Showing papers in "Phi Delta Kappan in 1998"

Teaching for Successful Intelligence Raises School Achievement

Abstract: The researchers describe a study that showed that an educational intervention based on the theory of successful intelligence improved school achievement, both on performance assessments measuring analytical, creative, and practical achievements and on conventional multiple-choice memory assessments. Here are three good reasons why teachers have been afraid to teach in a way that reflects contemporary, broader theories of intelligence that recognize there is more to intelligence than just I.Q.(1) 1. Teachers often don't know how to implement the theories in the classroom, and they recognize (correctly) that incorrect implementations of a theory can do more harm than good. 2. Teachers might recognize that, even when specific educational interventions based on these theories are attempted, many - probably most - are not supported by solid empirical research and are sold by hype. 3. Teachers might believe that the interventions hurt rather than help scores on classroom, statewide, and nationally standardized tests that emphasize memory more than they do the sophisticated kinds of thinking required for some of these programs. In this article we will show that, while these reasons may have been valid in the past, they no longer hold true. First, we will show how to implement the theory of successful intelligence in the classroom, based on actual interventions that we have conducted. Second, we will present data showing that the implementations improve thinking-based achievement. Third, we will present data showing that the improvement is evident not only in performance assessments of achievement that involve analytical, creative, and practical thinking, but also in multiple-choice assessments that test straightforward memory of learned content. The Theory Of Successful Intelligence Successful intelligence involves using one's intelligence to achieve the goals one sets for oneself in life, within a specific sociocultural context.(2) Why should teaching for successful intelligence - which involves kinds of analytical, creative, and practical abilities that go beyond those typically emphasized in the schools - raise performance even on tests of memory for learned material? There are two reasons. First, when material is taught in a variety of pedagogically sound ways - in this case, for memory as well as analytically, creatively, and practically - students have more opportunities to learn and understand the material being taught. If they do not comprehend the material when it is taught in one way, they might comprehend it when it is taught in another. Thus their achievement is likely to improve. Second, teaching material in a variety of ways enables students to make the most of their intellectual strengths and even to work toward correcting or at least compensating for their weaknesses. Students can learn the material in a way that fits their individual profile of abilities while simultaneously seeing how the material can be learned in a way that is not ideally suited to them. It is important to teach in a way that helps students both capitalize on strengths and correct their weaknesses. The Theory in Practice The theory of successful intelligence can easily be applied in classroom settings, both in instruction and in assessment.(3) We conducted two studies to test the theory in practice, applying it in two subject-matter areas: social studies (a unit on communities) and psychology (a natural and social science). The pupils. In the social studies investigation we studied 225 ethnically diverse third-graders (ages 7-8), generally of lower socioeconomic status, in two schools: an urban elementary school that served as a magnet for the greater Raleigh metropolitan area and a comparable control school in the district. In the science investigation were 142 rising eighth-graders (ages 1213) attending summer programs in Fresno, California, and Baltimore, Maryland, sponsored by the Johns Hopkins University Center for Academic Advancement. …

The Problem of Out-of-Field Teaching.

Abstract: The real cause of the problem of out-of-field teaching, in Mr. Ingersoll's view, is U.S. society's lack of respect for the complexity and importance of the job. Few issues in our elementary and secondary schools are subject to more debate and discussion than the quality of teachers. Over the past decade, dozens of studies, commissions, and national reports have bemoaned our failure to ensure that all our nation's classrooms are staffed with qualified teachers. In turn, reformers in many states have pushed tougher licensing standards for teachers and more rigorous academic requirements for teaching candidates. Moreover, a whole host of initiatives and programs have sprung up for the purpose of recruiting new candidates into teaching. Among these are programs designed to entice midcareer professionals from other fields to become teachers; alternative certification programs, whereby college graduates can postpone formal education training, obtain an emergency teaching certificate, and begin teaching immediately; and Peace Corps-like programs, such as Teach For America, that are designed to lure the "best and brightest" into understaffed schools. There have also been interest and action at the federal level; a key goal of President Clinton's 10-point educational "Call to Action" is to ensure that all our nation's elementary and secondary students are taught by "talented and trained teachers." To this end, Clinton has, for example, recently proposed a major initiative to recruit and train thousands of new teachers to serve in low-income schools. However, although seeing that all our nation's classrooms are staffed with qualified teachers is among the most important issues facing our schools, it is also among the least understood. Like many similarly worthwhile reforms, these recent efforts alone will not solve the problems of underqualified teachers and poor-quality teaching because they do not address some of their key causes. One of the least recognized of these causes is the problem of out-of-field teaching: teachers being assigned to teach subjects that do not match their training or education. Recruiting more teachers and mandating more rigorous coursework and certification requirements will help little if large numbers of teachers continue to be assigned to teach subjects other than those for which they were educated or certified. One of the reasons for the lack of awareness of this problem has been an absence of accurate data on the subject - a situation remedied with the release, beginning in the early 1990s, of the Schools and Staffing Survey, a major survey of the nation's elementary and secondary teachers by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) of the U.S. Department of Education. Over the past several years, I have undertaken a research project, partly funded by NCES, that used data from this survey to determine how much out-of-field teaching goes on in this country and why.(1) My interest in this project originally stemmed from my previous experiences as a high school teacher, first in western Canada and later in Pennsylvania and Delaware, near where I had grown up. The job of teaching, I found to my surprise, differs greatly in Canada and in the U.S. One of the major differences, I quickly discovered, was out-of-field teaching. In the Canadian schools in which I taught, misassignment was frowned upon and a rare occurrence. In contrast, out-of-field teaching was neither frowned upon nor rare in the high schools, both public and private, in which I taught in the U.S. My field was social studies, but hardly a semester went by in which I was not assigned a couple of classes in other fields, such as math, special education, or English. Teaching a subject for which one has little background or interest is challenging, to say the least. It is also, I have come to believe, very detrimental to the educational process. My experiences left me with a number of questions. …

Creating a Community of Learners Among High School Teachers.

Abstract: The notion that someone can teach for nine months and then start to learn for two weeks in the summer is fatally flawed. We must find ways to break down the false barriers between teaching and learning. Mr. Wineburg and Ms. Grossman describe one way of doing so. Karen is a 28-year-old English teacher in her second year of teaching. She has come together with 15 other teachers in her Seattle high school to read and discuss The Sweeter the Juice, by Shirley Haizlip, the story of a woman struggling with her racial identity. Karen's words provide a sobering introduction to the landscape of teaching: I had a feeling of frustration as I was reading it and thinking, "Well, how is this going to fit into my curriculum?" But as I was thinking about it, I realized that I had forgotten how to read for pleasure. We live by the bell, 15 minutes to do this, a half-hour to do that. I don't have time to do this pleasure reading thing! Karen's frustration speaks to two troubling aspects of school life. First, the bell sets the hurried rhythm of the school day. Second, this day contains no time for continued study in one's discipline. Two short years into teaching, Karen has come to regard reading that is not tied directly to her teaching as a frill: that "pleasure reading thing." The inseparability of teaching and learning, the notion that one atrophies without the other, is not part of Karen's - or of most teachers' - induction into teaching. Our project set out to do something about this situation. Funded by a grant from the James S. McDonnell Foundation of St. Louis, our goal is nothing short of changing the intellectual environment in which teachers work. In contrast to the quick-fix culture of staff development, our project tries to create an ongoing venue for teachers' learning - not an isolated feature during a summer institute or a one-shot workshop whose only trace is a shiny binder. At the heart of our work is this simple but indisputable principle: schools cannot become exciting places for children until they first become exciting places for adults. The Grammar of Staff Development Teachers in our project come together monthly for an entire day to read and discuss literary and historical works and to plan an interdisciplinary humanities curriculum. Substitutes are provided on those days so that teachers can focus on their own reading and reflection. The monthly meetings are supplemented by after-school meetings every other week and by a five-day retreat in the summer. Our project stands in contrast to the two main approaches to staff development for high school teachers. The most common form of staff development - the district-mandated inservice training day - provides teachers with new information to keep them up-to-date. However, any presentation that speaks equally to the diverse interests of the calculus teacher and the gym teacher, the French teacher and the physics teacher, will almost certainly be unable to do more than tinker at the margins of teaching. Generic workshops are easy to dismiss because many teachers believe - tightly or wrongly - that the strategies covered do not apply to their subject matter. Moreover, the outcomes of these workshops are usually so short-lived that they rarely make a difference. Yet a recent study in four East Coast districts found that isolated activities with little follow-up still dominated the staff development landscape. One teacher characterized inservice training days as "an appendix" - something she could "take or leave without being affected one way or the other."(1) The second main approach to staff development is modeled after the summer institutes sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Individual teachers travel to college campuses to undertake intensive study of new developments in historiography or the latest approaches to the teaching of Shakespeare. Done well, such experiences energize teachers and send them back to the classroom with fresh ideas. …

