US
Education Update
Issue
Seventeen – April 2003
Contents
Schools
Vocational
and Higher Education
Schools
Transforming
High Schools
An online resource
from Jobs for the Future provides practical answers to the question: How
can communities and school systems take advantage of the breakthrough
possibilities offered by emerging, powerful learning environments inside
and outside of the school building, school day and school year? “From
the Margins to the Mainstream” documents institutions and institutional
arrangements that are effectively challenging the current high school
model.
Based on three years of research the resource, which includes examples
of best practice and policy implications, is available at: http://www.jff.org/Margins/Index.html
(Source:
PEN Weekly NewsBlast, 31/1/03)
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Community-Driven School Reform
The Mott Foundation
reports on the growing movement of community-driven school reform. In
the last decade, community-organising strategies to effect urban school
reform have increased rapidly in poor and minority neighbourhoods. The
Foundation offers information on a movement which is challenging traditional
methods of parental involvement. It includes a primer on community-driven
school reform, success stories and links to other organisations advocating
school improvement.
To read more, click here: http://www.mott.org/publications/websites/mosaicv1n2/poverty.asp
(Source:
PEN Weekly Newsblast 31/1/03)
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Schools
Address Discipline Problems By Teaching Empathy
The Hudson Public
School District in Massachusetts practises social and emotional learning
programmes in the classroom, alongside traditional academics. When Sheldon
Berman became Hudson’s Superintendent eleven years ago, he was faced
with teachers’ complaints of poor student discipline and destructive
behaviour. Berman, a founder of Educators for Social Responsibility, responded
by introducing a comprehensive programme of “empathy, ethics and
service” with community service learning forming an integral part
of the curriculum starting in Kindergarten.
Responsive Classroom
addresses students’ social and emotional needs as well as academic
ones. Second Step is an empathy and conflict resolution programme. The
programmes were introduced to a few teachers on a voluntary basis. The
success of the programmes, evident in the turn-around in student behaviour
in the district, means that 90% of elementary and middle school teachers
in the district now practise Responsive Classroom.
To read “A+
for Empathy” on the George Lucas Educational Foundation website,
click here: http://glef.org
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Gates
Foundation Establishes Alternative Schools
The Bill and Melinda
Gates Foundation, along with four foundations, has launched a five-year
$31 million initiative to establish 168 alternative schools. The schools
will be geared towards young people at risk of dropping out of education.
Latest statistics show that only 50% of young African-Americans and Hispanics
are graduating from high school.
The Gates Foundations
is also heavily involved in a push to break up large high schools into
smaller schools, especially in urban areas. Since March 2000 it has committed
$400 million to this endeavour.
To read more, click
here: http://www.gatesfoundation.org/education/smallhighschools/announcements/announce-030226.htm
(Sources: Education Week 5/3/03; The Mott Foundation)
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Teacher Certification - A New Nationally Recognised Programme
The No Child Left
Behind Act authorised the development of a new approach to teacher certification
which would raise the standards required of new recruits to the profession
and create a more straightforward path for mature candidates wishing to
change careers. Consequently, the Department of Education awarded a $5million
grant to a partnership between the National Council on Teacher Quality
and the Education Leaders Council to help create the American Board for
Certification of Teacher Excellence.
The Education Department
has accepted the Board's proposals and the programme will begin its first
series of testing in Spring 2003. (The Act stipulates that by 2006, all
teachers of core academic subjects must be highly qualified). The proposals
are designed to raise academic standards for new teachers and to remove
the traditional hurdles of existing certification programmes that are
keeping thousands of talented people out of the classroom.
The credential proposed
by the Board focuses on what teachers need to know and be able to do in
order to be effective—instead of the number of credits or courses
they've taken. It demands excellence rather than exercises in filling
bureaucratic requirements. The implications from this initiative may be
that talented college graduates from fields other than education, or skilled
professionals from fields like engineering or consulting, could demonstrate
their readiness to teach through this rigorous online assessment.
Persons eligible for
certification are:
- Individuals interested
in making a career change or retirees seeking a second career;
- recent college
graduates interested in the teaching profession;
- teachers holding
an emergency license;
- educators moving
to another state; and
- current charter/private
school teachers who would like to earn a recognised credential.
All certification
candidates will be required to hold a bachelors degree or higher, pass
a background check, a series of rigorous examinations in their chosen
subject and participate in ongoing professional development. The certification
would attest to mastery of the chosen subjects and a grasp of the professional
knowledge needed for classroom effectiveness. The certification tests
would also identify candidates' skills in specific sub-areas of the subjects
they intended to teach, which in turn would allow schools to match particular
needs with a potential teacher's strengths.
