Parents Engaged in Education Reform 

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In this issue...   

Spotlight on PEER's Subcontractors    
NABE Meeting    
Teleconference Seeks Quality for All Children 
Assessing Assessment   
In Brief    
Parent Perspective    
Cyber.SPACE 
Resource Notes   
    

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To that end, staff at OBEMLA decided to focus on serving this group of students at its annual OBEMLA Institute held in conjunction with the National Association of Bilingual Educators (NABE) Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, February 3 through 8, 1997. Staff from both OSERS and OBEMLA designed the Institute which included sessions on parent involvement in the schools, inclusive bilingual special education, assessment of students who are limited English proficient and on IEPs, and teacher training. 

The Institute opened with a national forum on critical issues in serving students with special needs who are culturally and linguistically diverse. Co-sponsored by the PEER Project, the half-day forum brought together a group of researchers, practitioners, parents, and community representatives to discuss critical issues related to bilingual special education, the impact of these issues on educational reform, and the implications of these issues for developing priorities for action by the Department in the future. An open session at the end of the forum allowed other interested parties to contribute their concerns and suggestions. Highlights from the forum will appear in an upcoming issue of PEER Review.  

Kathleen Boundy is the Co-Director of the Center for Law and Education in Boston, Massachusetts, which specializes in education law and provides legal backup assistance to attorneys representing low-income students. The center seeks to improve the quality of education for all students. 

Diana Autin has been Co-Director of SPAN (Statewide Parent Advocacy Network, Inc.) in Newark, New Jersey, for the last year and-a-half. Previously, she was the managing attorney of Advocates for Children in New York City. Diana is a member of the National Coalition of Advocates for Students and has been involved in work around school reform for seven and-a-half years. 
 

A Summary of This Call  
Kathy started the call by giving an overview of the legislation involved in school reform: Goals 2000, Title I of the Improving America’s Schools Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and the ADA. Diana Autin then offered her thoughts on opportunity-to-learn standards. Kathy and Diana closed the call by pointing out some issues around assessment of students with disabilities and several suggestions for involving parents in school reform efforts. A summary of the call follows. 

Overview of School Reform Legislation in General 
(Kathy Boundy) 
Currently, high quality education remains a goal rather than a reality for many, if not most, students. Students with disabilities are no exception; in fact, for them this problem is exacerbated. Eligibility of students with disabilities is determined by limited evaluations that focus on whether a child has a specific condition as defined by federal law. Categorical definitions create a basis for over-generalizing children’s limitations and creating stereotypes that ensure limited expectations. 

The benefit standards set forth in Board of Education vs. Rowley have been applied and misapplied to establish low expectations for students with disabilities. The U.S. Supreme Court said that a child’s IEP must be consistent with the procedural requirements under IDEA. The court also explicitly stated, in analyzing what constitutes a free and appropriate public education (FAPE), that it must be consistent with state educational standards. This is critical in thinking about students with disabilities and education reform. 

The major issues of school reform may be summed up by the following four questions: 

• What do we want students to know and be able to do? (Content and Performance Standards) 
• What do we have to do to get there? (Opportunity-to-Learn Standards) 
• How do we know when and to what extent we get there? (Assessment) 
• What happens if we don’t get there? (Improvement and Enforcement) 

Standards-Based Education Reform Movement 
The standards-based education reform movement applies to all students and derives from a variety of federal and state laws and policies. At the federal level, the government has implemented Goals 2000 (Educate America Act), and Title I of the Improving America’s Schools Act. At the state level, most states have passed some form of state-based education reform statute. With respect to students with disabilities, the IDEA, Section 504, and the ADA provide specific additional protection. One or all of the above can provide the means to assist advocates with policy development and legislative administrative advocacy. 

Goals 2000, Educate America Act 
Many states are using funds made available through Goals 2000. Participating states are required to develop and implement a state improvement plan that includes a process for developing state content and performance standards for students. The law explicitly states that all students–including those with disabilities–are entitled to participate in a broad and challenging curriculum and to have access to sufficient resources. It implies that a single set of content and performance standards could be applied to students with and without disabilities. Congress seems to recognize that a majority of students with disabilities could attain the same knowledge and skill level as students without disabilities. However, some think that Goals 2000 overlooks a small percentage of students with cognitive impairments because it does not mandate the use of parallel modified standards with these students. 

