On private schools and urban schools

Chester E. Finn, Jr. / November 21, 2002

Unless you've been wholly absorbed trussing your turkey, you have read of the recent flap concerning Sanford Weill's assistance to Jack Grubman in gaining admission of the latter's twin tykes to the 92nd Street Y's pre-school program in 2000. This ultra-exclusive Upper East Side pre-school program enrolls 175 youngsters and accepts just 65 annually. Zillions of New York City's movers and shakers want to send their daughters and sons there, however, as it is seen as a stepping stone to the city's elite primary and secondary schools and, these, in turn, are seen as paths to the Ivy League and success in life. So there is much jockeying, angling, finagling and influence peddling as wealthy, powerful parents who are accustomed to getting what they want work all their levers to maximize the prospects of their two, three and four year olds during the annual admissions frenzy.

Nearly all the coverage of this episode has focused on the business ethics of Messrs. Grubman and Weill and Citigroup, which Weill heads and which made a million-dollar gift to the Y, evidently in connection with the Grubman children's applications. For his part, Grubman, then a prominent analyst of telecommunications companies for Salomon Smith Barney, seems to have upgraded his rating of AT & T's stock. (Weill allegedly wanted this for an array of complex and questionable reasons.)

New York State's eager-beaver attorney general is all over this case, as is the Securities and Exchange

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On private schools and urban schools

Bearing, and shedding, the failure label

November 21, 2002

The Jacksonville Times offers a depressing look inside Andrew Jackson High School, one of 64 failing Florida schools, revealing a "battle zone of academic frustration" and blame that's unlikely to change anytime soon. A lengthy article explains how teachers, many of them resentful or wary of the FCAT exam and of legislators' relentless demands for change, cope with passive, preoccupied and troubled students and reticent or combative parents. On the left coast, by contrast, a high school once written off as hopeless has undergone a remarkable transformation under the no-nonsense leadership of a new principal. To the disbelief of state auditors, in less than a year a formerly chaotic and unruly campus has evolved into an educational institution with orderly halls, effective teaching techniques, and weekend sessions for teachers to develop new curricula aligned with state standards. "Inside an F school: frustration, angst," by Laura Diamond, Jacksonville Times, November 17, 2002, and "State praises turnaround at school," by Doug Smith, Los Angeles Times, November 14, 2002

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Bearing, and shedding, the failure label

High-quality charter schools receive national accreditation

November 21, 2002

Four exemplary charter schools in Arizona and North Carolina have been granted national accreditation as part of a pilot program by the American Academy for Liberal Education (AALE). Widely respected as an accreditor of liberal arts colleges, the Washington, DC-based AALE sought K-12 charter schools that demonstrate educational and administrative excellence, including a content-rich curriculum, effective use of assessments, innovative teacher recruitment and promotion practices, strong leadership and financial stability. For more information, see http://www.aale.org/charters/4_new_schools.htm. For a broader look at a related issue - the importance of a rigorous, but not excessively bureaucratic, system of charter school authorization - see "New scrutiny for sponsors of charters," by Caroline Hendrie, Education Week, November 20, 2002

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High-quality charter schools receive national accreditation

Pennsylvania adopts sensible teacher quality reforms

November 21, 2002

Eliminating a major barrier to classroom entry for recent college graduates and career-switchers, the Keystone State's board of education last week voted to deem "qualified" those teachers who receive training from Teach for America and other national alternative programs. The board also decreed that elementary-certified teachers who instruct seventh- and eighth-graders must pass tests in their subjects in order to be considered highly qualified. "Pa. moves to raise teacher standard," by Dale Mezzacappa, The Philadelphia Inquirer, November 15, 2002

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Pennsylvania adopts sensible teacher quality reforms

Portland principal wishes one-fourth of his teachers would leave

November 21, 2002

If ever there were a case to be made for allowing principals to hire and fire their staff, Portland's Whittaker Middle School is it. Principal Tom Pickett told The Oregonian that, until a quarter of his current teachers are replaced, pupils in his failing school won't stand much chance of being adequately educated. "School puts out SOS for teachers," by Betsy Hammond, The Oregonian, November 17, 2002

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Portland principal wishes one-fourth of his teachers would leave