The American Board
will not replace States' current systems of teacher certification, rather
it is intended to supplement these systems, and provide a rigorous route
into the classroom for thousands of first class candidates.
More information can
be obtained at: http://www.abcte.org
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Latest
News on Teachers’ Compensation Plans
The National Conference
on Teacher Compensation and Evaluation was held in November 2002. Papers
from this conference, looking at linking teachers’ pay to performance,
are now available online at: http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/cpre/conference/conference/Nov02/agenda.asp
The Consortium for
Policy Research in Education at the University of Wisconsin, which sponsored
the above conference, has published its most recent newsletter online.
This issue identifies the latest teacher compensation projects throughout
the states. To read more, click here:
http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/cpre/news/newsletter/feb2003.asp
(Source:
The Education Gadfly (Fordham Foundation); 13/2/03)
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Citizen
Students
A recent series from
National Public Radio addressed the paradox that young Americans are increasingly
involved in volunteer work and service initiatives but vote at record
low rates and demonstrate little interest in traditional forms of government
or public service. The series looks at high school and college students’
attitudes towards government and civic engagement and the types of citizenship
education they are receiving.
To read “Civic
Lessons Beyond the Classroom,” NPR Special Report Series, click
here: http://www.npr.org/display_pages/features/feature_905341.html
(Source:
Progressive Policy Institute’s 21st Century Schools Project Bulletin,
21/1/03)
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Vocational
and Higher Education
Supreme
Court Hearing on Race-Based Admissions Policy
The US Supreme Court
is considering the legality of affirmative action (race conscious) admissions
policies employed by the prestigious University of Michigan. The Court
will hear two cases involving white women rejected by Michigan’s
undergraduate programme and graduate law school. They argue that the university
has a quota system which favours less qualified minority applicants, and
that such racial discrimination is illegal under the terms of the Constitution.
Twenty-five years
ago, the Supreme Court ruled in Regents of the University of California
v. Bakke against a quota system in admissions but that race or ethnicity
could be one of many factors taken into account for admissions purposes.
(It was not a unanimous decision as the Court was split in its opinion.)
The University of
Michigan uses a point system whereby “under-represented minorities”
are awarded 20 points on a scale of 150. The University states that it
seeks to ensure a diverse student population.
The highly publicised
case exemplifies the polarisation of opinion on this issue: civil rights
advocacy groups on both sides of the spectrum argue either that affirmative
action is unconstitutional or that it is a much needed tool to guarantee
equal access to higher education. President Bush has made a statement
that, while supporting diversity, he opposes the University of Michigan’s
policy which he considers a quota system and unconstitutional.
Highly competitive
institutions, which struggle to ensure minority representation on campus,
are the ones most likely to be affected by an affirmative action ban.
Although the Supreme Court has not yet ruled, Princeton and the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT) have come under pressure of threatened law
suits to change their minority-only summer programmes. From next year,
these will be open to students of all races. Other institutions are already
taking a hard look at their admissions strategies.
Oral arguments for
the cases were presented before the Supreme Court on April 1st. Early
indications are that using race as a factor in admissions may survive
in some form but it is not clear whether the University of Michigan’s
point-system will be permitted. Higher education institutions are hoping
that the ruling will clarify the often murky waters of affirmative action
policies. The Supreme Court is expected to rule by early July.
For more information:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/01/20030115-7.html
– President Bush’s statement on Michigan affirmative action
case
http://www.umich.edu/~urel/admissions/
- Information from the University of Michigan on its admissions lawsuits
http://www.cir-usa.org/recent_cases/michigan.html
– Information from the Center for Individual Rights which opposes
affirmative action and supports the plaintiff in the Michigan case
http://www.npr.org/news/specials/michigan/index.html
– National Public Radio’s coverage of the case, including
its history
http://www.ed.gov/PressReleases/03-2003/03282003.html
– Press release issued by the US Department of Education prior to
the Supreme Court hearings announcing a new report on race-neutral alternatives
in higher education (links to the report)
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Assessing
the Effectiveness of “Race-Neutral” Admissions Policies
At a time when opponents
to affirmative action are calling for “race-neutral” admissions
policies, Harvard University has released two reports on several states’
“percent plans”. One study compares three states, California,
Texas and Florida, which admit automatically the top 4%, 10% and 20% respectively
of graduating high school seniors to their state’s public universities.
The second study examines Florida only.
