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323152413
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Education Reform 4/13/89 [OA 6263] [2]
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323152413
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Education Reform 4/13/89 [OA 6263] [2]
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13664-001
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Records of the White House Office of Speechwriting (George H. W. Bush Administration)
Speech Backup Chronological Files
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Originally Processed With FOIA(s):
FOIA Number:
S
S
FOIA
MARKER
This is not a textual record. This is used as an
administrative marker by the George Bush Presidential
Library Staff.
Record Group/Collection:
George H.W. Bush Presidential Records
Collection/Office of Origin:
Speechwriting, White House Office of
Series:
Speech File Backup Files
Subseries:
Chron File, 1989-1993
OA/ID Number:
13664
Folder ID Number:
13664-001
Folder Title:
Education Reform 4/13/89 [OA 6363] [2]
Stack:
Row:
Section:
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G
26
18
7
5
RGV BY:, ERCX TELECOPIER 7011 ; 4-10-89 12:43PM ;
20126158614
4566218;# 1
APR 10 '89 13:38
PARAMUS Bd of Ed
133 P01
Paramus Public Schools
Photocopy-Preservation
FAX 201-261-5861
TO:
STEPHANIE BLESSEY, WHITE HOUSE
FAX:
456-6218
FROM:
HARRY A. GALINSKY, ED.D., PARAMUS, N.J.
NUMBER OF PAGES:
TOTAL 7
10
DATE:
APRIL A. 1989
COMMENTS:
Enclosed please find:
1. A letter from a parent (Mrs. Singer)
concerning our Transitional High School
Drop-out Prevention Program.
2. An article on "Books and Beyond" with
our brochure (2 sides).
3. An article (2 pages) on our Family Science
Program.
Office of the Superintendent
Spring Valley Road
Paramus, N. J. 07652
(201) 261-7800
THE
do parents feel about the program?
Welcome to
cel the greatest change 'Books and Beyon.¹
brought about for my children is their
the Wonderful World
nging of priority. Both were readers in the
t. but neither had ever thought much about why
y read .... why they watched TV They never
of
lized before that reading fits all their moods.
ther : not they are excited. restless. needing
APR 10 '89 13:40
panionship. Sared, trying 10 relax, etc. We
e "Broks and Beyond'!"
Photocopy-Preservation
ave found that my son is reading more books on
16
reater variety of subjects
S program enhances the interest of my child
and does increase the number of books ne has
d. This should be insued and made into an
PARAMUS Ed
TELECOPIER 7011 .4-10-89 12:46PM
ual program."
is an excellent idea to promote good,
sistent reading habits."
PARENTS
can I learn more about the program?
AS
BOOKSOND
CONTACT
PARTNERS
onal Diffusion Network
Stony Lane School
2012
na Beach School District
E. Ridgewood Avenue
N. Rios
Paramus, NJ 07652
na Beach, CA 92075.
ATT: Joan Joern,
Librarian
(201) 445-1903
mus School District
Spring Valley Road
mus, NJ 07652
copies of sample letters, directions, updates,
other information, send a self-addressed 8½"
?aramus Board of Education
Paramus Public Schools
Dr. Harry Galinsky, Superintendent
" mailing envelope to Joan Joern, c/o Stony
School. Postage needed is $.85.
145 Spring Valley
Paramus, NJ 07652
Paramus, New Jersey
T is Books and Beyond?
How do parents help at school?
WHAT happened?
modification of the National Diffusion Network
By volunteering 10:
Students were motivated to increase their
Program to:
recreational reading.
Monitor completion of tally sheets and other
ncourage students to read more and watch
Students were encouraged to become more
record sheets.
elevision less.
service in their television viewing.
Assist in class chart-mall.ng.
roduce short- and long-term behavioral changes-
Teachers reported a visible increase in student
Move the markers on the large hall chart.
n students' recreational/leisure reading
reading and enthusiasm for reading.
Mark and date class charts.
abits.
There was less discussion among students about
Acquire and prepare awards.
rovide for individual pacing and differences
mediocre television shows and more indepth
Assist in award giving.
discussion about quality shows.
10 '89 13:40
S well as self-motivation.
Solicit local merchants for additional awards.
Children indicated that they spent less time
watching television.
.A first grade teacher revealed that her students
RE does this program operate?
WHAT are the advantages of the program?
progressed through the formal reading program
Stony Lane School, grades 1-4.
faster and more successfully than in previous
Non-readers begin reading enthusiastically.
years.
First graders stretch their attention span from
In periodic newsletters to parents, the media
picture books to books with chapters.
specialist indicated:
else is involved?
Most students read more diverse subjects.
10 PA
Students recommend books to friends.
Date
# of
8 of
Jof
cincipal supports program and facilitates
Average Reading
Students become more discriminating TV viewers.
Students
Minutes
Hours
Time Per Child
Lanning and resources.
Students become more aware of how to spend free
Particip.
Logged
ibrarian supervises, plans, promotes,
Logged
time.
repares, trains.
Parents become more involved in their children's
March
7
175
90,300
1505
lassroom teachers encourage students, act
8+ hours
overall learning experience.
March 21
224
173,400
2890
13+ hours
S role models, sign tally sheets.
April 29 245
arents act as "partners" in school.
318,600
4780
19+ hours
arents act as "partners" at home.
HOW much does the program cost?
Because of the success of the program, increasing
leisure reading became a district-wide goal.
Approximately $2 to $2.50 per student.
do parents help at home?
The breakdown is as follows:
y helping their children complete
Printing: 25 reams of paper + Xerox costs = $425
READ
elevision time sheets.
Materials: $100 (tagboard, markers, etc.)
/ completing a parent survey.
Other:
Prizes - $450
Photocopy-Preservation
/ monitoring and signing their
Optional: NDN manual - $40
133 P04
hildren's reading record
based on minutes read).
Awards include pencils, badges, book covers,
y reading to their children.
pennants, folders, key rings, maps, and medals.
y listening to their children read.
The PTA provided over half the money and the
y increasing their awareness through
principal provided the rest from school funds.
ertinent articles and research findings.
WATCH!
The cost can be reduced by using homemade awards,
Y making increased efforts to take their
or by getting local merchants to provide prizes.
hildren to the public Library.
y serving as role model readers to their
hildren.
APR 10 '89 13:38
PARAMUS Bd of Ed
133 P02
(handwritten letter in light blue ink -
this is an exact copy)
Photocopy-Preservation
Peggy Singer
785 Decker Place
Paramus, NJ 07652
Dear Mr. Galinsky:
This letter 1s a commendation of several people in Paramus's
school system. My son Scott Singer was a troubled high school
student who attended the Transitional School. Mr. Piazza and
Mrs. King, in particular, showed great caring and understanding
during the time Scott attended their school. They truly are
educators and also wonderful human beings who never lost sight of
Scott as a person with potential.
Scott needed an American History course in order to obtain his high
school diploma. Mr. Zanella was instrumental in assisting Scott to
pass the history, final after some home tutoring from a tutor that we.
hired. When Scott failed the test the first time, Mr. Zanella
personally gave his own coaching to Scott to help him. It was a
great day in our lives when Scott did obtain his diploma (2 weeks ago).
Without the above mentioned professionals, it would not have happened.
I am eternally grateful to them. My thanks to all.
Best wishes,
Peggy 0. Singer
APR 12 '89 04:44
P.1/3
MEMORANDUM
TO:
Sarah DeCamp
Public Líaison
FROM: Jacquelyn Smith
Special Assistant, USDE
SUBJECT: Seating chart for luncheon
The kids here at Unicn have been fabulous. They have cleaned out all
their Lockers and carted all their stuff home with them to make it
easier on the Secret Service. A picture of the President for the ROTC
unit for their chain of command would be great. Also, a picture with
a message or perhaps afterwards with a thank you would be wonderful for
them to frame and put in their trophy case.
Speech writers should know that within the 16 superintendents, two of
them Dr. Harry Galinsky of Paramus, New Jersey, and Dr. James Wilsford
of Orangeburg, South Carolina, were both selected superintendents of
the year for their respective states. Further, Dr. Wilsford has been
selected Superintendent of the Year for the entire country. The selections
are made by their peers through the American Association of School
Administrators.
Call if you need anything else.
Gov. Kean's office just called and asked that Peter Genova, New Jersey
State Assamblyman from Union. He will also be at lunch.
President's Luncheon Seating Chart
All arrangements are subject to change depending on who the White
House sends, who Governor Kean's office sends and if we get more
corporate sponsors. At this writing, the President and Mrs. Bush,
Secretary and Mrs. Cavazos and Gov. Kean will not eat but will
mingle with the crowd and have individual pictures taken with all
nine corporate sponsors and perhaps group shots with Union and
Paramus High School groups.
Table 1
1-Dr. Carl Kuttler, President, St. Petersburg (FL) Junior College
2-Dr. James Caulfield, Superintendent of Union Township Schools
3-Dr. James Wilsford, Superintendent of the Year and Superintendent
of Orangeburg, SC
4-Samuel Fortunato, Principal of Union High School
5-Joseph Neubauer, CEO of ARA Services, Inc. (corporate sponsor)
6-William Ford, CFO of New Jersey Bell (corporate sponsor)
7-William Grobes, Union High School Student Council President
8-Regina Caulfield, Superintendent's wife
Table 2
1-Mrs. Sally Fortunato, Union High School principal's wife
2-Dr. Harry Galinsky, New Jersey Superintendent of the Year and
Superintendent of Paramus, NJ
3-Richard Zanella, New Jersey Principal of the Year and principal of
Paramus High School
4-Richard Cogan, President and CEO of Schering Plough Corp.
(corporate sponsor)
5-Vivian Bestle, Education Specialist for Hoffmann-LaRoche (corp.sp.)
6-Edgar Melanson, Superintendent of White Mountains, NH
7-Glen Carlough, President of Paramus High School Student Council
8-Mrs. Polly Galinsky, wife of Paramus Superintendent
Table 3
1-Dr. Janice Dime, Paramus Assistant Superintendent
2-Dr. James Bergera, Superintendent, Provo, UT
3-John Davis, President of Union Center National Bank (corp. sp.)
4-George Auder, Vice President, Instructional Systems, Inc. (corp.
sp.)
5-Leslie Messer, Principal's Leadership Award Winner at Paramus
6-Frederick Scott, President of Union High School Senior Class
7-Dr. Robert Henley, Superintendent of Independence, MO
8-Terrance Holmes, Superintendent of Timberlane Regional School
District, NH
P.3/3
Seating Chart, President Bush visit to Union
Table 4
1-John Barth, Director, Intergovernmental Affairs, USDE
2-Don Franco, President of The Microband Companies, Inc. (corp. sp.)
3-JoAnn Dow, Education Specialist, Public Service Electric & Gas Co.
(corp. sp.)
4-Harry Wilson, Principal, Springdale High School, AR
5-Dr. Russell Thompson, Superintendent of Columbia, MO
6-Robert Cito, Superintendent of Montrose, CO
7-Union School Board President
8-Joseph J. Cardella, Paranus School Board President
Table 5
1-Dr. Saul Cooperman, Commissioner of Education for New Jersey
2-Mrs. Paulette Cooperman
3-Everett Hawks, Principal, Central High School, Little Rock, AR
4-Tom Maes, Superintendent, Mapleton, CO
5-Dr. John Bennion, Superintendent, Salt Lake City, UT
6-Dr. Robert Smallridge, Superintendent, Oak Ridge, TN
7-Scott Hibbard, Union High School Junior Class President
8-Adam Sklar, Paramus High School Senior Class President
Table 6
1-Michelle Easton, Deputy Under Secretary, U.S. Department of
Education
2-John Klagholz, President, NJ State Board of Education
3-John Tillotson, Interim Superintendent of Spartanburg, SC
4-Anthony Russo, Mayor of Union, NJ
5-John Stolt, Associate Superintendent of Columbia, MO
6-Mrs. San Fornuato, wife of Union High School principal
7-Anthony Giacolone, Union High School Sophomore Class President
8-Kevin Ralph, Paramus High School Junior Class President
Table 7
I-Bill Phillips, Chief of Staff, Department of Education
2-Marla Ucelli, Education Director, Governor Kean's Office
3-Edward McGlynn, Chief of Staff, Governor Kean's Office
4-Bob Bergen, Director of Administration, Union School District
5-Dr. Guy Barbato, Assistant Superintendent, Union School District
6-Ethan Sklar, Paramus High School Sophomore Class President
7-David Battafarano, Paramus High School Freshman Class President
8-Dr. Milton Goldberg, U.S. Department of Education
Table 8
This will be a staff table or a table to be filled by wives of our
16 superintendents or honor students from the high schools.
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
April 10, 1989
MEMORANDUM FOR THE ADVANCE OFFICE
FROM:
BECKY ANDERSON
BA Nick Cales
desper
Legislative Affairs
SUBJECT:
The President's Trip to Union, NJ
Thursday, April 13, 1989
Following are contacts and numbers for Members of Congress who
will participate in the President's trip:
Congresswoman Marge Roukema (R-NJ)
contact: Cindy Chetti 225-4465 (office)
836-5131 (home)
Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ)
contact: Mary McDermott 225-3765 (office)
703/685-1934
Congressman Jim Courter (R-NJ)
contact: Ann Shriver 201/455-7800 (office)
201/984-6282 (home)
Congressman Matthew Rinaldo (R-NJ)
contact: Betty Blackshaw 225-5361 (office)
703/356-1123 (home)
note: Congressman Gallo and Congressman Saxton have regretted.
RCV BY:XERI TELECOFIER 7011 ; 4- 5-69 1:08PM
53802664
4566218:# 2
APR 5-89 WED 14:07
P.02
& National Westminster Bank NJ
Exchange Place Centre
Thomas J. Stanton Jr.
10 Exchange Place
Chairman
Jersey City. NJ 07302
SCI-VECH
April 4, 1989
CENTER
Mr. David F. Demarest
Assistant to President for Communications
The White House
Washington, DC 20500
Photocopy-Preservation
Dear Mr. Demarest:
In view of recent reports that the President plans to visit and deliver a
speech about education at Union High School on April 11, I am writing to suggest
that he make reference to a new education initiative, namely, a
world-class science learning center being built to serve 20 million students,
teachers, and families in the tri-state region.
It will be situated in Diberty State-Park on the Hudson River waterfront in
Jersey City, New Jersey, near the Statute of Liberty. Groundbreaking is
scheduled for this fall.
A public/private partnership, Sci-Tech Center's main objective is to help
reverse the alarming decline in the number of young Americans who are entering
the sciences and engineering. It has the overwhelming bi-partisan support of
Governor Kean, the New Jersey Legislature, and the New Jersey Congressional
Delegation.
My interest in the $46 million project is as Chairman of the Sci-Tech
Center Board of Trustees and as a representative of one of the 80 private sector
organizations which have thus far contributed $25 million in addition to a state
challenge grant of $10 million.
To provide further detail, I have enclosed a briefing paper about Sci-Tech
Center. We have also been in contact with Congressman Rinaldo's office, :- use
district includes Union High School. Thank you for your kind attention.
Sincerely,
Thomas Stanton
Chairman
gec
co:New Jersey Congressional Delegation
Ms. Chriss Winston, Head of Speechwriting
APR 5-89 WED 14:08
P.03
Development Campaign Headquarters
2399 Route 10
Morris Plains, New Jersey 07950
Sci TECH CENTER
201-898-4770
at Liberty State Park
Photocopy-Preservation
BACKGROUNDER: SCI-TECH CENTER
Sci-Tech Center will be a world-class science learning center for students,
teachers, and families located at Liberty State Park on the Hudson River
waterfront near the Statue of Liberty. It will address the alarming decline in
the number of educated and trained American scientists and engineers, which is
threatening our nation's ability to compete in the Age of Technology.
Elementary and high school students throughout New Jersey, New York and
Southern Connecticut will benefit from its outreach programs, special programs
for minorities and the disadvantaged, its career center, science library,
classrooms for science teaching, and education exhibits and demonstrations in a
170,000 square foot facility that will have a Hall of Environmental Sciences,
Hall of Technology, and Hall of Health Sciences.
This project is based on a public/private partnership which began with a
$10 million challenge by the state to the private sector. The challenge has
been the basis for a successful fund raising campaign which thus far has
attracted over $25 million from the private sector toward the $46 million goal.
Visitors will be able to tour four levels of exhibition galleries featuring
"hands-on" exhibits and demonstrations. Moving industrial robots,
trip to the bottom of the are just a few examples of the many colorful and
exciting exhibits that will fill the four floors of the Center. These displays
will not only excite Ux imagination but also provide scientific "and
technological enlightenment as well.
Sci-Tech Center will feature exciting, participatory exhibits designed to
give visitors, especially young people, a new appreciation of science and
technology. Sci-Tech Center's Chreer Center will encourage students and adults
to pursue science and technical careers and its ambitious education program. will
seek to improve science education at all levels. The Center will also actively
pursue an agenda designed to supplement science education and career
opportunities for minorities, the handicapped and women.
amphibious.
America's science/technology centers are evolving to meet our national
crisis. They are invaluable in efforts to improve science education and raise
the science literacy of our citizens. Cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston,
New Orleans and Philadelphia already benefit from such centers, but the New
Jersey-New York-Connecticut region still lacks a large facility. Sci-Tech
Center will be in the heart of this densely populated area and anticipates an
attendance of 1.5 million visitors during its first full year of operation.
stcfI 1.7
Services of Mead Data Central
PAGE
2
3RD STORY of Level 2 printed in FULL format.
Copyright (c) 1988 The Washington Post
December 30, 1966, Friday, Final Edition
SECTION: FIRST SECTION; PAGE A2; HAYNES JOHNSON
LENGTH: 732 words
HEADLINE: S&Ls and Real Money
BYLINE: HAYNES JOHNSON
BODY:
Old Ev Dirksen would have enjoyed this one. The sardonic senator was, as
you'll remember, author of the immortal quip about the workings of Washington: a
billion here, a billion there, and after a while it adds up to real
money.
You can hear him now, after picking up the morning papers, glancing at the
headlines, and exclaiming in delight:
"Congratulations, taxpayers, you've just bailed out six savings and loan
institutions-five in Texas, one in California-at a cost to you of $ 7 billion
dollars. Or was it seven for eight billion? No matter. It's getting to be
real money. #
Confusion over the figures stemmed from which paper you read. The New York
Times, in its Page 1 headline, reported:
2 Savings Bailouts
Costing $ 7 Billion
Announced by U.S.
The Washington Post, in its Page 1 headline, reported:
$ 8 Billion in S&L Rescue Set;
Crisis Feared Underestimated
The Wall Street Journal, not bothering with the total numbers, placed its
emphasis elsewhere:
Regulators Finish Group of S&L Rescues
As Buyers Take Advantage of Tax Breaks
USA Today, more breezily, was operating on the same news wavelength:
Tax breaks trigger a run to buy S&Ls
It was also difficult to determine the ultimate cost to taxpayers in cleaning
up the mess, since the latest bailout represents only a fraction of the
foundering thrift institutions that must yet be saved. By midnight, New Year's
LEXIS® ® NEXIS® ® LEXIS® ® NEXIS®
Services of Mead Data Central
PAGE
3
(c) 1988 The Washington Post, December 30, 1988
Eve, the Federal Home Loan Bank Board expects to have bailed out 200 S&Ls this
year. More than 400 insolvent institutions remain to be dealt with, either by
closing or selling them, and hundreds more are nearing insolvency.
The Times, quoting "Treasury Department and other analysts" estimates the
cleanup cost to the government betweeen $ 50 billion and $ 100 billion,
"almost guaranteeing the necessity of a giant taxpayer bailout." USA Today,
saying the remaining 400 insolvent S&Ls are adding a billion dollars a month
to the problem, quotes a General Accounting Office estimate for the total
bailout price tag at $ 112 billion. No matter. Any way you figure, it's
getting to be real money.
Three questions: How did this mess happen, who's responsible for it, and in
the end will anyone be held accountable?
The answer to the first would appear to be obvious. It's a sign of our times,
the inevitable result of a decade of speculation and greed and living on the
margin with a national let-'er-rip, credit-card mentality.
It is not coincidental that all six of the latest multibillion-dollar
bailouts were in the Sun Belt, with five in Texas.
The Arab oil embargo of 1974 dealt a crippling blow to the northern
industrial regions of New England and the Midwest but ignited a great boom in
the Southwest, and particularly in the oil-capital state of Texas. Nationally,
unemployment was rising; in the Sun Belt, it was declining. A tide of migration
flowed south and west, setting off new construction and real estate
developments. Houston alone was registering 5,000 to 6,000 arrivals a month.
New banks and S&Ls were formed. They began to invest heavily in the oil and
real estate boom of the region. Speculative fever, not unlike that of the 1920s,
gripped the region. A sense that the Sun Belt was immune to the cyclical swings
of the economy elsewhere took hold. Tomorrow was always going to be better than
today. Then the boom collapsed, sending shock waves across Texas and the Sun
Belt, and leaving the S&Ls with a legacy of bad loans.
In the last eight months alone 74 S&Ls have closed or merged in the
Southwest.
Who's responsible? Many, but ultimately the executives who authorized the
loans and made the bad speculative deals. But let's not overlook the benign
climate of state and federal regulation that also was a mark of the times. Where
were the watchmen, and what were they watching?
Who's accountable? That question appears almost unanswerable. While many will
continue to profit from the lucrative tax breaks that attract investors to
taking over failed S&Ls, perhaps no one will be held accountable for the
disasters. In the end, though, you know who pays. The rest of us.
As the new year begins, bringing with it a new administration to preside over
the nation's destinies, the S&L mess provides one more reason to be aware that
old bills are coming due-and they're going to be expensive ones.
Old Ev was right. After a while, it does get to be real.
LEXIS® NEXIS® LEXIS® NEXIS®
Services of Mead Data Central
PAGE 4
(c) 1988 The Washington Post, December 30, 1988
TYPE: COLUMN
SUBJECT: BANKING INDUSTRY; GOVERNMENT AID TO BUSINESS; BANKING REGULATION;
BANKRUPTCY
ORGANIZATION: FEDERAL HOME LOAN BANK BOARD
LEXIS® ® NEXIS® ® LEXIS® ® NEXIS® ®
Services of Mead Data Central
PAGE
5
4TH STORY of Level 2 printed in FULL format.
Copyright (c) 1988 Newsweek
November 26, 1988, UNITED STATES EDITION
SECTION: NATIONAL AFFAIRS; Pg. 30
LENGTH: 943 words
HEADLINE: Biting the Bullet: A Practical Plan to Abolish the Deficit
BYLINE: BY RICH THOMAS, Chief Economic Correspondent
BODY:
Think it will be hard to slash the deficit? It won't ----- given enough
political will. With a modest mix of spending cuts and revenue measures, it's
possible to devise a plan that doesn't hurt the poor or raise taxes for average
Americans. It would cut the deficit more than a third by fiscal year 1990 ----
and eliminate it by 1993. The elements:
Defense: A huge chunk can come from defense - without cutting defense
spending. Simply Freeze spending at its current level, rather than slowing it
to grow by 4 percent a year, as projected. The next Congress is expected to
demand a Freeze anyway, and much of the saving can be achieved by cutting
Pentagon waste, closing redundant bases and other efficiencies. Savings: $ 5.1
billion in 1990; $ 45 billion a year by 1993.
Retirement benefits: Many recipients of "entitlements" don't need the
money. On social security, leave cost-of-living adjustments (COLA's) intact,
since a broad cut would hurt low-income pensioners. Tax upper-income retirees
on 85 percent of their social-security benefits instead of on only half. (Those
recipients will howl, but they can afford it.) Raise the payroll contributions
for retirement made by federal workers and postal employees, who now pay for
less than half their ample benefits. Wipe out the exemption from Medicare and
disability taxes that state and local workers enjoy before they retire. Raise
Medicare beneficiaries' contributions to doctors' fees from 25 percent to 30
percent. (It was originally meant to be 50 percent.) Savings: $ 5 billion in
1990; $ 17.2 billion by 1993.
