The Absence of Atonement: Professor William Ayers

Chester E. Finn, Jr. / September 26, 2001

It's the eve of Yom Kippur, when many people of the Jewish faith reflect on their transgressions, atone for their misdeeds, and try to get right with God and their fellow men. Not Bill Ayers. His new book - which I confess I cannot bring myself to purchase - seeks instead to justify the heinous acts of his youth. (It's named "Fugitive Days" and if you don't care where your money goes you can obtain it from your local bookstore or Beacon Press.)

There are four things to know about Bill Ayers. The first is that he's an ex-Weatherman who boasts that he planned and participated in numerous acts of domestic violence during the late 1960's and early 1970's that left people dead and buildings badly damaged. Then he went "underground" for a decade to avoid being apprehended by the FBI. (His now-wife, Bernardine Dohrn, a notorious Weatherperson in her own right, was on the "most wanted list" for years.)

Second, he's now a "distinguished" professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, described by the University as specializing in moral education and the "ethical and political dimensions" of teaching.

Third, his new book, though published as a "memoir," contains fabrications, distortions, boasts and cover-ups. The 56-year old university professor says it should be read as "one boy's story."

Finally, and most importantly, he is completely unrepentant. ''I don't regret setting bombs,'' he told The New York Times.

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The Absence of Atonement: Professor William Ayers

America not so exceptional when it comes to variability in student achievement

September 26, 2001

Critics of international education comparisons often complain that they are misleading because the variation in student performance is so great in the U.S. "The achievement of American schools is a lot more variable than is student achievement from elsewhere," asserted Berliner and Biddle in The Manufactured Crisis. A new study by three RAND researchers says that's not so. In an examination of eighth grade math scores on the Third International Math and Science Study (TIMSS), the researchers find that the standard deviation (or spread) of the US sample was near the middle of the pack of the seven countries they analyzed. Student scores in Hong Kong and Japan show much greater variation than in the US; American scores vary about the same amount as those of students in England and New Zealand. For more, see "Predicting Variations in Mathematics Performance in Four Countries Using TIMSS," by Daniel Koretz, Daniel McCaffrey, and Thomas Sullivan, Education Policy Analysis Archives, v. 9 no. 34, September 14, 2001, http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v9n34/

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America not so exceptional when it comes to variability in student achievement

College sports and the decline of higher education

September 26, 2001

There is nothing new about the charges raised by a trio of recent publications on college athletics: that campus sports once fostered values like teamwork and perseverance, but now promote crass commercialism while contributing to a campus atmosphere of play and partying that distracts students from academic pursuits. Yet some of the details might shock you. The number of student hours and university dollars devoted to sports are astounding, and efforts to field strong athletic teams have led to a serious degradation of academic standards for athletes, who receive an admissions "bump" far greater than alumni kids and minority applicants. In a review article in this month's Commentary, Checker explains why these problems are serious, what it would take to clean up college sports' act, and why this isn't apt to happen. Read "The Cost of College Sports," by Chester E. Finn, Jr., Commentary, October 2001 (not yet available online)

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College sports and the decline of higher education

Parents and teachers don't see small schools as the answer

September 26, 2001

While small schools are increasingly seen by experts as a promising way to boost student achievement (see Smaller, Safer, Saner Successful Schools reviewed below), parents and teachers have other ideas. A survey by Public Agenda found that parents and teachers think smaller schools have many advantages, but they haven't thought much about that particular school reform strategy and would not put it at the top of their education agenda, preferring to focus on stronger discipline, reducing class size, or improving teacher salaries. For Public Agenda's analysis, surf to http://www.publicagenda.org/aboutpa/aboutpa3ll.htm

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Parents and teachers don't see small schools as the answer

A New Commitment: Effective Remediation Strategies for High School Students

Chester E. Finn, Jr. / September 26, 2001

Mass Insight Education
Fall 2001

The useful Boston-based outfit named Mass Insight Education has issued this concise guide to helping secondary schools catch up academically. It focuses on preparing Bay State high school students to pass the state's MCAS test, which is required for graduation beginning with the class of 2003. The report distinguishes among various categories of students in need of help. It seems that Massachusetts pupils are doing a lot better in English than in math, which is especially interesting considering that NAEP and SAT data show national trends moving upward in math but not English. Not surprisingly, the most acute needs are among special ed and urban students. To address those needs, the report suggests a number of actions, most of them sound but obvious (e.g. more time, different pedagogies, better-trained staff, better tracking). As other states get closer to making their tests actually count for high-school graduation, they are apt to find this kind of analysis helpful. If you would like to see it, I suggest turning to the web: http://www.massinsight.com/meri/pdf_files/A%20New%20Commitment.pdf

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A New Commitment: Effective Remediation Strategies for High School Students

Choosing a Reading Program: A Consumer's Guide

Chester E. Finn, Jr. / September 26, 2001

Ohio Department of Education
September 2001

The Ohio Department of Education has issued this appraisal of 21 reading programs widely used in the elementary schools of the Buckeye State. It was prepared by David Pearson of Michigan State University and Steven Stahl of the University of Georgia. They looked to see how well each program meets eight criteria that research says are important for effective literacy programs. These include five aspects of early reading (phonemic awareness, word recognition and phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension), two operational concerns (meeting individual needs, professional development for teachers) and "evidence of effectiveness." This last is a bit shaky, as the evaluators relied on program vendors to supply the evidence - and they comment that "few programs...met the 'gold standard' for evaluation," i.e. an experimental study by independent analysts. Most of the 85-page report consists of a few pages per program, summarizing the reviewers' conclusions and ratings. These are done on a scale from - in effect - zero to 3, with 3 representing "strong evidence" of a program's success in addressing the particular criterion. Few programs display lots of 3's - and some with high ratings are new to me. (Among them are also several that I'm acquainted with, including Open Court and Success for All.) I don't believe that any two reading experts would agree on these sorts of ratings, and some of what I see in this evaluation - e.g. high marks for

