Mar

ch 2

002

Vol.

VII

I •

No.

3

Congress andthe Admin-istration con-

tinue to work on therules, regulations, andappropriations of the NoChild Left Behind Act(NCLB), improving theacademic performance ofeconomically disadvan-taged children should be a

top priority. These children continue to fallbehind their more advantaged peers on stan-dardized tests in every academic subject.

The scattershot approach of the previousElementary and Secondary Education Act(ESEA), with its sixty-one narrowly tailored anduncoordinated programs, was largely unsuccess-ful in closing the gap between poor students andtheir more affluent peers. Reauthorization ofduplicative and ineffective programs all butguarantees that funds will continue to be divert-ed from the most pressing issues. Of the pro-grams of this sort that have been reauthorized,perhaps the most troubling is the Women’sEducational Equity Act (WEEA), the justificationfor which has repeatedly been refuted by bothstatistical evidence and practical experience.

The facts belie the assumption of genderinequity—the rationale for the Women’sEducational Equity Act. Nevertheless, Congressvoted to reauthorize WEEA this year.

The Program is Unnecessary

The Women’s Educational Equity Act wasenacted twenty-seven years ago to promote“equity” in educational policies, programs,activities, and initiatives. It was based on thepremise that “teaching and learning practices inthe United States are frequently inequitable assuch practices relate to women and girls.” Alltold, programs created under this act have costtaxpayers roughly $100 million. Yet, accordingto the U.S. General Accounting Office, therehave been no evaluations of WEEA projects,and thus “little evidence of their effectiveness ineliminating sex bias in education.”

There is evidence, however, that the problemthat WEEA programs were created to addressmay not even exist. Two years ago, the U.S.

Department of Education released a congres-sionally mandated study, Trends in EducationalEquity of Girls and Women. On the basis of ananalysis of forty-four indicators—including aca-demic achievement and behavioral outcomes—researchers concluded that “By most of thesemeasures, females are doing at least as well asmales.” This past year, the Educational TestingService came to a similar conclusion in a reporton Differences in the Gender Gap:

Females have made dramatic progress ineducational attainment, across allracial/ethnic groups, pulling even with(and in some cases, surpassing) males....There is neither a pattern of across-the-board male advantage nor a pattern ofacross-the-board female advantage....

In fact, according to the U.S. Department ofEducation, Office of Education, Research, andImprovement, with regard to most academicmeasures, girls equal or outperform boys, andtheir success continues into adulthood. Thegender gap in language tests, drop-out rates,Advanced Placement participation, honorscourses, and other indicators favors girls. Thegender gap favoring girls inreading and writing is threetimes as large as the gap favor-ing boys in science and math.

As a number of studies havedemonstrated, teaching andlearning practices in the UnitedStates are not inequitable intheir effect on women and girls.Girls do well academically. Theyare more successful in languagecourses, are more involved inschool activities, have higherrates of graduation at both highschool and college levels, andare less likely to participate inhigh-risk behavior. In fact, if anything, recentstudies should raise concerns about boys.Specifically, the research indicates that:

Girls outscore boys in reading.

On the 1999 National Assessment ofEducational Progress (NAEP) long-term trendreading assessment, girls outperformed boys onaverage scores in all three age groups (nine, thir-

teen, and seventeen years). By age seventeen, thereading gap favors girls by fourteen points.

Girls outscore boys in writing.

On the 1998 NAEP Writing Report Card forthe Nation, girls had higher average scores thanmales at all three grade levels tested. In fact,twice as many girls scored in the “proficient”and “advanced” category than boys. Conversely,twice as many boys scored “below basic” in allthree grades. By the 12th grade, the averagescore for girls was nineteen points higher.

Girls outscore boys in civics and the arts.

On the 1998 NAEP Civics Report Card forthe Nation, girls outscored boys at every gradelevel. Girls outperformed boys on the 1997NAEP Arts Assessment in every category(music, theater, and visual arts) and in everycategory tested (creating, performing, andresponding).

Girls hold their own in math.

The 1999 NAEP long-term trend mathassessment shows that there is little difference

between scores for girls andscores for boys in all threegrades. The 2000 NAEP mathe-matics test also shows only aslight difference.

Girls are more likely to par-ticipate in school activities.

Girls outnumber boys withregard to membership in honorsocieties, school newspaper staff,debate clubs, and student gov-ernment. More girls than boysparticipate in AdvancedPlacement courses. Girls are alsomore likely to participate in com-munity service.

Girls are more likely than boys to gradu-ate from high school and college.

Girls are more likely to enroll in college rightafter high school and to complete a bachelor’sdegree within five years.

Wasting Education Dollars:The Women’s Educational Equity Act

By Krista Kafer

As

Krista Kafer

There is evidence,

however, the problem

that WEEA programs

were created to address

may not even exist.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Continued on page 7See... “Wasting Education Dollars”

Teachers Cannot Do It All!Dear AAE,

I have been reading some of the recent articles inEducation Matters. I concur with the idea that collegesof teacher education do not hold the answer to betterteachers. What appalls me more is that some of thebest research that constructivists have to offer is beingignored. I teach Special Education and know from myresearch and educational experience on the topic of“learning” that if we do not consider the learning stylesof students, particularly students who do not fit themold of the “left-brained” style of lock-step learning,we are in for a tumble. If children do not take owner-ship in their learning, there is no retention.

If students do not wantto learn, and parents donot exemplify a learningmodel for their children,the teacher is left twistingin the wind. It is immoralto hold a teacher responsi-ble for bad parenting andlack of student motivationstemming from parentalapathy. Let’s get to the rootof the problem. It takes ateam of parents, student,and teacher to help a stu-dent be successful in edu-cation. Until we recognizethis inevitability, we willnot make any great stridesin education.

Furthermore, since many teachers do not considerwhere their students are developmentally, socially, emo-tionally, and educationally, they are just teaching sub-ject matter to students, not teaching students subjectmatter. There is a difference. I would like to see a morebalanced approach to the issue of improving ourschools, teachers, and educational atmosphere.Teachers cannot do it all. There are bad teachers, just asthere are bad students. We just do not have a very effi-cient and fair way of adjudicating this.

