________________________________________  THE VERMONT EDUCATION REPORT June 14, 2004 Vol. 4, No. 24 ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯  Covering education news in Vermont and beyond... Informative, provocative, unique... Published by Vermonters for Better Education  VBE is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization whose mission is to enlist parents and the public at large in achieving quality educational opportunities for all the children of Vermont by monitoring the state of education in Vermont; promoting the value of educational freedoms for all parents; and giving parents the evaluative tools with which to identify excellence. Libby Sternberg, executive director: VTBetterEd@aol.com NEWS & ANALYSIS... A TEACHABLE MOMENT: RONALD REAGAN The passing of former President Ronald W. Reagan last week brought to the surface several stories about how Reagan has been discussed in Vermont schools. The editor of this newsletter, for example, was surprised to discover from her own children that all they remember hearing of Reagan in school was that he started the conservative movement and added to the deficit. Another parent has complained to VBE that his children were being told Reagan paid the Iranians with taxpayer-financed weapons to hold the Iran-hostages until he was elected president. And the New York Times ran the following story about how Reagan's election was greeted in one Vermont private school years ago: A COLD MORNING IN VERMONT June 13, 2004 By JOHN TIERNEY IGNAT SOLZHENITSYN understands why so many people have warm thoughts of Ronald Reagan, but one of his earliest memories is on the frigid side. In 1980, Ignat was an 8-year-old transplanted to Vermont by his father, the famous chronicler of Siberia's gulags. As Ignat tells the story, on the morning after the presidential election he got a taste of American political re-education at the progressive private school he and his brothers attended. In response to the Reagan victory, the school's flag was lowered to half-staff, and the morning assembly was devoted to what today would be called grief counseling. The headmaster mourned "what America would become once the dark night of fascism descended under the B-movie actor," recalled Mr. Solzhenitsyn, who is now the music director of the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. "At one point he interrupted himself to inquire if anyone present did not share his gloomy view of the Reagan victory." The only students to raise their hands were Ignat and his two brothers, Yermolai and Stephan. After a stony silence, he recalled, they were sent outside, without their coats, to meditate on the error of their ways underneath the lowered flag. Vermont in November was hardly Siberia, but there was frost on the ground, and they spent an hour shivering and exercising to stay warm. Still, Ignat said, their political exile was a relief from sitting in the auditorium listening to the party line. * * * The good news is that the media coverage during the week of Reagan's memorials should help students learn to question authority more - the authority of teachers, that is, who did not inform students of Reagan's triumph in the Cold War, his famous "Evil Empire" and "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall" speeches and the fact that he was elected in 1984 with the support of 49 of the 50 states, and was one of the most popular presidents upon leaving office. For those looking for material to aid in the "teachable moment" Reagan's passing presents to teachers and students, below is an excerpt from a recent interview with a former Soviet dissident, Natan Sharansky, who spent years in a Silberian gulag before being allowed to move to Israel: TOM ROSE: Were there any particular Reagan moments that you can recall being sources of strength or encouragement to you and your colleagues? SHARANSKY: I have to laugh. People who take freedom for granted, Ronald Reagan for granted, always ask such questions. Of course! It was the great brilliant moment when we learned that Ronald Reagan had proclaimed the Soviet Union an Evil Empire before the entire world. There was a long list of all the Western leaders who had lined up to condemn the evil Reagan for daring to call the great Soviet Union an evil empire right next to the front-page story about this dangerous, terrible man who wanted to take the world back to the dark days of the Cold War. This was the moment. It was the brightest, most glorious day. Finally a spade had been called a spade. Finally, Orwell's Newspeak was dead. President Reagan had from that moment made it impossible for anyone in the West to continue closing their eyes to the real nature of the Soviet Union. It was one of the most important, freedom-affirming declarations, and we all instantly knew it. For us, that was the moment that really marked the end for them, and the beginning for us. The lie had been exposed and could never, ever be untold now. This was the end of Lenin's "Great October Bolshevik Revolution" and the beginning of a new revolution, a freedom revolution--Reagan's Revolution. We were all in and out of punishment cells so often--me more than most--that we developed our own tapping language to communicate with each other between the walls. A secret code. We had to develop new communication methods to pass on this great, impossible news. We even used the toilets to tap on.  