Hispanic enrollment rising in US schools, colleges
The Associated Press
Thursday, March 5, 2009
WASHINGTON: Roughly one-fourth of the children in U.S. kindergartens, preschools generally for children 3 to 6 years old, are Hispanic, evidence of an accelerating trend that now will see minority children become the majority by 2023.
Census data released Thursday also show that Hispanics make up about one-fifth of all K-12 pupils, those in kindergarten through 12th grade. Schools in most U.S. states have 12 grades. Hispanics' growth and changes in the youth population are certain to influence political debate for years about jobs, immigration and education.
The ethnic shifts in school enrollment are most evident in the American West. States such as Arizona, California and Nevada are seeing an influx of Hispanics due to both immigration and higher birth rates than other ethnic groups.
Minority students in that region exceed non-Hispanic whites at the pre-college grade levels, with about 37 percent of the students Hispanic. Hispanics comprise 54 percent of students in New Mexico, 47 percent in California, 44 percent in Texas and 40 percent in Arizona.
In 2007, more than 40 percent of all students in K-12 were minorities — Hispanics, blacks, Asian-Americans and others. That is double the percentage of three decades ago.
In colleges, Hispanics constitute 12 percent of full-time undergraduate and graduate students, 2 percent more than in 2006. Still, that is short of Hispanics' 15 percent representation in the total U.S. population.
"The future of our education system depends on how we can advance Hispanics through the ranks," said William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution in Washington. "In many cases it's going to be a challenge, because they are the children of immigrants, and their English is not as strong. Many have parents without a high school or college education."
Minorities are projected to become the majority of the overall U.S. population by 2042. For minority children, that shift is seen coming in 2023, seven years earlier than was estimated as recently as 2004. The accelerated timetable is due to immigration among Hispanics and Asians, and declining birth rates among non-Hispanic whites.
Hispanics account for more than 23 percent of kindergartners in private and public schools, according to 2007 data. That is more than triple Hispanics' percentage in the 1970s, the height of white baby boom enrollment in elementary and high school.
More Hispanic kindergartners in 2007 were U.S.-born than foreign-born, assuring them of citizenship that will make them eligible to vote by 2020.
The changing demographics offer opportunity and political risks for Barack Obama, the nation's first African-American president, and emerging Republicans such as 37-year-old Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, the first Indian-American elected to statewide office.
Obama, who took two-thirds of the Hispanic vote, is channeling billions of federal dollars to improve schools, reduce the dropout rate and make college more affordable by increasing the maximum Pell Grant, a federal subsidy for low-income students, to $5,550.
Yet his administration has been sketchy when it comes to improving classroom performance and overhauling the former Bush administration's No Child Left Behind Act. It sets goals for schools that are supposed to have every student reading and doing math at grade level by 2014.
The education law has major implications for both black and Hispanic students, including those who speak English as a second language, because they tend to lag behind whites in reading and math scores.
Obama has been largely quiet on immigration reform, which could pave the way for citizenship for nearly 12 million illegal immigrants.
Richard Fry, a senior researcher at the Pew Hispanic Center, said Hispanic growth cannot be ignored in policy debates for too long. While in recent elections Hispanics have cast only 6 percent of the total ballots, "Latinos' electoral power and participation levels clearly are going to grow," Fry said.
Other findings from the data:
_About 58 percent of children enrolled in grades K-12 are non-Hispanic whites, a group that represents 66 percent of the U.S. population. After Hispanics, blacks were the second-largest minority group enrolled in K-12 (15 percent), followed by Asians (4 percent).
_Fifty-three percent of Hispanic 4-year-olds were enrolled in nursery school, compared with 43 percent in 1997 and 21 percent in 1987.
The census data were based on the Current Population Survey. Data on U.S. regions and states came from the 2007 American Community Survey, the government's annual survey of about 3 million households.
___
AP Education Writer Libby Quaid contributed to this report.
___
On the Net:
Census Bureau: http://www.census.gov
Copyright © 2009 The International Herald Tribune | www.iht.com
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Maryland Tackles Ways to Tap Into 'Heritage' Languages
Good quote: ": "The foreign-language strategy of schools is oriented toward a handful of European languages that are in declining use around the world, instead of being focused on the real diversity of languages in the world and of heritage people in the United States."
Angela
Published Online: March 10, 2009
Published in Print: March 11, 2009
Maryland Tackles Ways to Tap Into 'Heritage' Languages
Dual-Language Classes, Teacher Certification are Areas Under Pursuit
By Mary Ann Zehr
While other states have enacted policies to discourage students from building on their native-language skills, Maryland has completed an audit of the opportunities the state has to leverage the "heritage language" skills of its residents.
Heritage speakers have been exposed to or speak a language other than English at home.
The Task Force for the Preservation of Heritage Language Skills, which was established by the Maryland General Assembly last year, presented a report to Gov. Martin O’Malley and the legislature Feb. 26 with recommendations for how the state can better support the use of native languages other than English. Lawmakers in Maryland are predominantly Democratic.
Maryland is "uniquely positioned to take a leadership role" in supporting heritage speakers to meet the foreign-language needs of business and government, in part because bilingual speakers in the state are very well educated, says the report. Maryland ranked third of 50 states and the District of Columbia in its share of foreign-born people with at least a bachelor’s degree in 2006, says the report.
"We know these folks are important to us, and we don’t want these language skills to go away—and without intervention, they will," said Catherine W. Ingold, the director of the National Foreign Language Center, a research institute at the University of Maryland, and the chairwoman of the 20-member task force.
No Extra Money
She said she was impressed by the statements of various Maryland agencies and sectors on the value of heritage languages. "I've been following the issue of heritage languages in the United States since the late 1990s,” Ms. Ingold said. “Often you encounter a brick wall of: 'We don’t care what they spoke before, we just need them to speak English now.' "
Joy Kreeft Peyton, the vice president of the Washington-based Center for Applied Linguistics, said she doesn’t know of any other state legislature that has set up a task force to examine the resources that heritage speakers could offer. "The bottom line is [Maryland has] switched the focus from immigrants as a problem to people with high-level skills, high levels of education, and speaking languages other than English. It’s a different focus that is very powerful."
The report calls on the Maryland education department to carry out four of the task force's seven recommendations: increase the number of dual-language programs from two to at least 10; expand teacher-certification opportunities for heritage speakers; enhance collections in schools and public libraries of children's books in heritage languages; and better support schools in providing high school credit by exam for students who speak languages other than English at home.
Colleen Seremet, the assistant state superintendent for instruction, said the department doesn’t expect to receive any additional state funds to carry out the recommendations, but she believes many can be done without extra money. Susan Spinnato, a specialist in world languages for the education department, has been assigned to coordinate the implementation.
Ms. Spinnato said the department has tried to make it easier for native Italian and Chinese speakers to earn credit for their proficiency so they don't have to get an undergraduate degree in those languages to become teachers in Maryland. She wants to set up practical ways for speakers of other languages to become teachers as well.
While Maryland permits schools to provide foreign-language credit to high school students by having them take an exam, Ms. Spinnato said she isn’t aware of any districts that are doing so. She’s convening a group to find out what language exams are available from test-developers, and hopes to have an approved list of exams to provide to districts by next year.
Two districts—Montgomery and Prince George’s counties—have dual-language programs in which students who are dominant in English and those who are dominant in Spanish learn both languages together. Ms. Spinnato said the department will be promoting such programs as a cost-effective way to teach heritage languages.
One of the most amazing findings of the audit, said state Sen. Jim Rosapepe, a Democrat who sponsored the legislation to set up the task force, is that two-thirds of heritage speakers in Maryland speak languages other than Spanish.
Heritage-language schools, said Mr. Rosapepe, "are the driving force on this. The school systems are behind the curve." He added: "The foreign-language strategy of schools is oriented toward a handful of European languages that are in declining use around the world, instead of being focused on the real diversity of languages in the world and of heritage people in the United States."
Vol. 28, Issue 24, Page 23
Angela
Published Online: March 10, 2009
Published in Print: March 11, 2009
Maryland Tackles Ways to Tap Into 'Heritage' Languages
Dual-Language Classes, Teacher Certification are Areas Under Pursuit
By Mary Ann Zehr
While other states have enacted policies to discourage students from building on their native-language skills, Maryland has completed an audit of the opportunities the state has to leverage the "heritage language" skills of its residents.
Heritage speakers have been exposed to or speak a language other than English at home.
The Task Force for the Preservation of Heritage Language Skills, which was established by the Maryland General Assembly last year, presented a report to Gov. Martin O’Malley and the legislature Feb. 26 with recommendations for how the state can better support the use of native languages other than English. Lawmakers in Maryland are predominantly Democratic.
Maryland is "uniquely positioned to take a leadership role" in supporting heritage speakers to meet the foreign-language needs of business and government, in part because bilingual speakers in the state are very well educated, says the report. Maryland ranked third of 50 states and the District of Columbia in its share of foreign-born people with at least a bachelor’s degree in 2006, says the report.
"We know these folks are important to us, and we don’t want these language skills to go away—and without intervention, they will," said Catherine W. Ingold, the director of the National Foreign Language Center, a research institute at the University of Maryland, and the chairwoman of the 20-member task force.
No Extra Money
She said she was impressed by the statements of various Maryland agencies and sectors on the value of heritage languages. "I've been following the issue of heritage languages in the United States since the late 1990s,” Ms. Ingold said. “Often you encounter a brick wall of: 'We don’t care what they spoke before, we just need them to speak English now.' "
Joy Kreeft Peyton, the vice president of the Washington-based Center for Applied Linguistics, said she doesn’t know of any other state legislature that has set up a task force to examine the resources that heritage speakers could offer. "The bottom line is [Maryland has] switched the focus from immigrants as a problem to people with high-level skills, high levels of education, and speaking languages other than English. It’s a different focus that is very powerful."
The report calls on the Maryland education department to carry out four of the task force's seven recommendations: increase the number of dual-language programs from two to at least 10; expand teacher-certification opportunities for heritage speakers; enhance collections in schools and public libraries of children's books in heritage languages; and better support schools in providing high school credit by exam for students who speak languages other than English at home.
Colleen Seremet, the assistant state superintendent for instruction, said the department doesn’t expect to receive any additional state funds to carry out the recommendations, but she believes many can be done without extra money. Susan Spinnato, a specialist in world languages for the education department, has been assigned to coordinate the implementation.
Ms. Spinnato said the department has tried to make it easier for native Italian and Chinese speakers to earn credit for their proficiency so they don't have to get an undergraduate degree in those languages to become teachers in Maryland. She wants to set up practical ways for speakers of other languages to become teachers as well.
While Maryland permits schools to provide foreign-language credit to high school students by having them take an exam, Ms. Spinnato said she isn’t aware of any districts that are doing so. She’s convening a group to find out what language exams are available from test-developers, and hopes to have an approved list of exams to provide to districts by next year.
Two districts—Montgomery and Prince George’s counties—have dual-language programs in which students who are dominant in English and those who are dominant in Spanish learn both languages together. Ms. Spinnato said the department will be promoting such programs as a cost-effective way to teach heritage languages.
One of the most amazing findings of the audit, said state Sen. Jim Rosapepe, a Democrat who sponsored the legislation to set up the task force, is that two-thirds of heritage speakers in Maryland speak languages other than Spanish.
Heritage-language schools, said Mr. Rosapepe, "are the driving force on this. The school systems are behind the curve." He added: "The foreign-language strategy of schools is oriented toward a handful of European languages that are in declining use around the world, instead of being focused on the real diversity of languages in the world and of heritage people in the United States."
Vol. 28, Issue 24, Page 23
Where Education and Assimilation Collide
March 15, 2009
Where Education and Assimilation Collide
By GINGER THOMPSON
WOODBRIDGE, Va. — Walking the halls of Cecil D. Hylton High School outside Washington, it is hard to detect any trace of the divisions that once seemed fixtures in American society.
Two girls, a Muslim in a headscarf and a strawberry blonde in tight jeans, stroll arm in arm. A Hispanic boy wearing a Barack Obama T-shirt gives a high-five to a black student with glasses and an Afro. The lanky homecoming queen, part Filipino and part Honduran, runs past on her way to band practice. The student body president, a son of Laotian refugees, hangs fliers about a bake sale. [Read rest of story here].
Where Education and Assimilation Collide
By GINGER THOMPSON
WOODBRIDGE, Va. — Walking the halls of Cecil D. Hylton High School outside Washington, it is hard to detect any trace of the divisions that once seemed fixtures in American society.
Two girls, a Muslim in a headscarf and a strawberry blonde in tight jeans, stroll arm in arm. A Hispanic boy wearing a Barack Obama T-shirt gives a high-five to a black student with glasses and an Afro. The lanky homecoming queen, part Filipino and part Honduran, runs past on her way to band practice. The student body president, a son of Laotian refugees, hangs fliers about a bake sale. [Read rest of story here].
Monday, March 09, 2009
LEGISLATURE '09 EDUCATION
Thursday, March 5, 2009
By TERRENCE STUTZ / The Dallas Morning News
AUSTIN – Advocates for more technology in the classroom – and fewer textbooks – are stepping up their arguments for change this year, trying to convince Texas lawmakers that the future of electronic textbooks is now.
The technology push is getting a boost from a special House committee that warned about the consequences if Texas is stuck in the past when it comes to classroom materials. Among the reasons: the higher cost of printed books, the expense of transporting and storing them, and the fact that they can be outdated before students get them.
"Our current system just seems outdated in an economy where you can put much of this content out digitally without all those costs," said Rep. Dan Branch, the Dallas Republican who led the committee. He is preparing to file legislation that gives school districts more leverage to purchase electronic textbooks. The goal is to enable local school officials to speed up their shift to e-books through downloads to student laptops, access to online servers or use of computer disks.
'Slow evolution'
Textbook publishers say that while they offer digital versions of many of their products, the expense of computers makes books a better option for some districts.
"You can't put digital content into schools unless there are computers and laptops there to read it. That's the key – and it's happening in some districts but not in others," said Jay Diskey of the Association of American Publishers. "It's a slow evolution, and in a state like Texas, where there is a large enrollment, it is a very expensive proposition."
While there is not a great deal of research on how well students do with electronic books, one recent study from Great Britain found that young students using e-books scored higher in both group and individual tests than those using print books. A pilot program in Texas – providing laptops to all students in selected schools in two dozen districts – also has been getting positive results.
Irving is the only school district in the Dallas area participating in the Technology Immersion Pilot. The district is known as a technology leader in North Texas, having provided all its high school students with laptops for several years.
Alice Owen, executive director of technology for the district, said there is no doubt that the emphasis on technology has paid off with improved student achievement and performance on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills.
"Laptops have certainly been a major factor in our test score improvements," she said.
While many textbooks are available in digital format to be accessed on computers, Owen said there are still a large number of books – particularly at the elementary school level – that aren't available in electronic form.
"It makes more sense for publishers to offer their books electronically, so they can correct errors and update information every year – as opposed to printed textbooks, which are unchanged for several years," she said. "There is also so much more opportunity to enhance textbook experience."
Diskey said publishers have been moving into the digital age as quickly as other industries, and most of them offer digital as well as traditional textbooks to school districts in Texas.
One area of dispute is whether funds used for textbook purchases in the past should be used in the future to buy computers and hardware – an idea strongly opposed by publishers and the State Board of Education.
Branch said lawmakers should be open to the idea of a combined state allotment for technology and textbooks, but he maintained that "most of the funding has to be focused on content, including software."
House Public Education Committee Chairman Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands, supports the technology push, although he cautions that some school districts are still more comfortable – financially and educationally – with regular textbooks.
"Hopefully, we will evolve into an all-technology content delivery, but we're not there yet," he said. "It is tough to break some traditions in our schools, but we do have many districts that are ahead of the curve on technology."
Eissler, who served on the select committee with Branch, said there appear to be obvious savings by shifting away from textbooks to technology – one of the reasons he sees "big changes" coming to the textbook market.
For example, a joint venture of five higher education textbook publishers – called CourseSmart – is selling e-textbooks nationwide for prices that are on average half that of equivalent printed copies. While e-textbooks can be viewed on a laptop, another option is the Kindle reader, which allows readers to load books just as songs are loaded on an iPod.