We are so naive as to think that children will learna certain amount of information, master it and retainit, in a certain amount of time. Research says other-wise. Right-brained children take longer to process;therefore, they do not pass standardized, TIMED tests(from a left-brained viewpoint) very well. They are justas intelligent. They are led to believe that because theydo not test well in someone else’s opinion, they arestupid. Many end up in Special Education. I know, Ideal with students like this every day.

This may sound like the rantings of a mad woman.I am mad, just not psychotic. I would like to seechange. However, until we are all on the same page,with those of us who actually work in the trenchesspeaking out, we will not make any progress. I hopeto see more information about what is being done thatWORKS in school systems, not just what does not.

Thanks for allowing me to sound off.

—Dr. Lydia W. Meek Vonore Elementary School Resource Teacher (5-8)Louisville, TN

Eliminating PrejudiceDear AAE,

Currently we are facing a situation in which anextremely small fraction of a very large world reli-gion is using terrorist tactics. Given these circum-stances, we understand that police, the FBI, andmembers of other governmental agencies mayhave to use a degree of group-profiling for publicsafety reasons. The time necessary for reasonedanalysis may be lacking. Nonetheless, a gravedanger to our civil liberties exists if students andothers translate their fears into prejudicial acts.

In this situation, we thought the includedbooklet might be useful to teachers with whomyou work. My colleague and I prepared the“Prejudice in Group Relations” unit for the socialstudies core curriculum at Riverside-BrookfieldHigh School, Riverside, Illinois where it contin-ues to be used (as well as at other schools). Wedeveloped it to combat the racism, social classbias, and other kinds of negative stereotypingthat we found in our school. Our focus is on hav-ing young people learn to judge people as indi-viduals in their daily lives—rather than as repre-sentatives of some group in which they may beplaced. This is a durable way of teaching toler-ance, and it is one that seems appropriate at thepresent time.

The Prejudice in Group Relations booklets maybe secured at half of their retail price if purchasedthrough The Teachers’ Press. Also, a teacher mayphotocopy any part of the unit for his or her stu-dents’ use.

—Brant Abrahamson, DirectorRiverside-Brookfield High SchoolBrookfield, IL

The Teachers’ Press can be reached at 708-485-5983 or write to The Teachers’ Press, 3731Madison Ave., Brookfield, IL 60513-1559.

Higher Standards Are Not EnoughDear AAE,

I can’t tell you how much I look forward to mynewsletter each month. It gives me hope (afterthirteen teaching years of hopelessness) that edu-cation can actually meet the needs of our kids.

Regarding the Standards–Testing article in theJanuary edition of Education Matters, by ChesterFinn—

1. Standards alone are not enough. There is realpaucity of adequate curriculum in place in ourdistrict. I hear the same complaint from teach-ers in districts around me. We need the sup-port of the district in getting us the curriculumthat really supports the standards.

2. Lack of strong leadership in retraining teachersin effective reading technique. Lots of teachershired in the last ten years don’t know anythingbut whole language-type reading. They haven’ta clue how to teach systematic phonics andreading, never having been trained in thoseareas. You can hardly blame them, but the dis-tricts don’t want to put money and personnelresources into retraining.

3. District curriculum “specialists” usually arepaper pushers for the state government. Theydon’t take (and hardly have time to take) aninterest in curriculums that are proven towork, but aren’t being presently touted by thestate.

Some teachers in our district have been usingthe Direct Instruction Reading materials this yearwith HUGE success, especially with ESL and lowability (RSP) readers. We’re able to make up totwo years’ growth in one year using this systemat-ic, explicit method and that’s with kids who havethe “special ed” label as well as the kids who are“normal” readers. We only had about twelve outof sixty of our students reading on grade level(according to DI standards for decoding and com-prehension) at the beginning of the year, and havebeen able to remediate those who needed it andaccelerate those who can be accelerated using thisexemplary program. However, because it has beenaround for a long time, our district is totally unin-terested in looking at it as an instrument to getour children reading to grade level by third grade.I find the it’s-got-to-be-new-or-it’s-useless attitudeoutrageous in view of the fact that literally all theschools in our district have failed to meet thestate standards for improvement.

Well, I’m sure others are having the sameproblems, but testing and standards are obviouslynot the entire solution and any more money spentdoing more of the same we’ve been doing for thelast ten years is money wasted.

Keep up the good work and thanks for yoursupport for teachers and kids.

—Laura CornwellPalla Elementary SchoolBakersfield, CA

2 EducationMatters ~ March 2002

It is immoral to

hold a teacher

responsible for

bad parenting

and lack of stu-

dent motivation

stemming from

parental apathy.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★★ ★ ★ ★ ★

EducationMatters ~ March 2002 3

eading First, President Bush’s initiative foreducational reform, is now the law of theland. It has galvanized the educational

community into contemplating various approachesof how to implement this mandate most effectivelyin order to achieve the best results possible.

While private-sector programs that focus onputting computers and Internet access in theclassrooms of poor schools have garnered a lot ofattention recently, some educators and communi-ty members say the real problem is not beingaddressed by the high-tech effort.

“What good is the Internet if you can’t read?”says Mary Shaw, who has worked tirelessly over theyears to open doors for educationally disadvantagedkids. “The key is reading—all else flows from that.”

That statement could serve as the motto forthe effort Ms. Shaw and a battalion of other com-munity leaders have launched in Menlo Park,California. Their program, a nonprofit organiza-tion located on a school campus, offers one-on-one tutoring during and after school to childrenwho are reading significantly below grade in thelow-achieving Ravenswood City School District.

Using a systematic, intensive phonics teachingtext developed by Dolores Hiskes as the heart ofthe curriculum, the YES Reading Program is a wel-come supplement to classroominstruction at a school where anumber of children speak a primarylanguage other than English.

