Union Hypocrisy

Chester E. Finn, Jr. / July 12, 2001

The National Education Association (N.E.A.) would rather die than let parents choose their children's schools-but this week it voted to let them decide whether or not their kids will take tests! What's the difference? It seems the country's largest teacher union is willing to empower parents so long as the empowering coincides with the self-interest of teachers, in this case by crippling state and national testing programs that can be used for student (and perhaps teacher) accountability.

Self-interest is the key. It's the one constant in nearly every action of the N.E.A. and most of the actions of its rival/partner, the American Federation of Teachers (A.F.T.) Adult self-interest, to be accurate. Teacher self-interest, to be yet more precise. The educational well being of children may be invoked. But it's usually a decoy, a bit of spin meant to garb the adult self-interest in something less naked.

Self-interest isn't a bad thing. It's the essence of capitalism. It's the core of most countries' foreign policies. (It's also what makes packs of wolves bring down caribou and thieves snatch purses from old ladies.) What's hypocritical is self-interest that pretends to be something else. And patterns of self-interest that lead organizations to profess one thing and do another.

The teacher unions don't always work against quality education for children. The A.F.T., in particular, has a distinguished record of studies, reports and journals (especially its outstanding quarterly, American Educator, whose departing editor, Liz McPike,

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Union Hypocrisy

Certified Teachers in Schools But Out of the Classrooms

July 12, 2001

The Detroit Public Schools are short more than 1000 certified teachers, but the district has 440 such teachers performing administrative tasks as department heads, curriculum leaders or staff coordinators, and often not teaching, reports Peggy Walsh-Sarnecki in the Detroit Free Press. While these teachers-who cost the district about $90,000 per year-have contracts that require them to teach up to three classes (depending on the number of teachers they supervise), a survey conducted by the Detroit Federation of Teachers found that 60 percent taught no classes and 36 percent taught one or two. According to a spokesperson from the state's largest teacher union, the Michigan Education Association, most department heads in other Michigan districts teach more than they do in Detroit; many, in fact, teach full time. Last year, Detroit superintendent Kenneth Burnley ordered 400 administrators back into the classroom, but observers say little has changed. If the existing teacher corps were more effectively deployed in Detroit and other urban districts that are said to have the same problem, we might not have acute teacher hiring and class size crises in these districts year after year.

"Schools' use of teachers questioned," by Peggy Walsh-Sarnecki, Detroit Free Press, July 9, 2001

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Certified Teachers in Schools But Out of the Classrooms

Making school boards more effective

July 12, 2001

Why do conscientious school board members act like cranky five-year-olds, and what can we do to make school boards more effective? Jay Mathews has some ideas in "The Freedom of Choice," by Jay Mathews, Washingtonpost.com, July 10, 2001

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Making school boards more effective

Success Against the Odds: Five Years On

Karen Baker / July 12, 2001

Edited by Margaret Maden

In 1996, the National Commission on Education in the United Kingdom published Success Against the Odds, a description of how 11 schools in disadvantaged areas were producing high student achievement. RoutledgeFalmer is now publishing Success Against the Odds: Five Years On, which revisits these schools to determine whether those schools remain successful. Most have done even better but there is "significant variation in the amount and kind of success." The Selly Park Technology School for Girls in Birmingham, located in a primarily Muslim community, had the second highest rise in GCSE scores in England between 1997 and 2000. By contrast, the Even Fair Furlong Primary suffered from discipline problems during the five-year period and only last summer showed significant gains in student achievement, doubling its aggregate scores in English and Math. Though no one blueprint emerges as a guarantee for success, the authors did find several common factors in schools that did well. The head teachers (principals) of each school possessed a wide spectrum of leadership styles but all had at least ten years' experience. The most important factor was the school staff's commitment and quality. This primarily meant a carefully selected teaching force, but several schools also utilized support staff and parental volunteers imaginatively. (Not surprisingly, the No Excuses project of the Heritage Foundation, which examined 21 high-performing schools in low-income areas in the United States, also found that principal leadership and a high-quality teaching staff

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Success Against the Odds: Five Years On

Teacher as cop

July 12, 2001

The discipline problems that many of today's teachers-even elementary school teachers-have to deal with may shock delicate readers. What's wrong with kids today? See "Schools Awash in Bad Behavior," by Linda Perlstein, Washington Post, July 11, 2001

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Teacher as cop

Up with everyone!

July 12, 2001

Since 1994, high schools in Los Angeles have been able to name as many valedictorians as they like rather than singling out one top student. To avoid making any good students feel bad, some schools had 30, 40, and even 90 valedictorians this year. See "We're All Number One!" by Jill Stewart, New Times Los Angeles, July 5, 2001

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Up with everyone!

Charter Schools and the Education of Children With Disabilities, The Charter Friends National Network

Chester E. Finn, Jr. / July 12, 2001

The Charter Friends National Network (CFNN) has issued a revised (May 2001) edition of this useful publication, prepared by Elizabeth Giovannetti, Eileen Ahearn and Cheryl Lange. This 30-page paper seeks "to provide charter school developers and operators a concise and understandable explanation of current special education laws and requirements." CFNN also aims to anticipate Congress's upcoming review of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the principal federal special ed program. CFNN director Jon Schroeder urges charter school "leaders and advocates" to begin examining needed changes in IDEA. This is important, as current special ed law is out of whack with the theory and practice of charter schools. IDEA assumes, in effect, that the school district is the responsible party in the delivery of education to children with disabilities, yet many charter schools have no relationship (or sometimes a frosty one) with their local school systems. IDEA also assumes that a disabled child will have his/her educational needs met in essentially the same way no matter where he/she goes to school. Yet the essence of charter schools is the distinctive differences they develop from one another with respect to educational philosophy, structure and delivery. Today, from the charters' perspective, special ed is the most rigidly restrictive area of federal (and state) policy, the area where waivers and variances are hardest to obtain. It is also the case that many charter schools aren't adequately prepared or knowledgeable about their obligations to

