The social studies mess

Chester E. Finn, Jr. / August 21, 2003

With schools re-opening, daily attacks in the middle east, and the second anniversary of 9/11 hard upon us, teachers can expect another round of nonsense from experts who think it's more important to boost children's self-esteem and tolerance than to instruct them in the history of their own and other countries, the wellsprings of citizenship, and the price of defending freedom.

Worse, the bad advice from such quarters as the National Council for the Social Studies, National Education Association, and National Association of School Psychologists, telling educators what to teach about September 11 (and terrorism and Iraq), is only the tip of the crumbling mountain known as "social studies." It begins in the early grades with a dreary curriculum called "expanding environments" that acquaints children with "community helpers" (e.g., "your friendly postal service worker") but neglects to introduce them to the great tales of patriotism and treachery that make history so gripping. It continues in middle school with a multicultural pi??ata from which the world's foods, holidays, and quaint customs shower down on youngsters who possess no foundation in basic chronology or geography. It finishes in high school with a quick dash through U.S. history and perhaps a civics course that nowadays may be replaced by semi-politicized volunteer work called "service learning."

No wonder our kids cannot find Baghdad or Jerusalem on a map, have little or know understanding of how today's world came to be the way it is, and are

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The social studies mess

Blaming NCLB

Diane Ravitch / August 21, 2003

The New York Times recently published a two-part series on the newly discovered problem of "push-outs" in the New York City public schools. The articles charged that principals were pushing out low-performing students in order to protect their school's performance scores and attendance rates. This practice, the reporters suggested, was the result of high-stakes testing mandated by the state and the federal government. Administrators were reacting to the testing pressure by dumping low-performing and disruptive students into the streets or into ineffective GED programs.

Since the two articles appeared, there has been a follow-up editorial in the Washington Times, as well as op-ed articles in New York City tabloids. The city chancellor, Joel Klein, has promised to put a halt to the practice of "pushing" kids out.

The trouble with this story is that its logic is wrong. The practice of pushing low-performing and disruptive students out is not new. Teachers and principals know that it has been occurring for many years. The mega-high schools, the ones with enrollments of 3,000 or 4,000 kids, have a long history of dumping recalcitrant students into alternative schools or onto the streets. In confidence, principals will say that they do this in order to protect the learning environment for the students who come to class and want to learn. Also in confidence, they will tell you that the kids who were transferred elsewhere (anywhere) were not coming to school, and when they did show

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Blaming NCLB

Florida u-turn on class size

August 21, 2003

Last fall, 52 percent of Florida voters supported a constitutional amendment that would cap class sizes in public schools throughout the state. Now, given the severe budget crunch and high cost of class-size reduction - more than $1 billion this year and next - Florida's State Board of Education has voted to join Governor Jeb Bush in an effort to roll back part of the amendment. Though the Board supports smaller classes in kindergarten through third grade, its members believe that everything beyond that is money better spent on other reforms. As we've long said, smaller classes are nowhere near as important to improving student achievement as quality teachers - and may actually have the perverse effect of putting more incompetent teachers in front of classrooms by forcing districts to hire from deeper into the talent barrel. In any case, it is clear that such class-size reduction amendments are no quick - or cheap - fix for struggling schools.

"State board seeks repeal of class-size amendment," Sarasota Herald-Tribune, August 20, 2003

"Let's rethink the class size amendment," by Dom Armentano, Foxnews.com, August 6, 2003

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Florida u-turn on class size

Governor: take your money elsewhere

August 21, 2003

At a time of budget crunching, why would teacher unions, legislators, and state education officials turn down free money? Yet under pressure from these groups, that is exactly what Michigan's governor is about to do. Governor Jennifer Granholm has vowed to veto a bill that would enable a local Detroit businessman to donate $200 million to build 15 new charter schools in the Motor City. Last week, after that measure squeaked through the state Senate on a party-line vote, Granholm announced that she was holding out for "more comprehensive" charter legislation - translated, a bill that would limit both the total number of charter schools operating in Michigan and the number that can be sponsored by universities and community colleges.