Readiness question
Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, wants to be careful about how quickly the state spurs school districts to move into the digital age.
"Not everyone is ready to do 21st-century technology," she said. "Some districts are very capable of going online, while others still have a difficult time.
"I don't want to see us throw one out and replace it with the other but instead combine them and give districts the flexibility to decide when they want to use textbooks and when they would rather use technology."
Branch said he intends to give districts plenty of leeway in bringing more technology into schools.
"In certain grades, such as reading for first-graders, a textbook may be exactly the right tool. But in a computer graphics class in high school, the best tool is probably not a textbook," he said.
"The point is, we need to be looking for more efficient ways to get course content to students in a way that is most appealing to them."
By TERRENCE STUTZ / The Dallas Morning News
AUSTIN – Advocates for more technology in the classroom – and fewer textbooks – are stepping up their arguments for change this year, trying to convince Texas lawmakers that the future of electronic textbooks is now.
The technology push is getting a boost from a special House committee that warned about the consequences if Texas is stuck in the past when it comes to classroom materials. Among the reasons: the higher cost of printed books, the expense of transporting and storing them, and the fact that they can be outdated before students get them.
"Our current system just seems outdated in an economy where you can put much of this content out digitally without all those costs," said Rep. Dan Branch, the Dallas Republican who led the committee. He is preparing to file legislation that gives school districts more leverage to purchase electronic textbooks. The goal is to enable local school officials to speed up their shift to e-books through downloads to student laptops, access to online servers or use of computer disks.
'Slow evolution'
Textbook publishers say that while they offer digital versions of many of their products, the expense of computers makes books a better option for some districts.
"You can't put digital content into schools unless there are computers and laptops there to read it. That's the key – and it's happening in some districts but not in others," said Jay Diskey of the Association of American Publishers. "It's a slow evolution, and in a state like Texas, where there is a large enrollment, it is a very expensive proposition."
While there is not a great deal of research on how well students do with electronic books, one recent study from Great Britain found that young students using e-books scored higher in both group and individual tests than those using print books. A pilot program in Texas – providing laptops to all students in selected schools in two dozen districts – also has been getting positive results.
Irving is the only school district in the Dallas area participating in the Technology Immersion Pilot. The district is known as a technology leader in North Texas, having provided all its high school students with laptops for several years.
Alice Owen, executive director of technology for the district, said there is no doubt that the emphasis on technology has paid off with improved student achievement and performance on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills.
"Laptops have certainly been a major factor in our test score improvements," she said.
While many textbooks are available in digital format to be accessed on computers, Owen said there are still a large number of books – particularly at the elementary school level – that aren't available in electronic form.
"It makes more sense for publishers to offer their books electronically, so they can correct errors and update information every year – as opposed to printed textbooks, which are unchanged for several years," she said. "There is also so much more opportunity to enhance textbook experience."
Diskey said publishers have been moving into the digital age as quickly as other industries, and most of them offer digital as well as traditional textbooks to school districts in Texas.
One area of dispute is whether funds used for textbook purchases in the past should be used in the future to buy computers and hardware – an idea strongly opposed by publishers and the State Board of Education.
Branch said lawmakers should be open to the idea of a combined state allotment for technology and textbooks, but he maintained that "most of the funding has to be focused on content, including software."
House Public Education Committee Chairman Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands, supports the technology push, although he cautions that some school districts are still more comfortable – financially and educationally – with regular textbooks.
"Hopefully, we will evolve into an all-technology content delivery, but we're not there yet," he said. "It is tough to break some traditions in our schools, but we do have many districts that are ahead of the curve on technology."
Eissler, who served on the select committee with Branch, said there appear to be obvious savings by shifting away from textbooks to technology – one of the reasons he sees "big changes" coming to the textbook market.
For example, a joint venture of five higher education textbook publishers – called CourseSmart – is selling e-textbooks nationwide for prices that are on average half that of equivalent printed copies. While e-textbooks can be viewed on a laptop, another option is the Kindle reader, which allows readers to load books just as songs are loaded on an iPod.
Readiness question
Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, wants to be careful about how quickly the state spurs school districts to move into the digital age.
"Not everyone is ready to do 21st-century technology," she said. "Some districts are very capable of going online, while others still have a difficult time.
"I don't want to see us throw one out and replace it with the other but instead combine them and give districts the flexibility to decide when they want to use textbooks and when they would rather use technology."
Branch said he intends to give districts plenty of leeway in bringing more technology into schools.
"In certain grades, such as reading for first-graders, a textbook may be exactly the right tool. But in a computer graphics class in high school, the best tool is probably not a textbook," he said.
"The point is, we need to be looking for more efficient ways to get course content to students in a way that is most appealing to them."
Lawmakers propose overhaul of school accountability system
By Kate Alexander
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Friday, March 06, 2009
The high-stakes standardized tests that have induced fear and dread among Texas students in recent years would lose some of their bite in an overhaul of the state's school accountability system unveiled Thursday.
Testing would still be used to measure student achievement in the system, proposed by the leaders of the education committees in the Legislature. And passing end-of-course exams would be required for graduation.
But standardized test scores in the lower grades would no longer determine whether a student moves to the next grade — or whether a school stays open.
"An accountability system shouldn't be a gotcha. We are not looking for ways to trip up schools," said House Public Education Committee Chairman Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands. "We're looking for ways to drive student achievement and help schools get better."
Under the plan proposed by Eissler and Senate Education Chairwoman Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, the key measure of student achievement will be "growth," or showing that students are progressing toward the grade-level standard, even if they are below it. That progress could be examined over a three-year period.
The "dirty little secret" of the current accountability system is that low-performing students are a liability for schools, said Julian Vasquez Heilig, a University of Texas education professor. But the promise of the growth model, he says, is that schools can be rewarded for helping students close the gap between where they are and where they need to be.
"The potential is there for low-performing high schools to sparkle," Vasquez Heilig said.
At the former Johnston High School in Austin, for example, student test scores improved dramatically last year after years of dismal results. But the progress was not enough to meet the state standards, and the school closed last year under the state's harshest accountability sanction. It is unclear whether Johnston could have stayed open if the growth model were in place at that time.
The reprieve might not be enough to save two other Austin schools Pearce Middle School in East Austin and Reagan High School in Northeast Austin that are facing possible closure because they have been repeatedly rated academically unacceptable under the current accountability system.
The new system, if approved by the Legislature, would not go into effect until 2011. The existing rules would stay in place until that time.
Teacher groups said Thursday that they were still poring over the lengthy bill, but they lamented the continued emphasis on testing.
"This bill does little to fix the key flaw in the current accountability system: the extreme emphasis placed on standardized test scores as the measure of progress for students and schools," Linda Bridges, president of the Texas office of the American Federation of Teachers, said in a statement.
"Under this proposal our teachers and students would receive no relief from the severe loss of real instructional time caused by excessive practice testing, test preparation, and benchmark testing tied to the standardized state exams."
There will be plenty of opportunity to change the proposal. Alternative language was already being drafted Thursday for the filed bill.
Texas has been at the forefront of public school accountability since the early 1990s. Gov. George W. Bush used much of the state's system as a model for the federal No Child Left Behind Act he championed as president.
Thursday's proposed revamp of the state's accountability system does away with some of the hallmarks of the Bush-era education reform, including lifting restrictions on social promotion.
State law now requires children in the third, fifth and eighth grades to pass the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills to move on to the next grade, though that restriction can be, and has been, circumvented.
The new proposal drops the state rules and gives local school districts the discretion to develop rules and procedures for promoting students.
Sandy Kress, a pioneer of school accountability, said this new approach is not a repudiation of the past policies but an evolution.
"It is dealing with some of the issues that have arisen and making the accountability system work better, work smarter," said Kress, who helped shepherd No Child Left Behind and served on a committee that recommended the proposed changes.
"The accountability system may get tougher because of this," Kress said. "It may get more honest about whether students are on the path to reaching the real goal, not just passing a test."
That "real goal," the bill's authors say, is preparing Texas students either for college or a skilled job.
Today's system has created an "illusion of progress" by setting minimum passing standards that have no connection to what Texas graduates need to know to succeed in college or the work force, Shapiro said.
In the graduating class of 2007, 43 percent of graduates who followed at least the state's recommended high school program were not college-ready in one subject or more, according to a report by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
Shapiro and Eissler said the aim is to develop a less-rigid system that gives students more options and rewards schools for more things than test performance, such as high-quality programs for fine arts or career and technology education. The well-known school rankings, ranging from "exemplary" to "unacceptable," would be eliminated.
"A Texas high school diploma doesn't mean as much to employers as it did in years past," said Drew Scheberle of the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce. The focus on college- and workplace-readiness in the proposal should better prepare Texas graduates for high-skilled jobs in the future and help Austin to recruit those jobs, Scheberle said.
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Friday, March 06, 2009
The high-stakes standardized tests that have induced fear and dread among Texas students in recent years would lose some of their bite in an overhaul of the state's school accountability system unveiled Thursday.
Testing would still be used to measure student achievement in the system, proposed by the leaders of the education committees in the Legislature. And passing end-of-course exams would be required for graduation.
But standardized test scores in the lower grades would no longer determine whether a student moves to the next grade — or whether a school stays open.
"An accountability system shouldn't be a gotcha. We are not looking for ways to trip up schools," said House Public Education Committee Chairman Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands. "We're looking for ways to drive student achievement and help schools get better."
Under the plan proposed by Eissler and Senate Education Chairwoman Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, the key measure of student achievement will be "growth," or showing that students are progressing toward the grade-level standard, even if they are below it. That progress could be examined over a three-year period.
The "dirty little secret" of the current accountability system is that low-performing students are a liability for schools, said Julian Vasquez Heilig, a University of Texas education professor. But the promise of the growth model, he says, is that schools can be rewarded for helping students close the gap between where they are and where they need to be.
"The potential is there for low-performing high schools to sparkle," Vasquez Heilig said.
At the former Johnston High School in Austin, for example, student test scores improved dramatically last year after years of dismal results. But the progress was not enough to meet the state standards, and the school closed last year under the state's harshest accountability sanction. It is unclear whether Johnston could have stayed open if the growth model were in place at that time.
The reprieve might not be enough to save two other Austin schools Pearce Middle School in East Austin and Reagan High School in Northeast Austin that are facing possible closure because they have been repeatedly rated academically unacceptable under the current accountability system.
The new system, if approved by the Legislature, would not go into effect until 2011. The existing rules would stay in place until that time.
Teacher groups said Thursday that they were still poring over the lengthy bill, but they lamented the continued emphasis on testing.
"This bill does little to fix the key flaw in the current accountability system: the extreme emphasis placed on standardized test scores as the measure of progress for students and schools," Linda Bridges, president of the Texas office of the American Federation of Teachers, said in a statement.
"Under this proposal our teachers and students would receive no relief from the severe loss of real instructional time caused by excessive practice testing, test preparation, and benchmark testing tied to the standardized state exams."
There will be plenty of opportunity to change the proposal. Alternative language was already being drafted Thursday for the filed bill.
Texas has been at the forefront of public school accountability since the early 1990s. Gov. George W. Bush used much of the state's system as a model for the federal No Child Left Behind Act he championed as president.
Thursday's proposed revamp of the state's accountability system does away with some of the hallmarks of the Bush-era education reform, including lifting restrictions on social promotion.
State law now requires children in the third, fifth and eighth grades to pass the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills to move on to the next grade, though that restriction can be, and has been, circumvented.
The new proposal drops the state rules and gives local school districts the discretion to develop rules and procedures for promoting students.
Sandy Kress, a pioneer of school accountability, said this new approach is not a repudiation of the past policies but an evolution.
"It is dealing with some of the issues that have arisen and making the accountability system work better, work smarter," said Kress, who helped shepherd No Child Left Behind and served on a committee that recommended the proposed changes.
"The accountability system may get tougher because of this," Kress said. "It may get more honest about whether students are on the path to reaching the real goal, not just passing a test."
That "real goal," the bill's authors say, is preparing Texas students either for college or a skilled job.
Today's system has created an "illusion of progress" by setting minimum passing standards that have no connection to what Texas graduates need to know to succeed in college or the work force, Shapiro said.
In the graduating class of 2007, 43 percent of graduates who followed at least the state's recommended high school program were not college-ready in one subject or more, according to a report by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
Shapiro and Eissler said the aim is to develop a less-rigid system that gives students more options and rewards schools for more things than test performance, such as high-quality programs for fine arts or career and technology education. The well-known school rankings, ranging from "exemplary" to "unacceptable," would be eliminated.
"A Texas high school diploma doesn't mean as much to employers as it did in years past," said Drew Scheberle of the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce. The focus on college- and workplace-readiness in the proposal should better prepare Texas graduates for high-skilled jobs in the future and help Austin to recruit those jobs, Scheberle said.
Sunday, March 08, 2009
Legislation proposes overhauling Texas top 10 percent law
Catie Beck | Austin 8 News
3/4/2009
The University of Texas at Austin is a top choice for many high school seniors but some state lawmakers say it's not a likely choice for prospective students at all if they don't graduate in the top 10 percent of their class.
"If you aren't in the top ten percent of your class than you have no chance or little chance of going to the University of Texas," Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, said.
Sen. Shapiro wants to improve chances for students by capping the number of top 10 percent admissions to 50 percent of an incoming freshman class.
"Many of them have other gifts other than being in the top 10 percent." Rep. Rob Eisler, R-The Woodlands, said.
This fall the University of Texas had over 80 percent of its freshman class from the top 10 percent of their high school graduating class. Students have mixed reviews about it overall.
"I'd say it's a good idea. Even though people may be mad at first it will be better in the long run," UT freshman Meghan Lindsey said.
Others who were admitted because of the rule say that changing it now would disappoint many hard working students.
"To be in the top 10 percent and to be performing well and to be told the rule had changed � that would bring stress that you don't need," UT sophomore Dean Pham said.
Shapiro said by 2011 the University of Texas could be getting 100 percent of its students through the 10 percent rule. She said not only is Texas losing talented students of other varieties but the university is also losing Texas students all together.
"They're going other places because they can't get in to Texas," Shapiro said.
UT President William Powers supports the reform bill. He considers the current situation a "crisis on our campus." Minority groups like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) say getting rid of the top 10 percent rule would discourage minorities from attending college.
More information:
The top 10 percent law was adopted in 1997 after a federal appeals court ruling and a subsequent state attorney general's opinion effectively ended affirmative action practices in Texas. It was argued that the new law would bring about diversity without including race or ethnicity as a factor in admissions process.
Two 2003 U.S. Supreme Court rulings ruled in favor of a holistic review of student applicants, considering race and ethnicity permitted by the law to the full extent. The UT President says if the state decides to adopt the rulings of Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz v. Bollinger the university can better diversify the student body.
3/4/2009
The University of Texas at Austin is a top choice for many high school seniors but some state lawmakers say it's not a likely choice for prospective students at all if they don't graduate in the top 10 percent of their class.
"If you aren't in the top ten percent of your class than you have no chance or little chance of going to the University of Texas," Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, said.
Sen. Shapiro wants to improve chances for students by capping the number of top 10 percent admissions to 50 percent of an incoming freshman class.
"Many of them have other gifts other than being in the top 10 percent." Rep. Rob Eisler, R-The Woodlands, said.
This fall the University of Texas had over 80 percent of its freshman class from the top 10 percent of their high school graduating class. Students have mixed reviews about it overall.
"I'd say it's a good idea. Even though people may be mad at first it will be better in the long run," UT freshman Meghan Lindsey said.
Others who were admitted because of the rule say that changing it now would disappoint many hard working students.
"To be in the top 10 percent and to be performing well and to be told the rule had changed � that would bring stress that you don't need," UT sophomore Dean Pham said.
Shapiro said by 2011 the University of Texas could be getting 100 percent of its students through the 10 percent rule. She said not only is Texas losing talented students of other varieties but the university is also losing Texas students all together.
"They're going other places because they can't get in to Texas," Shapiro said.
UT President William Powers supports the reform bill. He considers the current situation a "crisis on our campus." Minority groups like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) say getting rid of the top 10 percent rule would discourage minorities from attending college.
