The Owl Newsletter

One Owl's Thanksgiving Thoughts: What We Have to be Thankful For

ISSUE 53 | NOVEMBER 27, 2002

[This free e-mail newsletter about school information, accountability and the public is provided by School Wise Press. To add a colleague's name to the distribution, please send us their names and e-mail addresses to: stever@schoolwisepress.com. If you'd rather not receive this, simply notify us by phone at (415) 337-7971, or by e-mail, including the word "unsubscribe" in the subject line of your message.]

Thanksgiving has always been easy for me. I'm grateful I'm not a turkey. So in this glum economic climate, my thoughts have turned toward good things that have happened in K-12 this year. I hope you don't mind my taking the liberty to imagine what you might be thinking about over this holiday weekend.

Federal involvement in education means more money. Even if there are big strings attached, federal funds are flowing more freely in the direction of schools. Also, be mindful of the sweet victory that a Republican president signed this legislation only four years after his party favored dismantling the federal Department of Education entirely.

The public continues to show it cares deeply about the quality of education, with both votes and dollars. Even though the recession and 9/11 have chased schools off most newspapers' front pages, the public still shows it cares. California voters passed bond measures in 80 out of 96 local elections. An historic $13.5 billion state bond measure passed easily. And polls continue to show that public concern and attention remain fixed on schools.

The public's declining fascination with class-size reduction has brought issues of teaching quality front and center. The strain imposed on your districts by a rapid push toward fashionable but impractical class-size reductions is over. In some districts, cost-savings are requiring its reversal. Now research is pointing toward the impact of the quality of classroom teaching. Teaching (both good and bad) has a more direct impact on what a child learns than any other factor. This creates favorable conditions to challenge collective bargaining agreements that let senior teachers pick where and what they teach.

The Master Plan for K-16 underlines the irrationalities of the balkanized way we now govern schools. The word is out. No surprise to you, schooling is governed poorly. The Master Plan moves these flaws into the public limelight. The debates can now move to a higher level.

Accountability demands by the state and federal government are sure to lead eventually to more ample funding. The heavy lifting you are being asked to do — targeting underperforming schools for improvement, giving students in those schools transportation to schools of their choice, providing tutoring, improving your school accountability reports, creating district level accountability reports — all require legislators to put their money where their laws are. They can't continue to ask you to do more work with fewer resources.

Senate Bill 1453 passed, funding the creation of a student tracking system at last. When this mini-CSIS goes live, you'll be able to see your students in a far clearer light. The equivalent of a K-12 social security number for each student is the key. Each student's testing results will be longitudinally merged, regardless of which district that student is enrolled in. This is the path toward a real-world measure of "adequate yearly progress." And it is also the path toward measuring real-world graduation rates at last.

Your list is sure to differ. This owl would enjoy reading the lists of good news you consider worthy of remembering this Thanksgiving. Please send them along, and I'll post them for all readers to share.

FOOD FOR FURTHER THOUGHT

OWL ARCHIVE | BACK TO NEWSLETTER REGISTRATION PAGE