Professional development dollars down the drain

November 21, 2002

Chicago's public schools reaped little reward for their nearly $200 million investment in professional development last year because the money was spent "without any 'overarching strategy' for improving instruction," and without a demand for proof of improvement. So concludes an outside audit. Surprisingly, the city's teacher union doesn't dispute the findings, though it sought to place part of the blame for the training's "vague results" on the fact that it "was done to [the teachers], rather than with them or for them." The audit nonetheless suggests that more resources poured into professional development is no sure path to improved teacher effectiveness. "Schools get millions; results 'unclear'," by Rosalind Rossi, Chicago Sun-Times, November 15, 2002

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Professional development dollars down the drain

Texas, Michigan wrestle with standards

November 21, 2002

Noting that it's better to raise standards than to back down from a higher benchmark, Texas's board of education approved a motion to set a moderate but rising standard for passing the rigorous new TAKS exam. This replaces the celebrated TAAS test, on which many Lone Star students and schools had bumped against the ceiling. The passing standards on TAKS, which are said to roughly match the current expectations of TAAS, are being phased in over several years. Texas's practice with TAAS was to ratchet the passing scores upward and it appears this is the plan for TAKS. (Even so, 15% of 3rd graders are expected to fail the reading test at the outset.) By contrast, Michigan - which led the country in number of failing schools partly as a result of its lofty standards - has, in effect, lowered those standards, "temporarily" changing its definition of a failing school to a "more realistic standard" to avoid federal sanctions. "Students will get two years to master state TAKS exam," by Terrence Stutz, The Dallas Morning News, November 16, 2002, and "Measure of failing schools altered," by Peggy Walsh-Sarnecki, Detroit Free Press, November 15, 2002

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Texas, Michigan wrestle with standards

Young Americans clueless about geography

November 21, 2002

Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 earned a "D" average on a recent National Geographic survey of geography and current events. Only 13 percent could identify Iraq on a map of the Middle East, and an astonishing 11 percent failed to locate the U.S. on a global map! The findings echo students' poor performance on the 2001 NAEP geography test [see http://www.edexcellence.net/gadfly/issue.cfm?issue=50#1380]. "Americans flunk geography, survey finds," Associated Press, Star Tribune, November 20, 2002

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Young Americans clueless about geography

Big Brother and the National Reading Curriculum: How Ideology Trumped Evidence

Chester E. Finn, Jr. / November 21, 2002

Richard L. Allington
2002

A recent Gadfly editorial suggesting there may be too much heavy-handed education legislation on the books [see http://www.edexcellence.net/gadfly/issue.cfm?issue=34#482] led to a note from Richard L. Allington, the "author/editor" of this new book. Allington is a professor of education at the University of Florida, a member of the "Reading Hall of Fame," and a very unhappy camper when it comes to the National Reading Panel (NRP) and other efforts to describe the "scientific consensus" about how children learn (and should be taught) to read. His new book ends with a stern warning against a "national reading methodology." Most of it consists of authors disputing the NRP's findings and the federal legislation and policies that rest upon those findings - notably NCLB's "Reading First" program. Along the way, the authors go after phonics, testing, accountability, privatization and other demons. Good try, Professor Allington, but I'm unpersuaded. There are many parts of K-12 education where I'm all for flexibility and variety and experimentation, but early reading is one of the few places in education that boasts solid science, and we should honor it. Congress did NOT say everyone must teach phonics. It merely said that federal (reading) dollars will henceforth hinge on it. Nobody needs to take those dollars - and many private schools and home schoolers can't or won't. But just as I wouldn't want Medicaid dollars to pay for leeches and mustard plasters, or NASA dollars to pay

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Big Brother and the National Reading Curriculum: How Ideology Trumped Evidence

California's Charter Schools: Oversight at All Levels Could be Stronger to Ensure Charter Schools' Accountability

Chester E. Finn, Jr. / November 21, 2002

California State Auditor
November 2002

The California State Auditor released this examination of four districts that have chartered a larger number of schools, concluding that they're not doing a very good job of it - and may be garnering more state funds than they should to compensate themselves for their weak oversight. The districts (Fresno, Oakland, San Diego, Los Angeles) say it isn't so - and fill more than half of this 216-page report in explaining themselves. With some 436 California charter schools now enrolling upwards of 160,000 pupils, this is a big subject. Charter advocates regard the Auditor's report as a hatchet job, part of the intensifying political campaign to curb these schools' freedoms and restrict their numbers. At the same time, they acknowledge that the California charter-school accountability picture is less than perfect. This has led their statewide association to propose having schools accredited (by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges) and to require added fiscal accountability. State board chairman Reed Hastings suggests that no school should get its charter renewed unless it scores at least a 4 on the state's ten-point Academic Performance Index. (Critics of THAT idea say a "value added" or "progress" measure should be used rather than a fixed standard.) While the Auditor's recommendations for districts (and the State Department of Education) strike me as plausible, the risk, as always in these discussions, is that stepped-up "oversight" by charter authorizers will turn into clumsy over-regulation.

