic content here. There's so much deception going on with this whole thing. Reform is truly a misnomer. This is not education or reform. It is a paradigm with different goals and different purposes. Parents must understand this because they are the ones that are truly responsible for their children's education. Ron Sunseri is a Representative in the Oregon State Legislature. His book, "Outcome-Based Education: Understanding the Truth about Education Reform", is published by Multnomah Books. Footnotes by Bob Tennison: 1.This class started 9th grade with 299 students, of which 175 were left by the end of 10th grade, out of which only 74 received their CIM certificates at the televised ceremony. The remaining 101 students had yet to demonstrate the approved attitudes and opinions. 2.A student may change his "strand" provided there is room in the classes but this will require going back to the very beginning of the strand. For example; a "senior" may switch but will have to take all classes in his new strand. In effect, he will have to take his "junior" year all over again, which is why they de-emphasize the 12th grade graduation and tell students they may take 14 or 16 years to graduate. (K thru 16 system) Eagle Forum http://www.eagleforum.org PO Box 618 eagle@eagleforum.org Alton, IL 62002618-462-5415 In Our Opinion! | Battles | Documents | Stories This is what I picked out of the GIF file (you need help in turning it right side up?) What is the !@#$% on Public Issues about? Your'e right this looks like gobbledygook. I sure hope Washington doesn't end up with crap like this. (you folks in the WA state education department, play attention!) CIM: http://www.jb.com/~btennison/jaycim.gif Citizen Producer Self-Directed Learner Constructive Thinker Effective Communicator Collaborative Contributor Quantify Apply Math / Science Understand Diversity \q2345 on Public Issues Interpret Human Experience Understand Positive Health Habits OK, you're in. Matloff claims he's not for the trendy education stuff, but in fact, shooting down merit for affirmative action is just the same sort of thing. > Date: Sat, 25 Oct 1997 09:17:20 -0500 (CDT) > To: arthurhu@halcyon.com > From: "Peter J. Herz" > Subject: Re: Can I add you to my education list > Arthur: > > I'm interested in the bad dope on education reform. Ever since I taught in > Taiwan, I have decided that letting a centralized bureaucracy decide what > schools may and may not teach is a bad idea. This isn't Chinese-bashing: > it's bashing governments that get a little too pretentious, no matter who > lives under them. > > Regards > > Peter J. Herz > Peter J. Herz > pjherz@siu.edu > > From: LKFS43A@prodigy.com (MR JOHN D SHEPARD) Date sent: Fri, 24 Oct 1997 22:28:23, -0500 To: arthurhu@halcyon.com Subject: Certificate of Mastery Arthur: you're kidding, right?//John From: DaveTNCLE@aol.com Date sent: Fri, 24 Oct 1997 23:09:10 -0400 (EDT) To: arthurhu@halcyon.com Copies to: Fredb001@aol.com Subject: TIMSS & 4th Grade Since you've cited TIMSS, you might be interested in the following report I wrote back in June, especially the part on 4th grade. Dave Shearon Nashville, TN Chancellor's Conference on School Excellence and Accountability Vanderbilt University June 4, 1997 Jeanne Griffith -- Third International Math & Social Studies Report Data on the TIMSS can be found at http://www.ed.gov/NCES/timss Dr. Griffith was the luncheon speaker. Again, there were no handouts, and most of her overheads were unreadable from my spot at the back of the room. The good news is that most of them didn't need reading. She spent the majority of her time describing the administrative and committee structure of the organization and countries participating in TIMSS. Don't ask me why. There was, however, some substance. First, a comment about the 4th grade results of TIMSS released yesterday. You may have seen the news accounts, including the President's claim that they show we are doing better in the early grades than we are in the latter. This was based on our relative position vs. other countries. However, note that the stories also mention that several countries (I think including France, Germany & Canada) did not particpate in the 4th grade portion, but are included in the 8th grade results. As you can see below, this is critical. The most enlightening piece of information for me was her discussion of the videotaped math lessons effort. One hundred math lessons were videotaped in each of three countries: Japan, the U.S., and Germany. These lessons were then transcribed and translated, and a panel of college math teachers reviewed them. The were ranked as high, medium, or low quality for math content. For the U.S., 87% were ranked LOW, 13% medium, and NONE HIGH. Germany and Japan both had a much smaller percentage of their lessons in the low category, and a significant percentage for each was in the high category. This data is on the web site. As I mentioned before, coming from a family of 7 Chinese kids who scored 99th percentile SAT math scores with the same lame math curriculum all the other American kids got, it's not the level of material that matters as much as how well you master it. The whole notion like the WA assessment that you simply throw in a bunch of 6 or 7th grade content into the 4th grade and expect everybody to pass once it's made a requirement is just nuts. > From: DaveTNCLE@aol.com > Date: Fri, 24 Oct 1997 23:09:10 -0400 (EDT) > To: arthurhu@halcyon.com > Cc: Fredb001@aol.com > Subject: TIMSS & 4th Grade > Since you've cited TIMSS, you might be interested in the following report I > wrote back in June, especially the part on 4th grade. > > Dave Shearon > Nashville, TN > Chancellor's Conference on School Excellence and Accountability > Vanderbilt University > June 4, 1997 > Jeanne Griffith -- Third International Math & Social Studies Report > > Data on the TIMSS can be found at http://www.ed.gov/NCES/timss > > Dr. Griffith was the luncheon speaker. Again, there were no handouts, and > most of her overheads were unreadable from my spot at the back of the room. > The good news is that most of them didn't need reading. She spent the > majority of her time describing the administrative and committee structure of > the organization and countries participating in TIMSS. Don't ask me why. > There was, however, some substance. > > First, a comment about the 4th grade results of TIMSS released yesterday. > You may have seen the news accounts, including the President's claim that > they show we are doing better in the early grades than we are in the latter. > This was based on our relative position vs. other countries. However, note > that the stories also mention that several countries (I think including > France, Germany & Canada) did not particpate in the 4th grade portion, but > are included in the 8th grade results. As you can see below, this is > critical. > > The most enlightening piece of information for me was her discussion of the > videotaped math lessons effort. One hundred math lessons were videotaped in > each of three countries: Japan, the U.S., and Germany. These lessons were > then transcribed and translated, and a panel of college math teachers > reviewed them. The were ranked as high, medium, or low quality for math > content. For the U.S., 87% were ranked LOW, 13% medium, and NONE HIGH. > Germany and Japan both had a much smaller percentage of their lessons in the > low category, and a significant percentage for each was in the high category. > This data is on the web site. > > From: Quentin49@aol.com Date sent: Fri, 24 Oct 1997 22:43:41 -0400 (EDT) To: arthurhu@mail1.halcyon.com Subject: Re: ncte home page Isn't it sad that the very people who should be promoting reading are doing stuff like this to oppose progress? You wonder what they are thinking. But then, whole language doesn't require thinking, just feelings. Pretty sad.