“Bringing student reading scoresup to grade level cannot be accom-plished by one classroom teacherwith about thirty kids from justabout that many different cultures,”observes Ms. Shaw. “The majority ofthese students in urban low-incomeareas are from non-English speakingfamilies, and our one-on-one tutor-ing by caring adult volunteers makesa great difference. We brought thirtykids up to grade level last year.”

Calling the tutoring program “anoutstanding model,” School Boardmember Emily Garfield says shehopes other such programs aredeveloped. “If youngsters can’t read,it’s a disaster for them—and not just academically,”she says. “It washes over into just about everything.”

This independent, privately-run tutoring pro-gram is conducted in a double-size portable class-room donated by Stanford University and reno-vated by the University Rotary Club of Palo Alto.It is located on the Belle Haven ElementarySchool Campus because that school had the low-est reading scores in the district.

Its success has surprised everyone. There arenow over sixty enthusiastic volunteer tutors fromthe local community. YES Reading has alsoreceived a grant from the Peninsula CommunityFoundation and Yahoo!, as well as generousdonations from many of the tutors themselves.Organizers are hoping for more such funding.

All tutors are trained to use the teaching methodemployed in Hiskes’ Phonics Pathways, and find thesimple, progressive, step-by-step lessons very clearand easy to follow as well as easy to teach. It is agratifying experience for students and tutors alike.

“We have developed an easy-to-use but struc-tured and comprehensive reading, spelling, andcomprehension curriculum. Best of all, no priorteaching experience is necessary. This, along withflexible scheduling for volunteers, makes it possi-ble for the community to help,” says Ms. Shaw.

The tutoring is two-tiered. On Mondays andThursdays a dedicated core of highly-committedadult community leaders tutor children in theCenter. High school and college students volunteerfor the after-school and summer tutoring programs.

Students are referred by classroomteachers, and are evaluated when theyenter the program. An ongoing evalu-ation is continued until they haveachieved grade level, at which timethey graduate from the program.Upon graduation each child receivesa book of their choice, is congratulat-ed in front of his classmates, andreceives a certificate of graduation atan end-of-the-year ceremony for stu-dents, teachers, parents, and tutors.

YES Reading is being hailed by theteachers, administrators, and parentsas a bright ray of hope for the futureof kids who were falling between thecracks.

Molly McCrory, who with Ms. Shawand Jean Bacigalupi founded the vol-unteer effort, says one visit to a tutor-ing session should be enough to con-

vince others to sign up. “With one of our childrenfor a half-hour, they’d be hooked,” she says. “It is away to take a child and change the life of that child.”

Ms. Bacigalupi, who has volunteered her timeand effort to many causes in her life, recalls howshe became involved as a tutor. “I was tired of sit-ting on boards—I wanted to work with children.”She says the work is greatly satisfying, and shetakes additional pleasure in sending a child whois mastering reading skills home with books so hecan read to his younger siblings.

Ms. Shaw says the program enriches the livesof everyone involved. “I walk in now and kidsthrow their arms around me,” she says, beaming.In fact, the program appears to have won overkids who initially had to be dragged in kicking tothe library. “At the beginning, the kids were terri-

fied,” recalls Ms. McCrory. “Some had tears intheir eyes, and jackets over their heads.” Now,Ms. Shaw adds, “it’s really hard to get some ofthese kids to leave when the session is over.”

Fifth-grader Ruby shyly confides that she comesfor extra tutoring whenever there is room. SmilesRuby, “The tutors help me read better, so I can passmy grade. If I’m stuck they show me how to do it.They care about me and love me!” Young Joséenthusiastically concurs. He never used to like toread or raise his hand in class. Now, after graduatingfrom YES Reading, he states, “I learned a lot, and itfelt good. The tutors helped me learn to read. It’sfun!” He very proudly adds, “Now, after I sound outa big word, I know what it means. When I got mybook and certificate, I was so happy and proud!”

The teachers and administrators are just as enthu-siastic about YES Reading. Amanda Feld, a 5th gradeteacher, observes, “Students are able to read in ashort amount of time. There is a huge amount ofimprovement in performance and self-esteem. Kidswho didn’t like to read come back all fired up andare achievement-oriented, and tutors are responsiveto the needs of teachers as well. I love this program!”

“It has made a dramatic difference” for children inher class, relates fifth-grade teacher Terri Ferraguto,who sends five of her students to half-hour sessionstwice a week. One boy who began class last fall read-ing at kindergarten level is now reading at third-grade level after two or three months of tutoring, shenotes. Just as important, she adds, is how “the one-on-one attention has made such a big difference inhis behavior in the classroom.”

Clearly, YES Reading has evolved into a highlysuccessful state-of-the-art reading center wherevolunteers are helping to give students the skillsthey need to succeed in school now and tobecome productive members of our society later.

Mary Shaw smiles with quiet pride, “We aremaking a long-lasting positive impact on ourcommunity by teaching students to read and byfostering relationships between students and vol-unteers of diverse backgrounds. Students improvein self-confidence, and feel more capable ofachieving their goals. Older students are less like-ly to fall into the juvenile justice system.”

Mary states, “The YES Reading Board envisionsour tutoring center as a model that could bereplicated in other communities, working in part-nership with teachers and schools to help solvethe problem of illiteracy in today’s complex andmultinational society.

“Already we have computer centers in mostschools. Why not reading centers? We are nolonger little red school houses when one teacherhad fewer children, taught simpler subjects, andhad help from families who mostly spokeEnglish. Reading centers such as ours would go along way toward addressing the overwhelmingstate of illiteracy in this country today.”

For information about Phonics Pathways contactDolores G. Hiskes at dor@dorbooks.com, or go tohttp://www.dorbooks.com. For information about YESReading, contact Mary Shaw, 650-322-5756 or theYes Reading office at 650-326-0996.