When Should We Reward Degrees for Teachers

Abstract: The authors provide evidence that teachers can have an impact on student outcomes, and they show that student achievement in math and science can be improved by requiring teacher training in those subject areas. Most public school systems reward teachers who obtain advanced degrees with a considerable increase in their base pay. Salary schedules typically provide a pay premium averaging 11% for a master's degree, 14% for an education specialist's degree, and 17% for a doctorate over what a teacher would earn with a bachelor's degree only.[1] Some school systems even require their teachers to obtain an advanced degree after a specified number of years of teaching in the district. The emphasis on teachers' having or obtaining advanced degrees raises important questions. Do advanced degrees enhance a teacher's productivity and, if so, by how much? These questions get at the more general issue of how educational resources are allocated in a school and whether educational dollars are being spent efficiently. Surprisingly little is known about this issue because no broad consensus has emerged as to which educational resources have a significant impact on student outcomes. Most economists' and sociologists' studies of the impact of schools and teachers on students conclude that individual traits and factors related to family background explain the vast majority of variation in student test scores. Much of the early evidence on the effects of such educational inputs as perpupil spending, teacher experience, and teacher degree level has been mixed.(2) However, more recent studies, using detailed measures of teacher ability and qualifications, have found positive results. David Monk and Jennifer King report that teacher subject-matter preparation in mathematics and science has a positive impact on student achievement in those subjects, and measures of the selectivity of teachers colleges (which may be proxies for teacher ability) have also been shown to be positively related to student achievement.(3) In this article we will review our own recent empirical work, which helps shed some light on the relationship between teacher degrees and student outcomes.(4) Data and New Empirical Evidence The data in our analyses were drawn from the first two waves of the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS). The NELS database is nationally representative, contains a comprehensive set of educational variables, and, unlike most other data, links students to specific classes and teachers. This is an important characteristic of the survey because it eliminates problems that may arise from using data aggregated at the school or district level.(5) This linkage allows us to investigate in detail the effect of subjectspecific teacher degree levels on student achievement, since we know the characteristics of each teacher (his or her race/ethnicity, degree level, experience, certification, and so on) who taught students in the 10th grade. Our sample consisted of public school students only: 5,113 in math, 4,357 in science, 6,196 in English, and 2,943 in history.(6) The teacher and class data in NELS are organized by school subject, so that separate information is available about the teachers in each of the four subject areas sampled. Virtually all teachers in public schools have at least an undergraduate degree. However, as illustrated in Figure 1, which shows the percentage of teachers in our sample who have various types of degrees, far fewer teachers have degrees specific to the subject they teach. This is consistent with recent findings reported by the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future. In our sample only 68% to 76% of teachers (depending on the subject) have at least a bachelor's degree in their subject area. A lower proportion of math and science teachers than of English and history teachers have bachelor's degrees in their subject areas. And although about half of all teachers have at least a master's degree, less than a quarter have advanced degrees in their subject area. …

Balancing Real-World Problems with Real-World Results

Abstract: Enthusiasm for real-world learning needs to be balanced with the realities of real-world classrooms, Mr. Gordon notes. Through thoughtfully designed authentic learning experiences, students can develop the understandings, skills, and beliefs needed for success in school and beyond. Mankind likes to think in terms of extreme opposites. It is given to formulating its beliefs in terms of Either-Ors, between which it recognizes no intermediate possibilities.(1) Authentic learning, real-world problems, constructivist class-rooms, performance assessment. Engaging students in "authentic' performance situations seems to be the latest wave to wash over the schools. On the surface, this is a most appealing contrast to the decontextualized, rote learning typified by "traditional" education. As Jacqueline Brooks and Martin Brooks exclaim in describing the benefits of constructivist classrooms, "They free students from the dreariness of fact-driven curriculum and allow them to focus on large ideas; they place in students' hands the exhilarating power to follow trails of interests, to make connections, to reformulate ideas, and to reach unique conclusions."(2) Without doubt, the possibilities are great and the language lofty when addressing this latest wave. As one who comes to this movement with long experience engaging students in real-world problems, I feel that it is important to warn against the all-too-familiar tendency in education to be enamored with new ideas while losing sight of the grounded perspective needed to make things work in real classrooms with real students. The program I work with, Education by Design/Critical Skills (EBD/CS), pioneered "Learning by Real Problems" in the early 1980s. Directed to come up with educational practices that would allow children to develop the knowledge and skills needed for success in school and beyond, EBD/CS originally focused exclusively on real-life problems. In six-week summer institutes, teachers were engaged in real-world problems so that they could directly experience the power of this mode of learning. The response to this approach was consistent - participants found it to be among the most compelling learning experiences of their lives; they felt engaged, challenged, energized, and overwhelmed. It was this last factor that proved most problematic. How Realistic Is Real? Real-world problems, by their nature, are messy - involving uncertainty, complexity, and nuanced judgment.(3) These characteristics tend to clash with the norms that are prevalent in most schools. Real-world problems often don't mesh well with mandated curricula, textbooks, standardized tests, state standards, and the seven-period day. Teachers who actually tried using real-world problems with their students tended to be those renegades who thrive on change and risk-taking. A more typical response of institute participants was that, while they found the summer experience invigorating, they were daunted by the prospect of attempting to implement this approach in their classrooms. Where would they find resources? How would they assess student work? What would parents and administrators say? Finally, there was the omnipresent concern about "covering" the curriculum and ensuring students' exposure to the content at the heart of a teacher's subject area. For many teachers, real-life problems, despite their promise, seemed incompatible with classroom realities. Stepping Back to Step Forward As a program, we have stepped back from this solitary focus on real-world problems to consider what are the essential elements of "authentic" learning. What is it about real-life problems that make them powerful and engaging, and how can this be re-created in an environment, such as the classroom itself, that often has relatively loose ties to the "real world"? Here is what we have found. 1. Authentic learning demands that students actively solve problems. …

Only for My Kid: How Privileged Parents Undermine School Reform.

Abstract: Mike McClaren, a superintendent in Oklahoma, was attracted to the idea of a “performance-based” curriculum: he believed in specifying his schools’ learning outcomes in advance and shifting the emphasis from memorization to problem solving. This made sense to Mike King, principal of a nationally recognized middle school in McClaren’s district, who wanted his teachers to have more autonomy and his students to have more opportunity to learn from one another. Neither man was pushing for anything too radical; they just thought educators should be a little less concerned with deciding which students were better than others and a little more committed to helping all of them succeed.

The 'Eliting' of the Common American Catholic School and the National Education Crisis

Abstract: Findings from a recent national assessment of the state of Catholic education show that Catholic schools are on the verge of becoming a system of proprietary schools that educate growing numbers of non-Catholics, children from the wealthiest strata of the society, and increasing numbers of children who do not consider themselves religious at all, Mr. Baker and Mr. Riordan assert. Over the past century, very few American institutions have survived the kinds of ups and downs that the American Catholic elementary and secondary schools have experienced. Like the family farm, the economically viable small town, and the orphanage, the Catholic school played an important role in the early 20th century, but like so many other 19th-century developments. by midcentury it was on the verge of extinction. However. Catholic schools have undergone a 180-degree reversal of fortune in recent years. In part, this change has come about as a result of the surprising role that Catholic schools have come to play in the national debate over the quality of education that has raged during the past 15 years. But the improved fortunes of Catholic schools stem mostly from changes that began in the 1970s and have quietly and steadily made of them something few would have predicted from their humble origins in the poor. immigrant, ethnic neighborhoods of the 19th century. Findings from a recent national assessment of the state of Catholic education show that Catholic schools are on the verge of becoming a system of proprietary schools that educate growing numbers of non-Catholics, children from the wealthiest strata of the society, and increasing numbers of children who do not consider themselves religious at all. In short, the old common Catholic school is fast becoming an elite private school in which indoctrination into the faith seems to be taking a back seat to academic preparation. And surprisingly, neither national leaders of Catholic education nor those who suggest that Catholic schools offer a model for fixing deficiencies in public schools have acknowledged this transformation and its implications both for the future of the nation's largest set of private schools and for the debate about educational quality in the nation. Our tale will no doubt strike various readers differently. For those who are primarily interested in the future of Catholic schools themselves, the newly uncovered national trends suggest that Catholic education may be on the verge of a major crisis of identity. The new breed of students attracted to Catholic schooling and other changes in faculty and tuition threaten the very core of the traditional mission: the education of the masses of Catholics. Furthermore, since the achievement advantage of Catholic schools relative to public schools is clearly and consistently limited to students who are economically disadvantaged, this march toward affluence could mean that the advantage that Catholic schools enjoy will diminish among regular students. For Catholic school educators, these trends should serve as a wake-up call for addressing the uncertain future of these schools. For those readers interested in national education policy and reform, our tale will be a sobering one. Much caution is called for in extrapolating from studies of the effectiveness of Catholic schools to the problems facing public schools. Like some institutional version of the mythical phoenix, by the early 1980s the once moribund Catholic schools had become the darlings of the political Right and of influential social scientists bent on "saving public schools." Among the latter group, the Catholic school is held up as a sort of shining example of effective education for all children that, if used widely, could pull the public school system out of the educational doldrums. For example, extrapolating from the Catholic school experience has led to greater interest in school choice, in core academic curricula, and in school uniforms, to name a few issues. …

