September 2003
House Approves D.C. Voucher Plan; Senate Vote Expected Soon
 The
U.S. House of Representatives voted September 5 to approve what could
become the first school voucher program funded by the federal government.
The Senate Appropriations Committee passed a similar measure the day before,
clearing the way for full Senate consideration later this month. President
Bush has promoted the measure and, if given the opportunity, would no
doubt sign it into law.
Part of the appropriations package for the District of Columbia, the
voucher plan would provide as many as 2,000 low-income students in the
District with up to $7,500 to cover tuition and fees at private schools.
Narrow Vote
The House voted 205-203 to support the voucher measure sponsored by Government
Reform Committee Chairman Tom Davis (R-VA), Education and the Workforce
Committee Chairman John Boehner (R-OH), and D.C. Appropriations Subcommittee
Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ). House members then defeated—by
the slimmest of margins (203-203)—an amendment to eliminate funding
for the program. After all was said and done, the voucher initiative somehow
managed to survive, though by the skin of its teeth.
During the heated floor debate, Davis called the measure "a moral
imperative," and in impassioned comments, Boehner said the plan would
"bring some hope to children who today do not have hope." He
asked his colleagues, "How can we continue to turn our heads and
look the other way when we know that children’s lives are being
ruined because they are consistently put in schools that are not performing."
Senate committee approval came after Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) broke
ranks with her party to endorse the measure. Before doing so, she was
able to secure certain changes to the original proposal—changes
incorporated in a bipartisan amendment she offered with Senator Mike DeWine
(R-OH). Senator Robert C. Byrd (D-WV) was the only other Democrat on the
committee to join Feinstein in voting for vouchers. Senator Arlen Specter
(R-PA) was the only Republican to vote against the plan. With Senator
Mary Landrieu (D-LA) abstaining, the final vote was 16-12.
Signaling a change of heart on vouchers in an article published July 22
in The Washington Post, Feinstein wrote: "Ultimately this issue is
not about ideology or political correctness. It is about providing a new
opportunity for good education, which is the key to success." And
in a statement issued after the vote, she said, "I have begun to
rethink public education, and I think we spend too much time supporting
old structures and not enough time on what works for children."
Democratic Support Growing
Feinstein and Byrd join D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams in reinforcing
the ranks of a small but growing number of prominent Democrats who support
the pilot voucher initiative. Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman, a Democratic
presidential candidate, has been a longtime supporter of such programs.
At an AFL-CIO forum of presidential hopefuls last month, Lieberman said,
"Let’s even try the so-called voucher program on an experimental
basis just to see if we learn anything from it." Undeterred by a
round of boos from the audience, he added, "I’m going to speak
the truth. I’m going to say what I think is best for America regardless."
House and Senate Versions
The Senate and House versions of the voucher plan differ somewhat and
will have to be reconciled in conference, assuming the Senate bill is
not derailed by a filibuster. Both versions would provide grants of up
to $7,500 to low-income families residing within the District. In awarding
the vouchers, priority would be given to students attending public schools
identified for improvement. Participating private schools would have to
admit voucher students—up to the number of slots available—through
a random selection process and would also have to meet certain reporting
requirements. Besides varying in the funds they earmark for vouchers ($13
million in the Senate and $10 million in the House) the two versions also
have different civil rights provisions and assessment requirements. On
the latter point, the Senate version requires participating private schools
to ensure that voucher students receive "comparable academic assessments"
to students in D.C. public schools.
Whatever plan Congress may ultimately approve, leaders in the House and
Senate have vowed it will be part of a three-pronged approach to education
reform which, in addition to vouchers, will include new funds for the
District’s public schools and charter schools.
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Study Tracks Trends in State Regulation of Private Schools
When the Illinois State Board of Education announced last month the
elimination of the program that had conferred state recognition status
on private schools, it probably didn’t realize it was extending
a trend. But a study by Eric A. DeGroff, associate professor of law at
Regent University, concludes that “a growing minority of states
have substantially deregulated nonpublic schools” during the past
15 years.
Writing in the most recent issue of the Brigham Young University Education
and Law Journal, DeGroff presents an exhaustive examination of state regulation
of private schools. Using his own survey of state officials and comparing
responses to a similar survey conducted 15 years ago, he identifies patterns
in state requirements relating to school accreditation, teacher certification,
curriculum, testing, and other areas of school life.
DeGroff argues that a parent’s right to choose a child’s
school rests on the degree of variety allowed among schools. “Although
few question the right of civil authorities to exercise some control over
private schools, to the extent that state and local governments actually
exert such control, parental choice is constrained.”
The debate about the extent states should regulate private schools is
“often highly charged,” says DeGroff. Opinions range from
those who believe the state should ensure every child receives an essentially
identical education to those who think any form of state control threatens
school autonomy, parental rights, or religious liberty. Each state is
left to strike a balance between autonomy and accountability, and the
result is that rules regarding accreditation, assessment, and teacher
certification vary widely.
