December 2005: Education Updates
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Political Landscape section is a collection of news items, updates, and essays on policy issues, state and federal legislation, academic standards, testing issues, the politics of funding, and other issues.
Science Standards and Intelligent Design
The Principal’s Office this month focuses on the ISLLC standard #6, which states, “A school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by understanding, responding to, and influencing the larger political, social, economic, legal and cultural context.” There are many external factors that influence the political, social, economic, and legal context of our schools. One of those external factors in the news last month was the discussion regarding Intelligent Design. The issue of intelligent design and evolution theory is as much about politics as it is about education.
On November 8, a conservative majority on the Kansas State Board of Education voted to revisit the science standards with new language that attempts to raise questions about various pieces of evolutionary theory. The new standards do not specifically advocate intelligent design, but suggest that evidence supporting evolutionary theory is controversial and unsubstantiated, assertions that are rejected by the vast majority of scientists. Supporters of intelligent design theory welcomed these changes, but many scientists strongly objected to the changes saying that they falsely suggest evolution is riddled with weaknesses. Evolution theory is, in fact, a thoroughly tested explanation for life’s development and strongly supported by years of strong scientific evidence. Although Kansas’s school districts have broad control over their own curricula, the state standards are used as a basis for determining statewide assessments in science. The longevity of the new standards remains to be seen, with five of the nine state school board members up for re-election next year, including four of the board members who supported the new standards.
On the same day, voters in Dover, PA, voted to replace eight incumbent school board members all of whom had voiced support for a district policy mandating that students be exposed to intelligent design in 9 th grade biology class. The eight newly elected school board members all opposed the policy that requires a four-paragraph statement be read to students that describes evolution as “not a fact” and introduces students to intelligent design. This policy is the subject of a nationally watched federal lawsuit brought by 11 Dover parents. A decision in this lawsuit, filed in federal district court in Harrisburg, is expected in December or January. The newly elected Dover school board members have taken the position that the topic of intelligent design should be presented in an elective course and not as part of the science curriculum, hopefully avoiding possible legal challenges.
As events in Kansas and Pennsylvania indicate, the issue of intelligent design / evolution is a far-reaching controversy. An analysis of state standards for academic content by Education Week, reported in the November 9, 2005 issue (vol. 25, no. 11) revealed that nationwide there is great inconsistency in how well the topic of evolution is covered. Nearly all of the 41 state science standards that were reviewed at least mention the theory of evolution and the related topic of natural selection. However, many of the state standards fail to address the fundamental evidence supporting evolution theory and make little or no connection between the theory of evolution and established scientific evidence about the age of the Earth or the common ancestry of different species.
Education Week reviewed the science standards of a large majority of the states and compared the standards against 10 concept statements about evolution in the National Science Education Standards (NSES), widely regarded as a prime reference tool for what students should know about science. These 10 NSES concepts selected by Education Week in the analysis were closely aligned with Benchmarks for Science Literacy, a set of standards published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, or AAAS. While 39 state standards offer some description of evolution and how it accounts for diversity of species, only 21 states describe how random mutations and changes in DNA can affect evolution and only 22 state standards of the 41 reviewed describe how the various mechanisms of evolution work. Only six of the 41 state standards reviewed even describe how long the process of evolution has been at work. Four states—Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, and Oklahoma—do not even mention the term evolution in the body of their state standards.
State standards play an influential role in shaping what students are taught in public schools and what questions students will answer on standardized tests. Publishers also use the standards of some of the largest states to shape the content in science textbooks. While many states use supplemental materials to guide districts and teachers in what needs to be taught to students, the analysis reveals a general weakness, nationwide, of the state standards in the area of science content. The unsettled nature of the national debate regarding intelligent design and evolution theory is mirrored on the Ohio scene. Ohio’s state board of education approved revised science standards in 2002 that do not advocate intelligent design, but in 2004 they approved an additional curriculum science lesson plan titled “Critical Analysis of Evolution.” As long as the issue of intelligent design versus evolution theory remains a more of a political issue and not an education issue, it seems unlikely that there will be a resolution. More consistent and detailed standards across the board nationally would be a positive development for students, but seems unlikely in the present political atmosphere.