What Is Problem Solving

Abstract: Errors are part of the process of problem solving, which implies that both teachers and learners need to be more tolerant of them, Mr. Martinez points out. If no mistakes are made, then almost certainly no problem solving is taking place. To think is constantly to choose in view of the end to be pursued.(1) Every educator is familiar with the term "problem solving," and most would agree that the ability to solve problems is a worthy goal of education. But what is problem solving? Its meaning is actually quite straightforward: problem solving is the process of moving toward a goal when the path to that goal is uncertain. We solve problems every time we achieve something without having known beforehand how to do so. We encounter simple problems every day: finding lost keys, deciding what to do when our car won't start, even improvising a meal from leftovers. But there are also larger and more significant "ill-defined" problems, such as getting an education, becoming a successful person, and finding happiness. Indeed, the most important kinds of human activities involve accomplishing goals without a script. Problem solving is a ubiquitous feature of human functioning. Human beings are problem solvers who think and act within a grand complex of fuzzy and shifting goals and changing means to attain them. This has always been true, but it is doubly so today because we live in a time of unprecedented societal transformation. When circumstances change, old procedures no longer work. To adapt is to pursue valued goals even when circumstances - and perhaps the goals themselves - are in flux. Because the pace of societal change shows no signs of slackening, citizens of the 21st century must become adept problem solvers, able to wrestle with ill-defined problems and win. Problem-solving ability is the cognitive passport to the future. There is no formula for true problem solving. If we know exactly how to get from point A to point B, then reaching point B does not involve problem solving. Think of problem solving as working your way through a maze.(2) In negotiating a maze, you make your way toward your goal step by step, making some false moves but gradually moving closer toward the intended end point. What guides your choices? Perhaps a rule like this: choose the path that seems to result in some progress toward the goal. Such a rule is one example of a heuristic. A heuristic is a rule of thumb. It is a strategy that is powerful and general, but not absolutely guaranteed to work. Heuristics are crucial because they are the tools by which problems are solved. By contrast, algorithms are straightforward procedures that are guaranteed to work every time. For example, you have in your long-term memory algorithms that enable you to tie your shoelaces, to start up your car, and perhaps even to cook an omelet. Barring broken shoelaces, a dead battery, and rotten eggs, these algorithms serve you very well. An algorithm may even be so automatic that it requires very little conscious processing as you carry out the procedure. Now here is an important consideration: what constitutes problem solving varies from person to person. For a small child, tying shoelaces will indeed require problem solving, just as cooking an omelet entails problem solving for many adults. Thus problem solving involves an interaction of a person's experience and the demands of the task. Once we have mastered a skill, we are no longer engaged in problem solving when we apply it. For a task to require problem solving again, novel elements or new circumstances must be introduced or the level of challenge must be raised. Some problem solutions, however, can never be reduced to algorithms, and it is often those problems that constitute the most profound and rewarding of human activities. The necessity of problem solving to all that is important about being a person cannot be overstated. In addition, problem solving is not an advanced process that is reserved solely for mature learners. …

The Canary in the Mine: The Achievement Gap between Black and White Students

Abstract: The educational achievement gap is real and has serious social, economic, and political consequences, Mr. Singham points out. But the situation is by no means hopeless, if we start looking at the problem in new ways and avoid simplistic one-shot solutions. Shaker Heights is not your typical community. It is a small inner-ring bedroom suburb of Cleveland, coveting an area of about five square miles and having a population of 30,000. It is a carefully planned city with tree-lined streets winding past well-maintained homes and manicured lawns, lakes, parks, and red-brick schools nestled in campus-like grounds. The city is about one-third African American and two-thirds white, with a sprinkling of other minorities. Although income levels in the city range from the poor (about 10% below the poverty level) to millionaires, the image of Shaker Heights is that of a primarily middle- and upper-middle-class community (median family income of $66,000) that is home to many of the academics, professionals, and corporate executives of all ethnic groups who work in the Cleveland area. It is also a highly educated community, with more than 60% of all residents over the age of 25 holding at least a bachelor's degree - a figure three times the national average. Shaker Heights prides itself on the excellence of its school system, taxing itself voluntarily with one of the highest rates in the state of Ohio in order to maintain the wide range of academic and extracurricular programs that provide the students who take advantage of them with an education that would be the envy of any child in the nation. Hence the city tends to attract as residents relatively well-off people who seek both an integrated community and a high-quality education for their children. Every year, the school district sends off about 85% of its graduating seniors to four-year colleges, many of them prestigious, and boasts a remarkably high number of the National Merit Scholarship semifinalists, way out of proportion to the small size of its student enrollment (about 5,500). But all is not well, and the problem is immediately apparent when you walk into classrooms. Although the school population has equal numbers of black students and white ones, in the highest-achievement tracks (the Advanced Placement sections) you find only a handful of blacks (about 10%), while the lowest-achievement tracks (called "general education") are populated almost exclusively by blacks (about 95%). When educational statistics are disaggregated by ethnicity, it is found that black Shaker Heights students on average do better than black students elsewhere, just as white Shaker Heights students do better than their counterparts in other school systems. The real puzzle has been why, although both communities have equal access to all the school district's educational opportunities, the academic performance of black Shaker Heights students lags significantly behind that of their white peers. For example, the average black SAT score in 1996 was 956 (compared to a national black average of 856), while the average for white students was 1198 (compared to a national white average of 1049). This ethnic educational achievement gap is hardly news. It is a well-studied and well-established fact that, using almost any measure (the famous 15-point average I.Q. gap between blacks and whites sensationalized by The Bell Curve, SAT scores, college and high school grade-point averages, graduation and dropout rates), black students nationwide do not perform as well as whites.(1) While the phenomenon itself is indisputable, there is no clear consensus on the causes, and favored explanations seem to depend on where one stands on the ideological spectrum. The so-called liberal interpretation is that this gap is the result of economic disparities between the two ethnic communities that can be traced back to the legacy of slavery and other forms of oppression that blacks have suffered. …

Schoolwide Reform Models: What Works?

Abstract: The 1994 Title I reauthorization enables high-poverty schools to turn their Title I dollars into markedly better achievement for children. Models to facilitate this process are replicable and widely available, the authors point out, and these models provide a standard against which homegrown approaches to schoolwide reform can be assessed. The education of disadvantaged students is at a crossroads. On one hand, the recent release of Prospects, a national evaluation of Chapter 1/Title I - at a cost of more than $7.2 billion the largest federal program for disadvantaged students in elementary schools has called into question the effectiveness of the entire program.(1) At a time of budget cutting and downsizing of government, this finding has potentially disastrous implications for this critical funding source, the fuel for virtually all innovations in high-poverty schools. In addition, the long-term reduction in the achievement gaps between African American and Latino students and white students on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading test has been reversed. On the 1994 assessment, the gaps grew for the first time since NAEP began in 1972.(2) On the other hand, a number of developments have created the potential for fundamental reform in the education of students who are at risk. One of the most important of these also relates to Title I. This is the change in the Title I law, introduced in 1994, that makes it much easier for high-poverty schools to become schoolwide Title I projects and so be allowed to use Title I funds for schoolwide change, not just for changes that serve individual students having difficulties. At present, any school with at least 50% of its students in poverty can become a schoolwide Title I project. Recognizing how much more effective this model can be, many school districts have been concentrating their Title I resources in these schoolwide project schools. The potential that has been created by these developments is not well understood outside of the Title I world, but it is revolutionary nevertheless. What the changes mean is that a substantial category of schools, approximately 20,000 of them by one estimate,(3) have the freedom, the resources, and in most cases the motivation to fundamentally change their practices by adopting or developing schoolwide strategies to meet the needs of all their students. Special Strategies for Educating Disadvantaged Children, a companion study to the national evaluation of Title I, investigated several promising alternatives to traditional Chapter 1 programs.(4) The most effective of these were schoolwide projects: James Comer's School Development Program and our own Success for All model.(5) Yet there was nothing magical about the schoolwide opportunity. Several homegrown schoolwide programs as well as some other nationally disseminated models did not increase student achievement. Even among schools that implemented the two most successful models, the quality of implementation varied and was strongly related to outcomes. Clearly, Title I will be no better than Chapter 1 unless schools today use more effective methods than they were using under Chapter 1. With the new Title I emphasis on schoolwide projects, this is the area on which the search for effective methods must focus. How can Title I schoolwide projects take advantage of this opportunity? At present, most schoolwide projects are using their resources and freedom to provide the same services found to be ineffective in Prospects and many other studies: classroom aides and remedial services for small groups of students. Some are using the opportunity to reduce class size across the board, although Title I funding is usually not enough to bring about a large enough reduction in class size to make a meaningful difference. Yet Title I schoolwide projects are beginning to see schoolwide status as a real opportunity for reform. In fact, whenever a high-poverty school is involved in any kind of reform program, the costs of that program are highly likely to have been covered by Title I. …

Change as Collaborative Inquiry: A Constructivist Methodology for Reinventing Schools.

