Inside the Annenberg Challenge Fall 1999

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Fall 1999

Inside this issue This issue of Inside the Challenge features recent activities and accomplishments of various Challenge projects. Achievements presented here include positive impacts on students, schools, and systems, as well as progress made by Challenge projects in crossing traditional educational boundaries--of schools and districts, states and universities--to facilitate reform, advance existing knowledge, and inspire new collaborations.

Impacts on Students, Schools & Systems

Building Expertise & New Partnerships

Collaboration Across Projects

"Read [the newspaper] about the teachers' strike. Then we're going to make a list of the arguments on both sides. When we're done, I want you to write a paper about which side you think is right."
-- Detroit Free Press columnist Desiree Cooper to her son Jay, on what should have been his first day of sixth grade

"The teachers shouldn't go on strike because, No. 1, kids want to go to school. Why couldn't they have done this earlier?"

-- Jay, in his response to his mother's assignment

"Every time this board makes a decision, every time we name a committee or fund a program or set up a meeting--every time we do anything, we should just consider one thing: Will this help the children? Who are the children this will help? If we can't answer that, we shouldn't do it."

-- Houston Annenberg Challenge board member

Impacts on Students, Schools & Systems

The commitment of the Los Angeles Annenberg Metropolitan Project (LAAMP) to teacher professional development is yielding systemic results. Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and California State University--which produces 70 percent of the state's teachers--recently agreed to fund four professional development centers modeled on the two developed by LAAMP. In addition, the Accelerated Teacher Preparation Program, co-sponsored by LAAMP's DELTA project and Cal State Northridge (CSUN), graduated its first 60 new teachers in June--a year ahead of candidates not enrolled in the program. Thirty-five of the graduates have secured teaching positions within LAUSD, with 15 landing at the LAAMP School Family that helped train them. CSUN also has announced that this fifth year program will serve as a model for all its other teacher training programs.

A recent research report shows that New York Networks for School Renewal (NYNSR) students in grades three through eight who read at or above the national norms increased from 36 to 4l percent in a single year (1996-97). The report also revealed that students in the lowest scoring group experienced the greatest gains; in 1996, 34 percent of NYNSR's students were in the lowest quartile compared to only 28 percent the following year. "[The research] shows that Annenberg schools make an effort to reach every student in their care," said New York City Schools Chancellor Rudy Crew.

At its annual conference in San Francisco in April, the National School Boards Association (NSBA) adopted a "Belief and Policy Statement" recognizing the work of the Rural Challenge in linking communities and schools. Endorsed by a 90-10 vote of state delegates, the statement reads: "NSBA supports efforts that are dedicated to enhancing the ways that public schools unite youth and adults in shaping healthy communities around the concepts of service to others, sustainable environments, social justice, and civic duty." The "statement of reasons" for adopting the policy noted that the Rural Challenge's vision may serve as a model for strengthening communities in urban as well as rural settings.

Chicago's Woodson South School is developing leadership abilities among teachers and staff, parents and students in order to improve student reading skills. Enlisting parents and the school community in the learning process--many as tutors--has reduced the adult/student ratio from 1:24 to 1:19 in the regular day program and has helped the school maintain an average attendance rate of 93 percent. The percentage of students scoring at or above national norms in reading on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills has risen from 17.6 percent in 1993 to 31.9 percent in 1998.

The third-year evaluation report of the Bay Area School Reform Collaborative (BASRC) released by Stanford researchers in May showed that 18 BASRC schools have hiked student achievement. Eleven of 14 schools in their third year of funding--and thus expected to show results--posted increases on standardized tests and district assessments.

Another seven schools made similar gains a year ahead of BASRC's expectation. San Bruno's Lomita Park Elementary stands out for its progress in closing the achievement gap while raising scores across the board. In 1997, for example, 44 percent of limited-English speaking third-graders read above grade level, compared with 80 percent of English-fluent students. This year, 73 percent of limited-English speaking third graders and 97 percent of English speakers read above grade level.

In Minneapolis, the district has budgeted $100,000--as part of a three way matching program with the city's Annenberg arts project and individual schools--to encourage the growth of new music programs. Funds will help schools purchase new instruments and repair damaged ones in order to meet the rising demand for, in particular, string programs in elementary grades. This commitment represents a major change in district policy; previously, all instrument purchases were the sole responsibility of schools, which seldom had the capital to fund new programs.