More information:
The top 10 percent law was adopted in 1997 after a federal appeals court ruling and a subsequent state attorney general's opinion effectively ended affirmative action practices in Texas. It was argued that the new law would bring about diversity without including race or ethnicity as a factor in admissions process.
Two 2003 U.S. Supreme Court rulings ruled in favor of a holistic review of student applicants, considering race and ethnicity permitted by the law to the full extent. The UT President says if the state decides to adopt the rulings of Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz v. Bollinger the university can better diversify the student body.
A 21st-century caution
Very interesting piece. May have relevance here in Texas as we begin seeing the goals of various public education reforms being presented. The issue of 21st century skills in the Texas context also seem to be void of biliteracy skills.
-Patricia
February 24, 2009
Boston Globe
STATE education commissioner Mitchell Chester says he is surprised at the sharp criticism of a task force proposal to introduce "21st-century skills" - such as media literacy, critical thinking, and working in groups - into local classrooms. But he shouldn't be shocked. The 21st-century skills movement could return Massachusetts to an era of low academic standards.
In November, a task force made its case why "straight academic content is no longer enough" to ensure student success in college and the workplace. The authors urged state education officials to introduce 21st-century skills into teacher training and curriculum guides. Since then, state education officials have elaborated little on what that might mean in practice. But critics, including the nonprofit Pioneer Institute, have made a powerful case that the plan could set back education reform efforts in Massachusetts by advancing a set of soft, vague skills at the expense of academic content.
Before the Education Reform Act of 1993, Massachusetts classrooms were adrift, without solid curriculum frameworks or a comprehensive statewide test to assess student progress and diagnose deficiencies in knowledge. After great efforts to implement standards-based education and create a graduation requirement test, Massachusetts students routinely outperform their national counterparts and perform on a par with the best international students, including those in Japan and Singapore. The first duty of the state Board of Education, which is scheduled to hear an update tomorrow on 21st-century skills, should be to protect these hard-won gains.
Ten years ago, students in Connecticut outperformed their Massachusetts counterparts on a national reading assessment test. But after education policy makers there shifted focus from an emphasis on content knowledge to the "how to" methods favored by the 21st-century skills movement, test scores plummeted. Acknowledging the error, Connecticut educators are reintroducing methods favored in Massachusetts.
In fact, there is strong evidence that emphasis on basic skills leads to success at reasoning and problem-solving. Fourth-graders here ranked second worldwide in science and tied for third in math last year on the sophisticated Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study exam.
Given such success, the burden should be on 21st-century skills proponents to prove that their methods offer a better way to prepare students for college and the workplace. So far, they haven't done that. And while they say 21st-century skills will only complement the state's current efforts, it's not clear that the approach can be implemented without de-emphasizing academic content.
Teachers and parents across the state just don't know enough about 21st-century skills. The unnerving part is that the proponents don't seem to know much more.
-Patricia
February 24, 2009
Boston Globe
STATE education commissioner Mitchell Chester says he is surprised at the sharp criticism of a task force proposal to introduce "21st-century skills" - such as media literacy, critical thinking, and working in groups - into local classrooms. But he shouldn't be shocked. The 21st-century skills movement could return Massachusetts to an era of low academic standards.
In November, a task force made its case why "straight academic content is no longer enough" to ensure student success in college and the workplace. The authors urged state education officials to introduce 21st-century skills into teacher training and curriculum guides. Since then, state education officials have elaborated little on what that might mean in practice. But critics, including the nonprofit Pioneer Institute, have made a powerful case that the plan could set back education reform efforts in Massachusetts by advancing a set of soft, vague skills at the expense of academic content.
Before the Education Reform Act of 1993, Massachusetts classrooms were adrift, without solid curriculum frameworks or a comprehensive statewide test to assess student progress and diagnose deficiencies in knowledge. After great efforts to implement standards-based education and create a graduation requirement test, Massachusetts students routinely outperform their national counterparts and perform on a par with the best international students, including those in Japan and Singapore. The first duty of the state Board of Education, which is scheduled to hear an update tomorrow on 21st-century skills, should be to protect these hard-won gains.
Ten years ago, students in Connecticut outperformed their Massachusetts counterparts on a national reading assessment test. But after education policy makers there shifted focus from an emphasis on content knowledge to the "how to" methods favored by the 21st-century skills movement, test scores plummeted. Acknowledging the error, Connecticut educators are reintroducing methods favored in Massachusetts.
In fact, there is strong evidence that emphasis on basic skills leads to success at reasoning and problem-solving. Fourth-graders here ranked second worldwide in science and tied for third in math last year on the sophisticated Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study exam.
Given such success, the burden should be on 21st-century skills proponents to prove that their methods offer a better way to prepare students for college and the workplace. So far, they haven't done that. And while they say 21st-century skills will only complement the state's current efforts, it's not clear that the approach can be implemented without de-emphasizing academic content.
Teachers and parents across the state just don't know enough about 21st-century skills. The unnerving part is that the proponents don't seem to know much more.
NYTIMES BOOK REVIEW Why the Poor Stay Poor
NYTIMES BOOK REVIEW
Why the Poor Stay Poor
MORE THAN JUST RACE
By RICHARD THOMPSON FORD
Published: March 6, 2009
When the nation’s first black president took the oath of office,
surrounded by the grandeur of the National Mall, it was easy to forget
that one of the country’s most isolated and impoverished black ghettos
was a few short blocks away. The poverty, violence and hopelessness in
America’s inner cities have become increasingly dire in the four
decades since the height of the civil rights movement. But as Barack
Obama’s victory suggests, racial prejudice is less severe today than
ever before. Why haven’t the problems of the ghettos improved along
with race relations generally?
Conservatives have a ready answer. Racism is not the problem; instead,
a pervasive culture of instant gratification, violence and loose
morals think gangsta rap keeps poor blacks from enjoying the
American dream, not white racists. Liberals have a more charitable,
but unfortunately more obscure, rejoinder. Poor blacks today suffer
from covert racism, unconscious racism, institutional racism,
environmental racism and a host of other theoretically abstruse
“racisms” that don’t involve cross-burning white supremacists or crude
Archie Bunker-style bigots and may not even involve racial animus or
discrimination. Each side has little patience for the claims of the
other. Conservatives reject the idea of structural and institutional
racism as an intellectual’s way of playing the race card. Liberals
attack any emphasis on the dysfunctional culture of the poor as
“blaming the victim.”
In “More Than Just Race,” the Harvard sociologist William Julius
Wilson recaps his own important research over the past 20 years as
well as some of the best urban sociology of his peers to make a
convincing case that both institutional and systemic impediments and
cultural deficiencies keep poor blacks from escaping poverty and the ghetto.
The systemic impediments include both the legacy of racism and
dramatic economic changes that have fallen with disproportionate
severity on poor blacks. State-enforced racial discrimination created
the ghetto: in the early 20th century local governments separated the
races into segregated neighborhoods by force of law, and later, whites
used private agreements and violent intimidation to keep blacks out of
white neighborhoods. Worst, and most surprising of all, the federal
government played a major role in encouraging the racism of private
actors and state governments. Until the 1960s, federal housing
agencies engaged in racial redlining, refusing to guarantee mortgages
in inner-city neighborhoods; private lenders quickly followed suit.
Meanwhile, economic and demographic changes that had nothing to do
with race aggravated the problems of the ghetto. Encouraged by
recently built highways and inexpensive real estate, middle-class
residents and industry left the inner city to relocate to roomier and
less costly digs in the suburbs during the ’60s and ’70s. Those jobs
that remained available to urban blacks further dwindled as companies
replaced well-paid and unionized American workers with automation and
cheaper overseas labor. The new economy produced most of its jobs at
the two poles of the wage scale: high-paying jobs for the well
educated and acculturated (lawyers, bankers, management consultants)
and low-paying jobs for those with little education or skills (fast
food, telemarketing, janitorial services).
And, as Wilson argued in an earlier book, “The Declining Significance
of Race,”the success of the civil rights movement inadvertently made
things worse for the most disadvantaged. After federal law prohibited
housing discrimination, successful blacks began to leave the inner
city for many of the same reasons whites did: in search of better
schools, less crime, lower taxes and a leafier landscape. This left
the least well off behind in ghettos that were both more socially
isolated and more economically depressed than ever.
Today many ghetto residents have almost no contact with mainstream
American society or the normal job market. As a result, they have
developed distinctive and often dysfunctional social norms. The work
ethic, investment in the future and deferred gratification make no
sense in an environment in which legitimate employment at a living
wage is impossible to find and crime is an everyday hazard (and
temptation). Men, unable to support their families, abandon them;
women become resigned to single motherhood; children suffer from
broken homes and from the bad examples set by both peers and adults.
And this dysfunctional behavior reinforces negative racial
stereotypes, making it all the harder for poor blacks to find decent jobs.
Wilson criticizes the liberals and black power activists who attacked
as racist Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s prescient report “The Negro
Family: The Case for National Action” (1965). According to Wilson, the
vitriolic condemnation of the Moynihan Report effectively closed off a
serious academic focus on the culture of poverty for decades, robbing
policy makers of a complete and nuanced account of the causes of
ghetto poverty. But he argues that the legacy of racism and changes
in the economy matter more than the dysfunctional culture of the
ghetto. And he rejects the argument that the black poor are
responsible for their predicament, insisting that an aggressive public
policy response is necessary to break the cycle of poverty.
“More Than Just Race” is somewhat ponderous and academic in style; too
often the book details an important and fascinating question only to
end inconclusively, with a call for “further research.” But this is
more than made up for by its considerable substantive virtues: it is
straightforward, accessible and sensible, free of the ideological cant
and posturing that often mar even serious academic studies of racial issues.
At heart, Wilson is a Great Society liberal, so it’s easy to
understand why conservatives might resist his analysis. But his
suggestion that racism is less to blame for black poverty than are
race-neutral changes in the labor market and his attempt to
rehabilitate the study of the culture of poverty have made him a
controversial figure in liberal academic and civil rights circles. As
Wilson notes, some on the left reject any cultural explanation of
black poverty even one as sympathetic as that in the Moynihan Report
or Wilson’s own as blaming the victim. And the accusation of racism
turns heads and grabs headlines, whereas Wilson’s complex and
multifaceted investigation requires a book-length exposition.
Moreover, racism, unlike a complicated web of economic, demographic
and cultural forces, triggers a legal response: instead of persuading
recalcitrant legislators and voters to support policy reform, liberals
can simply insist that the black poor, as victims of race
discrimination, have a right to redress that courts must enforce,
regardless of popular opposition. But the law’s arm is not long enough
to reach bigotry that occurred in the past, nor can it get a grip on
the economic and demographic changes that have hollowed out America’s
inner cities. The urban poor need remedies that judges cannot order:
public and private investment to create jobs that pay a living wage,
training to help them learn new skills and understand the job market,
and most of all a chance to move into racially and economically
integrated neighborhoods where there are better opportunities and
healthier cultural norms. Wilson’s levelheaded, thorough and
unemotional analysis should help such badly needed policies prevail in
the court of public opinion.
Wilson says the legacy of racism and changes in the economy matter
more than the culture of the ghetto.
Richard Thompson Ford is a professor of law at Stanford University.
His book “The Race Card: How Bluffing About Bias Makes Race Relations
Worse” is being published in paperback this month.
Why the Poor Stay Poor
MORE THAN JUST RACE
By RICHARD THOMPSON FORD
Published: March 6, 2009
Review of
Being Black and Poor in the Inner City
By William Julius Wilson
190 pp. W. W. Norton & Company. $24.95
When the nation’s first black president took the oath of office,
surrounded by the grandeur of the National Mall, it was easy to forget
that one of the country’s most isolated and impoverished black ghettos
was a few short blocks away. The poverty, violence and hopelessness in
America’s inner cities have become increasingly dire in the four
decades since the height of the civil rights movement. But as Barack
Obama’s victory suggests, racial prejudice is less severe today than
ever before. Why haven’t the problems of the ghettos improved along
with race relations generally?
Conservatives have a ready answer. Racism is not the problem; instead,
a pervasive culture of instant gratification, violence and loose
morals think gangsta rap keeps poor blacks from enjoying the
American dream, not white racists. Liberals have a more charitable,
but unfortunately more obscure, rejoinder. Poor blacks today suffer
from covert racism, unconscious racism, institutional racism,
environmental racism and a host of other theoretically abstruse
“racisms” that don’t involve cross-burning white supremacists or crude
Archie Bunker-style bigots and may not even involve racial animus or
discrimination. Each side has little patience for the claims of the
other. Conservatives reject the idea of structural and institutional
racism as an intellectual’s way of playing the race card. Liberals
attack any emphasis on the dysfunctional culture of the poor as
“blaming the victim.”
In “More Than Just Race,” the Harvard sociologist William Julius
Wilson recaps his own important research over the past 20 years as
well as some of the best urban sociology of his peers to make a
convincing case that both institutional and systemic impediments and
cultural deficiencies keep poor blacks from escaping poverty and the ghetto.
The systemic impediments include both the legacy of racism and
dramatic economic changes that have fallen with disproportionate
severity on poor blacks. State-enforced racial discrimination created
the ghetto: in the early 20th century local governments separated the
races into segregated neighborhoods by force of law, and later, whites
used private agreements and violent intimidation to keep blacks out of
white neighborhoods. Worst, and most surprising of all, the federal
government played a major role in encouraging the racism of private
actors and state governments. Until the 1960s, federal housing
agencies engaged in racial redlining, refusing to guarantee mortgages
in inner-city neighborhoods; private lenders quickly followed suit.
Meanwhile, economic and demographic changes that had nothing to do
with race aggravated the problems of the ghetto. Encouraged by
recently built highways and inexpensive real estate, middle-class
residents and industry left the inner city to relocate to roomier and
less costly digs in the suburbs during the ’60s and ’70s. Those jobs
that remained available to urban blacks further dwindled as companies
replaced well-paid and unionized American workers with automation and
cheaper overseas labor. The new economy produced most of its jobs at
the two poles of the wage scale: high-paying jobs for the well
educated and acculturated (lawyers, bankers, management consultants)
and low-paying jobs for those with little education or skills (fast
food, telemarketing, janitorial services).
And, as Wilson argued in an earlier book, “The Declining Significance
of Race,”the success of the civil rights movement inadvertently made
things worse for the most disadvantaged. After federal law prohibited
housing discrimination, successful blacks began to leave the inner
city for many of the same reasons whites did: in search of better
schools, less crime, lower taxes and a leafier landscape. This left
the least well off behind in ghettos that were both more socially
isolated and more economically depressed than ever.
Today many ghetto residents have almost no contact with mainstream
American society or the normal job market. As a result, they have
developed distinctive and often dysfunctional social norms. The work
ethic, investment in the future and deferred gratification make no
sense in an environment in which legitimate employment at a living
wage is impossible to find and crime is an everyday hazard (and
temptation). Men, unable to support their families, abandon them;
women become resigned to single motherhood; children suffer from
broken homes and from the bad examples set by both peers and adults.
And this dysfunctional behavior reinforces negative racial
stereotypes, making it all the harder for poor blacks to find decent jobs.
Wilson criticizes the liberals and black power activists who attacked
as racist Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s prescient report “The Negro
Family: The Case for National Action” (1965). According to Wilson, the
vitriolic condemnation of the Moynihan Report effectively closed off a
serious academic focus on the culture of poverty for decades, robbing
policy makers of a complete and nuanced account of the causes of
ghetto poverty. But he argues that the legacy of racism and changes
in the economy matter more than the dysfunctional culture of the
ghetto. And he rejects the argument that the black poor are
responsible for their predicament, insisting that an aggressive public
policy response is necessary to break the cycle of poverty.
“More Than Just Race” is somewhat ponderous and academic in style; too
often the book details an important and fascinating question only to
end inconclusively, with a call for “further research.” But this is
more than made up for by its considerable substantive virtues: it is
straightforward, accessible and sensible, free of the ideological cant
and posturing that often mar even serious academic studies of racial issues.