Title I 
Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act was rewritten and reauthorized as the Improving America’s Schools Act of 1994. The largest primary and secondary federal education legislation, Title I, was established in 1965 to provide "extra" educational services to the nation’s poorest and lowest achieving students. The statute requires states to use the same high standards for Title I students as for all students. If a state has not already devised content and performance standards in reading, language arts, and math for children served under title I, it must implement a schedule for developing them by the 1997-98 school year. Such a plan ensures that Title I students are not given a second rate education based on a watered-down curriculum. (historically, Title I students were taken from the regular education program, and placed in remedial programs where they were not given the opportunity to catch up with their peers. Now they are required to be integrated within regular education classes.) 

The new Title I law also allows funds to be used on programs for students with disabilities; it is no longer a purely income-based aid program. The new law went into effect in July 1995. Schools that fail to improve will have sanctions imposed which may include reconstituting staff or withholding funds. 

Section 504 and Title 2 
Section 504 and Title 2 of the ADA are both civil rights statutes that prevent discrimination against students with disabilities. They acknowledge that these students have independent rights and may require the development of standards for them. The statutes assert that the needs of students with disabilities must be met in a way comparable to that of their non-disabled peers. 

Opportunity-to-Learn Standards 
(Diana Autin) 
According to the findings from a book published by the National Coalition of Advocates for Students, 1991, entitled The Good Common School (vol. 1): Making the Vision Work for All Children, the following are key components of effective schools: 
 
 

• Involvement of concerned teachers, parents, and communities. 
• Access to quality teachers who focus on students’ strengths and potentials. 
• Access to quality curriculum and instructional materials. 
• Access to support services such as special language counseling,  free lunch programs and behavioral support as needed. 
• Access to safe, accessible school buildings. 

Here are some ways that states fall short in their school reform efforts: 

• School reform efforts are sometimes used to track students by ability levels (e.g., self-contained classes or supposedly bilingual classes where english is not taught). 
• IDEA may reauthorize exclusion for discipline, which could lead to more suspensions of children with and without disabilities. 
• Alternative schools that don’t have the same curriculum or expectations as regular schools may be used as holding pens to keep kids off the streets in some places. 
• Schools participating in the Choice Voucher Program and Charter school movement have a history of discriminating against students who are more difficult to educate. 

One challenge is finding alternative assessment methods for students with disabilities. Most of these students are able to participate in standard or only slightly modified assessments; others can master material, but cannot demonstrate their knowledge through the regular assessment process. In these cases, states and schools have an obligation under 504 and ADA to provide alternative assessments.under Goals 2000, all public school students in participating states are entitled to take part in assessments. States that do not comply with this provision may lose funding. (For more information, see article entitled Assessing Assessment in this issue.) 

Parent Involvement Strategies 
(Diana Autin) 
Parents of children with disabilities need to collaborate with other kinds of parent groups who are working to make school reform equitable and effective for all children. research shows that children do better when parents are involved.  

Two national school reform organizations with local chapters are:  

National Coalition of Advocates for Students. The mission of their national project, Mobilization for Equity, is to get parents of children who traditionally have not been well served by education involved in school reform activities at the local and state levels. Several PTIs are part of this project. 

School Family Partnership Project. This project, funded by Dewitt Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund, has given grants to organizations working on issues such as inclusion.   

Assessment was the topic for PEER’s January 22, 1997 teleconference presented by Monty Neill and Julia Landau. 

Monty Neill is Associate Director of the National Center for Fair and Open Testing (FairTest) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Julia Landau is an attorney at the Massachusetts Advocacy Center in Boston and a part-time staff member of the PEER Project at the Federation. 

Monty began the call with an overview of the purposes of assessment and the different types available, keeping his emphasis on the school and district levels. Julia then looked at assessment issues at the statewide level, including the stakes of assessment and how parents and PTIs can have an impact at the state level. A summary of the call follows. 