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Charter Schools and the Education of Children With Disabilities, The Charter Friends National Network

New Frontiers for a New Century, Education Trust

Kelly Scott / July 12, 2001

New Frontiers for a New Century: A National Overview is the title of the latest issue of Thinking K-16, published quarterly by the Education Trust. Authors Kati Haycock, Craig Jerald and Sandra Huang argue that we need to consider bold solutions to reduce the achievement gap that has plagued American education for decades. To assist educators and policymakers in doing this, Ed Trust has since 1996 biennially published Education Watch, a book of national and state data on student achievement and opportunity. This issue of Thinking K-16 is a guide to the online version of Education Watch, which surveys a decade's worth of data. By highlighting dramatically different NAEP scores earned by students of similar socioeconomic backgrounds in various states, the authors aim to dispel the pervasive myth that "student achievement has much more to do with a child's background than with the quality of instruction he or she receives." One staggering finding is that, on the 1998 NAEP 8th grade writing test, black students' average scale scores ranged from 121 points in Arkansas to 146 points in Texas--a difference equivalent to approximately 2.5 years of instruction! There are similarly shocking results for other ethnic groups and subjects. States that get superb test results (relative, at least, to their counterparts) are designated "frontier states." Ed Trust concludes from their success that state and local education policy is a strong determinant of classroom achievement. If minority students everywhere scored as high

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New Frontiers for a New Century, Education Trust

Reduce Your Losses: Help New Teachers Become Veteran Teachers, Southern Regional Education Board

Matthew Clavel / July 12, 2001

This report by the Southern Regional Education Board looks at one of our education system's biggest challenges: convincing new teachers to stay on. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, a quarter of beginning teachers leave the classroom during the first five years. "Reduce Your Losses" asks why many young teachers want to change careers soon after entering the classroom. One reason is poor training in pre-service programs. Another is lack of help and advice from veteran teachers. Yet another is the tradition of shoving new teachers into some of the toughest classrooms in subjects for which they're unprepared. The report notes that the overwhelming majority of teachers who leave the profession do not give low pay as the main reason. The states represented by the Southern Regional Education Board have launched a range of initiatives to retain new teachers, including mentoring support, assessments of beginning teachers, and regulations prescribing where a teacher can be placed (for example, not placing a teacher trained in English into a math classroom for the year). The Southern Regional Education Board sells copies of the report for $.50 and can be reached at (404) 875-9211. For a free copy go to http://www.sreb.org/main/HigherEd/ReduceLosses.asp

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Reduce Your Losses: Help New Teachers Become Veteran Teachers, Southern Regional Education Board

Teacher Training and Texas Educational Reform: A Study in Contradiction, The Independent Institute

Karen Baker / July 12, 2001

In this working paper on the misalignment between consumer demands and the pedagogy of teacher professionals, J.E. Stone (a professor of educational psychology and the founder of the Education Consumers ClearingHouse) takes a close look at teacher training in Texas, starting with Learner-Centered Schools for Texas, A Vision of Texas Educators, the document that guides teacher training in the Lone Star State. This document emphasizes pedagogy that "implies teaching fitted to the learner's unique characteristics" rather than methods that achieve learning outcomes. Stone argues that the focus on learner-centered instruction is based on ideology rather than evidence, and that it interferes with students' acquisition of the knowledge and skills prescribed by the curriculum. He offers value-added assessment as an alternate way of measuring whether teachers use instructional methods that boost student achievement. Value-added assessment measures teacher effectiveness while taking into account student differences, and has been adopted by several districts in Texas as well as the state of Tennessee. While Stone tends to lump all learner-centered teaching into a general category of ineffective teaching practice, he does a good job of demonstrating how Texas teacher certification tests and training programs undermine the public's expectation: high student achievement as measured by standardized tests. He also urges state policymakers to examine how fads and failures enter the educational community and the cost to the public. To view or obtain a copy of the report go to http://www.independent.org/tii/WorkingPapers/TeacherTraining.html or call the Independent

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Teacher Training and Texas Educational Reform: A Study in Contradiction, The Independent Institute

Uncommon Wisdom: Effective Reform Strategies, The 2001 Vanguard Schools, Mass Insight

Jacob Loshin / July 12, 2001

As Congress wraps up the ESEA reauthorization process, standards-based reform has taken center stage. Soon, the debate over "adequate yearly progress" and other exciting details will end, and a timeless question will re-emerge: motivated by these new incentives, how should schools transform themselves in order to increase student achievement? According to Uncommon Wisdom, a report by Mass Insight, the answer lies not in the halls of Congress, but in the schools and districts that are already making large gains. Aiming to identify specific "best practices," the report profiles nine Massachusetts schools (and one district) that outperform their demographic peers on state tests. The snapshots result in suggestions ranging from improved teacher collaboration to increased classroom time to enhanced use of student-level test data. However, school culture transcends all. In each of the high-achieving schools, the report observed a "common focus - a laser-like focus on higher standards for students - and a readiness to take on even the most intractable barriers to change." Mass Insight has only released the executive summary of the forthcoming report, slated for publication this fall. View the summary online at http://www.massinsight.com/meri/Building%20Blocks/e_bb_press.htm or request a hard copy by calling 617-722-4160.

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Uncommon Wisdom: Effective Reform Strategies, The 2001 Vanguard Schools, Mass Insight