Education in Singapore: Part I

Chester E. Finn, Jr. / February 7, 2002

At the risk of falling into the trap of instant expertise, let me offer some impressions-brought home from a recent trip-about why Singapore keeps coming in at the top on international tests of student achievement, at least in science and math. This week, I sketch the basic structure of that small but vibrant country's education system. In next week's Gadfly, I'll try to draw some insights from what I learned during my brief visit.

We do well to remind ourselves just how well Singapore's education system already does, routinely ranking first or second in the world. In the 1999 (8th grade) TIMSS-R, for example, on which the international average math score was 487 and the U.S. had 502, Singapore led all participating nations with a score of 604. In science, the international average was 488, the U.S. score was 515, and Singapore, with 568, was essentially tied for first place with Taiwan (569).

What's more, their kids get stronger in these subjects as they stay in school. One useful gauge is a comparison of how 4th graders fared on TIMSS in 1995 with the performance of 8th graders in 1999-that being the same cohort of children four years later. In math, where the U.S. went from average (for 4th graders) to 22 points below average (in 8th grade), young Singaporeans went from 73 points above the mean to 80 points above. In science, while the U.S. went from 28 points above

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Education in Singapore: Part I

Effective principals show bad teachers the door

February 7, 2002

Principals are under increasing pressure to raise student test scores. The vast majority of their teachers are committed and competent, principals say, but an unknown number stifle learning. Given the extreme difficulty of terminating a tenured teacher, what's a principal to do once she has tried without success to help the teacher improve? According to Dr. Robert Mendro, the assistant superintendent for research and evaluation at Dallas Public Schools who has used value-added analysis to analyze the effectiveness of teachers in the district, "To date, there is little evidence that principals turn around the performance of teachers. Rather, effective principals do not tolerate having ineffective teachers on their staffs." In an article by reporter Scott Parks in The Dallas Morning News, principals candidly describe the tactics they use to get rid of bad teachers, which include becoming a constant presence in the teacher's classroom, giving a teacher hallway duty, putting a teacher on marginal committees, denying a teacher a permanent classroom, or giving a teacher a new grade or classroom assignment in which he or she is expected to be unhappy. A teachers union representative counters with the other side of the coin-what he calls horror stories of teachers suffering at the hands of vindictive and capricious principals. For details see "Bad teachers get push toward door," by Scott Parks, The Dallas Morning News, February 3, 2002.

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Effective principals show bad teachers the door

Florida union urges power outage to punish donation to scholarship fund

February 7, 2002

After learning of a $5 million donation made by Florida Power to a private school scholarship program under the Sunshine State's new education tax credit law, the teachers union in Pinellas County, Florida has urged the local school board to shut off all power in county schools for a day as payback for the utility company. Florida Power was able to make the donation to the Corporate Income Tax Credit Scholarship Program, which provides scholarships for low-income children to attend private school, instead of paying the same amount in taxes. The president of the teachers union has requested that the board impose a mini power boycott; "turn off the lights, the air conditioners, the computers for a day or half a day" to make up for the money that the power company sent to "unregulated" and "unaccountable" private schools, money which is allegedly being taken away from essential state services like public education. The Pinellas County teachers union was last in the news in November 2001, when a court rejected its bid to stop schools from using funds from a state incentive program to pay bonuses to teachers. See "Pinellas Teachers Union, Utility in No-Power Struggle," by Lynn Porter, The Tampa Tribune, February 2, 2002, and "Union Loses Appeal to Ban Bonus Money for Teachers," by Gary Sprott, The Tampa Tribune, November 8, 2001

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Florida union urges power outage to punish donation to scholarship fund

Using whole school reform to turn around struggling schools

February 7, 2002

Is installing a "whole school" reform model the best way to turn around a struggling school? Since 1997, Uncle Sam has given U.S. public schools over $480 million to put school-wide reform designs in place through the Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration Program (also known as Obey-Porter). Billions in additional federal funds flow through the Title I program for poverty-impacted schools to implement these models. Today, thousands of schools are using them as their chief reform strategy. But how well does whole-school reform actually work? Where did it come from and just how different are those schools? On January 23, the Fordham Foundation and the Brown Center on Education Policy at Brookings co-sponsored a forum on whole school reform. Panelists were Gene Bottoms (Southern Regional Education Board), Anne McClellan (Center for Reform of School Systems), Jeff Mirel (University of Michigan), and Mary Anne Schmitt (New American Schools). The complete transcript and video of that event are now available on the website of the Brown Center. Surf to http://www.brookings.edu/Comm/transcripts/20020123brown.htm. An Education Week article describing the event, "Experts Debate Effect of Whole School Reform," is available at http://www.edweek.org/ew/newstory.cfm?slug=20whole.h21. The report that launched it all, Evolution of the New American Schools: From Revolution to Mainstream, by Professor Mirel, published by the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation in 2001, is available at www.edexcellence.net.