In August, staff members at three South Florida Annenberg Challenge (SFAC) elementary schools in Palm Beach County received individual bonus checks of $150 to $1,500, as part of an incentive plan that rewards staff when students meet academic targets. The low-income schools all participate in Project MIND (Math Is Not Difficult), a pilot program that could become a model for math instruction throughout the county. Not only teachers but administrators, secretaries, nurses, cafeteria workers, and teacher's aides had all attended 30 hours of training in Project MIND strategies--and reaped the late summer bonuses with the disclosure that students' math scores had climbed.

For the first time in many years, the school district in Philadelphia has offered summer school programs for students in grades 3, 7, 11, and 12. Previous summer sessions had only been for failing seniors to make up courses needed for graduation. This summer, approximately 6,000 students in 91 schools are participating-- voluntarily--not only in remedial work in English, math, and science but in enrichment programs as well.

In New York City, Annenberg programs, schools, administrators, and students continue to pile up honors and awards. In July, the Municipal Arts Society named the Challenge's Center for Arts Education a recipient of its annual award for making "an exceptional contribution to the life of New York City." Earlier, the U. S. Department of Education designated Urban Academy--a NYNSR grantee--a "National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence." In January, Luis Garden Acosta and Frances Lucerna, the husband and wife co-founders of El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice, (funded by both New York Annenberg projects) received a prestigious, $250,000 Heinz Award to honor work that has an unheralded impact on society. And in March, two seniors in NYNSR schools were among 21 students awarded college scholarships by The New York Times for excellent academic achievement in the face of extreme poverty.

Building Expertise & New Partnerships

"A student in my class was so excited when he 'read' an SFA [Success For All] story that he jumped up and down and shouted, 'I can read, I can read.'"
-- Salt Lake City Franklin Elementary School teacher

"I think the U.S. Department of Education is aware of what's going on in Hamilton County--our work with standards and character education, our pupil assignment plan. There's a lot here that has been noted across the country."

-- Jesse Register, Hamilton County Superintendent of Schools, about Secretary of Education Richard Riley's choice of Chattanooga as the kickoff spot for his national "America Goes Back to School" tour

"I gave up my old eyes and saw the world in a different way."

-- Elizabeth Kuhn, sophomore at Tlohon-nipts Alternative School in Long Beach, OR, about her participation in "A Day in the Life of the Columbia Pacific," a Rural Challenge-funded project to document life--through photographs--in six northwest communities

For the past four years, Baltimore's Compact Schools Project has sponsored six-week Summer Institutes designed to counteract the "summer effect" of lost reading skills among inner city children--while at the same time providing professional development for teachers and parents alike. With a 7:1 student/teacher ratio, the program has produced solid results. Last summer, students in all grades posted an average gain of 1.7 months in grade equivalent reading skills. Third graders recorded the highest increase--4.1 months' worth of skills in just over a month and a half.

During the 1998-99 school year, 76 Houston Annenberg schools spent 41.5 percent of their $3.85 million in Challenge funding on teacher professional development, more than twice the amount of the next highest allocation. (By contrast, school districts nationally budget an average of only 1-3 percent on professional development). Opportunities for Houston educators include school visits, networking among principals, various workshops and Summer Institutes, and coaches' training for "critical friends groups"--teachers who observe each other's classrooms, analyze assignments, and examine the resulting student work. In a single year, Lanier Middle School moved from two critical friends groups to full participation of all 85 faculty members.

In its ongoing effort to win back public confidence in the city's schools, Detroit's Schools of the 21st Century launched last spring a campaign to strengthen the relationships among schools, parents, community organizations, church groups, and businesses. After an April kick-off rally attracted 400 participants, the campaign culminated in May with "Come to the Table Week"--whose events conveyed the message that everyone is responsible for improving student performance. Included among the week-long activities: school luncheons, talent shows, and poetry readings; daily walks home for elementary children by members of 100 Black Men, Inc.; and a career exhibition conference sponsored by DaimlerChrysler.

The Boston Annenberg Challenge and its partners continue their strong support of school principals and headmasters. During the past academic year, the city's Principals Networks were expanded to include administrators from 83 of Boston's 128 schools. Principals met monthly for discussion and "walk-throughs" of each others' schools, in order to give and receive mutual support and collegial feedback.
Network leaders also received training from the University of Pittsburgh's Institute for Learning on strategies to become true instructional leaders. In addition, 90 percent of Boston's principals attended seminars in "Observing and Analyzing Teachers," to help them improve the skills of their classroom teachers.