Abstract: To make the implementation of higher standards a reality for most children, we must develop a new practice of "whole-school" change that is consistent with our understanding of how learning takes place and how organizations change, Mr. Wagner asserts. For the last several years, the big push in education reform has been to develop new, more rigorous state and district standards for learning. While the debate continues to rage in many communities over the exact nature and extent of these standards, as well as over how they will be assessed, it seems that we may have reached some kind of national consensus that there will be standards. For now, at least, many educational leaders have come to believe that the need to monitor progress toward genuine equality of educational opportunity and achievement outweighs the danger that the standards movement will simply lead to more of the same: more "coverage" of the same stale Carnegie-unit curriculum and more use of the same standardized tests for accountability purposes. So much for the easy part. The development of new learning standards was a fairly simple matter in comparison to what it will take to actually implement them. The adoption of new standards does not answer the question of how we make the necessary changes that will enable all students to achieve at higher levels and meet the new learning standards. Most approaches to systemic education reform are rooted in obsolete, top-down or expert-driven management beliefs and practices that reflect neither what we know about how people learn nor what we have come to understand about how organizations change.' To make the implementation of higher standards a reality for most children, we must develop a new practice of "whole-school" change that is consistent with our understanding of how learning takes place and how organizations change. We must connect our means and our ends. We need to create a methodology for a more collaborative, "constructivist" process of change in schools and districts, if we are to develop what Peter Senge calls a "learning organization." Since 1988 I have been studying and helping with the change process in K-12 public and independent schools in the U.S. and Brazil. Initially, I worked as a researcher and an independent consultant, but since 1994 I have headed a team from the Institute for Responsive Education that is working on whole-school change with clusters of K-12 schools in seven low-income communities around the country. In our work with our partner schools, we are developing new, "constructivist" approaches to whole-school change. Our methodology contrasts sharply with more conventional practices in each of the four stages of the change process, as I have outlined them in earlier work: 1) defining the problem, 2) developing the goals of change, 3) implementing change strategies, and 4) assessing results.(2) We are also coming to understand the new kind of leadership required in a successful school change process. Defining the Problem: 'Failure' Versus Obsolescence Since the publication of A Nation at Risk in 1983, a growing and increasingly shrill chorus of business and political leaders (Democrats and Republicans alike) and of national and local media has reached virtual consensus on one thing: U.S. schools are failing. You read it or hear it nearly every day in the media. This analysis of the problem, while lending itself to dramatic pronouncements, is fundamentally wrong and is a serious impediment to change in schools. By most objective criteria, American public schools are doing a better job than they were 25 years ago: a greater number of students - both white and minority - are graduating from high school, taking the SAT 1, and attending college.(3) Our schools are not failing. They continue to do exactly what they were designed to do nearly a hundred years ago: they sort out a small percentage of students to be prepared for further learning and for professional and managerial jobs, while giving the remaining students the minimal skills needed for manual labor or assembly-line work. …

The 30th Annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public's Attitudes Toward the Public Schools.

Abstract: The 1998 Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public's Attitudes Toward the Public Schools includes a special focus on public funding for private and church-related schools. Along with the traditional trend questions in this area, new questions were asked regarding vouchers and tuition tax credits. The public continues to oppose allowing students and parents to choose a private school to attend at public expense, with 44% in favor and 50% opposed. However, the public favors (51% to 45%) allowing parents to send their school-age children to any public, private, or church-related school if the government pays all or part of the tuition. Two new questions were asked about vouchers, government-issued notes that parents can use to pay all or part of the tuition at a private or church-related school. Regarding a voucher that would pay all of the tuition, 48% of respondents are in favor, and 46% are opposed. When the question states that only part of the tuition would be paid, the proportion of respondents in favor rises to 52%, while the proportion who are opposed drops to 41%. Two questions were asked regarding the obligations that should be assumed by private or church-related schools that accept government tuition payments. In response to the first question, 75% of respondents say that schools accepting such payments should be accountable to the state in the same way the public schools are accountable. In the second question, 70% say that nonpublic schools accepting public funds should be required to accept students from a wider range of backgrounds and academic ability than is now generally the case. New questions were also asked about tuition tax credits, which would allow parents who send their children to private or church-related schools to recover all or part of the tuition paid. When the question mentions recovery of all tuition paid, 56% favor such credits. and 42% are opposed. When the question limits the credit to part of the tuition paid, 66% favor the credits, and 30% are opposed. What do the results of this series of questions tell us? The public is deeply divided over the issue of funds going directly to private or church-related schools. Responses split almost evenly when the question implies that the public would pay all of the costs. The opposition seems to lessen when public schools are listed as a part of the choice option and when the funding provided pays only part of the cost. Tax credits for parents who send their children to private or church-related schools are supported by the public, but that support is greater if the credit covers only part of the tuition. Moreover, funding for private or church-related schools is conditioned on the willingness of those schools to be accountable in the same way the public schools are accountable. The findings appear to guarantee that the issue of public funding for church-related schools will be a battleground for the foreseeable future. The public's willingness to consider aid to private and church-related schools in various forms will certainly encourage those who want to see such aid provided. By the same token, the public's seeming unwillingness to provide all of the tuition involved in such programs reinforces the belief of opponents of such aid that the "haves" will be the ones who can take advantage of such programs and that the "have-nots" will be the ones left behind. The battle would seem to be joined along those lines. With this in mind, the 1998 poll repeated an earlier question in which public school parents were asked what they would do if given the option of sending their oldest child to any public, private, or church-related school, with the tuition paid by the government. Fifty-one percent of respondents indicate that they would choose their present public school. Another 6% would choose a different public school, bringing to 57% the number of families that would remain in the public school system. …

Teaching and the Balancing of Round Stones

Abstract: Like balancers of round stones, outstanding teachers "march to a different drummer" and do things their colleagues cannot do Mr Duffy looks at what those responsible for preservice and inservice teacher development can do to foster this trait A friend recently told me a story about a place in San Diego where you can try to balance round stones He said it s really hard to do, and not everyone succeeds Those who do succeed, he says, do so because they focus their energies and become "one with the stones" The image of people struggling to balance round stones reminded me of classroom teachers, who also must bring seemingly incompatible forces into harmony Is Teaching Really Like Balancing Round Stones? It seems impossible to take two round stones and get one to sit on top of the other The two stones seem destined not to balance Classroom teaching is like that There always seem to be at least two equally important forces that are destined not to balance Consider the following examples: * Society wants schools to develop citizens who think creatively, but they also want orderly classrooms While it seems impossible to develop both creativity and order simultaneously, the best teachers balance these round stones * Teachers want to be liked by their students, but they must also be taskmasters who require students to do things they think they can't do The best teachers balance these round stones, too * High expectations are a key to learning, but too high an expectation causes frustration The best teachers hit just the right note between expectations and frustration * Learning occurs best in authentic, lifelike situations, but basic skills require repetition and practice The best teachers simultaneously develop skills and create real-life learning situations How the best teachers resolve such teaching dilemmas is not always clear It is equally mysterious why some teachers are superb in ways that defy research-based explanations In my own research on effective teaching of literacy, for instance, some teachers were noticeably better than their peers who received exactly the same training and used exactly the same techniques Clearly, teaching excellence involves more than the skillful use of pedagogy Like balancers of round stones, outstanding teachers "march to a different drummer" and do things their colleagues cannot do So, not only are excellent teaching and balancing round stones linked because they are difficult, they are linked because both seem to demand a similar characteristic My friend's story started me thinking about what this characteristic is and what those of us responsible for preservice and inservice teacher development can do to foster it What Is This Elusive Element Of Teacher Effectiveness? In the hope of discovering clues to what this characteristic is, I returned to my friend who had told me about balancing round stones in the first place Our conversation went something like this: Me: Some people could balance the stones and some couldn't? Him: Yes Me: So what made the difference? How come some could and some couldn't? Him: Well, it's hard to explain The crucial difference didn't seem to be whether they knew a lot about stones or a lot of techniques for balancing stones Me: So, what was it then? Him: Well, it seemed like those who could do it had everything lined up Me: What do you mean - "lined up"? Him: They had everything in alignment They seemed to know who they were and where they were going and had everything together; they were confident of their function in their world Me: Okay, but I don't see what that has to do with being able to balance round stones So what if they had everything together? Him: Because they knew who they were, they could keep their minds uncluttered, stay centered, and focus their spirit on the task at hand …

Digital Portfolios: Capturing and Demonstrating Skills and Levels of Performance.

