From: curt@aixwiz.austin.ibm.com (Curt Finch/131072)
Newsgroups: tx.politics
Subject: school stuff
Date: 15 Dec 92 15:05:12 GMT
Reply-To: curt@aixwiz.austin.ibm.com (Curt Finch/131072)
Distribution: tx
Organization: IBM AWD, Austin, TX

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   --- Monday --- December 14, 1992 --- Vol. 2 --- No. 132 ---

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         THE NATIONAL UPDATE ON AMERICA'S EDUCATION GOALS
  An APN publication, supported by The Annie E. Casey Foundation

                                   __________         __________
                                  |          SPOTLIGHT          |
                                  |                             |
                                  |   POWER TO THE PRINCIPAL    |
                                  |                             |
                                  |   A chief complaint voiced  |
                                  | by many teachers is that    |
                                  | they are not treated as     |
                                  | true professionals.  There  |
                                  | are not enough distinctions |
                                  | made between good teachers  |
                                  | and poor ones, they say.    |
CABINET CHOICE                    | And too often, removing     |
  President-elect Clinton         | disqualified teachers       |
nominates Donna Shalala,          | requires more effort than   |
chancellor of U-Wisc./Madison,    | it's worth.                 |
for Sec. of Health and Human      |                             |
Services.  (#12)                  |   One problem:  Teacher     |
                                  | evaluation systems may not  |
KEEP HOPE ALIVE                   | have credibility.  All but  |
  An emphasis on "governance"     | 621 of 5,909 teachers       |
has hindered the Chicago School   | evaluated in D.C. recently  |
Reform Act of 1988.  But some     | received "very good" or     |
principals have implemented       | "outstanding" performance   |
reforms that have made a          | ratings, according to a     |
difference. (#4)                  | WASH. POST editorial. (#8)  |
                                  |                             |
                                  |   More realistic            |
                                  | evaluations might come from |
                                  | a Baltimore County Board of |
                                  | Ed proposal to give         |
                                  | principals more authority   |
                                  | over how teachers are       |
                                  | assigned, promoted and      |
                                  | terminated. (#7)            |
                                  |_____________________________|

         ==============  QUOTE OF THE DAY  ==============
 "If it ain't broke, break it." -- A Balto. SUN editorial on the
    Baltimore public school system's rezoning proposal. (#5)
  _______________________________________________________________
|       (c) 1992 by the American Political Network, Inc.        |
|    282 N. Washington St., Falls Church, VA  (703) 237-5130    |
|     APN, Inc. hereby authorizes further reproduction and      |
|           distribution with proper acknowledgment.            |
|                 Publisher:  Barbara A. Pape                   |
|                    Editor:  Richard R. Hough                  |
|           Managing Editor:  Angela R. Heffernan               |
|       Senior Staff Writer:  Sarita M. Wilson-Broughton        |
|  Editorial Assistants:  Daniel B. Conkright, Cecilia Serrano  |
|_______________________________________________________________|

                   =====  A LOCAL LOOK  =====

*4   CHICAGO REFORM:  THERE IS STILL HOPE
     Preoccupation with "governance" or the ground rules for
school reform have kept administrators from fully implementing
the Chicago School Reform Act of 1988, according to Supt. Ted
Kimbrough and School Board Pres. Florence Cox (Hawes, CHICAGO
TRIBUNE).  But some schools have seeped through the bureaucracy
and "as a result, changed education."
     Reilly Elementary has shown improved test scores in reading,
writing and math for each of the last three years.  In 1988 the
state legislature ordered the Board of Ed to send poverty funds
to schools that needed them.  The schools then hired a drama and
music teacher and a reading specialist, and holds dance classes.
     South Side Dyett Middle School Principal Yvonne Minor said
reform has provided money to hire more teachers.  The school
offers courses in home economics, radio communications, Spanish
and French and each classroom has at least four computers.
     The schools passed quickly through what school reformers
refer to as the "transition phase" because their principals were
eager to implement reforms.  Also, the schools had a history of
parental involvement, according to the TRIBUNE.
     It has not been as easy for other schools, "but the fruits
of reform are still evident," writes the newspaper.  Roberto
Clemente Community Academy, which initially withheld its
"enthusiasm for reform," last year divided its classrooms into
"schools within schools," and hired more teachers and counselors
with Chapter 1 funds.  And Burroughs Elementary has implemented a
reading program that exposes students to the Bible, the
Constitution and works by Alexandre Dumas (12/13).