A Model Tutoring Program for Disadvantaged Kids

We are no longer

little red school

houses when one

teacher had fewer

children, taught sim-

pler subjects, and

had help from fami-

lies who mostly

spoke English.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★★ ★ ★ ★ ★

R

Massachusetts Teachers UnionOpposes English Immersion

Fresh from victories in California and Arizona,California business activist Ron Unz took hisEnglish immersion campaign to Massachusetts,where he hopes to place an initiative on theNovember ballot that would largely eliminatebilingual education in the state. As with his previ-ous campaigns, Unz has assembled an impressiveteam of local Hispanic educators to move the ini-tiative forward. He has the added advantage of atrack record. Although his opponents dispute thepositive results English immersion has achieved inCalifornia, even Unz’s most vocal critics admit thatthe disaster they predicted has not occurred.

The Massachusetts Teachers Association, whichdeclared its opposition to the initiative, is alreadybehind the power curve. Last week, the unionannounced that “some changes need to be made tothe current system of bilingual education, and haveformed a task force of educators to explore theoptions.” The task force consists of twenty-six unionofficers, representatives, and staff—presumably tocover all points of view on the issue from A to Z.

In March 1998, the California TeachersAssociation was trying to formulate a strategy todefeat Unz’s initiative. After polling focus groups,David Sanchez, now CTA’s secretary-treasurer, tolda group of union activists what the best approachwould be. “Don’t even try to defend bilingual edu-cation,” he said.

Source—The Education Intelligence Agency con-ducts public education research, analysis, and investi-gations. Director: Mike Antonucci. Ph: 916-422-4373.Fax: 916-392-1482. E-Mail: EducationIntel@aol.com

High School Tests High-techWeapon Scanner

Officials at Skyline High School in Longmont,Colorado are about to employ a new tool in theireffort to keep their students safe: a sophisticatedweapon-scanning technology originally developedfor military use.

The high-tech security system, initiallydesigned to track enemy submarines, will beinstalled at each of the school’s entrances to scanfor weapons as students enter the building. Thesystem’s creators say it is superior to the metaldetectors used in most schools and airports today.

A representative from WorldNet Technologies,the Bellevue, Washington company that makes theWeaponScan 80 system, approached participants

in a Colorado education convention and asked forvolunteers to become a demonstration site for thetechnology in K-12 education. Skyline’s safetycommittee unanimously agreed to become a pilotsite at no cost to the school.

“We know that the worst-case scenario is proba-bly not going to be prevented,” said St. Vrain ValleySchool District Superintendent Richard Weber.“We’re just trying to increase the probability that thiskind of intervention may have a usefulness in catch-ing instruments that may come into a school.”

—For more information on this story, go tohttp://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showstory.cfm?ArticleID=3474

Source—eSchool News, Associate Editor ElizabethB. Guerard.

New Jersey Stands Up forFounding FathersBy Amy C. Sims

A patriotic charge from New Jersey parents andlegislators has prevented the state’s Board ofEducation from nixing the Founding Fathers fromthe school curriculum.

But months of hearings still lie ahead to fleshout the details of precisely what early Americanhistory kids in New Jersey will learn, and what willgo the educational way of George Washington’schopped-down cherry tree.

The controversy began when the outgoing edu-cation commissioner omitted the names of theFounding Fathers in a draft of the state’s proposedhistory standards.

That action was sharply criticized by State Sen.Gerald Cardinale, who accused the educationalestablishment of wanting to “hijack” history. “They’vegot the tools and the authority, and if we don’t callpublic attention to it they will be successful,” he said.

Cardinale drafted a joint resolution, which hassimilar powers of a bill, stating any teacher whodoesn’t teach about the Founding Fathers wouldlose tenure and employment. State AssemblymanJoseph Pennacchio introduced similar legislation.

William L. Librera, who became commissionerin January, reversed the board’s earlier action, andin doing so clearly stated his priorities.

“The administration is irrevocably committed toensuring that our nation’s Founding Fathers,including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson,Abraham Lincoln, and other key historical figures,are a clear part of this state’s social studies curricu-lum standards,” he said in a news release.

The issue is not unique to New Jersey. During the1960s, history textbooks in Virginia had ten timesmore coverage of George Washington than today’stexts, according to James Rees, executive director ofMount Vernon, the Founding Father’s estate.

“It’s shameful how little we teach our childrenabout Washington and other Founding Fathers,”he said.

Rees has sent out George Washington “kits,”which contain learning material, to classrooms inforty-two states. “The good news is the teachers are

using them,” he said. “It’s not that they don’t want toteach about this, they just don’t have the materials.”

Studies have repeatedly shown that studentsacross the country have forgotten or never learnedeven the most basic lessons of American history.

As for New Jersey, Cardinale and others promisedvigilance in keeping up educational standards.

Source—Amy Sims, Fox News. For more informa-tion about George Washington kits, visitwww.mountvernon.org/education.

Preschool for All? CED Says“Absolutely”

In February, the Committee for EconomicDevelopment (CED) sponsored a keynote speakerand forum to launch a new policy statement enti-tled Preschool for All: Investing in a Productive andJust Society. The forum consisted of Adele Simmons,Vice Chair of Chicago Metropolis 2020 and formerPresident of the John D. and Catherine T.MacArthur Foundation; Roy J. Bostock, Chairman,Executive Committee, B/Com3 Group, Inc.; andJanet Hanson, Vice-President for Education, CED.The statement by the CED’s Research and PolicyCommittee urges that education for all childrenthree to five years of age be available, with federaland state support leading the way to the financialsupport that would be required by the policy.

CED is a prestigious organization whose mem-bers are business leaders and university presidents.Although the policy statement recommends thatprivate nonprofit and for-profit entities be eligibleto utilize the funds made available for preschool, italso urges states and local communities to developthe standards for teachers and facilities; however,providers that do not meet the state standardswould not be eligible for federal support.

Considered jointly, these recommendationswould probably lead to a childcare industry verysimilar to the K-12 education industry: a largemajority of children in public institutions and arelatively small minority in nonprofit and for-profitorganizations. In this connection, it is interestingthat the funding for the research and publicationof the report was largely, if not entirely, from phil-anthropic foundations widely regarded as “liberal”culturally and politically.