Medical subsidies: The government spends huge sums on the medical industry,
which is rich enough already. Eliminate federal subsidies for hospital
construction and doctor training. (The United States already has an excess
supply of hospital beds and M.D.'s.) Tighten caps on doctors' fees, and impose
fee limits for pathologists, radiologists and other specialists. Change the
Medicaid reimbursement formula SO that it no longer favors the dozen richest
states. Close unused Veterans Administration hospitals. Savings: $ 4 billion
in 1990; $ 12.2 billion in 1993.
Aid to the middle class: Many government programs benefit the middle class
much more than the poor. Cut lunch subsidies for children of upper- and
middle-income families (while continuing to provide free lunches for
disadvantaged children). Implement a 5 percent cut in farm subsidies - 85
percent of which go to farmers with land worth $ 1 million or more. Lower
veterans' and Federal Housing Administration subsidies to middle-income
homeowners. End Federal Aviation Administration operating subsidies to owners
of private aircraft. Abolish the Amtrak rail subsidy, which goes primarily to
LEXIS® NEXIS® LEXIS® ® NEXIS®
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PAGE
6
(c) 1988 Newsweek, November 28, 1988
fund a $ 37-per-ticket break for mostly well-to-do rail commuters. Savings: $
5.9 billion in 1990; $ 9.5 billion in 1993.
Political 'pork': Other Federal outlays give shameless special treatment to
businesses and regions. Kill the Small Business Administration, which dispenses
tax-subsidized loans to some 25,000 well-connected small firms while 14 million
others get nothing. End postal subsidies, which disproportionately benefit
firms and causes that rely on direct mail. Eliminate aid for urban mass
transit, which goes mostly to communities with incomes well above the national
average. Abolish the Rural Electrification Administration, which subsidizes
about 35 million energy and telephone users while 85 percent of Americans pay
their own phone and electric bills. Ask states that administer the federal
food-stamp program to make a 5 percent contribution. End community-development
block grants for affluent cities; reduce humanities and arts funding. Savings:
$ 5.7 billion in 1990; $ 10.5 billion in 1993.
Government: The government should also look to itself for savings. Restrict
federal pay increases to 2 percent below the inflation rate. Freeze
civil-service "grade creep." Cut the federal work force by 2 percent, starting
with swollen congressional staffs. Impose a one-year freeze on all
discretionary programs not otherwise cut. Change rules for "contracting out"
that mandate paying top wage rates. Savings: $ 5.9 billion in 1990; $ 21.1
billion in 1993.
Revenues: Revenues can also be raised - without raising basic taxes for the
middle class. Extend the top rate of 33 percent, rather than rolling it back to
28 percent for Families making more than $ 149,250. Boost the alternative
minimum tax, which hits wealthy taxpayers who use loopholes, by 5 percent.
Restrict business entertainment deductions to 50 percent, instead of the current
80 percent. Eliminate the tax exemption for credit unions. Cap
mortgage-interest deduction at $ 20,000 a year. Impose a modest 10
cents-a-gallon gasoline tax and double the "sin taxes" on cigarettes, liquor,
wine and beer. Gains: $ 21.4 billion in 1990; $ 46 billion by 1993.
As former Senate minority leader Everett Dirksen of Illinois used to say:
"$ 200 million here, $ 500 million there, $ 1 billion over there - pretty
soon, it adds up to real money. " These adjustments would cut the deficit to
$ 87 billion by 1990. That's less than two thirds of the Congressional Budget
Office projection and well below the Gramm-Rudman target of $ 100 billion
(chart). It would produce a surplus of up to $ 20 billion by 1993 -- laving
room for slippage and some "kinder, gentler" programs. Will it happen? Not if
well-to-do Americans won't look beyond their self-interests -- and a Bush
administration and Congress refuse to take any political heat.
GRAPHIC: Picture, Grim warnings: Greenspan, (c) CHARLES BORNIGER; Chart, Budget
Deficit, SOURCE: CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE, BLUMRICH NEWSWEEK
LEXIS R NEXIS® LEXIS® ® NEXIS® ®
3/12/89
3/12/89
Educ. Ret.
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Roberto Raddiff
(901) 454 - 5444
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1266 Poplor Ave.
Memphis Tenn. 31104
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Check on programs in literature
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837-5204 Mr. Bixhy, Mr. Mobine
ARCH 29, 1989
In the Capital
R. W. Apple Jr.
Bush, in search of a role model, may have found
one in the Oyster Bay Roosevelt.
WASHINGTON, March 28 - When
croft, says, "He's relaxed about it; he
01
Presidents look for people to com-
enjoys dealing with it, chewing over
pare themselves to, for role models or
problems, looking for answers."
historical soul mates, they usually
And like Roosevelt, who shifted
choose Presidents of another era.
ideologies from patrician conserva-
Ronald Reagan liked to talk about
tism to populist radicalism with
Franklin D. Roosevelt, his boyhood
changes in the prevailing winds of
hero. So did Lyndon B. Johnson. John
opinion, Mr. Bush has shown a certain
F. Kennedy often spoke with admira-
suppleness in responding to public
tion of Thomas Jefferson, almost with
mood. A critic of Mr. Reagan in 1980,
awe. George Bush has been in the
Mr. Bush served him as Vice Presi-
Mark
White House for only a couple of
dent with unstinting loyalty; an oppo-
months, but he already seems to have
nent of gun control and a supporter of
settled upon Theodore Roosevelt, his
military aid to the rebels in Nicara-
fellow Republican from Oyster Bay,
gua, Mr. Bush has modified both
L. I., as an example of the kind of
those positions in the short time he
President he would like to be.
has been in the White House.
Not only has Mr. Bush installed a
portrait of T: R. in the Cabinet Room.
His bedtime reading in recent days
But there is little of Roosevelt's
has consisted of a political novel,
combativeness in Mr. Bush, and not
"Jack Gance," by Ward Just, and a
much of his flamboyance either;
political biography, "The Rise of
quite the contrary. Mr. Bush has
Theodore Roosevelt," by Edmund
shown, especially in the conduct of
Morris.
foreign policy, a determination to
"I'm an Oyster Bay kind of guy,
move with great'deliberation.
the President told a visitor just last
Nor does it appear from the record
week, and it is true that he, like Theo-
of his long public career that Mr.
dore Roosevelt, is the head of a large
Bush has much of the domestic re-
former in him. More often than not he
has stood for the status quo, and it is
Maybe I'll turn out
hard to see from this perspective
which Grails might inspire him to
to be a Teddy
crusades like those of Teddy Roose-
velt against police corruption and
Roosevelt.'
against the monopolists. Mr. Bush
has shown no inclination, for exam-
ple, to attack today's "malefactors of
and exuberant clan whose home base
great wealth," contenting himself so
is an enclave of wealth on the Eastern
far with an admonition to the nation
Seaboard - in Mr. Bush's case,
in his Inaugural Address to take care
Kennebunkport, Me. "Maybe I'll turn
not to confuse mere riches with last-
out to be a Teddy Roosevelt."
ing worth.
Roosevelt the polymath could
There are other parallels as well.
speak with gusto and confidence and
Both men served with distinction in
explosive humor on a dozen subjects.
foreign wars, although Mr. Bush is
Looking back, Rudyard Kipling, no
neither as jingoistic nor as much of a
unlettered bumpkin himself, recalled
showoff as Roosevelt was. Both went
listening to T. R. hold forth at the Cos
west in search of fame and fortune,
mos Club: "I curled up in the seat op-
Roosevelt to the Dakota Territory to
posite, and listened and wondered,
become a rancher and Mr. Bush to
until the universe seemed to be going
Texas to enter the oil business. Both
round and Theodore was the spin-
had legislative experience, and both
ner." Mr. Bush is altogether a more
served in appointive posts.
prosaic creature, whose syntax is full
Like Roosevelt, Mr. Bush exhibits
of snags and whose thoughts often
an ardor for outdoor sports, and has
outrace his tongue.
said he intends to make a name for
Theodore Roosevelt the imperial
himself as an environmentalist.
President came along at a time ripe
Roosevelt certainly did that, with the
for governmental activism in a half-
help of his Progressive ally, the great
dozen areas, ranging from corporate
conservationist Gifford Pinchot, and
regulation to public health to Latin
Mr. Bush clearly hopes that he has
America. Problems remain in all
found a counterpart in William K.
those areas, but Mr. Bush has taken
Reilly, head of the Environmental
office in a time of restricted govern-
Protection Agency.
mental resources and minimal public
Like Roosevelt, Mr. Bush has an
enthusiasm for adventures abroad.
aptitude for foreign policy. As his na-
At whom, one might ask, will George
tional security adviser, Brent Scow-
Bush wave his big stick?
EXPERIENCES
IN SCHOOL
IMPROVEMENT
THE
STORY
OF
16161616
AMERICAN
DISTRICTS
U.S. Department of Education
6161616
16
161
EXPERIENCES
IN SCHOOL
IMPROVEMENT
THE
STORY
OF
16
AMERICAN
DISTRICTS
By Nancy Paulu
Programs for the Improvement of Practice
Office of Educational Research and Improvement
Office of Intergovernmental and Interagency Affairs
U.S. Department of Education
August 1988
U.S. Department of Education
William J. Bennett
Secretary
Office of Intergovernmental and Interagency Affairs
Peter R. Greer
Deputy Under Secretary
Office of Educational Research and Improvement
Chester E. Finn, Jr.
Assistant Secretary
Programs for the Improvement of Practice
Milton Goldberg
Director
Information Services
Ray Fields
Director
For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office
Washington, D.C. 20402
FOREWORD
As a recent superintendent of schools, I am pleased to share the follow-
ing experiences and recommendations from 2 high school principals
and 14 superintendents.
Everyone is inundated with important literature to read concerning the
reform movement and effective ways to assist our students and their
teachers.
However, this booklet is a bit different from the other readings you do
each week. It focuses on what superintendents are thinking and doing,
as directly reported by them. Superintendents are vital to the success
of the present reform movement in terms of what they do and resist
doing.
Nancy Paulu, who visited and listened at each of the school sites, has
again earned her reputation as a first-rate observer and writer on
educational matters. The principals and superintendents read her draft
and agreed that the material you are about to read is indeed what they
wish to say to their colleagues.
These educators, along with Secretary of Education William Bennett,
Assistant Secretary of Education Checker Finn, and several of our
Nation's "educational governors," who constructed this 5-year project,
offer the following experiences and ideas to you with the intent that you
will learn, use, and be excited by the importance of what can be done
for our students.
How might you use this book? If I were still "in the trenches," I would
encourage a local group of colleagues to read the book and then dis-
cuss its accuracy and application. I would write several of the prin-
cipals and superintendents and start an informal network on topics of
mutual interest. And, I would follow the progress of this project over
the next couple of years. I hope these ideas help you.
Peter R. Greer
Deputy Under Secretary
iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
FOREWORD
iii
GOVERNORS CONTRIBUTING TO PROJECT EDUCATION REFORM
vii
SUPERINTENDENTS AND OTHER LOCAL EDUCATORS
CONTRIBUTING TO PROJECT EDUCATION REFORM
ix
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
xi
PART 1 PROJECT EDUCATION REFORM - AN OVERVIEW
Background
1
A First Report Card
2
The 13 Recommendations
3
The Superintendent's Role in Reform
6
Building Trust
7
Developing Plans for Reform
9
Communicating the Plans
11
Carrying Out the Plans
13
Barriers to Reform
14
Lack of Time and Competing Priorities
15
Money
16
State Laws and Regulations
18
Teacher Certification Requirements
18
Bilingual Education Laws
18
Vocational Education Laws
19
Course Requirements
19
School Facilities
19
Federal Laws and Regulations
20
Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975
20
Chapter 1
20
Tests
20
Teachers' Unions
21
Size
22
Negative Community Attitudes
22
Negative Staff Attitudes
23
V
Inadequate Facilities
24
Lack of Leadership Continuity
24
The Partnership
25
Results
27
Conclusion
30
PART 2 PROGRAMS TO IMPROVE AMERICAN SCHOOLS
Visits to 16 School Districts
33
Arkansas
Little Rock - Central High School
34
Springdale - Springdale High School
36
Colorado
Mapleton
39
Montrose
41
Missouri
Columbia
44
Independence
47
New Hampshire
Timberlane
49
White Mountains
51
New Jersey
Paramus
53
Union
56
South Carolina
Orangeburg
58
Spartanburg
60
Tennessee
Memphis
63
Oak Ridge
65
Utah
Provo
68
Salt Lake City
70
PART 3 THE SUPERINTENDENTS SPEAK
Recommendations
75
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
79
vi
GOVERNORS CONTRIBUTING To
PROJECT EDUCATION REFORM
ARKANSAS
Governor Bill Clinton
Cochairman, Time for Results
Chairman, Task Force on Leadership and Management
COLORADO
Former Governor Richard D. Lamm
Chairman, Task Force on Parental Involvement and Choice
Governor Roy Romer
MISSOURI
Governor John Ashcroft
Chairman, Task Force on Readiness
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Governor John Sununu
Chairman, Task Force on Technology
NEW JERSEY
Governor Thomas H. Kean
Cochairman, Time for Results
Chairman, Task Force on Teaching
SOUTH CAROLINA Former Governor Richard W. Riley
Chairman, Task Force on Readiness
Governor Carroll A. Campbell, Jr.
TENNESSEE
Former Governor Lamar Alexander
Chairman, Time for Results
Governor Ray McWherter
UTAH
Governor Norman Bangerter
Vice-Chairman, Task Force on School Facilities
NOTE: Time for Results was composed of eight task
forces that focused on specific education issues.
vii
SUPERINTENDENTS AND OTHER LOCAL
EDUCATORS CONTRIBUTING To
PROJECT EDUCATION REFORM
ARKANSAS
LITTLE ROCK
George Cannon, Superintendent
Angela Sewell, Associate Superintendent
Everett Hawks, Principal, Central High School
SPRINGDALE
Jim Rollins, Superintendent
Harry Wilson, Principal, Springdale High School
COLORADO
MAPLETON
Jack Blendinger, Superintendent
MONTROSE
Robert Cito, Superintendent
MISSOURI
COLUMBIA
Russell Thompson, Superintendent
John Stolt, Associate Superintendent for Instruction
INDEPENDENCE
Robert Henley, Superintendent
NEW HAMPSHIRE
TIMBERLANE REGIONAL
Terrance Holmes, Superintendent
SCHOOL DISTRICT
WHITE MOUNTAINS
Edgar Melanson, Superintendent
REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT
ix
NEW JERSEY
PARAMUS Harry Galinsky, Superintendent
UNION James Caulfield, Superintendent
SOUTH CAROLINA
ORANGEBURG
James Wilsford, Superintendent
SPARTANBURG
Harold Patterson, Superintendent
TENNESSEE
MEMPHIS
Willie Herenton, Superintendent
Sara Lewis, Assistant Superintendent,
Department of Curriculum and Instruction
OAK RIDGE Robert Smallridge, Superintendent
UTAH
PROVO
James Bergera, Superintendent
SALT LAKE CITY
John Bennion, Superintendent
X
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
What happens when 16 American school districts representing a true
cross section of our Nation set out to improve education? What strides
can they make toward better schools? What barriers do they encounter
along the way? What role do their superintendents play in change? An
analyst and writer from the U.S. Department of Education traveled to
districts from New Hampshire to South Carolina to Utah seeking
answers to these questions. This report reflects what she learned
during visits between December 1987 and March 1988.
The 16 districts are part of a unique partnership also involving the U.S.
Department of Education and the States of eight governors who helped
produce Time for Results, the landmark 1986 report from the National
Governors' Association. Each school system selected for this partner-
ship was asked to create innovative programs that fit 13 of the report's
recommendations. These suggestions for improving schools ranged
from designing plans to assess student achievement, to developing
ways to evaluate principals, to involving parents more actively in their
children's education.
All of the 16 districts possess good leaders, capable of taking the risks
that are needed for schools to improve. The superintendents in each
district have played a distinctive role in reform by:
Building trust with their staffs and communities;
Creating the atmosphere required for reform to flourish;
Developing a vision for their district's future; and
Communicating this vision clearly to those who carry out new
programs.
The programs that were designed reflect each district's singular needs.
Springdale High School in Springdale, Arkansas, has developed a
School-Within-a-School dedicated to helping students solve problems
and synthesize what they learn. Mapleton, Colorado, places computers
in the homes of disadvantaged students - and trains their parents to
help their children at the keyboard. Independence, Missouri, provides
before- and after-school daycare for school-aged children. Spartanburg,
South Carolina, has a comprehensive program to involve parents in
their children's education. Orangeburg, South Carolina, created a
program offering extra pay to outstanding teachers who assume more
responsibilities. Provo and Salt Lake City, Utah, have established
xi
year-round schools. Paramus and Union, New Jersey, have major
programs for at-risk preschool children.
The districts' school improvement efforts are not uniformly successful,
although the lack of rigorous before-and-after data often makes it dif-
ficult to gauge their effectiveness. Often the sole evidence of success is
anecdotal; many superintendents complain that lack of expertise and
money prevents them from conducting reliable and objective analyses.
Furthermore, some reforms are still being planned or have barely got-
ten out of the starting gate, making it premature to judge how well they
work.
Many educators in these 16 districts have encountered roadblocks
along the highway to reform. Some districts have found imaginative
ways to overcome the obstacles; others have not. Restrictive laws and
cumbersome regulations often still stand in their way. So do competing
priorities, burdensome tests, teachers' unions, sluggish bureaucracies,
negative community or staff attitudes, inadequate school facilities, and
a lack of continuity in State and district leadership.
The 16 districts have not yet accomplished all that they would like.
But, overall, they are a cause for hope and an inspiration for everyone
striving for educational excellence. The superintendents' 15 recommen-
dations, listed in Part 3 of this report, were developed with this end in
mind.
xii
PART 1
PROJECT EDUCATION REFORM - AN OVERVIEW
BACKGROUND Two years ago, a group of well-regarded American school districts
joined with State and Federal education leaders in a project hailed as a
small but significant step toward education reform.
This landmark partnership grew out of Time for Results, the 1986
report from the National Governors' Association that proposed sweep-
ing changes in the public schools. The governors were eager to set in
motion the report's ideas for upgrading schools and boosting student
achievement. Toward this end, the current, past, and future chairmen
of the Association - Governors Lamar Alexander of Tennessee,
Thomas Kean of New Jersey, and Bill Clinton of Arkansas - met in
Washington with U.S. Secretary of Education William J. Bennett. The
four distilled 13 of the report's many recommendations - ones they
believed to be most capable of guiding local reform efforts. Then, they
agreed that eight governors who had been driving forces in the report's
development should each select two school districts willing to create in-
novative programs that fit these recommendations. Thus began Project
Education Reform.
"These school districts will become informal laboratories of education
reform," Secretary Bennett said when the partnership was formally
launched at a gathering of its members in Washington, D.C. "The
results of this experiment will have tremendous potential for all the
Nation's schools." Added Chester E. Finn, Jr., the Department's Assis-
tant Secretary for Research and Improvement, "Positive results among
these few districts can be a powerful impetus for change in many more
of the Nation's 16,000 school districts."
All parties in this endeavor believe that major reform must begin at
home - that the Federal government and governors cannot create ex-
cellent schools, but that communities of school leaders, teachers,
parents, and citizens can.
Therefore, the 16 districts were given broad flexibility to establish effec-
tive programs, and the governors and the U.S. Department of Educa-
tion agreed to help the 16 eliminate roadblocks to reform, whether they
came from outmoded practice or misplaced regulation. In exchange for
less regulation, each district was asked to improve educational services
and student achievement. The Department also agreed to provide tech-
nical assistance, consultation, and referral services.
1
The partners hoped this project might provide a realistic look at
American school reform, because these 16 districts represented a true
cross section of our Nation. All possessed strong leaders with a more-
than-average commitment to improving schools, as well as staunch
community support. But standardized test scores in some of the 16 dis-
tricts were average or below, and none of the school systems was ex-
traordinarily wealthy. Nor did any of the districts receive extra money
for participating in this project; each was expected to make do with
what it had.
A FIRST
During the reform drive of the eighties, educators and policymakers
REPORT CARD
have learned that enduring change evolves slowly; therefore, Project
Education Reform, which began in late 1986, was set up to continue
through 1991.
But 5 years is a long wait for a first report card. So between December
1987 and March 1988, a U.S. Department of Education professional
visited the 16 districts - 2 each in Arkansas, Colorado, Missouri, New
Hampshire, New Jersey, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Utah - to
learn what they have accomplished. The representative interviewed su-
perintendents, principals, school board members, teachers, parents,
local businessmen, and students. She observed in classrooms, seeking
answers to these questions:
What programs have the 16 districts established, and how far
has each program progressed?
What part have the superintendents played in reform - and how
has their role differed from what others have contributed?
How have local educators planned for change - and encouraged
others to support them?
What barriers impede these districts from producing better and
quicker results? How, if at all, have these educators managed to
overcome the obstacles?
How do these educators know that their programs are effective?
How well is the partnership of Federal, State, and local educators
and policymakers working?
What lessons have the districts learned that might guide other
Americans striving for educational excellence?
The Department staffer was curious to learn if a consensus could be
reached on these questions, given the 16 districts' extraordinary diver-
sity. Little Rock, Arkansas, and Union, New Jersey, serve urban and
suburban communities; Springdale, Arkansas, and the White Moun-
tains, New Hampshire, Regional Schools educate youngsters from a
small town and a predominantly rural area. The Timberlane, New
Hampshire, Regional School District benefits from the area's rapid
economic growth; schools in Mapleton and Montrose, Colorado, feel
2
repercussions from the region's sagging oil and tourism industries. The
Columbia, Missouri, student body is 87 percent white; Orangeburg,
South Carolina, 80 percent black. Students in the Paramus, New Jer-
sey, schools speak a total of 49 languages. Salt Lake City and Provo,
Utah, enroll large numbers of Mormon children; Memphis, Tennessee,
and Spartanburg, South Carolina, lie deep in the Bible Belt.
Striking reminders of the districts' rich and varied histories appear in
each of the 16. Truman High School and its madrigal group, the
Truman Trutones, bear the namesake of the most famous graduate of
the Independence, Missouri, schools. The curriculum guide for Oak
Ridge High School, Tennessee, lists an array of science and mathe-
matics courses (including advanced calculus), reflecting the community
of scientists who first moved there during World War II to make nuclear
weapons. Today, many engineers, researchers, and high technology ex-
perts still make their homes in Oak Ridge - and they and their
children want the schools to provide a strong science and mathematics
program.
But stark as are some contrasts, educators in these districts also share
remarkable similarities - in what they value in education and in how
they approach school reform. Ask superintendents, principals,
teachers, and high school counselors from Orangeburg, South
Carolina, to Provo, Utah, what they most want their youngsters to
learn in school and they say basic academic skills - reading, writing,
speaking, and calculating. They want to graduate students who can
compete nationally and internationally with the best and the brightest.
Social graces and strong self-esteem also appear high on their lists.
"One of our goals is to have our kids see a place for themselves in the
world," explained Montrose Superintendent Robert Cito, echoing the
sentiments of administrators in the other districts.
THE 13
Educators in the 16 districts agree that these goals will not material-
RECOMMENDATIONS
ize without change - that a school system must continually reassess
where it is and where it wants to be. "Any organization that attempts to
maintain what it is doing is falling behind," says Paramus Superinten-
dent Harry Galinsky. What kind of changes will help reinvent the
school for modern times? Virtually all of the superintendents agree that
the 13 recommendations distilled from Time for Results provide a
sound start. They include:
Redesigning schools to create more productive working and
learning environments - for example, by involving teachers in
more decisions about discipline or curriculum, or by moving to a
year-round calendar;
Changing the structure of the teaching career - for instance, by
linking pay to professional competence and responsibilities;
3
Developing a system to evaluate administrators effectively and
accurately;
Creating training programs for school administrators that involve
partnerships with colleges, State or regional academies,
businesses, and schools;
Providing for "school-based management" - allowing schools to
make more of their own decisions, then holding them
accountable for results;
Involving parents more actively in their children's education;
Establishing early childhood programs for "at-risk" 3- and
4-year-olds - preschoolers whose social, cognitive, and motor
skills lag behind their peers;
Providing mothers and fathers of preschool children and
students with information on how to be successful parents;
Designing a reliable and valid way to assess student performance
so that deficiencies can be corrected;
Establishing alternative programs for dropouts to attain basic
skills and complete high school;
Developing plans to buy and use educational technologies;
Establishing training programs to teach the staff how to use
technology to solve instructional and management problems; and
Sharing educational facilities, particularly with community
groups providing day care and latchkey services.