*7   BALTO. TEACHERS:  PROPOSAL IMPERILS PERSONNEL PROCEDURES
     The Teachers Association for Balto. County has received a
proposal from the Balto. County Board of Ed "that would radically
change the way teachers are assigned, transferred, promoted and
perhaps even terminated." (Maushard, Balto. SUN)  The proposal
would give school principals increased authority over personnel
moves while the school system moves toward "site-based
management," where principals have more power and responsibility
to run schools.
     The union has sent several bulletins to the system's 6,000
teachers indicating that the Board of Ed's proposal "would erode
many of the job protections that teachers have won over the
years," writes the SUN.
     The proposal would eliminate the present contract's
procedures for teachers requesting transfers and appeals and
seniority restrictions in the event of layoffs, according to the
paper.  The contract expires June 30, 1993.  The proposal also
would eliminate the current apprenticeship program, giving
superintendents "far more power" in selecting teachers for
promotion to vice-principal and principal, the SUN reports.
     Today is the final negotiating session, with the deadline to
settle the contract set for tomorrow.  But both sides could agree
to continue talks on the issue, according to the SUN (12/12).

*8   EVALUATIONS:  D.C.'S SHODDY SYSTEM SHUNS EXCELLENT TEACHERS
     A recent contract negotiated by the D.C. school board and
the Washington Teachers Union fails to address the "credibility"
of the city's teacher evaluation system, according to a WASH.
POST editorial.  The current system is one in which "no one can
have confidence" and the only objective is to protect the
salaries of unqualified teachers, the POST writes.
     The newspaper writes that 99.5% of D.C.'s teachers have
satisfactory or better performance ratings.  And congressional
testimony reveals that "all but 621 of the 5,909 teachers
evaluated in one recent year hit those 'very good' or
'outstanding' categories."  The POST:  "In case you haven't
figured it out, it's a teacher performance rating system that is
like something from a Mel Brooks movie."
     The POST says that the inadequate teacher evaluation system,
which has emerged unaltered from the recent contract
negotiations, exemplifies the flaws of the school system.  It is
an "insult" to excellent teachers who "persevere" and "succeed"
with poor, troubled children, on a salary that is much less than
that of teachers from larger school districts in the region,
writes the editorial.  The POST concludes that the continuance of
this "meaningless teacher rating system" is one reason that the
schools' budget request will be "dead on arrival." (12/12)

*11  L.A. TEACHERS:  STATE BOARD UPHOLDS CUT
     The Calif. Public Employees Relations Board has refused to
block a 12% pay cut for teachers (WASH. TIMES).  The announcement
comes after a vote by the United Teachers-Los Angeles to reject
the pay cut and calls for a Feb. 22nd strike  (See DRC 12/11,
#6).  The district approved the cuts in October "to help offset a
$400M budget shortfall," according to the TIMES (12/13).

                   =====  EDUCATION '92  =====

*12  DONNA SHALALA:  TAPPED FOR SEC. OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
     President-elect Bill Clinton has nominated Dr. Donna
Shalala, chancellor of U-Wisc./Madison, for Secretary of the
Dept. of Health and Human Services (multi.).  Shalala, a former
asst. secretary of Housing and Urban Development during the
Carter presidency, said:  "My own administrative experience is in
managing large complex institutions that have fiefdoms.  A place
like H.H.S. is a natural for me."
     Shalala "has built a reputation as a dynamic, effective
leader, one as sensitive to politics as to policy" and "is best
known as an educator and an expert on urban finance," writes the
N.Y. TIMES (Chira).  She "has long been immersed in issues of
children and poverty through service on boards like the
Children's Defense Fund, where she succeeded Hillary Clinton as
chairman this year," adds the newspaper.
     Shalala said she will focus on five initiatives during her
first year:  health-care financing; expanding the Head Start
program; immunizing all American children; combating AIDS; and
mapping a science and technology policy (12/12).

                       =====  FOCUS  =====

*13  CHOICE CONTROVERSY:  GOV., DES MOINES BOARD AT ODDS
     The Des Moines, Iowa's School Board's decision that a
statewide open-enrollment program is not working has "pitted" the
Board against Gov. Terry Branstad (R) and state education
officials (Walsh, WASH. POST).  Board members cite financial
losses and "the encouragement of white flight" as some of the
three-year-old program's unanticipated results.
     Thomas Jeschek, dir. of student services for city schools:
"The concept that open enrollment will provide opportunities for
poor and minority students to seek greener pastures doesn't seem
to be holding true here, and I would suggest that is probably
true across the country."
     The Des Moines board recently rejected transfer requests
from 122 children's families.  The children were denied transfers
because they are white, writes the POST.
     The city school board voted last month to reject transfers
that would "upset" the racial balance at a particular school.
But the board rejected the 122 white students' transfer requests
even though they would not have affected racial composition at
the schools.
     A study done by Jeschke last year found that racial and
socio-economic composition was affected by inter-district
transfers permitted under the state's choice plan.  The study
also found that Des Moines lost 279 students under the program
and over $1.2M in the first two years because of losses in ed
funds that followed transfer students.
     But the POST reports that Iowa law bars districts from
denying transfers due to the of loss of revenue.   And William
Lepley, state ed director said that while "white flight" is a
valid concern, the evidence from the program's first two years
"does not appear to be a very compelling case for white flight."
(12/12)



                              -30-

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curt@aixwiz.austin.ibm.com (Curt L. Finch) | AIX NFS/NIS Field Quality 
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