At heart, Wilson is a Great Society liberal, so it’s easy to
understand why conservatives might resist his analysis. But his
suggestion that racism is less to blame for black poverty than are
race-neutral changes in the labor market and his attempt to
rehabilitate the study of the culture of poverty have made him a
controversial figure in liberal academic and civil rights circles. As
Wilson notes, some on the left reject any cultural explanation of
black poverty even one as sympathetic as that in the Moynihan Report
or Wilson’s own as blaming the victim. And the accusation of racism
turns heads and grabs headlines, whereas Wilson’s complex and
multifaceted investigation requires a book-length exposition.
Moreover, racism, unlike a complicated web of economic, demographic
and cultural forces, triggers a legal response: instead of persuading
recalcitrant legislators and voters to support policy reform, liberals
can simply insist that the black poor, as victims of race
discrimination, have a right to redress that courts must enforce,
regardless of popular opposition. But the law’s arm is not long enough
to reach bigotry that occurred in the past, nor can it get a grip on
the economic and demographic changes that have hollowed out America’s
inner cities. The urban poor need remedies that judges cannot order:
public and private investment to create jobs that pay a living wage,
training to help them learn new skills and understand the job market,
and most of all a chance to move into racially and economically
integrated neighborhoods where there are better opportunities and
healthier cultural norms. Wilson’s levelheaded, thorough and
unemotional analysis should help such badly needed policies prevail in
the court of public opinion.
Wilson says the legacy of racism and changes in the economy matter
more than the culture of the ghetto.
Richard Thompson Ford is a professor of law at Stanford University.
His book “The Race Card: How Bluffing About Bias Makes Race Relations
Worse” is being published in paperback this month.
Friday, March 06, 2009
Lawmakers propose overhaul of school accountability system
TEXAS LEGISLATURE
Lawmakers propose overhaul of school accountability system
By Kate Alexander
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Friday, March 06, 2009
The high-stakes standardized tests that have induced fear and dread among Texas students in recent years would lose some of their bite in an overhaul of the state's school accountability system unveiled Thursday.
Testing would still be used to measure student achievement in the system, proposed by the leaders of the education committees in the Legislature. And passing end-of-course exams would be required for graduation.
But standardized test scores in the lower grades would no longer determine whether a student moves to the next grade — or whether a school stays open.
"An accountability system shouldn't be a gotcha. We are not looking for ways to trip up schools," said House Public Education Committee Chairman Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands. "We're looking for ways to drive student achievement and help schools get better."
Under the plan proposed by Eissler and Senate Education Chairwoman Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, the key measure of student achievement will be "growth," or showing that students are progressing toward the grade-level standard, even if they are below it. That progress could be examined over a three-year period.
The "dirty little secret" of the current accountability system is that low-performing students are a liability for schools, said Julian Vasquez Heilig, a University of Texas education professor. But the promise of the growth model, he says, is that schools can be rewarded for helping students close the gap between where they are and where they need to be.
"The potential is there for low-performing high schools to sparkle," Vasquez Heilig said.
At the former Johnston High School in Austin, for example, student test scores improved dramatically last year after years of dismal results. But the progress was not enough to meet the state standards, and the school closed last year under the state's harshest accountability sanction. It is unclear whether Johnston could have stayed open if the growth model were in place at that time.
The reprieve might not be enough to save two other Austin schools Pearce Middle School in East Austin and Reagan High School in Northeast Austin that are facing possible closure because they have been repeatedly rated academically unacceptable under the current accountability system.
The new system, if approved by the Legislature, would not go into effect until 2011. The existing rules would stay in place until that time.
Teacher groups said Thursday that they were still poring over the lengthy bill, but they lamented the continued emphasis on testing.
"This bill does little to fix the key flaw in the current accountability system: the extreme emphasis placed on standardized test scores as the measure of progress for students and schools," Linda Bridges, president of the Texas office of the American Federation of Teachers, said in a statement.
"Under this proposal our teachers and students would receive no relief from the severe loss of real instructional time caused by excessive practice testing, test preparation, and benchmark testing tied to the standardized state exams."
There will be plenty of opportunity to change the proposal. Alternative language was already being drafted Thursday for the filed bill.
Texas has been at the forefront of public school accountability since the early 1990s. Gov. George W. Bush used much of the state's system as a model for the federal No Child Left Behind Act he championed as president.
Thursday's proposed revamp of the state's accountability system does away with some of the hallmarks of the Bush-era education reform, including lifting restrictions on social promotion.
State law now requires children in the third, fifth and eighth grades to pass the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills to move on to the next grade, though that restriction can be, and has been, circumvented.
The new proposal drops the state rules and gives local school districts the discretion to develop rules and procedures for promoting students.
Sandy Kress, a pioneer of school accountability, said this new approach is not a repudiation of the past policies but an evolution.
"It is dealing with some of the issues that have arisen and making the accountability system work better, work smarter," said Kress, who helped shepherd No Child Left Behind and served on a committee that recommended the proposed changes.
"The accountability system may get tougher because of this," Kress said. "It may get more honest about whether students are on the path to reaching the real goal, not just passing a test."
That "real goal," the bill's authors say, is preparing Texas students either for college or a skilled job.
Today's system has created an "illusion of progress" by setting minimum passing standards that have no connection to what Texas graduates need to know to succeed in college or the work force, Shapiro said.
In the graduating class of 2007, 43 percent of graduates who followed at least the state's recommended high school program were not college-ready in one subject or more, according to a report by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
Shapiro and Eissler said the aim is to develop a less-rigid system that gives students more options and rewards schools for more things than test performance, such as high-quality programs for fine arts or career and technology education. The well-known school rankings, ranging from "exemplary" to "unacceptable," would be eliminated.
"A Texas high school diploma doesn't mean as much to employers as it did in years past," said Drew Scheberle of the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce. The focus on college- and workplace-readiness in the proposal should better prepare Texas graduates for high-skilled jobs in the future and help Austin to recruit those jobs, Scheberle said.
kalexander@statesman.com; 445-3618
Lawmakers propose overhaul of school accountability system
By Kate Alexander
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Friday, March 06, 2009
The high-stakes standardized tests that have induced fear and dread among Texas students in recent years would lose some of their bite in an overhaul of the state's school accountability system unveiled Thursday.
Testing would still be used to measure student achievement in the system, proposed by the leaders of the education committees in the Legislature. And passing end-of-course exams would be required for graduation.
But standardized test scores in the lower grades would no longer determine whether a student moves to the next grade — or whether a school stays open.
"An accountability system shouldn't be a gotcha. We are not looking for ways to trip up schools," said House Public Education Committee Chairman Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands. "We're looking for ways to drive student achievement and help schools get better."
Under the plan proposed by Eissler and Senate Education Chairwoman Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, the key measure of student achievement will be "growth," or showing that students are progressing toward the grade-level standard, even if they are below it. That progress could be examined over a three-year period.
The "dirty little secret" of the current accountability system is that low-performing students are a liability for schools, said Julian Vasquez Heilig, a University of Texas education professor. But the promise of the growth model, he says, is that schools can be rewarded for helping students close the gap between where they are and where they need to be.
"The potential is there for low-performing high schools to sparkle," Vasquez Heilig said.
At the former Johnston High School in Austin, for example, student test scores improved dramatically last year after years of dismal results. But the progress was not enough to meet the state standards, and the school closed last year under the state's harshest accountability sanction. It is unclear whether Johnston could have stayed open if the growth model were in place at that time.
The reprieve might not be enough to save two other Austin schools Pearce Middle School in East Austin and Reagan High School in Northeast Austin that are facing possible closure because they have been repeatedly rated academically unacceptable under the current accountability system.
The new system, if approved by the Legislature, would not go into effect until 2011. The existing rules would stay in place until that time.
Teacher groups said Thursday that they were still poring over the lengthy bill, but they lamented the continued emphasis on testing.
"This bill does little to fix the key flaw in the current accountability system: the extreme emphasis placed on standardized test scores as the measure of progress for students and schools," Linda Bridges, president of the Texas office of the American Federation of Teachers, said in a statement.
"Under this proposal our teachers and students would receive no relief from the severe loss of real instructional time caused by excessive practice testing, test preparation, and benchmark testing tied to the standardized state exams."
There will be plenty of opportunity to change the proposal. Alternative language was already being drafted Thursday for the filed bill.
Texas has been at the forefront of public school accountability since the early 1990s. Gov. George W. Bush used much of the state's system as a model for the federal No Child Left Behind Act he championed as president.
Thursday's proposed revamp of the state's accountability system does away with some of the hallmarks of the Bush-era education reform, including lifting restrictions on social promotion.
State law now requires children in the third, fifth and eighth grades to pass the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills to move on to the next grade, though that restriction can be, and has been, circumvented.
The new proposal drops the state rules and gives local school districts the discretion to develop rules and procedures for promoting students.
Sandy Kress, a pioneer of school accountability, said this new approach is not a repudiation of the past policies but an evolution.
"It is dealing with some of the issues that have arisen and making the accountability system work better, work smarter," said Kress, who helped shepherd No Child Left Behind and served on a committee that recommended the proposed changes.
"The accountability system may get tougher because of this," Kress said. "It may get more honest about whether students are on the path to reaching the real goal, not just passing a test."
That "real goal," the bill's authors say, is preparing Texas students either for college or a skilled job.
Today's system has created an "illusion of progress" by setting minimum passing standards that have no connection to what Texas graduates need to know to succeed in college or the work force, Shapiro said.
In the graduating class of 2007, 43 percent of graduates who followed at least the state's recommended high school program were not college-ready in one subject or more, according to a report by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
Shapiro and Eissler said the aim is to develop a less-rigid system that gives students more options and rewards schools for more things than test performance, such as high-quality programs for fine arts or career and technology education. The well-known school rankings, ranging from "exemplary" to "unacceptable," would be eliminated.
"A Texas high school diploma doesn't mean as much to employers as it did in years past," said Drew Scheberle of the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce. The focus on college- and workplace-readiness in the proposal should better prepare Texas graduates for high-skilled jobs in the future and help Austin to recruit those jobs, Scheberle said.
kalexander@statesman.com; 445-3618
Thursday, March 05, 2009
Shapleigh speaks at pro-immigration conference
10:51 AM Thu, Feb 26, 2009
Marcus Funk E-mail News tips
Immigration activists and Democratic lawmakers gathered this morning to promote "practical immigration policy." They said that immigrants, both documented and undocumented, provide great assets to the Texas economy, and that restricting or persecuting them would be a mistake.
They said a number of bills under review right now - including efforts grant immigration enforcement duties to local law enforcement, and proposals to restrict non-citizen access to public universities - are unhelpful and, occasionally, mean spirited.
"Every single person in this room stands for strong, safe communities. And we believe that the border is a place where we need to differentiate and talk about safety one way, and immigration another way," said Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso (pictured above). "We will beat these mean-spirited bills, and we will keep Texas the friendly, welcoming place it has always been."
Lawmakers and lobbyists did not name names or highlight individual bills, and organizers with the Austin Immigrant Rights Coalition said they were currently speaking in general terms. But specific initiatives were behind each of their talking points.
- First was an effort to grant identical drivers licenses to citizens and non-citizens, which is encapsulated in HB1619, a bill by Rep. Jessica Farrar, D-Houston. DPS currently requires non-citizens to use different licenses, which lobbyists say can generate racial profiling.
- Opposing efforts to restrict non-citizen access to public universities, which relates to HB418 by Rep. Betty Brown, R-Terrell, HB50 by Rep. Debbie Riddle, R-Houston and HB255, by Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler.
- Opposing efforts to increase local law enforcement authority over immigration law, which speakers said was a federal responsibility. That relates to Riddle's HB49, and a few other proposals.
- Opposing efforts to regulate or penalize employers for not verifying employee's citizenship, or for knowingly hiring undocumented workers. Those have ties to Riddle's HB48, Berman's HB266 and HB658, by Rep. Jim Jackson, R-Carrollton.
Marcus Funk E-mail News tips
Immigration activists and Democratic lawmakers gathered this morning to promote "practical immigration policy." They said that immigrants, both documented and undocumented, provide great assets to the Texas economy, and that restricting or persecuting them would be a mistake.
They said a number of bills under review right now - including efforts grant immigration enforcement duties to local law enforcement, and proposals to restrict non-citizen access to public universities - are unhelpful and, occasionally, mean spirited.
"Every single person in this room stands for strong, safe communities. And we believe that the border is a place where we need to differentiate and talk about safety one way, and immigration another way," said Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso (pictured above). "We will beat these mean-spirited bills, and we will keep Texas the friendly, welcoming place it has always been."
Lawmakers and lobbyists did not name names or highlight individual bills, and organizers with the Austin Immigrant Rights Coalition said they were currently speaking in general terms. But specific initiatives were behind each of their talking points.
- First was an effort to grant identical drivers licenses to citizens and non-citizens, which is encapsulated in HB1619, a bill by Rep. Jessica Farrar, D-Houston. DPS currently requires non-citizens to use different licenses, which lobbyists say can generate racial profiling.
- Opposing efforts to restrict non-citizen access to public universities, which relates to HB418 by Rep. Betty Brown, R-Terrell, HB50 by Rep. Debbie Riddle, R-Houston and HB255, by Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler.
- Opposing efforts to increase local law enforcement authority over immigration law, which speakers said was a federal responsibility. That relates to Riddle's HB49, and a few other proposals.
- Opposing efforts to regulate or penalize employers for not verifying employee's citizenship, or for knowingly hiring undocumented workers. Those have ties to Riddle's HB48, Berman's HB266 and HB658, by Rep. Jim Jackson, R-Carrollton.
“Meeting the Challenge: Promising Practices for Reducing the Dropout Rate in Massachusetts Schools and Districts”
Published Online: March 3, 2009
Published in Print: March 4, 2009
“Meeting the Challenge: Promising Practices for Reducing the Dropout Rate in Massachusetts Schools and Districts”
An examination of Massachusetts high schools that have lowered their dropout rates shows that they used key strategies that helped make a difference.
For a report issued last month, the Cambridge, Mass.-based Rennie Center for Education Research & Policy examined 11 high schools in nine districts.
A frequently cited strategy employed by high schools in the study was using data to identify students who were deemed to be at risk of dropping out and designing interventions to help them, such as credit recovery, or extra academic or social support.
Also cited by many schools as helpful were building strong connections between school and college or careers, providing strong alternatives to traditional high schools, and forging strong collaboration among faculty members and with community partners.
By Catherine Gewertz
Vol. 28, Issue 23, Pages 4-5
Published in Print: March 4, 2009
“Meeting the Challenge: Promising Practices for Reducing the Dropout Rate in Massachusetts Schools and Districts”
An examination of Massachusetts high schools that have lowered their dropout rates shows that they used key strategies that helped make a difference.
For a report issued last month, the Cambridge, Mass.-based Rennie Center for Education Research & Policy examined 11 high schools in nine districts.
A frequently cited strategy employed by high schools in the study was using data to identify students who were deemed to be at risk of dropping out and designing interventions to help them, such as credit recovery, or extra academic or social support.
Also cited by many schools as helpful were building strong connections between school and college or careers, providing strong alternatives to traditional high schools, and forging strong collaboration among faculty members and with community partners.
By Catherine Gewertz
Vol. 28, Issue 23, Pages 4-5
UT president warns of consequences to automatic-admission law
HIGHER EDUCATION
UT president warns of consequences to automatic-admission law
Freshman summer class, out-of-state students and eventually athletics are at risk, Powers says.
By Ralph K.M. Haurwitz
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, March 05, 2009
The University of Texas might be forced to cancel its entering summer class this year, stop accepting students from other states and countries, and eventually abolish athletics — including football — if the state's automatic-admission law is not scaled back by the state Legislature, the school's president warned Wednesday.
"I'm trying not to let that happen," UT President William Powers Jr. said of such steps. "We're not at that point. But we're at the point of triage in making those kinds of decisions."
Powers made the comments after testifying before the Texas Senate Higher Education Committee, which voted 4-1 to approve a measure limiting a state law that guarantees a student graduating in the top 10 percent of a Texas high school admission to any public university in the state.
Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, the author of the proposed legislation, said it simply isn't fair to decide admission on the basis of a single factor. Her measure would allow a university to limit the number of students admitted under the top 10 percent law to half of its admissions from Texas.