To move beyond this list to action, each of the 16 districts was asked to
select at least 3 of the 13 areas in which to carry out reforms. Al-
together, the districts have established an array of programs:
Independence is studying Japanese management techniques to
see if they can be used to improve the adversarial relationship of the
district's teachers and top school officials, particularly around collec-
tive bargaining time. "With a confrontational attitude, we're wasting a
lot of our energy," Superintendent Robert Henley explained. District ad-
ministrators and teachers plan to visit a California automobile factory
in which these techniques are being used to learn which of them might
apply to Independence.
Columbia has established a program to provide practical help for
parents of youngsters from birth to 3 years old. (Independence offers a
similar one.) In classes and during home visits by trained observers, all
of whom themselves are parents, mothers and fathers master every-
thing from how to stop a temper tantrum to how to convince a resistant
toddler that it's time for bed. "We have two goals," explains Jerri
Deming, the program's coordinator, "to help all kids get off to a good
start, and to reduce the stress and maximize the pleasures of parent-
4
ing." Recent studies of Parents as Teachers indicates the program is ac-
complishing just that - and is also developing youngsters with supe-
rior social and academic skills.
The White Mountains Regional School District has provided com-
puters for all of its teachers wanting one. "Computers go wasted on
children if teachers aren't comfortable with them," notes Superinten-
dent Edgar R. Melanson. In the 3 years since the first computers were
delivered to the district, teachers have used them to improve everything
from the quality of lesson plans to the frequency of report cards to
parents.
The Timberlane schools have put in place a comprehensive
teacher evaluation plan that links performance to pay. Superintendent
Terrance Holmes reports that the program "has made the life of prin-
cipals in this district very difficult"; some principals now spend more
than half of their 60-hour work weeks observing teachers in classes to
help them improve. But many principals believe the program also
rewards them in new ways. Mary Gale, principal of Atkinson Academy
in Timberlane explains, "This way, I can work alongside teachers to
support them and allow them to do the best work they can do." An
evaluation found teachers divided in their enthusiasm for the program.
Salt Lake City and Provo have established year-round schools
that provide students with more but shorter vacations and classes in at
least part of all 12 months. Many parents in both school systems initial-
ly were skeptical, although today the districts boast widespread sup-
port for the restructured school year. Lewis Gardiner, principal of Salt
Lake's Whittier Elementary School, organized and sought converts at
40 block parties, where he convinced parents that year-round schools
would relieve overcrowding and enable some youngsters to progress
faster academically.
These are but a few of the programs in the 16 districts that exemplify
reform; fuller descriptions of all of them are contained in Part 2. The
programs are not universally successful. Moreover, some are either still
being planned or have barely gotten off the starting blocks, making it
premature to judge their effectiveness. Significantly, a disproportionate
number of those doing well were established long before the start of
Project Education Reform, giving educators ample time to iron out the
programs' wrinkles. Oak Ridge, Tennessee, for instance, created its
much-acclaimed program for at-risk preschoolers in 1965. Further-
more, the districts either struggling hardest to launch programs or
move along existing ones are often faced with looming problems that
demand immediate attention. Little Rock stalled the creation of a model
program to give educators at Central High School more decisionmaking
authority this past year when administrators needed to channel ener-
gies elsewhere. For example, school officials had to cope with a
teachers' strike, the arrival of a new superintendent, the annexation of
a neighboring district with a radically different racial composition, and
5
a court order to reassign to different schools for desegregation pur-
poses virtually all of the district's teachers and students.
Sufficient time to develop these programs, as well as commitment, are
key ingredients in their success. But competent leadership and careful
planning are also crucial.
THE
Most of what has been written about reform focuses on the impor-
SUPERINTENDENTS
tance of good principals and teachers. But the man or woman at the
ROLE IN REFORM
very top is equally crucial if schools are to improve. "If you look at
progress, it comes down to the leadership of the superintendent," says
Galinsky of Paramus. Governor Kean of New Jersey adds:
Although most of the reform reports have largely
ignored the superintendent's key role, he or she
serves, in many ways, as a bridge between State
departments, district boards, and local schools.
As [Project Education Reform] clearly shows,
superintendents can be, and in many districts are,
major catalysts in school restructuring.
The superintendent is privileged to a special overview that eases his or
her ability to direct change. Spartanburg Superintendent Harold Patter-
son explains, "The superintendent is the only person who has a look at
the total system" - at its programs, personnel, and finances. This al-
lows the person in the top job to help the district establish a mission,
goals, and objectives. More significantly, it enables the person to create
an atmosphere in which reform can flourish.
A superintendent establishes this environment by letting the staff know
that change leading to better schools is welcome; he or she encourages
staff members and the public to share ideas with each other and with
him. To encourage participation, the Montrose superintendent reor-
ganized the school board agendas so that important items come up
early in the evening meetings when more people can be present. The su-
perintendent can make himself accessible to anyone with a good idea -
and let people know that no suggestion is too silly to express.
Furthermore, the superintendent can encourage the staff to take risks,
and support them if what seemed to be a sound idea backfires. "People
will take risks if they feel they are secure," Holmes of Timberlane ex-
plains. Finally, the superintendent can reward those who initiate
change. Paramus Superintendent Galinsky invites staff members who
have done so to present their ideas or describe their program at a
school board meeting. This gives them public recognition and sends a
message to the entire staff and community that the district leadership
welcomes creativity.
To bring about change, superintendents must be both competent
managers and strong educational leaders. Most of the 16 superinten-
dents delegate many managerial tasks in order to devote more time to
6
reform. Some day-to-day routine, however, inevitably falls into their
laps, requiring superintendents who wish to improve their schools to
assume a heavy workload. "It's going to take more time and energy to
operate in both [managerial and leadership] roles," observes John Ben-
nion from Salt Lake City. "It takes a lot of time to initiate, and then to
nurture change
But that's the price you pay if you are a change
agent."
Important as the superintendent is in directing change, however, he or
she cannot do so alone. School boards, central office staff, principals,
assistant principals, and teachers must all share leadership respon-
sibilities, each tier providing different abilities and insights that comple-
ment one another. Spreading around leadership chores does not
diminish the superintendent's ability to guide schools; on the contrary,
many of the 16 say, it enhances it.* Working together is a good way to
create the trust needed for schools to improve.
BUILDING TRUST
Good superintendents start building trust long before they want to in-
troduce a change. The day they assume their position, they begin con-
vincing teachers, principals, parents, the community, the media, and
students to have faith in them and in the schools. If those affected by a
change lack trust in the superintendent, reform efforts are unlikely to
succeed. Jack Blendinger quickly discovered the importance of estab-
lishing trust after becoming the Mapleton, Colorado, superintendent
last January. He stepped into a district with a large operating deficit,
which many parents and staff members blamed partly on the district's
computer expenses. Before Blendinger could proceed with technology
improvements, he first had to rebuild trust with Mapleton community
members and staff.
Getting to know people helps many superintendents to create the coali-
tions needed to improve schools. Superintendents from Provo to Oak
Ridge to Orangeburg regularly attend Lion's and Rotary Club gather-
ings. The Montrose superintendent, Robert Cito, buys coffee once a
month on a Saturday morning for anyone caring to drop by the local
McDonald's for a chat. He publicizes these gatherings in the local
newspaper. Galinsky from Paramus believes that "management by
walking around" - around district offices, the schools, and the com-
munity - has helped him to become better acquainted. The Columbia
superintendent drops by schools periodically to visit principals,
teachers, and classrooms. "I must get into the buildings to get a sense
of what their frustrations are, to learn what they are feeling," Superin-
tendent Russell Thompson explains. Leaders of large districts report
that this is often difficult. "I find it harder to create a climate for reform
in a district as diverse as Salt Lake," says Superintendent Bennion,
Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas reported similar findings in his recent
publication, Speaking of Leadership.
7
who was superintendent in Provo, with an enrollment of 12,912, before
becoming the top person in Salt Lake, which enrolls 24,000. "There's
more bureaucracy, less personal contact. It's more of a challenge."
Although the superintendent must establish ties with all constituents,
most of the 16 believe that the relationship between the superintendent
and principals is particularly important. Bennion describes the hiring
of principals as "one of the most important things I do" - that and
providing the support they need to do their best work. Furthermore,
every staff member must feel that his or her principal has a solid
relationship with the superintendent. "If there's a perception of conflict,
or of a lack of confidence between the superintendent and the prin-
cipal, reform in that building is almost doomed," Galinsky of Paramus
says.
Developing credibility with minority-group members and with low-in-
come parents is also important, since they often feel the most isolated
from the schools. Ten years ago, Thompson recognized the need to im-
prove this level of trust after some of them complained that their
children were disciplined more harshly than were white children. To im-
prove the relationship, the school board hired minority liaisons to visit
homes of minority parents to discuss any concerns they had about
school policies and procedures. Since then, Columbia officials report
that the relationship has improved significantly.
Building trust with the media is also beneficial; districts that have not
done so are more apt to have school improvement efforts hampered by
bad press. Many superintendents suggest providing reporters and
editors with as much information as is legally permissible, since saying
no to a request for budget figures or a copy of a report may lead them
to conclude that the district has something to hide. In short succes-
sion, a newspaper in Columbia printed two exposes - the first on the
misuse of funds at an area hospital, the second on comparable im-
proprieties at city hall. Following the appearance of both articles, top
administrators at both places resigned. Columbia educators grew nerv-
ous when a reporter then appeared at school administration head-
quarters to begin a similar 3-month investigation. Officials at the
hospital and city hall fought providing records, which Superintendent
Thompson believes was a mistake. School officials compiled the infor-
mation requested in report form - and didn't flinch when the reporter
poured through the superintendent's personal calender to compare
entries with his expense statements. (The reporter found no inconsis-
tencies.) "The end result was that [the paper] came out with a front-
page story detailing how good the district was," Thompson said. The
article would not have been SO positive if the reporter had found
records in disarray. Nonetheless, Thompson believes the district's open-
ness engendered a good relationship between educators and the
newspaper in Columbia.
Personal qualities and professional styles are also inextricably linked to
trust; staff members in the 16 districts are drawn to superintendents
8
they perceive as strong, diplomatic, dependable, personable, decisive,
visionary, patient, intelligent, informed, and politically astute, as well
as strong managers. Sara Lewis, Assistant Superintendent for the
Department of Curriculum and Instruction, explains why she enjoys
working for Memphis Superintendent Willie Herenton:
He's very positive, very in tune with what's happening
around the country. He's an innovator, a risk-taker, a
good politician, a charismatic leader. He can touch all
segments of the population - blacks, whites, the
upper, the middle, and the lower.
Joanne Bergmann, a school board member in Paramus, has equally
good things to say about Galinsky: "He's a good listener. And he's
bright enough to know that you don't always think of everything, no
matter how smart you are."
Frequent contact and strong personal skills help superintendents to ce-
ment good relationships with their staffs and communities. But a solid
track record is also needed for trust to develop. The school board and
residents in Independence barely raised eyebrows when Superinten-
dent Henley asked the board to close Hanthorn Elementary School at
the end of the 1982-83 school year. But Hanthorn was the ninth
elementary school to close in recent years, and before shutting down
the previous eight, Henley had gone through an arduous process to
convince skeptics that the move was financially and educationally
sound. "If I'd tried this technique on the first building, I would have
been stoned out of town," Henley joked half-heartedly.
Although the superintendent leads the way in establishing trust, ul-
timately, the task falls on everybody's shoulders. Columbia's Thompson
explains: "You have to constantly remind principals, and teachers, that
they represent the Columbia Public Schools, and that community trust
can be fractured by a single individual doing something wrong."
DEVELOPING PLANS
Trust provides the foundation for better schools. But before schools
FOR REFORM
can improve, their leaders must plan what they want their school dis-
trict to become. "The problem with many districts is that they do
reform piecemeal - there's no comprehensive plan," observes Oran-
geburg Superintendent James Wilsford. Orderly plans prevent hap-
hazard change and enable the reforms to complement each other.
The superintendent shapes the plan, but he or she does not mold it
alone. These 16 superintendents collect ideas from a wealth of sources.
They read daily newspapers and education journals. They attend con-
ferences. They talk with educators in other districts sharing similar
concerns. And they meet with members of the community and with
their own staff. Ideas, in short, flow both ways - from the top down,
and from the bottom up.
9
"I've been in education for 23 years, but when you get a group of
educators together, and you get them talking about education, it's as-
tounding what you learn," notes Montrose's Cito. Adds Paramus'
Galinksy, "You need to spend a great deal of time with faculty, with
parents, listening to their yearnings and aspirations for what's better
for kids, and try to put that into a format that makes sense education-
ally."
The superintendent can also bring together the people needed to plan
change; he or she can form committees and study groups to plan new
programs and can ask those with special talents and expertises to par-
ticipate. It is essential to involve those affected by the reform - not
only because they have much to contribute, but because their support
is needed for the change to endure. "They can't feel used," Montrose Su-
perintendent Cito explains. "You have got to make them feel that their
ideas are important - because they are."
In Paramus, all changes go through an influential committee composed
of teachers, high school students, parents, and administrators. Anyone
in the district can ask this committee to consider a new program or
idea. The committee elects its own leadership, and while the superin-
tendent can attend its meetings, he has no vote.
School improvements take longer if more people participate. The Salt
Lake superintendent asked all 37 schools to select a representative for
a committee that developed a career ladder program for teachers. "It
wasn't ideal for decisionmaking," Bennion admitted. But he believes
that having a cumbersome committee paid off; teachers themselves
developed most of the program, which eventually lent the plan broad
support from the group most affected by it.
Many good reforms grow from long-range planning committees, which
take stock of the entire district and suggest goals for its future. Last
year Oak Ridge released a 98-page strategic plan to guide the schools
through 1996. An ad hoc advisory committee, cochaired by Superinten-
dent Robert Smallridge and a school board member, spent from Novem-
ber 1985 to June 1987 developing the comprehensive report. The
committee analyzed the district's strengths and weaknesses in areas
ranging from student achievement to district finances. It then studied
national and local trends that might influence the Oak Ridge schools in
the next decade - among them more single-parent families, and more
households with both parents working. Building on what it found, the
committee created a vision for the district's future and developed a
strategy to obtain it. For example, the committee recommended the dis-
trict study various scheduling patterns, including longer school days or
year, and suggested Oak Ridge strengthen the creative and critical
thinking and decisionmaking skills of its students. When former Ten-
nessee Governor Alexander asked Oak Ridge to participate in Project
Education Reform, the district had little trouble selecting reform areas
recommended in Time for Results on which to concentrate; the long-
range plan provided clear direction.
10
In most districts, some changes originate not in the superintendents' of-
fice or in district-wide committees, but in individual buildings. Arkan-
sas Governor Clinton selected two schools instead of two districts to
participate in Project Education Reform because he believes reform
planned within a building to fit its needs is most effective. Springdale
High School and Central High School in Little Rock have generated or
will generate many of their own school improvement plans. When build-
ing educators initiate changes, however, two factors normally must
exist for them to succeed: the building-level reforms must not clash
with the district's overall mission and goals, and they need the central
administration's support.
In their zeal to improve, educators in some of the 16 districts said they
rushed into new programs prematurely - and that they paid a price
for doing so. Springdale High School launched its School-Within-a-
School program before its teachers and administrators had clear plans
for how to reach their goal - an alternative school that, among other
things, teaches students how to think critically and become actively in-
volved in learning. The program began amid confusion, which some of
its teachers believe better planning might have prevented.
COMMUNICATING
Before the plans can become programs, the people they affect need to
THE PLANS
know about them. "I see myself as being responsible for bringing about
an awareness that there are better ways to do things," says Smallridge
from Oak Ridge. Galinksy of Paramus adds, "You will not find a suc-
cessful leader who isn't scored high on the ability to motivate, con-
vince, communicate, and make understandable a vision of where you
want them to go."
If many people helped to develop the blueprint, many of those affected
by the change may already know about it. Extra efforts to explain the
plans can broaden support for them, however. Norma Osborn, Assis-
tant to the Independence Superintendent, credits the success of the
Parents as Teachers program partly to the superintendent's com-
munications skills. "Dr. Henley had a clear idea of where he wanted the
program to go. There was never any doubt in my mind what I was to
do. He told us to build a program, based on a model from [the educa-
tional psychologist and author] Burton White. So we did."
Superintendents, in short, must be salesmen. "You have to be willing to
sell your idea to the kids, to the parents, say this will work," notes
Melanson from the White Mountains schools. "You can't be negative -
you have to believe in what you are selling."
Plans can be sold at faculty and school board meetings, at Chamber of
Commerce gatherings, and in private conversations with anyone inter-
ested in them. "I'm in many organizations," says Henley. "I know nearly
all the leaders in Independence. I spend time with them, go to lunch
with them." This pays off when the superintendents wants to promote
a new program - even one the community may not fully support -
11
because, Henley continues, "when we get ready to do something, often
people judge the person who is doing it - not the idea itself."
Lecturing on the need for a new program may be unproductive. To gain
supporters, Smallridge from Oak Ridge shares articles with his staff
and he sees that they attend appropriate conferences. Then they can
conclude for themselves that reform is needed. Some superintendents
also find it helpful first to convince a handful of influential educators
that a change is desirable; they in turn can convince others. And some
superintendents use economic arguments to draw followers. Superin-
tendent Wilsford of Orangeburg explains:
The whole sense in this town is that our economic
survival depends on the educational community
moving forward. The black and white power structure
knows that the Orangeburg racial balance is shifting to
more minorities. It knows that the black people have
to become better off if we're going to have a dynamic
community - and the schools are the key to that.
This understanding has enabled Orangeburg educators to gain support
for programs geared toward the 75 percent of the district's students
who are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.
When and how the superintendent seeks support for a reform may in-
fluence its chances of being accepted. Many superintendents wait until
the community's mood seems right before introducing a reform.
However, some also introduce a new plan or program before they realis-
tically expect it to be accepted just to plant the idea. "If it doesn't fly the
first time," says Henley of Independence, "you don't give up. You just
come back again from a different angle."
Many of these 16 superintendents recognize that they are a step ahead
of those they lead. So how do they manage to take an untraditional
idea and sell it to traditional people? "You explain it SO it doesn't sound
so untraditional," according to Henley. Some Independence residents
and educators initially opposed plans for the district to provide daycare
services, although 65 percent of the Independence women with
children enrolled in the public schools work outside the home, and
many complain that they lack good daycare arrangements. "I explained
it by discussing the changes in the American family and why the
schools have to provide this service today," Henley said. "It's an un-
usual idea, but it's what we have to do for today's circumstances." This
approach swayed key constituents - principals, teachers, and PTA
groups. "By definition, the idea became traditional," Henley said. "If
that many people want it, how can it e-radical?"
Even the most convincing sales pitch may not gain school ad-
ministrators all the necessary converts. When this is the case, astute
politicking may be needed. Superintendent James Caulfield led the
campaign in Union for a $6.9 million bond issue for building renova-
tions and educational equipment. He knew the dollar amount would
12
displease some voters, particularly senior citizens on fixed incomes. He
also knew, however, that few budget items could gain faster support
than those related to football because the Union High School team has
won many championships. At Caulfield's urging, the bond issue in-
cluded $140,000 for flood lights for the football field, a move that
provided him with a ready cadre of football players and sports fans to
conduct the campaign. Despite mixed voter support on past bond is-
sues, Union residents approved this one by a 3 to 2 margin.
Education reformers never finish their need to communicate their ideas
for change. A rapid turnover of school board members, community resi-
dents, and educators requires the superintendent and his or her staff
continually to sell plans to improve the schools. Last fall the superin-
tendent in Provo invited Mossi White, a new school board member, to
accompany him to meetings with building principals to discuss goals
for the upcoming school year. These meetings introduced White to key
building personnel and acquainted her with educational issues - both
key to her ability to make intelligent decisions.
CARRYING OUT
Once key constituents understand plans for reform, the ideas must
THE PLANS
then be executed. Superintendents agree that school improvement ef-
forts are doomed if top-quality people are not available to carry them
out. Henley emphasizes that "The key to reform is having good people
to implement it - teachers, principals, other people working in the
schools." Generally, the better the superintendent, the easier it is for
him or her to attract capable and loyal followers. Galinsky adds:
The ability to get things done through people - that's
the essence of leadership. Unless you unleash the
creative talents of people in the system - both the
staff and parents - final solutions will never be
institutionalized or deep-rooted.
For staff members to carry out reforms, they may need extra training.
In Independence and Columbia, teachers in the program to instruct
mothers and fathers on how to become better parents were trained in
everything from what parents can expect of their children at certain
ages to how to assuage a jealous toddler who has just gained a sibling.
And virtually all of the districts that have developed technology
programs provided training for students or district personnel needing it.
If training is unable to improve their skills sufficiently, superintendents
may need to shuffle personnel. In Henley's first 6 years in Indepen-
dence, he replaced all but 5 of the district's 19 elementary school prin-
cipals because the former ones didn't possess the qualities he believed
were needed to improve the schools. Gathering the right people to carry
out reforms "is like assembling a football team," Henley explains. "You
have to get the best person for each position."
13
Although all superintendents delegate some reform responsibilities,
some still remain quite actively involved, particularly those in smaller
districts. Even those who delegate all or most of the work, however, say
they like to stay informed of its progress - and step in if the improve-
ment effort hits a logjam. Henley explains:
Reform ideas often are resisted. So sometimes you
have to be authoritarian. You have to say, "Here's what
we are going to do," then say, "No, I'm not interested in
that amendment." Oh, you might take a little one
here, and a little one there. But most people try to add
ideas that make it more comfortable to them, and
make it less of a change. So I try to keep the idea pure.
The superintendent shepherds it through the group, so
that when you get the plan built, it's still the same
idea you began with.
Improvements do not always unfurl as their creators anticipated.
School officials may need to modify or eliminate some aspects of a
program that are not panning out. They may also need to inspect new
or proposed programs closely to see why they are not working or can-
not get off the ground. Quite often, they discover, a barrier stands in its
way.
BARRIERS To
Educators often encounter obstacles to reform, ranging from restric-
REFORM
tive laws and regulations to inadequate money. John Stolt, Associate
Superintendent of Instruction in Columbia, explained at a meeting in
April 1988 of Project Education Reform participants:
The issue of barriers is pervasive, and I don't think any
one of us is going to get away from that. As long as you
have large organizations, any time you get money from
any resource, there are going to be regulations. But I
also think the reason people who are here are here is
because those are not serious obstacles. They have
either circumvented them, or they have neutralized
them, or they have proceeded anyhow. So the barriers
have been like flies that bother you, but you don't die
from them.
Some districts complain more about barriers than do others, partly be-
cause laws, rules, and regulations are more constraining in some
States and communities than in others. Educators in New Jersey,
which has a long history of tight regulations, cite more hurdles than
school officials in New Hampshire, which has no State income tax and
a tradition of local control.
A few superintendents feel that little aside from their own inertia dis-
courages reform. "With the kind of reforms we're attempting in Indepen-
dence," explains Superintendent Henley, "the only barriers are
ourselves." Many of these same superintendents believe that what their
14
colleagues describe as "barriers" are not necessarily bad - that they
were put there for a reason. "If it weren't for regulations, we'd have
segregated schools and unequal funding for the black kids," Wilsford of
Orangeburg says. And regulations for Chapter 1 of the Education Con-
solidation and Improvement Act of 1981 were devised to help assure
that funds from this Federal program went to those for whom they were
intended - disadvantaged children.
But those who see the need for regulations believe there should be
limits to them. "I believe in regulations," Superintendent George Can-
non of Little Rock explains. "But when the schools can prove them-
selves effective, then many of them shouldn't be necessary."
Many superintendents also noted that what one educator views as a
barrier another may not - teacher unions, teacher certification laws,
or State course requirements, for instance. Furthermore, what might
be an obstacle in one district may not be in others. A school board that
resists reform or doesn't understand the issues surrounding it can
greatly hamper school improvement efforts. Henley explains:
Fortunately, the Independence School Board has been
progressive. But when you have a school board that
isn't really "with it," all your time and all your effort is
spent running around chasing geese. It's just a
complete waste of time, and reform is out of the
question. You are just happy to keep the school
district going.