VAST MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING SIGNED During the legislative session, supporters of a program (called VAST) that allows high school seniors to spend their senior year in college had no luck in convincing the legislature to expand the program. Opposition to VAST comes primarily from school superintendents fearful of losing the small amount of money associated with these students if they should attend another school. In other words, it's the same old anti-choice crowd trying to make sure their pool of money doesn't shrink, no matter how valuable the VAST program might be. On April 30, 2004, the commissioner of education, Richard H. Cate, signed a memorandum of understanding with the chancellor of Vermont State Colleges, Richard Clarke, that allows the program to continue at least for another year at three locations. The memorandum is in effect until June 30 of 2005, and the VAST sites during the 2004-05 school year will include: VTC Randolph, VTC Blair Park (Williston) and Castleton State College. Enrollments are limited to 30 students at VTC Randolph, 12 Blair Park and 12 Castleton.  *   *   * ELSEWHERE  FROM THE EDUCATION INTELLIGENCE AGENCY "EIA COMMUNIQUE" On the Web at: http://www.www.eiaonline.com NEA FRONT GROUP AIRS ADS IN FOUR STATES Communities for Quality Education (CQE), the new political advocacy organization created by the National Education Association, initiated its first national operation recently by broadcasting television ads against the No Child Left Behind Act in four battleground states. The ads were aired in Florida, Nevada, Arizona and Ohio. Pennsylvania is scheduled to see CQE ads soon. The Associated Press reported that CQE claims the ads aren't meant to be political. "That's not what it's about," said CQE spokesman Damien Filer. "It's about taking something that's broken and trying to fix it." CQE's continuing efforts to bury its union roots extend to the ads themselves. The organization's press release begins "Teachers across the United States are speaking out in a new advertising campaign to call for reform of the Bush 'No Child Left Behind' law." The ads feature six different teachers from the four states targeted in the campaign. But while they are all identified in the ad as public school teachers, CQE doesn't mention that some of them hold other positions equally relevant to their appearance in the ads. Rosemary Rosas-Delich, a sixth-grade teacher featured in the ad airing in Tucson, also happens to be a member of the executive committee of the Sunnyside Education Association, an NEA local affiliate. Susan Thomas, featured in the Phoenix ad, is identified simply as "public school teacher," but in fact she divides her working hours. Ms. Thomas spends half her time working exclusively as president of the Chandler Education Association, another NEA local affiliate in Arizona. Sixth-grade teacher Nanci DiBianca is featured in the Cleveland ad. She doubles as the president of the Cuyahoga Heights Association of Teachers, an NEA local affiliate in Ohio, and was recently named president-elect of the Northeast Ohio Education Association (NEOEA), one of nine regional affiliates of the Ohio Education Association. NEOEA oversees 34,000 teacher union members in 194 locals. * * * MEMORIAL DAY: YOU CAN'T REMEMBER WHAT YOU NEVER KNEW If Jay Mathews of the Washington Post had deliberately set out to make me angry and sad, he could not have done a better job than by leading his column with these two paragraphs: "Tiffany Charles got a B in history last year at her Montgomery County high school, but she is not sure what year World War II ended. She cannot name a single general or battle, or the man who was president during the most dramatic hours of the 20th century. "Yet the 16-year-old does remember in some detail that many Japanese American families on the West Coast were sent to internment camps. 'We talked a lot about those concentration camps,' she said." Yes, the internment camps are an important part of our history and should be taught and studied in high school. Yes, dates and details can be overemphasized in history. But without Midway, Anzio, Normandy and Iwo Jima, and the men who fought there, a lot more people all over the world would have ended up in internment camps, or worse.  *   *   * FROM THE NEW DEMOCRATS' PROGRESSIVE POLICY INSTITUTE (http://www.ppionline.org) DEBUNKING MYTHS ABOUT NCLB Editorial by NCTQ President, Kate Walsh There's a lot of misinformation out there about No Child Left Behind, from a variety of sources. Some of this distortion is caused by lax reporting, while more is spread by groups and individuals with an interest in undermining the law. But No Child Left Behind is a large, complicated law addressing a broad range of issues, so it's not surprising it is taking a while for people to figure out what the law really says. This is particularly the case since the administration by and large has run more of a PR campaign about the law than a sustained effort to help states and school districts understand the law's requirements and build capacity to meet them. In the past week, however, a variety of reports, articles, and outreach efforts have appeared to help dispel some of the predominant presumptions about the law. Two new reports dispel