1.   Immigration and Education
2.   Parental Rights and the US Supreme Court
3.   Small classes aren't a cure-all
4.   Concerns about testing.
5.   Article: Free to Choose, and Learn
6.   Editorial: Studies, Studies, Studies – Do they really matter?

Immigration and Education

On May 22, 2007, CNN's American Morning show aired a piece called, “Immigration Bill: could it Force Jobs Overseas?” Kiran Chetry interviewed Robert Hoffman, the vice president of Oracle Technologies. The immigration bill changes how highly skilled workers get visas. Currently, companies sponsor workers based on the companies work needs. This would be changed to a point-based system where immigrants would be judged by their job skills. According to Hoffman, this would limit the pool of employees they can pick from to satisfy their particular needs.

Hoffman likens this situation to baseball. Baseball has no restrictions whatsoever on recruitment from all over the world. What if the same restrictions placed on a company's ability to recruit the highly skilled people they need were place on baseball recruitment? Hoffman also states that we have an innovation economy that needs highly skilled workers which have Masters and PhDs in math and science. Hoffman claims they need to be able to pick the types of workers they need when they need them.

Whatever your opinion on the immigration issue there was a comment at the end of the interview that bears closer scrutiny. When Chetry asked about training for those in our country already unemployed, Hoffman replied:

“...we have a specific skill set that we're trying to look for, and it's becoming increasingly hard as these immigration restrictions clamp down on our ability to recruit and retain workers.

“We are certainly also very interested in trying to raise the bar and increase the number of U.S.-born individuals pursuing math and science. That is a long-term challenge for all of our companies. And we invest literally billions in educational institutional institutions from kindergarten, all the way up through college.”

Some questions to consider. Why is it, considering that we spend a lot of money on education, that we don't currently have the highly skilled workers in math and science that we need? Will money or immigration really solve this problem? We need an educational system that is flexible so that an innovation economy can thrive.

You can read the transcript of this show here. The interview with Hoffman is about 1/3 down the page.

Parental Rights and the US Supreme Court

The US Supreme Court handed down a decision on May 21, 2007, called Winkelman v. Parma City School District. It concerned an autistic child, a school district, and parents that were very active in advocating for their child. When the parents disagreed with the school on the course of action for their child, they used the full force of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA or ACT) to advocate for what their child needed.

Parents can be actively involved in the creation of an Individualized Education Plan (IEP). If problems arise that can't be settled, provisions within IDEA allow for an administrative proceeding called an impartial due process hearing in which the parents can participate. If the parents are still dissatisfied, they can appeal to a court of law.  The question the Supreme Court had to answer was can a parent proceed pro se in a court of law under IDEA? Can they, as a non-lawyer in a court room, represent their child's needs concerning issues surrounding IDEA?

The Winkelman's “...primary theory was that the IDEA makes parents real parties in interest to IDEA actions, not “mer[e] guardians of their children’s rights.” The school district maintains the “...text of IDEA to mean that any redressable rights under IDEA belong only to children...” The goal posts were thus set.

The court decided with the parents. Yes, they could proceed pro se under IDEA. Justices Scalia and Thomas dissented in part. They agreed that parents could proceed pro se under IDEA but not  concerning a determination whether their child's public education is substantively inadequate.

This case goes to the heart of parental rights. Many parents can't afford to hire lawyers to take on the education establishment. This decision will allow parents to take on the education establishment and continue any process they start under IDEA, in which they claimed that their child was not getting a free appropriate public education as describe by the child's IEP. 

March 31, 2007

[snip]

"There is still no evidence that the multibillion-dollar investment in small primary classes has made more than an incremental difference in achievement. Well-intentioned and popular as it has been, the class-size reduction program represents another restriction on schools that need to be more creative, not less."

[snip]

"The state's necessary and rightful role in education is to set standards, shape the curriculum, monitor progress and hold schools responsible for performance. If state officials spent less time monitoring the minutiae of the Education Code and more time ensuring that the schools prepare students well, California would be better off."

Read the whole article here. 

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is about raising standards and testing is used to see if kids are meeting these standards. Is it working? Are states really raising the educational expectations for progress or are states lowering the standards to get better test scores? The debate over testing has been around a long time. Tests are just tools that can be used to measure the progress of a child or a school.

Vermont is working with two tests. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and the new New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP). There upwards of 20% more Vermont children that are labeled as achieving the standards on the NECAP than on the NAEP. The way in which tests are given makes comparing them difficult. The NAEP is a sampling of students while the NECAP is given to all student in a particular grade.

This is a must see link if you want to explore the actual questions that are on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and see some responses. Look at the 8th grade reading level and check out the questions for a poem called “Fish” by Elizabeth Bishop.  You can also print it to a file along with additional info as to how kids dealt with these questions. 

For further reading on testing and NCLB:

*** States get creative in minimizing law's impact
By LEDYARD KING, Gannett News Service
Originally published June 7, 2007

WASHINGTON - The federal No Child Left Behind law requires that all public school students make "adequate yearly progress" toward mastering math and reading by 2014. But each state defines such progress according to its own rules.

*** State tests less demanding than national exam, report says
By LEDYARD KING, Gannett News Service
Originally published June 7, 2007

WASHINGTON -The definition of student proficiency in math and reading varies widely from state to state, and very few states demand as much of students as the federal government does, a new U.S. Department of Education report shows. 

“New research shows that parental choice raises standards—including for those who stay in public schools“ 

Read the whole article here.

Studies, Studies, Studies – Do they really matter?

Vermont just went through a process at the legislature that relied heavily on “studies” to support the prekindergarten legislation. For 10 years supporters claimed that the studies provided overwhelming evidence that prekindergarten programs will help ALL children to succeed. They claim that preK will reduce crime and raise test scores as was stated by Sen. Condos on the Senate floor during the debate on the Prekindergarten bill, H.534.

OK, fine. Let's just say that this is the case. Put all opposition to prekindergarten and the “studies” aside for a moment. Will the same people stand up and say the same types of things when they are presented with studies and evidence that will overwhelmingly show that giving parents more educational options and vouchers are good for the education of the same kids? Evidence that shows that empowering parents to choose from real options will increase the likelihood that more kids will graduate, or are less likely to repeat a grade, or score better on tests, and are more likely to take college entrance exams? Educational options that include more than a government supplied school?

Where will the voices be then to improve the educational quality for ALL kids?

There is a worldwide phenomenon going on. Columbia, Sweden, and several American States are showing, through the evidence, that kids do better when the can decide who gets the money to educate them. When the family has the ability to makes these types of educational choices the education is taken more seriously by the kids, the parents, and the schools they attend. Utah is about to embark on a true state wide voucher system, if the union does not get it stopped in the courts (story here). The Washington D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program has been working for two years and parents are pleased with the results (story here). 

The evidence is mounting. Will the tables be turned? Will the Legislature do the “right thing” and not the “political thing” when the time comes to give parents more access to real options in education? 

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The VERMONT EDUCATION REPORT is published by Vermonters for Better Education PO Box 255, Woodbury, VT 05681 - 802-472-5491. The Vermont Education Report may be reprinted with the editor's permission. For more information contact: VBE@comcast.net or visit us on the web: http://www.schoolreport.com

VERMONTERS FOR BETTER EDUCATION 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.

Retta Dunlap, executive director
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