But strong school boards can be an enormous asset - by suggesting
needed reform, and by guiding a change through appropriate channels.
Good school board members can also help to communicate reform
plans to the community.
The following barriers were high on the list of those that draw com-
plaints. A few superintendents admit that sheer frustration has oc-
casionally led them to ignore cumbersome rules or regulations that
hamper reform. (Those who admit to doing so are more apt to ignore a
local regulation than State or Federal laws because the stakes for doing
so are not as high.) More often, however, these superintendents seek
ways to get around the barriers.
LACK OF TIME AND
A
lack of time and competing priorities hamper reform efforts in many
COMPETING
districts. "Just keeping this place running on a day-to-day basis is
PRIORITIES
enough for me," explains Everett Hawks, principal of Central High
School in Little Rock, which is involved in far-reaching improvement ef-
forts. "We have SO much stuff heaped on us. Our teachers already are
overloaded and overworked. They can only do so much." In addition to
overseeing the school's reform efforts, Hawks manages the 2, ,100-stu-
dent building, a sprawling facility situated in a poor section of Little
Rock.
15
Furthermore, when school officials devote time to reform, they some-
times contend with complaints of being unavailable for other respon-
sibilities. In Timberlane, for example, teacher evaluations now
consume up to half of the principals' time, requiring them to delegate
the task of communicating with parents to other staff members.
Parents have objected, saying they prefer to deal directly with the prin-
cipal.
Districts complaining about competing priorities seldom have funds to
hire more people to carry out the reforms. Then how do improvements
materialize? Smallridge from Oak Ridge says that good planning is the
key to providing school officials with more time to devote to bettering
schools. In Provo, John Childs, principal of Dixon Middle School,
provided his staff with sophisticated calendars and time planners, a
simple move that has enabled them to work more efficiently. Some
school officials accomplish reforms by working longer hours. Most
educators reorder priorities. Timberlane principals involved in a new
time-consuming program to evaluate teachers have shifted some ad-
ministrative duties to assistant principals and teachers.
And when the extra stress of administering a new program seems too
overwhelming, the superintendents remind themselves of one impor-
tant point - more time spent now may save time in the long run. It
may take tremendous effort to create a new dropout program, but
down the road it may drastically cut staff time needed to track down
truant students.
MONEY Money was also high on virtually every superintendent's list of
obstacles. Many of them agree with this assessment from South
Carolina Governor Carroll A. Campbell, Jr.:
Money is important to educational excellence, but it's
not the most important
Money can do a lot of
things, but it can't inspire. Inspiration in a classroom
comes from the heart, not the pocketbook.
Still, the superintendents recognize that some reforms are costly -
such as a program to provide computers for students or teachers, for
example, or one that provides more money for teachers who assume
more responsibilities. Economic restrictions have forced many of the 16
school systems to scale down improvements, or delay them until
money becomes available. Montrose enrolled just half the students it
would like to in a summer school program for at-risk youngsters be-
cause the district lacked funds.
Union and Paramus educators complain of additional financial pres-
sures stemming from a need to gain voter approval for their annual
budgets. In Union, the electorate has turned down the district's budget
2 of the last 5 years, giving the mayor and city council the power to
make cuts, and delaying approval of a final budget until long after
educational plans should be in place for the following school year.
16
Since the 16 districts involved in Project Education Reform received no
extra money for their participation, how have they paid for improve-
ments? Most money has come from their three standard sources -
Federal, State, and local tax money. Some districts cut another
program or shifted financial priorities to carry out reforms. Some dis-
tricts applied for special grants. The White Mountains schools received
an $81,000 grant from the Governor's Initiative for Excellence in Educa-
tion to buy computers for their teachers, supplementing that amount
with its own funds. A few districts have turned to the business com-
munity. Staff members occasionally dig into their own pockets. "I am
motivated to teach and have so many ideas for my children," notes
Claudean Clariette, who teaches at-risk 6-year-olds at Klondike
Elementary School in inner-city Memphis. "I just wish I had the funds,
materials, and time to do these things." One morning following a winter
storm in Memphis, Clariette helped her students construct snowmen
using marshmallows, food coloring, and toothpicks - which she
bought herself. For children who need clothing, she has brought in
everything from underwear to overcoats.
Most local educators constantly look for creative ways to work with
their limited resources. Principal Karen Buchanan at Woodruff Elemen-
tary School in Little Rock faces special challenges. Seventy-four percent
of her students come from low-income families, and last year court-
ordered desegregation led to massive districtwide staff and student
reassignments; she began the 1987-88 school year with 14 teachers
(out of 17) new to Woodruff. But Buchanan has made her school a
cheerful place for teachers to do their best work and for children to
learn. To enrich the school's academic program, Woodruff joined in a
partnership with nearby Central High School, whose students and
teachers provide everything from peer tutoring to advice on how to
teach Latin to the entire Woodruff student body. She also spearheaded
efforts to physically enliven the 77-year-old school. Student artwork of
everything from leprechauns to snowflakes adorns the building's walls,
and last April, students painted a giant dinosaur on the school's drab
parking lot. As spring rains arrived, Buchanan explained, "We watched
the dinosaur become extinct."
Holmes credits Timberlane's large budget and teacher salary increases
this year to the line of argument district officials have used with the
school board:
We've tried to convince our board members that they
are going to pay the money anyway - either in the
long run or the short run. We've told them that it's
going to cost more if we don't reform the schools.
17
STATE LAWS AND
State laws and regulations create troubles in virtually all of the 16 dis-
REGULATIONS
tricts.
Teacher certification requirements, for example, can make it hard
for administrators to hire the people they would like to. Memphis Su-
perintendent Herenton reports that certification is a greater barrier in
recent years as the number of highly qualified teaching applicants has
dropped. "We have no trouble finding (applicants) who have mastered
the content," Herenton notes. "But many of them don't have all the re-
quired methods courses." Springdale is concerned about finding in-
structors appropriately certified to teach in its School-Within-a-School
an interdisciplinary program where one person might be needed to
teach history and philosophy, or math and science. In many places,
State funds cannot be used to pay teachers lacking the appropriate
credentials, and teachers' unions vehemently oppose hiring instructors
without them.
Several States, including New Jersey, use "alternative certification" to
attract new teachers who know their subject area but lack teacher
education coursework. Alternative certification programs offer
shortcuts and special training to noncertified individuals with at least a
bachelor's degree who wish to teach. In 1987, New Jersey's alternative
route program supplied 244 new teachers, or 15 percent of the State's
new teachers, including 2 in Paramus. Superintendent Galinsky tes-
tified in favor of the New Jersey program, which the New Jersey Educa-
tion Association initially opposed, and he worked with the
commissioner of education to implement it. The State's alternative cer-
tification candidates have scored higher on the National Teachers Ex-
amination than candidates in more traditional training programs.
State bilingual education laws have been an obstacle in Paramus,
where students speak 49 languages. State law requires every New Jer-
sey school district to provide bilingual instruction as soon as it enrolls
20 or more students in grades K-12 who speak a particular foreign lan-
guage. Galinsky says this law presents the district with logistical
problems, since student mobility constantly changes the number of stu-
dents enrolled who speak any one language. On a Monday, just 19 stu-
dents may speak Korean; on Tuesday, the arrival of a new family may
boost that number to 22, requiring the hiring of a new bilingual
teacher. Furthermore, Galinsky believes that some non-English-speak-
ing students progress better in "English as a Second Language" (ESL)
programs, which instruct these students solely in English, than they
do in bilingual programs.
To overcome this barrier, Galinsky drafted new legislation that would
provide districts with the option of providing either bilingual or ESL
programs to students, and he has gained support from many education
groups for this change. The bill is staunchly opposed by the leadership
of some Hispanic organizations, who believe many school districts
would eliminate bilingual programs, which they favor to educate their
18
children. The New Jersey legislature is expected to vote on the bill this
fall.
State vocational education laws have been cumbersome for Caul-
field from Union. New Jersey law requires districts to provide a set
package of vocational classes if the district wants to receive State
money to fund any of them. This means that a district with virtually no
students interested in architectural design may have to provide the
class anyway in order to get money for programs in dental technology
or computers that draw many students. Caulfield believes vocational
classes in Union have helped to told down the district's dropout rate.
However, he did not find a sympathetic ear when he sought permission
from the State's Panel on Secondary Vocational Education to receive
money for whatever classes the district provides. This was largely be-
cause panel members believe that Union students could just as easily
enroll in classes at a nearby county vocational facility. The State
Department of Education has indicated that districts might be given
more flexibility in the future to use the money as they see fit, although
this would first require a change in State law.
State course requirements bar reform, according to some
educators. All the superintendents want their students to master basic
academic skills, and some educators in these 16 districts believe that
strict course requirements are crucial to their doing SO. But others
believe that the districts should be able to decide for themselves how to
transmit the knowledge that their students need. Union, for example,
has a thriving junior Reserve Officer Training Corps program, which
Caulfield believes is much better at teaching geography to those en-
rolled than a more traditional geography program would be. He notes:
The ROTC kids would never sit still for a geography
lesson on latitude and longitude, but if you provide
them with a map-reading course, and then they go to
Fort Dix and lose their way in swamps and have to find
their way out, they will learn all the geography we
could ever want.
State laws controlling school facilities have been an obstacle in
Union and Paramus. Educators in both districts developed preschool
classes to aid students lagging behind their peers socially and academi-
cally. New Jersey requires each classroom with kindergartners or
younger students to contain its own bathroom - a measure intended
to prevent small children from roaming the hallways unescorted.
Paramus had five empty classrooms to accommodate the preschool
children, none of which contained its own toilet. However, teachers'
aides were available to accompany the youngsters to hallway
bathrooms a few feet outside the classrooms. Because installing one
toilet costs $20,000, Galinsky appealed for a waiver to the State
commissioner's office which, although sympathetic, did not approve his
request, requiring Galinsky to ask the Paramus School Board for an ad-
ditional $100,000. The district now has five classrooms with tiny toilets
19
scaled to accommodate their users, all unnecessary if the classrooms
are ever needed for older students.
FEDERAL LAWS AND
Educators in the 16 districts complain that Federal laws and regula-
REGULATIONS
tions are even harder to combat than State and local ones. Local
educators say their frustrations are greater with the Federal laws and
regulations because they seem less flexible, and because the educators
do not understand possible ways to circumvent them.
Educators complain about the Education for All Handicapped
Children Act of 1975 (P.L. 94-142), which aims to guarantee hand-
icapped children with equal educational opportunities. No one disputes
this goal. But they dislike the enormous amount of paperwork the law
engenders, and the time they must spend developing individualized
educational programs for each youngster diagnosed as handicapped.
The hours they spend filling out forms and developing the plans takes
time away from other aspects of their work, including school improve-
ment efforts.
Local school officials complain that Chapter 1 regulations are in-
flexible. For instance, educators in several districts have used Chapter
1 money to buy computers for children needing to improve their basic
skills, but the computers sit idle when Chapter 1 students are not avail-
able to use them. Some superintendents suggest the Federal regula-
tions be modified to allow non-Chapter 1 students to use the
unoccupied computers - with the clear understanding that the Chap-
ter 1 students be given the first priority.
Galinsky from Paramus has encountered problems in seeking Chapter
1 money to expand its preschool program to include at-risk 3-year-
olds. New Jersey favored using some Chapter 1 money to allow
Paramus to establish a model program for at-risk 3-year-olds. Because
some urban areas in New Jersey serve more low-income students than
Paramus, the New Jersey Department of Education urged Galinsky to
seek a waiver from the U.S. Department of Education. He was unsuc-
cessful, however, because the present law does not permit such
waivers, and an act of Congress would be required in order to grant
him one. So thus far, Paramus has been unable to expand its program.
TESTS
While most superintendents complain about Federal and State regula-
tions, many also believe that tests stifle reform. All 16 districts rely on
national standardized tests, often supplementing them with State- and
locally developed ones, to gauge the academic progress of their stu-
dents. Moreover, most believe that tests are the best gauge available to
measure student achievement. However, many of these educators com-
plain that the public and policymakers rely too heavily on tests to
evaluate reform efforts, and they criticize some for failing to measure
20
what district educators want their children to learn. Furthermore, this
reliance on tests encourages some teachers to teach to the tests.
Educators in urban districts with many low-income students also
resent the tests being used to compare them with districts educating
more prosperous students. Lewis from Memphis explains, "We get com-
pared with Oak Ridge, where the average kid comes from a home where
many parents have 4 years of college, and we have to deal with kids
whose folks can't even spell college." Some States and local districts cir-
cumvent this problem by providing information to compare districts
and schools whose students have similar economic backgrounds.
Some educators believe the large number of tests they are required to
administer drains finances and staff time. Memphis, for instance, gives
the California Achievement Test each fall and spring to students at all
grade levels; the Stanford Achievement Test each fall and spring to stu-
dents in grades 2, 5, 7, 9, and 12; and the Basic Skills Benchmark Test
in the spring only to children in grades 3, 6, and 8. In addition, all 9th
graders wanting to graduate from high school must take the Tennessee
Proficiency Test, and students moving from kindergarten to the 1st
grade also take a special test. The State mandates many of these tests,
but Lewis observes, "It's just too much. After awhile, the kids don't take
the tests seriously. They say, 'If this doesn't count on my grade, then
forget it. I'll just doodle on the paper."
TEACHERS' UNIONS
Teachers' unions are viewed as hindrances in some districts. Cito
from Montrose views tenure laws supported by union members as an
obstacle to guaranteeing consistently well-qualified teachers. Galinsky
from Paramus describes the New Jersey Education Association as "the
most powerful lobby in the State," and he says that any major reform
proposal lacking its support may be doomed. Furthermore, he notes,
local education organizations that try to move away from the policies
and practices of the State and national teachers' organizations are
usually pressured to toe the line.
The key to overcoming problems with the unions lies in involving them
in reform efforts, according to educators in these 16 districts. Principal
Hawks discovered this in planning for reform at Little Rock's Central
High School:
Whenever we have an issue that is going to butt up
against the union position, we call in the union
leadership. We tell them that in this building we are
going to need some leeway on things like work hours.
We tell them there is basic stuff in the contract that is
killing us, quite honestly, and that we're going to have
to deal with it. Then we form a committee. We've
found that if we're going to have any success at all, we
must include them in solutions.
21
SIZE
Large districts cite size as an impediment. Henley considers the
11,216-student Independence school system to be close to ideal. He ex-
plains:
In a district the size of Independence, you don't have
to spend all of your time running the school system,
and you have more time to spend on reform, more
time to do your homework, to get out and sell your
idea to the people who need to be sold on it. If you get
too big, the weight of the organization drags you down.
Educators in Memphis, with 107,000 students, agree. Lewis explains:
We had one visitor who told us he could come into
Memphis and straighten out all the problems in about
6 weeks, and I said, "Sir, it will take you longer than
that to find all the (158) school buildings."
The challenge to improve schools in large districts is compounded by
the fact that systems like Memphis or Little Rock tend to have more
students at risk for academic failure, and more special education stu-
dents. Some educators believe that the size barrier can be overcome by
restructuring schools - for example, by leaving more educational and
managerial decisions up to educators in individual buildings.
NEGATIVE
Negative community attitudes toward reform work against some
COMMUNITY
school improvement efforts. Community support is essential for major
ATTITUDES
changes - particularly costly ones. This becomes harder to obtain,
however, as the percentage of households with children enrolled in the
public schools dwindles. The shift in Paramus is similar to what one
finds in many districts; 30 years ago, about 75 percent of the
households had school-aged children; today, only about 13 percent do.
This change has required local educators to lobby harder for public
support.
A broader diversity of students has also increased the challenge of get-
ting community support. Some educators complain that the growth in
poor students has been accompanied by an increase in parents who
don't always understand the value of an education in a democratic
society. These parents spend more time worrying about paying rent
and buying groceries than they do their children's schooling. Cito from
Montrose explains:
There is a tremendous undercurrent in a lot of places
in our country of giving up - that this is what life is
going to be, and that it's not going to get any better.
Some of the parents figure that what was good enough
for them is good enough for their kids.
This attitude has created a gap in the expectations of some parents and
educators, according to Cito. His solution to this obstacle is as follows:
22
Schools must teach children that there's a world out
there. Through the curriculum, through field trips, you
get children to see the options - you let them know
that there is something besides the immediate reward
they get from having a car or a $2-an-hour job flipping
hamburgers.
NEGATIVE STAFF
Negative staff attitudes are equally hard for superintendents in some
ATTITUDES
districts to counteract. School officials often have a hard time breaking
away from tired approaches to try something new. Springdale Superin-
tendent Jim Rollins explains:
One of the great barriers is that we are products of a
very traditionally oriented system, and it's hard for us
to shake out of the mold and challenge ourselves to
look at some things differently. We say we are
committed to something new, but there's a growth
process needed to become comfortable with it. So it
takes a little time, and a willingness on the part of the
board, the superintendent, the principal, and the
teachers to push back the blinds and say, "Hey, this is
a possibility. We really need to give this a chance.
We're willing to take some risks here to put this in
place."
Little Rock educators involved in school improvement efforts at Central
High School have fought staff opposition to providing any one school
with special favors. If Central is to benefit from being paired with a
nearby elementary school, for example, some staff members at other
schools want their buildings to be offered a similar arrangement.
Barriers related to negative staff or community attitudes are best
fought with a barrage of information presented in an easily under-
standable way. Superintendent Melanson believes thorough training
helped the computers-for-teachers program get off the ground in the
White Mountains schools. To fire up reluctant teachers, he said:
We had them take their Apple IIe computer out of the
box, put it on the desk, and set it up. Then we had
them take a screwdriver and a pair of pliers, take the
cover off, strip the computer down, and put the chips
back in. They found out that the computer is nothing
but a dumb box with a bunch of bells and whistles -
that it's nothing to be afraid of. If you press the wrong
button, it's not going to blow up, and you won't either.
23
INADEQUATE Inadequate facilities are a hindrance in some districts.
FACILITIES
Montrose officials provided 24 computers for Olathe High School to use
in business education classes. After the computers arrived, however,
school officials learned that the electrical system in the 55-year-old
building was inadequate to drive them. If students use the computers
at the same time electric typewriters or a copying machine are running,
a fuse blows, knocking out the electricity in 8 of the school's 20 class-
rooms. District educators are working toward a solution.
Overcrowding presents problems in some districts. Whitehaven Elemen-
tary School in Memphis has a 500-student capacity but enrolls 900 stu-
dents. Each classroom contains the maximum number of students
allowed by State law, and a Chapter 1 program that teaches up to six
students at a time is housed in a tiny 8- by 10-foot area partitioned off
of the library. The rest of the overflow is housed in four portable class-
rooms.
LACK OF LEADERSHIP
A
lack of leadership continuity has slowed reform in some of the 16
CONTINUITY
districts. Governors in three of the eight States involved in Project
Education Reform have changed since the project began, and many of
the districts in those States complain that the new governors either
don't appear as interested in supporting their reform efforts, or that
reform efforts inevitably slowed while the new governors took time to
acclimate. Furthermore, 2 of the 16 superintendents have changed.
Galinksy of Paramus raises this question:
How do you keep the same level of commitment to an
activity when boards of education change, when the
people who owned it are gone, when a new
superintendent comes into the district who doesn't
identify with the priorities that someone else
established, and needs his or her own agenda to live
by?
Of the nine board members present when Galinsky became superinten-
dent 3 years ago, just two remain.
A key to alleviating this barrier lies in establishing broad support for a
new program as rapidly as possible, lessening the loss if one person
leaves. Springdale teachers believe that the School-Within-a-School
program initially was too closely identified with the high school's former
principal. When he left halfway through the program's first year, some
Springdale educators and parents felt that support for it dwindled,
requiring the district to exert extra effort to regain community trust.
24
THE PARTNERSHIP
Working separately, Federal officials, governors, and local educators
have all tried to improve American schools. But seldom have the three
levels of policymakers collaborated to bring about reform.
Project Education Reform was conceived both as a way to establish
educational laboratories for reform and as an experiment to solve
educational problems collectively. How well has the partnership
worked?
Have educators in the 16 districts and their students benefited from
the partnership? Have the governors and U.S. Department of Educa-
tion officials been able to help local districts remove barriers that im-
pede reform? In return, have the local districts improved educational
services and achievement?
After 2 years, all three partners still believe this joint venture is a
sound idea and look forward to continuing the collaboration. However,
the 16 districts' experiences with the partnership have been uneven.
For example:
Some local educators praise the partnership for bringing them
media attention. A television network visited Union to film a feature on
school improvement shortly after the New Jersey district was selected
as 1 of the 16 districts, and last May Newsweek magazine ran a cover
story on reform efforts in Orangeburg. Other districts, however, say
media interest has been negligible, and suggested that the U.S. Depart-
ment of Education and their governors' offices help showcase their ef-
forts so that other districts can learn about their experiences. More
visits from the U.S. Secretary of Education (who has already travelled
to 5 of the 16 districts) or from the governors might also draw them at-
tention, they advised. Some also suggested that the National
Governors' Association do more to publicize the project.
Some local school officials say the partnership has accelerated
their reform efforts; Oak Ridge educators, for example, noted that they
would not have purchased computers for use in typing classes as soon
as they did if the district had not been selected as 1 of the 16 par-
ticipants. Educators in other districts, however, said that with or
without the partnership, they probably would implement the same new
programs on about the same schedule.
Some educators, particularly those in the smaller districts, say
the partnership has been a good staff morale-booster. Others, including
Memphis, note that their district is SO large that most of the staff do
not even know that Project Education Reform exists.
Educators in some districts admit to being less committed to the
partnership than are others. Those with a limited commitment say this
stems in part from their not receiving additional money to participate.
Without a financial incentive, educators are inclined to place priorities
elsewhere, they said.
25
Some local educators praise the attention they have received
from their governors. Little Rock educators say that a meeting that
Arkansas Governor Clinton called with them and State department of
education officials to discuss reform efforts at Central High School
helped to spur them into further action. And superintendents in New
Hampshire said Governor John Sununu's office has responded rapidly
to their requests. School officials in some of the 16 districts, however
(particularly those in States where the governors have changed since
Project Education Reform began), complain of feeling ignored.
Some districts have yet to approach their governors for help. Nor have
some made significant use of outside resources. (The U.S. Department
of Education provided the 16 districts with a list of national experts
who can provide suggestions for their programs, and has encouraged
the local educators to contact education regional laboratories funded
by the Federal government for further guidance.) A long-standing tradi-
tion of self-sufficiency appears to hold them back. Cito of Montrose ex-
plains:
You are looking at 16 superintendents who have always
operated on their own. They are willing to share, and
they are willing to work with each other and with the
governors and the U.S. Department of Education, but
on a day-to-day basis, they are going to get the job
done, and they are going to use the resources they are
most used to using.
Some of those districts that have gone to their governors for help,
however, report that their State leaders have been unable to bring
down barriers to reform. Most say the governors (and State department
of education officials) have tried to cooperate when asked to do so. But
some superintendents believe the governors were naive in assuming
they possessed the power to overcome the hurdles, particularly those
involving Federal rules and regulations. "The governors found out that
it's a lot more complex a process to remove barriers than they originally
anticipated," said Galinsky of Paramus.
The local districts generally give the U.S. Department of Education
kudos for its role in the partnership, particularly the Office of Inter-
governmental and Interagency Affairs, headed by Peter Greer (formerly
the superintendent in Portland, Maine). Local educators said they
benefited from several meetings, to which representatives from the 16
districts and the governors' offices were invited, that enabled par-
ticipants to discuss their programs and problems and gather ideas to
resolve them. Local educators laud these meetings for exposing them to
the thinking of their colleagues, the National Governors' Association,
and to key staff people at the U.S. Department of Education.
Local educators cite one major area in which they now need help from
governors' offices and the U.S. Department of Education - evaluation.
Some local educators feel incapable of devising ways to judge their own
26
programs and furthermore believe that any such attempt would be self-
serving. Without external help, these educators say they would never
fully understand how well these new programs could serve their
children.