Types of Assessment 
(Monty Neill) 
The main goal of assessment should be to help students in their learning. when they think of assessment, most people tend to think of purposes other than this. If we reconceptualize assessment and use it to help in the learning process, we can rethink and possibly impact what schools and states do. 

Purposes of Assessment 
Here are some kinds and purposes of assessments: 
 

• Diagnoses–to assess the learning process, mark and measure progress, and make decisions about student placement. test results may determine a specific event such as whether a student receives a diploma or is promoted. 
• Selection testing–tests such as the act and sat are used to aid in college selection. 
• Accountability testing–usually takes the form of state and district testing, where the results–not about individuals, but about schools or districts–are presented to the public. 

• Tests–Students sit down and answer questions or perform tasks, usually in a specified time period. 
• Observation and Documentation–The assessors record what students do over time. Throughout the school year, a teacher gathers information about how a child learns, his or her interests, accomplishments, strengths, weaknesses, and so on. This information can be used to map a child’s progress in many areas. teachers can assemble portfolios containing a thoughtful selection of student work, teacher notes and observations that, together, presents a picture. It can have many uses and may conclude with an evaluation of the student’s work. When this type of coherent instrument is used to gather longitudinal information, teachers are better able to teach and guide students and less likely to refer them out to special education classes. 

1. Norm-referenced test–a standardized multiple choice test that is designed to compare all of the test takers with each other along a bell curve. 
2. Criterion-referenced test–assesses whether or not students can do a particular task, but does not compare students with each other. 
3. Performance Assessments–students do more than answer multiple choice questions. They are commonly asked for brief writing samples or essays, and they may be called upon to answer open-ended questions in various subject areas. 

Teachers typically gear their instruction not to standards as a whole, but to what is tested. Therefore, accountability testing tends to undermine the very thing that it is supposed to measure. One way to minimize "teaching to the test" is to narrow the impact or weight of test results. It is also wise to try to get the teachers to do in-class assessments. If the tests are looked upon as supplements to developmental skills or standards, the information obtained is much richer. 

The Benefits of Statewide Assessment 
(Julia Landau) 
Most states are in the process of developing or implementing some kind of statewide standardized assessment. To the extent that individuals with disabilities are given a chance to fully participate in the promise of education reform, they are included in the efforts to improve outcomes. 

Stakes of Assessment 
The stakes can be high, both for children and the whole school system, when a statewide assessment is in place. Many states use assessment results to determine major outcomes, such as whether a child will be awarded a diploma. When tests are used for comparison purposes in any discipline, everyone becomes concerned, both for the right– and sometimes for the wrong–reasons about keeping test scores high. If schools are concerned that kids with disabilities may bring down the overall test score, they may be inclined to exclude them from assessment. 

The State Level 
Practices in states throughout the country vary greatly, but it is doubtful that any state fully includes all children with disabilities in the assessment and gives them an equal chance to be awarded a diploma. It is important to know the current policy and position of each state. Legally, a very strong argument can be made that every child with a disability, regardless of the severity, needs to be included in statewide assessment. 

Another thing to keep in mind is that test scores also measure how well school systems are doing in educating children. If a group of children is completely excluded from the assessment, the message is that what constitutes a good school system is not determined by how well it educates children with severe disabilities. This means that how well those kids are learning and whether or not they have the supports they need to achieve their potential becomes marginalized.  

How can parents and PTIs have an impact at the state level? 
Often important decisions are made without the participation of parents. If PTIs and parents are involved in the decision making process, decisions will likely be fair and equitable for children with disabilities. 

Some states have advisory groups that may not include parents of kids with disabilities. If there are no advisory groups in your state, you might look into starting one. The Department of Education in your state can tell you about advisory groups. Often parent groups can be an impetus for change within a State Department of Education simply by improving communication within the department and getting it to work more cohesively on these issues. 

How can parents and PTIs have an impact at the local and district levels? 
(Monty Neill) 
To get the results you want, you need to organize at the local level. Talk to teachers to find out about local assessment practices. At the school level, change happens when a group of teachers promotes it and works together to bring it about. It is important to find and work with teachers who are interested in change. 