Abstract: Reported benefits of the electronic portfolio development process are similar to those that have been recorded for developing the hard-copy portfolio, but the enhanced medium offers additional ways to display unique talents and abilities, Ms. Wiedmer points out. The use of electronic portfolios is gaining popularity as educators and businesspeople alike are discovering their benefits as a means of validating individual performance. Aided by technology, individuals can develop portfolios by electronic means and create, store, and manage both products and processes for inclusion in working, showcase, documentation, and process portfolios. The new technologies make it possible to show, in ways that were not available before, what students and professionals working in the field know and can do. For the past few years, a team from the Annenberg Institute for School Reform and the Coalition of Essential Schools, with the support of IBM, has been studying the development of digital student portfolios. Digital portfolio software can be used to create a multimedia collection of student work and to connect that work to performance standards.(1) Digital portfolios are more than just electronic file cabinets. The technological enhancements add markedly to the value of a portfolio. What Is a Digital Portfolio? By definition, a digital or electronic portfolio is a purposeful collection of work, captured by electronic means, that serves as an exhibit of individual efforts, progress, and achievements in one or more areas. The concept for the digital portfolio grew out of the Exhibitions Project, an effort of the Coalition of Essential Schools that examined how schools began to use authentic assessments in the early 1990s. Complete with sound and text, digital portfolios display an individual's growth over time through diagrams and drawings or other snapshots of processes and products. They also include digital video/audio testimonies or explanations by the portfolio developer or other persons. Moreover, electronic portfolios can make use of such effects as animation, voice-over explanations of areas of performance, and scanned images that show completed projects or products. The CD-ROM format provides an ideal medium for storage and display of electronic portfolios. A CD-ROM can store up to 650 megabytes and costs about $2 when purchased in lots of 100. It weighs practically nothing, is virtually indestructible, and is small enough to put in an overnight delivery envelope. Because the data cannot be erased, a CD-ROM is excellent for storing critical data in an incorruptible format. And any CD-ROM drive can read any CD-ROM because the data-encoding process is standardized. CD-ROMs offer portfolio compilers the chance to include digital versions of the usual artifacts, such as assessments, awards, certificates, evaluations, pictures, projects, and testimonials. Indeed, many of the items that appear in a standard portfolio can be enhanced by the skillful use of video and audio clips. Benefits of Digital Portfolios One of the primary benefits of developing any portfolio is the depth of an individual's involvement in the selection and design processes. The development of a digital portfolio requires active participation from the very beginning of the process. Individuals must determine the exact media to use to capture special events and must determine the most appropriate software for managing files for present and future use. Since the main menu of digital portfolios provides viewers opportunities to examine a portfolio by clicking on buttons, the individual creator must decide the most effective ways to allow the viewer to see, hear, and review the artifacts that illustrate the creator's performance. Decisions about what to include as hard copy and what to include in video or audio format require serious reflection on the part of the creator of the portfolio. Reported benefits of the electronic portfolio development process are similar to those that have been recorded for developing the hard-copy portfolio, but the enhanced medium offers additional ways to display unique talents and abilities. …

How Charter Schools Are Different: Lessons and Implications from a National Study.

Abstract: The authors provide background information on the "Charter Schools in Action" project, take a close look at the innovative ways in which some actual charter schools organize and support themselves, and present five lessons that charter schools offer American education We have recently concluded a two-year study known as "Charter Schools in Action," a project of the Hudson Institute s Educational Excellence Network, supported by the Pew Charitable Trusts In this article, we summarize the research and fieldwork undertaken for the project and discuss the implications of the charter school movement as we have observed it Our purpose is to suggest lessons that can be drawn from the country's brief charter experience that are relevant to US public (and private) schools We begin by providing some background information on the project and by recapping what is different about the charter idea itself We then discuss the origins of some actual charter schools and present some of the often creative and innovative ways in which these schools organize and support themselves We conclude with five lessons that charter schools have to offer American education Background Begun in July 1995, the "Charter Schools in Action" project had several goals: to illuminate the practical and policy issues surrounding the creation and successful operation of charter schools (including finances, governance, regulations, facilities, enrollment, and personnel); to begin to gauge the educational impact of these schools; and to inform people involved in creating and operating charter schools - both practitioners and policy makers - of strategies devised elsewhere During the first project year (1995-96), site visits were made to 43 charter schools in seven states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin Detailed information was collected on 35 of these schools, representing a cross section of the approximately 225 charter schools then operating nationwide More than 700 interviews were conducted with individuals in these schools and communities During the second year (1996-97), site visits were made to 45 charter schools in 13 states; 17 schools were visited for the second time Moreover, 18 schools that had been visited in 1995-96 participated in follow-up telephone interviews The research team obtained direct information from a total of 50 charter schools in 10 states, a reasonable cross section of the nearly 500 charter schools then operating nationwide (The three states with operating charter schools that were added in the project's second year are Florida, Texas, and the District of Columbia In addition, visits were made to New Jersey, North Carolina, and Hawaii to study the implementation of the new charter laws in those states) More than 600 interviews were conducted in the second year, bringing the two-year total to well over 1,300 During the second project year, parents, students, and teachers were surveyed in charter schools that agreed to participate (provided the response rates met the project's minimum participation levels) The project team developed three questionnaires in consultation with charter school experts nationwide and with the Information Technology Services unit of the Brookings Institution, which also provided data processing and analysis The results were tabulated from 4,954 students (fifth grade and older) attending 39 schools; from 2,978 parents of students attending 30 schools; and from 521 teachers in 36 schools Creating the New American Public School Whatever else the movement to develop "New American Schools" has accomplished since its beginning in 1991, it has certainly spurred the imagination of individuals and organizations that have made these schools genuine centers of innovation Policy makers, professionals, taxpayers, parents, and others committed to revitalizing public education should welcome charter schools as a giant step toward the reinvention of public education in America …

Professional Teaching Portfolios: Tools for Reflection, Growth, and Advancement.

Abstract: Because professional teaching portfolios serve as visual representations of teachers, their contents should be determined by individual teachers and should vary significantly. The authors provide guidelines for constructing such portfolios. Our first exposure to using a portfolio outside the realm of the college classroom was provided by a student who took her portfolio with her on a job interview. When she was hired, the administrator told her that her portfolio had made her stand out from all the other applicants. As she shared with the class the impact of her portfolio on the interview, it caused a dramatic shift in our thinking about the uses for portfolios. The change was reflected in our subsequent classes as we began to emphasize the concept of building professional teaching portfolios for job-seeking purposes. The number of success stories our students share with us about obtaining teaching positions because of their professional portfolios continues to multiply each year. Professional teaching portfolios provide teachers with vivid visual representations of themselves - self-portraits - as they apply for teaching positions. As we continued to extend our conceptions about professional teaching portfolios based on our experiences and our reading in the professional literature, the following underlying ideas emerged: 1) portfolios are reflective compendiums of self-selected artifacts, 2) they are representations of teaching credentials and competencies, 3) they offer holistic views of teachers, and 4) they provide documentation for strengthening interviews. Reflective Compendiums Of Self-Selected Artifacts Because professional teaching portfolios serve as visual representations of teachers, their contents should be determined by individual teachers and should vary significantly, depending on each teacher's philosophy, values, and viewpoints as well as on teaching and collegiate experience. John Zubizarreta states that each person's portfolio will differ from others because of "signature items intended to provide a unique profile of an individual teacher."(1) Bruce Barnett contends that for a portfolio one should select "only those artifacts and reproductions that demonstrate the acquisition of a particular skill, competency, or piece of knowledge."(2) When the locus of control of the portfolio remains with the teachers, they are able to paint more complete pictures of themselves. As a compendium, a portfolio allows teachers to gather in one place the representations they prefer of their professional and personal lives. This process allows teachers to reflect on their own growth as teachers and learners. Mary Olson states that an advantage of portfolios is that "writers, readers, or teachers who are building their portfolios can better understand their own development and then seek additional experience to further that development." She suggests that teachers ask themselves such questions as "What makes this evidence especially appropriate given the purpose for this portfolio?"(3) Robert Tierney, Mark Carter, and Laura Desai point out that creating a portfolio allows teachers an opportunity to reflect on what they are about, what goals they have, and what they have achieved.(4) Representations of Teaching Credentials and Competencies The portfolio provides evidence of good teaching. Teachers constructing professional portfolios can include documentation that supports their teaching, such as letters of recommendation, evaluations from supervisors, lesson plans, and photographs. Donovan Cook and Jeanne Kessler describe a professional teaching portfolio as "an organized collection of documents, letters, papers, and pictures that lauds your personal and professional achievements in a compact, concrete way." They believe that, more than the credential file or the resume, the portfolio will reflect who the teacher is and what the teacher has to offer. They consider the portfolio to be a "tool which, in addition to your credentials, will allow you to market yourself effectively. …