The superintendent in one district urges the governors and the U.S.
Department of Education to goad the 16 districts more often in order to
speed along reforms. Herenton of Memphis explains:
When you run a dynamic urban system like Memphis,
and you have so many pressures being exerted on you
- a funding crisis, a stabbing, controversy over an
AIDS curriculum - your priorities shift (away from
reform). To keep the reform measures in the forefront,
someone's got to keep prodding the districts to stay on
task.
RESULTS
Recent reports on education reform often list steps that lead to better
schools and higher student achievement; they recommend, for ex-
ample, that special programs be created and that certain courses be re-
quired. These reports focus on process. Unfortunately, the reports have
focused less on what matters the most - results.
For schools to improve, many educators believe that these priorities
must be reordered. When Project Education Reform began 2 years ago,
Governor Kean of New Jersey explained:
We don't care half so much about particular programs
as we do about the results. We want to encourage an
attitude that sets high standards and then gives people
close to the job the freedom to pick the best methods
to achieve those targets.
This challenge has been among the greatest of any faced by educators
in these 16 districts, for the following reasons:
Despite ongoing debate since A Nation at Risk launched the
school reform movement in 1983, educators and policymakers have yet
to agree on standards by which to measure excellence. Some say this
discourages them from undertaking full-scale evaluations; they argue
that if nobody can decide what the indicators of success should be,
then evaluations aren't meaningful.
Evaluations can be expensive and time-consuming. The White
Mountains schools, with 1,566 students, consulted a University of New
Hampshire professor about evaluating the district's computers-for-
teachers program because they felt they lacked the internal expertise.
District officials didn't pursue the possibility of seeking local tax funds
when they heard the price tag - $16,000. Many innovative programs
in the 16 districts have not operated long enough to evaluate. For ex-
ample, Memphis would have to conduct a longitudinal study of its stu-
27
dents enrolled in a new preschool program to tell if those enrolled do
better than those who are not.
Many new programs do not easily lend themselves to objective
evaluations. A program to hold at-risk teenagers in school is relatively
easy to judge; school officials can determine what the dropout rate was
when the program began and what it is at a later time. (It is more com-
plicated to determine what aspects of the program caused the rate to
decline.) A program to evaluate the effectiveness of principals, however,
is harder to judge. How, for example, can one evaluate integrity? Or an
ability to manage conflict?
In short, some educators in these 16 districts consider themselves
neophytes at measuring results. They continue to rely heavily on stand-
ardized test scores - and they expect to continue doing so, since the
scores provide a measure that both educators and the public under-
stands. Furthermore, they believe that well-developed tests that
measure what educators want children to know can be extraordinarily
helpful.
But many officials in these 16 districts also believe that policymakers
and the public are too quick to rely solely on test scores, and that all
too often they fail to recognize their limitations. Lewis from Memphis ex-
plains, "If we could only get people to understand that effects of educa-
tion are not as measurable as LeBarons coming off the Chrysler
assembly line." Many educators in these local districts agree that
educators and policymakers together must pursue additional ways to
evaluate programs.
Despite these difficulties with evaluations, some of the 16 districts have
completed good ones. (Significantly, many of the best were conducted
by a person or organization not employed by the school district and
were paid for with grants or other nondistrict funds.) Among them:
Provo obtained a grant for an outside research institute to
evaluate its year-round schools. Utah's finances are on a collision
course with its demographics, forcing State officials to find more effi-
cient ways to house students and making such an evaluation par-
ticularly timely: The student population is growing faster than in any
other State in the Nation, while per pupil expenditures are 50th and
per capita income is 47th out of 50 States.
The institute surveyed about 300 families with children enrolled in
Provo's year-round schools, as well as virtually all of the teachers in
two of the district's three year-round schools. Evaluators learned that
about 73 percent of the parents liked the school schedule, 20 percent
were lukewarm, and about 7 percent disliked it. Evaluators also
learned that the year-round schedule created childcare problems for
some parents. Furthermore, although this was not a major problem,
the schools prevented some students from participating in summer
recreational programs with friends enrolled in schools with traditional
vacations. (To alleviate this problem, the district has developed interses-
28
sion activities for youngsters enrolled in the year-round schools.) With
regard to academic achievement, youngsters enrolled in the year-round
schools appear to do as well or slightly better than their peers in
schools with traditional schedules.
Salt Lake City conducted an internal study of its 1987 summer
school program for at-risk students. The program enrolled 540
youngsters at 5 schools, and classes were taught by "career ladder"
teachers who received extra pay for their 30 extra half-days of work.
The evaluation concluded that the students made good academic gains,
that their attendance was fairly high, and that they generally had more
positive attitudes towards school at the end of the summer school ses-
sion than they did at the beginning. Teachers surveyed felt the inser-
vice training they received ahead of time was helpful (although they
suggested some areas where the training needing revision), and the
summer school was found to have operated within its budget. Salt Lake
educators now plan to follow the summer school enrollees to see if they
sustain their gains.
Evaluations of specific programs like the ones in Provo and Salt Lake
are the exception rather than the rule. Educators in the 16 districts are
more inclined to judge results by looking at overall district trends.
Orangeburg, for example, carefully tracks student test scores. The per-
centage of 4th-grade students receiving a composite score above the
50th national percentile on the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills
zoomed from 14 percent to 58 percent between 1975 and 1988. Other
scores have risen similarly. And the yearly dropout rate for Orangeburg
students plummeted from 8.6 percent in 1984 to 2.5 percent in 1987;
all but seven of the 1987 seniors graduated. Superintendent Wilsford
cannot point to any one program or innovation as the cause of these
improvements, but he assumes they reflect a combination of factors:
A no-nonsense high school principal, who patrols the hallways of
the 2, 100-student high school with a walkie-talkie;
Boosted staff morale stemming partly from the improved test
scores and from the State and Federal awards the district has
received in the past few years;
Computerized records that have helped school officials track
absentee students;
Increased parental involvement (high school teachers must meet
or talk with at least four parents a month);
An enormous district investment in computers, which provide
remedial instruction to academically needy students;
School and business partnerships; and
Closer monitoring of the faculty.
29
Finally, when a visitor asks to be shown indications in some districts
that school improvement efforts are succeeding, he or she is guided not
to a research and development office to discuss evaluations or test
score results, but into classrooms to observe and talk with students.
Mapleton enrolls 120 at its alternative school for youngsters who have
dropped out or are failing in a traditional program. District educators
believe all would drop out from a regular school setting, but here a
large number earn a regular diploma or a General Educational Develop-
ment (GED) certificate. Those enrolled include 19-year-old Joe Torrez,
who took time out from a mathematics assignment he was completing
on a computer to explain, "I was falling behind [at nearby Thornton
High School]. I couldn't get in the groove. I was going to quit." He likes
the alternative program because here he can work at his own pace and
maintain the flexible schedule he needs to work part time. He was
scheduled to graduate this spring.
CONCLUSION
The 16 districts involved in Project Education Reform have not yet
achieved all that they would like. Some of their plans to improve
schools have barely begun. "We're poised - but what's needed now is
strong follow-through," Lewis of Memphis explains. Some have en-
countered roadblocks on the highway to reform that they have yet to
surmount. Quantitative evaluations of their reform efforts are few.
But these districts inspire hope among people who fret about American
education. Galinsky from Paramus is optimistic: "When this project is
assessed, I think the governors and [U.S.] Secretary of Education
Bennett will be able to point to the 16 districts and say, 'Here are
places where things did happen." Capable and dedicated educators are
on payrolls in each of the 16 - educators who are starting to take the
risks needed to improve American schools. "There's a tremendous pres-
sure for status quo - and we must continue to find ways to break
through that, because it's not going to get us where we need to be in
the future," explains Cito of Montrose.
These educators express one great concern - that education reform
will lose its allure, that the public and policymakers will turn their at-
tention to other issues before real change has time to occur. Galinsky
notes:
The governors need to keep education on the front
burner - it cannot be an election-year-only agenda
item. When the importance of education and
educational reform is no longer the highest priority,
I'd predict that a lot of these efforts will dry up.
30
Some of the governors have committed themselves to doing just that.
Utah Governor Norman Bangerter explains:
Education practices of the past have served us well,
but the days of the little red schoolhouse are gone. The
5 years since the issuing of A Nation at Risk have
produced many changes for education in Utah. It has
not been "business as usual" in the schools. In spite of
all the changes that have occurred, it is imperative
that the momentum for reform continue, as there is
yet much to be done. I am confident that the
pioneering spirit that has propelled this country to
greatness for the past two centuries will prevail and we
will see a restructuring of schools to fit our students
for the 21st century.
This is the challenge during the current wave of education reform - to
remain focused on our Nation's children, to learn from the experiences
of these 16 and other districts committed to better schools, and to
push toward new frontiers.
31
PART 2
PROGRAMS To IMPROVE AMERICAN SCHOOLS
VISITS To 16
The 16 districts participating in Project Education Reform have
SCHOOL DISTRICTS
developed a vast array of programs that fit 13 recommendations from
Time for Results to improve the Nation's schools. The triumphs and
troubles each district encountered while doing so are described in this
section. Some of the programs break more new ground than others,
partly because what one district considers innovative may be long-es-
tablished practice in another. Most of the programs were designed to
meet the singular needs of each school system; therefore, a program
that succeeds in Orangeburg, South Carolina, may be unsuitable for
Provo, Utah. But however great the districts' differences, their leaders
still believe that their reform efforts have taught them much that can
benefit anyone eager to provide American youngsters with top-quality
schools.
Good schools - and innovative educational programs - do not develop
quickly; the best ones evolve over months and years. The following
descriptions reflect what a U.S. Department of Education analyst and
writer discovered in these districts between December 1987 and March
1988. "Come back again in 1991 - during the final year of Project
Education Reform," one superintendent urged the visitor. "We'll have
lots going on that we haven't even started. Our programs will be greatly
improved."
ARKANSAS Arkansas is the one State among the eight participating in Project
Education Reform whose stories of reform involve two schools instead
of two districts. Governor Bill Clinton explains why:
We want schools in which curiosity and imagination
are valued, where intellectual risk-taking is
encouraged, where school personnel at all levels work
as a team toward one goal. While working on the
leadership section of the National Governors'
Association's Time for Results report, I developed a
strong belief that school-based management can
accomplish those goals by developing leaders from
within the schools and classrooms, where learning
actually takes place. That is why Arkansas chose
schools, rather than school districts, for the model
schools project.
33
LITTLE ROCK
LOCATION:
Central Arkansas
TYPE OF DISTRICT:
Urban
STUDENT ENROLLMENT:
27,000
RACIAL MIX:
70 percent black, 30 percent white
STUDENTS RECEIVING FREE- AND
REDUCED-PRICE LUNCH:
43 percent
REFORM AREA:
School-based management
In 1958, Central High School symbolized all that was wrong with
American education. That year the school made international
newspaper headlines when Governor Orval Faubus tried to defy the
U.S. Supreme Court's order to integrate the Little Rock public schools
by ordering the Arkansas National Guard to bar the entry of nine black
students to Central. When riots ensued, the district closed for the
remainder of the 1958-59 school year.
Today, enrollment at Central is 59 percent black, and the school,
which stands in an inner city Little Rock neighborhood, is thought by
many to be a model of race relations. It offers a choice of 130 courses,
including five modern and classical foreign languages. During the past
7 years, it has produced about 10 percent of Arkansas' National Merit
Semifinalists, and it sends its graduates to many of the Nation's most
competitive colleges and universities.
Central High School is now attempting further strides. During the
1987-88 school year, it took steps to improve its curriculum. Teachers
developed several new courses, including ones in physical geology, an
American Studies seminar, and a Writing for Success program. It in-
cludes everything in the regular English class, but it also teaches stu-
dents the connection between reading and writing by (among other
things) having them keep journals, conduct research for writing
projects, and edit each other's copy. Central also formed a partnership
with Woodruff Elementary School, a nearby inner-city elementary
school, enabling Central staff members to teach science classes at
Woodruff and to teach the elementary school's 4th through 6th grade
teachers enough Latin SO they in turn can instruct their students. Next
year, after transportation problems have been ironed out, Central stu-
dents will become mentors and tutors to Woodruff students. The two
student councils also plan to work together on some projects, and
Central's journalism department will help Woodruff students produce
the school newspaper.
During the 1988-89 school year, school officials expect more far-reach-
ing reforms. Principal Everett Hawks has formed a committee of
teachers and staff members to develop what Little Rock School Board
Member Skip Rutherford describes as "the definitive model of site-
based management for Arkansas" - one that will enable principals and
34
their staffs to make more decisions about management and education
in their schools. Central staff members delayed such changes this past
year because of upheaval resulting from a teachers' strike, the appoint-
ment of a new superintendent, and a court desegregation order that
prompted massive staff and student reassignments throughout the dis-
trict. Although the committee has yet to work out details, Rutherford
and Hawks have ideas for what the model might include:
Ways for teachers to be more involved in decisions that affect
them;
Teachers serving as mentors for students;
An evaluation system in which students evaluate teachers and
the principal, and everyone evaluates him- or herself;
Plans to reduce the dropout rate (which remains troublingly
high, particularly among black students); and
Plans to create more of a community atmosphere (for example,
by having teachers become more involved in nonacademic
activities or creating one big lunch period, at the final portion of
which special instructional or entertainment programs could be
scheduled).
The greatest challenge facing Hawks is to get staff support for the
reforms, some of which veer from provisions in the teachers' contract.
Efforts got off to a shaky start last year when the district's administra-
tion rejected a proposed list of changes that a committee of Central
teachers favored. Some staff members now say this dampened their en-
thusiasm for reform. (Rutherford said the suggestions were turned
down not so much because the district administration opposed them,
but because with so much district-wide upheaval "their boats were
loaded" and they were unprepared to handle any more change.)
Despite this setback, considerable support from the superintendent on
down the hierarchy can be found for school-based management in Lit-
tle Rock. Superintendent George Cannon believes that school-by-school
decisionmaking is particularly important in a fairly large district like
Little Rock, whose schools have such varying needs. But in exchange
for granting principals and their staffs more authority to guide their
own destinies, he says, they must then be held accountable for what
35
their students achieve. Cannon suggests several ways to gauge suc-
cess: test scores, the dropout and attendance rates, and student par-
ticipation in activities. As Central's school-based planning progresses,
he says, the district administration will keep tabs on these indicators.
CONTACT:
George Cannon
Superintendent
810 West Markham Street
Little Rock, Arkansas 72201
(501) 374-3361
Everett Hawks
Principal
Central High School
14th and Park Streets
Little Rock, Arkansas 72202
(501) 376-4751
SPRINGDALE
LOCATION:
Northwest Arkansas
TYPE OF DISTRICT:
Small city/rural
STUDENT ENROLLMENT:
7,366
RACIAL MIX:
99.5 percent white
STUDENTS RECEIVING FREE- AND
REDUCED-PRICE LUNCH:
20 percent
REFORM AREA:
Redesigning the schools
A sign on a bulletin board in one of Springdale's School-Within-a-
School classrooms reads, "S.W.S. - Making the Connections."
Another nearby lists "The Basics of Tomorrow":
Evaluation and analysis skills;
Critical thinking;
Synthesis;
Organization and reference skills;
Problem-solving strategies;
Decisionmaking;
Application;
Creativity; and
Communication skills through a variety of modes.
36
Welcome to one of four classrooms within Springdale High School,
where instructors are using new methods to teach these things to the
55 students enrolled.
During the spring of 1985, the former principal at Springdale High
School attended a seminar at which educator and author Theodore
Sizer discussed problems outlined in his book, Horace's Compromise:
The Dilemma of the American High School. Springdale High School ap-
peared to suffer from similar problems, which ranged from tracking stu-
dents in homogeneous groups to developing students who passively
move through their school days with unengaged minds. So soon after
the seminar, school officials sought permission to proceed with an ex-
perimental program. The district applied for and received a 3-year
matching grant from the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation to help
defray costs, and the School-Within-a-School opened its doors at the
start of the 1986-87 school year.
In structuring the program, the former principal and teachers were
guided by many of Sizer's tenets: for example, that teaching and learn-
ing should be personalized, and that teachers should be "coaches" and
students "workers," enabling the latter to learn how to learn. The
school's philosophy is that it is less important to move superficially
through a 500-page biology book than it is to thoroughly understand a
part of it - and the process of learning science.
Students take four interdisciplinary classes - Inquiry and Expression,
Literature and the Fine Arts, History and Philosophy, and Science.
They also enroll in math and electives within the regular curriculum.
The School-Within-a-School teachers meet daily to plan joint lessons
and discuss mutual concerns. To begin the 1987-88 year, students
studied the theme "Choices and Consequences" in all of their School-
Within-a-School classes. For example, in the science class, the teacher
covered such issues as the source of foods and their nutritional values.
The history and philosophy class drew on examples from economics
and world history to help students understand the economic and cul-
tural consequences of decisions regarding foods.
The School-Within-a-School is a major shift from traditional education;
not surprisingly, it has encountered some difficulties. Sizer suggested
basic tenets to follow, but left it to local districts to decide for themsel-
ves how to implement them. Consequently, the four teachers in
Springdale struggled a bit when the program began - and now admit
that they would encourage the administration to delay starting the
program if they had it to do over SO that plans could first be more firm-
ly cemented. The program also suffered a setback when the principal
left halfway through the first year; he was replaced by an interim prin-
cipal, who in turn was replaced by a permanent principal, Harry Wil-
son, in September 1987. Initially, the program enrolled about 80
students, some drawn less by a belief in the School-Within-a-School
philosophy than by a dislike of the regular school. Most of those who
did not support School-Within-a-School goals eventually left the
37
program, reducing enrollment to 55. School officials would prefer a
larger enrollment and hope next school year to return to 80 students.
Furthermore, the School-Within-a-School teachers report feeling some-
what isolated from the rest of Springdale High School, although their
classrooms are in the midst of it; they say that many of the other
teachers don't really understand what the four are trying to ac-
complish. Efforts are now underway to overcome this problem.
Despite these difficulties, the students, parents, and teachers involved
with the school today are overwhelmingly enthusiastic. "We learn to
use our minds," sophomore Jeff Tate told a visitor, echoing the senti-
ments of many of his classmates. Grace Donoho, whose daughter, Amy,
is enrolled in the program, adds:
This fits with my feelings about education. I like the
interdisciplinary approach - the kids learn that one
thing relates to another. I like the family aspect of the
program. Teachers are not only teachers, but
counselors. They listen, and they are tuned into the
students.
Furthermore, Donoho reports, because Amy has improved her reason-
ing skills, "It's much more difficult for me to argue with her now."
Teacher Fran Flynt sums up what she likes best about the program:
"I'm teaching my students to be students for life."
The program has funds to continue in its current structure through at
least the end of the 1988-89 school year. An ongoing evaluation of the
School-Within-a-School will determine whether to maintain the
program in its present form or in an altered one. Whatever the evalua-
tion shows, Superintendent Jim Rollins believes that the best aspects
of the program - developing students' abilities to think critically, for ex-
ample - should be incorporated into far more American high school
classrooms.
CONTACT:
Jim Rollins
Superintendent
Springdale School District #50
202 West Emma Avenue
P.O. Box 8
Springdale, Arkansas 72765-0008
(501) 751-9293
Harry Wilson
Principal
Springdale High School
1103 West Emma Avenue
Springdale, Arkansas 72764
(505) 751-4838
38
COLORADO
The school class that will graduate in the year 2000
entered kindergarten last year. These future high
school graduates will encounter increasingly competi-
tive environments. We've got to do better at educating
all our youth to prepare them for the world of the
future.
Governor Roy Romer
MAPLETON
LOCATION:
Suburban Denver
TYPE OF DISTRICT:
Urban/suburban
STUDENT ENROLLMENT:
5,000
RACIAL MIX:
69 percent white, 25 percent Hispanic, 6 percent other
STUDENTS RECEIVING FREE- AND
REDUCED-PRICE LUNCH:
29 percent
REFORM AREAS:
Technology
Early childhood programs for at-risk youngsters
Droput prevention
At Monterey Elementary School in suburban Denver, 30 children have
been loaned computers to take home. Under the watchful eye of their
parents, these youngsters can practice mathematics and reading and
play educational games. Their parents have received computer training
in order to guide their children effectively. Principal Robert Seno
reports that this experimental program has many beneficiaries:
The students, most of whom lag behind their peers academically,
can spend extra time mastering basic skills;
The Monterey staff is rewarded because its students progress
faster; and
The parents learn to use computers and become more involved
with their children's education.
A survey of parents found that an overwhelming majority liked the take-
home program and felt that their children had learned from it. A com-
puter company, Prescriptive Learning, paid the program's $19,000 cost
during the 1987-88 school year; in the future, the district hopes to con-
tinue the program with other funding.
This take-home computer program is just part of a comprehensive plan
that Mapleton school officials have initiated to introduce their students
and staff to educational technology. By using computers, the district
aims to make learning more attractive to students, and to help prin-
cipals, teachers, parents, and students assess students' academic
progress more efficiently. Superintendent Jack Blendinger reports that
39
during the past school year, 38 percent of all students and 48 percent
of junior high and high school students used computers daily.
At the secondary level, computers are used largely to provide individual-
ized remedial instruction and to gauge students' academic progress.
Students who test at least 1 year below grade level use the Prescription
Learning program, which on average enables students to progress at
least one grade level for every 40 hours of classwork. In addition, an
Ideal Learning program provides instruction in reading and mathe-
matics (including algebra, geometry, trigonometry, calculus, and math
analysis), language arts, Spanish, German, and physics. Business
education, computer programming, and advanced writing classes also
use computers. At the elementary level, computers are used to provide
students with academic instruction as well as detailed report cards.
To address the needs of at-risk 3- and 4-year-olds, the Mapleton
schools developed a special preschool program. Three-year-olds come
twice a week for 2 hours and 4-year-olds come three times a week for 2
hours of instruction that Program Audiologist Jan Murphy describes as
"very child-centered
We turn situations back to the kids and ask
them, 'How would you do this?' so they can start to depend on themsel-
ves." The program helps the youngsters become more comfortable with
other children and adults and helps prepare them for kindergarten.
"We want them to have a positive self-image and develop good feelings
about learning," Murphy explained. Each day begins with a welcome
period, after which they spend time in small groups with an adult to
plan what they will do for the day. Next they move to work time, during
which they complete an activity (one day last February, most students
used sponges to paint blue and red dinosaurs) and they conclude with
a recall period, when they talk about what they did. At the end of the
1987-88 school year, the district planned to survey teachers and
parents to gather subjective evidence of student growth. In the future,
the district may also conduct a more quantitative evaluation.
A broad array of programs in Mapleton, ranging from a teen parent
program to a peer counseling program, aims to reduce the 7 percent an-
nual dropout rate. One program within Highland High School serves 76
teenagers, most of whom earned F's in the 9th grade, have attendance
and discipline problems, and received test scores 2 years below grade
level. Before this program began a year ago, these students usually
caused problems during the first 9 weeks of school, after which they
dropped out, according to Principal Billy Hufford. In this special
program, students typically meet as a group at the start of each day for
a short silent reading period, after which announcements are made
and the daily schedule is announced. Students then divide into four
groups for instruction in science, English, math, and special education
(which provides them with chances to explore careers and receive any
special help they need). On most days, they attend all four classes, but
the schedule is flexible enough to provide, for example, a science class
long enough for students to go on a field trip.
40
An alternative program outside the regular high school serves students
who generally have more severe learning and behavior problems. Many
of these students previously dropped out and are returning to earn a
regular or a General Educational Development diploma. The 120
youngsters enrolled, who come not only from the Mapleton Public
Schools but from throughout the area, have included everyone from
armed robbers to emotionally troubled teens. In the alternative school,
they receive a basic educational program and lots of individual
academic help, and counselors are available to work with them on
problems ranging from pregnancies to family suicides. Students enter-
ing the program sign a detailed agreement, which spells out everything
from attendance requirements (a minimum of 5 classes a day or 25
classes in any week); to the school's drug policy (students caught using
drugs in school are suspended). About one-third of those who enter the
program, which has operated for 12 years, eventually earn a diploma,
few of whom would do so at the traditional high school.