negative myths about NCLB's requirements and efficacy. First, a General Accounting Office report on unfunded mandates concludes that NCLB isn't one. Second, a report from the Citizens Commission on Civil Rights looks at the impact of NCLB's public school choice provisions. CCCR concludes that, contrary to some media accounts, public school choice under NCLB isn't the fiasco opponents claim, but rather is more widely used than previously reported, and having positive results. Paul Kimmelman and E.D. Hirsch counter, using two different but both compelling arguments, the common notion that meeting NCLB's goals in reading and math will require districts to cut other subjects out of the curriculum. A RAND piece also seeks to help dispel some NCLB myths by providing information on how to help journalists and foundations better understand and make use of test data generated by the law. Judging from a recent Christian Science Monitor article, parents could also use some help accessing and making sense of accountability data. Despite provisions intended to increase transparency and strengthen parental involvement, many schools and districts still resist providing parents with the information they deserve on their children's schools. The Washington Post's Karin Chenoweth, however, does provide an excellent explanation of NCLB's highly qualified teacher provisions, along with guidance to help parents think about how to respond if their child's teacher isn't one. Of course, all this dispelling doesn't mean there aren't ample counter-efforts to spread misinformation and distrust about NCLB: an NEA front group recently announced they will air ads attacking the No Child Left Behind Act in five key swing states in the upcoming presidential election. Further Reading: "Low Standards," Eduwonk, (06/04/04): http://www.eduwonk.com/archives/2004_05_30_archive.html#108630461078408257 "Unfunded Mandates: Analysis of Reform Act Coverage," General Accounting Office, GAO-04-637, (May 2004): http://www.gao.gov "Education Law Deemed No Mandate," George Archibald, The Washington Times, (06/01/04): http://www.washtimes.com/national/20040601-122115-1993r.htm "What's the Deal on NCLB Funding?" Eduwonk, (05/27/04): http://www.eduwonk.com/archives/2004_05_23_archive.html#108542539822088283 "Choosing Better Schools," Citizens Commission on Civil Rights, (May 2004): http://www.cccr.org/ChoosingBetterSchools.pdf "When More Isn't Better," Paul Kimmelman, Progressive Policy Institute, (05/17/04): http://www.ppionline.org/ppi_ci.cfm?knlgAreaID=110&subsecid=136&contentid=252643 "No Child Left Behind: How to Ace Those Tests," E.D. Hirsch, Hoover Institution Weekly Essays, (05/12/04): http://www-hoover.stanford.edu/pubaffairs/we/2004/hirsch05.html "External Audiences for Test-Based Accountability," Laura Hamilton, Brian Stecher, RAND, (March 2004): http://www.rand.org/publications/OP/OP111/OP111.pdf "We Are the Parents. Is Anyone Listening?" Teresa Mendez, The Christian Science Monitor, (06/01/04): http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0601/p11s02-legn.html "The ABC's of Highly-Qualified Teachers," Karin Chenoweth, The Washington Post, (05/27/04): http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58118-2004May26.html *   *   * FROM THE TEACHER QUALITY BULLETIN (http://www.nctq.org) TEACHER PREP: STUDY FINDS TEACH FOR AMERICA TEACHERS AS GOOD IN READING AND BETTER IN MATH Editorial by NCTQ President, Kate Walsh In 1989, a senior at Princeton University by the name of Wendy Kopp laid out a vision in her senior thesis that would lead to the creation of a national service program called Teach For America. The goal of the new program was to combat the startling inequities that plague our nation's most impoverished schools by recruiting the best and brightest recent college graduates into teaching. In its fifteen years of existence, more than 10,000 ambitious men and women, most with no formal teacher training apart from a five-week summer training program, have committed to teach for at least two years in rural and urban communities. To date, these young teachers have impacted the lives of an estimated 1.5 million children. As the program has grown to now serve 22 sites across the country, so has it popularity and competitiveness. Last year, TFA received 16,000 applications for 1,500 spots making it statistically more difficult to get into than Harvard Law School. TFA is now the nation's leading supplier of new teachers, an astounding accomplishment for an organization that has faced such stiff resistance from many quarters. But as TFA has grown, one critical question has remained unanswered - do the students assigned to a TFA teacher benefit academically? Advocates for traditional certification, which only allows individuals to teach who have gone through a school of education, have maintained that TFA, while well meaning, is horribly misguided idea that hurts the children it is trying to help. Until this week, there was little quality empirical evidence that helped to settle this debate. A study released yesterday by Mathematica, a policy research organization based in Princeton sheds new and important light on this essential question. The sophisticated study compares the performance of students of TFA teachers to the performance of students of teachers in the same schools and at the same grades. To