________________________________________  THE VERMONT EDUCATION REPORT June 03, 2002 Vol. 2, No. 23 ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯  Covering education news in Vermont and beyond... Informative, provocative, unique... Published by Vermonters for Better Education  VBE is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization whose mission is to enlist parents and the public at large in achieving quality educational opportunities for all the children of Vermont by monitoring the state of education in Vermont; promoting the value of educational freedoms for all parents; and giving parents the evaluative tools with which to identify excellence. Libby Sternberg, executive director: MAILTO:LSternberg@aol.com STATE NEWS... US SUPREME COURT RULING ON VOUCHERS EXPECTED SOON The United States Supreme Court will likely issue its ruling soon in the case of Zelman v. Simmons-Harris - the Cleveland school voucher program that allows publicly-funded scholarships to be used at private, religious schools. Information on the case is available at the web site of one of the law firms involved, the Institute for Justice, at http://www.ij.org. Vermonters for Better Education's own amicus brief in the case is available on this web site: http://www.SchoolReport.com/amicus.htm. As the case progressed, many misstatements made their way into the media and other sources about the Cleveland program and the principles involved. Here's a sampling: DO VOUCHER SCHOOLS SCREEN STUDENTS? Misstatement: "Private schools in voucher programs can pick and choose (students and) do not have to take the kids who are the most expensive to educate." --Tom Brokaw, Dateline NBC (October 29, 2000) Truth: Voucher programs in Milwaukee, Cleveland and Florida serve students from low-income families and those attending low-performing schools. Thousand of students in these programs, in fact, have learning disabilities. Random selection methods are used, effectively prohibiting screening of "expensive" students. ARE PARENTS INCONSEQUENTIAL? Misstatement: "The question starkly and indisputably presented (by the challenge to school choice in Cleveland is) whether the giving of state money to parochial schools, with parents as formal but INCONSEQUENTIAL CONDUITS (emphasis added), can pass constitutional muster. This transparent attempt to launder state funds through a pro forma involvement of the parents does not affect the underlying reality of the State payments." --Reply brief of Plaintiffs in the Cleveland Case (Plaintiffs were trying to block the voucher program.) Truth: Simply put, parents are anything BUT inconsequential conduits when it comes to choosing a school. DO STUDENTS BENEFIT FROM VOUCHERS? Misstatement: "Available studies demonstrate no significant educational advantage for students who receive vouchers." --Report issued nationally by People for the American Way (September 21, 2001) Truth: PFAW cites a September 2001 report from Dr. Kim Metcalf, Ohio's evaluator, but Dr. Metcalf's report actually states: "Most studies have found that voucher programs, whether publicly or privately funded, tend to promote more positive parental or family attitudes toward school, increase parental involvement and result in increased parental satisfaction. The limited, but statistically significant positive impact of the program on students' academic achievement, particularly as they progress beyond the early primary grades, is consistent with work in Milwaukee, New York, Washington, DC, and Dayton, Ohio." Dr. Metcalf is not alone in this view. A new report from The Brookings Institution states, "Although controversial, research generally shows positive effects for students using vouchers to attend private schools."  HOW MUCH WILL THOSE TESTS REALLY COST? The Education Leaders Council, a Washington-DC-based organization composed of education commissioners, superintendents and other school leaders from around the country, recently released a report countering claims that the new "No Child Left Behind" education law will result in high costs for states as they meet the new testing requirements. The ELC estimates that testing costs will come in below the amount of money the federal government has allocated for the assessments. ELC's report disputes higher estimates promoted by the National Association of State Boards of Education. The ELC report is available at: http://www.educationleaders.org. FOR SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS: REFORM NETWORK AVAILABLE The Center for Education Reform in Washington, DC has started a reform network just for school board members around the country who are interested in becoming more informed on education issues, and want a variety of information. The following is pasted from CER's web page on this initiative: "For too long, local School Board members have found it a challenge to move education reform forward in their communities. New ideas are rejected or delayed. District staff and the local "education