The Mapleton schools are also exploring the possibility of a partnership
with universities and businesses. Thus far, nine companies have ex-
pressed an interest in the concept.
CONTACT:
Jack Blendinger
Superintendent
Mapleton Public Schools
591 East 80th Street
Denver, Colorado 80229
(303) 288-6681
MONTROSE
LOCATION:
Western Colorado
TYPE OF DISTRICT:
Small city/rural
STUDENT ENROLLMENT:
4,300
RACIAL MIX:
86 percent white, 13 percent Hispanic, 1 percent other
STUDENTS RECEIVING FREE- AND
REDUCED-PRICE LUNCH:
35 percent
REFORM AREAS:
Parent and community involvement
Redesigning schools
Dropout prevention
Until 2 years ago, most of the maps hanging in Montrose classrooms
still contained the Belgian Congo. No matter that the African country
has not been been called by that name since 1960, or that it has been
the Republic of Zaire since 1971; Montrose had no money to replace
the old maps with new ones.
41
Enter the Montrose Academic Booster Club, which for the past 4 years
has responded to just this kind of need. The club is a nonprofit group
with about 400 members. It stresses the importance of academic excel-
lence and provides teachers with money for new programs that en-
hance the curriculum in areas from science to music to math. Its
members include everyone from parents, who might contribute $15 a
year, to banks and wealthy individuals, who might contribute
anywhere from $500 to $1,000. Teachers, administrators, and other
community residents also belong.
In one important respect, the booster club is typical of many reform ef-
forts in Montrose: it is based on a belief that successful schools require
parents, teachers, administrators, and community members to assume
nontraditional duties. Superintendent Robert Cito explains, "This is not
a shift but an expansion of responsibilities, and a more enlightened
sense of each individual's responsibility in the education process." The
booster club, like other efforts in Montrose that attempt to involve more
parents, enables the schools to respond more effectively to community
needs.
Significantly, the booster club is governed not by the district, but by a
board of 12 community members. Since the club began, it has pumped
more than $65,000 in grants into the public schools. The club will not
pay for items like textbooks that should come out of the district's
general operating budget. But it will pay for special items like airfare
for a student to attend a national speech competition or new maps for
Montrose classrooms. On behalf of teachers frustrated with the out-of-
date maps, the club launched a Montrose Maps the World campaign,
which netted $18,000 to replace them, an amount the school district
matched. The organization also contains a committee to recognize stu-
dent academic achievement.
In other efforts to involve more parents, each Montrose school has es-
tablished a Parent Advisory Committee composed of parents and
teachers who meet regularly to talk about the curriculum, school
policies, activities, goals, and facilities. Each committee selects one
member to serve on the systemwide Accountability Committee, which
discusses the same topics from a district perspective. A community
task force was also established recently to study the mid-level grades in
Montrose. As a result of its recommendations and those of teachers,
the district has reorganized the grade configurations of its schools.
Efforts to redesign the schools in Montrose require staff members to
step out of traditional roles by becoming more involved in decisions
that affect them. "It works to everyone's benefit to give our teachers a
stake in all aspects of education, from the selection of materials to the
configuration of our schools," Cito says. Therefore, teachers are actively
involved in ongoing development of the curriculum, which is revised
every 6 years. Teachers from each school and grade level serve on
teams, each of which sets objectives for the students in a specific cur-
riculum area, decides what matter should be taught and in what order,
42
and selects materials. Teachers have also been actively involved in
recent decisions to reorganize grade configurations: this fall, the eight
elementary schools will house kindergarten through 5th grades; the
two middle schools 6th and 7th grades; the one junior high 8th and
9th grades; and the two high schools 10th through 12th grades.
Teachers designed everything from curricula to attendance policies to
extracurricular activities in these restructured schools. Finally,
teachers help hire teachers and administrators, and they participate in
a peer analysis program that enables them to constructively critique
each other.
To reduce the dropout rate, Montrose began developing a comprehen-
sive program in 1986 when 12 percent of its students left school. A
task force of 18 community people developed a strategy to identify
potential dropouts and deal with those who had already left school.
With a grant from the Colorado legislature, the district then hired a full-
time dropout prevention program director. Within 18 months after the
comprehensive program began, the dropout rate in Montrose had fallen
to 6 percent, which school officials attribute to a range of activities:
tutor and mentor programs, workshops for students to teach study
skills and parenting skills, teacher training workshops, and an ex-
panded counseling program. A program called "Community for Drug-
free Youth" was also organized.
In addition, the dropout prevention program led to the creation of a
summer school program for at-risk students in grades 5 through 8.
Students attend classes for 4 days a week for 5 weeks. Following break-
fast and a morning meeting, students receive 3 hours of intensive help
in listening, reading, speaking, writing, and vocabulary. After lunch,
students attend two 1-hour sessions of Spanish culture, computers,
drama, or tae kwon do, a Korean martial art resembling karate.
Teachers are carefully selected, and the curriculum is designed to em-
phasize "hands-on" activities. During the 1987 summer, the 60 par-
ticipants improved their reading achievement levels by an average of 1
year and 3 months.
To provide students aged 16 to 21 with another opportunity to obtain a
high school diploma, the district began a Second Chance program. It
provides flexible hours to accommodate students with varying
schedules, as well as materials adapted to the participants' different
needs and abilities. Some of the young adults enrolled never received a
diploma and return for a GED. Others received a diploma but didn't ac-
quire sufficient basic skills to do well in the work world. "We say that if
[a hardware store] hires someone who cannot read the instructions to
put a lawnmower together, and they have a diploma from Montrose,
then we've cheated that youngster," Cito explained. The superintendent
asks area employers to keep these young people on their payrolls, but
send them back to school after work hours at the district's expense to
learn what they missed the first time.
43
Other dropout prevention efforts include an elementary school program
to boost self-esteem, a community tutor and mentor program to help at-
risk students, and a peer counseling program.
CONTACT:
Robert Cito
Superintendent
Montrose County School District
126 South 5th Street
P.O. Box 219
Montrose, Colorado 81402
(303) 249-7726
MISSOURI
Project Education Reform is a vital part of our overall
effort to make Missouri schools better, and to make
Missouri's future brighter.
Governor John Ashcroft
COLUMBIA
LOCATION:
Central Missouri
TYPE OF DISTRICT:
Medium-sized city
STUDENT ENROLLMENT:
12,020
RACIAL MIX:
87 percent white, 12 percent black, 1 percent other
STUDENTS REEIVING FREE- AND
REDUCED-PRICE LUNCH:
27 percent
REFORM AREAS:
Programs for parents of preschool children
Parent involvement
Training programs for administrators involving partnerships
Dropout prevention programs
Since 1960, the Columbia Public Schools have held 16 tax referenda
and bond issues. Voters have said yes to all of them - by an average
margin of nearly 4 to 1. Such a record reflects the support that this
Missouri community has historically lent its public schools. Today, 75
percent of the adult population has attended college (56 percent have
graduated), and half of the adults are employed in medicine or educa-
tion (Columbia is home to several academic institutions, including the
University of Missouri).
School officials believe this environment eases reform efforts because
the community wants better schools. In an effort to provide them, the
district has created programs for parents of preschool youngsters and
has developed ways to involve parents more in their children's educa-
tion.
44
First, Columbia has a Parents as Teachers program to provide
mothers and fathers with information on how to be better parents.
State law requires all Missouri districts to offer such a program based
on the work of child development expert and author Burton White. He
believes that the years from birth through age 3 are critical for a child's
intellectual and social development, but sadly enough, White observes,
"You get more information on the care of your new car than you do a
new baby." Columbia's Parents as Teachers employs a program coor-
dinator and 8 parent educators who serve about 550 families. Mothers
and fathers attend meetings to learn about everything from what to ex-
pect of a newborn baby (periods of wakefulness that increase from 2 to
3 minutes an hour to 6 to 7 minutes an hour) to what toys a child from
14 to 24 months will most enjoy (pails for pouring, empty boxes of all
sizes, and plastic containers with lids). About five times a year, the
families receive home visits from the parent educators, who provide
whatever guidance the mothers and fathers need to give their children
a strong start in life. The comments of program participant Linda
Jones, who has 3-year-old and 10-month-old sons, are typical: "I've
learned what to expect of my children at a particular age. It's nice to
know that when you are going through rough times, you aren't alone."
(An evaluation of the Parents as Teachers program is contained in the
description of reform efforts in Independence.)
Second, Columbia has formed a Partners in Education program
to involve parents and the community more actively in the schools. All
21 schools in Columbia are paired with at least 1 business, hospital, or
college. These partnerships allow the schools to share their educational
assets with the business community, which in turn can contribute its
resources to the schools. Each school has formed a steering committee,
which meets monthly to discuss partnership activities and which
reports regularly to the program's district-wide coordinator. The busi-
nesses include the Commerce Bank of Columbia, whose entry foyer
looks as much like an elementary school classroom as it does a finan-
cial institution. Brightly-colored children's drawings of flags from
around the world decorate one wall, each of them representing a
country that participated in the Winter Olympics. Indeed, the spirit of
nearby Parkade Elementary School, whose students produced this
artwork, is present throughout the bank. Commerce Bank President
Daniel Scotten estimates that from 60 to 70 percent of his employees
have contact with Parkade youngsters in activities that range from
pizza parties and volleyball games to "shadowing" days when students
can follow around a bank employee to learn about his or her job. At the
secondary level, West Junior High is paired with the Shelter Insurance
Companies, which has had some of its employees exchange jobs with
teachers for the day and has sponsored a "Great American Smokeout"
to help junior high students quit smoking.
Third, the district involves parents in its early childhood
programs for children from birth through age 5 who have moderate to
severe handicaps. The programs' staffs spend almost as much time
45
with parents as with the handicapped children themselves, teaching
them how to help their children strive toward their greatest potential.
Finally, a 10-year-old volunteer program has allowed the district
to involve still more community members and parents in the schools.
Columbia recently formalized its program and hired a director of school
and community programs. The volunteers, who last year donated
20,000 hours of their time, go through an orientation and training, and
teachers receive information and training on how to more effectively
use volunteers. Their talents have been used for everything from assist-
ing with math and reading instruction to setting up science experi-
ments and working with handicapped children.
In another area of reform, Columbia has expanded its training program
for school administrators. Several administrators have attended State-
sponsored administrative academies, and many have attended national
conferences. Discussions were to be held this summer with officials at
the University of Missouri and management personnel from several
businesses in partnerships with Columbia schools to see how they can
share their management training programs. Administrators also receive
special instruction in the elements of effective teaching SO that they can
help teachers do their jobs better.
In a fourth area of reform, Columbia has established an alternative
program for potential dropouts. Students who have a hard time thriv-
ing in Columbia's traditional junior highs and high schools can attend
the Secondary Learning Center. Many of the 90 youngsters it enrolls
come from broken homes, most have poor academic records, and al-
most all have low self-esteem. "It's more relaxed here than in a regular
school," explains Timothy Travers, the center's director. Classes at the
center are smaller than they are in a regular school, and each teacher
is assigned 6 or 7 students whom he or she meets with daily to provide
support and monitor progress. The teacher also maintains contact with
the students' parents. Youngsters are not allowed to miss more than 4
unexcused days of school per semester if they wish to receive credit.
They study traditional subjects (English, social studies, science, math,
art, reading, home economics), in addition to which they enroll in voca-
tional and clerical programs, attend parenting classes, and work part
time. Close to 90 percent of the participants improve their attendance
and their grades. Nineteen-year-old Tammy Horne provides one ex-
planation: "You don't have the tensions of the regular (high) school. It's
like you're treated like a person here."
CONTACT:
John Stolt
Associate Superintendent of Instruction
Columbia School District
Administration Building
1818 West Worley Street
Columbia, Missouri 65203
(314) 445-8541
46
INDEPENDENCE
LOCATION:
Western Missouri
TYPE OF DISTRICT:
Suburban
STUDENT ENROLLMENT:
11,216
RACIAL MIX:
94 percent white, 2 percent black, 4 percent other
STUDENTS RECEIVING FREE- AND
REDUCED-PRICE LUNCH:
20 percent
REFORM AREAS:
Redesigning the schools
Programs for parents of preschool children
Changing the structure of the teaching career
This fall, 9 of the 13 elementary schools in Independence will assume
a responsibility that has not traditionally been handled by American
public schools. As a part of its Twenty-First Century Schools project,
the district will provide daycare.
The project is based on the ideas of Edward F. Zigler, an international
childcare expert, who believes an extensive daycare system should be
intricately woven into the very structure of our society. Independence,
where about 65 percent of all mothers with school-aged children work
outside the home, will be his first model project. It will include:
A child care program for school-aged children up to age 12,
which will be available both before and after regular classes;
Daycare for 3- and 4-year-olds that will run the entire day;
A parent education program for parents of children from birth to
age 3 (this program is already in place);
A referral system for parents in need of daycare; and
A strong partnership of parents and the schools.
Zigler believes daycare should not be babysitting; therefore, Indepen-
dence children will participate in activities including basketball, music
lessons, and computer classes. Local foundations and the Missouri
Department of Education will contribute to training and start-up costs,
but modest fees (for all but low-income parents unable to afford them)
eventually are expected to sustain the program. Zigler and an associate
will train the staff and evaluate the daycare part of the project.
In 1981, Independence became one of the first four districts in Mis-
souri to launch a Parents as Teachers program similar in most respects
to the one begun 3 years later in Columbia. (See Columbia section for a
description.) The Independence program is also based on the work of
Burton White and provides classes as well as information and home
visits to parents.
Under contract first with the Missouri Department of Education and
later with the Independence schools, an independent evaluator has con-
47
ducted two studies of the Parents as Teachers program. The first study,
which was based on a sample of participants in the first four model
programs in Missouri including Independence, showed that the
children whose parents were enrolled in them scored significantly
higher on all measures of intelligence, achievement, and verbal and lan-
guage abilities than did nonparticipants. Furthermore, the parents
reported that their children more often had strong self-identities, had
positive relations with adults, and could cope well with new situations.
Also significant was that traditional measures of "risk" (parents' age
and education, income, number of younger siblings, and the amount of
alternate care received) bore little or no relationship to test results - in
other words, the Parents as Teachers parents and children performed
well regardless of socioeconomic background or other traditional risk
factors. The second study, based solely on participants in Indepen-
dence, reached similar conclusions.
As another part of its efforts to redesign schools, Independence is
studying Japanese management techniques, which have the reputation
for enabling the relationship between that country's bosses and
employees to move from confrontational to cooperative. Superintendent
Robert Henley is uncomfortable with the adversarial relationship that
traditionally exists between teachers and school administrators, par-
ticularly during contract negotiations. To improve this relationship, a
group of district administrators and teachers hopes in the near future
to visit the GM/Toyota plant in California, which has gained success by
using Japanese techniques with American workers. (Thus far, several
scheduled visits to the plant have fallen through.) Eventually, the dis-
trict would like to produce a brochure listing what districts can do to
make the relationship between teachers and administrators more con-
genial.
To change the structure of the teaching career, Independence has
developed a career ladder program, giving teachers the chance to earn
more money in return for assuming more responsibilities. The
program, which just completed its second year, follows a model that
the Missouri Department of Education developed after the State's Excel-
lence in Education Act of 1984 provided money for career ladder
programs. (Last year; Independence paid 45 percent of the $827,425 ex-
pense; the State paid for the rest.) School officials hope that, by reward-
ing excellent teaching, the program will encourage teachers to do their
best work. They also hope it will foster teachers' professional growth,
and that it will encourage teachers to remain in the profession.
The program has three levels. Teachers on the first level receive an ad-
ditional $1,500, on the second level an extra $3,000, and on the third
level $5,000. Qualifications and responsibilities increase with each
step. For example, a step 1 career ladder teacher must possess 5 years
of teaching experience in the Missouri public schools, while a step 3
teacher must have taught for 10 years; a step 1 teacher might par-
48
ticipate in building or district curriculum committees, whereas a step 3
teacher might develop or coordinate summer programs.
A district evaluation completed after the first year of the program found
that it achieved its goals, that teachers assumed a broader range of
responsibilities than they would have without the program, and that
the program encouraged many to receive additional training.
CONTACT:
Robert Henley
Superintendent
Independence School District
1231 South Windsor
Independence, Missouri 64055
(815) 833-3433
NEW HAMPSHIRE
TIMBERLANE
LOCATION:
Southeastern New Hampshire
TYPE OF DISTRICT:
Suburban
STUDENT ENROLLMENT:
2,924
RACIAL MIX:
99 percent white, 1 percent other
STUDENTS RECEIVING FREE- AND
REDUCED-PRICE LUNCH:
6 percent
REFORM AREAS:
Changing the structure of the teaching career
Administrative Evaluations
Training for administrators that involve partnerships
Technology
In 1984, the Timberlane Regional School District in southern New
Hampshire instituted a Performance Based Salary Program which has,
according to Superintendent Terrance Holmes, "changed the culture
around here."
The superintendent says that teachers today in Timberlane "are more
aggressive" and "are more apt to look out for themselves" than they
were before the the district began a comprehensive program linking
pay partly to job performance. Furthermore, he believes the quality of
teaching has improved significantly. The Timberlane School Board
began the program with hopes of making its professional salaries more
competitive, of attracting the best and most qualified staff, and of
developing strong standards of excellence for teachers. The Timberlane
Teachers Association, an independent organization not aligned with
49
any State or national association, agreed to the program as part of a 5-
year contract that also extended their work year from 186 to 192 days
and gave teachers annual salary increases ranging from 5 to 25 per-
cent.
The program requires every teacher to be evaluated at least three times
a year. (The principal must evaluate all of his or her staff at least once.)
At the start of the school year, evaluators and teachers meet to set
goals. At least one of the evaluations, each of which lasts from 20 to 45
minutes, must be announced in advance. While observing the teacher,
the evaluator takes notes on everything from how the teacher uses his
time to how much students participate. Then the evaluator writes up
his findings (concentrating on the positives), and meets with the
teacher (where he discusses the positives and the negatives). A year-
end conference based on all the observation reports is also held.
Teachers receive an overall ranking for their work, which is used to
help determine their salaries for the next school year. (The evaluation
procedure is somewhat different for first- and second-year teachers.)
Principal Judy Deshaies, like many other Timberlane administrators,
lauds the program for making teacher evaluations a top priority, for
stimulating teachers who resist change, and for raising district expecta-
tions for students. "Poor teaching practices in Timberlane do not go un-
noticed or unaddressed," she says. On the negative side, she says the
program is extraordinarily time-consuming, and that some teachers
feel the evaluations place them under enormous stress.
Not all teachers - particularly those who received average or lower
rankings - assess the program as positively as the superintendent or
Deshãies. A comprehensive study prepared for the New Hampshire
School Boards Association praised the program for attempting to deal
with inequities inherent in a traditional salary schedule. The study was
completed by two professors from the University of Connecticut and
the University of New Hampshire with a grant from the U.S. Secretary
of Education's Discretionary Grant Fund. It found that teachers were
divided in their enthusiasm for the program; critics felt it had hurt
morale and worsened the relationship between teachers and ad-
ministrators. Teachers also reported that the money offered under the
plan is insufficient to motivate them, and that the evaluations were too
subjective. The study concluded, however, that any problems did not
warrant a return to the more traditional approach of compensating
teachers. Timberlane administrators and teachers say they expect the
evaluation system to continue, but in the future performance may not
necessarily be linked to pay.
Timberlane does not restrict its evaluations to teachers; it also has a
system in place that judges administrators and links their pay to perfor-
mance. Because the role of the principal is changing, the district is
revising its evaluation system. Until a new system is devised, the dis-
trict is using an interim plan. It calls for principals to be evaluated on
skills that include an ability to make decisions, to provide vision, to
50
manage students, to establish good community relations, and to foster
professional growth of the staff.
To gain better skills, several administrators in Timberlane have at-
tended training programs at the University of New Hampshire, Harvard
University, and the Principals Academy program in New Hampshire.
The district is also working with the State Principals Association to ob-
tain Federal money to establish a School Administrative Resource
Center at the University of New Hampshire.
To improve its use of technology, Timberlane has completed a 5-year
plan to bring technology into the schools and has written a curriculum
for computer education in all grades. The computer instruction ranges
from the IBM Writing to Read program for the youngest children (a
description of which is provided in the Orangeburg section) to special
computer programs in reading and mathematics for high school stu-
dents needing remedial help.
CONTACT:
Terrance Holmes
Superintendent
Timberlane Regional School District
30 Greenough Road
Plaistow, New Hampshire 03865
(603) 382-6119
WHITE MOUNTAINS
LOCATION:
North central New Hampshire
TYPE OF DISTRICT:
Small town/rural
STUDENT ENROLLMENT:
1,566
RACIAL MIX:
99 percent white, 1 percent black
STUDENTS RECEIVING FREE- AND
REDUCED-PRICE LUNCH:
35 percent
REFORM AREAS:
Technology
Redesigning the schools
Training programs for administrators that involve partnerships
Student assessment
Last year, Art Hammond estimates that his junior high science stu-
dents collectively answered 468,000 test questions, and that altogether
he handed out 15,600 student grades. "For a teacher to keep track of
all those without a good recording system is impossible," Hammond
says. "But with computers it's easier - and they make it possible to
open the grade books to parents."
51
Hammond is one of about 100 teachers in the White Mountains
schools in New Hampshire who has his own computer to use for every-
thing from recording grades to developing lesson plans. Three years
ago, the district applied for and was awarded an $81,000 grant from
the Governor's Initiative for Excellence in Education program, which it
used to provide computers for all elementary school teachers wanting
one. This past year, an additional grant paid for computers for the high
school staff. (The district also contributed funds.)
"What we did is unique," Superintendent Edgar Melanson said. "We put
computers in the hands of the teachers instead of the kids." His theory
is that teachers must understand computers before their students will
embrace them enthusiastically. Melanson believes computers are a par-
ticularly important link to the rest of the world for a district like White
Mountains, which is small, quite rural, mostly lower middle class, and
relatively isolated (a 2-hour drive north of Manchester).
Thorough training convinced some skeptics that they could benefit
from computers. "If anyone had technophobia, I was the worst in the
district," elementary school teacher Bonnie Hicks admits. "But the
trainer said that even a monkey could learn to use one." Teachers in-
cluding Hicks now report that the computers have not reduced their
overall workload, although the quality of services they provide has vast-
ly improved. For example, computerized records allow the district to
send home report cards to parents every 3 weeks, detailing everything
from test scores to classroom behavior records. As a result, Hammond
reports, "Parents have stopped being adversaries and have started par-
ticipating in the educational process."
In an effort to redesign the schools, the district has reorganized its 4th
through 6th grades. Traditionally, elementary school children have just
one teacher in a self-contained classroom for the entire school day.
Three years ago, the district began providing its 4th through 6th grades
with four teachers - one for English, another for math and computers,
one for science, and a fourth for social studies. Students move as a
group from one class to the next. School officials believe this approach
enables the district to make good use of each elementary teacher's
strengths, gives students variety during the day, and teaches them to
adjust to different teachers. The one drawback is that a few students
are not mature enough to adjust well to the shifting. (School officials
did not consider a similar arrangement for kindergarten through 3rd
graders because they felt it was important for very young children to
develop a close relationship with just one teacher.) The district plans
eventually to evaluate the reorganization by comparing test scores of
4th through 6th graders in the traditional and new grouping arrange-
ments.
To provide more training for school administrators and staff, the White
Mountains schools have cooperated with several area facilities. All
building principals have attended a State principal's academy. Staff
from the University of New Hampshire district has joined with the
52
University of New Hampshire to present 10 workshops within the dis-
trict for teachers of mathematics. Other cooperative ventures are now
being studied.
The district has also improved the way it assesses student achieve-
ment. New Hampshire mandates tests in grades 4, 8, and 10. White
Mountains also tests in grades 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, and 9 and has used its
findings to help gauge the effectiveness of its curriculum and to revise
curriculum guides in language arts, mathematics, science, and social
studies.
