The Future of Education in Utah
Richard P. West, Ph.D.Executive Director
Center for the School of the FutureUtah State University
New and Aspiring School Leaders ConferenceOgden, UtahJune 16, 2004
Center for the School of the Future
• Funded by the Utah State Legislature, 1999 General Session
• “…to promote best practices in the state’s public education system and encourage cooperative and research development relationships between public and higher education” (HB 7)
Newton’s First Law of Motion
An object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an
unbalanced force.
What Will Be The Future of Utah’s Public
Education?Studying our history will tell us a great deal
about our future
Newton’s First Law of Motion
Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of
motion unless an external force is applied to it.
At-risk School/ Student
Failure
SuccessIntervention
What do we know about the Future?
Our schools will be crowded
Students will feel the
pressure of increasing standards
Support for education will
be in short supply
Current and Future Pressures on Utah’s Education System
• Student enrollments• Student diversity• Emphasis on
outcomes• Funding and support
Projected Student Enrollment Increases: 2000-2030
• Enrollment boom begins in 2004
• 700,000 students in 2014 (30-40% increase in 10 yrs.)
QuickTime™ and aTIFF (LZW) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
QuickTime™ and aTIFF (LZW) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Increasing Student Diversity
• Utah has become a destination for many recent migrants
• Utah’s ethnic diversity has doubled in past 10 years
• Rates of increasing diversity are more than twice the national average
QuickTime™ and aTIFF (LZW) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Emphasis on Outcomes
• No Child Left Behind• UPASS• Performance Plus• Employers’ Education
Coalition• SB 154 (Public Education Amendments)
School FundingContradictions
• Utah spends a smaller amount of money to educate each student than does any other state
• Utah spends a larger percentage of its state budget on education than does any other state
WHY?
Two Conditions Combine to Limit Utah’s Funding for
Schools • Utah has more students per wage
earner than does any other state• More than two-thirds of our state is
“owned” by the federal government and generates little or no tax support for education
These conditions will not change appreciably in the
foreseeable future
However, our response to these conditions must
change
“…The best way to predict the future is to invent it. Really
smart people with reasonable funding can do just about
anything that doesn’t violate too many of Newton’s Laws”.
Alan Kay (1971)Inventor of SmallTalk, the inspiration
for Apple Macintosh and other windowing-based computer
operating systems
“There are people succeeding against the odds and producing magnificent results in extremely difficult circumstances. The
problem with American education is that we have never found an effective way to help replicate the success, partly because the magic of education is always what happens in the individual
classroom between the teacher and the student, supported by the parents, strengthened by the culture of a school that is set
overwhelmingly by a gifted principal. I know that.
“But there have to be ways to recognize the plain fact that notwithstanding the funding problems, notwithstanding the inequalities, notwithstanding all the problems (in) American
education, you can find virtually every problem in our country solved by somebody somewhere in an astonishingly effective
fashion if you look at enough schools. So the challenge for us here is to figure out how to replicate that.”
Presidential Comments at the White House ceremony honoring Blue Ribbon Schools, May 14, 1993
If Schools Are To Achieve All They Can, They Will
Need…• Better information about what works (Best Practices)
• Tools for monitoring progress• Tailored assistance in
developing and implementing appropriate policy
• More skillful communication and more public involvement in reform Education Commission of the States, 1998
Sustained School Improvement
Requires Visionary Leadership that Provides…
• BETTER INSTRUCTION – evidence-based, and principle-based
• BETTER SUPPORT – partnerships for effective schools
• BETTER DATA– evidence of effectiveness
LIFE: Leadership Initiative for Education
• Better schools result from better decisions, and better decisions result from better data
• Sustained improvement in academic achievement requires changes in the school environment
• An ethic of collegiality and cooperation is necessary to bring about meaningful school reform
PR
INC
IPLE
S
LIFE: Leadership Initiative for Education
• Regular assessment of critical school conditions, attributes, and improvement (e.g. ISQ)
• Domain-specific Topical Conferences and Implementation Literature
• Collegial Mentoring involving School Planning and Management Teams (SPMTs)
• Systematic rewards for improvement effortsC
OM
PO
NEN
TS
Indicators of School Quality
QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Natural selection ofmetabolic adaptation
to starvation
Socialpressures
Industrialsociety
Hereditaryfactors
Dietary excesses insaturated fat, cholesterol,
calories, saltObesity
Personality &emotional
stress
Cigarettesmoking
Lack ofexercise
Coronaryartery
distribution
Diabetes orcarbohydrateintolerance
Hyperlipidemia Hypertension Increasedcatecholamines
Thrombotictendency
Significantcoronary
atherosclerosis
Myocardialsusceptibility
Deficiency incollateralcirculation
Coronaryocclusion
Myocardialinfarction
The authors note that “Despitethe apparent complexity of thisdiagram, it is undoubtedly anoversimplification and willcertainly be modified by further study.” (p. 5).