School Operations and the Hurricanes
The Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma have left schools, school districts, teachers, administrators, parents, and students in a state of flux. Many school districts are gradually righting themselves and administrators are trying to work together with staffs and political figures to get schools up and running. The New Orleans school district has been experiencing management problems for some time and was functioning with an acting superintendent and a private crisis-management firm before hurricane Katrina hit. In 2003, Louisiana voters approved a constitutional amendment to allow the state to take over failing schools under certain conditions and put them into the state’s “recovery school district”. Generally the state contracts with a non-profit organization to run the schools as charter schools. Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco has asked the Louisiana legislature to pass legislation that would allow the state to take over many of the public schools in New Orleans and turn them over to private firms to be run as charter schools. The destruction suffered by the hurricanes is seen as an opportunity to put back schools that are better than the ones that existed before the hurricanes hit. The New Orleans school board voted in late October to allow 20 New Orleans schools to reopen as charter schools. Some who have opposed this type of plan prior to the destruction of the hurricanes now support it as a way of allowing the opening of schools to happen more quickly.
In early November the United States Senate approved a plan to aid school districts hit by Hurricane Katrina. The $1.66 billion relief bill designates $450 million for districts damaged by the hurricane to help them get up and running. The bill would provide $1.2 billion to help school public or private, including religious schools that have taken in students displaced by the Gulf Coast hurricanes in August and September. The proposed relief bill has come under fire from groups opposed to school voucher programs, because the plan would require public funds to be paid to religious schools that took in displaced students. Proponents of the bill argue that this is a one time, one year program intended to help displaced students receive educational instruction this year and help their schools to be open to receive them back by next school year at the latest. It remains to be seen what will happen to the bill in the House of Representatives.
Gulf Coast school districts have begun reopening schools, but with operating budgets already strained and tax revenue unreliable at present, many districts face a “wait and see” situation. Residents are still returning and many businesses are destroyed or not able to open. Homes are gone and homeowners are displaced, so the amount of tax revenue funds is hard to predict.
Teachers and administrators find themselves in the same situation for largely the same reasons. Enrollment numbers are in flux and districts have difficulty determining and projecting how many students they will have from month to month. Though there are many teachers who would like to return to work, there have to be teaching jobs waiting for them, and in many cases there are no positions because sufficient numbers of students haven’t returned. There may be teacher layoffs in the future for some Gulf Coast districts. Some New Orleans area districts are offering early retirement incentives. Some districts are canceling health benefits for teachers because there are not sufficient funds to maintain benefits.
In spite of these many challenges, school districts, administrators, and teachers continue to provide services as best as possible. Classes are being held in makeshift classrooms. Areas of school campuses are cordoned off because needed repairs or debris removals have not yet taken place. Students had been displaced to cities in Florida, Texas, Missouri, Utah and beyond. Teachers and administrators must juggle class lists, funding requisitions, and room usages depending on how many students show up and what areas of their buildings are ready for use. School buildings are being opened because teachers, administrators, parents and community members have pitched in to remove debris; clear standing water; wash classrooms, halls, and floors; and bleach and disinfect every surface that was smeared with polluted water. When one thinks of ISLLC standard #6 in light of hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma, and the recovery that has already been made in Gulf Coast regions, many school administrators (and teachers) can be found who are living this standard out in their daily lives.
Schools and Religious Holidays
Finally, with the holidays drawing upon us, one last new item to consider: After getting abundant e-mails criticizing its earlier decision to eliminate the holidays rather that add a Muslim holiday, the Hillsborough County, Florida, school board reinstated Good Friday, Easter Monday, and Yom Kippur as school holidays. The school board only voted to reinstate the holidays to the 2006-2007 school calendar after a Muslim group said it didn’t want its request to add the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of Ramadan, to result in the loss of Christian and Jewish holidays. Although many were critical of the board for removing the Jewish and Christian holiday and applauded the decision to reinstate the holidays, others supported the board’s initial decision. Those who supported removing the holidays from the school calendar agreed with the board’s decision not to link any religious holidays, except Christmas, with a day off for all students and teachers. Students were already allowed to take off their religious observance, without penalty.
As religions of all sorts prepare to celebrate significant occasions in the month ahead, this holiday tale offers an opportunity for reflection: how does an educational leader understand, respond to, and influence the larger social and cultural context in a way that promotes the success of the students. Specifically, what other solutions were possible for the school district of Hillsborough County, Florida?