Teleconference summaries prepared by Laura Farah, NPND 

Goals 2000 
Alaska, New York, and Washington, D.C. have received third-year awards, bringing to 33 the number of states (plus Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico) that have received third-year funding in Goals 2000. In January, Governor Allen announced that Virginia plans to apply for Goals 2000 funding. If approved, communities in all fifty states would be participating as first-, second- or third-year funding recipients. (Source: ED Initiatives, 3/4/97. Information available from: edinfo@inet.ed.gov) 

State of the Union 
"My number one priority for the next four years," President Clinton said in his State of the Union address in early February, "is to ensure that all Americans have the best education in the world." Click here for the full text of his address, his ten-point plan, and materials supporting his call for challenging national standards and tests in reading and mathematics. (Source: ED Initiatives, 2/11/97. info. available from: edinfo@inet.ed.gov) 

1998 Budget 
"For fiscal year 1998, the President is asking for a total of $29.1 billion in discretionary funds for the Department of Education, an increase of $2.9 billion or eleven percent over the 1997 level," Secretary Riley said on February 6, when the President sent his 1998 budget to Congress. These resources, the Secretary explained, are focused on four priorities: "putting high standards of excellence into action, improving reading for all Americans, providing help to schools and students with special needs, and expanding access to higher education." (Source: ED Initiatives, 2/11/97. information available from: edinfo@inet.ed.gov) 

Secretary Sets Education Goals 
Secretary Riley and senior Department officials met two weeks ago to develop a clear understanding and commitment to a common agenda in light of the President’s State of the Union address and the Secretary’s State of American Education speech.They agreed that the Department will focus on seven goals for all of America’s students: 
 

• to read independently by the end of the third grade. 
• to be competent in algebra by the end of the eighth grade. 
• by age eighteen, to be prepared for and able to afford at least two years of college, and to pursue lifelong learning. 
• to have a talented, dedicated and well-prepared teacher in their classroom. 
• to have their classroom connected to the internet by the year 2000 and to be technologically literate. 
• to learn in strong, safe and drug-free schools. 
• to learn according to challenging and clear standards of achievement and accountability. 

In this issue’s Parent Perspective section, we feature session reports and personal reflections from three parents who attended PEAK’s Colorado Inclusion Conference in February 1997 as part of a focus group sponsored by PEER. The group was a continuation of last year’s gathering. This year, focus group participants from PTIs and Community-Based Projects offered suggestions on how best to develop a curriculum on school reform and restructuring and its impact on students with disabilities. Other reflections will appear in an upcoming issue. 

Action Research Creates Democratic Model of Reform 
by Diana Walsh, 
Matrix–San Rafael, California 

Ian Pumpian, Professor of Education from San Diego State University and Director of the Interwork Institute, led a dynamic day-long workshop entitled, "Inventing an Inclusive Future: Systems Change in Schools and Districts." 

Ian and co-facilitator Gail McGregor suggest that embedding school reform within a discussion of schools as democratic institutions to promote the common good solves the thorny problem of answering the most frequent objections to inclusive education. Democracies strive toward a fundamentally unattainable utopian ideal where everyone has talents to contribute. Regular educators possess vital content mastery, but special educators have equally important methodology skills. together, these skills are greater than the sum of their parts. 

In essence, school renewal is democracy; it is an ongoing effort to make our schools better, more just and more equal. Within this context, everyone has a place at the table. 

Parents and educators across the country need to find ways to integrate inclusive education into a comprehensive program of systems change. Over the years, proponents of inclusion have learned that simply quoting legal mandates to administrators and school boards is not a persuasive argument. 

Inclusion works best when implemented within a broader reform effort that affects a whole school. Dramatic common ground emerges when inclusion is linked to administrators’ agendas. Budgeting, staffing and scheduling issues actually improve when special and general education personnel work toward a common purpose because they share resources and avoid costly duplication of effort. 