With UT's support, the proposal now goes to the full Senate, which approved similar legislation two years ago. That attempt later failed in the House.
The flagship campus in Austin is increasingly the school of choice for students in the top 10 percent. Eighty-one percent of UT's freshmen from Texas enrolled under the law this academic year, and Powers said he expected that figure to rise to 86 percent for the entering class this fall.
Under Shapiro's plan, UT would admit students ranking in the top 1 percent, the top 2 percent and so forth until half of the slots were filled. The remaining slots would be filled through what she called a "holistic" examination of the pool of applicants, taking into account leadership, musical and artistic talent, race, ethnicity and other factors.
Without some change to the law, UT will be forced to reject all Texas high school graduates who are not in the top 10 percent by 2013, according to a report by the university. By 2015, the report said, there will be no room in the freshman class for students from other states or countries.
"It has become a crisis for us," Powers said. "We're simply out of space."
Asked about athletics, he said such programs, including football, might also have to be eliminated eventually. Most football players do not rank in the top 10 percent.
University officials thought they had a good chance at scaling back the law two years ago, but the House crushed those hopes at the 11th hour of the legislative session.
The top 10 percent law was enacted by the Legislature in 1997 in an effort to boost minority enrollment after a federal court ruling effectively halted the use of affirmative action in admissions. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2003, in a case involving the University of Michigan, that race and ethnicity could be considered, and UT subsequently began doing so.
Enrollment of Hispanics and blacks has not risen significantly since 1997, but many minority lawmakers nevertheless like the law's clear, merit-based guarantee of access for students at every high school in the state — including some with a high proportion of minority students.
Shapiro's plan would apply to all 35 public universities in the state, but no other schools have complained that they can not accommodate the top ten percent students who want to attend.
The Texas NAACP called for no changes to the law.
The law might need to be tweaked, perhaps by capping the number of students who could enroll from each high school, said Luis Figueroa, legislative staff attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
"A 50 percent cap is not a tweak," Figueroa said. "It's a wholesale retreat from the top 10 percent plan."
rhaurwitz@statesman.com; 445-3604
UT president warns of consequences to automatic-admission law
Freshman summer class, out-of-state students and eventually athletics are at risk, Powers says.
By Ralph K.M. Haurwitz
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, March 05, 2009
The University of Texas might be forced to cancel its entering summer class this year, stop accepting students from other states and countries, and eventually abolish athletics — including football — if the state's automatic-admission law is not scaled back by the state Legislature, the school's president warned Wednesday.
"I'm trying not to let that happen," UT President William Powers Jr. said of such steps. "We're not at that point. But we're at the point of triage in making those kinds of decisions."
Powers made the comments after testifying before the Texas Senate Higher Education Committee, which voted 4-1 to approve a measure limiting a state law that guarantees a student graduating in the top 10 percent of a Texas high school admission to any public university in the state.
Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, the author of the proposed legislation, said it simply isn't fair to decide admission on the basis of a single factor. Her measure would allow a university to limit the number of students admitted under the top 10 percent law to half of its admissions from Texas.
With UT's support, the proposal now goes to the full Senate, which approved similar legislation two years ago. That attempt later failed in the House.
The flagship campus in Austin is increasingly the school of choice for students in the top 10 percent. Eighty-one percent of UT's freshmen from Texas enrolled under the law this academic year, and Powers said he expected that figure to rise to 86 percent for the entering class this fall.
Under Shapiro's plan, UT would admit students ranking in the top 1 percent, the top 2 percent and so forth until half of the slots were filled. The remaining slots would be filled through what she called a "holistic" examination of the pool of applicants, taking into account leadership, musical and artistic talent, race, ethnicity and other factors.
Without some change to the law, UT will be forced to reject all Texas high school graduates who are not in the top 10 percent by 2013, according to a report by the university. By 2015, the report said, there will be no room in the freshman class for students from other states or countries.
"It has become a crisis for us," Powers said. "We're simply out of space."
Asked about athletics, he said such programs, including football, might also have to be eliminated eventually. Most football players do not rank in the top 10 percent.
University officials thought they had a good chance at scaling back the law two years ago, but the House crushed those hopes at the 11th hour of the legislative session.
The top 10 percent law was enacted by the Legislature in 1997 in an effort to boost minority enrollment after a federal court ruling effectively halted the use of affirmative action in admissions. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2003, in a case involving the University of Michigan, that race and ethnicity could be considered, and UT subsequently began doing so.
Enrollment of Hispanics and blacks has not risen significantly since 1997, but many minority lawmakers nevertheless like the law's clear, merit-based guarantee of access for students at every high school in the state — including some with a high proportion of minority students.
Shapiro's plan would apply to all 35 public universities in the state, but no other schools have complained that they can not accommodate the top ten percent students who want to attend.
The Texas NAACP called for no changes to the law.
The law might need to be tweaked, perhaps by capping the number of students who could enroll from each high school, said Luis Figueroa, legislative staff attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
"A 50 percent cap is not a tweak," Figueroa said. "It's a wholesale retreat from the top 10 percent plan."
rhaurwitz@statesman.com; 445-3604
Study: Texas sets bar low for students on TAKS
EDUCATION
Study: Texas sets bar low for students on TAKS
Scores needed to pass state achievement test lower than many other states.
By Molly Bloom
AMERICAN STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, February 19, 2009
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 was meant to instill accountability in schools, to ensure that students — no matter what their race, ethnicity or family income level — "achieve proficiency" in reading and math by 2014.
But by leaving it up to each state to define proficiency, the law gives the false impression of creating a national accountability system, according to a report being released today.
Texas' implementation of the federal school accountability system is one of the most lenient in the country, report researchers from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, and the Kingsbury Center at the Northwest Evaluation Association, an Oregon research center.
The results, from an analysis of test scores and other information from 18 elementary schools nationwide, are similar to those reported in other studies. Research by the National Center for Education Statistics found that in 2003, Mississippi was the only state with an easier fourth-grade reading standard than Texas, assuming all states test the same skills.
If schools that receive certain federal funds have students in third grade and up who fail to achieve proficiency in reading and math by 2014 or make progress toward meeting that goal, they can be subject to sanctions that include having to pay to have students tutored or transferred to other schools.
States send the U.S. Department of Education their own plans to reach that 2014 goal, establish their own interim targets, create their own tests and determine how many questions students must get right to pass. States make their own rules about how many students in particular groups a school has to have for the school be held accountable for the group's test scores.
That means that a school given a stamp of approval under the federal system in one state could be deemed a failure in another.
In Texas, the federal goals are based on passing rates on the reading and math sections of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, as well as graduation, attendance and test participation rates. The federal system is separate from Texas' system that rates schools as unacceptable, acceptable, recognized or exemplary.
Today's report also found that Texas requires the number of students in racial, ethnic, linguistic and economic groups to be relatively large in order for a school to be held accountable for test scores in those groups. Schools are held accountable for a group's performance only if those students number more than 200, or number at least 50 and make up at least 10 percent of a campus's enrollment.
The Fordham and Kingsbury researchers wrote that Texas' TAKS passing score is relatively low compared to other states'. The researchers did not evaluate a new policy under which Texas schools can count students who are projected to pass the TAKS in subsequent years as having passed in the current year for federal accountability purposes.
Requiring students to answer more questions correctly could help improve academic achievement, but only if Texas also improves teacher preparation, professional development and curricula, University of Texas education researcher Ed Fuller said.
"Most people would probably agree that our proficiency standards are too low," Fuller said. "But if you just set standards high and don't do anything else ... you'll have a disaster on your hands."
Passing scores are only one part of the picture, said study researcher John Cronin.
"Just fiddling with one of the factors in the situation doesn't solve the problem," he said. "You have to deal with the whole system."
mbloom@statesman.com; 445-3620
Study: Texas sets bar low for students on TAKS
Scores needed to pass state achievement test lower than many other states.
By Molly Bloom
AMERICAN STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, February 19, 2009
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 was meant to instill accountability in schools, to ensure that students — no matter what their race, ethnicity or family income level — "achieve proficiency" in reading and math by 2014.
But by leaving it up to each state to define proficiency, the law gives the false impression of creating a national accountability system, according to a report being released today.
Texas' implementation of the federal school accountability system is one of the most lenient in the country, report researchers from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, and the Kingsbury Center at the Northwest Evaluation Association, an Oregon research center.
The results, from an analysis of test scores and other information from 18 elementary schools nationwide, are similar to those reported in other studies. Research by the National Center for Education Statistics found that in 2003, Mississippi was the only state with an easier fourth-grade reading standard than Texas, assuming all states test the same skills.
If schools that receive certain federal funds have students in third grade and up who fail to achieve proficiency in reading and math by 2014 or make progress toward meeting that goal, they can be subject to sanctions that include having to pay to have students tutored or transferred to other schools.
States send the U.S. Department of Education their own plans to reach that 2014 goal, establish their own interim targets, create their own tests and determine how many questions students must get right to pass. States make their own rules about how many students in particular groups a school has to have for the school be held accountable for the group's test scores.
That means that a school given a stamp of approval under the federal system in one state could be deemed a failure in another.
In Texas, the federal goals are based on passing rates on the reading and math sections of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, as well as graduation, attendance and test participation rates. The federal system is separate from Texas' system that rates schools as unacceptable, acceptable, recognized or exemplary.
Today's report also found that Texas requires the number of students in racial, ethnic, linguistic and economic groups to be relatively large in order for a school to be held accountable for test scores in those groups. Schools are held accountable for a group's performance only if those students number more than 200, or number at least 50 and make up at least 10 percent of a campus's enrollment.
The Fordham and Kingsbury researchers wrote that Texas' TAKS passing score is relatively low compared to other states'. The researchers did not evaluate a new policy under which Texas schools can count students who are projected to pass the TAKS in subsequent years as having passed in the current year for federal accountability purposes.
Requiring students to answer more questions correctly could help improve academic achievement, but only if Texas also improves teacher preparation, professional development and curricula, University of Texas education researcher Ed Fuller said.
"Most people would probably agree that our proficiency standards are too low," Fuller said. "But if you just set standards high and don't do anything else ... you'll have a disaster on your hands."
Passing scores are only one part of the picture, said study researcher John Cronin.
"Just fiddling with one of the factors in the situation doesn't solve the problem," he said. "You have to deal with the whole system."
mbloom@statesman.com; 445-3620
Latinos have opportunity to transform U.S. society
Latinos have opportunity to transform U.S. society
By NICOLAS KANELLOS
Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
March 3, 2009, 8:22PM
Former San Antonio mayor and HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros recently surprised the Washington audience at the launch for a new book he edited, Latinos and the Nation’s Future, by declaring that the country’s first Hispanic president “has already been born.”
Of course, surprise is unjustified. The inauguration of the first black President was a tangible reminder for the entire country, and the rest of the world, of what demographers have long known: The face of America is changing. And the majority of that change comes from Latinos.
Just look at U.S. Census projections based on Latinos already in this country and it becomes clear that it’s time to accept the premise of inevitable and monumental Latino population growth. What exactly this means for the future of the country is still uncertain. But here’s one guarantee: The United States’ ballooning Latino growth will have significant implications for practically all segments of social and economic life in the United States.
Mainstream dialogue about Latino population growth has been dominated for years by debates over immigration, much of it very nasty, and completely focused on negative potential. But consider this — given the falling birth rate and rising population of retired workers in the United States, continued immigration is actually what fuels the country’s economic engine and allows it to grow and expand. And let’s not forget that it’s young Latinos entering the workforce as the economy heals who will pay the Social Security benefits of our aging population as they head into retirement.
It’s time to engage in a productive national dialogue about what this Latino growth means for the country, and how it will inevitably shape the American Dream of the future.
Here are my predictions:
While English will remain the “official” language of the United States, Spanish will become the “unofficial” second national language. After all, at universities, Spanish departments are already separating themselves from foreign language divisions in recognition that Spanish has always been an important language in this country, and has an expanded role in the future.
As for the media — and this holds true for other corporate sectors as well — economic growth will require accessing Hispanic markets. Just look at Univision if you need proof of the economic potential of marketing to the Latino population: The current programming originating in Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela, and the Spanish-speaking United States, and distributed from Los Angeles and Miami, is unrivaled by any of the English-language networks. If you are not a native Spanish speaker you may never have heard of Univision’s show Sábado Gigante, but it actually dwarfs shows like David Letterman in audience size.
Latinos will also forge new paths in the work force. As long as U.S. Hispanics remain disproportionately working class, they will ascend to the leadership of movements for worker’s rights and unions, as well as reform of immigration policy. Despite the high number of uneducated Hispanic immigrants and natives, their children already make up the fastest growing segment of college enrollments, in spite of unusually high dropout rates. Their children are already on the first rungs of the ladder to leadership in industry, entertainment, communications and education. Soon, they will also become part of a rupture of the glass ceilings in these fields.
The growing economic integration of the Americas will lead to cultural integration as well: The history, culture and civilization of Hispanics will increasingly be seen as part of the national American culture, one shared by all. Of course, the rise of Hispanics into the middle class will not be accomplished through the traditional path of leaving the “old country” culture behind in order to become “Americans,” purified through a melting-pot process. In fact, the opposite will be true; a bilingual-bicultural citizenry capable of navigating cultural differences at many levels will emerge. Dual citizenship will be more common and university systems will expand across borders to prepare graduates capable of operating in this new culture.
Over time, American racism will no longer limit the access of Hispanics to American opportunities, for their sheer numbers will transform politics and policy, once the population reaches voting age. But more important than demographics and voting power, Hispanic culture has always fostered a dynamic of racial and cultural blending. The Latino influence will further accelerate interracial and interethnic marriage, and along with it the tendency to identify with the rest of the countries and cultures of the Americas rather than solely with Europe.
Latinos have the potential to create a new society in the Western Hemisphere that goes beyond national boundaries or cultures. This society will be the inspiration for a New American Dream.
Kanellos is the director of Arte Público Press of the University of Houston, and contributor to the new book Latinos and the Nation’s Future.
By NICOLAS KANELLOS
Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
March 3, 2009, 8:22PM
Former San Antonio mayor and HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros recently surprised the Washington audience at the launch for a new book he edited, Latinos and the Nation’s Future, by declaring that the country’s first Hispanic president “has already been born.”
Of course, surprise is unjustified. The inauguration of the first black President was a tangible reminder for the entire country, and the rest of the world, of what demographers have long known: The face of America is changing. And the majority of that change comes from Latinos.
Just look at U.S. Census projections based on Latinos already in this country and it becomes clear that it’s time to accept the premise of inevitable and monumental Latino population growth. What exactly this means for the future of the country is still uncertain. But here’s one guarantee: The United States’ ballooning Latino growth will have significant implications for practically all segments of social and economic life in the United States.
Mainstream dialogue about Latino population growth has been dominated for years by debates over immigration, much of it very nasty, and completely focused on negative potential. But consider this — given the falling birth rate and rising population of retired workers in the United States, continued immigration is actually what fuels the country’s economic engine and allows it to grow and expand. And let’s not forget that it’s young Latinos entering the workforce as the economy heals who will pay the Social Security benefits of our aging population as they head into retirement.
It’s time to engage in a productive national dialogue about what this Latino growth means for the country, and how it will inevitably shape the American Dream of the future.
Here are my predictions:
While English will remain the “official” language of the United States, Spanish will become the “unofficial” second national language. After all, at universities, Spanish departments are already separating themselves from foreign language divisions in recognition that Spanish has always been an important language in this country, and has an expanded role in the future.
As for the media — and this holds true for other corporate sectors as well — economic growth will require accessing Hispanic markets. Just look at Univision if you need proof of the economic potential of marketing to the Latino population: The current programming originating in Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela, and the Spanish-speaking United States, and distributed from Los Angeles and Miami, is unrivaled by any of the English-language networks. If you are not a native Spanish speaker you may never have heard of Univision’s show Sábado Gigante, but it actually dwarfs shows like David Letterman in audience size.