Programs for the Gifted Few or Talent Development for the Many

Abstract: Students at all ages and grade levels are entitled to challenging and appropriate instruction if they are to develop their talents fully, Mr. Feldhusen points out. The gifted education movement grew out of the pioneering research of Lewis Terman and Lita Hollingworth and took flight after the launch of Sputnik in 1957. The momentum continued to build with the subsequent publication of the Marland Report in 1972, which documented neglect of the gifted in American schools.(1) With small-scale financial support from the federal government and larger support from most state governments, educational programs were developed in nearly all the states. Elementary programs favored the pull-out enrichment model, while secondary programs favored the use of special classes.(2) Supporters of the development of programs included a number of organizations: the National Association for Gifted Children, the Talented and Gifted (TAG) Division of the Council for Exceptional Children, and state associations for the gifted, as well as a host of individuals, among them James Gallagher, E. Paul Torrance, A. Harry Passow, Abraham Tannenbaum, Paul Witty, Barbara Clark, Joseph Renzulli, Irving Sato, Dorothy Sisk, Julian Stanley, and Joyce VanTassel-Baska, who led the field with their research and expertise in developing procedures for identifying and educating gifted children. The magnitude of growth in gifted education is documented in National Excellence: A Case for Developing America's Talent, a 1993 report from the U.S. Department of Education.(3) Strong attacks on the emerging field came in 1985 with the publication of two books: Keeping Track: How Schools Structure Inequality, by Jeannie Oakes, which criticized the grouping practices of American schools; and Educating the Ablest: Programs and Promising Practices, by June Cox, Neil Daniels, and Bruce Boston, which rendered a negative evaluation of the vapid pullout enrichment programs that the authors characterized as having seen their day.(4) In 1988 Paul Chapman took both the intelligence and the achievement testing movements to task for having come to dominate school practice to the advantage of the Nordic population and the disadvantage of black, Hispanic, and low-income youths.(5) Paul Kingston and Lionel Lewis in The High-Status Track, an edited volume published in 1990, presented the views of 13 scholars who indicted the secondary- and college-level institutions in the U.S. that have risen to elite status with clearly excellent academic programs but, as the authors see it, restrictive admissions policies that systematically block many minority and low-income youths from enrolling. Graduates of these elite schools move into career tracks that practically ensure the attainment of high-level professional positions, while young people who do not attend such institutions rarely attain equal professional status. "These schools," they write, "are socially elite, largely enrolling offspring of the upper-middle and upper classes. Moreover, their graduates are prepared for privilege and enjoy disproportionate access to high-status occupations."(6) In The Manufactured Crisis, their 1995 defense of American schools, David Berliner and Bruce Biddle also attacked gifted programs as elitist and biased. They wrote: Despite their seductive appeal, and despite their frequent promotion by privileged Americans, enrichment programs are not the way to improve American education. There is no evidence that they accomplish the goals claimed for them, and they tend to weaken some of the most impressive traditional strengths of America's schools.(7) Berliner and Biddle are wrong in asserting that no evidence exists that gifted programs accomplish their goals. Indeed, there is much evidence that they do. However, by focusing programs on the elite few, programs for the gifted probably do little to improve schools overall. It is clear that programs for the gifted are under severe attack. …

Schoolwide Action Research: Findings from Six Years of Study

Abstract: Mr. Allen and Ms. Calhoun share with readers what they think are their most significant findings related to school faculties' building their capacity to be responsive and to make desired changes. From 1990 through 1996, a collaborative research team consisting of university and school-based staff members conducted an ongoing inquiry with two groups of schools that made a commitment to conducting schoolwide action research. The schools were members of the University of Georgia's League of Professional Schools or part of the Ames (Iowa) Community Schools. By 1996, 100 schools in the Georgia network and 11 schools in the Iowa network were participating. The League of Professional Schools is a school/university collaboration designed to support democratic school improvement. Its school renewal efforts are based on three ideas: 1) shared governance for schoolwide decisions, 2) a focus on instruction and curriculum to enhance education, and 3) the use of schoolwide action research to study the health of the school and the results of its collective action. School faculties seek membership in the League and must have at least 80% of the faculty voting in favor of affiliating if they are to join. The League offers its members various support services. Three meetings each year for school teams provide a forum for schools to share best practices and to reflect on their common work, summer institutes are offered on topics of common interest, site visits allow practitioners to observe firsthand the work of their colleagues in other League schools, and newsletters describe initiatives being pursued in League schools. The League also provides access to information from the larger education community through an information retrieval system. In Iowa, a bargained agreement between the Ames Community School District and the Ames Education Association led to the creation of the schoolwide action research initiative. The agreement provided for a district instructional leadership team (ILT), to be composed of representatives appointed in equal numbers by the district and the teacher union. A per-teacher funding allocation was granted to each school to support its action research activities. The ILT arranged professional development workshops and seminars, provided out-of-district and within-district consultation services, and supplied a local teacher as a part-time coordinator of action research. To allow time for faculties to work together, another negotiated agreement arranged for early dismissal of students every Wednesday. History and Promise Of Action Research Why are these schools trying to implement schoolwide action research? Like many other good ideas, such as nongraded schools and interrelated curriculum units, action research has been around for some time as a popular initiative in some school districts. It was a topic of interest in the 1940s and 1950s, drawing largely on the work of Kurt Lewin and his colleagues and their development of a collective problem-solving cycle for improving life in organizations.(1) Today, action research is promoted as a process of individual reflection on practice, as a process to support staff development in schools, as a collaborative process to support teachers' professional development, and as a strategy to guide site-based school improvement.(2) Whether action research is undertaken by an individual, a small group, or a school faculty, part of its promise is the ability to build the capacity of individuals and organizations to move beyond current understandings and practices. In the past, action research was recognized as a tool to improve the health of a school, and the appeal remains just as powerful today. In schoolwide action research, participants live the problem-solving process themselves and model it for their students. They focus on the collection of data to diagnose problems, they conduct a disciplined search for alternative solutions, they take collective action, and they conscientiously monitor whether and how well a "solution" works. …

Charter School Reform in California: Does It Meet Expectations?

Abstract: UCLA Charter School Study From their study of 17 charter schools in 10 school districts across California, the authors conclude that, unless charter schools begin living up to some of the assumptions that have so far propelled them, it is time to reassess this magic bullet of school reform. THE CHARTER school movement has taken the country by storm, leaving in its wake 33 state laws allowing parents, educators, or entrepreneurs to create independent schools that are publicly funded but free from many state and local regulations. Charter school reform has been embraced by policy makers on both sides of the political aisle and by diverse groups of activists as one of the most promising solutions to the problems of public education.1 The view of charter school reform as a solution rests on a set of claims about what charter schools can accomplish. Proponents argue, for instance, that charter schools are held more accountable for student outcomes; enjoy greater freedom from the cumbersome public system; operate more efficiently; provide educational choices to parents and students, particularly those who typically have few choices in education; infuse healthy competition into a bureaucratic and unresponsive public system; and, finally, model innovative practices for other schools and educators. Today, nearly a decade after these claims were first made, researchers are beginning to question some of them as they relate to the day-to-day experiences of educators and parents in charter schools and in nearby public schools. Our study of 17 charter schools in 10 school districts across California does just that, and this article presents some of our preliminary findings. We have learned, for instance, that despite the hard work and dedication of the founders and operators of charter schools and despite the impressive gains many have made under trying conditions, charter school reform, for the most part, falls short of the broad and comprehensive claims made by its advocates. We have learned that charter school reform is a laissez-faire policy that allows people greater freedom but provides them with virtually no support. As a result, what charter school operators can accomplish is often related to the resources, connections, and political savvy that they bring with them. Furthermore, without additional resources targeted toward the poorest communities, charter school operators have little power to overcome existing inequalities within the large and uneven public education system. In fact, in some instances - e.g., when they employ admissions criteria - charter schools can even exacerbate these inequalities. Over the past 21/2 years, we met hundreds of satisfied charter school educators and parents who were proud of what they had accomplished thus far, even as many wondered how long they could sustain the energy and drive needed to keep their schools open. But the extent to which this reform will become systemic or will touch large numbers of those students traditionally served least well by the public education system is not yet clear. In fact, it might be that the broadest possible impact of the charter school movement will be in moving the public education system further down the road toward privatization and quite possibly vouchers by forming hundreds of schools that are increasingly dependent on private funds and better able to control who attends and who does not. We should note that this is not the result that all charter school supporters desire. Thus the issues of exactly how the successes and failures of charter school reform are measured and who defines the lessons learned have become increasingly important. The Salience of California In 1992 California became the second state, after Minnesota, to pass charter school legislation. During the 1997-98 school year, California was second only to Arizona in the number of charter schools (with 130 as opposed to 241 in Arizona) and first in the nation in the number of students enrolled in charter schools - nearly 50,000 or almost one-third of the national total of 166,000. …

Structured English Immersion Breakthrough in Teaching Limited-English- Proficient Students

Abstract: A few Structured English Immersion programs have been developed and tested in the past two decades. The experience of these programs can provide much-needed guidance to California's schools and to others interested in the reform of bilingual education programs, Mr. Baker says. By POPULAR referendum in June 1998, California's voters replaced the country's most extensive bilingual education program for limited- English-proficient (LEP) students with a program of "Structured English Immersion" (SEI). Adriana de Kanter and I were the first to name and describe such a program when we recommended that schools teaching English to students with limited proficiency try the impressive Canadian Immersion method of teaching second languages.1 In the nearly two decades since our suggestion, a few SEI programs have been developed and tested. The experience of these programs, especially Seattle's, can provide much-needed guidance to California's schools -- and to others interested in the reform of bilingual education programs. What Is SEI? J. David Ramirez and his colleagues offer the most extensive discussion of the characteristics of SEI. As the first step in a longitudinal study comparing SEI to two types of bilingual education programs, Ramirez' group reviewed the literature to determine the theoretical and instructional differences among the three programs. Next they conducted extensive classroom observations over a period of four years to verify the presence of these hypothesized differences. But the differences posited by academic theorists were not apparent in actual practice. The only hypothesized difference found to occur in actual practice was the percentage of instructional time teachers taught in English as opposed to Spanish.2 In all likelihood, classroom teachers are exercising their good judgment by ignoring a lot of academic mumbo jumbo that has no practical application. It seems sufficient to define an SEI program as one in which 1) English is used and taught at a level appropriate to the class of English learners (that's different from the way English is used in the mainstream classroom), and 2) teachers are oriented toward maximizing instruction in English and use English for 70% to 90% of instructional time, averaged over the first three years of instruction.3 Ramirez also reviewed the literature on second-language learning in general to identify the properties of a good setting for such learning. He then looked for these properties in actual classroom practice. Again, there was no difference among the three programs: all were really bad places in which to learn a second language. The common problem seemed to be the instructional constraints imposed by large classes. The optimal setting for learning a second language is one that allows for extensive dialogue between teacher and learner, which is impossible in classes with more than eight students. Drastic reductions in class size may be the most productive step that could be taken to improve the instruction of LEP students.4 Is SEI Effective? Over the last 18 years, I have identified the following programs as effective examples of SEI.5 The Canadian Immersion program, first detailed by Wallace Lambert and Richard Tucker, is the exemplar for SEI.6 Advocates of bilingual education programs argue that this instructional method, although very successful in Canada, will not generalize to LEP students in the U.S. However, the program evaluations that I am about to discuss show that this fear is baseless. Russell Gersten and his colleagues found SEI superior to bilingual education for Vietnamese immigrants in California and for Hispanics in Texas. An SEI program for Hispanics in Uvalde, Texas, was found to have improved high school graduation rates and lowered retention throughout the grades compared to a prior, ill-defined program.7 The Uvalde program and the one Gersten and John Woodward studied in a California district were all-English direct instruction programs (Distar) used with LEP students. …

Heat and Light in the Charter School Movement.

