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US Education UpdateIssue Sixteen - January 2003Contents
The 108th Congress was sworn in this month in Washington. Following the mid-term elections last November, the Republicans regained control of the US Senate and increased their majority in the US House of Representatives. They also won some surprising gubernatorial victories (Georgia and South Carolina), although the Democrats made some gains at state level. In short, the Republican party fared better than expected and for the next two years, at least, will make their mark on education which remains a top priority of the Bush administration. The majority party in both Senate and House holds the chair on the various committees. This means that Democrats will lose key leadership positions in the Senate. The chair will now pass to the Republicans on the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee and the Committee on Appropriations (which decides on funding). Republicans will have more influence on the upcoming education-related bills such as the reauthorisation of Head Start (the federal programme which provides early childhood education for disadvantaged children). Twenty-two states voted on education-related ballots. Notably, in Florida, voters approved offering pre-Kindergarten education to all 4-year olds, and voted to reduce class sizes in K-12 schools. The election of state Governors who favour expanded school choice, such as the provision of school vouchers (public money to help offset the cost of a private school), suggests that voucher programmes may be piloted in some states. The major challenge for state governments, faced with hefty budget deficits, is how to pay for the education measures. At the federal level, President Bush faces less bi-partisan cooperation in pushing through his education agenda than was visible a year ago when the No Child Left Behind Act was passed. For more information:
For most school districts the perennial question is how to engage the community and build partnerships to effect school improvement. In a much-publicised move, New York City recently announced the appointment of Caroline Kennedy (John F Kennedy’s daughter) to head the city’s school fund-raising and private sector partnership efforts. Schools pursuing partnerships with local businesses seek to balance corporate involvement with growing criticism of increased commercialism in schools (from advertising in the classroom to soft drink sales). According to Education Week, businesses contribute an estimated $2.4 billion and 109 million volunteer hours each year, impacting approximately 35 million students. Businesses are no longer simply writing a cheque or placing their products in the school, they are becoming actively involved in providing supplementary learning skills to students. Where a “failing” school, threatened with closure, has been turned around by corporate involvement, the impetus has come from a strong school leader managing the corporate relationship. To address this growing trend and lend support to future partnerships, the Council for Corporate and School Partnerships (founded by The Coca-Cola Company) has published “Guiding Principles for Business and School Partnerships”. To find out more, click here: http://www.nassp.org/schoolimprove/engeln_ccsp.cfm “Strong Neighborhoods, Strong Schools” is a report from Cross City Campaign for Urban School Reform and its partner Research for Action. It looks at the methods used in community organising for school reform in low-income neighbourhoods and provides measures for evaluating their success: http://www.crosscity.org/programs/indicators/findings.htm
A school district of 40,000 students near Houston has replaced its IT department with a contract for Hewlett-Packard to manage the maintenance of its network. The computer company will manage and repair hardware, software and provide a help desk. The $1.5 million contract, viewed as the largest experiment with school technology privatisation so far in the US, is renewable each year and Hewlett-Packard must meet agreed standards of service. The Commercialism
in Education Research Unit (CERU) of Arizona State University's Hewlett Packard's
press release announcing the IT outsourcing agreement with Katy Independent
School District: (Source: Education Week 25/9/02) California Study on Teacher Retention A recent study released by the Governor of California celebrated its record of retaining new teachers. It found that 8 out of 10 teachers were still in the classroom four years after earning their license to teach. The results were hailed as a victory for California’s aggressive policies to keep teachers. Those measures include:
Comparison studies show that the national rate for teacher retention is 67%. However, the national studies include trainee teachers or those with “emergency” credentials (which the California study does not). Furthermore, the data from the California study did not show the overall distribution of teachers and retention rates at schools of varying socio-economic backgrounds. Schools in poorer areas tend to have a much higher teacher turn over. To read more on the report, “Preliminary Report on Teacher Retention in California”, click here: http://www.ctc.ca.gov/ (California Commission on Teacher Credentialing) (Source: Education Week 23/10/02)
