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________________________________________ THE VERMONT EDUCATION REPORT
August 04, 2003 Vol. 3, No. 28
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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: LSternberg@aol.com
NEWS & ANALYSIS...ONE BID WINS QUALITY STUDY
The National Center on Education Finance (NCEF), a branch of the National Conference of State Legislatures, was awarded a contract from the Vermont Department of Education (VDOE) to perform an education quality study for the Vermont legislature. NCEF was virtually alone in putting in a successful bid.
According to Bill Talbott, director of the VDOE's financial office, requests for proposals were sent to eight organizations and posted on the VDOE's web site. This generated three responses - one from Odden and Picus Associates, who decided the money allocated for the study ($50,000) wasn't enough, one from Augenblick, Palaich and Associates, who said they could do it using VDOE resources and staff, and the successful bid from NCEF.
Talbott says NCEF will subcontract with the Snelling Group for some in-state material.
The Education Quality Study is from Section 63 of H.480, the Act 60 reform bill passed this year. It requires the VDOE to contract for a study of educational quality and efficiency, with a progress report due to the education and money committees of the legislature by October 15 and a final report to those committees by December 15.
OTHER STUDY COMMITTEES SET DATES
Several study committees mandated by the legislature are beginning to set opening meetings, even though one committee has yet to finalize its membership.
The Council on Education Governance, whose mission is to study Vermont's current governance structures and make recommendations for changes, has a membership of legislators, business people, parents, and education lobby representatives. The legislators were chosen several weeks ago, and now education lobby representatives are on the list.
Tom James will represent the State Board of Education, Laura Soares the Vermont School Boards Association, Joel Cook the Vermont NEA.
Still to be named are two business people by the governor, two parents by the governor, a representative of the Vermont Human Services department, and representatives of the Vermont Superintendents Association and the Vermont Principals Association.
Here's a round-up of first meetings, along with a review of the committees' missions and members:
NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND (NCLB) OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE
FIRST MEETING: Tuesday, August 26 from 1 to 4 p.m.; Ethan Allen Room of the Statehouse, Montpelier
MEMBERS: Rep. Howard Crawford (R-Burke), George Cross (D-Winooski), Joyce Errecart (R-Shelburne), Judy Livingston (R-Manchester), Sen. Jim Condos (D-Chittenden), Hinda Miller (D-Chittenden), Mark MacDonald (D-Orange), Diane Snelling (R-Chittenden)
MISSION: Sec. 4 of S. 185 creates a NCLB Legislative Oversight Committee of four House members and four Senators (from education and appropriations committees) to oversee the implementation of the federal NCLB Act. The committee may meet monthly, report in January 2004 and January 2005, terminate on July 1, 2005, and have the support of the Council staff and the JFO.
COUNCIL ON EDUCATION GOVERNANCE
FIRST MEETING: Tuesday, September 2 at 9:30 a.m.; room 11, Statehouse, Montpelier
MEMBERS: Rep. Kathy Lavoie (R-Swanton), George Cross (D-Winooski), Richard Hube (R-S.Londonderry), Sen. Hinda Miller (D-Chittenden), Bernier Mayo (R-Caledonia), Don Collins (D-Franklin), SBOE member Tom James, VSBA representative Laura Soares, Secretary of Administration Mike Smith, VTNEA representative Joel Cook, two parents appointed by the governor (not yet named), two business people appointed by the governor (not yet named), a representative of the Vermont Principals Association, a representative of the Vermont Superintendents Association, a designee of the Secretary of Human Services.
MISSION: Sec. 71 of H. 480 creates a Council on Education Governance to consist of three House members, three Senators, and many representatives of education interest groups to gather information to develop a comprehensive description of Vermont's education governance structure, engage a broad spectrum of Vermonters in public discussion, and recommend modifications for greater efficiencies and quality. The Council must hold its first public meeting by September 15, 2003 and complete its work by July 1, 2005. The Legislative Council and the JFO are to provide staff.