Web of Causation for Myocardial Infarction (Heart Attacks)
Taken from Friedman, G. D. (1994).Primer of Epidemiology (5th Ed.).New York: McGraw-Hill, p.4.
Web of Causation for Academic Achievement
Instruction
AcademicAchievement
Web of Causation for Social Competence
Punishment
Social Competence
QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Unalt
era
ble
V
ari
ab
les
Alt
era
ble
V
ari
ab
les
Areas of Risk
1. Home Language “Is English the primary language spoken at home?”
2. Mobility “Have you moved more than once in the past three years?”
3. Peer Associations “Do you generally approve of your child’s closest friends?”
4. Family Bonding “Do you regularly attend community, social, or religious meetings?”
5. Community Affiliation “Do your neighbors generally monitor their children’s activities?”
6. Academic Risk “Do you have a high school diploma/GED?”
7. Economic Risk “Do you have Internet access at home?”
Relationship between Risk and Academic Achievement(Indicators of School Quality- ISQ)
0
20
40
60
Overall Risk
Low Risk 59 58 57 57
Moderate Risk 44 42 45 43
High Risk 24 20 17 25
3rd 5th 8th 11th
QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
ISQ and Academic Achievement
• The variables measured by ISQ account for more than 80% of the variance of academic achievement scores
• Even when “risk” is removed from the equation, the correlations between ISQ variables and achievement are statistically significant
“For more than a hundred years much complaint has been made of the
unmethodological way in which schools are conducted, but it is only within the last
thirty that any serious attempt has been made to find a remedy for this state of things. And with what results? Schools
remain exactly as they were.”
John Amos ComeniusThe Great Didactic
1632
93 Graduate from high school
65 Complete at least some college
33 Obtain at least a Bachelor’s Degree
Of Every 100 White Kindergartners:
(25-to 29-Year-Olds)
Source: US Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. March Current Population Surveys, 1971-2001, in The Condition of Education 2002.
Of Every 100 African American Kindergartners:
87 Graduate from High School
50 Complete at Least Some College
18 Obtain at Least a Bachelor’s Degree
(25-to 29-Year-Olds)
Source: US Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. March Current Population Survey, 1971-2001, In The Condition of Education 2002.
Of Every 100 Latino Kindergartners:
63 Graduate from high school
32 Complete at least some college
11 Obtain at least a Bachelor’s Degree
(25-to 29-Year-Olds)
Source: US Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. March Current Population Surveys, 1971-2001, In The condition of Education 2002.
Of Every 100 American Indian/Alaskan Native
Kindergartners:
58 Graduate from High School
7 Obtain at least a Bachelor’s Degree
(24 Year Olds)
College Graduates by Age 26
Young People From High Income Families
60%
Young People From Low Income Families
7%
Source: Tom Mortenson, Research Seminar on Public Policy Analysis of Opportunity for Post Secondary, 1997.
WHY?
What We Hear Adults Say:
• They’re poor;
• Their parents don’t care;
• They come to schools without breakfast;
• Not enough books
• Not enough parents . . .
But if they’re right, then why are poor and minority children performing so high in...
Some schools...
Samuel W. Tucker Elementary
Alexandria, VA
83%76%
85% 84%92%93%
0%
25%
50%
75%
100%
Math English/Language Arts
% 3rd-5th graders meeting state
standard (2003)
African American Latino White
Source: Virginia Department of Education
68% African American and Latino
53% low-income
Outperformed 2/3 of VA elem. schools in both reading and math for two years in a row (2001-2).