ensure the results were not skewed by an unequal distribution of students, researchers randomly assigned students to the different classrooms before the school year began. The results are clear. Across the board, Teach For America teachers do as well as or better than any other teachers in their schools, including both the ones that have been teaching for many years and the ones who are fully certified. The effect is particularly pronounced in mathematics where students of TFA teachers made ten percent more progress in a year than students of non-TFA teachers. The fairest "apple to apple" comparison found that new TFA teachers stacked up quite well to other new teachers in the building, so much so that the impact was about the same as if the school had reduced the class size from 23 to 15 students but a whole lot less expensive. Of the 12 different ways that the researchers crunched the numbers, only on one measure did TFA perform less well and that was for a subgroup of TFA teachers: not surprisingly, first year TFA teachers did not get the results of certified, experienced teachers. These findings are certain to serve as a significant dose of fuel on an already heated debate about who should be allowed to teach in our nation's schools. Few would disagree with the notion that we need smart, motivated teachers who know the content they teach and have the teaching skills to discipline, motivate, and educate a classroom of students. But while our schools of higher education regularly produce well-educated people with a strong understanding of a certain content area, just what essential teaching skills are needed and how to teach them most effectively and efficiently has remained unanswered. Unfortunately, research over the past 50 years, including this most recent empirical effort, has yet to demonstrate teachers who took education coursework in college are any more effective at raising student learning than teachers who did not. Of the teachers surveyed in the Mathematica study, less than three percent of TFA teachers have a Bachelor's degree in education compared to 55 percent of non-TFA teachers. And yet, by all indications, TFA teachers are performing as well and usually better than the other teachers in their buildings. Does this mean that teaching skills don't matter? Hardly; but it does raise some obvious questions about how teachers can acquire these skills and what states ought to be forming as policy. And while this debate will inevitably continue, the results of the Mathematica study leave us with three clear lessons. First, Teach For America works. Second, there is no basis for districts to resist programs like Teach For America or see themselves as being forced into it only because of teacher shortages. While schools of education will always have a place in the training of teachers, they have for too long failed to attract and produce both the quality and quantity (particularly in subject areas like math and science where shortages are most prevalent) of candidates to retain their distinction as the sole provider of teachers. Unfortunately, there is third lesson revealed in this study. The harsh truth is that while students of TFA teachers are outperforming students of non-TFA teachers, both groups of students still languished at depressingly low levels of achievement. While any serious attempt to narrow the achievement gaps will take years of sustained effort that cannot possibly be revealed in a single year's growth (the limit of this study), the ongoing low performance of the children in this study is a depressing reminder of the work before us. No matter what we are likely to do or say, or even if they get a few great teachers along the way, many of these young students in the Mathematica study will never graduate from high school and those that do will still be many years behind their more privileged peers. As Wendy Kopp recognized fifteen year ago, by continuing to ignore the myriad forces that are keeping good teachers out of the toughest schools and chasing away those that take on the challenge, we are robbing many of our children of one of the few resources from which they can learn the skills and knowledge they will need to compete in an increasingly competitive global marketplace. Doing so is bad for our economy, our democracy, and the countless young men and women who strive to be part of both. "The Effects of Teach For America on Students: Findings from a National Evaluation" Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., May 27, 2004 http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/publications/PDFs/teach.pdf "Program helps math education, study shows" The Advocate, May 9, 2004 http://2theadvocate.com/stories/060904/new_math001.shtml *   *   * SUMMER SCHEDULE The Vermont Education Report will not be appearing in your email box next Monday because we are on a summer schedule - publishing every other week. The next time you'll see the VER is Monday night, June 28 unless breaking news occurs! Please feel free to email us with information or news, however - VTBetterEd@aol.com.  *   *   * The VERMONT EDUCATION REPORT is published by Vermonters for Better Education 170 Church Street, Rutland, VT 05701, 802.773.5240 Contact VTBetterEd@aol.com for more information.   Subscribe Here SubscribeRemove

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