EDUCATION COST CONTAINMENT STUDY
FIRST MEETING: Wednesday, September 3 at 11 a.m.; Statehouse, Montpelier
MEMBERS: Rep. Thomas Pelham(I-Calais), Rep. Robert Rusten(D-Halifax), Rep. Richard Marron(R-Stowe), Rep. Kevin Endres(R-Milton), Sen. Jim Condos (D-Chittenden), Don Collins (D-Franklin), Susan Bartlett (D-Lamoille), Jim Greenwood (R-Essex/Orleans)
MISSION: Sec. 70 of H. 480 creates a new Joint Legislative Education Cost Containment Study Committee of four members of the House and four Senators to study a long menu of education cost containment proposals, meet no more than eight times, hold at least one public hearing, and work with the state's education lobby and establishment.
OTHER TEACHERS HAVE HAD LICENSES SUSPENDED
In the aftermath of the Wayne Nadeau controversy (in which it was revealed that a Vermont teacher, Wayne Nadeau, had his license suspended for having sex with a colleague in a classroom), news broke that another teacher, Richard Bugbee of St. Albans, is alleged to have had a sexual relationship with a student. Bugbee pleaded innocent, according to news reports, to sexual assault on a minor.
However, both these stories spurred the Burlington Free Press to make a public information request to the Vermont Department of Education for a list of other teachers who have had their licenses suspended over the past two years.
According to the story, 14 educators and one principal were "sanctioned for a range of offenses" over the past 19 months. The offenses ranged from inappropriate relationships with students to pornography on an educator's computer, to sexual contact with students.
The story and list appeared in Sunday's Burlington Free Press and can be accessed at: http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/bfpnews/news/sunday/2000h.htm and http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/bfpnews/news/sunday/3000h.htm (BFP links expire after 7 days)
UNFUNDED MANDATE REALLY FUNDED? THE SAGA CONTINUES
Several weeks ago, we shared with readers suggestions the Vermont School Boards Association was making to members as they prepare a list of unfunded mandates for the state legislature. Background checks was one of them.
An astute reader wrote to us to point out that the Vermont Department of Public Safety provides this service through a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice for education or non-profit organizations such as daycare providers.
Another astute reader, however, pointed out that the "free" background checks are not the same kind of "criminal records checks" required of school districts by law. Those, the reader pointed out, cost $49.
VER subsequently did its own background check and confirmed that the "criminal records checks" do indeed cost $49 - about $24 for the FBI search of records, and about $15 for a fingerprint company's services.
However, a source at the Vermont Criminal Information Center says the law doesn't require the schools to pay for this service - the schools can require the employees themselves to pick up the tab.
We would be happy to offer further clarifications from readers on this topic!
WHO COVERS EDUCATION IN VERMONT? WE DO!
Maybe you noticed that this is the third "volume" of the Vermont Education Report. That means we're entering our third year of covering education stories in the state that you WON'T FIND ELSEWHERE. Education is a complicated and important topic. In Vermont, it's a nearly one-billion-dollar industry. Yet scant notice is given to it in the major newspapers and broadcast media in the state. Only in the VER will you find regular coverage of education issues - stories on what the department of education is doing, what is happening in the education committees in the legislature, and how the state really compares nationwide, as well as tidbits from around the country.
Help us keep going - send a contribution today to: VBE, 170 Church Street, Rutland, VT 05701.
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ELSEWHERE...REPRINTED FROM...
The Education Intelligence Agency Communique - August 4, 2003 http://www.eiaonline.com1. NEA CHARTER SCHOOL GOES DOWN
NEA initiatives are launched with champagne and streamers, but when they sink beneath the waves, the union tosses no life preservers to the survivors, nor does it mark the final resting place of those who went down with the ship.
The Progressive Policy Institute of the Democratic Leadership Council ( http://www.ppionline.org) issued an excellent report called Catching the Wave: Lessons from California's Charter Schools. But author Nelson Smith missed the story of one California charter school that reminds us why charter schools succeed or fail. That school is - was - Kwachiiyoa Charter School in San Diego.
The word "kwachiiyoa" comes from the Kumayaay Indians of the San Diego area and is loosely translated to mean "everyone a learner, everyone a teacher," which became the school's motto. The school was designed to serve some 450 elementary students "as a model for improving student achievement by implementing innovative teaching and learning practices, establishing and maintaining strong school/community ties and enhancing professional development for pre-service and in-service teachers."