CONTACT:
Edgar Melanson
Superintendent
White Mountains Regional School District
21 Highland Street
Whitefield, New Hampshire 03598
(603) 837-9363
NEW JERSEY
PARAMUS
LOCATION:
Northern New Jersey
TYPE OF DISTRICT:
Suburban/urban
STUDENT ENROLLMENT:
3,300
RACIAL MIX:
84 percent white, 13 percent Asian, 3 percent other
STUDENTS RECEIVING FREE- AND
REDUCED-PRICE LUNCH:
1 percent
REFORM AREAS:
Early childhood education for at-risk youngsters
Dropout prevention program
Parent involvement
Administrator evaluations
Through the years, the Paramus schools have initiated many programs
intended to improve their quality. So as a participant in Project Educa-
tion Reform, Paramus aimed not to start new programs, but to fine-
tune those it already had.
The district has served at-risk 4-year-olds, many from disadvantaged
backgrounds, since 1974. Youngsters diagnosed as having problems
during a careful screening process are assigned to one of five half-day
classes, each of which meets three times a week. Here, they receive in-
dividualized instruction in speech and language and are closely super-
vised in play activities. (Children found to be handicapped are enrolled
in a special regional preschool.) One day last December, students in the
53
morning-long classes learned colors, helped their teachers make potato
pancakes and pour apple juice, and painted at easels. In these and
other activities, staff members encourage children to explore; teachers
prefer that a preschooler spill his juice while attempting to pour it (and
then help to clean it up) than never to attempt this feat.
Parents are encouraged to visit the preschool, where they can sit in the
classroom or observe their children from a special room adjacent to it
with a one-way mirror. Working parents can visit one Saturday in
February. Parent education and support groups are offered for 6 weeks
in the fall and spring.
Children still considered at-risk after completing the program are
placed in a transitional kindergarten with an adult-to-child ratio of 1 to
6. Most of these youngsters enter the regular kindergarten program the
following year, although a few move directly into the 1st grade.
District educators soon hope to offer the program to 3-year-olds, and to
expand the entire early childhood program from 3 to 5 half-days. They
also hope to collect longitudinal data to evaluate the current program,
and to offer an English for Mom and Me program for the growing num-
ber of non-English speaking mothers and their children.
In an effort to continue holding down its dropout rate, which during
the 1986-87 school year was 1.6 percent, the district developed the
Paramus Transitional Program as an alternative route to a high school
diploma. Of the 179 students who have entered the program since it
began in 1978, all but 17 have graduated, and 9 have gone on to col-
lege. District educators are now tracking program graduates to see how
they are doing.
Those referred to the program have poor academic and attendance
records. Many come from broken homes and have personal problems
and low self-esteem. School officials aim to get students back into the
regular high school program after they attend for a minimum of one
semester. While enrolled in the transitional program, students study
math, history, English, family living, and health, and they also take
gym and an elective. Those enrolled get more personal attention than
they would in the regular high school; two teachers plus an aide are as-
signed to the 17 to 18 students attending at one time. The staff lets the
teenagers know that poor attendance is unacceptable, and on occasion,
"We'll drive to their homes and drag them out, sheets and all," reports
Richard Piazza, coordinator of the Paramus Community School, which
houses the transitional program. He believes the students benefit from
the program's setting within the community school, where they are
visible and have contacts with everyone from adult learners, to tod-
dlers, to other high school students.
Although many enter the program reluctantly, most later say they
greatly prefer the transitional program. "I went from a D-to-F student
to an A-to-B student," said 17-year-old Tom Pascale, who has been en-
rolled in the program for more than a year. "I was goofing around and
54
cutting classes, and all I cared about was me and my friends hanging
out." He also admits to being "a pain in the tail" when he first enrolled
in the transitional program, but since then he's improved not only his
academic record, but also his behavior and attendance. He now hopes
to enroll in post-high school training in forest technology. The district
recently added peer and family counseling to the program.
In another reform area, Paramus has devised ways to involve more
parents in their children's education. The district has a Parent Educa-
tion Council composed of parents, teachers, and administrators who
discuss issues ranging from drug prevention education to decisions
about the length of the kindergarten day. Parents are also members of
the district's Curriculum Instructional Council, which discusses all
curriculum and instructional proposals and makes recommendations
to the superintendent. The district conducts classes for preschool
youngsters and their parents with hopes that this will set the stage for
continued parental involvement, making a special effort to include non-
English-speaking participants. Superintendent Harry Galinsky also
meets monthly with PTA presidents, and the district has mailed a
brochure to all parents outlining ways that they can become involved.
Finally, the district has applied to be a demonstration site for a
statewide initiative, Parents Are Partners, which aims at finding effec-
tive ways to improve the relationship between home and school. To
gauge results in this entire area, the district hopes by 1991 to have
data demonstrating a growth in the number of parents involved in
school activities and projects.
In a fourth reform area, Paramus is updating its principal evaluation
plan, some form of which has been in place for 15 years. The district
places a high priority on these evaluations because, Galinksy explains,
"Where you find outstanding principals, you find outstanding schools."
The current system calls for each principal to work with a primary
evaluator to put together a professional improvement plan. Observa-
tions, conferences, and self-evaluations are also parts of the present
system. The district is currently assessing these procedures and plans
and is reviewing research on principal evaluation practices being used
elsewhere. It soon expects to review and revise principals' job descrip-
tions, expand staff development and training for them, and hire a con-
sultant to assess the principal evaluation project. Galinsky hopes a
new evaluation system eventually will link a principal's evaluation to
his or her pay.
CONTACT:
Harry Galinsky
Superintendent
Paramus Public Schools
Spring Valley Road
Paramus, New Jersey 07652
(201) 261-7800
55
UNION
LOCATION:
Central New Jersey
TYPE OF DISTRICT:
Suburban/urban
STUDENT ENROLLMENT:
6,000
RACIAL MIX:
83 percent white, 17 percent other
STUDENTS RECEIVING FREE- AND
REDUCED-PRICE LUNCH:
8.5 percent
REFORM AREAS:
Technology
Shared facilities
Dropout prevention
On top of the Empire State Building sits a microwave television trans-
mitter, one of many there used to send programs throughout the New
York area. It belongs not to one of the networks, however, but to the
Union, New Jersey, public schools. Union is the only district in New
Jersey to hold a Federal Communications Commission-approved
microwave license.
The microwave transmitter on the Empire State allows a consortium of
10 districts in the New York metropolitan area to receive Union's educa-
tional programs. Union's own programs now reach 100,000 viewers.
Since the district is obliged to broadcast 40 hours a week, it leases the
time from 4 p.m. to 8 a.m. to a wireless cable company in New York
City, which during these hours broadcasts cable programs to its sub-
scribers. The district eventually hopes to earn at least $250,000 an-
nually from its business venture in television.
Further efforts to introduce technology into the schools include a 2-
year course in television arts and sciences, for which the district ac-
quired its own studio with Federal grants. About 75 students, some
hoping for careers in television, are enrolled. Union also has installed
computer labs in every school, has computer-automated vocational
shops, and uses computers to track student records, schedules, and
test scores as well as to send out report cards.
The district's other reform efforts include programs to share its
facilities with community groups. A decline in student enrollment,
which peaked at 9,000, has enabled Union to lease out many of its
classrooms. At Burnet Junior High School, the Biertuempfel Senior
Center flourishes under the sponsorship of the municipal government,
which rents space from the district for $12,000 a year. About 1,400
senior citizens come for a wide range of activities, such as planning
group trips to Atlantic City and Tahiti, enrolling in ceramics or
ballroom dancing classes, and playing pool and bowling. (One 93-year-
old gentleman bowls weekly as part of center activities, boasting an
56
average score of 190.) Director Robert Armstrong believes the senior
center has helped the district to improve its relationship with the com-
munity and has helped the senior citizens and junior high students at
Burnet to break down stereotypes they held of each other.
Vacant space at Union High School houses the district's Allied Health
Professions program. It has three parts: instruction in the basics of
health care professions, a daycare center for toddlers run by the local
YMCA, and a senior citizen daycare center run by nearby Union Hospi-
tal. Superintendent James Caulfield says the community benefits by
operating the programs in a secure school environment, and the dis-
trict benefits financially because these agencies pay rent. Furthermore,
students get opportunities to work with toddlers and with senior
citizens, as well as to get important career direction through their invol-
vement with Union Hospital. The district's Office of Volunteer Services,
which has enabled about 100 residents to contribute 3,000 hours of
time, has also drawn community residents into the schools.
The district has undertaken major efforts to hold its annual dropout
rate to 1 percent. District officials attribute this partly to the presence
of an "intervention" teacher at every elementary and secondary school.
This person does everything from coaxing reluctant attendees back to
class, to guiding children with alcoholic parents. Intervention teacher
Ron Meyers worked with the family of a 4-year-old who, he said, out of
sight of an adult "will put paint in her mouth, eat buttons off her dress,
and stuff something down the toilet." With support and special ser-
vices, district officials hope the girl can improve her behavior — and
her chances to succeed in school.
Preschool is offered to every parent wanting it for his or her child, with
hopes that this too will hold down the dropout rate. The district
screens all entering preschoolers and provides special guidance to par-
ticularly needy ones. Union also provides full-day kindergarten for
every child.
As an alternative to suspension, the district sponsors Saturday deten-
tion for 7th through 12th graders. Anywhere from 50 to 100
youngsters show up for 4 hours each Saturday, homework in hand, for
the highly structured sessions in the high school cafeteria. A
psychologist and social worker are available during this time to work
with them, and parents are invited to attend counseling sessions.
District educators believe a number of other programs and practices
may also contribute to Union's low dropout rate: the C.O.S.T. (Career
On-Site Training) program, which enables disruptive youngsters to
work half-days at local industries; a junior Reserve Officers Training
Corp (Caulfield says it attracts many students who "love the discipline,
the uniform, and the status that goes with this program"); the
57
Accredited Evening High School, which provides an alternative setting
in which to earn a diploma; and moderate class sizes (as enrollment
has declined, Union has reduced class sizes).
CONTACT:
James Caulfield
Superintendent
Township of Union Public Schools
2369 Morris Avenue
Union, New Jersey 07083
(201) 688-1200
SOUTH CAROLINA
ORANGEBURG
LOCATION:
Central South Carolina
TYPE OF DISTRICT:
Medium-sized town
STUDENT ENROLLMENT:
6,300
RACIAL MIX:
80 percent black, 20 percent white
STUDENTS RECEIVING FREE- AND
REDUCED-PRICE LUNCH:
75 percent
REFORM AREAS:
Changing the structure of the teaching career
Technology
School-based management
Dropout prevention
Ten years ago, few if any of the 16 school districts involved in Project
Education Reform were more in need of improvement than Orangeburg.
Many of its problems were rooted in the community's history of
racial tension, which peaked in 1968 when the State police, called to
quell an unruly campus demonstration at South Carolina State Col-
lege, shot point blank into a group of students, killing 3 and injuring
27 others. Two years after the Orangeburg Massacre, the public
schools were desegregated and 1,200 students left, most for segregated
academies. Test scores plunged, as did staff morale.
Today, says Superintendent James Wilsford, "This district is on a roll."
Passage of the State's Education Improvement Act in 1984 helped raise
teaching salaries and provided merit bonuses for outstanding teachers.
The Scholastic Aptitude Test scores of Orangeburg students still hover
under both State and national averages. But overall, test scores have
rebounded dramatically, and the dropout rate has shrunk to an annual
rate of 2.5 percent. The climb from educational oblivion began before
Orangeburg became one of the chosen 16 school districts; Wilsford and
58
his staff selected several areas in Time for Results that they hoped
would hasten the ascent.
To change the structure of the teaching career, the district planned a
lead teacher program during the 1987-88 school year, which the school
board was expected to approve in July. Wilsford believes such a
program might enable talented teachers to remain in the classrom in-
stead of moving to more lucrative jobs in administration. (At age 36, he,
too, was drawn from the classroom into management, partly because
he wanted more money to support his family.) Each lead teacher will
continue teaching part-time, but will also guide a cadre of about eight
other teachers - for example, by serving as a mentor to new teachers
and observing and coaching peers, or by assessing and developing cur-
riculum. Lead teachers will not be asked during the 1988-89 school
year to develop budgets, evaluate peers, or assume other traditional ad-
ministrative roles, although they eventually may do SO. The salary for
11 months of employment is expected to range from $34,000 to
$45,000, based on teaching and leadership experience and educational
background. These amounts are about $5,000 above what a regular
teacher with comparable qualifications would receive. Most Orangeburg
teachers support the lead teacher concept, which Wilsford attributes to
their early involvement in its planning. The major concern Orangeburg
educators express is that selection of lead teachers not become a
popularity contest.
The district is also expanding its use of educational technology. Com-
puters can be found throughout the entire district, but nowhere are
they as visible as in Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School, which boasts
about 200 of them for its 2,000 students. Here, they help boost skills of
students who have failed all or a portion of the State's Basic Skills As-
sessment Program test, which in 2 years all South Carolina students
will have to pass to graduate. (In 1986, 35 percent of the 10th graders
passed the test; in 1987, 46 percent did. This past year, 68 percent
passed the reading portion of the test, and 71 percent passed the math
portion.) Computers are found, too, in the high school's central office,
in science labs, and in business classrooms.
Orangeburg also uses computers for:
An IBM Writing to Read program, which teaches kindergarten
and 1st grade students how to use sounds to write words;
A Quill writing program that, among other things, teaches 4th
graders that writing requires not only putting words together,
but also revising and rewriting; and
Management functions, including keeping track of attendance,
grades, and student schedules.
To move toward school-based management, Orangeburg plans this fall
to give its principals, teachers, and parents more authority to decide
budget matters. The central administration will continue to decide the
59
total amount each school can spend. But individual schools will be
able to decide how to use their discretionary money - for example,
whether to send a teacher to a conference or to spend the same money
on a new television or copying machine. The district has also altered its
evaluation system for administrators to make it more compatible with
recommendations in Time for Results.
Orangeburg's dropout prevention efforts include several parts. First,
the district provides all-day instruction for at-risk 4-year-olds. Second,
it offers an extra class period each day for students in grades 1 to 12
who score below the State's Basic Skills Assessment Program standards
in reading, writing, and/or mathematics. In the future, the district ex-
pects to extend vocational education and job training for students fail-
ing the high school exit exam and for handicapped students not
receiving a diploma.
CONTACT:
James Wilsford
Superintendent
Orangeburg School District #5
578 Ellis Avenue
Orangeburg, South Carolina 29115
(803) 534-5454
SPARTANBURG
LOCATION:
North central South Carolina
TYPE OF DISTRICT:
Small city
STUDENT ENROLLMENT:
9,300
RACIAL MIX:
51 percent black, 49 percent white
STUDENTS RECEIVING FREE- OR
REDUCED-PRICE LUNCH:
47.5 percent
REFORM AREAS:
Parent involvement
Technology
Early childhood programs for at-risk youngsters
Administrative evaluations
Spartanburg serves many gifted students from professional families
drawn by the area's diversified industry, as well as at-risk youngsters
usually from low-income backgrounds. The district has fewer students
than one would normally find, however, who fall midway between the
two extremes. As a participant in Project Education Reform, Spartan-
burg created ways to serve students on both ends of the economic
spectrum.
To involve more parents in their children's education, each school
devised its own plans. In a building like Cleveland Elementary, where
70 percent of the students come from low-income families and half lack
60
telephones, plans were somewhat different than they were in a more
well-to-do school like Boyd Elementary.
The district recently completed a survey to gauge parental participation
in activities that span areas from academic, to social, to clerical. The
survey showed that parents tutor in classrooms, plan and attend
ceremonies to honor students excelling academically, and attend
school science fairs. They chaperone field trips and other school events,
assist at school carnivals and dances, attend parent luncheons and
teas, monitor lunch groups, serve as room mothers, provide refresh-
ments for various school functions, and volunteer their typing and
filing skills. They serve on school improvement and ad hoc committees,
make contacts with the business community, plan career days, and
serve as guest lecturers. The schools also have many ways to communi-
cate with parents, ranging from conferences, to telephone calls, to
folders of students' work that get sent home weekly, to parent/teacher
conferences. Four elementary schools also sponsor workshops to help
mothers and fathers become more effective parents.
In the area of technology, Spartanburg had already made significant
headway before becoming involved in Project Education Reform. But it
has used its participation as "a chance to assess where we were and
where we want to be," said Carol Ellis, the district's mathematics coor-
dinator and computer contact. Recently, the district put in place the
OSIRIS system to keep thorough records of everything from student at-
tendance to test scores and schedules; with the push of a button,
school administrators can compile lists of everything from grades given
in a particular classroom, to all the students suspended during a cer-
tain time period. The district also uses a LOGO program in elementary
and junior high schools as a supplement to the mathematics program.
The LOGO program familiarizes students with computers and helps
cover topics in geometry that are included in the State's Basic Skills As-
sessment Program. One day last January, students at Cleveland
Elementary used LOGO to build triangles; the program simultaneously
helps them learn to follow directions and to understand sequence. (A
different LOGO program is also used in the district's Program for
Academically Gifted Elementary Studies.) Down the hallway at
Cleveland is an Education Systems Corporation (ESC) learning center,
one of several in the district where students receive individualized in-
struction in math and reading for 30 minutes each day. School officials
believe this program, which enables each child to work at his or her
own rate and receive instant feedback, is particularly effective with
remedial students. Computers are also used extensively throughout the
district to score tests and indicate to teachers the areas in which each
student needs to improve.
Spartanburg also has in place an early childhood program, which for 5
years has provided a half-day, 5-day-a-week program for at-risk 4-year-
olds. It now serves 160 students in 4 schools, the majority from disad-
vantaged backgrounds. Here they learn everything from colors and
61
shapes to numbers. ("What does a '13' look like?" a teacher asks about
15 wide-eyed youngsters at Park Hills Elementary School. "A stick with
two big bellies," one responds, as the teacher writes the number down
for the class to see.) They also get extensive help in developing their lan-
guage and social skills. And school officials send home brochures to
parents to guide them in everything from appropriate summertime ac-
tivities to how to help their children practice what they learned in
school. A survey of parents found that they overwhelmingly favor the
program. Pre- and post-tests show that those enrolled make significant
gains. The district has just begun a longitudinal study of participants.
Finally, Spartanburg evaluates its principals, as is required in all
South Carolina districts. Spartanburg is now one of several districts in
the State helping to judge the effectiveness of the State's evaluation in-
strument. It includes surveys of students (who are asked 60 questions
ranging from "The principal visits classrooms" to "The principal sets
high academic standards"); of teachers and the staff (who are asked
another 60 questions ranging from "The principal communicates with
teachers" to "Our principal takes the lead to identify and resolve instruc-
tional problems"); and of parents (who are asked 60 questions ranging
from "Student work is displayed in the school" to "The principal talks
with people in the community about the school's goals"). Based on the
evaluations, goals are set for all the principals, who next year will be
eligible for pay bonuses if they meet the goals. Superintendent Harold
Patterson, who sat on a committee that wrote the State bill requiring
evaluations, strongly supports them. But he believes the current sur-
veys need fine-tuning. "We're going to continue to muddle through until
we get to (a format) that we all agree is manageable," he said. "We may
cut out some (evaluation) items, or make them less specific."
CONTACT: Harold Patterson
Superintendent
Spartanburg County School District #7
P.O. Box 970
Spartanburg, South Carolina 29304
(803) 594-4400
62
TENNESSEE
MEMPHIS
LOCATION:
Western Tennessee
TYPE OF DISTRICT:
Urban
STUDENT ENROLLMENT:
107,000
RACIAL MIX:
78 percent black, 22 percent white
STUDENTS RECEIVING FREE- OR
REDUCED-PRICE LUNCH:
51 percent
REFORM AREAS:
Redesigning schools
Restructuring the teaching career
Evaluating administrators
Early childhood programs for at-risk youngsters
Dropout prevention programs
When former Tennessee Governor Lamar Alexander selected Memphis
to participate in Project Education Reform, he recognized that the dis-
trict faced special challenges. Statistics tell the story:
Its annual dropout rate is 12 percent (12,675 students in 1986);
Nineteen percent of the adult population in Memphis has less
than an 8th grade education;
In 1986, 11 percent of the teenage girls from 15 to 19 years old
either had a baby or an abortion; and
In 1986, more than 34 percent of 9th graders did not pass both
parts (language and math) of the Tennessee Proficiency Test.
But Alexander was also eager to see what reforms such a district could
achieve under the guidance of strong leaders. Most of the 16 districts
had implemented many recommendations in Time for Results long
before being selected for Project Education Reform; Memphis, however,
had begun some but was just getting started with others. The district
already had created an early childhood program for at-risk 3- and 4-
year-olds, an alternative school for students with behavior problems,
and parent education and training programs. It also had implemented
promotion and retention policies that are tied to performance, and had
stepped up efforts to carefully monitor student progress.
To plan further changes, the district established three task forces. The
first task force has discussed ways for the district to increase and diver-
sify staff development training for teachers. The district now hopes to
extend training to others working with children. Bill Taylor, a district
superintendent in the district's North Area Office, explains why: "The
way children perceive the building engineers, the secretaries, the
63
school crossing guards, can have an impact on what a kid does or
learns in school." To help students receive a better integrated and se-
quentially arranged education, the task force is also developing
guidelines to ensure that the district's 6,800 certified employees follow
the system-wide curriculum guides. By 1991, the task force hopes the
district will have developed a model to enable teachers to help make
decisions that affect them. School officials are also studying school
grade organizations to see if any particular configuration (kindergarten
through 6th grade versus kindergarten through 8th grade, for ex-
ample,) helps children achieve more. Finally, the district plans to pin-
point State and local rules and laws hampering their reform efforts and
work closely with State and local leaders to waive or change those that
do.
The second task force is discussing ways to revise the district's evalua-
tion system for administrators and principals. The district is currently
compiling a profile showing the qualities of an effective principal, which
it hopes to use to develop a system that more closely ties administra-
tive evaluations to performance.
A third task force is looking at ways to provide better preschool and
primary programs as well as ways to reduce the dropout rate. The
district's preschool programs now include a Homebased Early
Childhood Program for at-risk 3- and 4-year-olds and their parents,
who attend a session 1 day a week for 4 hours. In addition, a specially
trained teacher's aide visits the home of each participant and parent for
45 minutes 1 day a week. This past year, the program served 360 stu-
dents, but eventually the district hopes to expand it throughout the dis-
trict. The program aims to help children develop oral language, social,
cognitive, and physical skills; promote better relationships between
parents and their children; identify and correct health problems; and
direct parents and children needing them to any additional school or
community resources. The district also has developed a New Parents as
Teachers Project to share child development information with parents
of children under age three.
Memphis already provides some programs aimed at raising academic
performance of at-risk students and reducing the dropout rate. These
range from its Saturday Scholars Program (which uses Navy and
Marine personnel to tutor students for 2 hours each Saturday morn-
ing), to home-bound instruction for pregnant girls, to homework
centers (which were established because many inner-city parents are
64
not equipped to help their youngsters with homework assignments).
The district now plans to evaluate dropout strategies and experiment
with new ones.
CONTACT:
Sara Lewis
Assistant Superintendent for the
Department of Curriculum and Instruction
Memphis City Schools, Room 214
2597 Avery
Memphis, Tennessee 38112
(901) 454-5200
OAK RIDGE
LOCATION:
Eastern Tennessee
TYPE OF DISTRICT:
Small city
STUDENT ENROLLMENT:
4,384
RACIAL MIX:
85 percent white, 12 percent black, 3 percent other
STUDENTS RECEIVING FREE- AND
REDUCED-PRICE LUNCH:
16 percent
REFORM AREAS:
Redesigning the schools
Changing the structure of the teaching career
Parent involvement
Technology
Since the Oak Ridge schools were hastily organized in 1943 to educate
students whose parents moved there to make nuclear weapons, the dis-
trict has been able to boast of many awards and advantages. A cadre of
professional parents, many of whom today work in the area's high tech-
nology corridor, have traditionally been actively involved with their
schools. Standardized test scores are typically above national norms at
all grade levels (Scholastic Aptitude Test scores are near 100 points
above the national average). Seventy percent of the district's youngsters
attend college. Each year, the district has an average of 20 National
Merit Semifinalists. Therefore, reform efforts in Oak Ridge were geared
not toward a major overhaul of its educational programs, but toward
enhancing its current ones.
