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43 ESEA Programs Face Elimination
 With the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act now more than two years overdue, and summer rapidly approaching, Congress appears poised to take a piecemeal approach to the rewriting of the massive federal education law. With the introduction of HR 1891, to be popularly known as the "Setting New Priorities in Education Spending Act," key congressional Republicans appear committed to "clearing the land" before constructing a new edifice. The measure's title is somewhat misleading, as HR 1891 is not a spending bill, but an authorization bill. That is to say, it falls into a category of laws that permit Congress to appropriate up to a certain sum of money for one or more programs but does not enact actual appropriations. As it happens, HR 1891 eliminates authorizations that would have the effect of erasing 43 programs currently packaged into the existing law.
A bill summary provided by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce notes that the legislation reduces the number of current ESEA programs by half. The document opens with the following somber declaration: "Despite tripling overall per pupil funding since 1964, national academic performance has not improved. Math and reading scores have largely remained flat, graduation rates have stagnated, and researchers have found serious shortcomings in many federally funded education programs. As the House Education and the Workforce Committee works to reform our nation's broken education system and restore fiscal responsibility in Washington, we must ensure taxpayer dollars are well spent."
Among some of the better known programs slated for elimination are:
- Even Start Family Literacy Program (Title I, Part B, Subpart 3)
- Enhancing Education Through Technology (Title II, Part D)
- Striving Readers (Not originally authorized in ESEA)
- Reading is Fundamental (Title V, Part D, Subpart 5)
- Javits Gifted and Talented (Title V, Part D, Subpart 6)
The bill summary organizes the various programs by those defunded by the recently passed continuing budget resolution, those consolidated or eliminated in President Obama's budget proposal for fiscal year 2012, programs not recently funded, programs that were authorized but never funded, and programs deemed duplicative or inappropriate for funding by the federal government. The last category contains the Foreign Language Assistance Program, the Arts in Education program, the High School Graduation Initiative, and Ready to Learn Television.
Two Californians play prominent roles in championing the bill: It is authored by House Committee on Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education Chair Duncan Hunter (R - CA), and co-sponsored by former Committee on Education and the Workforce Chair Howard "Buck" McKeon (R - CA). Needless to say, it's easier to tear down an edifice than it is to build anew, and HR 1891 fails to address the most prominent features of ESEA. In fact, this Politics K-12 blog post quotes House Committee on Education and the Workforce Chair John Kline as saying there is "no chance" that Congress will meet the August deadline for the reauthorization of the law set by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. Absent changes to the existing law, it is possible that as many as 82 percent of all public schools will be labeled "failing" in the coming year. And since the coming year also happens to be a presidential election year, it is likely that the U.S. Department of Education will soon begin dispensing a multitude of waivers, exempting schools from the current law's accountability provisions, pending Congressional action. Stay tuned! |
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Math Jitters
 Imagine that you are lost in the woods. The sky is beginning to darken, the air is turning chilly, and you are desperate to find your way out. Fortunately, you have a cell phone. So you dial 9-1-1, and use your GPS app to let the authorities know your exact location. You are told that you are only 50 yards away from a trail that will lead you back into civilization in 10 minutes. The reassuring voice on the other end of the line tells you to follow her simple directions. "Turn to face the setting sun. Now, make a quarter turn..." At that point the line becomes filled with static. Your cell phone is losing power! You miss the instruction. "Wait!" you shout. "I need you to go back!" She does, but once again your cell phone suffers a reduction of power.
According to an article appearing in last week's edition of Education Week, a similar scenario plays out inside the brains of learners suffering from math anxiety. As University of Western Ontario researcher Daniel Ansari explains, " When engaged in mathematical problem-solving, highly math-anxious individuals suffer from intrusive thoughts and ruminations. This takes up some of their processing and working memory. It's very much as though individuals with math anxiety use up the brainpower they need for the problem." In other words, the energy consumed by anxiety depletes the brain's "batteries" at critical points in the processing of information.
As Dr. Judy Willis, a Santa Barbara neuroligist and authority in the field of learning-centered brain research describes it, "anxiety can literally cut off the working memory needed to learn and solve problems." Ironically, investigators at Baruch College of the City University of New York have produced evidence suggesting that "...this stress reaction may hit hardest the students who might otherwise be the most enthusiastic about math."
A growing body of research points to the likelihood that both biological and social factors contribute to the development of math anxiety. Studies conducted under the direction of Mr. Ansari demonstrate an asociation between the presence of high math anxiety in adults and diminished ability to readily recognize differences in numerical magnitude. Because this ability is key to performing a large number of mathematical operations, "...small, early deficiencies in that area can lead to difficulties, frustration, and negative reactions to math problems over time."