The newspaper Education Week has launched its seventh annual report card on public education in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The report focuses on teacher quality and retention. With last year’s No Child Left Behind Act requiring that a “highly qualified” teacher of core subjects must be in every classroom by the end of 2005/06, the report looks at what states are doing about it. The early signs are not encouraging. It appears that states have a long way to go, especially in providing skilled teachers to low-achieving, high minority and high poverty schools. The report outlines possible causes and potential solutions to the “teacher gap”. For the first time, the survey looks at working conditions in high poverty schools compared with peers nationally. Providing equal access to experienced and quality teachers is seen as the foundation of closing the achievement gap. “Quality Counts 2003: If I Can’t Learn From You” includes profiles and report cards on each state and the District of Columbia. For more information, click here: http://www.edweek.org/sreports/qc03/
Research has shown that the academic gap between children of varying socio-economic and racial backgrounds is already in evidence by the time they start Kindergarten. Many states have established their own low-cost or free pre-school for children from low-income families or benefit from the federally-funded Head Start programme. In these programmes, children from disadvantaged backgrounds learn together. A recent study by St Joseph’s College in Connecticut, however, looked at educating pre-school children in economically desegregated classrooms. It found that children from low-income backgrounds, in a class with more affluent peers, learned vocabulary six times faster than if they had been in a classroom with other economically disadvantaged children. The researchers carried out the study at a number of pre-schools, deliberately mixing the children according to socio-economic backgrounds but having no more than 20% of children from low-income families in any one class. The study is set to expand but it has caused interest in the early childhood education community as it suggests the achievement gap could be addressed at a much earlier stage leading to improved skills, such as literacy, later on. To find out more on the St Joseph College study, please email Dr Carlota Schechter at: cschechter@sjc.edu To read an executive summary of the report, "Inequality at the Starting Gate: Social Background Differences in Achievement as Children Begin School," from the Economic Policy Institute, please go to: http://www.epinet.org/books/starting_gate.html#exec (Sources: Education Week, 2/10/02; The Hartford Courant, 19/10/02)
Following data from the police department showing an increase in major crime in New York City schools, Mayor Bloomberg has established an Office of School Safety and Planning. Its remit is to create safety plans and disciplinary procedures. School Principals will also be held more accountable for their schools’ disciplinary problems (such as disruptive behaviour, crime and truancy). Since April 2001 teachers in New York City schools have had the power, under state legislature, to send disruptive students to “in-school suspension centers” for up to four days. This measure has not been widely used, however, both for budgetary reasons, as well efforts by teachers to deal with the problems using less severe methods. The city is also involving other city agencies and community organisations which run after-school programmes in their efforts to curb behavioural problems in their (lowest-performing) schools. (Source: New York Times 18/9/02)
A National Institute for School Leadership has been established in Washington DC as a programme of the National Center on Education and the Economy. It will be headed by Delaine Eastin , California’s outgoing Superintendent of Public Instruction. The Institute’s remit is to provide intensive professional development for Principals working with the challenges of standards-based education in fiscally challenging times. It is anticipated that the first pilot programmes will begin this spring or summer. For more information, click here: http://www.ncee.org/index.jsp?setProtocol=true K-12 School
Networking Conference & International Research-Policy Symposium 8th Annual K-12 School Networking Conference: Achievement, Assessment & Accountability International Research-Policy Symposium: Connecting Research to Education Policy and Practice The K-12 School Networking Conference is the premier event for education leaders on learning through the Internet and technology. The conference attracts more than 500 district, state and national education technology leaders, all looking to enhance their careers and learn from other leaders in the industry to define the future of Internet and information technologies in schools. For more information and registration details: www.k12schoolnetworking.org
For more information: http://www.ecs.org or contact Dara Piltz at: dpiltz@ecs.org Previous issues of the Education Update are available on the British Council's USA website. If there are any topics you would like to see covered in future editions of the Update, please contact: alison.corbett@us.britishcouncil.org, Education Research Officer Additional contacts judith.grant@dfes.gsi.gov.uk
Consultant to the British Embassy British Embassy website; www.britainUSA.com To add or remove a name from the distribution list, please email alison.corbett@us.britishcouncil.org
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