"Debate over adding 15 charter schools isn't a surprise," by Chris Christoff, Detroit Free Press, August 18, 2003

"Senate OKs charter schools," by Gary Heinlein and Mark Hornbeck, Detroit News, August 14, 2003

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Governor: take your money elsewhere

Silliness in South Carolina

August 21, 2003

Please note, this is not our April's Fools edition. Officials in Beaufort County, South Carolina have decided to institutionalize grade inflation by mandating that no student receive less than a 62 (out of 100) in the first semester of any class, so that students will not be prevented from passing the class if they improve in the second semester. "What we're trying to do is look at how can we send the message to students that we want them, number one, to be successful," deputy superintendent Edna Crews said. We doubt this method will send precisely that message.

"Beaufort County district limits poor grades," Charleston Post and Courier, August 18, 2003

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Silliness in South Carolina

Training sponsors for charter schools

August 21, 2003

A new Ohio law removes the state's Department of Education from the charter school authorizing business and allows school districts, county education service centers, public universities AND qualified nonprofits to sponsor charter schools in the Buckeye State. Moreover, because nearly all of Ohio's existing charters were sponsored by the state, the new law means they need new sponsors within two years or will become orphans. To assist with the training and development of competent new charter sponsors, the legislature also earmarked some funds. The new Ohio Charter School Sponsor Institute is newly launched by the Ohio Foundation for School Choice and the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, joined by the National Association of Charter School Authorizers and supported by some of those state dollars and matching grants from the Walton Family Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Its goal: to recruit, prepare and help deploy about ten high-quality charter-school sponsors for Ohio over a two-year period. Though the changes ushered in by the new law bring risks - e.g. allowing a variety of organizations with varying motives to sponsor charter schools - they also create an unprecedented opportunity for boldly innovating with this unconventional way of delivering public education.

Institute to prepare new sponsors for Ohio charter schools, press release, August 13, 2003

Charter School Authorizing: Are States Making the Grade?, Louann Bierlein Palmer and Rebecca Gau, Thomas B. Fordham Institute

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Training sponsors for charter schools

Learning for the 21st Century: A Report and MILE (Media and Information Literacy Exchange) Guide for 21st Century Skills

Eric Osberg / August 21, 2003

Partnership for 21st Century Skills
August 2003

This short report from the Partnership for 21st Century Skills outlines that organization's vision for changing education to meet society's needs today and in the future. The Partnership is comprised of firms such as Apple, Dell, and Microsoft, so it's no surprise that its recommendations emphasize technology and advocate tailoring curricula so that students will be prepared to encounter spreadsheets, Palm Pilots, and the internet. The group also includes the NEA, so it's even less surprising that it rehashes old arguments for student-centered learning and curricula heavy on teaching "understanding, tolerance, and acceptance of ethnic, cultural, religious, and personal differences." Yet despite self-serving pleas from computer companies and the usual fare from the union, the report has some merit. It recognizes the importance of standards and accountability, of an education strong on basic skills (particularly civics and financial literacy), of teaching children personal responsibility, and of the need for teachers to acquire a "solid foundation in core subjects" (though in schools of education). To learn more about the 21st Century Project, see www.21stcenturyskills.org or download this report at http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/downloads/P21_Report.pdf.

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Learning for the 21st Century: A Report and MILE (Media and Information Literacy Exchange) Guide for 21st Century Skills

Making Schools Work: A Revolutionary Plan to Get Your Children the Education They Need

Chester E. Finn, Jr. / August 21, 2003

William G. Ouchi, Simon and Schuster
September 2003

UCLA management professor William G. Ouchi has written an important book. Though dressed up as a "how to do it" handbook, it's the result of a careful study of six big-city school districts (five U.S., one Canadian) to determine which ones work best and why. After extensive analysis, he has distilled the essential elements of district-level success into "seven keys." To wit: Every principal is an entrepreneur. Every school controls its own budget. Everyone is accountable for student performance and for budgets. Everyone delegates authority to those below. There is a burning focus on student achievement. Every school is a community of learners. And families have real choices among a variety of unique schools. The rest of the book explains the seven keys in depth, suggests how he reached these conclusions, and what "you" can do with them to "improve your school." A most insightful and important piece of work that holds out real hope for urban school reform at the system level. But, of course, the changes implied by Ouchi's seven keys would, for many communities, be wrenching and politically difficult. The ISBN is 0743246306, the publisher is Simon & Schuster and you can get more information at http://www.simonsays.com/book/default_book.cfm?isbn=0743246306&areaid=33.