Borrowing from social research techniques, Ian described "action research," a powerful tool used to formulate policy statements. Based on a three-step process (look, think, act), it gathers relevant information then explores and analyzes it in order to interpret and explain. In the final phase, a plan is developed with guidelines for implementation and a process for ongoing evaluation. 

Action research is based on information gathered from all key stakeholders and is used in the arena of school reform to build effective learning communities where all children can learn. For example, the process might be used to develop a system of standards and assessments to improve outcomes and to develop the conditions necessary for achievement for all students. As a result of participating in the action research process, teachers could develop a school-wide accommodation plan with generic ideas for assessments and standards available to every student. (What a radical thought!) 

Finally, Ian discussed factors involved in managing the complex process of school reform. He claims that positive changes occur when vision, skills, incentives and resources are merged in an action plan. A plan lacking these traits leads to chaos, anxiety and resistance, he says, so all must be present to ensure a smooth transition with minimal stress. 

Personal Reflections on Inclusion and Education Reform 
by Agnes Johnson 
Special Kids Incorporated–Houston, Texas 

Inclusion in education may not be the answer for all children with disabilities. This, I must confess, was my personal view before I attended the Colorado Inclusion Conference sponsored by PEAK. I was especially skeptical when it came to my daughter Shannon, who at fifteen is non-verbal and autistic. 

This view was shaped by many things, but to be honest, fear was the greatest factor. I feared that Shannon would not be readily accepted or that she would be installed into a regular classroom and not included in the regular academic environment. I feared that she would lose precious ground gained, due to frustration and neglect. These fears I had not only for Shannon, but for other children like her. This fear was shaped by the horror stories of other parents and even educators. Somewhere down deep, I believed that inclusion was a right approach, but I was afraid of potentially negative consequences. 

Most children with disabilities are born into families that become inclusive at their birth. Accommodations may have to be made, depending on the nature of the disability, but most families adapt. A support network usually springs up that utilizes available human resources such as grandparents, friends and siblings. 

The education environment is perhaps the only setting where disparity is encouraged. There is no handicapped bathroom at home. Any modification for Shannon is used by all. There is no handicapped pew at church; we all sit together. And in the supermarket we all purchase and pay in the same place. Only in education do we find "regular" and "special." 

Fear shaped my opinion of inclusion, but ignorance kept me from action. I lacked knowledge of options, practices and programs that successfully model inclusion. As I attended workshops at the conference and participated in the focus group on education reform, a new perspective emerged.  

I gained insight from meeting educators who really believe that all children can learn, and I found new hope by seeing that there is a large group of people committed to making inclusion work for all kids–even kids like my daughter. Also, I began to realize that the approach to inclusion doesn’t have to "throw out the baby with the bath water." In a truly inclusive environment, supports to the child, the teacher and the family are all taken into consideration. 

Finally, I realized that school reform is not exclusively a regular education issue. children with disabilities will either benefit or suffer from education reform. the impact of school reform on my child and others like her demands that other parents and I become involved in this issue. we must not let ignorance and apathy abound. our children’s lives virtually depend on our involvement in any policy decisions that affect the education of all children. 

State Departments of Education on the Web! 
As individual states develop their plans for educational standards and assessments, much input is needed from parents and professionals from both the regular and special education streams. The National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) has a web site which links to every state department of education currently on the web. From there you can link to a list of states with on-line departments of education. Many states have posted their plans for monitoring educational standards and assessments. Some states have posted public hearing dates to discuss their plans, while others are receiving comments via e-mail. Check out what your state is planning to do around school reform and restructuring initiatives and let your department of education know your thoughts and concerns. 

E-mail Tip 
Similar to a telephone book, e-mail directories now exist on the web. That is, you can search for a person’s or agency’s e-mail address by accessing any number of e-mail search engines. 

Four 11 is a database which contains 6.5 million names worldwide.  