On the social factor front, University of Chicago Professor Sian L. Beilock, "... found female 1st and 2nd grade teachers with high anxiety about math affected both their students' math performance and their beliefs about math ability." Just as math anxiety can be transmitted from teacher to student, so can it be passed from parent to child. Researchers encourage teachers to direct activities that serve to focus students' attention upon processes rather than rushing to look up answers. Dr. Willis advises teachers to increase the amount of "wait time" between question and answer by facilitating various activities that include inviting students to discuss problems as a group, and to "bet" on answers. Such activities help to decrease "mistake fear," by "...get[ting] students to expose faulty foundational knowledge, which they can only do if they make mistakes and participate." |
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Quick Takes
 "Christmas" in May
California's public schools received an unexpected gift when Governor Jerry Brown released his May revision of the proposed state budget for fiscal year 2012. As it turns out, state revenues for the current fiscal year have produced $6.6 billion above projections. That's great news for all Californians.
The windfall may provide the state's public schools with an eleventh-hour reprieve. As the San Jose Mecury News reports: " After issuing thousands of preliminary layoff notices, drafting budgets with deep cuts and listening to sky-is-falling scenarios that would shorten the school year by a month, California schools now face a startling possibility: There actually may be the same amount of money as this year." Whether or not that happens continues to depend upon whether temporary hikes in the state sales and personal income tax, as well as vehicle registration fees will be extended. If they are not, it will mean an additional $5 billion of red ink for the state. In light of Proposition 98 funding guarantees, however, "only" $1.6 billion of this amount can be secured from cuts to public K-12 education.
At the same time, there is speculation that the revenue windfall will strengthen the resolve of the state's Republican legislators to oppose attempts to extend or increase tax and fee hikes. For his part, Governor Brown has proposed deferring a requested state income tax increase for one year.
EdSource has produced a cogent, two-page document titled, California's Fiscal Crisis: What does it mean for schools, that provides a concise overview of the current state of education funding and considers the impact of the state's current fiscal crisis. The document, which was created prior to the release of the Governor's revised budget, can be downloaded, here.
A New Resource for Busy Teachers
Most teachers are too busy planning lessons and activities, reviewing students' assignments, providing out-of-class assistance, communicating with parents, participating in staff meetings, and just recovering from the stress of it all to find the time to read, let alone keep up with the professional literature in their field. Enter a new, web-based resource called Best Practices Weekly, which "gives overloaded elementary school teachers the latest research in bite-sized chunks they can quickly absorb and implement in their classrooms the very next day." According to the site's organizers, BPW's staff "reads the contemporary professional literature across elementary education, selects the most practical articles, and then summarizes the key take-home messages in text, audio, and video formats so busy teachers can get right to the point." Sounds like a great idea! You can provide your e-mail address and receive an electronic copy of Best Practices Weekly at no cost, here.
Win-Win
Conventional wisdom has it that private high school athletic teams win a disproportionate number of championships when private and public schools compete. The success experienced by private school athletic programs has, at times, produced tension between the two communities. At issue is the ability of private schools to enroll students without regard for the geographic boundaries that serve to
constrain public school enrollment. Some voices have called for a complete bifurcation of private and public school athletic competition. Others favor the imposition of an "athletic multiplier" that artificially inflates the count of students enrolled in private schools, so that smaller private schools end up competing against larger public counterparts. Against such a background, this May 23 L.A. Times article, penned by Eric Sondheimer, comes as a much welcomed salve. The story reports two uplifting examples of cooperation between private and public high school sports programs. In the first, football players from Carson High School, and Orange Lutheran High School participated in a joint practice on the private school's campus, under the joint direction of both teams' coaches. "We're in this to benefit high school athletes no matter where they are," said Carson Coach Elijah Asante, who summed up the activity by remarking, "It was beautiful." The second story tells of how Agoura High School Coach Charlie Wegher invited his counterpart at Anaheim's Servite High School, Troy Thomas, "to give a talk on how he has been able to use 'positive coaching' to create a culture of excellence at Servite." More than 70 coaches from the host school and other local campuses attended the session. According to the Times article: "People are trying to understand how Thomas has been able to guide Servite to consecutive Pac-5 Division championships without being accused of illegal recruiting."
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Japan, Finland, and Our Schools
 Living in a dorm during my freshman year at UCLA, I was most fortunate to have shared a room with a young Japanese graduate student named Kunio Sasaki. Besides introducing me to sushi long before it became an American culinary commonplace, Kunio, whose father was a member of the Japanese National Diet (Parliament) taught me a great deal about his nation's people and culture.
Some of our cultural differences produced chuckles, as when Kunio taught me how to make the appropriate slurping sound when eating noodles, and had me practice consuming a bowl filled with broth and other goodies without benefit of a spoon, as is the Japanese custom. Fun aside, over the course of our year as roomates I learned, and came to admire a great deal about this remarkable people.