Furthermore, the keynote speaker was formerNorth Carolina governor James B. Hunt, Jr., whodevoted most of his comments to North Carolina’sprogram for child care. In view of Mr. Hunt’s closeties to the NEA, it was not surprising that universalchildcare would result in several hundred thousandmore NEA members and tens, if not hundreds, ofmillions more in union revenues. It will be interest-ing to see how conservative policy organizationsand leaders react to this proposed expansion of fed-eral involvement in childcare.

Source—Education Policy Institute (EPI). EPIseeks to improve education through research, policyanalysis, and the development of responsible alterna-tives to existing policies and practices. Visit their web-site at www.educationpolicy.org. Phone: 202-244-7535.The complete policy statement about Preschool for Allis available at www.ced.org, or call 1-212-688-2063.

EducationMatters ~ March 20024

Signs of the TimesSigns of the Times

EducationMatters ~ March 2002 5

ne of our nation’s great scandals is thatlarge numbers of teachers—especiallyat inner-city schools—are ill-prepared

for their jobs. Sure, they’ve been through pro-grams at “schools of education” and receivedteaching certificates, having satisfied the require-ments of their states’ certification laws. But, as testafter test has shown, these qualifications, insteadof guaranteeing excellent reading, writing, andmath skills, can often conceal poor skills.

To make matters worse, many middle- andhigh-school teachers have little or no backgroundin the subjects they are trying to teach. Studentspreparing to be teachers must concentrate so muchon faddish courses dealing with education “theory”that they have little room for studying concrete dis-ciplines such as math, science, or history in muchdepth. Many of those serious-minded enough tounderstand the futility of this exercise—usuallythose who would make the best teachers—opt foran alternative career.

And why shouldn’t they?After all, one of the strongestbeliefs of today’s monopoly edu-cation establishment is the “pro-gressive” idea that students mustbe allowed to “construct theirown knowledge.” Schools ofeducation inculcate the idea thatteachers should serve as “aguide on the side,” rather than“a sage on the stage.” Mostteachers, therefore, spend yearstaking courses in educationaltheory and pick up whateverthey learn on the subjects theyteach as they go along.

The terrible folly and injus-tice of this system has been evi-dent to some critical observersfor many years. One person who decided to dosomething about it was Wendy Kopp. As a seniorat Princeton University in 1989, Wendy realizedthat there were excellent students at top collegeswho had a strong desire to teach but were put offby the education school routine. She set out tocreate a pathway for those individuals into theteaching ranks. Her brainchild, Teach for America(TFA), was born in 1990.

Teach for America, based in New York City,seeks graduates with degrees in English, history,math, science, and other fields, who want to gointo teaching. Recruits from schools such as theUniversity of Michigan, Northwestern, andUCLA must meet strict standards: only 27 per-cent are accepted. They must commit to teach-ing for at least two years in difficult inner-city orrural schools. And they receive intensive trainingin how to handle a classroom during the sum-mer prior to beginning their teaching duties.

When TFA started, it was attacked by educationschool zealots on the grounds that it would short-change students who needed “real teachers.” Butthe right question to ask is not what paper creden-tials teachers have, but whether they do a good job.

The Houston Independent School District(HISD) has been employing TFA teachers since1993. In 2001, Stanford University’s HooverInstitution became interested in seeing how stu-dent learning outcomes compared between class-rooms taught by TFA teachers and non-TFA teach-ers. Studying HISD data from 1996 through 2000,the researchers concluded that “the impact of hav-ing a TFA teacher was always positive . . .. TFA is aviable and valuable source of teachers and thatthey perform as well as, and in many cases betterthan, other teachers hired by HISD.” The studyalso found that TFA teachers were consistently thehighest performing teachers, whereas the least-pro-ductive teachers were invariably non-TFA teachers.

This is great news forMichigan—because this year, forthe first time, Teach for America issending a delegation of teachersinto Detroit public schools.Initially, between thirty and fiftyTFA teachers will be assigned toseveral Detroit schools, probablytwo per school. They will help tofill the teacher shortages Detroitschools have experienced in theareas of math and science.Amazingly, almost a quarter ofTFA recruits have undergraduatebackgrounds in math, science,and engineering.

Teach for America’s numbers arestill quite small, having placed just7,000 teachers in the past twelveyears. But there is no reason why

TFA should be the only source of teachers whodon’t have the dubious education school pedigree.

The excellence of this program provides anobject lesson lawmakers should write in theirlegislative notebooks: It’s time to reconsiderteacher certification laws that can lead to medi-ocrity, and give principals back the freedom tohire teachers who will do a good job.

George C. Leef is director of the Pope Center forHigher Education Policy in Raleigh, North Carolinaand an adjunct scholar with the Mackinac Centerfor Public Policy. The Mackinac Center is a nonpar-tisan research and educational organization devotedto improving the quality of life for all Michigan citi-zens by promoting sound solutions to state and localpolicy questions. Mackinac assists policy makers,scholars, business people, the media, and the publicby providing objective analysis of issues. Visit TheMackinac Center’s web-site at www.mackinac.org,or call them at them at 1-800-224-3327.

“Teach for America” Success Points theWay to Teacher Certification Reform

By George C. Leef

Wendy realized that

there were excellent stu-

dents at top colleges

who had a strong desire

to teach, but were put

off by the education

school routine.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★★ ★ ★ ★ ★

O

New Web-Site LessonPlans on FoundingFathers

he Claremont Institute, inClaremont, California has pro-duced a new multimedia web-site

to teach students and citizens about theimportance of George Washington and theFounding Fathers. Foundingfather.comteaches Washington not merely as a histori-cal figure, but as a man of great character. Inthis way, Foundingfather.com illustrates theindissoluble union between civic virtue andself-government.

Notice to Teachers: The ClaremontInstitute invites you to review a lesson plan onreligious liberty and the American Founding,located in the “Washington in the Classroom”section of their new web-site on GeorgeWashington www.FoundingFather.com.

You will also find the original text ofWashington’s Thanksgiving proclamation, aswell as hundreds of other original sourcedocuments, in the “Washington Collection”section of the web-site.

This is a free resource, and Claremontencourages you to download any materials youmight find useful in your classroom instruction.