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Using whole school reform to turn around struggling schools

Will No Child Truly Be Left Behind? reports ask

February 7, 2002

Seven provocative new papers examining key challenges of implementing the new federal education law-particularly its testing and accountability provisions-and strategies for meeting them will be available tomorrow on the Fordham Foundation website (www.edexcellence.net). As states turn to the daunting task of creating annual reading and math tests for all students in grades 3 through 8, tracking whether all students are making real progress toward proficiency, and ensuring real consequences for school success and failure, they must answer a range of questions and overcome some real difficulties in designing and installing these new systems. These seven papers outline some of hurdles that will be faced by states, districts, and schools as they try to make this law a reality and suggest some creative solutions. Authors include: Michael Cohen (Aspen Institute), David Figlio (University of Florida), Matthew Gandal (Achieve), Dan Goldhaber (Urban Institute), Brian Jones, Billie Orr, and Lisa Graham Keegan (Education Leaders Council), Mark Reckase (Michigan State University), and Paul Herdman, Nelson Smith, and Richard Wenning (New American Schools).

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Will No Child Truly Be Left Behind? reports ask

Making the Grade: Reinventing America's Schools

Terry Ryan / February 7, 2002

Tony Wagner
2002

In Making the Grade, Tony Wagner, co-director of the Change Leadership Group at the Harvard School of Education, argues that America's public schools have become obsolete. In his view, the world around them has changed so much-a "new" economy, a world of information overload, a world where knowledge is constantly changing and becoming obsolete-that century-old institutions designed for an agrarian society are no longer up to the task of preparing today's youngsters for the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century. Wagner believes we need to reinvent education for a post-industrial world. To him, this means moving beyond archaic notions of school accountability, standardized exams, and a one-size model of education for everyone. He asserts that most of today's education reformers simply want to return to the past because they lack the imagination to create a better today. For those open to full-fledged reinvention, Wagner urges study of the work of Deborah Meier, formerly with Central Park East in New York City, and Ted Sizer, founder of the Coalition of Essential Schools. Making the Grade offers many suggestions for reinventing education, but the idea Wagner spends most of his time developing is the creation of small schools, which might be termed a step back in time. He asserts that the "data are overwhelming: small schools significantly outperform larger schools with comparable student populations on nearly every indicator of 'effectiveness.' " For Wagner, for the Bill and Melinda Gates

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Making the Grade: Reinventing America's Schools

Tomorrow's Teachers

Chester E. Finn, Jr. / February 7, 2002

edited by Herbert J. Walberg and Margaret C. Lang
2001

Herbert J. Walberg and the late Margaret C. Lang edited this book, based on an invitational conference at Wingspread. It contains 14 chapters (including one by Marci Kanstoroom and myself) and brief policy recommendations by the editors. The authors are varied-including both establishment figures and heretics-but the topical orientation throughout is teacher quality. Weighing in at 350 pages, it's a useful assemblage of some of today's major ideas and hot debates on that topic. The ISBN is 0821122762. The publisher is McCutchan, whose address is 3220 Blume Drive, #197, Richmond, CA 94806; phone (800) 227-1540; http://www.mccutchanpublishing.com (The book cannot be ordered online at this time.)

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Tomorrow's Teachers

What's In, What's Out - An Analysis of State Educational Technology Plans

Katherine Somerville / February 7, 2002

Yong Zhao and Paul Conway, Teachers College Record
January 27, 2001

It's not news that inadequate teacher training and lack of access to adequate hardware and software have limited technology's impact on education, but many states are trying to do something about it. In this report, Yong Zhao of Michigan State University and Paul Conway of the National University of Ireland attempt to catalogue one aspect of the "multi-billion dollar frenzy" to train teachers and upgrade system capabilities that is underway in the 50 states by taking a close look at state technology plans: blueprints for implementing and securing funding for educational technology. In general, the authors find, state technology plans over promise and under deliver, taking the form of "idealistic vision statements" that skillfully sell technology by promising to meet lofty goals. This promotion of a "technological utopia" is problematic, they say, because it downplays serious educational inequities; underestimates the complexity of social change; amounts to "techno centrism," in which the limits and constraints of technology are rarely discussed; and simplifies the challenges students face in comprehending the complexities of their social and natural world. You must complete a simple (and free) registration process to view the report at http://www.tcrecord.org/PrintContent.asp?ContentID=10717.

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What's In, What's Out - An Analysis of State Educational Technology Plans

Why Schools Matter: A Cross-National Comparison of Curriculum and Learning

Chester E. Finn, Jr. / February 7, 2002

William H. Schmidt et al.
2001

Do you really want to squeeze the TIMSS data for insights into elementary and secondary schooling? Here's a book for you. William H. Schmidt of Michigan State, who was one of the leaders of American participation in TIMSS, joined with 6 colleagues in writing a 400-page technical explanation (and it IS technical) of what accounts for the different results of participating countries. You won't find the actual country-by-country league tables here. (You've probably seen them elsewhere.) In the authors' words, "Comparative status...says little about learning. Learning is change and growth....If we wish to know what is effective in enhancing learning, we must...examine what produces changes and gains in achievement." In this volume, they don't look at the variables that are hard to change, such as culture and socio-economic status but, rather, at things within the control of schools and education policy. Specifically, they fix on the school curriculum as a key determinant of student learning. Given that perspective, you will not be surprised that they conclude that academic standards matter, that textbooks matter and that teaching matters. So does the extent of commonality of standards within a country. Here's one of the main places where the United States could stand to learn from other countries, particularly as we embark on a new, federally-mandated effort to spell out academic standards and bring every child to "proficiency" vis-??-vis those standards. Can we have a national perspective on

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Why Schools Matter: A Cross-National Comparison of Curriculum and Learning