Some of those lessons came back into focus in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck the island nation on March 11. For example, the notion of saving face is of consummate importance to the Japanese, even while in the throes of an unprecedented disaster. This deeply shared occupation with both avoiding and preventing embarrassment or humiliation comes with both benefits and pitfalls. Is it imaginable that were an explosion to occur at a U.S. nuclear power plant, no one would inform the President? That's pretty much what occurred in Japan following the explosions at the Fukushima reactor. Amazingly, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan first learned of the incident while watching television - not because physical lines of communication had been impaired, but because it was too humiliating for company officials to provide a direct account of the incident.
At the same time, the world observed remarkable displays of orderliness in the face of unimaginable stress, and witnessed widespread acts of heroism and noble behavior when utter chaos could just as easily have reigned.
Considerable attention has been devoted to the pervasive absence of looting following the tsunami. Writing for Slate, Christopher Beam offers some interesting insights into the self-restraint demonstrated by the Japanese - and even confers credit upon the presence and actions of Japan's organized crime families - here. And Thomas Lifson comments on the impact of the lack of anonymity in Japan, even in large urban areas, here.
The power exerted by culture is strong and enduring. In our own nation, it took a Civil War to bring an end to the institution of slavery, and another century to secure equal civil rights for the descendants of its victims. Cultures change, but seldom without stubborn and prolonged resistance, and not a little resentment. Could we, as a people, adapt elements of Japanese culture that strike us as admirable? Perhaps, though it's difficult to imagine how we'd do so in practical terms.
Which brings me to Finland, a nation that has become the international poster child for many a domestic education reformer. And not without good reason. On the most recent administration of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests, Finnish students ranked sixth, overall, in math, third in reading, and second in the sciences. But that's only part of the story. Compulsory education is limited to nine years. Children begin school at a later age, have a shorter school day and school year, are given little homework and take few standardized tests. Teachers belong to a strong union, receive early tenure, earn salaries comparable to those associated with other professions, and are granted a considerable degree of professional latitude in the classroom.
Can our schools learn from the success enjoyed by the Finns? Of course. Can elements of Finland's education system be adapted, and successfully implemented, locally? Perhaps. Is doing so a simple matter? Hardly.
Some naysayers point to the most obvious differences between Finland and the United States: Finland's population of 5.3 million is roughly half that of Los Angeles County. Some 93 percent of the nation's population are of Finnish ethnicity; 99 percent are either Finnish or Swedish. And 80 percent of the population is affiliated with one religious denomination (Evangelical Lutheran). A small, ethnically and religiously homogenous country, they argue, bears little relationship to the United States.
In response, others draw comparisons to the state of Utah, whose population - roughly half that of Finland's - may be more racially and religiously homogenous than that of any other state. Similar though they may be in these respects, Utah's students don't excel in the same manner as their Finnish counterparts (although they do outperform California's students on both the English and Math components of the National Assessment of Educational Progress).
So what's really different about Finland? I'd suggest that several aspects of Finnish political and economic culture spell the critical difference. For one, members of other professions (e.g. doctors and lawyers) are compensated at relatively lower levels in Finland than in the United States. Finnish teachers are probably compensated at levels that are comparable to those of their American counterparts, yet the disparity in compensation between Finnish teachers and members of other professions is significantly smaller than in the U.S. While such comparability makes for an understandably higher sense of esteem felt by and accorded to the teaching profession, it is difficult to picture how such comparability would be achieved here.
Secondly, Finland is far more selective than the United States when it comes to teacher recruitment. Only one of every ten applicants is admitted to Finnish teacher preparation programs. Such selectivity, which is largely absent in the United States, goes hand-in-hand with the provision of compensation comparable to other highly selective professions.
Thirdly, the Finns reject the notion that every child should be required to complete an academic course of study in preparation for college or university admission. While it is true that Finnish students are subjected to few "high stakes" standardized achievement tests, the stakes associated with Finland's college entrance exam are very high, indeed. Those who pass the test and matriculate are entitled to a free, post-secondary education. Imagine how much more motivated our home-grown students might be if they knew that passing the California High School Exit Exam would secure a completely subsidized college education. Of couse, such an arrangement can only be contemplated in a system in which proportionately fewer individuals are admitted, or taxes are substantially increased, or both. Interestingly, the percentage of Finns who possess college degrees is higher than that of U.S. citizens. (Roughly half of all U.S. students admitted to post-secondary, degree-granting institutions fail to complete a degree within six years of admission.)
As an educator, I think of Finland in much the same way I do of Kunio. It is valuable to understand others, recognize and appreciate their positive qualities, accord due respect for their accomplishments, and learn from them in ways that lead to self improvement. To expect an "extreme makeover: school edition" as a consequence of studying Finland's education system is, however, as farfetched as imagining a radical self-transformation in light of a year spent with a most admirable Japanese roomate.
Ron Reynolds |
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Publication Note
The next edition of the CAPSO Midweek E-Mailer will be published on June 8, 2011. |
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