US Education Update UK Education Update

US Education Update

Issue 6, January 2001

Contents

The New Administration

Education Budget Appropriations for FY 2001
Congress has failed to reauthorise spending for the backbone of federal education policy, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, for the first time in 35 years. Nevertheless, education was the key word of the Presidential election, and therefore Congress has made sure that federal funds will still be allocated. The Education appropriations Bill maintained and even expanded spending levels for FY 2001. The Bill appropriated a record $44.5 billion for education, including two of President Clinton's key initiatives: $1.6 billion to hire 100,000 new teachers and reduce class sizes; and, $1.2 billion to help urban and rural schools repair old school buildings. The Republican majority also included funds to help local schools educate children with disabilities.

For more information see: www.ed.gov/offices/oese/esea

New Education Secretary: Dr Roderick R Paige
DrRoderick R Paige, the former Houston Schools superintendent, was warmly received by the Senate Education Committee conducting his confirmation interview. Paige impressed the Committee by disavowing any "particular entrenchment as far as ideology is concerned" and committed himself to reach out to both parties in his efforts to improve educational opportunities for all children.
Paige defended the widespread use of standardised tests to measure the progress of students, teachers, principals and other school officials. He called these tests "indispensable tools of school reform." Paige also defended the Bush proposal for the use of school vouchers which would allow parents to use public funds to pay for private education. He stated that the concept of "vouchers" (he dislikes that term) should be part of a mix of school choice options available to parents who want to change the status quo. Democrats, led by Sen. Kennedy, gave Paige a not very subtle warning that any attempt to introduce a federal voucher programme would face serious opposition in Congress.
However, the general tone of the confirmation process was friendly and Dr Paige was confirmed as Education Secretary and sworn-in on January 24th. Dr Paige, at the age of 67, is the first black Education Secretary in US history.
A brief biographical note is attached separately.

President Bush's Education Plan
Following his campaign pledge to make education his first priority, President Bush presented, on his second day in office, his ideas for education reform in a 28-page document (not yet in Bill format) "Transforming the Federal Role in Education So That No Child is Left Behind". The plan to raise educational standards is based on four pillars:

  • Increased accountability for student performance. States, districts and individual schools that improve performance will be rewarded. Those failing to reach acceptable standards will be sanctioned. This will be monitored through annual testing in reading and maths in 3rd grade through 8th grade (age 9-14). But there will be no national standard; each state will devise its own test system Less than 20 states currently have annual test schemes.
  • Local control of schools will remain, but new federal funds will be available to improve schools and enhance teacher quality - based on federally funded research on what works
  • Bureaucracy will be reduced and flexible federal funding will be made available to states and school districts. Bush argues that local schools know better than Federal Government what is needed locally
  • Parents will have access to new information on state-wide schools' performance, and will be able to opt for Federal money to remove their children from public schools which fail over 3 years, and put them in better performing public, private or parochial schools.

    This is the most controversial idea. Most Democrats argue that vouchers for private schools will undermine the public education system.


Other, less controversial aspects of the White House plan would:

  • Provide money to try to ensure that all children can read by third grade.
  • Require students at school for over three years to be taught in English, but give those doing well in English proficiency more freedom to spend money on bilingual education too.
  • Let students transfer out of schools that are "persistently dangerous" and give teachers more authority to remove violent students.
  • Redesign grants for teacher training, more funding for character education, and giving states and school systems making progress more discretion over spending that money


There are no budget figures yet so it's difficult to tell what impact it could have. For example, Clinton's most recent scheme focused on evidence on the benefits of reduced class size, and pumped money into training 100,000 new teachers. We don't know if the Bush plan will still allow more teachers to be trained or raise funding per teacher in training. Nor do we know if it will raise teacher pay.

But what we can say is that by focusing on poor minority children in inner city schools, Bush has improved his prospects of getting this through Congress. Democrats find it hard to resist social promotion, summer schools, standards/ accountability, universal pre-/ after school programmes. And whilst Bush stopped short of abandoning his campaign pledge to offer "vouchers" it is becoming clear that he would not allow this to be a stumbling block. There must be a good chance this Bill will pass by the summer, in time to begin testing in Autumn 2001.

The Democrats have introduced parallel legislation to improving school performance, essentially repackaging Senator Lieberman's proposals from the last Congress. The new Lieberman Bill, would raise federal funding by $35 billion over five years, with 50% more on the poorest students. The Bush campaign plan cost $25 billion; that will probably rise when his budget is introduced in late February.