The reports show that
the admissions policies vary greatly between states. In California and
Florida additional data on test scores determines which campus of their
state university system a student can attend – and the flagship
campuses remain highly competitive. The studies conclude that the “percent
plans” have had little effect on promoting diversity on campus and
suggest that they guarantee admission to students who would have been
accepted in any case. Critics of the studies argue that the data can also
be interpreted to show that “percent plans” did little to
impede diversity, as the racial composition of students admitted was much
the same when using affirmative action or “percent plans”.
To read more on “Percent
Plans in College Admissions: A Comparative Analysis of Three States’
Experiences” and “Appearance and Reality in the Sunshine State:
The Talented 20 Program in Florida”, click here:
http://www.civilrightsproject.harvard.edu/
Governor of Florida,
Jeb Bush has denounced the findings of the study as “flawed”.
To read his statement, click here: http://www.eog.state.fl.us/eog_new/eog/library/releases/2003/February/1florida-02-10-03.html
(Source:
Education Week, 19/2/03)
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Widening Access
for Low-Income Students
According to a report
from the US Education's Department's Advisory Committee on Student Financial
Assistance low-income families are 32% less likely to send their children
to college than higher-income families ("Access Denied: Restoring
the Nation's Commitment to Equal Educational Opportunity," February
2001; http://www.ed.gov/offices/AC/ACSFA/index.html)
A current debate among policy makers and researchers is whether this is
due to affordability or preparation.
The media focus on
the very high costs of private universities and colleges but fees at public
universities have also been rising. The federal Pell Grant, available
to needy students, has been increased to a maximum of $4,000 per year,
but it has lost much of its buying power staying at the same level (in
real terms) as the 1970s.
Others argue that
the problem lies with preparing students (whose parents may not have attended
college) to get into college. This means educating students on financial
assistance, mentoring, guiding them through the application process, college
admissions tests and preparing them for the study techniques they will
need at the postsecondary level.
The debate is especially
crucial in light of the reauthorisation of the Higher Education Act which
governs the $50 billion student-aid programmes. Each side is lobbying
for either an increase in funding for Pell Grants or more funding for
programmes to guide students to (and keep students from dropping out of)
higher education. Although there are differences of opinion, neither side
would deny that both money and preparation are crucial to helping low-income
students. It is a question of where the federal funding will fall.
Current Programmes
to widen access
TRIO
Programs, created
in 1965, are federally-funded programmes to help students overcome class,
social, academic and cultural barriers to higher education (rather than
financial barriers). TRIO services include: assistance in choosing a college;
tutoring; personal and financial counseling; career counseling; assistance
in applying to college; workplace and college visits; special instruction
in reading, writing, study skills and mathematics. The Council for Opportunity
in Education administers the programmes: http://www.trioprograms.org.
GEAR
UP was introduced
by former President Clinton in 1998. It forms partnerships with middle
schools in low-income communities to provide college preparation and raise
educational expectations. The partnerships are with colleges and universities,
community organisations, and businesses. GEAR UP funds projects such as
Project GRAD, a college-school-community partnership to improve inner-city
education. Students receive curricular counseling and scholarship opportunities.
Gaining
Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs:
http://www.ed.gov/gearup/
Project GRAD: http://www.projectgrad.org/
I
HAVE A DREAM
Foundation provides an entire grade of low-income students with intensive
mentoring, academic support, and a promise of public and private aid for
college tuition: http://www.ihad.org.
Running
Start, a programme
created in Washington State in 1990, enables capable students in their
final two years of high school to enrol in courses at their local community
or technical colleges free of charge. The cost for the Running Start programme,
including tuition costs for participating students, is deducted from high
school funding by the State and forwarded to local colleges. The students
can earn high school and college credits at the same time. They can choose
to attend the college full time or split their courses between school
and college. The community college credits earned can be transferred to
public colleges and universities in the state. For an overview of the
programme, click here: http://www.kent.k12.wa.us/staff/spuchar/runningstart.html
Georgia's
HOPE Scholarship was introduced in Georgia in 1993. HOPE (Helping
Outstanding Pupils Educationally) is funded by a state lottery. It offers
any pupil who maintains a B grade average in high school, regardless of
income, the opportunity to study free at any Georgia state college (or
offers $3,000 per year towards the cost of private college tuition). Approximately
440,000 Georgia residents have received over $940 million in tuition for
college tuition in the state since the programme began. Critics of the
scholarship point to evidence that the socio-economic gap between students
has increased with the majority of funding going to students who do not
need it. They also point to a high drop out rate (students have to maintain
a B average in college to keep the scholarship). However, supporters say
it has made a difference in many communities where young people would
not have had the opportunity to attend college - and the state is looking
at ways to address the drop out rate by preparing students better: http://www.gsfc.org/hope/index.cfm
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Testing the New
SAT
The College Board
is working with a psychologist to enhance its SAT (college admissions
test taken by millions of students each year). The SAT has long been criticised
for being unfair to minorities and women whose scores lag behind white
males.