State Approval
DeGroff reports that state courts have consistently upheld “that
mandatory accreditation is constitutional, provided the underlying state
standards are not overly burdensome.” Not surprisingly, 26 states
reported that they require private schools to be registered, approved,
or accredited (although apparently only two states actually require formal
accreditation, and even those provide for some exceptions). Beyond the
26, another 13 states “provide for some form of voluntary state
accreditation, approval, or registration if a school qualifies and chooses
to seek it.” Of the 26 states that require state approval, 22 have
“specific curriculum and/or teacher certification requirements that
schools must meet in order to obtain approved or accredited status.”
Moreover, despite the fact that a majority of states require some form
of state recognition of private schools, no state “could offer any
evidence that its accreditation or approval requirement actually affects
the quality of education.”
Teacher Certification
Among the various standards that states sometimes set for private schools,
DeGroff says that teacher certification “may be the most controversial.”
He notes “the difficulty of demonstrating any statistical correlation
between teacher certification and the quality of classroom teaching,”
and he also points out the difficulties faced by some religious schools
in recruiting teachers who satisfy the twin criteria of sharing the faith
and meeting state requirements. Although state courts have generally upheld
teacher certification requirements, “it is noteworthy that so few
states actually impose such a requirement.” Of the 47 states that
responded to the survey, 28 “do not require teachers in any private
school to be certified;” 10 require certification only for “schools
seeking voluntary accreditation or approval,” and only nine require
it of private schools in general. But even among the nine states that
require teacher certification, “at least six allow exceptions for
religiously affiliated schools or institutions that can demonstrate a
sincerely held religious objection.”
Curricular Requirements
According to DeGroff, “The legal authority of states to impose
reasonable curricular requirements upon private schools, including denominational
and parochial schools, is well established.” Given such well-founded
authority, 38 states have established curriculum mandates for private
schools, although seven of those states only impose those mandates on
schools seeking some form of voluntary state recognition. The degree of
curriculum requirements varies considerably from state to state. “A
number of states mandate only a minimal list of subjects such as citizenship
or federal and state history and government, while others provide an extensive
list of required subjects, or mandate that private schools teach the same
subjects as do their public counterparts.”
Constitutional Background
Besides looking at how states actually exercise their authority to regulate,
DeGroff explores the constitutional issues and court decisions that undergird
state action. After thoroughly reviewing cases dealing with the Fourteenth
Amendment and the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses of the First
Amendment, DeGroff concludes, “Although private schools clearly
have a right to exist, and parents are guaranteed the liberty to choose
nonpublic schooling for their children, the courts have consistently affirmed
the right of states to regulate nonpublic schools.” The regulations,
however, must be reasonable and cannot be so burdensome as to effectively
eliminate parental choice in education.
Developments in State Regulations
Because his recent survey of state officials closely mirrored a national
survey conducted by the State of Florida in 1986, DeGroff was able to
compare responses and identify trends among the 44 states that had completed
both surveys. He reports “a substantial amount of change over the
fifteen-year period,” but says the “direction of change is
somewhat mixed.” Twenty-two states reported “some type of
change” in private school regulations since 1986, but only seven
states “substantially altered their approach to regulation.”
Most of those seven states seemed to be “getting out of the business
of overseeing nonpublic schools.” In 1986, four states had no or
minimal regulations placed on private schools. Since then, four or five
more states have joined their ranks. “Thus, the number of states
that either ‘do not regulate or minimally regulate’ private
schools has at least doubled since 1986.”
Click here
to download “State Regulation of Nonpublic Schools: Does the Tie
Still Bind?” in PDF format from the Brigham Young University
Education and Law Journal, Volume 2003, Number 2.
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Study Shows Long-Term Impact of Montessori
Education
 Maria
Montessori may have been a marvel of innovative pedagogy, but she didn’t
have at her disposal today’s tools of educational research and statistical
analysis. Those tools could have helped her determine, with some scientific
certainty, the long-term effects of her instructional approach.
Enter AMI-USA (the American branch office of the Association Montessori
Internationale), which recently teamed up with officials of the Milwaukee
Public Schools (MPS) to sponsor a study documenting some of the effects
of Montessori education. The sponsoring agencies engaged the services
of the National Center on Educational Restructuring and Inclusion at The
Graduate Center of The City University of New York to conduct the research.
The study examined the performance of two groups of graduates from Milwaukee’s
public high schools: those who had attended Montessori programs through
5th grade and those who had not. To control for outside variables that
might affect student performance, the two groups were “carefully
matched by gender, race/ethnicity, and socio-economic status.” Students
were also controlled for the high school they had attended—an important
variable since “records revealed that more than half of the Montessori
sample had attended the four most highly rated and selective high schools
in the MPS system.”
Researchers employed three measures of student performance: high school
grade point averages, ACT scores (composite and subscale), and results
from the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examination (WKCE), a state
variant of the national Terra Nova tests. Scores from the latter two measures
were sorted into two categories: math/science and English/social studies.