Kwachiiyoa was one of a projected six charter schools that were to be part of the NEA Charter School Initiative, launched in 1996 and funded with $1.5 million. Only four charter schools ever opened. Then-President Bob Chase told a Congressional subcommittee that NEA's main goal was "to learn from this project and share its findings with traditional public schools." He added that when "charter schools are created along the lines that our members have chosen - professional educators applying best practices and teaming with parents and community members - they do indeed offer hope for positive changes within our public system as a whole."
The Charter School Initiative was part of the new NEA image. It was promoted in NEA publications, and cited as an example of new unionism at work. "What better way to lead in one of the hottest areas of school reform?" read one article in NEA Today.
But the initiative ran into many of the same problems of other charter school start-ups, and many more that were unique. These were detailed in the 1999 EIA report Loving Charter Schools - To Death ( http://www.adti.net/html_files/education/Antonuccimay211999.htm). Kwachiiyoa opened in September 1999, two years later than expected and after a change of administrators, but the school had the financial and staff support of the California Teachers Association, the San Diego Education Association, the local school board and the teachers' college at San Diego State University. San Diego Union-Tribune reporter Maureen Magee called it "perhaps the most enthusiastic charter school launch the city had seen."
The school was to be run by a 12-member governance council, which consisted of six teachers, two parents, two community partners, one classified employee and one student. "The governance structure of Kwachiiyoa Charter School is based on the philosophy that teachers are professionals whose voice in school management and operations is essential to achieving academic goals," read a school goals document. Goal #1 was "high student achievement."
By the time Kwachiiyoa's initial charter expired on January 14, 2003, enrollment was at half-capacity, three classroom teachers were jointly running the school without benefit of an administrator, and the school was the lowest-performing of the 121 schools in the San Diego Unified School District. It ranked lowest even when compared to other California schools with similar student socioeconomic backgrounds. For the 2002-2003 school year, Kwachiiyoa was forced into a state intervention program for underperforming schools. Similar poor academic results were reported in 2000 and 2001.
Moreover, district staff found the school "had failed to maintain adequate financial records and adhere to commonly accepted accounting practices." The district concluded that the "lack of school leadership clearly contributed to this breakdown of fiscal control and to the failure of the school's academic program."
This year, the Kwachiiyoa staff sought a new charter for the school, without union involvement, but the San Diego City school board denied the application on June 24, citing the school's track record.
The lesson of Kwachiiyoa is not a cautionary tale about charter schools in general, nor about teacher participation in charter school administration. It is, however, a cautionary tale about publicity stunts disguised as education reforms. The NEA lost interest in its charter schools not long after the press releases went out. "Somebody birthed this school and then they left us in the cold," said Kwachiiyoa teacher Rhonda Schwartz
For an organization that claims to want "great public schools for every child," the NEA failed to keep its commitment to create one decent public school for 200 children. Keep that in mind when the next press release arrives announcing the latest initiative.
2) NEA'S REAL BEEF WITH NCLB
Since NEA General Counsel Bob Chanin announced it just prior to the union's convention in July, national education observers have focused on the likelihood that NEA will sue for "full funding" of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). But there's another lawsuit in the works that addresses the union's major concern with NCLB. It's not testing, it's not adequate yearly progress, and it's not even money. It's collective bargaining.
Last week NEA filed a complaint against the U.S. Department of Education, charging the agency with failing to provide documents under the Freedom of Information Act. The union is seeking "all written material that details why the department retreated from its previous interpretation of a provision" of NCLB that ensures its mandates "cannot override the rights of school employees under federal, state, or local laws or collective bargaining agreements."
As someone highly experienced with public records requests, I can tell you that litigation is useful as a last resort against obstinate bureaucracies. But the efficiency of the Department of Education's paper-pushers is a separate issue from the purpose of NEA's fishing expedition: section 1116(d) of NCLB.
With minor variations, the law states what NEA says it does. The point of dispute arose when the initial Department of Education regulations written to enact the law stated that section 1116(d) applied only to laws and bargaining agreements in effect prior to the enactment of NCLB in January 8, 2002.