In 2002, out-performed 92% of VA elem. schools in reading and 86% in math.
West Manor Elementary Atlanta, GA
68%
90%
0%
25%
50%
75%
100%
% 4th graders meeting state
standard in reading
2000 2002
Source: The Education Trust, Dispelling the Myth
99% African American.
80% low-income
Outscored 98% of GA elementary schools in 2nd grade reading in 2002.
Outperformed 90% of GA elementary schools in 2nd grade math in 2002.
St. James Gaillard Elementary
Eutawville, SC
21%
64%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
Math% 3rd graders meeting state standard
in math
1999 2002
Source: The Education Trust, Dispelling the Myths Online
99% African American and Latino.
87% low-income
Outperformed 97% of SC elem. schools in 3rd grade math in 2002.
Outperformed 82% of SC elem. schools in 4th grade reading in 2002.
Sycamore Elementary SchoolKokomo, IN
79% 78%
0%
25%
50%
75%
100%
% 3rd graders meeting state standard in math (2002)
African American White
Source: Indiana Department of Education
37% African American and Latino.
62% low-income
Increased African American 3rd graders meeting state standard in math by 55 percentage points between 2000 and 2002.
Closed Black-White 3rd grade reading gap.
Lincoln Elementary SchoolMount Vernon, NY
98% 98%100% 100%100% 100%
0%
25%
50%
75%
100%
Math English/Language Arts
% 4th graders
meeting state standard (2003)
African American Latino White
Source: Ed Trust. Dispelling the Myth Online and New York State Department of Education. Overview of School Performance In English Language Arts, Mathematics, and Science and Analysis of Student Subgroup Performance for Lincoln School. April 10, 2003
69% African American and Latino
49% low-income
Has outperformed nearly ¾ of NY elem. schools in both math and English for three years in a row.
In 2002, outscored 98% of NY elem. schools in math and 99% in English.
South Scotland ElementaryLaurinburg, NC
94%
42%
65%
92%
42%
82%
0%
25%
50%
75%
100%
1993 2003
% 3rd-5th graders
meeting state standard in reading
African American Native American White
Source: Data provided by South Scotland Elementary School
47% African American and Native American.
47% low-income
Over 80% of both African American and Native American 4th graders met state standard in math in both 2001 and 2002.
Closed reading gap between African American and White students in 2003.
Hambrick Middle School,Aldine, TX
• 94% African American and Latino (state = 56%)
• 85% low-income (state = 50%)
• Has performed in the top fifth of all Texas middle schools in both reading and math in both 7th and 8th grades over a 3-year period.
Prince Edward County High, Farmville VA
12%
44%
74%
92%
71% 78%
40%
0%
25%
50%
75%
100%
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002
Passing state Algebra I test
Prince Edward High State Average
Sources: Virginia Department of Education Web site, http://www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/Assessment/2002SOLpassrates.html.
(715 students – 55% African American and Latino)
Minority and/or poor students in some states outperforming white
and/or non-poor students in others.
8th Grade Writing: African Americans in Texas Perform as Well or Better Than Whites in 7 States
140
143
145
146
146
146
146
146
136 138 140 142 144 146 148
Hawaii
Arkansas
West Virginia
Utah
Missouri
Mississippi
Louisiana
Texas
NAEP Grade 8 Writing 1998Source: NCES, National Assessment of Educational Progress
207
217
200
205
210
215
220
Latinos in Virginia Whites in California
1998 NAEP Reading10 Point Gap Between White Children in California and Latino Children in Virginia
10 point gap= 1 year worth of learning
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)
224223
220
225
Latinos in Virginia Whites in California
2002 NAEP ReadingNow Latinos in Virginia are outperforming
Whites in California
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)
What Students Say: Yes, some blame themselves.
But they also say...
• some teachers don’t know their subjects;
• counselors underestimate our potential;
• principals dismiss concerns;
• expectations are wretchedly, boringly low.
Top Related