The Bush and Lierberman plans are broadly similar, with federal help for failing schools and plans to consolidate federal programmes; both streamline about 50 federal education programs into five categories of grants that the states would receive.
The key differences are:

  • School Vouchers - Bush favours, and the Democrats vigorously oppose.
  • Failing Schools - Bush gives states three years to implement corrective action to improve such schools before allowing parents federal money to transfer children to a better performing school. Democrats would remove federal funding from states if schools failed to meet standards; instead of vouchers, they would provide $100 million in grants for programmes like charter or magnet schools.
  • Testing - Bush proposes annual tests in grades 3 to 8, (with the focus on improvement within a school, rather than absolute scores relative to other schools). The Democrats favour one test at each of the elementary, middle, high school stages, arguing this would prevent schools "teaching for tests".
  • Standards - Bush would require states also to set "challenging content standards in history and science". Officials would have access to money from a Reading First programme and similar financing could be used in pre-school and Head Start programmes. The Democrats would require states to set performance goals for raising standards in maths and reading, as well as for closing the gap between high and low-income and minority and white students.


Some favourite Democratic issues such as school construction and reducing class size were not covered by the Bush plan, nor was the e-rate, a telephone tax used to wire schools for the Internet that is opposed by many Republicans. But Bush and the congressional leaders did agree on a variety of issues, such as early intervention for poor children, more Pell grants for higher education and initiatives to improve teacher qualifications.

 

Web-based Education Commission Report

Last month the Web-based Education Commission released its report "The Power of the Internet: Moving from Promise to Practice". The report was the result of a 10-month in-depth study carried out by a 16-member Commission appointed by the President and Education Secretary. The study focused on the pedagogical and policy issues affecting the development and use of the web at K-12 and postsecondary levels. In addition to urging the new administration to make "e-learning" a focus of its education policy, the report made the following recommendations:

  • increased access to broadband, or high-speed Internet connections
  • more intensive technology teacher training
  • research into the best uses of technology in education
  • development of quality content
  • protection for online learners
  • increased funding
  • removal of outdated regulations.


The report echoes findings of other groups on issues such as improved teacher/ administrator training and the need for increased funding for research and development of quality educational resources. However, it goes beyond previous conclusions by highlighting the growth of online universities and high school programmes, the impact of the federal E-rate discount on telecommunications services for schools and libraries, and the concerns of the "digital divide".

The release of the report resulted in renewed concern from organisations such as the Alliance for Childhood and Learning in the Real World which question the impact of computer learning on young children. Both Learning in the Real World and the American Academy of Pediatrics have announced plans to fund research into this issue.
The full text of the report can be viewed at: www.webcommission.org

For further information:
www.allianceforchildren.net - includes the report "Web-based Education and the Real Welfare of Children"
www.realworld.org - Learning in the Real World
www.ed.gov/Technology - US Education Department's Office of Educational Technology

 

State Report Card on Public Education

The newspaper Education Week has published its fifth annual state report card on public education. The report, entitled "Quality Counts 2001: A Better Balance", focuses on the standards-based reform movement. It includes a national poll of public school teachers, and summarises education-related policies for all 50 states. The report suggests that, although most teachers feel that the push for higher academic standards is headed in the right direction, more support is needed in terms of training and materials to meet the higher expectations.
The full text of the report, and related articles, can be read at: www.edweek.org/sreports/qc01/

 

Special Focus: Charter Schools

One notable movement throughout the nineties was the emergence of charter schools as an alternative school choice within the public schools system. Enjoying generally bipartisan support, charter schools are nonsectarian public schools operated under a contract (i.e. charter) which allows them freedom from many of the regulations that apply to traditional public schools. The first national conference of charter schools was held in Washington, DC, last month. To find out more about charter schools, please read the attached report (Charter Schools.doc) along with two examples of charter schools outlined below.

  • The KIPP Academy - Focus on Academic Rigour for Hispanic and African-American Students Pays Off


In 1994 two Houston schoolteachers (Michael Feinberg and David Levin) founded what they called the "Knowledge Is Power Program". They had been teaching in Houston urban schools where their students' results were poor and the children were "prey to drugs, gangs, and a cycle of despair." Feinberg and Levin decided that in order to break that cycle they had to make college the goal of every student they taught.

They set up the KIPP Academy (a charter school for 9 to 13 year olds) in Houston and its results have improved year on year since 1995: for 2000 the results are excellent. The school is 97% Hispanic or African-American, the majority of students do not have English as their first language, and 90% of the students qualify for free school lunches. Acceptance in the school is on a first-come-first-served basis - application lines open on 3 January and close when all places are filled. The only children shown preference are those with a sibling already enrolled. The staff make strenuous efforts to go out to the lowest income areas to encourage parents to send their children to KIPP.

The emphasis is on hard work and long hours - the students commit to a nine plus hours school day with Saturday school and a three-week summer school. This is, according to KIPP, 67% more time than other schools. In addition to class work, each student is given a daily worksheet in which they are asked to solve math, logic and word problems in their "free" time. They are given homework every day which is checked, corrected and returned to them.

The school aims to expose the students to the ballet, opera, theatre as well as to the world of politics - school trips are part of the curriculum including to Washington to meet Senators and Congressmen. And the students are taught to deal with social situations - for example to shake hands warmly and to look people in the eye.