Compared to that of the control group, the performance of Montessori
students was not significantly different in the English/social studies
category. But in the math/science category, the Montessori students “significantly
outperformed the peer control group.” As the report put it, “In
essence, attending a Montessori program from the approximate ages of three
to eleven predicts significantly higher mathematics and science standardized
test scores in high school.”
One reason the math/science finding is educationally important is that
it endured “five to seven years after the students had exited the
Montessori programs and enrolled in traditional public schools.”
Usually, the effects of intervention programs “disappear a year
or two after students return to regular schooling.”
The authors concluded that the study “supports the hypothesis that
Montessori education has a positive long-term impact” and “provides
an affirmative answer to questions about whether Montessori students will
be successful in traditional schools.”
To obtain a copy of the study, contact AMI-USA at montessori@amiusa.org.
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SAT Scores Up
Every August, educators and policy makers await the announcement by The
College Board of average SAT scores for college-bound seniors. This year’s
release gave them reason to cheer. Significant gains were posted in both
math and verbal scores, with each increasing three points since last year.
Average math scores (519) were the highest they’ve been in 35 years,
while verbal scores (507) were the highest in 16 years.
Of the record-breaking 1.4 million SAT takers in the class of 2003, 17
percent attended religious and independent schools. The private school
share is significant since such schools only enroll 9 percent of the nation’s
12th graders. What’s more, the performance of private school students
helped boost the national average (see chart). Combined scores (verbal
and math) for public school students were 1020, while combined scores
for religiously affiliated and independent schools were, respectively,
1065 and 1123.
Thirty-six percent of this year’s SAT takers are minority students,
an all-time high, and 38 percent are first-generation college-bound students.
Commenting on the scores and trends, College Board President Gaston Caperton
offered this optimistic assessment: “Higher SAT scores, a record
number of test-takers, and more diversity add up to a brighter picture
for American education. While we certainly need to make more progress,
the fact remains that we are clearly headed in the right direction.”
SAT Test Scores
Class
of 2003
|
| |
Verbal |
Math |
| National |
507 |
519 |
| Public |
504 |
516 |
| Religious |
535 |
530 |
| Independent |
550 |
573 |
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CAPENotes
• “The nation’s children are writing better.”
That’s how U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige characterized the
recent release of results from the 2002 National Assessment of Educational
Progress (NAEP) in Writing. Scores for fourth-graders were up by four
points since 1998, and scores for eighth-graders were up by three points.
Students in private schools scored significantly above the national average
in grades four, eight, and twelve. As the report put it, “Performance
results in 2002 show that, at all three grades, students who attended
nonpublic schools had higher average writing scores than students who
attended public schools.”
The average writing score for fourth-grade students in public schools
in 2002 was 153 on a scale that ranges from 0 to 300 for each grade tested.
(In 1998, the base year, the average score for each grade was defined
at 150.) For fourth-graders in private schools, the average score in 2002
was 166, an advantage of 13 points over public schools. The private school
advantage in eighth grade was 18 points, and in twelfth grade, 22 points.
 •
What services can private school children with special needs expect to
receive from school districts? Who must arrange for those services? How
does one do that?
Whatever questions you have about how the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act (IDEA) relates to students with special needs in private
schools, chances are you’ll find the answer in CAPE’s IDEA
Practices Toolkit.
Available free of charge and just in time for the new school year, the
user-friendly toolkit can help parents, private school educators, and
school district officials understand the provisions of IDEA that relate
to students in private schools. Reviewed and funded by the U.S. Department
of Education, the toolkit offers examples of effective practices, ideas
for improving cooperation between the public and private sectors, and
practical resources for delivering IDEA services.
Click here to download CAPE’s
newest publication in PDF format, click hereat http://www.capenet.org/pubs3.html.
• “Faithful friends are a sturdy shelter.” Besides
being a true and comforting observation on life, this quote from scripture
is also the theme of this year’s Episcopal Schools Celebration (ESC).
Many of the more than 1,100 Episcopal schools and early childhood programs,
serving over 160,000 children, will observe ESC during the week of October
5.
The National Association of Episcopal Schools (NAES), which sponsors
the celebration, has developed and distributed resources to help schools
participate. According to NAES, Episcopal school enrollment has increased
29 percent since 1990.
Commenting on this year’s ESC theme, The Most Rev. Frank T. Griswold,
Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church, said, “The
dynamic that sustains trust in the future—and our students’
futures—is seen in the friendships, the sustaining relationships
that spring up and are nurtured in our schools, to the benefit of the
entire community of faith and to the betterment of our society.”
• If students used vouchers to move from public schools to private
schools would their academic achievement improve, get worse, or remain
the same? That’s one of the questions people were asked in the latest
Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the
Public Schools.
It turns out the public has a fairly high regard for the ability of private
schools to improve student performance. Fifty-four percent of respondents
thought the achievement of transfer students would improve, while only
4 percent thought it would get worse. Another 37 percent said performance
would remain the same, and the remaining 4 percent confessed they didn’t
know how things would turn out.
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