In July, the Chicago Challenge hosted a Summer Institute focusing on the Consortium on Chicago School Research's recent report, The Quality of Intellectual Work in Chicago Schools. One of the report's most provocative findings is that while students are not always given challenging work, when they are provided with rigorous, authentic assignments, they rise to the occasion. Eighty educators and external partners explored the ways teachers can improve the quality of work assigned to students, critiquing samples of actual assignments. The workshop provided teachers with strategies to review student work and align classroom assessments and assignments with city and state academic standards.

Last spring, the Bay Area School Reform Collaborative's (BASRC) first "Review of Progress" (ROP)--an innovative, peer-based assessment process--displayed encouraging results. Of 86 schools, 62 met BASRC's overall standards, 9 fell behind, and 15 proved ahead of where BASRC expected them to be. The ROP was conducted by 125 peer reviewers, and 57 of the 60 who evaluated it said they would recommend the ROP to colleagues as worthwhile professional development. "We are creating a vision of accountability that focuses on giving direction rather than finding fault, and one that looks to peers rather than to an outside agency," said BASRC executive director Merrill Vargo. "Ultimately, we want people to hold themselves accountable."

Both teachers and students from the 11 schools in the South Florida Annenberg Challenge's Miami Central feeder pattern were hard at work this summer with local university partners. Twenty-two teachers participated in a University of Miami summer program to improve student writing and reading comprehension, while another 20 started masters programs in mathematics and science there. One hundred at-risk freshmen and sophomores from participating high schools attended an intensive, six-week summer program, "College and Careers," hosted on the university campus. During the school year, area colleges will continue their support, providing schools with teaching interns as well as expert consultants, helping train parents in literacy and school involvement, and evaluating classroom projects. Another 29 teachers also will receive tuition-paid masters degrees from Florida International University in instruction, technology or Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages.

In Philadelphia this fall, all families will receive the first-ever school district calendar that gives parents advice on ways to help their children in specific academic areas. Two months each are devoted to tips in reading, math, science, and social studies, with other subjects sharing the remaining months. The calendars also provide basic information and mark important dates; they will be distributed to medical clinics and churches, so parents will receive additional reinforcement in other venues.

LAAMP has intensified its support of programs that use technology as a strategy for school improvement. Last spring, LAAMP sponsored the Lighthouse Technology Conference, hosted by the Workman School Family (Hacienda La Puente Unified School District). Dozens of students from 35 schools presented projects to 400 educators and parents that showed ways technology is revolutionizing their classroom learning. LAAMP also has provided an additional $1 million in grants to fund classroom technology in 60 schools from six of its School Families. And in August, LAAMP received--in partnership with UCLA and Cal State Northridge--a $1.4 million U. S. Department of Education grant to infuse modern technologies throughout the teaching and learning experiences of new teachers in the middle and high schools of LAAMP's Poly School Family.

Collaboration Across Projects

"I don't know how you can see what's happening in our school and not get involved. . . My youngest child is 26, so I no longer have a child in school. I'm here because I plan to live for awhile, and the children who are currently students at Washington School are going to be my bankers, dentists, auto mechanics, and whomever. The quality of service they give me then is totally dependent on the quality of education we give them now."

-- Tom McGowan, community volunteer at Washington Elementary School, a BASRC Leadership school in Richmond, CA

Participants in two Challenge projects--the Rural Challenge (RC) and the Transforming Education through the Arts Challenge (TETAC)--have teamed up in Nebraska. This summer, RC teachers from the School at the Center project joined 100 colleagues from TETAC schools for a week-long program of intensive art education activities sponsored by the Nebraska Prairie Visions Summer Institute. Earlier, at the School at the Center annual conference in April, mentors from the Nebraska TETAC project made a presentation focused on developing curriculum units and teaching methods to match the new Visual and Performing Arts Frameworks recently adopted by the Nebraska Department of Education.

In July, representatives from 12 of 18 Challenge projects met in Chicago with national Annenberg staff to share successful communications strategies. A promising outcome of the gathering is the Annenberg Foundation's expanding commitment to support cross-site sharing and learning.
In particular, the Foundation plans to underwrite additional meetings based on topics of common interest--such as working with teacher unions to expand opportunities for professional development or strategies to ease high schools' resistance to reform. And modeled on the success of last spring's collaboration between the Baltimore and Atlanta projects, it also will fund additional cross-site visits.

In September, staff, researchers, arts partners, and school principals from the three Challenge Arts projects--Minneapolis' Arts for Academic Achievement, New York City's Center for Arts Education, and the Transforming Education through the Arts Challenge--gathered in Providence to share information and explore common issues. Discussion topics included: the evolving nature of the projects' work; evaluation designs; building leadership to allow the arts to change schools; and the role of cultural partners in reform.

Inside the Annenberg Challenge