establishment" resist change. "It's a hard job to create accountability measures, decide on new textbooks, find new ideas for teacher effectiveness, and reinforce the importance of standards when you don't know where to turn for information you can act on. "Now, there's an answer! "The Center for Education Reform has created The School Board Network for reform-minded local school board leaders dedicated to building achievement and accountability in their districts. "Never has there been a more important time to build new support for reform: New federal legislation provides for greater financial flexibility to states and districts. Standards, testing, and accountability are now driving positive changes in curriculum and textbooks. New research is suggesting better ways to measure teacher performance. All of this makes the need for a reform-minded School Board Network more vital than ever before! "The School Board Network provides what you need to do your job as a local board member. The network offers information you're not getting anywhere else - on curriculum and standards, textbooks and teacher evaluations, governance and charter schools. "School Board Network Members receive solid, clear and concise information about curriculum reforms that can make a real difference in your schools: the successful Core Knowledge curriculum, 25 years of reading research from the National Institute of Health, and the ways the textbook industry and the textbook adoption process hurt the ability of teachers to teach and children to learn. "The School Board Network provides you with state-by-state data showing where states stand on the new generation of tests, and why the professional associations' Math and English standards aren't what they should be. "We're out to make schools better, and to provide kids with a better education, and to provide you with a support network of like-minded colleagues with whom you can exchange ideas and get help building the case for reform in your district." To join this network, go to: http://www.edreform.com/sbn/aboutsbn.htm  HOMESCHOOLERS WIN MOCK TRIAL CHAMPIONSHIP Homeschoolers from Chattanooga, Tennessee have, for the first time, won the National High School Mock Trial Championship. This competition is based not on rote memory but "critical thinking, reading, speaking, and advocacy." Team member Beth Coleman remarked, "I think that our unexpected victory in claiming the National Championship title shattered a lot of the images that people have of homeschooling." From: http://www.nationalmocktrial.org/results.htm *    *    * ELSEWHERE... WILL VOUCHERS HELP CONTAIN SPECIAL EDUATION COSTS? In a June 1 Providence Journal commentary, education writer Robert Holland makes a compelling argument for how vouchers could help hold down special education costs. Holland cites a recent article by researcher Jay P. Greene (included in the 5/13 VER: http://www.schoolreport.com/vbe/nlet/05_13_02.htm) that shows how percentages of disabled children have declined over the past 20 years except in one category - "specific learning disability." Holland says: "Writing in the Fordham Foundation's 'Education Gadfly,' Mr. Greene noted that 'the most powerful reform (of IDEA) would 'voucherize' all students who receive a special-education diagnosis,' as with the (Florida) McKay Program. 'Making all special education students eligible for vouchers not only expands the options available to them and their families, it also provides a disincentive to public schools to over-diagnose students, since public schools will not want to lose these students to private schools.'" For the full Holland commentary, go to: http://www.projo.com/opinion/contributors/content/projo_20020601_ctholl1.8bb68.html QUOTABLE... CHARTER SCHOOLS - WHAT REALLY HAPPENED? From The Education Intelligence Agency COMMUNIQUÉ -- June 3, 2002 On the Web at http://www.eiaonline.com "[The Minnesota charter school proposal] risks creating elite academies for the few and second rate schools for the many -- a multi-tiered system of public education with no guarantee of equity in facilities or curriculum." -- prediction of the Minnesota Education Association in 1991 when it was faced with a new education reform: charter schools. "As revealed by the Center for School Change in its new report, What Really Happened? Minnesota's Experience with Statewide Public School Choice Programs, when compared to the average district public schools, Minnesota's charter schools have a higher percentage of low-income students, a higher percentage of students of color, and a higher percentage of students who have some form of disability." The full report, released today, is available on the center's web-site. (http://www.hhh.umn.edu/centers/school-change/) *    *    * The VERMONT EDUCATION REPORT is published by Vermonters for Better Education 170 Church Street, Rutland, VT 05701, 802.773.5240 Contact LSternberg@aol.com for more information.

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