Other e-mail directories are: 
WHOWHERE  
SWITCHBOARD 

Promoting Your Site 
If you are among those who already have web sites and want to be sure you’re "found" on the popular search engines, a free service, Submit It! is available which makes the process easier and faster to submit your URLs. You begin by filling out a registration form. Submit It! will then return a page with submission buttons for all the sites you have chosen. This page will allow you to then register your site with search engines including:  Yahoo, infoseek, Lycos, Webcrawler, Opentext and more. 
Source for this month’s Cyber Column: MCH-NetLink (Maternal and Child Health Telecommunications Link) January, 1997 

Some School Reform Sites to See 
What does school reform mean to my neighborhood? 
 
Scholastic Place Electronic Learning 
 
Pete’s School Reform Page  

Other sites worth seeing 
T.H.E. Journal 
U.S. Department of Education’s Getting America’s Students Ready for the 21st Century: Meeting the Technology Literacy Challenge  

Schoolwide Programs Listserv 
The New England Comprehensive Assistance Center announced last month an on-line forum for discussing how to plan, implement, evaluate and continuously improve schoolwide programs. Topics to be discussed include instruction and assessment, curriculum development and school environment, model schoolwide plans and standards-based reform, professional development and equity, community and parental involvement, and more. Participation is open to anyone involved in Title I schoolwide programs: teachers, principals and school administrators, education researchers, parents and others. 

To subscribe, send an e-mail message to compcenter@edc.org with the words "subscribe schoolwide" and your name, title, school/school district (if applicable) and your state in the body of the message. 

Note: creating a schoolwide program is an option for schools participating in Title I if fifty percent (or more) of students in the school are from low-income homes. The idea is that a schoolwide program can help a school use all its resources to assist all students in reaching high academic standards. 

Technology Literacy Challenge 
Recently, Secretary Riley announced awards under the Technology Literacy Challenge Fund (TLCF) to four states: Indiana, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Washington. This brings to seven the number of states that have received TLCF grants to help schools provide training and support (in technology) for all teachers, access to modern computers for all students and teachers, connections to the information superhighway for all classrooms and schools, and high quality software and online resources as part of the curriculum in every school. For more information, please see the February 25th press releases.
(Source: ED Initiatives, 3/4/97. info. available from: edinfo@inet.ed.gov) 

Finding Time for Teachers  
Finding time for teachers to share ideas and learn new ways of teaching is a challenge for many schools and communities. But how much time do teachers need for this? And how can that time be created? 
Ideas for developing answers to those questions can be found in "Finding Time for Professional Development" (1997) a web page that is part of the award-winning North Central Regional Educational Laboratory Pathways to School Improvement internet site. The page looks at obstacles and opportunities for creating more time for professional development. It contains brief descriptions of: 
a partnership that is providing a half-day each week for teacher meetings and professional development. 
a school that uses an alternative, modular-scheduling pattern to provide time for professional development and team coordination and to offer additional education resources for teachers. 
a school that has created large blocks of training and planning time during school hours. 
a school district that makes time for team planning one period each day. 
Source: Ed Initiatives, 3/11/97. info. available from: edinfo@inet.ed.gov 

ERIC Expands Online Library 
More than 30 two-page research syntheses were added last month to a full-text searchable database in the ERIC online library. This database now offers a total of more than 1,666 such syntheses (known as ERIC Digests) 
Some titles available are: 
ED395500 - Practical Ideas on Alternative Assessment for ESL Students 
ED395713 - Enhancing Students Socialization: Key Elements 
ED396265 - Motivating Low Performing Adolescent Readers 
ED396615 - Taking Teaching Seriously: Meeting the Challenge of Instructional Improvement 
ED397463 - Ethical Leadership 
Source: Ed Initiatives, 2/28/97. info. available from: edinfo@inet.ed.gov 

FairTest National Center for Fair and Open Testing 
342 Broadway 
Cambridge, MA 02139 

A non-profit public education and advocacy organization working to eliminate the flaws and misuses of the more than 200 million standardized, multiple-choice tests administered annually in America. Their goal is to ensure that all students and job applicants are evaluated in a manner that is fair, accurate, open and educationally sound. fairtest offers a number of publications such as: 
 

• implementing performance assessments: a guide to classroom, school and system reform 
• fallout from the testing explosion: how 100 million standardized exams undermine equity and excellence in america’s public schools.