Latinos will also forge new paths in the work force. As long as U.S. Hispanics remain disproportionately working class, they will ascend to the leadership of movements for worker’s rights and unions, as well as reform of immigration policy. Despite the high number of uneducated Hispanic immigrants and natives, their children already make up the fastest growing segment of college enrollments, in spite of unusually high dropout rates. Their children are already on the first rungs of the ladder to leadership in industry, entertainment, communications and education. Soon, they will also become part of a rupture of the glass ceilings in these fields.
The growing economic integration of the Americas will lead to cultural integration as well: The history, culture and civilization of Hispanics will increasingly be seen as part of the national American culture, one shared by all. Of course, the rise of Hispanics into the middle class will not be accomplished through the traditional path of leaving the “old country” culture behind in order to become “Americans,” purified through a melting-pot process. In fact, the opposite will be true; a bilingual-bicultural citizenry capable of navigating cultural differences at many levels will emerge. Dual citizenship will be more common and university systems will expand across borders to prepare graduates capable of operating in this new culture.
Over time, American racism will no longer limit the access of Hispanics to American opportunities, for their sheer numbers will transform politics and policy, once the population reaches voting age. But more important than demographics and voting power, Hispanic culture has always fostered a dynamic of racial and cultural blending. The Latino influence will further accelerate interracial and interethnic marriage, and along with it the tendency to identify with the rest of the countries and cultures of the Americas rather than solely with Europe.
Latinos have the potential to create a new society in the Western Hemisphere that goes beyond national boundaries or cultures. This society will be the inspiration for a New American Dream.
Kanellos is the director of Arte Público Press of the University of Houston, and contributor to the new book Latinos and the Nation’s Future.
US Census Bureau News reports that the percentage of Latino college students has increased through 2007
Nota: The latest press release from the US Census Bureau News reports that the percentage of Latino college students has increased through 2007. The report containing the info, School Enrollment in the United States: 2007, is the source of the information. To quote the first paragraph from the press release:
"Hispanic students comprised 12 percent of full-time college students (both undergraduate and graduate students) in 2007, up from 10 percent in 2006, according to U.S. Census Bureau tables released today. Hispanics comprise 15 percent of the nation's total population."
The effect of the relatively increasing number of Latino college students is not only being felt here in Texas but is a nationwide process. I've only glanced the actual tables reporting the data, the trend, but it's available for those interested in viewing it in greater detail. The educational data for Latinos and all other population groups may be accessed at this link:
URL: <http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/.html>.
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2009
Robert Bernstein
CB09-36
Public Information Office
Detailed tables
301-763-3030/763-3762 (fax)
e-mail:
Hispanics Become More Prevalent on College Campuses
Hispanic students comprised 12 percent of full-time college students
(both undergraduate and graduate students) in 2007, up from 10 percent in
2006, according to U.S. Census Bureau tables released today. Hispanics
comprise 15 percent of the nation's total population.
School Enrollment in the United States: 2007 contains eight detailed
tables based on statistics collected in the October School Enrollment
Supplement to the Current Population Survey. The national-level data are
shown by characteristics such as age, sex, race, Hispanic origin, family
income, type of college, employment status and vocational course
enrollment.
Women continue their majority status, comprising 55 percent of
undergraduates and 60 percent of graduate students.
Other highlights:
-- In 2007, 53 percent of Hispanic 4-year-olds were enrolled in
nursery school, up from 43 percent in 1997 and 21 percent in 1987.
-- In 2007, 27 percent of the population 3 or older were enrolled
in classes -- from nursery school to graduate studies.
-- More than half (59 percent) of all 4-year-olds and 39 percent
of 3-year-olds were enrolled in nursery school.
-- Students in grades one through 12 made up 64 percent of people
3 and older enrolled in school.
-- Students 35 or older comprised 15 percent of people enrolled in
college. They made up 7 percent of the full-time college
students and 36 percent of those attending part time.
-X-
Statistics from sample surveys are subject to sampling and nonsampling
error. For more information on the source of the data and accuracy of the
estimates, standard errors and confidence intervals, go to
<http://www.census.gov/apsd/techdoc/cps/cpsmar07.pdf >.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Editor’s note: The information can be accessed at
<http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/school.html >.
"Hispanic students comprised 12 percent of full-time college students (both undergraduate and graduate students) in 2007, up from 10 percent in 2006, according to U.S. Census Bureau tables released today. Hispanics comprise 15 percent of the nation's total population."
The effect of the relatively increasing number of Latino college students is not only being felt here in Texas but is a nationwide process. I've only glanced the actual tables reporting the data, the trend, but it's available for those interested in viewing it in greater detail. The educational data for Latinos and all other population groups may be accessed at this link:
URL: <http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/.html>.
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2009
Robert Bernstein
CB09-36
Public Information Office
Detailed tables
301-763-3030/763-3762 (fax)
e-mail:
Hispanics Become More Prevalent on College Campuses
Hispanic students comprised 12 percent of full-time college students
(both undergraduate and graduate students) in 2007, up from 10 percent in
2006, according to U.S. Census Bureau tables released today. Hispanics
comprise 15 percent of the nation's total population.
School Enrollment in the United States: 2007 contains eight detailed
tables based on statistics collected in the October School Enrollment
Supplement to the Current Population Survey. The national-level data are
shown by characteristics such as age, sex, race, Hispanic origin, family
income, type of college, employment status and vocational course
enrollment.
Women continue their majority status, comprising 55 percent of
undergraduates and 60 percent of graduate students.
Other highlights:
-- In 2007, 53 percent of Hispanic 4-year-olds were enrolled in
nursery school, up from 43 percent in 1997 and 21 percent in 1987.
-- In 2007, 27 percent of the population 3 or older were enrolled
in classes -- from nursery school to graduate studies.
-- More than half (59 percent) of all 4-year-olds and 39 percent
of 3-year-olds were enrolled in nursery school.
-- Students in grades one through 12 made up 64 percent of people
3 and older enrolled in school.
-- Students 35 or older comprised 15 percent of people enrolled in
college. They made up 7 percent of the full-time college
students and 36 percent of those attending part time.
-X-
Statistics from sample surveys are subject to sampling and nonsampling
error. For more information on the source of the data and accuracy of the
estimates, standard errors and confidence intervals, go to
<http://www.census.gov/apsd/techdoc/cps/cpsmar07.pdf
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Editor’s note: The information can be accessed at
<http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/school.html
Hispanics one-fifth of K-12 students
Hispanics one-fifth of K-12 students
By Hope Yen, Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Roughly one-fourth of the nation's kindergartners are Hispanic, evidence of an accelerating trend that now will see minority children become the majority by 2023.
Census data released Thursday also showed that Hispanics make up about one-fifth of all K-12 students. Hispanics' growth and changes in the youth population are certain to influence political debate, from jobs and immigration to the No Child Left Behind education, for years.
The ethnic shifts in school enrollment are most evident in the West. States such as Arizona, California and Nevada are seeing an influx of Hispanics due to immigration and higher birth rates.
Minority students in that region exceed non-Hispanic whites at the pre-college grade levels, with about 37% of the students Hispanic. Hispanics make up 54% of the students in New Mexico, 47% in California, 44% in Texas and 40% in Arizona.
In 2007, more than 40% of all students in K-12 were minorities — Hispanics, blacks, Asian-Americans and others. That's double the percentage of three decades ago.
In colleges, Hispanics made up 12% of full-time undergraduate and graduate students, 2% more than in 2006. Still, that is short of Hispanics' 15% representation in the total U.S. population.
"The future of our education system depends on how we can advance Hispanics through the ranks," said William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution in Washington. "In many cases it's going to be a challenge, because they are the children of immigrants, and their English is not as strong. Many have parents without a high school or college education."
Minorities are projected to become the majority of the overall U.S. population by 2042. For minority kids, that shift is seen coming in 2023, seven years earlier than the previous estimate, from 2004. The accelerated timetable is due to immigration among Hispanics and Asians, and declining birth rates among non-Hispanic whites.
Hispanics account for more than 23% of kindergartners in private and public schools, according to 2007 data. That is more than triple Hispanics' percentage in the 1970s, the height of white baby boom enrollment in elementary and high school.
More Hispanic kindergartners in 2007 were U.S.-born than foreign-born, assuring them of citizenship that will make them eligible to vote by 2020.
The changing demographics offer opportunity and political risks for Barack Obama, the nation's first African-American president, and emerging Republicans such as 37-year-old Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, the first Indian-American elected to statewide office.
Obama, who took two-thirds of the Hispanic vote, is channeling billions of federal dollars to improve schools, reduce the dropout rate and make college more affordable by increasing the maximum Pell Grant for low-income students to $5,550.
Yet his administration has been sketchy when it comes to improving classroom performance and overhauling the No Child Left Behind Act. It sets goals for schools so every student can read and do math on grade level by 2014.
The education law has major implications for both black and Hispanic students, including those who speak English as a second language, because they tend to lag whites in reading and math scores.
Obama has been largely quiet on immigration reform, which could pave the way for citizenship for nearly 12 million illegal immigrants. Last week, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said she was not notified when federal agents conducted an immigration raid in Bellingham, Wash.
Richard Fry, a senior researcher at the Pew Hispanic Center, said Hispanic growth cannot be ignored in policy debates for too long. While in recent elections Hispanics have only cast 6% of the total ballots, "Latinos' electoral power and participation levels clearly are going to grow," he said.
Other findings from the data:
• About 58% of children enrolled in grades K-12 are non-Hispanic whites, a group that represents 66% of the U.S. population. After Hispanics, blacks were the second-largest minority group enrolled in K-12 (15 percent), followed by Asians (4 percent).
• Fifty-three percent of Hispanic 4-year-olds were enrolled in nursery school, compared with 43% in 1997 and 21% in 1987.
The census data was based on the Current Population Survey. Data on U.S. regions and states came from the 2007 American Community Survey, the government's annual survey of about 3 million households.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
By Hope Yen, Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Roughly one-fourth of the nation's kindergartners are Hispanic, evidence of an accelerating trend that now will see minority children become the majority by 2023.
Census data released Thursday also showed that Hispanics make up about one-fifth of all K-12 students. Hispanics' growth and changes in the youth population are certain to influence political debate, from jobs and immigration to the No Child Left Behind education, for years.
The ethnic shifts in school enrollment are most evident in the West. States such as Arizona, California and Nevada are seeing an influx of Hispanics due to immigration and higher birth rates.
Minority students in that region exceed non-Hispanic whites at the pre-college grade levels, with about 37% of the students Hispanic. Hispanics make up 54% of the students in New Mexico, 47% in California, 44% in Texas and 40% in Arizona.
In 2007, more than 40% of all students in K-12 were minorities — Hispanics, blacks, Asian-Americans and others. That's double the percentage of three decades ago.
In colleges, Hispanics made up 12% of full-time undergraduate and graduate students, 2% more than in 2006. Still, that is short of Hispanics' 15% representation in the total U.S. population.
"The future of our education system depends on how we can advance Hispanics through the ranks," said William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution in Washington. "In many cases it's going to be a challenge, because they are the children of immigrants, and their English is not as strong. Many have parents without a high school or college education."
Minorities are projected to become the majority of the overall U.S. population by 2042. For minority kids, that shift is seen coming in 2023, seven years earlier than the previous estimate, from 2004. The accelerated timetable is due to immigration among Hispanics and Asians, and declining birth rates among non-Hispanic whites.
Hispanics account for more than 23% of kindergartners in private and public schools, according to 2007 data. That is more than triple Hispanics' percentage in the 1970s, the height of white baby boom enrollment in elementary and high school.
More Hispanic kindergartners in 2007 were U.S.-born than foreign-born, assuring them of citizenship that will make them eligible to vote by 2020.
The changing demographics offer opportunity and political risks for Barack Obama, the nation's first African-American president, and emerging Republicans such as 37-year-old Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, the first Indian-American elected to statewide office.
Obama, who took two-thirds of the Hispanic vote, is channeling billions of federal dollars to improve schools, reduce the dropout rate and make college more affordable by increasing the maximum Pell Grant for low-income students to $5,550.
Yet his administration has been sketchy when it comes to improving classroom performance and overhauling the No Child Left Behind Act. It sets goals for schools so every student can read and do math on grade level by 2014.
The education law has major implications for both black and Hispanic students, including those who speak English as a second language, because they tend to lag whites in reading and math scores.
Obama has been largely quiet on immigration reform, which could pave the way for citizenship for nearly 12 million illegal immigrants. Last week, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said she was not notified when federal agents conducted an immigration raid in Bellingham, Wash.
Richard Fry, a senior researcher at the Pew Hispanic Center, said Hispanic growth cannot be ignored in policy debates for too long. While in recent elections Hispanics have only cast 6% of the total ballots, "Latinos' electoral power and participation levels clearly are going to grow," he said.
Other findings from the data:
• About 58% of children enrolled in grades K-12 are non-Hispanic whites, a group that represents 66% of the U.S. population. After Hispanics, blacks were the second-largest minority group enrolled in K-12 (15 percent), followed by Asians (4 percent).
• Fifty-three percent of Hispanic 4-year-olds were enrolled in nursery school, compared with 43% in 1997 and 21% in 1987.
The census data was based on the Current Population Survey. Data on U.S. regions and states came from the 2007 American Community Survey, the government's annual survey of about 3 million households.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Another crack at top 10 percent law
By Jason Embry | Wednesday, March 4, 2009, 07:02 AM
Bill on university admissions gets first hearing this year … Tax cut yields future deficit, just as predicted … Michael Dukakis (yes, that one) works the Legislature
House is in at 10 a.m. Senate is in at 11.
Happy 59th birthday to Gov. Rick Perry.
Austin weather from News 8 Austin’s Maureen McCann: Some morning clouds, otherwise partly sunny and warm. High of 82.
The day ahead
The Senate Higher Education Committee will meet at 8 a.m. in E1.012. At some point in the day, the committee will hear Senate Bill 175, which is Sen. Florence Shapiro’s effort to limit the number of students admitted under the rule saying students who finish in the top 10 percent of their high school classes are guaranteed admission to any state university. A similar proposal made it out of the Senate in 2007 but died in the House.
Students who benefit from the top 10 percent rule have crowded admissions at the University of Texas. According to Statesman higher-ed guru Ralph Haurwitz, UT officials say that by 2013 they will have to reject all Texas students who are not in the Top 10 percent of their class. UT President Bill Powers and UT System Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa are expected to testify in favor of Shapiro’s legislation, which would cap at 50 percent the share of a freshman class that could be admitted under the law.
Such a cap is popular in suburban areas such as Shapiro’s hometown of Plano, where parents say students who are plenty capable of succeeding at UT and want to go there, but did not finish in the top 10 percent in high school, must go out of state or to a private school.
Shapiro’s got a busy day in front of her. At 1:30 p.m. she will hold a press conference to announce the filing of two bills intending to strengthen career and technology programs (read: programs in high schools and colleges for students who won’t get four-year degrees from universities).
The Senate Transportation Committee will meet at 8 a.m. in E1.016. Among the bills that will be heard is SB 220, a proposal by Sen. Robert Nichols that would prohibit the Texas Department of Transportation from turning a free highway or highway lane into a toll road or tolled lane. The committee will also look at SB 384, which is Chairman John Carona’s effort to stop TxDOT from using its marketing and advertising dollars to influence public opinion about the use of toll roads.
Click here to check out other Senate committee agendas.
Click here for today’s House committee meetings.
Gov. Rick Perry will speak at about 7:30 a.m. at a Capitol rally for the Texas Motion Picture Alliance.
The Texas Council on Family Violence will deliver postcards to lawmakers’ offices urging full funding of violence services.
Tuesday highlights
A rather interesting discussion broke out in the House chamber about the state’s budget situation and how federal stimulus dollars might fit in.
House leaders said the Legislative Budget Board is projecting an $8 billion “structural deficit” in the budget that lawmakers will have to write in the 2011 session, due in large part to the fact that in 2006 the state cut way more in property taxes than it raised in business and other taxes. This shouldn’t be too much of a surprise to anyone who was looking at the numbers at the time — Perry promised a multibillion-dollar net tax cut, and even though it hasn’t felt that way to many homeowners, that’s what Texas got. Also in 2006, lawmakers increased education spending by a couple billion dollars, which added to the cost of the property-tax cut.
