March 1998
Schools across the state showed improved results this month in the second School Report Card. Superintendents and boards, principals and teachers, parents and students worked hard to accomplish this, and we praise their success. We must also be candid about how very far we have to go and how difficult it will be.
First, look at the good news. Reading and mathematics scores are up in elementary and middle grades, and at the Regents level. Students in special education narrowed the gap with students in general programs in elementary grade reading and more than one in five students with disabilities passed the Regents exams in English and mathematics. New York City improved at a faster rate than the state average.
We must press on with great urgency. The performance demanded by the new graduation requirements is a distant mark. The high need districts perform at levels well below other school districts on all tests. While we admire the improvement on the existing elementary and middle grades tests, the tests that replace them in 1999 are more challenging. Current ninth graders must pass Regents exams in mathematics and English to graduate. The current pass rates are 59 percent and 56 percent respectively, but far lower among the Big Five districts, as well as in many others.
While the performance gains among students with disabilities in elementary grades is dramatic, we still have to demonstrate that far more students can do Regents level work with the right support. Among these students, declassification rates are very low, drop out and classifications rates are up.
Every major urban school district can point to successes, all have plans to drive improvement, but none would claim that they are even close to the performance they need. The Regents see an urgent problem here and also an opportunity. New York must create a powerful urban education strategy that combines the will and talent of state and local leaders. And we must do it now.
The Regents and the State Education Department have built the foundations for this effort with the Regents state aid proposal, successful intervention with low performing schools, our expanding partnership with human services agencies, and with actions to raise standards, test performance, report results and better prepare teachers. We have also built a web of positive relationships among school leaders and community groups in the urban school districts. But we have to equip ourselves to do a lot more, and do it with, not to, the urban schools. The outline of an urban education partnership is attached to this report.
Another report from the Third International Mathematics and Science Survey (TIMSS) appeared last month, and the news was not good. Twelfth graders in the United States were well below the international average in both mathematics and science. A few distinguished scholars say we shouldn’t be too concerned about these results – tests don’t measure everything that is important about education, and the continuing American economic dominance shows that we have what it takes. That view makes no sense. We must not ignore the repeated warnings about our low comparative standing in basic academic subjects. Other nations certainly pay attention.
Last month, I was part of the United States team that visited Brazil as a result of a two-nation agreement signed last October. Any New York educator would have felt at home with the topics of the three-day meeting: standards, assessments, and performance reporting. Brazil is working incredibly hard on the same problems that absorb us – including not only the topics of the conference, but also the capacity building issues of teacher preparation, urban school reform, and intergovernmental coordination. There were also interesting differences: we talk now about holding students back but in Brazil, retaining students in lower grades is a major crisis. The average student achieves four years of education but takes eight years to reach that level. The Brazilian Minister of Education, Paulo Renato Souza attended most of the sessions to underscore the importance his country places on improving educational performance.
Finally on the theme of comparing notes with others, Deputy Commissioner James Kadamus led a team to Maryland to share our reform strategy and study their approach. Maryland, like New York, has a high-stakes testing plan and we can learn from each other. As Report Cards came out, I heard of a superintendent who was already calling colleagues in statistically similar schools to find out what they were doing to get results. We all need to be doing that.
Effective April 2, 1998, Louis Grumet will become Executive Director of the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants. Lou has been a valued colleague of the Regents and the State Education Department in his current position of leadership with the New York School Boards Association. We congratulate Lou on his appointment and look forward to a productive partnership with him and the Society.
In February, a dispute developed over the content of a contemporary art exhibit. The guest curator had chosen more than a hundred works by sixty-five artists from around the State. When the pieces began to arrive in late January, the curator noted that two elements of a nine-part work were not appropriate for this particular Museum given the sexual content of the work. These elements had not been part of the work that she originally viewed during the selection of the art to include in the exhibit.
Efforts to resolve the matter between Museum staff and the artist were not successful, and the artist withdrew the work. Three other artists asked to have their work removed in protest, and there was some criticism of the Museum.
There are appropriate venues and inappropriate venues for art that challenges in the way this particular artwork does. The State Museum is not the appropriate venue in this case. Leaders sometimes have to make judgements under fire. Museum director Lou Levine handled this difficult matter properly.