To be added on their Civics Bulletin list,or to comment on the web-site, write toinfo@claremont.org, or call 909-621-6825.

T

Editor’s note—For another greatresource on the Founding Fathers,

check out The Heritage Foundation’s The Founders’ Almanac—a practical guide

to the notable events, greatest leaders, and most eloquent words of the American Founding

www.heritage.org/almanac/welcome.html.

Giving Teachers a Break

President Bush’s budget proposal calling for a special tax break for teachershas just become law. The new law allowsteachers to claim an above-the-line deduc-tion on their 2002 Federal tax returns whenthey spend their own money on classroommaterials. Personal payments for continuing education courses will also qualify.

The deduction applies to up to $400 ofsuch expenses. This initiative recognizes injust a small way the personal sacrifice mostteachers make for their students.

Source—EdFacts a weekly publicationof Family Research Council, www.frc.org.

EducationMatters ~ March 20026

or those in education who know howimportant a solid family unit is to a stu-dent’s learning environment, here is

some good news.

After more than three decades of relentlessadvance, the family structure revolution in theU.S. may be over. A series of recent independentreports, based largely on data from the 2000Census, all suggest that the trend of family frag-mentation that many analysts had assumed to beunstoppable—yearly increases in unwed child-bearing and divorce, resulting in ever greater pro-portions of children living in one-parent homes—suddenly stopped in its tracks in about 1995.

Here are the data. The proportion of all U.S.families with children under age eighteen thatare headed by married couples reached an all-time low in the mid 1990s—about 72.9 percentin 1996 and 72.4 percent in 1997—but sincethen has stabilized. The figure for 2000 is 73percent. Similarly, the proportion of all U.S. chil-dren living in two-parent homes reached an all-time low in the mid 1990s, but since then hasalso stabilized. In fact, the proportion of chil-dren in two-parent homes increased from 68percent in 1999 to 69.1 percent in 2000.

Looking only at white, non-Hispanic chil-dren, a study by Allan Dupree and WendellPrimus finds that the proportion of these chil-dren living with two married parents stopped itsdownward descent during the late 1990s, andeven increased slightly from 1999 to 2000, ris-ing from 77.3 to 78.2 percent. Another studyfrom the Urban Institute finds that, among allU.S. children, the proportion living with theirtwo biological or adoptive parents increased by1.2 percent from 1997 to 1999, while duringthe same period the proportion living in step-families (or blended families) decreased by 0.1percentage points and the proportion living insingle-parent homes decreased by two percent-age points. (The study finds that in 1999 about64 percent of all U.S. children lived with theirtwo biological or adoptive parents, while about25 percent lived with one parent and about 8percent lived in a step or blended family.)Among low-income children, the decline in theproportion living in single-parent homes waseven more pronounced, dropping from 44 per-cent in 1997 to 41 percent in 1999.

Here is perhaps the most dramatic statistic.From 1995 to 2000, the proportion of African-

American children living in two-parent mar-ried-couple homes rose from 34.8 to 38.9 per-cent, a significant increase in just five years,representing the clear cessation and even rever-sal of the long-term shift toward Black familyfragmentation.

These changes are not large or definitive, butthey are certainly suggestive. And if they con-tinue, they will change the lives of millions ofU.S. children and families for the better.Moreover, the potential implications for ournational debate are enormous. Instead of sayingendlessly that we need to reverse the trend offragmentation, what if we will soon be able tosay, for the first time in decades, that ournational priority is to sustain the current trendof reintegration?

Source—The American Values Reporter, pub-lished by the Institute for American Values. Visit theInstitute’s web-site at www.americanvalues.org toread commentaries by Institute leaders on theSeptember 11th challenge, including: “What is theTruth that Has Been Revealed to Us?” by JeanBethke Elshtain, and “What are American Values?”by David Blankenhorn.

Introducing Web Wise KidsWeb Wise Kids™ (WWK) is a new nonprofit

organization that equips children to make wisechoices on the Internet. WWK implementsInternet protection programs across the countryin conjunction with schools, law enforcement,libraries, and other nonprofit organizations.

The program has generated tremendousresponse and is currently being implemented bysuch entities as: Orange County, Californiaschool system; the Polly Klaas Foundation; Boysand Girls Clubs; YWCA/YMCAs; AmericanProsecutors Research Institute; The GREAT pro-gram for gang resistance; High Tech CrimesConsortium; SEARCH; PowerUP; SchoolResource Officers; Juvenile Justice Offices; U.S.Military Schools; and the Salvation Army.

The Problem

• Twenty percent of children have received asexual solicitation online. (U.S. Dept. ofJustice, 3-01)

• Twenty-nine percent of children who surf thenet would freely give out their home addressand 14 percent would freely give out their e-mail address if asked. (News Telegraph, NOPResearch Group, Jan. 17, 2002)

• Children are reported missing at the rate of750,000 per year, 2,054 kids per day, or threechildren every two minutes. (National Centerfor Missing and Exploited Children, NCMEC)

• Forty of abductions for 15 to17-year-oldteenagers are due to Internet activity.(NCMEC)

The Solution

The Missing detective computer game is thecenter point of the Web Wise Kids program.This interactive CD-ROM game is designed forthe 11 to 14 year age group and is based on thetrue story of a 14-year-old teenager who waspersuaded by an online predator to leave homeand cross an international border in order tomeet personally. In the game, police detectivesenlist the help of the player to help solve thecrime and find the teenager before he disap-pears. Players are then encouraged to designtheir own guidelines for Internet safety.

Missing works because it appeals to childrenthrough their medium, a computer game. Bymaking them part of the team that tries to findthe missing teenager, it draws them in and cap-tures their attention in a way that “another lec-ture from an adult” can never do. The childreninternalize the need for online safety.

Missing was launched in February 2000 with10,000 copies distributed to schools and librariesacross Canada. Web Wise Kids fully trains allteachers, law enforcement personnel, and otherswho administer the game. CD-ROMS, work-books, and a lesson plan are included.