But back to this session. There was this key exchange Tuesday between Warren Chisum, the Appropriations Committee chairman in 2007, and Jim Pitts, the Appropriations chairman this year, about how the stimulus dollars would fit into the appropriations bill:
Chisum: “You’re going to have some in the supplemental (appropriations) bill?”
Pitts: “That is correct.”
Chisum: “And you’re going to have some in the general appropriations bill?”
Pitts: “That is correct.”
Chisum: “Are we going to know if we’re entering into some of kind of long-term deal as created by this stimulus package, that we may have to fund in the out years, when the stimulus package has virtually evaporated?”
Pitts: “The intent of Appropriations is to use the stimulus package (for) one-time only items.”
Chisum: “And how are you going to make that one-time only?”
Pitts: “Well, we will do maintenance projects to highways that are specifically one-time only.”
Chisum: “But not all of it goes to highways, right?”
Pitts: “No.”
Chisum: “You’re going to have a lot of health and human services.”
Pitts: “It’s going to be in every article (of the bill).”
Chisum: “You’re going to have a program that increases services out there to the citizens, and yet if the stimulus package runs out, we’re going to cut those back, right?”
Pitts: “That is correct. It is our intention to not expand any programs.”
Pitts sounded an awful lot like Gov. Rick Perry in his answers, and Perry has taken a lot of heat for saying the stimulus money shouldn’t be used to extend programs, so it will be interesting to see where this goes.
Elsewhere Tuesday, officials with the Dallas Fed said Texas could lose 300,000 jobs this year and unemployment could jump to 8 percent. That’s worse than others have projected, the Dallas Morning News reports.
Former Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis walked the halls of the Capitol on Tuesday to talk to lawmakers about drug- and alcohol-treatment programs, according to the Statesman’s Mike Ward.
Tweet of the Day: “Texas Attorney General Abbott office hands down a positive opinion on my bill proposal on illegal immigrants. Check Facebook.” — Sen. Dan Patrick.
In the news
“Even though the Texas Youth Commission’s incarcerated population has dropped by almost half in two years, the annual cost of locking up juvenile offenders in Texas has climbed to almost $99,000 per inmate — a 66 percent jump since 2006.” Austin American-Statesman
“Democratic lawmakers asked Gov. Rick Perry on Tuesday to accept unemployment money in the federal stimulus package even though that would mean expanding the program, which he opposes.” Associated Press
“What some Democrats haven’t figured out yet is that (Tom) Schieffer brings two potential gifts for the state party: He can raise enough cash to discourage Democratic challengers, keeping the party’s March primary positive while Republican Gov. Rick Perry swaps mud with challenger U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison; And he can bring business moderates, particularly those who support public schools, back to the Democratic side.” Bud Kennedy
“I’m worried. We’ve just elected a talented young president with many good instincts about how to propel our country forward, extend health care to more people, make our tax code fairer and launch a green industrial revolution. But do you know what I fear? I fear that his whole first term could be eaten by Citigroup, A.I.G., Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, and the whole housing/subprime credit bubble we inflated these past 20 years.” Thomas Friedman
“In the early days of any administration, reporters reach out to the men and women who might become their sources over the next four years — then slather them with glowing profiles suitable for framing in their mothers’ bedrooms.” Politico
Bill on university admissions gets first hearing this year … Tax cut yields future deficit, just as predicted … Michael Dukakis (yes, that one) works the Legislature
House is in at 10 a.m. Senate is in at 11.
Happy 59th birthday to Gov. Rick Perry.
Austin weather from News 8 Austin’s Maureen McCann: Some morning clouds, otherwise partly sunny and warm. High of 82.
The day ahead
The Senate Higher Education Committee will meet at 8 a.m. in E1.012. At some point in the day, the committee will hear Senate Bill 175, which is Sen. Florence Shapiro’s effort to limit the number of students admitted under the rule saying students who finish in the top 10 percent of their high school classes are guaranteed admission to any state university. A similar proposal made it out of the Senate in 2007 but died in the House.
Students who benefit from the top 10 percent rule have crowded admissions at the University of Texas. According to Statesman higher-ed guru Ralph Haurwitz, UT officials say that by 2013 they will have to reject all Texas students who are not in the Top 10 percent of their class. UT President Bill Powers and UT System Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa are expected to testify in favor of Shapiro’s legislation, which would cap at 50 percent the share of a freshman class that could be admitted under the law.
Such a cap is popular in suburban areas such as Shapiro’s hometown of Plano, where parents say students who are plenty capable of succeeding at UT and want to go there, but did not finish in the top 10 percent in high school, must go out of state or to a private school.
Shapiro’s got a busy day in front of her. At 1:30 p.m. she will hold a press conference to announce the filing of two bills intending to strengthen career and technology programs (read: programs in high schools and colleges for students who won’t get four-year degrees from universities).
The Senate Transportation Committee will meet at 8 a.m. in E1.016. Among the bills that will be heard is SB 220, a proposal by Sen. Robert Nichols that would prohibit the Texas Department of Transportation from turning a free highway or highway lane into a toll road or tolled lane. The committee will also look at SB 384, which is Chairman John Carona’s effort to stop TxDOT from using its marketing and advertising dollars to influence public opinion about the use of toll roads.
Click here to check out other Senate committee agendas.
Click here for today’s House committee meetings.
Gov. Rick Perry will speak at about 7:30 a.m. at a Capitol rally for the Texas Motion Picture Alliance.
The Texas Council on Family Violence will deliver postcards to lawmakers’ offices urging full funding of violence services.
Tuesday highlights
A rather interesting discussion broke out in the House chamber about the state’s budget situation and how federal stimulus dollars might fit in.
House leaders said the Legislative Budget Board is projecting an $8 billion “structural deficit” in the budget that lawmakers will have to write in the 2011 session, due in large part to the fact that in 2006 the state cut way more in property taxes than it raised in business and other taxes. This shouldn’t be too much of a surprise to anyone who was looking at the numbers at the time — Perry promised a multibillion-dollar net tax cut, and even though it hasn’t felt that way to many homeowners, that’s what Texas got. Also in 2006, lawmakers increased education spending by a couple billion dollars, which added to the cost of the property-tax cut.
But back to this session. There was this key exchange Tuesday between Warren Chisum, the Appropriations Committee chairman in 2007, and Jim Pitts, the Appropriations chairman this year, about how the stimulus dollars would fit into the appropriations bill:
Chisum: “You’re going to have some in the supplemental (appropriations) bill?”
Pitts: “That is correct.”
Chisum: “And you’re going to have some in the general appropriations bill?”
Pitts: “That is correct.”
Chisum: “Are we going to know if we’re entering into some of kind of long-term deal as created by this stimulus package, that we may have to fund in the out years, when the stimulus package has virtually evaporated?”
Pitts: “The intent of Appropriations is to use the stimulus package (for) one-time only items.”
Chisum: “And how are you going to make that one-time only?”
Pitts: “Well, we will do maintenance projects to highways that are specifically one-time only.”
Chisum: “But not all of it goes to highways, right?”
Pitts: “No.”
Chisum: “You’re going to have a lot of health and human services.”
Pitts: “It’s going to be in every article (of the bill).”
Chisum: “You’re going to have a program that increases services out there to the citizens, and yet if the stimulus package runs out, we’re going to cut those back, right?”
Pitts: “That is correct. It is our intention to not expand any programs.”
Pitts sounded an awful lot like Gov. Rick Perry in his answers, and Perry has taken a lot of heat for saying the stimulus money shouldn’t be used to extend programs, so it will be interesting to see where this goes.
Elsewhere Tuesday, officials with the Dallas Fed said Texas could lose 300,000 jobs this year and unemployment could jump to 8 percent. That’s worse than others have projected, the Dallas Morning News reports.
Former Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis walked the halls of the Capitol on Tuesday to talk to lawmakers about drug- and alcohol-treatment programs, according to the Statesman’s Mike Ward.
Tweet of the Day: “Texas Attorney General Abbott office hands down a positive opinion on my bill proposal on illegal immigrants. Check Facebook.” — Sen. Dan Patrick.
In the news
“Even though the Texas Youth Commission’s incarcerated population has dropped by almost half in two years, the annual cost of locking up juvenile offenders in Texas has climbed to almost $99,000 per inmate — a 66 percent jump since 2006.” Austin American-Statesman
“Democratic lawmakers asked Gov. Rick Perry on Tuesday to accept unemployment money in the federal stimulus package even though that would mean expanding the program, which he opposes.” Associated Press
“What some Democrats haven’t figured out yet is that (Tom) Schieffer brings two potential gifts for the state party: He can raise enough cash to discourage Democratic challengers, keeping the party’s March primary positive while Republican Gov. Rick Perry swaps mud with challenger U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison; And he can bring business moderates, particularly those who support public schools, back to the Democratic side.” Bud Kennedy
“I’m worried. We’ve just elected a talented young president with many good instincts about how to propel our country forward, extend health care to more people, make our tax code fairer and launch a green industrial revolution. But do you know what I fear? I fear that his whole first term could be eaten by Citigroup, A.I.G., Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, and the whole housing/subprime credit bubble we inflated these past 20 years.” Thomas Friedman
“In the early days of any administration, reporters reach out to the men and women who might become their sources over the next four years — then slather them with glowing profiles suitable for framing in their mothers’ bedrooms.” Politico
Texas spends $99k a year to lock up each troubled youth, figures show
Texas spends $99k a year to lock up each troubled youth, figures show
Lawmakers vow to cut costs at Texas Youth Commission.
By Mike Ward
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Even though the Texas Youth Commission's incarcerated population has dropped by almost half in two years, the annual cost of locking up juvenile offenders in Texas has climbed to almost $99,000 per inmate — a 66 percent jump since 2006.
With a tight state budget and a tough economy, legislative leaders say that is too costly, and they are moving to cut spending at the commission.
It is the latest controversy for an agency that has weathered several in the past two years, including a sexual-abuse and cover-up scandal and the revelation that it paid a contractor for hundreds of empty beds.
"It's ridiculous," said state Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee and an author of the 2007 reforms that were prompted by the abuse scandal. "They've got twice as many correctional officers as they need. ... They've got a big, expensive central office staff they don't need. ... And they're just trying to protect their turf and bureaucracy."
Commission officials say they have cut staff and are working with lawmakers.
"I have done a lot of tightening and have reconfigured what kind of facilities we're operating," Youth Commission Executive Commissioner Cherie Townsend said Tuesday. "I don't know how much more can be reduced ... unless we decide to deliver the services differently."
The cost increases were contained in a report by the Legislative Budget Board that tracked the incarceration costs in both the juvenile and adult corrections systems in Texas.
In its budget requestfor the upcoming two-year period, the Youth Commission sought funding for more than 4,000 employees while estimating that its lockups would hold about 2,300 offenders. As part of its reforms, the Legislature mandated a staffing ratio of one guard for every 12 incarcerated youths.
In February 2008, the agency had about 4,100 employees and about 2,400 incarcerated youths. At some lockups, that meant there were about twice the number of employees as youths, according to Youth Commission figures. In 2007, the agency had about 4,600 employees and about 4,100 incarcerated youths.
"The increases in the TYC costs per day in fiscal years 2007 and 2008 are primarily a result of population decreases associated with the implementation" of the reforms, a Legislative Budget Board report states, noting that the multimillion-dollar costs of new video-surveillance cameras and other gear were not included.
In contrast to the Youth Commission costs, the report says Texas taxpayers spent $17,337 for each adult offender in 2008, a 12 percent increase from 2006.
Youth Commission spokesman Jim Hurley said the agency is working to reduce its spending without adversely affecting programs and operations that are focused primarily on rehabilitation, rather than incarceration, as many adult corrections programs are.
"The cost of juvenile programs is generally higher than adults," he said.
Townsend has assured legislative budget-writing committees in recent weeks that she is working to "right-size" the agency with layoffs and reassignments, at the Austin headquarters and at lockups across Texas.
On Feb. 20, Townsend eliminated 260 jobs and reduced the population from 96 to 48 youths at the West Texas State School, where the sex abuse scandal that triggered the reforms started. By eliminating 720 positions since she was hired in October, Townsend said she has saved $25 million a year.
The Youth Commission budget dropped from $314.9 million in 2008 to $237 million in 2009, according to Legislative Budget Board figures. Whitmire and others say it could be reduced further.
"I think we could better deliver a lot of the services, a lot of the programs for these youth, in the communities and not at TYC units," Whitmire said.
The agency's initial budget request was $249.1 million for 2010 and $253.8 million for 2011. But ata recent meeting, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, told Townsend to return with a pared-down version. She said she is in the process of complying.
Although legislative leaders have yet to see the new figures, Senate budget writers are expected to begin discussing their own reductions, perhaps as soon as today — including discussions about possibly closing two additional lockups.
mward@statesman.com; 445-1712
Lawmakers vow to cut costs at Texas Youth Commission.
By Mike Ward
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Even though the Texas Youth Commission's incarcerated population has dropped by almost half in two years, the annual cost of locking up juvenile offenders in Texas has climbed to almost $99,000 per inmate — a 66 percent jump since 2006.
With a tight state budget and a tough economy, legislative leaders say that is too costly, and they are moving to cut spending at the commission.
It is the latest controversy for an agency that has weathered several in the past two years, including a sexual-abuse and cover-up scandal and the revelation that it paid a contractor for hundreds of empty beds.
"It's ridiculous," said state Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee and an author of the 2007 reforms that were prompted by the abuse scandal. "They've got twice as many correctional officers as they need. ... They've got a big, expensive central office staff they don't need. ... And they're just trying to protect their turf and bureaucracy."
Commission officials say they have cut staff and are working with lawmakers.
"I have done a lot of tightening and have reconfigured what kind of facilities we're operating," Youth Commission Executive Commissioner Cherie Townsend said Tuesday. "I don't know how much more can be reduced ... unless we decide to deliver the services differently."
The cost increases were contained in a report by the Legislative Budget Board that tracked the incarceration costs in both the juvenile and adult corrections systems in Texas.
In its budget requestfor the upcoming two-year period, the Youth Commission sought funding for more than 4,000 employees while estimating that its lockups would hold about 2,300 offenders. As part of its reforms, the Legislature mandated a staffing ratio of one guard for every 12 incarcerated youths.
In February 2008, the agency had about 4,100 employees and about 2,400 incarcerated youths. At some lockups, that meant there were about twice the number of employees as youths, according to Youth Commission figures. In 2007, the agency had about 4,600 employees and about 4,100 incarcerated youths.
"The increases in the TYC costs per day in fiscal years 2007 and 2008 are primarily a result of population decreases associated with the implementation" of the reforms, a Legislative Budget Board report states, noting that the multimillion-dollar costs of new video-surveillance cameras and other gear were not included.
In contrast to the Youth Commission costs, the report says Texas taxpayers spent $17,337 for each adult offender in 2008, a 12 percent increase from 2006.
Youth Commission spokesman Jim Hurley said the agency is working to reduce its spending without adversely affecting programs and operations that are focused primarily on rehabilitation, rather than incarceration, as many adult corrections programs are.
"The cost of juvenile programs is generally higher than adults," he said.
Townsend has assured legislative budget-writing committees in recent weeks that she is working to "right-size" the agency with layoffs and reassignments, at the Austin headquarters and at lockups across Texas.
On Feb. 20, Townsend eliminated 260 jobs and reduced the population from 96 to 48 youths at the West Texas State School, where the sex abuse scandal that triggered the reforms started. By eliminating 720 positions since she was hired in October, Townsend said she has saved $25 million a year.
The Youth Commission budget dropped from $314.9 million in 2008 to $237 million in 2009, according to Legislative Budget Board figures. Whitmire and others say it could be reduced further.
"I think we could better deliver a lot of the services, a lot of the programs for these youth, in the communities and not at TYC units," Whitmire said.
The agency's initial budget request was $249.1 million for 2010 and $253.8 million for 2011. But ata recent meeting, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, told Townsend to return with a pared-down version. She said she is in the process of complying.