After a number of NEA complaints, the offending regulation was deleted from the final version. But NEA is concerned that the official interpretation being made by Department of Education officials is that the provisions of NCLB take precedence over conflicting provisions of any collective bargaining agreement enacted after January 8, 2002. The purpose of the union's Freedom of Information Act request is to find any documentation that states this interpretation plainly. Should NEA find any reason to believe that NCLB will trump teacher contracts, it will file suit. For months, union activists have been seeking specific instances across the country where contract provisions have been set aside or gone unnegotiated because of NCLB. The most brazen instances will be used as the basis for court action.
EIA has previously noted the irony of NEA angst over federal overreach, but lawsuits against the U.S. Department of Education are particularly delicious, since that agency came into existence largely due to the efforts of the newly "unionized" NEA during the Carter administration. It's hard to sympathize with the mad scientist when his monster starts tearing up his laboratory.
FROM THE FORDHAM FOUNDATION...
WHAT'S A QUALIFIED TEACHER? by Chester E. Finn, Jr.Excerpted from the July 31 Gadfly, the electronic newsletter of the Fordham Foundation, http://www.edexcellence.net
From Denver, the mainstream Education Commission of the States recently issued a major report entitled "Eight Questions on Teacher Preparation: What Does the Research Say?" [ http://www.ecs.org/tpreport] This substantial volume reviews 92 empirical studies that passed muster with ECS analysts as basing conclusions on "systematic observation rather than from articles that are based on opinion and use other studies for support."
ECS has done so thorough and dispassionate a review of the available evidence that it's worth restating the first five questions and summarizing the analysts' answers. (There was insufficient decent research on the final three questions to draw any conclusions.)
Q. To what extent does subject knowledge contribute to the effectiveness of a teacher?
A. The research on this topic...provides moderate support for the importance of solid subject-matter knowledge.... As important as strong subject-matter knowledge seems to be, teacher preparation programs do not appear to be doing an adequate job of ensuring that their graduates have it.
Q. To what extent does pedagogical coursework contribute to a teacher's effectiveness?
A. The research provides limited support for the conclusion that preparation in pedagogy can contribute significantly to effective teaching.... It is not clear from the research..., however, whether such knowledge and skills are best acquired through coursework, field experience (especially student teaching) or on the job.... Moreover, the uncertainty about the ability of preservice preparation to ensure the solid acquisition of core pedagogical skills opens the door to the consideration of alternative preparation routes, which emphasize on-the-job training and have a limited preservice component.
Q. To what extent does high-quality field-based experience prior to certification contribute to a teacher's effectiveness?
A. There is relatively little disagreement that practical experience is extremely important in learning to teach.... It remains unclear, however, what constitutes effective field experience and what impact it has relative to other components of teacher preparation programs...The research...fails to support any confident conclusions about the effectiveness of different kinds of field experiences.
Q. Are there "alternative route" programs that graduate high percentages of effective new teachers with average or higher-than-average rates of teacher retention?
A. Overall, the research provides limited support for the conclusion that there are indeed alternative programs that produce cohorts of teachers who are ultimately as effective as traditionally trained teachers.
Q. Are there any teacher preparation strategies that are likely to increase the effectiveness of new teachers in hard-to-staff or low-performing schools?
A. The very few studies that met the criteria for this report provide limited support for the conclusion that deliberate efforts to prepare teachers to teach in urban, low-performing schools can be beneficial.
What does this add up to? Most obviously, to a need for wide-ranging experimentation and additional research in teacher preparation. Frightfully little is known with any certainty about what knowledge, skills and experience work for teachers and even less is known about how best to ensure that they acquire these things. This should lead states to cast off the shackles that chain them to ancient ways of preparing and certifying teachers and bring them instead to a fresh appreciation of Secretary Paige's point: that NCLB leaves them free to define "fully certified" however they like, not necessarily as they have habitually done. Though confusedly reported in the press, this excellent ECS study, as I read it, vindicates those who say "teachers need subject matter knowledge and they need practical experience and they MAY also need some pedagogical knowledge, but nothing we know today is compelling enough to restrict us to accustomed ways of trying to provide new teachers with th! ese things."
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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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