What Others Are Saying about This Approach

• California School Superintendent WilliamHabermehl, Orange County, California: “Ithas been my pleasure to be associated withWeb Wise Kids for more than a year. Asthe program was piloted at the OrangeCounty Department of Education, it wasthoroughly evaluated and we areextremely pleased with the results.”

• The Polly Klaas Foundation: “The Missinggame is an excellent tool for alerting chil-dren about how to avoid the dangers onthe internet. We at the Foundation areexcited about this new tool, which pro-vides a positive and preventativeapproach to the tragedies we deal withevery day.”

For more information, visitwww.WebWiseKids.org or call 1-866-WebWise(toll free).

Good News for Teachers—The Family is Making a Comeback

F

How to Implement an Internet Child ProtectionProgram for Middle School Children in Your District

EducationMatters ~ March 2002 7

ill Fitzhugh is a man who sawsomething that needed doing anddid it.

After ten years as a public school teacher inConcord, Mass., Fitzhugh saw that “varsity ath-letes were celebrated everywhere. It was time tocelebrate varsity academics.”

Fitzhugh created The Concord Review, theonly magazine in the UnitedStates that prints outstandingessays about American historywritten by high school students.Since 1987, the Review has pub-lished 528 essays, written bystudents in forty-two states(including Minnesota andWisconsin) and thirty-threecountries. It’s a fascinating mag-azine, and a terrific tribute toacademic excellence.

A recent issue of the Reviewfeatured essays by students fromMinnesota (Hopkins) andWisconsin (Racine). NeilMehrotra originally wrote an essay for hisAdvanced Placement class at Hopkins HighSchool about debates over what powers the fed-eral government has. Lance Blakeman of J.I.Case High School in Racine wrote about theWorld War II bombing of Coventry, England, foran International Baccalaureate class.

Both essays match the best writing that I seefrom University of Minnesota graduate students,and I’m not criticizing graduate students. Mehrotraand Blakeman wrote clear, thoughtful essays withmany fascinating details. It’s great to see their skilland knowledge shared and acknowledged.

Twice when I was in secondary school, ateacher inspired me to pick something that hap-

pened in American history, research, and writeabout it. Once I wrote about the GadsdenPurchase, an obscure, important purchase ofland by the U.S. government in the AmericanSouthwest. The second time, I wrote about theTeapot Dome, a 1920s scandal in which a hugeamount of federally owned oil was sold at verylow prices.

In each case, I loved learning about theseincidents, about what people haddone to make them happen, howadvocates and opponents battled,how decisions finally were made,and what the consequences were.History can show us how peopletried to get something done.Properly understood, history canhelp us almost every day, as weconsider how to live our lives.

Is this a bit overblown? I don’tthink so. History is much morethan memorizing names anddates. It’s really the story of peo-ple, often very much like us.

Fitzhugh says he has received letters fromstudents and teachers saying that the elevenessays published in each issue inspire them towork harder, to accomplish more. That’s one ofhis goals. And he has wonderful letters praisingthe magazine from famous historians.

By honoring excellent work, Fitzhugh isn’tjust celebrating history. He’s making it.

Joe Nathan is director of the Center for SchoolChange at the University of Minnesota’s HumphreyInstitute of Public Affairs. You can reach him via e-mailat nathan@hhh.umn.edu or in care of the PioneerPress at 345 Cedar St., St. Paul, MN 55101.

For more information about The ConcordReview visit their web-site at www.tcr.org.

Teacher Celebrates, and Makes, HistoryBy Joe Nathan

History is much more

than memorizing names

and dates. It’s really the

story of people, often

very much like us.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★★ ★ ★ ★ ★

W

Wasting Education Dollars:(Continued from cover)

Boys are twice as likely to be enrolledin special education programs.

Boys are four times more likely than girls tobe diagnosed with disabilities such as dyslexia,autism, and stuttering.

Boys are more likely to experience aca-demic or behavioral problems.

Boys are more likely to repeat a grade. Theyare more likely to be suspended or to beinvolved with crime, drugs, and alcohol. Boysare more likely than girls to report violent vic-timization at school.

A Diversion of Vital Resources

An unwarranted focus on the purportedproblem of gender inequity diverts funds andattention from the real and critical problems inAmerica’s educational system, such as strikingdisparities in academic performance amongdifferent racial and economic groups and anoverall decline in student educational achieve-ment. It is time to reform the federal educationsystem to focus on the most critical problemsin American education.

Conclusion

The focus should be on what can be done toimprove the educational performance of all stu-dents. This is the intent of President George W.Bush’s No Child Left Behind education reformplan, which seeks to focus the ESEA on keynational priorities, including programs thateffectively boost the academic performance ofeconomically disadvantaged children.

In line with the President’s recommenda-tions, Congress should seek to consolidatefunds previously designated for duplicative,ineffective, and unnecessary programs (includ-ing the Women’s Educational Equity Act) andchannel these resources to several broadlydefined, flexible funding streams. This consoli-dation would provide greater flexibility anddecision-making at the local level, which wouldhelp to ensure that funds—previously directedto 61 separate ESEA programs—are used mosteffectively and where they are most needed.

It is time to stop scattering funds among aplethora of programs, many of which areduplicative, irrelevant, and wasteful, and tochannel our education resources where theywill be most effective. The real achievementgap is not between genders but between whatAmerican students have learned and what theyneed to know to have the prospect of a suc-cessful and fulfilling future.

—Krista Kafer is a Senior Policy Analyst forEducation at The Heritage Foundation. Kristaresearches and writes on all aspects of educationpolicy, including school choice, standardized test-ing, and character education.

For additional articles authored by KristaKafer, visit www.heritage.org.

New American Patriotism Program Introduced

K12, Inc., and William J. Bennett, the for-mer U.S. Secretary of Education, unveiled the“American Patriotism Program,” which fea-tures Internet-based education lessons aboutthe history and founding principles of theUnited States of America, and is being madeavailable worldwide at no cost.