The district's plans to redesign the schools and to restructure the teach-
ing career contain many parts. First, the district decided to allow an
English teacher, Cathy Colglazier, to hold her college preparatory class
just before the lunch period, enabling her to meet for a double period
when necessary (usually once a week). Teaching high school literature
often requires more than a single 45-minute period - in order to show
a videotape or have students practice a play, for example. And teaching
writing is easier if the teacher has enough time to meet individually
with students. During the two-period block, students do everything
65
from research and develop drafts of papers to meet with their teacher.
Although this requires students to forgo their regular lunch hour once
a week and eat a sandwich at their desk, they do not seem to mind it.
Some comments: "All (Colglazier's) life she's had to make lesson plans
fit the schedule. Now the schedule fits the lesson plans." "When you
have periods back-to-back, you remember things better." "It's more like
college this way - we have more freedom."
Oak Ridge's other efforts to redesign the schools and restructure the
teaching career include:
Freeing a high school science teacher from one class periodically
so he can work with students on extracurricular science projects,
such as Science Bowl or essay contests;
Making schedules at Robertsville Junior High more flexible so
that students can use the school's computer lab, shop
equipment, and the school library during before or after school;
Pairing a teacher of the gifted with a social studies teacher to
help some 7th graders move more rapidly through the social
studies curriculum;
Team teaching and integrating the gifted and regular programs
at Jefferson Junior High, which prevents gifted students from
being pulled out of their regular classrooms and which allows
students who are not legally identifed as "gifted" to benefit from
enrichment activities. (A similar arrangement is in place at two
elementary school.)
Other efforts include an arrangement at Woodland Elementary School
in which two teachers share one 2nd grade class, and a peer/mentor
teacher program at Linden Elementary that aims to increase collegiality
and professional dialogue and improve the school climate.
To involve parents in their children's education, Oak Ridge has put
together a sequentially arranged program to draw parents into the
schools from the time their children are born until they graduate from
high school:
A 30-minute video tape is being developed for parents of new-
borns through age 3, which will provide them with information about
early childhood development and learning. It will be geared for parents
in the low- to middle-income level who may lack a high school educa-
tion. The tapes will be televised on a local cable channel, used in
parent discussion groups conducted at the district's preschool
program, and shown to high school students in their parenting classes,
among other places.
The district's preschool program, which has existed since 1965,
will be expanded to include more educational opportunities for parents,
including classes to help them understand child development and to
offer them ideas for enriching their children's education at home.
66
Elementary school counselors will conduct parent education clas-
ses that will focus on child development, enhancing self-esteem, and
developing responsible behavior. Oak Ridge also plans to field test
home learning activities in one elementary school.
Junior high parents will be encouraged to attend classes
designed to help them understand the development of their preteens
and their changing relationship with their children.
The district is investigating ways to integrate parent education in-
formation into the high school's family life curriculum.
The Oak Ridge schools are also expanding their use of technology.
First, Oak Ridge is training its administrators to use microcomputers
to manage student records, diagnose student problems, and develop in-
dividual educational programs. Second, the district has purchased
microcomputers for junior high students to use in business classes.
Third, the district is exploring ways to use television hookups to com-
municate lessons between students, schools, and homes. Fourth, the
district is considering using video disks to demonstrate laboratory
simulations that would not otherwise be available in science classes.
Fifth, the district has formed a partnership with a local industry and
the University of Tennessee to develop computer courseware in science
and mathematics. Finally, the district is developing the videotaped
programs on early childhood development that will be be aired on cable
television.
CONTACT:
Robert Smallridge
Superintendent
Oak Ridge Schools
P.O. Box 930
Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831
(615) 482-6320
67
UTAH
PROVO
LOCATION:
Central Utah
TYPE OF DISTRICT:
Urban/suburban
STUDENT ENROLLMENT:
12,912
RACIAL MIX:
92 percent white, 8 percent other (mostly Hispanic and Asian)
STUDENTS RECEIVING FREE- AND
REDUCED-PRICE LUNCH:
28 percent
REFORM AREAS:
Changing the structure of the teaching career
Creating training programs for administrators that involve partnerships
Redesigning the schools
Technology
Few changes in recent years have had a greater impact on the Provo
Public Schools than its career ladder program. Since 1984, Provo's ap-
proximately 600 teachers have been eligible to earn more money in ex-
change for assuming more responsibilities. Doug Strong, a high school
social studies teacher who is a "teacher leader" in the career ladder
program, explains, "In 20 years of teaching, this is the best thing I've
seen happen to the profession."
Strong, like many Provo teachers, lauds the career ladder program for
providing teachers with opportunities to grow professionally, as well as
for making teaching more attractive to young people and more competi-
tive. Two surveys, one done by the University of Utah and a second one
done by the Utah Education Association, agree with his assessment;
from 80 to 85 percent supported the career ladder program and wanted
it to continue. Opponents generally dislike the competition that the
program fosters and would prefer that the money used to pay outstand-
ing teachers be divided among all teachers.
The Provo program grew out of State legislation that provided Utah
schools with money for a career ladder program and with broad
guidelines for how to create one. (Provo supplements what it receives
from the State with money obtained from a local levy.) Many ideas for
the career ladder program in Provo grew out of a task force cochaired
by the former superintendent, John Bennion (now the superintendent
in Salt Lake), and the current superintendent, James Bergera.
Provo teachers are classified as certified teachers during their first 3
years, at the end of which time those who are deemed qualified become
professional teachers. All teachers in both categories receive 12 extra
days of pay to attend seminars, develop curriculum, and complete
other professional duties. In addition to this amount, all teachers are
eligible to assume. extra responsibilities and be paid for doing SO.
68
"Teacher specialists" take on additional nonadministrative tasks within
their individual schools, such as coaching students and beginning
teachers, developing the curriculum, and conducting training
workshops for other teachers. Assignments are for 1 year only. During
the 1987-88 school year, the specialists made up about 40 percent of
the instructional staff, and each received an additional $1,125. The
"curriculum/grade level leaders" assume district-wide responsibilities
for developing curriculum - for example, by reviewing textbooks,
designing study units, and developing materials. They receive the same
$1,125 stipend but also are paid for 20 additional work days and 7 in-
service training days. About 4 percent of the teachers serve in this
category. "Teacher leaders" help other teachers to improve by coaching
them and planning and presenting inservice training. During the 1987-
88 school year, they too received a $1,125 bonus, in addition to which
they were paid for 20 additional work days and 7 inservice days of
training. About 10 percent of the instructional staff is at this level.
Provo's other reform efforts include a partnership with Brigham Young
University. Since 1984, Brigham Young and five area districts, includ-
ing Provo, have collaborated on many projects. They aim to provide
school officials with better access to current research and university ex-
pertise as well as to give Brigham Young professors a chance to keep
up on what's happening in schools. Provo believes a partnership with
Brigham Young is particularly beneficial, since the university educates
about 90 percent of the district's teachers. Members of the partnership
have formed several task forces. They have discussed better ways to
prepare administrators and to serve gifted and talented students, as
well as teacher preparation, guidance and counseling, special educa-
tion, and research. Several projects have emerged from the task forces.
Among them are a principals' training program that enables teachers
with leadership potential to work with "mentor" principals in coopera-
tion with the Brigham Young faculty. In addition, eight schools have
paired up with several Brigham Young professors to experiment with
and develop curriculum and instructional innovations.
To improve the quality of teaching, Provo requires all probationary and
veteran teachers to complete an 18-hour Principles of Effective Teach-
ing course, which the district staff developed in 1982-83. It is based
largely on the work of Madeline Hunter, and it focuses on everything
from designing good lessons to motivating students. This training
provides the framework for formal observations of teachers that the
building principals are required to make each year. Teachers receive
feedback following the observations.
To improve the leadership of principals, the district has developed an
academy that provides them with extra training. Experts have been
called in to run sessions for principals on everything from leadership
styles to managing conflict. A committee of principals and a consultant
from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City is currently pulling
69
together information for a handbook on the principles of effective
leadership, which will be distributed to all Provo administrators.
In another reform area, Provo formed a committee 2 years ago to
evaluate its technology efforts. The district subsequently began using
computers for many administrative purposes, including payroll, pur-
chasing, and record-keeping. Many schools are already connected to a
central office computer, easing record-keeping efforts, and the district
hopes that all of the other schools eventually will be connected as the
money becomes available. The district also hopes to make more com-
puters available for students.
In a final reform area, Provo has begun a year-round calendar in three
of its elementary schools. The district is also studying other scheduling
options for its junior highs and high schools. A description and evalua-
tion of the year-round schools in Provo are contained in Part 1 of this
report under the "results" section.
Superintendent Bergera believes all of Provo's school improvement ef-
forts help to explain the improvement in student test scores between
1982 and 1986. In grades 2, 4, 6, and 8, students gained in all areas in
which they were tested: reading, spelling language, science, social
studies, and mathematics.
CONTACT:
James Bergera
Superintendent
Board of Education
Provo City
280 West, 940 North
Provo, Utah 84604
(801) 373-6301
SALT LAKE CITY
LOCATION: Central Utah
TYPE OF DISTRICT:
Urban
STUDENT ENROLLMENT:
24,000
RACIAL MIX:
77 percent white, 23 percent minority (mostly Hispanic)
STUDENTS RECEIVING FREE- AND
REDUCED-PRICE LUNCH:
38 percent
REFORM AREAS:
Redesigning the schools
Dropout prevention programs
Changing the structure of the teaching career
Student assessment
At Whittier Elementary School in inner-city Salt Lake City, the tradi-
tional academic program "just wasn't cutting it," according to Principal
Lewis Gardiner. Ninety percent of those enrolled came from low-income
70
households, and student test scores were on average a year behind
what they should have been. In any one year, the student turnover rate
hovered at 70 percent, with many of the students leaving during the
summer months or long vacations. School officials knew they needed to
find a better way to serve Whittier youngsters.
At the start of the 1987-88 school year, Whittier became one of the first
schools in Utah to provide year-round education for academic reasons.
Other districts have adopted 12-month school terms to reduce over-
crowding - an important consideration in a State like Utah, which has
the highest birth rate in the Nation. But Whittier changed the school
calendar because Gardiner and other Salt Lake school officials believed
this would improve the school's educational program.
The 635 students at Whittier still attend school for the State-mandated
180 school days per year, but now the school year extends for 12
months. Youngsters come for approximately 45 days, after which they
receive a 15-day break. (One break in December and January lasts 4
weeks; another in June and July lasts for 6.) After-school enrichment
classes are held for some students during the regular 45-day school
terms, and special 10-day classes are available for those who want
them during the September-to-October and December-to-January
breaks. The special classes provide remedial instruction in math, read-
ing, and English, as well as enrichment instruction in foreign lan-
guages, computers, gymnastics, cooking, and the arts.
Parents initially had reservations about the year-round program, large-
ly because they feared it would interfere with family schedules. To con-
vince skeptics otherwise, Gardiner held a series of neighborhood
meetings. "I told mothers whose children would be on different
schedules that the year-round school would allow them to spend
quality time with one child while the others were in school," he said.
Gardiner believes a year-round schedule works particularly well with
inner-city children, and since the new schedule began last fall, the prin-
cipal already has noticed improvements. During the summer months,
most youngsters forget some of what they were taught during the
regular school year, but this problem was particularly acute at Whit-
tier, whose low-income parents are less able to provide extra help or en-
richment activities. With the year-round schedule, teachers report
spending far less time after a break bringing their students back to
their previous academic level, enabling them to cover more new
material. Furthermore, the student turnover rate at Whittier has
dropped from about 70 percent to about 50 percent, and attendance
has improved. School officials are eagerly awaiting year-end test score
results. The program will continue this fall with a few minor adjust-
ments to the calendar.
To serve youngsters who are at risk to drop out of school, Salt Lake
began a 6-week summer school program in 1987. About 540 students
enrolled at five sites: three elementary, one intermediate, and one high
71
school. All those selected to participate lacked basic skills, were poorly
motivated, and suffered from poor self-esteem. Teachers in the
district's career ladder program (see description below) taught the clas-
ses, which ran for 3 hours a day from June 15 to July 28 in reading,
language arts, and math. Classes averaged 15 students.
An evaluation drew information from a variety of sources, including sur-
veys and student test scores and was compiled by a district ad-
ministrator. It praised the program for everything from helping
students make academic gains to improving their attitudes toward
schools. (Details of the evaluation are contained in Part 1 in the results
section.)
In an effort to restructure the teaching career, Salt Lake began a career
ladder plan in the 1985-86 school year, which enables teachers to earn
more money in exchange for assuming more responsibilities. The plan
is similar to the one in place in Provo and is achieving comparable
results, although the responsibilities assumed by Salt Lake teachers at
each level are slightly different, as is the additional pay they receive.
At inner-city Parkview Elementary School, Principal Jan Wilde says
that the career ladder program "changed my life" by providing
specialists to improve the school's reading, science, and music
programs. Before, Wilde says she would have had to assume most of
these responsibilities herself or to ignore curriculum improvement ef-
forts in these areas. She credits the career ladder program with helping
to boost the school's test scores and with improving its discipline. At
Bonneville Elementary School, which serves more affluent youngsters,
teacher specialists have done everything from redesign the math
program to upgrade the school's science laboratories. "I consider (the
teacher specialists) like having a professional library, right here in the
building," Principal Shauna Carl said.
The selection process still troubles some Salt Lake school officials,
largely because it includes peer reviews and can therefore become a
popularity contest. District officials are most concerned, however, that
Utah's tight financial situation might eventually reduce or eliminate
funds for the program.
To improve the quality of its administrators, the district 3 years ago
began a formal plan to evaluate administrators. The system was
developed by a task force of administrators who believe evaluations
should flow two ways: the evaluator and the person being evaluated
together should identify goals and assess achievement. The process
begins in September, when each administrator and his or her evaluator
meet to set goals for the school year. In January, the two meet again to
see how the administrator is progressing. In April, each administrator
receives an evaluation from his or her staff and completes a self-evala-
tion. In June, the administrator and evaluator meet again to complete
the evaluation. All administrators are judged on certain generic ad-
ministrative skills as well as particular job expectations of specialized
72
positions. The evaluations are intended to help administrators recog-
nize their strengths and improve their weaknesses; additional training
and other professional development opportunities are available for
anyone needing them. Two years ago, the district gave bonuses to ad-
ministrators receiving good evaluations, but it abandoned that ap-
proach because it was devisive.
In a fourth reform area, Salt Lake has improved the way it assesses stu-
dent performance. Bennion made this a high priority when he became
superintendent 3 years ago, reflected in his decision to create an entire
assessment department. Since then, the district has aligned student
testing more closely with the curriculum. In the past 2 years, the dis-
trict has studied major standardized tests to see which ones most close-
ly match the district's curriculum, and as a result of its findings
switched tests. The district also began testing students in the fall in-
stead of in the spring so that teachers know better the areas in which
their students need special help. To improve writing skills, the district
has gathered student samples at various grade levels, which were given
to schools and classroom teachers. The district intends to follow up
with similar assessments each year to track progress. Salt Lake has
also developed tests that it administers at the end of each semester to
assess what students have learned in core subjects. Finally, to expedite
assessment procedures, the district has installed its own test-scoring
equipment.
CONTACT:
John Bennion
Superintendent
Salt Lake City School District
440 East, First South
Salt Lake City, Utah 84111-1898
(801) 328-7347
73
PART 3
THE SUPERINTENDENTS SPEAK
RECOMMENDATIONS
The 16 superintendents involved in Project Education Reform are
eager to create good schools. They believe their work would be more
fruitful, however, if all those with a stake in the future of our children
helped bring about crucial changes-parents, school boards, State
departments and State boards of education, governors, legislators, and
Federal officials. Below is a list of recommendations that the superin-
tendents believe would enable them to make greater and faster strides
toward educational excellence. The U.S. Department of Education does
not necessarily endorse all of their suggestions.
1. RESULTS, NOT PROCESS
The superintendents recommend that State and Federal laws, rules,
and regulations be modified to place more emphasis on what students
achieve and less on how they do so. Different communities, schools,
and students have varying needs, making it impossible for districts to
use the same tactics to reach their reform goals. Unfortunately, Federal
and State laws, rules, and regulations often provide local districts with
little leeway.
2. RESEARCH, EVALUATION, AND DEVELOPMENT MONEY
The superintendents recommend that governors work to provide money
for research, evaluation, and development of new programs, which the
local districts would be required to match dollar-for-dollar. Such
money has been used with great success in New Hampshire, where the
Governor's Initiative for Excellence in Education provides grants for in-
novative programs that districts must match 1-for-2. The White Moun-
tains Regional School District used such a grant to buy computers for
teachers. Research and evaluation are also appropriate and needed
(and underfunded) Federal activities.
3. TEACHER CERTIFICATION
The superintendents recommend that governors work individually to
modify teacher certification requirements within their States and work
collectively to break down interstate teacher certification barriers. Good
schools and good teachers go hand-in-hand. Unfortunately, present cer-
tification requirements often prevent districts from hiring the best in-
structors available, particularly those who live out-of-state.
Requirements have already been eased in some States, notably New
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Jersey, which has an "alternative certification" program that provides
shortcuts and special training to qualified noncertified individuals who
wish to teach.
4. CATEGORICAL FUNDS
The superintendents recommend that Federal and State officials and
agencies move away from categorical funding-with the understanding
that the local districts will continue to meet the needs of students for
whom the categorical funds are intended. Federal and State govern-
ments allocate millions of dollars each year that must be used for a
specific purpose or practice, which the superintendents believe often
prevents them from putting the money to the best use in their districts.
Utah recently approved a statewide block grant plan that allows dis-
tricts to apply for funds that they have some discretion to spend.
5. SCHOOL BOARDS
The superintendents recommend that governors, the National School
Boards Association, and the U.S. Department of Education develop
State and national school board academies to train present and future
school board members. They further recommend that Federal, State,
and local authorities encourage well-qualified citizens to run for school
board positions. Strong boards and board members can provide the
critical leadership needed to guide school improvements, while weak
ones can prevent needed change. Although the National School Boards
Association has made good progress in training members, more of
them should be encouraged to attend training that focuses on how
school boards can help to bring about change.
6. SHARING IDEAS FOR REFORM
The superintendents recommend that Federal, State, and local
authorities individually and collectively develop better ways to dissemi-
nate information on effective educational programs and practices. A
wealth of innovative programs have been conceived and developed
within local districts, yet educators seldom share their ideas with other
districts.
7. SCHOOL-BASED MANAGEMENT
The superintendents recommend that State departments and boards of
education as well as other superintendents across the country allow
principals to make more decisions in such areas as budget, cur-
riculum, and personnel. Despite support from many quarters for
"school-based management," most central school district ad-
ministrators continue to make major decisions affecting what happens
in individual schools. This practice often does not allow them to ac-
complish individual goals or to develop leaders from within their build-
ings.
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8. PAPERWORK
The superintendents recommend that Federal and State lawmakers
lead a drive to reduce or eliminate unnecessary paperwork. Federal and
State laws and regulations provide local superintendents and their
staffs with an abundance of paperwork, particularly the Education for
All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 (94-142). The time spent filling
out forms and keeping records might better be used to create new
programs and improve existing ones. South Carolina has provided
about $6.6 million to pay for computers to do administrative
recordkeeping and other managerial tasks, a move than has saved
school officials considerable paperwork.
9. MONEY
The superintendents urge Federal, State, and local policymakers to allo-
cate more money for education, with the understanding that local
educators will demonstrate that their funds are being spent wisely and
effectively. Money will not cure all of education's ills. But the superin-
tendents believe that many of the most far-reaching reforms, such as
technology-related ones or those providing more money for teachers,
cannot be accomplished with current resources.
10. DEREGULATION
The superintendents recommend that Federal, State, and local
policymakers allow districts and individual schools that meet mutually
agreed-upon standards be exempt from some laws and regulations.
Most education laws and regulations fail to provide any flexibility for
districts or schools that achieve results. South Carolina officials are
considering a deregulation plan that would free schools meeting high
standards on assessment tests from hundreds of State regulations.
11. STAFF DEVELOPMENT
The superintendents recommend that each State develop a plan that
analyzes existing staff development resources and suggests what new
ones are necessary to provide educators with sufficient background.
Rapid changes in education and new professional demands have left
many educators in need of more training.
12. PARTNERSHIPS WITH BUSINESS, HIGHER EDUCATION, AND
FOUNDATIONS
The superintendents recommend that partnerships with business,
higher education, and foundations be strengthened and increased.
Public schools and these three institutions have many mutual interests
and complementary areas of expertise that have not been fully explored
or developed.
13. MEASURING REFORM
The superintendents recommend that the U.S. Department of Educa-
tion create a study group to identify indicators of school effectiveness,
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which include tests and quantitative data, but are not limited to them.
Furthermore, the superintendents recommend that each State create
the capacity and devote the resources to study such things as how
tests and numerical data have shaped reform. Policymakers and
educators rely largely on these indicators to evaluate reform, although
many educators believe that these alone are insufficient.
14. MEDIA RELATIONS
The superintendents recommend that their colleagues view the media
as a potentially constructive force, even when the information that
newspapers, television, magazines, and radio communicate is not posi-
tive. The superintendents recognize and salute the important role the
media play in telling the story of reform and in maintaining public
awareness about school affairs.
15. USE OF DISSEMINATION AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE
SERVICES
The superintendents recommend to their colleagues that they draw on
federally funded technical assistance projects, including the regional
laboratories, to provide them with information and expertise. The super-
intendents further recommend that the U.S. Department of Education
urge the organizations to provide such assistance where possible and
that both the Department and the organizations alert school people to
the availability of these resources. Despite the array of federally funded
services available to districts seekng better schools, most local
educators continue to rely heavily on internal resources and expertise.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The energies and knowledge of many people inside and outside the U.S.
Department of Education have gone into creating this publication.
Peter Greer, Deputy Under Secretary for the Office of Intergovernmental
and Interagency Affairs, and Milton Goldberg, Director of Programs for
the Improvement of Practice in the Office of Educational Research and
Improvement, provided leadership and direction at critical points along
the way. Others within the Department who generously contributed in-
clude Liz Barnes, Jane Glickman, Charles Kolb, and Larry Woldt.
Eight present and three past governors in the eight States participating
in Project Education Reform, all listed in the front of this booklet, have
helped the partnership to thrive. Staff members from their offices who
deserve a special thank you include Gloria Cabe and Kathy Van Lanin-
gham in Arkansas; Robert Dickinson in Colorado; Tom Duncan in Mis-
souri; Robert Brunelle and Mary Ellen Joyce in New Hampshire; Rick
Mills and Marla Ucelli in New Jersey; Floride Martin in South Carolina;
Jennie Carter Thomas and Charles Smith in Tennessee; and Carol
Clark and Colleen Colton in Utah. At the National Governors' Associa-
tion, Dean Honetschlager and Susan Traiman offered helpful sugges-
tions.
A special thanks is also extended to the 16 superintendents and school
officials listed in the front of this booklet, as well as to the following
educators: Marsha Hayward in Springdale, Arkansas; Tom Maes and
Susan Mella in Mapleton, Colorado; Annette Miller, Norma Osborn, and
Roberta Page in Independence, Missouri; Jim Ritter in Columbia, Mis-
souri; Judy Deshaies and Mary Gale in the Timberlane Regional School
District in New Hampshire; Mike Martin in the White Mountains
Regional School District in New Hampshire; Mikey Lustberg in
Paramus, New Jersey; Myrtle McDaniel, Irene Myers, and Melvin
Smoak in Orangeburg, South Carolina; Kathy Bell and Carol Ellis in
Spartanburg, South Carolina; Dot Bilsky, Jerry Smothers, and Dan
Ward in Memphis, Tennessee; Mike Bundy, Cathy Colglazier, Tom
Hayes, Fred Holtzclaw, and Doris Weber in Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Vern
Brimley and John Childs in Provo, Utah; and Shauna Carl, Bob De-
Vries, Lew Gardiner, Mary Jean Johnson, Jack Keegan, Ronald Lamp,
and Jan Wilde in Salt Lake City, Utah. Thanks also goes to Mike Eader,
Richard Miller, Thomas Shannon, and Scott Thomson, who reviewed
the manuscript. Lance Ferderer edited the final manuscript, and Philip
Carr designed the book and cover, with invaluable suggestions from
Kate Dorrell.
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