We mourn the death of Al MacKinnon. In a moving tribute, former Commissioner of Education Gordon Ambach said this: "For three decades, Al MacKinnon was the single most influential New Yorker responsible for securing federal funds for education in New York." Behind the work was a really fine person that all of us in the State Education Department miss very much.
After less than two years the Partners for Children program has grown to include ten member agencies. We include a segment on successful local partnerships during each monthly New York Learns broadcast. Broadcasts planned for March, April and May will feature partnerships on afterschool substance abuse programs, and collaborative home-based day care. On May 1, the Partners will produce the second statewide teleconference on local collaborations.
Last year in a talk with adult educators, Chancellor Carl Hayden reflected on the common view of education as a linear progression through the grades and suggested instead a useful link between adult education at the end and preschool at the beginning. Parents who cannot read have difficulty getting their children ready to read. Why not, asked the Chancellor, bend the bar to connect adult education, early education, and other systems to support children and families?
Adult educators took up the theme and published a pamphlet to share the insight. Now the first edition of the Adult Education Resource Guide is available to connect adult education to the same academic standards used in the K-12 system. New York is the first state to make this connection between adult education and the standards. Thirty states have contacted us to get copies of New York’s Resource Guide. Adult educators are important partners in the drive to improve educational performance in every community.
Regents and State Education Department staff continue contacting legislators at a rapid pace to advocate our budget priorities. For example, the Assembly Library Committee scheduled a hearing on the Electronic Doorway Library proposal and other budget requests to improve libraries and library systems. Three of us testified, but Regent Dawson and State Librarian Janet Welch prepared the way by calling on each member ahead of time. We keep finding new ways to present our case. The Report Card, as well as other data collected by VESID, strengthens already powerful arguments for the state aid increase and the special education reform. For example, as we warned last year, the proportion of students with disabilities has continued to rise from 11.1 percent to 11.5 percent while declassification rates are very low.
DRAFT 3/9/98
Target new State funds to urban areas to reach high standards.
We will fight for specific changes in the state education aid system to direct additional funds to the highest need school districts, most of which are in urban areas. This year, the Regents are urging a $723 million increase, of which 61.5 percent would go to the urban schools, with $200 million targeted toward implementing higher academic standards.
We will join forces, seek partnership rather than conflict, and combine our strength for the benefit of the children. We are committed to intense communication between city and state education agencies and we will build structures to support that communication. The State Education Department will add to its own capacity to support urban educators and students. Together we will plan for these actions:
Students who did not have a good start before school or a good school experience need more time and additional attention to meet the standards. For the youngest children, we will see to it that they do get a good start through a pre-kindergarten program.
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We will create incentives to attract and keep the best teachers. We will make sure that all new teachers know the subject they teach, how children grow and develop, and how to manage a classroom. We will train all teachers on the job to the highest standards.
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We will build strong connections among these potential partners, with the focus always on getting higher student performance. Human services, higher education, libraries, county executives, businesses, and community organizations of many kinds all have skills and resources that can help.
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Everyone in every school must feel safe. The way to accomplish this is different in every community.
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Schools, school districts, and school boards all need leaders who can define a vision of high performance and marshal the resources to bring it to life. We will work with our partners, especially higher education, to recruit, develop, retain, and support strong leaders at every level in the system.
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The standards set high academic expectations for all children. Children need rich curriculum and instructional practices that are consistent with the standards. We are putting more rigorous tests into use to make the standards concrete.
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Schools should be bright and inviting places to work and learn. They must be safe, maintained, and well equipped, including technology. We will inventory the facilities, decide priorities, and fix the buildings.
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The State Education Department will continue to identify the lowest performing schools and will help local authorities improve them. If the schools do not improve, we will recommend that the Regents close them. We will support local efforts to act first where action is needed.
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Political leaders can help by finding the resources and shaping the public discussion in favor of better education. We will be specific about what we need.
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Performance, not effort, is the whole point. Accountability rests on reliable data about performance. Accountability requires an informed audience willing to make judgements based on a fair and accurate presentation of the data. And it requires the courage to face the real problems and then act.
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