KIPP graduates have earned scholarships which have taken them to high schools and boarding schools across the country. The progress of every KIPP alumnus is being tracked: it is too early to see how many will achieve the college goal.

There is also a KIPP Academy in New York where it is currently the highest-performing middle school in the Bronx. Other KIPPs are planned for Houston, Washington DC and rural North Carolina.

  • Small Schools Movement - Young Women's Leadership Charter School: Chicago


Last autumn a group of educators in Chicago started the Young Women's Leadership School - a high school which will eventually have up to 350 students (maximum). The genesis of the school is two-fold - first, women in the USA remain under-represented at both the college level and in employment in mathematics, science and technology. The school will focus on these areas, encouraging students to stick with these subjects throughout their education and their careers. Students (all girls) are chosen solely by lottery - the first x names "out of the hat" are admitted. The school aims to encourage girls to think in terms of becoming leaders; and to eliminate stereotypes. The school's principal believes that if the school is successful (it is not yet one academic year old) this will strengthen the nation's resources.

Second, it was born out of the small schools movement - a group of educators and others whose aim is to create new, small, innovative, learning communities in public (i.e. state) schools. The concept of the small school is based on the premise that, in contrast to large, factory-type schools, small schools can create a more intimate learning environment that is better able to address the needs of those within the school.

For more information: www.smallschoolworkshop.org

 

Safe Schools and Teen Courts

The US Departments of Education and Justice jointly fund the National Resource Center for Safe Schools (www.safetyzone.org). The funding stems from the Safe and Drug-Free Schools Program and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. The Center works with schools and education agencies to create safe learning environments and prevent school violence.

Safe school strategies include teen courts (also known as peer or youth courts). These courts offer an alternative approach to juvenile justice in which juvenile offenders are sentenced by a jury of their peers. They provide a mechanism for holding youthful offenders accountable as well as educating youth in the legal system. They address a range of problem behaviours including underage drinking and driving. Among the skills which peer jurors can learn are listening, problem-solving, communication and conflict resolution.

The courts (which can be found in most states) were established in part to give young offenders the chance to clear their arrest from their permanent record by, for example, performing community service. The courts are generally not trial courts - the usual practice is for youths to admit their guilt and agree to accept the sentence of the court. These courts are also usually voluntary.

If arrested offenders reject the choice of teen/youth court, then they have to go through the Juvenile Justice System, missing their chance to bypass this completely.
From 18 to 21 March the 28th National Conference on Juvenile Justice will be held in Alexandria, Virginia.

For more information, view: brendan.ncjfcj.unr.edu

 

Shell Youth Training Academy

After the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles, Shell Oil (like many other businesses) looked at its role in the community. One result was the setting up of a number of Shell Youth Training Academies.

These academies are small learning centres sponsored by Shell and working in co-operation with public school systems, the Department of Labor and local businesses.

The programme takes students from the 11th and 12th grades (age 16 +) with good attendance records for one semester (term). During that time the students (mainly young African Americans but this is not a criterion for getting onto the programme) spend one afternoon a week at the academy learning the skills needed for the world of work, e.g. interviewing skills and effective communication. In addition, they attend a summer school which involves one day a week at the academy and four days of work in a local business where Shell picks up half the salary. During their work experience students have workplace mentors to demonstrate job skills and provide a model for becoming a good employee. The aim of the program is to help students move from high school to jobs that may not require a university degree and also to further/higher education

 

Upcoming Events/Conferences

The Urban Teacher Academy Project: Symposium on High School Teaching and Career Academies
March 29-31, 2001, Chicago, Illinois

What Works - Strategies for effective high school teaching career academies including:

  • designing a teacher academy curriculum
  • creating pre-college teaching internship
  • establishing and developing partnerships with higher education
  • recruiting and supporting students
  • evaluating programmes


Further information: www.utap.net or aberrigan@rnt.org

Volunteering Linked to Course Credits - The National-Service Learning Conference: Partnerships for a Civil Society
April 4-7, 2001 - Denver, Colorado

Features:

  • Education and Literacy
  • Social Justice and Global Citizenship
  • Community Development
  • Youth Leadership
  • Diversity
  • The Environment
  • Research and Policy
  • Spirituality


Further information: www.nylc.org or e-mail trotsky@colorado.edu


Back Issues

Previous issues of the Education Update are available on the British Council's USA website.

 

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
jenny.scott@us.britishcouncil.org Director Education, British Council USA
judith.grant@worldnet.att.net Consultant to the British Embassy
andy.mackay@us.britishcouncil.org Director, British Council USA
sue.owen@fco.gov.uk Counsellor Economic, British Embassy
john.russell@fco.gov.uk Labour Officer, British Embassy


British Embassy website; www.britainUSA.com

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