Bennett, chairman of K12, said, “We mustteach the next generation why the United Statesis worth defending, and we can use computertechnology to do exactly that. Our FoundingFathers taught us that we defend our nationwhen we love and cherish her, and that wefully love and cherish her only when we under-stand her. That’s what these lessons are about.”

The American Patriotism Program isdesigned for children of all ages and featuresmulti-layered lessons, colorful online story-books, maps, art activities, and sing-alongs.The lessons are delivered through K12’s web-site (www.K12.com). Each lesson comes fromK12’s history curriculum, which includes sev-eral hundred more lessons on America andother subjects in kindergarten, first, and sec-ond grades.

K12’s patriotism lessons can be accessed, at nocharge, by logging on to www.K12.com or calling1-888-968-7512.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Gary BecknerManaging Editor

Pieterke BecknerAssociate Editor

Diane MeyerEditorial Assistant

Kelley AutryResearch

Ron LawNewsletter Design & Layout

★★ Advisory Board ★★

Leta Rains Andrews • Tracey BaileyPatricia Ann Baltz • Gene Bedley

Polly Broussard • Eric BuehrerDr. Kevin Ryan • Guy Rice Doud

Thomas A. Fleming • Valerie Anderson HillDr. Lewis Hodge • Dr. William Kilpatrick

EducationMatters is published by the Association of American Educators. For moreinformation, contact AAE, 25201 Paseo deAlicia, Suite 104, Laguna Hills, CA 92653

(949) 595-7979 (800) 704-7799

Fax (949) 595-7970

E-mail: info@aaeteachers.orgWebsite: aaeteachers.org

©2002 by Association of American Educators

December 2001, ParadigmAccelerated Curriculum, Inc.(PAC) demonstrated for the pub-

lic a ninth-grade Integrated Physics andChemistry course in an audio-optical for-mat by which students see and hear thetextbook on a computer screen. Thedemonstration took place at a new charterschool in Dublin, Texas.

The new course was designed by RonaldE. Johnson, Ph.D. and PAC staff member toaddress the needs of ninth-grade studentswho have limited visual or auditory abilitiesor who need to learn on an individual pro-gram. The “Talking Textbooks” are a combi-nation of PAC courses and the Kurzweil3000™ software (a product of KurzweilEducational Systems, Inc.), which allowsstudents to adjust the reading speed, typesize, and the volume as preferred.

The Kurzweil 3000™ software translatesand defines unfamiliar words into audibleand visible Spanish, French, Italian, German,and Dutch languages, enabling application

of PAC courses for students for whomEnglish is a second language (ESL). Previewselicited such responses as “wonderful,” “Thisis the ultimate ESL tool,” and “This productis years ahead of anything I have seen.”

Dr. Johnson said, “The new “TalkingTextbooks” demonstrate the intent of TexasLegislature to empower charters and entre-preneurs to introduce innovative ways toaddress educational needs.” Dr. Johnson’sreputation as an educational entrepreneurcaught the attention of an Indiana business-man who provided a generous grant toallow Dr. Johnson to research, design, andproduce individualized courses and “Dr.Johnson’s Talking Textbooks.”

The innovative “Talking Textbooks” pres-ent IPC in an engaging manner that avoidsuse of complicated algebraic formulas. Eachof the 180 daily lessons presents back-ground information on scientists who dis-covered components of the periodic elementchart, and ties the original discoveries tomodern technology, physics, and chemistry.

Johnson designed the IPC course in printformat to help address the critical nationalteacher shortage in high school scienceclassrooms. Application of the Kurzweil3000™ software enabled him to producetalking textbooks that fit comfortably intoschools or institutions where students mustcomplete prescribed ninth grade courses forgraduation. Other “talking” courses soon tobe unveiled will include U.S. History, BasicScience, and English Language Skills.

The ninth grade IPC “Talking Textbooks”are scheduled for release this February intime to help students who failed the firstsemester in conventional classrooms.

For more information about the ParadigmAccelerated Curriculum, call 254-445-4272 orvisit www.pacworks.com. Inquiries aboutKurzweil Educational Systems, Inc. may beaddressed to David Bradburn at 781-203-5018or visit www.kurzweiledu.com.

atricia Fischer,an AAE memberand an officer

and board member ofour Oklahoma stateaffiliate (Association ofProfessional OklahomaEducators), was selectedby the U.S. Departmentof Education to serve ona top level committee.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of Elementary andSecondary Education Susan B. Neumanannounced that Patricia will serve as one ofthe 21 members of the negotiating committeethat will help develop new rules related tostandards and assessments under Title I (PartA) of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.

Comprised of education practitioners,including state and local education admin-istrators, teachers, school board members

and also parents, the committee assembledin Washington, D.C. in mid-March to nego-tiate the substance of draft regulations.

Title I is designed to help disadvantagedchildren meet high academic standards.The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001,signed into law on January 8, 2002, amend-ed the Elementary and Secondary EducationAct of 1965 and provides support for feder-al education programs including Title I pro-grams operated by school districts.

The U.S. Department of Education (ED)asked for advice and recommendations onTitle I regulatory issues from state and localeducation administrators, parents, teachers,paraprofessionals, school board membersand others, in a Jan. 18 Federal Registernotice. The law requires that ED select par-ticipants from among those who submittedcomments, a total of more than 100 organi-zations (including the AAE).

Patricia has been teaching since 1979and also serves as the Director of MigrantEducation/Title I for the Hooker PublicSchool System in Hooker, Oklahoma. In1999, she was appointed by GovernorFrank Keating as Commissioner forOklahoma Commission for TeacherPreparation.

“I am eager and willing to serve on thiscommittee and consider it an honor and agreat opportunity to offer a classroomteacher’s perspective,” says Patricia. Sheadds, “Every child is entitled to the samequality education and standard of highexpectations. Therefore, we need to over-look race or status. If they are in our class-room, then we must educate them. Andwe must stop looking for excuses.”

Congratulations, Patricia! We’re proudof you and pleased that you’re our repre-sentative.

“Talking Textbooks” Introduced

In

AAE Member Receives Special Appointment!

P

Patsy Fischer