Developers say that a recent field test of the new SAT resulted in smaller
test score gaps across racial groups.
To read more, click
here:
http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030211-033917-1106r
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New Vocational
Education Act Proposed
The Department of
Education is proposing replacing the current “Perkins” vocational
education act (Carl D Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act which
is scheduled for reauthorisation) with a new Secondary and Technical Education
Excellence Act of 2003. The Act would focus on academic preparedness in
high school with job-related training taking place after high school in
community or technical colleges. It is a shift in thinking from traditional
vocational education currently on offer in schools.
To read more from
the Department of Education, click here: http://www.ed.gov/offices/OVAE/CTE/actespeech.doc
To read the American
Association of Community College’s position on the Perkins reauthorisation,
click here: http://www.aacc.nche.edu/
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Adult Literacy
and E-Learning
The following study,
"Leapfrogging the Status Quo: E-Learning and the Challenge of Adult
Literacy", was commissioned by Jobs for the Future to inform the
upcoming
congressional debate on reauthorisation of the Workforce Investment Act
and its
adult basic education provisions.
It examines the status
and potential of technology-enabled tools and programmes
for adults with low literacy and skill levels, and/or limited English
proficiency. An appendix provides one page snapshots of over 30 leading
programmes and products in the market today.
This issue looms large
for the U. S. economy: approximately 90 million adults have not reached
the literacy levels necessary for most jobs in the information economy,
as the country faces a shrinking labour pool with fewer skills.
Click here to download
the report and its appendix: http://www.jff.org/jff/PDFDocuments/Elearning.pdf
http://www.jff.org/jff/PDFDocuments/Elearnsnap.pdf
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Community
College: Hot Issues
Two new articles on
community colleges, “Associate degree: Two years to a career or
a jump start to a bachelor’s degree” and “The changing
role of community college” are available online from the Bureau
of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Quarterly.
To read the articles, and look at current “Hot Issues” facing
community colleges today, click here: http://www.aacc.nche.edu/Template.cfm?Section=HotIssues
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Upcoming
Events/Conferences
National
Youth Service Day
April 11-13, 2003
The American Association
of Community Colleges joins Youth Service America in promoting community
college involvement in this event. Millions of young people, age 5-25,
are planning service projects and celebration of NYSD to strengthen their
communities. For more information, click here: www.YSA.org/NYSD
National Conference
on Skill Standards and Occupational Certifications
Madison, Wisconsin
May 6-8, 2003
This first national
conference is sponsored by the State of Wisconsin and the National Skills
Standards Board. To register, go to: www.wacteonline.org. For more information
contact Bryan Albrecht, division director, Career & Technical Education
at Bryan.Albrecht@dpi.state.wi.us
Taming Technology Institute
June 19-23, 2003
Springfield, Massachusetts
See how colleges are
closing the digital divide by successful fast track IT programs and how
states have developed new revenue streams using technology. Part of the
American Association of Community College’s Presidents Academy,
this year's Taming Technology Institute will focus on four tracks: Leading
a Cyber College; Touching the Whole Community; Faculty Lead the Way; and
New and Emerging Solutions. For more information, click here: http://www.aacc.nche.edu/presacademy
American Association of Community Colleges
Future Leaders Institute
July 20-24, 2003
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
FLI is a five-day
leadership seminar targeting vice-presidents, deans, directors and those
with similar responsibilities. The institute will give future leaders
exposure and training in the skills, activities, knowledge, and attitudes
necessary for successful 21st century community college leadership. For
more details, click here:
http://www.aacc.nche.edu/fli
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Back
Issues
Previous issues of
the Education Update are available on the British Council's USA website.
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For
More Information
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
jenny.scott@us.britishcouncil.org
Director Education, British Council USA
andy.mackay@us.britishcouncil.org
Director, British Council USA
Alex.Gibbs@fco.gov.uk Counsellor
Economic, British Embassy, USA
John.Russell@fco.gov.uk Labour
Officer, British Embassy
Jmckenney@aacc.nche.edu Director
of Economic Development, American Association of Community Colleges
British Embassy website;
www.britainUSA.com
American Association of Community Colleges; www.aacc.nche.edu
To add or remove a
name from the distribution list, please email alison.corbett@us.britishcouncil.org
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