Abstract: What are key challenges for the charter school movement? What impact can the charter movement have on our nation's children? Mr. Nathan seeks to help answer those questions here. Rosa parks recently applied for permission to start a charter school. (Yes, the Rosa Parks - the person who helped start the modern civil rights movement.) One of Arizona's teachers of the year directs a charter school. President Clinton has recommended creation of at least 3,000 charter schools within the next five years. (The number of active charter schools has grown from one in 1992 to more than 800 early in 1998.) He also urged that every U.S. public school either be a charter or have "charter-like" responsibilities for improving student achievement.(1) One of the nation's most liberal U.S. senators, Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.), told a joint session of the Minnesota legislature that the charter movement is "a marvelous innovation spreading throughout the country."(2) Some parents of disabled students say charter schools "changed their children's lives." On the other hand, problems aren't hard to find. An Arizona charter school declared bankruptcy. The director of a Washington, D.C., charter school appeared on national television after she was found guilty of assault. Some parents with handicapped students are frustrated by their experience with charter schools. The charter school movement generates heat and light. What are key challenges for the charter movement? What impact can the charter movement have on our nation's children? This article seeks to help answer these questions. A Brief History New England educator Ray Budde suggested more than 20 years ago that small groups of teachers be given a "charter" or contract by their local school board to explore new approaches.(3) The late Albert Shanker, president of the American Federation of Teachers, publicized the idea, suggesting that a local board could charter an entire school if the union and teachers agreed.(4) In the late 1980s, Philadelphia started many schools-within-schools, which the district called "charter schools." Some were assigned students and faculty, and others were selected by students and educators. Not much else happened with this idea until it was refined in Minnesota. Those involved in the movement were Elaine Salinas, education program officer of the Urban Coalition; Barbara Zohn, former Minnesota PTA president and then a Minnesota Department of Education staff member; Ted Kolderie, a former newspaper writer and advocate of systemic reform; this author; and Democratic state senator Ember Reichgott-Junge. The new approach built on three basic American values: responsibility for results; opportunity (in the words of Senn Brown of the Wisconsin School Boards Association, the chance "to create the kind of public school you've dreamed about"(5)); and choice within clear, explicit limits. The charter idea, as it has evolved, has a number of defining characteristics. The charter idea * allows the creation of new public schools or the conversion of existing ones; * stipulates that the schools be nonsectarian and prohibits admissions tests; * requires that these schools be responsible for improved student achievement over a period of three to five years or be closed; * waives most state rules and regulations, along with local contract provisions, in exchange for explicit responsibility for results; * permits several public bodies - such as state and local school boards, universities, and city governments - to authorize creation of charter schools; * permits educators and families to select these schools, rather than being assigned to them; and * requires that average per-pupil funding follow students to the schools, along with other appropriate funds such as Title I and special and compensatory education funds. Part of the idea was to create institutions that are explicitly responsible for improved achievement. …

Sitting Down To Score: Teacher Learning Through Assessment.

Abstract: Standards-based performance assessments address the need for system accountability while offering a powerful way to affirm professional knowledge and to support teacher learning, according to Ms. Falk and Ms. Ort. As reforms based on standards sweep the country and educators grapple with ways to help an increasingly diverse student population realize its academic and social potential, the need for knowledgeable and highly skilled teachers becomes ever more important. The 1996 report of the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future, What Matters Most: Teaching for America's Future, emphasizes this need by pointing to teacher quality as the most critical determinant of student performance.(1) This being the case, to ensure that all students have richer learning experiences and are enabled to reach more challenging goals, school systems must invest in developing the capacity of teachers to teach in ways that are effective with a range of different learners. Without such support for teachers, standards and standards-based assessments could ultimately prove to have unintended harmful effects, particularly for those straggling students who are already served least well by the education system. What kinds of professional learning opportunities develop the capacities of teachers to support more ambitious teaching and learning for all students? Research and experience have helped us to understand the limitations of the short-term "training" model - the one-shot workshop or "expert" lecture that transmits information and skills to passive recipients.(2) Increasingly, that model is being replaced by a more long-range, capacity-building approach that offers "meaningful intellectual, social, and emotional engagement with ideas, with materials, and with colleagues both in and outside of teaching."(3) In this article we suggest that teacher involvement with performance-based assessment is an arena rich in potential for professional learning. Studies of new assessment initiatives indicate that looking at and deliberating on authentic student work - with other teachers, with students, and sometimes with students' families can help teachers better understand what their students know and can reveal students' learning styles, strengths, and needs. Engagement with new assessment strategies also stimulates teachers to think about their curricular vision and to consider how different instructional approaches can be used to support students' learning.(4) These and other ways in which teacher involvement in assessment offers possibilities for professional learning are our topics here. We focus specifically on a large-scale project in New York State that has, over the last three years, developed standards-based, performance-assessment prototypes for the state's student assessment system. We helped to develop the project and in 1996 conducted a study of 250 of the 500 teachers who piloted these new assessments. Although the assessments that are soon to become operational as the New York State assessment system differ substantially from our original work, our findings have implications that we believe are useful for designing and implementing any large-scale assessment system. They reveal how teachers' involvement in assessment - both use and scoring - has enhanced and supported their learning, strengthened their sense of professionalism, and built their support for change. New Forms of Assessment, New Ways to Learn In 1991 New York State launched a variety of initiatives to improve student learning. The agenda for change included articulating rigorous standards of achievement in a variety of disciplines, developing challenging curricula based on these standards, building the capacities of teachers to use a range of strategies to help students achieve the standards, and designing and using new forms of assessment that better support and reflect what is being taught.(5) As part of this initiative, the National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools, and Teaching (NCREST) collaborated with the state education department and other partners on a project to develop prototypes for the redesign of the state's system of student assessment. …

For-Profit Charter Schools and Students with Disabilities: The Sordid Side of the Business of Schooling.

Abstract: As they strive to make money and fulfill their promise to improve educational outcomes, for-profit charter schools in Massachusetts often ignore special education law and treat students with complicated disabilities as financial liabilities, the authors charge. IT'S HARD NOT to be drawn in by the rhetoric. Your public schools are failing. Your children aren't learning. The school system, choked by regulation and held hostage by unions, won't respond to your concerns. We will. We are America's "huge, vibrant, and creative" private sector.1 Our success is based not on compliance with government regulations or mandates but on creating the best product and attracting the most customers. We will revitalize the public school system with market-based competition. All we ask in return is something as American as free speech - the opportunity to make a profit. Think about it. What do you have to lose? Wouldn't you like to have a choice for your children? That's the sales pitch. And it's a good one. Across the country, communities are considering turning over their public schools to private businesses. Businesses, always ready to seize an opportunity, especially in a market as potentially lucrative as public education, have been quick to respond.2 A number of management companies are investing in the business of schooling, and the concept that many of these companies have invested in is the for-profit charter school. Companies find the charter school formula attractive: a steady flow of public money combined with exemptions from costly government regulations and school board requirements such as collective bargaining. In exchange for this funding and freedom, charter schools are expected to fulfill the terms of their charters, which usually have to do with improving student test scores over a fixed number of years. During the past six months, we have been studying the way that for- profit charter schools in Massachusetts handle special education. Of the state's 33 charter schools, nine are for-profits, giving Massachusetts one of the highest percentages of for-profits in the nation.3 With more than 5,200 students, these schools have more than half of the entire charter school enrollment in the state. At the time of our study, five of these schools had been in operation for at least two years. This fall four new for-profits opened. Our study focused on the five original for-profit charter schools, though we did review the applications of the new schools and interview a number of prospective parents. Our interest in the for-profits' special education programs was provoked by reports that substantial numbers of students with disabilities were leaving the five original charter schools and returning to their local public schools. After we analyzed charter school applications, annual reports, and financial statements; interviewed dozens of parents, community members, and school and government officials; and reviewed government documents and memos as well as articles from the popular press and professional journals, a picture emerged of for-profit special education programs that sharply contrasts with the idyllic images of successful "inclusive models" that these companies have presented to the public. While they have done a decent job of including students with mild disabilities, for- profit charter schools in Massachusetts have engaged in a pattern of disregard and often blatant hostility toward students with more complicated behavioral and cognitive disabilities. The source of this pattern is the very same factor that the companies that manage these schools use to explain their success - the profit motive. As they strive to make money and fulfill their promise to improve educational outcomes, for-profit charter schools often ignore special education law and treat students with more complicated disabilities as financial liabilities. This attitude has been reinforced by a state government that coddles charter schools while singling them out as examples of free-market accountability and innovation. …

Effectiveness--Along with Quality--Should Be the Focus.