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Making Schools Work: A Revolutionary Plan to Get Your Children the Education They Need

Phi Delta Kappan/Gallup Poll of the Public's Attitudes Toward the Public Schools

Chester E. Finn, Jr. / August 21, 2003

Lowell C. Rose and Alec M. Gallup, Phi Delta Kappan and the Gallup Organization
August 20, 2003

Yesterday, Phi Delta Kappa and the Gallup Organization released the 35th edition of their annual poll. It offers some interesting data, including:

" Only a quarter of the public (and 22 percent of public-school parents) considers itself well informed about the No Child Left Behind act. And fewer than one in five has a favorable impression of it. (An assertion that some Republicans, including House Education and the Workforce Committee chairman John Boehner, have disputed, calling the poll's questions about and descriptions of NCLB biased.)

" In Gallup's words, "the public shows little support for the strategies that are an integral part of NCLB as it is being implemented." For example, just 15 percent of Americans think the federal government should "have the greatest influence in deciding what is taught in the public schools here" and about the same number favor gauging school performance based on student achievement in relation to a fixed standard. (Most prefer a "value added" approach.)

" On the other hand, 45 percent of those surveyed would like tutoring for a failing child to be provided by "an outside agency you would select from a state-approved list" versus "tutoring provided by teachers in child's school."

" Eighty percent of respondents are concerned (and half of these are concerned "a great deal") that NCLB's and states' emphases "on testing for English and math only to judge

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Phi Delta Kappan/Gallup Poll of the Public's Attitudes Toward the Public Schools

State High School Exit Exams Put to the Test

Chester E. Finn, Jr. / August 21, 2003

Keith Gayler, Naomi Chudowsky, Nancy Kober, and Madlene Hamilton, Center on Education Policy
August 2003

Jack Jennings's Center on Education Policy is the source of this 137-page study of state exit tests, the second annual such. Much useful data here, including charts showing the characteristics of various state high-school exit test regimens and 50 pages of state profiles that say to what the test covers, when it's given, when its "stakes" take effect (and in what form), what options are available for students (including waivers, alternatives to testing, etc.) Additional policy analyses lead to four main findings: (1) Though states are "forging ahead with these tests," they are also fiddling with content, levels of difficulty, options, and timing. "While several states have revised or delayed their exit exam requirements in response to public opposition, high failure rates, and concerns about negative effects of tests on minority, poor, and special needs students, most of the adjustments made have affected small numbers of students or bought states time. . . . The debates over these changes show how complicated it is to strike a balance that addresses legitimate concerns about the exams without losing their rigor." (2) NCLB is "influencing the performance goals, content, and timetables of state exit exam systems. Most states with current or planned exit exams intend to use these exams to comply with the Act's high school testing mandates, but most must modify their testing systems to do so." (3)

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State High School Exit Exams Put to the Test

When Schools Compete: The Effects of Vouchers on Florida Public School Achievement

August 21, 2003

Jay Greene and Marcus Winters, Manhattan Institute
August 2003

The unquenchable Jay Greene is back with a new study on the effect that vouchers, and the threat of competition from vouchers, have on Florida's public schools. The results are staggering. Voucher-eligible schools (schools that have received at least two Fs on the Florida state assessment in four years, making students eligible for state-funded "opportunity scholarships," or vouchers) improved by a statistically significant 9.3 scale score points more than gains made by other Florida public schools between 2001-02 and 2002-03. The gain was similar for schools that have received one failing grade ("voucher-threatened" schools): 6.7 scale score points more than other schools. But schools that are only in danger of receiving their first F, or are chronic D-performers - in other words, schools not immediately threatened by vouchers - posted statistically insignificant gains, while schools that were formerly threatened by vouchers actually lost ground compared to others. Greene and Winters also tested whether it was actual competition or the threat of competition that produced gains, i.e. what some have termed the "stigma" of being labeled failing. They conclude that it is actual vouchers and not mere stigma that produce the observed effect. Check it out at http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/ewp_02.htm.

"Report: vouchers have a positive effect on schools," by Nancy Cook Lauer, Tallahassee Democrat, August 20, 2003

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When Schools Compete: The Effects of Vouchers on Florida Public School Achievement