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Choosing a Reading Program: A Consumer's Guide

Education Policy for the 21st Century: Challenges and Opportunities in Standards-Based Reform

Chester E. Finn, Jr. / September 26, 2001

Center for Urban Research and Policy Studies, University of Chicago
August 2001

Lawrence B. Joseph, a social scientist at the University of Chicago and program director of the Chicago Assembly, edited this collection of essays from the Chicago Assembly - a regional improvement organization that holds two-day seminars leading to policy recommendations and a background book. This is the book emerging from an Assembly session held nearly four years ago. 368 pages long, it contains seven essays, commentaries on them, and the 35-page "report" issued by the Assembly. The latter seems perfectly sound and sensible as it works through the rationale, problems and solutions of standards, tests and accountability arrangements with particular reference to the Chicago metropolitan area and makes solid if general recommendations. Some of the supporting essays are first-rate, particularly for those wanting to know more about the convoluted Chicago school-reform story. I was especially taken with Alfred Hess's piece unpacking the "conundrums" of statewide standards-based reform in Illinois and by Charles Payne's analysis of "building-level obstacles to urban school reform." There is a lot here for watchers of standards-based reform in America, much of it in the form of a Chicago/Illinois case study. The ISBN is 0-962675563. The publisher is the University of Chicago's Center for Urban Research and Policy Studies but the distributor - probably a better starting point - is the University of Illinois Press. The most direct path I can find is via the internet

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Education Policy for the 21st Century: Challenges and Opportunities in Standards-Based Reform

Effective Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategies in the Midwest: Who Is Making Use of Them?

Kelly Scott / September 26, 2001

North Central Regional Educational Laboratory
May 2001

It's become a mantra for education reporters: during the next decade, American schools will need to hire over two million new teachers to cope with rising enrollments, staff retirements, and the exodus of younger teachers from the classroom. Policymakers therefore need good information about effective ways to recruit and retain high-quality teachers. To assist them, the federally funded North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (NCREL) surveyed superintendents in seven Midwestern states to identify which programs had been adopted with what degree of success. On the recruitment side, urban and suburban districts report success with manipulating salary schedules to better compensate teachers whose skills are in high demand, as well as partnering with higher ed institutions to give students and graduates on-the-ground training in the classroom. Rural schools have found recruiting within the community to be effective. To retain instructors, urban and suburban school districts are establishing and beefing up support programs for new teachers, with one-on-one mentoring and mandatory program participation the hallmarks of the most successful initiatives. Other strategies include involving teachers more in decision making, implementing team-teaching, and allowing common planning time for teachers. Based on the survey, authors Debra Hare and James Heap compiled a list of mostly common-sense - and mostly inside-the-box - recommendations for state and local policymakers. The most noteworthy: "respond to the market if possible" and "implement policies that result in more small learning environments in the district."

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Effective Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategies in the Midwest: Who Is Making Use of Them?

Occasional Papers on Children Achieving

Kelly Scott / September 26, 2001

Consortium for Policy Research in Education, University of Pennsylvania
August 2001

With the 1995 inception of an initiative called Children Achieving, Philadelphia became one of the first urban districts to implement systemic school reform. Superintendent David Hornbeck's sweeping reform plan - carried out in conjunction with the Annenberg Challenge in that city - sought to boost student achievement through standards-based instruction; school-level autonomy; and increased collaboration between parents, educators, and school officials. Evaluations of Children Achieving have been conducted by the University of Pennsylvania's Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE) and its partner Research for Action (RFA) since 1996. In "Contradictions and Control in Systemic Reform: The Ascendancy of the Central Office in Philadelphia Schools," (available online at http://www.gse.upenn.edu/cpre/Publications/children03.pdf) author Ellen Foley considers the role played by the district's central office in Children Achieving. What she found was a "gradual, but consistent, retreat" from the concept of school-level autonomy, attributable to the central office staff's struggle with "the competing demands of accountability, decentralization, and equity," as well as the alienation of key district partners - including parents, the teachers union, state officials and business leaders--put off by the central office's overbearing behavior. Foley concludes that, while Children Achieving - effectively dismantled in August 2000 with Hornbeck's departure--"fell far short of the vision of re-energized learning communities that motivated its architects," it did have notable success in raising test scores and framing the city's school reform debate around standards and

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Smaller, Safer, Saner Successful Schools

Lauren Collins / September 26, 2001

Joe Nathan and Karen Febey, Center for School Change, Humphrey Institute, University of Minnesota
2001

Drawing on a host of existing studies along with some original research, Joe Nathan and Karen Febey of the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute offer up the latest hurrah for small schools. Their report summarizes the benefits of smaller learning environments - reportedly including higher achievement and graduation rates; fewer disciplinary problems; better teacher retention; and more satisfied students, parents and teachers. It also shows how schools that share facilities with other organizations - museums, libraries, centers for the elderly, and businesses - expand students' learning opportunities, offer higher quality services and use tax dollars more efficiently. Case studies of twenty-two public schools - including charter schools - in twelve states in urban, suburban and rural settings illustrate the benefits of thinking creatively about school structure and management. Skeptics say that building many small schools is more expensive than one larger school. Nathan and Febey contend, however, that innovative shared facilities are actually more cost-effective than traditional schools. You can find it at http://www.edfacilities.org/pubs/saneschools.pdf or request a copy from the Center For School Change, Humphrey Institute, University of Minnesota, 301 19th Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55455; phone 612-626-1834.

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