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California's Charter Schools: Oversight at All Levels Could be Stronger to Ensure Charter Schools' Accountability

Education for All Global Monitoring Report: Is the World on Track?

Chester E. Finn, Jr. / November 21, 2002

UNESCO
2002

This new report from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) reviews international readiness to attain the target of "education for all" that was set at a Dakar forum in 2000. That meeting produced a "framework" of six extremely ambitious goals for all the planet's countries to attain by 2015 (e.g. "comprehensive early childhood care and education," universal primary education "of good quality," a 50% gain in adult literacy, "especially for women"). This report doesn't actually report on progress since Dakar because 1999 or 2000 is the most recent available data for most of the indicators. Rather, it seeks (in 193 pages) to appraise the prospects of reaching those goals. The sobering if unsurprising bottom line: there's a big gap between the 83 countries (mostly wealthy) that are "on track" and the other 70 (nearly all poor) that aren't. (Some of the latter are actually regressing.) The reasons are numerous, often having to do with macro-political developments, war, and the general economic circumstances in which countries find themselves. One widespread education problem, however, is a big teacher shortage, with an estimated three million more instructors needed in sub-Saharan Africa alone. Like most UNESCO reports, this one calls for lots more foreign aid while staying pretty much "inside the box" in terms of education delivery systems. You will not, for example, find much here about the potential of low-cost private schools such as James Tooley has found in third-world

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Education for All Global Monitoring Report: Is the World on Track?

New Leaders for New Schools

Terry Ryan / November 21, 2002

Stig Leschly, Harvard Business School
October 29, 2002

What would happen if training programs for principals focused less on complying with certification rules and more on developing the practical leadership skills that they'll need to be successful in their schools? What if school leaders were recruited from many backgrounds rather than just from the ranks of classroom teachers? Harvard Business School professor Stig Leschly shows what these ideas look like in practice in a case study of New Leaders for New Schools, a promising effort to improve U.S. public education by transforming its approach to school leadership. The brainchild of three quondam graduate students with a passion for helping needy children, New Leaders believes in strengthening education by raising the quality of those who run schools. Begun in 2001, it accepts a small number of top-notch fellows (culled from the business, civic and education sectors) to participate in an intensive summer institute that stresses two themes: 1) becoming a successful instructional leader, and 2) becoming a general manager capable of defining and sustaining a mission-driven organization. After completing the summer program, fellows enter a 10-month, in-school residency during which they are mentored by effective principals. New Leaders has thrived during its first two years and now faces some tough decisions about how to grow without forfeiting quality. Those interested in school leadership and/or the intersection of business theory with education will want to learn more about this project, both as education reform

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New Leaders for New Schools

Three Paths, One Destination: Standards-Based Reform in Maryland, Massachusetts and Texas

Chester E. Finn, Jr. / November 21, 2002

Achieve, Inc.
November 2002

Achieve, Inc., the CEO-and-governor led standards-based reform organization, recently issued this 25-page account of reform progress by three of its favorite states (all of which had invited Achieve to review their work in this area.) The conclusion: after a decade or more of effort, standards-based reform is showing good results in all three but they're going about it very differently. "While the states used the same three-part strategy [standards, testing, accountability], the tactics they chose varied a great deal. Each state faced a unique set of circumstances and made different choices along the way. The different paths&suggest that there is more than one way to achieve high standards." For example, Massachusetts has focused entirely on "student stakes" while Maryland laid the accountability burden on schools, and Texas did both. Other differences are interesting, too, as is the ubiquity in all three states of "consistency, consensus and comprehensiveness." This report is a little on the boosterish side, perhaps not giving quite enough ink to stumbles and obstacles that these states encountered along the path, but, then, it was meant to encourage other states. One can only hope that NCLB's valiant effort to standardize many aspects of states' approach to standards-based reform will still permit this kind of constructive variation in more places. See for yourself at http://www.achieve.org/dstore.nsf/Lookup/reportthree-statefinal/$file/reportthree-statefinal.pdf.

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Three Paths, One Destination: Standards-Based Reform in Maryland, Massachusetts and Texas