Although legislative leaders have yet to see the new figures, Senate budget writers are expected to begin discussing their own reductions, perhaps as soon as today — including discussions about possibly closing two additional lockups.
mward@statesman.com; 445-1712
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Obama's Higher-Education Goal Is Ambitious but Achievable, Leaders Say
Sara Hebel and Jeffrey J. Selingo | The Chronicle of Higher Education
February 26, 2009
Before President Obama’s speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night, the White House compared the purpose of the event to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s fireside chats during the Great Depression. But for higher education, Mr. Obama was more like John F. Kennedy when he issued the challenge in 1961 to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade.
This president’s goal was equally daunting: for the nation to have the world’s highest proportion of college graduates by 2020. “That is a goal we can meet,” he said to applause in the chamber.
But is it?
College and university leaders were clearly delighted that Mr. Obama dedicated so much time in his speech to higher-education issues, which had for years taken a back seat to elementary and secondary education in presidential addresses. But, by Wednesday, the enormity of the task that has long been on college administrators' wish list became evident again.
“It’s absolutely achievable, but it’s ambitious,” Hilary Pennington, director of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s postsecondary program, said in an interview. “It’s a stretch goal.”
In November, the Gates foundation announced that it would spend several hundred million dollars over the next five years to double the number of low-income young people who complete a college degree or certificate program by age 26 (The Chronicle, November 21). Recognizing the difficulty of the task, the Gates foundation set a slightly longer time frame for its goal than the president did for his—2025 instead of 2020.
Ms. Pennington said President Obama’s speech might have helped in one of the biggest hurdles to achieving the foundation's goal of doubling college-completion rates: first, recognizing that a problem exists.
“The American public thinks that if you go to college, you finish,” she said. “The president has the unique ability to make sure we break through the noise and make people realize that many more countries are taking this more seriously than we are.”
Spotlight on an Issue
Efforts that have been under way to bolster the country’s educational attainment are now likely to get a lot more attention, thanks to Mr. Obama. For the Lumina Foundation for Education, the president’s challenge on Tuesday night was a perfect prologue to a 131-page document that the group is set to release today detailing steps institutions and the federal and state governments must take to increase the proportion of Americans with “high quality” degrees and credentials to 60 percent by the year 2025. It was a goal the foundation set about a year ago to guide its work.
“When we started the journey of our big goal, we knew that it would be seen as audacious,” Jamie P. Merisotis, president and chief executive of the foundation, said. “After hearing President Obama’s commitment in his speech … we see the positive energy and drive to move America in this direction.”
The foundation’s new report lays out an action plan that urges governments to bolster community colleges by focusing on improving completion and transfer rates and aligning their programs to meet the most critical work-force needs. It also advises states and the federal government to do more to increase educational opportunities for returning veterans and recent immigrants, and to increase need-based student aid.
To help begin to “turn the tide” fairly quickly, the Lumina report says, policy makers and leaders can focus first on finding residents who have some college experience but have not earned a degree and help them go back to complete their program.
One idea, Mr. Merisotis said, might be for more institutions and states to begin accelerated programs for associate degrees so adults and other students who are ready can complete their studies at less cost and in less time.
Leaders in Washington, he said, also need to motivate states and be a “driver” to help them adopt programs and policies that move them toward the specific national goal.
A Difficult Goal to Track
One stumbling block to reaching the goal—whether it is the one established by the president, Gates, or Lumina—is knowing when it has actually been accomplished. Ms. Pennington said data systems that track students must be improved. “It’s very hard to achieve a goal if you can’t measure your progress,” she said.
For now, the data set everyone seems to be using in establishing a goal is that of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. According to the Paris-based organization, 39 percent of 25- to 34-year-olds in the United States have an associate degree or higher, ranking the nation 10th among 30 countries. In the top-ranking country, Canada, 55 percent of adults in that age group hold an associate degree or higher.
But if a larger pool of Americans are included, the United States actually performs much better. The nation is ranked fifth among 30 countries for the percentage of the population between 25 and 65 years old with an associate degree or higher.
Complicating the problem, said Joseph L. Marks, director of education-data services at the Southern Regional Education Board, is that the United States has a higher proportion of educated older people than do other countries. “It’s going to be challenging for us to move these numbers,” Mr. Marks said, "because the student groups that are growing the fastest [Hispanic students] currently have the lowest participation rate in higher education."
Even so, Patrick M. Callan, president of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, said the goal of putting the United States back on top is doable. For one thing, he said, the nation has enough institutions to educate greater percentages of its residents.
To reach the president’s objective, Mr. Callan said it will take more fundamental changes than adding more dollars to the Pell Grant or increasing income-tax credits for tuition costs. But it won’t necessarily require more money. The United States, he said, spends about 3 percent of its gross domestic product on higher education, roughly twice the percentage of virtually every other developed country.
“Sort of like the health-care system, we can’t spend our way out” of the problems, Mr. Callan said.
February 26, 2009
Before President Obama’s speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night, the White House compared the purpose of the event to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s fireside chats during the Great Depression. But for higher education, Mr. Obama was more like John F. Kennedy when he issued the challenge in 1961 to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade.
This president’s goal was equally daunting: for the nation to have the world’s highest proportion of college graduates by 2020. “That is a goal we can meet,” he said to applause in the chamber.
But is it?
College and university leaders were clearly delighted that Mr. Obama dedicated so much time in his speech to higher-education issues, which had for years taken a back seat to elementary and secondary education in presidential addresses. But, by Wednesday, the enormity of the task that has long been on college administrators' wish list became evident again.
“It’s absolutely achievable, but it’s ambitious,” Hilary Pennington, director of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s postsecondary program, said in an interview. “It’s a stretch goal.”
In November, the Gates foundation announced that it would spend several hundred million dollars over the next five years to double the number of low-income young people who complete a college degree or certificate program by age 26 (The Chronicle, November 21). Recognizing the difficulty of the task, the Gates foundation set a slightly longer time frame for its goal than the president did for his—2025 instead of 2020.
Ms. Pennington said President Obama’s speech might have helped in one of the biggest hurdles to achieving the foundation's goal of doubling college-completion rates: first, recognizing that a problem exists.
“The American public thinks that if you go to college, you finish,” she said. “The president has the unique ability to make sure we break through the noise and make people realize that many more countries are taking this more seriously than we are.”
Spotlight on an Issue
Efforts that have been under way to bolster the country’s educational attainment are now likely to get a lot more attention, thanks to Mr. Obama. For the Lumina Foundation for Education, the president’s challenge on Tuesday night was a perfect prologue to a 131-page document that the group is set to release today detailing steps institutions and the federal and state governments must take to increase the proportion of Americans with “high quality” degrees and credentials to 60 percent by the year 2025. It was a goal the foundation set about a year ago to guide its work.
“When we started the journey of our big goal, we knew that it would be seen as audacious,” Jamie P. Merisotis, president and chief executive of the foundation, said. “After hearing President Obama’s commitment in his speech … we see the positive energy and drive to move America in this direction.”
The foundation’s new report lays out an action plan that urges governments to bolster community colleges by focusing on improving completion and transfer rates and aligning their programs to meet the most critical work-force needs. It also advises states and the federal government to do more to increase educational opportunities for returning veterans and recent immigrants, and to increase need-based student aid.
To help begin to “turn the tide” fairly quickly, the Lumina report says, policy makers and leaders can focus first on finding residents who have some college experience but have not earned a degree and help them go back to complete their program.
One idea, Mr. Merisotis said, might be for more institutions and states to begin accelerated programs for associate degrees so adults and other students who are ready can complete their studies at less cost and in less time.
Leaders in Washington, he said, also need to motivate states and be a “driver” to help them adopt programs and policies that move them toward the specific national goal.
A Difficult Goal to Track
One stumbling block to reaching the goal—whether it is the one established by the president, Gates, or Lumina—is knowing when it has actually been accomplished. Ms. Pennington said data systems that track students must be improved. “It’s very hard to achieve a goal if you can’t measure your progress,” she said.
For now, the data set everyone seems to be using in establishing a goal is that of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. According to the Paris-based organization, 39 percent of 25- to 34-year-olds in the United States have an associate degree or higher, ranking the nation 10th among 30 countries. In the top-ranking country, Canada, 55 percent of adults in that age group hold an associate degree or higher.
But if a larger pool of Americans are included, the United States actually performs much better. The nation is ranked fifth among 30 countries for the percentage of the population between 25 and 65 years old with an associate degree or higher.
Complicating the problem, said Joseph L. Marks, director of education-data services at the Southern Regional Education Board, is that the United States has a higher proportion of educated older people than do other countries. “It’s going to be challenging for us to move these numbers,” Mr. Marks said, "because the student groups that are growing the fastest [Hispanic students] currently have the lowest participation rate in higher education."
Even so, Patrick M. Callan, president of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, said the goal of putting the United States back on top is doable. For one thing, he said, the nation has enough institutions to educate greater percentages of its residents.
To reach the president’s objective, Mr. Callan said it will take more fundamental changes than adding more dollars to the Pell Grant or increasing income-tax credits for tuition costs. But it won’t necessarily require more money. The United States, he said, spends about 3 percent of its gross domestic product on higher education, roughly twice the percentage of virtually every other developed country.
“Sort of like the health-care system, we can’t spend our way out” of the problems, Mr. Callan said.
No Child Left behind found wanting by UCLA professor
Some really good points brought up by Orfield. I can't stress it enough for all of us in Texas to become well informed on the state accountability reforms being pushed this session. In Texas NCLB produces added pressures especially upon low-resourced and diverse schools. So we need to think about what/how we change the current state accountability system and become well informed on what's being advocated for this session.
Check out two previous posts on this blog:
Bad Education Bills Have Been Filed in the Texas Legislature That Will Reduce Math and Science Graduation Requirements
For the first time, Hispanic children are the majority in Texas’ first-grade classrooms
-Patricia
On Feb. 18, UCLA professor Gary Orfield visited UNH to discuss the No Child Left Behind federal education policy.
With an audience of students, educators and community members, Orfield covered topics such as the origin of the policy, signed by the Bush administration in 2001, its loopholes and the aspects of the policy which have not improved the overall standard of education in America's public schools the way it was meant to.
"No Child Left Behind teaches to the test, and that's the measurement of student learning," said Alison Rheingold, a doctoral student studying education. "I'm excited to hear about a more reasonable concept of reaching student equality."
The major point Orfield stressed was that the most crucial elements that affect a child's ability to learn and succeed in school begin before they ever set foot inside a classroom. Orfield pointed out that for students who are forced to move often, this causes them to have their education interrupted and that can cause serious issues.
Children who come from poverty are often moving homes and do not have a chance to settle in one location. This affects the success of students in school which is then reflected in their poor test scores.
"No Child Left Behind is an extreme ideology that is difficult to meet," said Orfield. "The policy assumes that schools have vast power and that inequality has little or nothing to do with external conditions and that equality can be achieved through testing, sanctions and market competitions."
Orfield stressed that schools cannot be expected to have their students do well without other types of support, yet this is the pressure put on them by No Child Left Behind.
In needy districts where excellent teachers are sought out the most, many are leaving as a result of the extreme pressure put on them to have their students meet the policy's irrational standards. These standards require high math and reading scores. With the emphasis on only these two subjects, other subjects such as science and social studies are being pushed aside for the sake of the school gaining high-test scores.
Any subjects outside the box, such as studying United States democracy, would not be considered because it is not on the test.
For the increasing number of students whose first language is not English, meeting the reading requirement is particularly difficult. The fear is that if the standards of a curriculum are raised too quickly, the students may fail. The schools then take the hit, and many schools are losing courses and funding.
"These kids are being forced to ignore their background and are expected to become proficient in English after a short period of time," said Orfield. "Testing is being used to fix problems rather than diagnose them."
What can be done to fix the problem and what will the Obama administration do?
Some solutions presented by Orfield included high school transition effort, dropout title funding and dropout counselors.
In the end, it all boils down to funding. The dropout rate has increased drastically since the 1980s and Orfield feels that bringing the country's rate down by 1,000,000 high school dropouts within President Obama's four years is a realistic goal. At this time President Obama has not made his position on No Child Left Behind known.
The core requirement of No Child Left Behind is to "provide students with a good education in order to make it in life. The policy seeks to ensure that all students be treated equally," according to Orfield's presentation.
The glitch with the policy is that while all students should be treated equally regardless of their backgrounds, not all students learn at the same pace or through the same methods. The No Child Left Behind policy does not take into account the specific struggles of what goes on within a classroom on a daily basis.
"I think the policy needs to be modified," said Mallory Sawyer, a senior Spanish and speech and language pathology major. "It's a utopian idea and theory but in reality it's ridiculous. It's a good idea, but it just doesn't work."
President Obama has promised additional funding for college scholarships through a $13 billion federal education stimulus. This would allow more students who struggle financially to continue their education at the post-secondary level.
Orfield stressed that with the high poverty levels in a growing non-white population, there needs to be more funding to keep these students motivated to stay in school and an incentive to keep excellent teachers in these schools.
Check out two previous posts on this blog:
Bad Education Bills Have Been Filed in the Texas Legislature That Will Reduce Math and Science Graduation Requirements
For the first time, Hispanic children are the majority in Texas’ first-grade classrooms
-Patricia
On Feb. 18, UCLA professor Gary Orfield visited UNH to discuss the No Child Left Behind federal education policy.
With an audience of students, educators and community members, Orfield covered topics such as the origin of the policy, signed by the Bush administration in 2001, its loopholes and the aspects of the policy which have not improved the overall standard of education in America's public schools the way it was meant to.
"No Child Left Behind teaches to the test, and that's the measurement of student learning," said Alison Rheingold, a doctoral student studying education. "I'm excited to hear about a more reasonable concept of reaching student equality."
The major point Orfield stressed was that the most crucial elements that affect a child's ability to learn and succeed in school begin before they ever set foot inside a classroom. Orfield pointed out that for students who are forced to move often, this causes them to have their education interrupted and that can cause serious issues.
Children who come from poverty are often moving homes and do not have a chance to settle in one location. This affects the success of students in school which is then reflected in their poor test scores.
"No Child Left Behind is an extreme ideology that is difficult to meet," said Orfield. "The policy assumes that schools have vast power and that inequality has little or nothing to do with external conditions and that equality can be achieved through testing, sanctions and market competitions."
Orfield stressed that schools cannot be expected to have their students do well without other types of support, yet this is the pressure put on them by No Child Left Behind.
In needy districts where excellent teachers are sought out the most, many are leaving as a result of the extreme pressure put on them to have their students meet the policy's irrational standards. These standards require high math and reading scores. With the emphasis on only these two subjects, other subjects such as science and social studies are being pushed aside for the sake of the school gaining high-test scores.
Any subjects outside the box, such as studying United States democracy, would not be considered because it is not on the test.
For the increasing number of students whose first language is not English, meeting the reading requirement is particularly difficult. The fear is that if the standards of a curriculum are raised too quickly, the students may fail. The schools then take the hit, and many schools are losing courses and funding.
"These kids are being forced to ignore their background and are expected to become proficient in English after a short period of time," said Orfield. "Testing is being used to fix problems rather than diagnose them."
What can be done to fix the problem and what will the Obama administration do?
Some solutions presented by Orfield included high school transition effort, dropout title funding and dropout counselors.
In the end, it all boils down to funding. The dropout rate has increased drastically since the 1980s and Orfield feels that bringing the country's rate down by 1,000,000 high school dropouts within President Obama's four years is a realistic goal. At this time President Obama has not made his position on No Child Left Behind known.
The core requirement of No Child Left Behind is to "provide students with a good education in order to make it in life. The policy seeks to ensure that all students be treated equally," according to Orfield's presentation.
The glitch with the policy is that while all students should be treated equally regardless of their backgrounds, not all students learn at the same pace or through the same methods. The No Child Left Behind policy does not take into account the specific struggles of what goes on within a classroom on a daily basis.
"I think the policy needs to be modified," said Mallory Sawyer, a senior Spanish and speech and language pathology major. "It's a utopian idea and theory but in reality it's ridiculous. It's a good idea, but it just doesn't work."
President Obama has promised additional funding for college scholarships through a $13 billion federal education stimulus. This would allow more students who struggle financially to continue their education at the post-secondary level.
Orfield stressed that with the high poverty levels in a growing non-white population, there needs to be more funding to keep these students motivated to stay in school and an incentive to keep excellent teachers in these schools.
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