Abstract: Student learning must be the touchstone by which teachers and teacher educators are gauged, say the authors. After studying the articles in the November 1996 Kappan on "Quality Teaching for the 21st Century," they suggest that the authors in that section seem not to share this view. Arthur Wise deserves praise for his work as guest editor of the special section on "Quality Teaching for the 21st Century," which appeared in the November 1996 Kappan. The teacher preparation and licensure community likewise deserves kudos for its progress in articulating policies focused on the dual concepts of quality assurance and the professionalization of teaching and for fostering the creation of the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future, whose fall 1996 report, in Wise's words, "provides a blueprint" for a new system of teacher preparation and development.' We agree that teacher quality and professionalization are appropriate anchor points for policy, but we take issue with the meanings that are being given these anchors. The questions we wish to raise and address here are: Quality assurance for what? Professionalization in whose terms? The Meaning of Quality Assurance The authors in the November 1996 special section wrote of quality assurance as some variation of "what teachers know and are able to do." For example, Wise talked of three organizations - accreditation, state licensing, and board certification - "working together to develop complementary standards, so that preparation standards reflect the skills and knowledge needed for state licensing examinations and so that both accreditation and licensing help candidates and teachers build the skills needed for success on board certification assessments."(2) In introducing the recommendations of the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future, Linda Darling-Hammond stated, "The plan is aimed at ensuring that all schools have teachers with the knowledge and skills they need to enable all children to learn."(3) She quoted the report of the Commission as saying, "Our highest priority must be to reach agreement on what teachers should know and be able to do in order to help students succeed."(4) Even Albert Shanker chose to focus on the knowledge side of the equation rather than on the dimension of success with children. He suggested that teachers and their organizations "work with licensing bodies and professional standards boards to require that entering teachers meet high national standards that include knowledge of their disciplines, knowledge of how students learn, and knowledge of the liberal arts as measured by valid and reliable assessments."(5) He went on to say that "teaching can be respected as a genuine profession when there is evidence that teachers are experts in their subject matter and do a good job of inducting students into that expertise" - but he did not expand on this statement to make effectiveness with students a real part of his argument. Indeed, no author in the November special section mentioned directly the need to insure that teachers are effective practitioners, able to foster the kinds and levels of learning that are deemed desirable in their students. To our surprise, they uniformly stopped short of calling for defensible evidence that a teacher actually contributes to the learning progress of his or her students. By contrast, we believe that any quality assurance system for teachers must include demonstrable teacher effectiveness, as measured by the learning gains of students. A demonstrably effective teacher (in contrast to a teacher who is merely knowledgeable or skillful) is able to integrate and apply whatever knowledge and skills are needed to advance the learning of a particular group of students toward a particular learning goal under a particular set of conditions (resources, time, and so on). This conception of teacher quality is far more demanding than one that focuses only on knowledge and skills, though knowledge and skills are clearly important as enablers of effectiveness. …

From Gifted Education to Programming for Talent Development.

Abstract: We need programming for talent development that will necessarily take forms that are different from those of the "gifted education" tradition out of which it is emerging, Mr. Treffinger maintains. The challenges facing public education today are at least as formidable as they have ever been, and the expectations we hold for educators may be even higher. Moreover, the stakes are probably higher as well, because the consequences of failure in our education system are likely to be not just personal and local, but national and even global. As knowledge and technology continue to expand explosively in quantity and complexity and as our children and youths face ever more difficult personal, career, and social challenges, the burden we expect education to bear only continues to increase. We must recognize the importance of knowledge and competence as well as the need to nurture talent, imagination, judgment, and ethical conduct among all our young people. Our need for accomplishment across many different talent domains is too great for us to permit any student's strengths to be overlooked, disregarded, or squelched. We recognize the need for talented accomplishments in many areas that will be essential to human progress, to the quality of life and the enjoyment of leisure, and perhaps even to survival itself. Educators must play a very important role in nurturing the many and varied talents of our youths in such areas as: * science, medicine, technology, and engineering so that we may solve the problems of hunger, disease, and the destruction of our environment; * leadership, social and behavioral sciences, and organizations so that we may pursue justice and equality for all people; * arts, culture, and entertainment so that we may enhance and celebrate the creative expressions that add joy and meaning to life; * ethical and moral principles and philosophical analysis so that individuals and groups may understand and deal effectively with the complex challenges of human existence; and * personal fulfillment so that people may be enabled to live mentally, emotionally, and physically healthy lives and to celebrate their own talents as well as those of others. At the same time, we should not be too sanguine about our ability to select those young people who display the greatest potential for accomplishments in these areas or in any other specific talent dimensions. In truth, such accomplishments often unfold over an entire life span, and they are the products of many complex factors beyond specific experiences in school. Nonetheless, we must make every effort possible to discern students' special needs, interests, and potentials and to provide educational opportunities that nurture their talents. Herein lies an essential paradox facing educators: we acknowledge the need for and critical nature of talent and the contributions of talented individuals, but at the same time, many educators and members of the public are apprehensive or even hostile to "gifted education" or gifted/talented programs in the schools. We wish to have a cure, but we are not certain at all about the medicine. As a result, interest in and support for gifted programs have experienced cycles of growth and decline in American education.(1) Let us consider an alternative construction of the challenge. What if the primary challenge lies not in the interplay of or the relationship between gifted education, as it has typically been practiced, and the rest of the educational setting, but rather in the task of formulating a new and more constructive approach to identifying and developing talent? Perhaps, in order to meet the needs and expectations of today's complex educational realities, we need programming for talent development that will take forms different from those of the "gifted education" tradition out of which it is emerging. These emerging reconstructions address three fundamental themes or issues: 1) new views of talents and abilities, 2) more complex and varied approaches to programming, and 3) more powerful alternative views of the nature and role of identification. …

The Development of Academic Talent: A Mandate for Educational Best Practice.

Abstract: The case could be made that all of education should be about talent development, a view of schooling that focuses on the optimal, not the minimal, development of each student, Ms. Van Tassel-Baska suggests. The earliest Western concepts of talent focused on what today we might call identification: observing and judging performance in specific domains valued by a society. This view has not changed very much since the days of ancient Greece. What has changed is that we have researched various constructs related to talent, such as giftedness, creativity, and motivation; our society has enlarged the domains of value to include more academic and nonacademic areas of learning; and our ways of observing talent have become more refined through testing specific aptitudes and general reasoning abilities. A monolithic view of giftedness simply as high intelligence has been displaced in favor of a multifaceted view of talents and abilities. That view continues to be extended and amplified in many ways. In recent years there has also been a shift toward an emphasis on talent development as the central metaphor for gifted education. This contemporary trend might be traced to the publication of Howard Gardner's Frames of Mind, a work that excited the imaginations of many educators and inspired them to think about applying Gardner's ideas about multiple intelligences to classroom contexts and curricula.(1) Another precipitating event was the publication of National Excellence: A Case for Developing America's Talent, a report that pointed out schooling practices that inhibit the development of America's talented youths.(2) These two events in education have spawned many editorials, articles, and reactions from general educators and educators of the gifted; both groups see the trend in highly positive ways.(3) Yet it is clear that the shift toward thinking about education as a talent development enterprise did not originate with Gardner or the national report. The work of Julian Stanley and his colleagues in the 1970s, for example, provided a major emphasis on precocious talent in specific academic areas.(4) A. Harry Passow's work with Project Talent in the 1960s also focused the field on looking for talent to emerge in students through classroom-based approaches. Calvin Taylor in the 1960s and 1970s developed the "multiple talent totem poles," providing a theoretical and research base for the popular program Talents Unlimited, recommended for use with most learners. The case could be made that all of education should be about talent development, a view of schooling that focuses on the optimal, not the minimal, development of each student. based on such an idea, many educational institutions have reformed their practice using talent development ideas. Whole schools have been founded and many others have been reorganized around the talent development concept as it applies to all learners.(5) The more specialized talent search model for finding precocious talent identifies and serves more than 200,000 students per year through four national searches. Talent development efforts in the arts, especially through private lessons and tutorials, continue to thrive.(6) And parents, as the engineers of their own children's talent development processes, are becoming ever more discerning about appropriate opportunities at given stages of development. High-Level Talent Development Many researchers in the past 20 years have focused sharply on the processes of talent development that matter the most in producing high-level talent in various domains. Benjamin Bloom contributed important insights about the relationship between talent development in the academic domain and talent development in the arts and in sports, noting that the processes were virtually the same.(7) Key variables in the external environment that he cited included supportive parents or surrogates; excellent teaching in the talent area; special experiences, including competitions that served both to motivate and to encourage the next stage of the development of talent; and motivational encouragement to pursue the talent development process. …