[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 45 (Wednesday, April 22, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H2219-H2222]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      CRISIS IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. McCollum) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McCOLLUM. Mr. Speaker, last Sunday, April 19th, there appeared on 
the front page of the Orlando Sentinel, my hometown newspaper, an 
extraordinary article with an extraordinary insight into the nature and 
the scope of the problem with public education that we are facing in 
the United States.
  I think that this is an article which should be read by all of our 
colleagues, and I call it to our colleagues's attention.
  I also at this time, so that I do not forget to do it later, although 
I am going to be referring to this liberally, would like ask that the 
entire text of this article and the accompanying text of a teacher's 
diary, an insert on the front page of this newspaper, be introduced 
into the Record following my remarks today.
  Mr. Speaker, back a couple of years ago, the Florida legislature 
passed a law requiring that every student who graduates from high 
school in the State of Florida had to have a 2.0 average throughout 
their high school studies. A 2.0 on a four-point scale means a

[[Page H2220]]

C average. My colleagues might be surprised to learn that somebody 
would have to have a C average to graduate. Before that they only had 
to have a 1.5, and my colleagues would not believe the uproar that it 
has caused in our school system, but it has.
  At exactly the same time the legislature said we are also going to 
say that what counts for C is a 70 on a scoring sheet of paper when 
students take a test, no longer a 65. So they have to have a 70 get a C 
and they have to have a C average to graduate.
  Here is what this newspaper article found after a year or so of 
operation of this law. This article entitled, ``Thousands continue to 
fall short,'' by Mike Berry says,

       First semester grades for the Class of 2000 are in and they 
     show that a third of central Florida's sophomores are in 
     serious trouble and on a path that would keep them from 
     graduating. Schools have been struggling for a year and a 
     half to find ways to rescue these kids. But the latest grades 
     show that very few have been able to turn things around. More 
     than 7,000 students remain on the brink of failure. If that 
     weren't bad enough, the new freshman class is doing worse 
     than last year's freshmen. More than 11,000 kids have D or F 
     averages. That's 40 percent of the class.

  The article goes on to say that,

       At Leesburg High, Principal Wayne McLeod expects half of 
     his freshman class to drop out. A large number of them have a 
     special problem: They cannot read. Many simply cannot fathom 
     the concept of a textbook. Forty percent of the freshmen are 
     years behind where they should be.

  Berry goes on to say,

       These kinds of problems are not new. The truth is that 
     schools have been graduating kids who can't read for years. 
     In Florida, one of every four freshmen entering a college or 
     a university needs some kind of remedial help. And though 
     educators and legislators have been talking about the 2.0 
     rule for a couple of years, there still is no comprehensive 
     plan for a way to turn things around. That is being left up 
     to individual schools. At the district level, officials only 
     now are starting to talk about overall strategy.
       Last year you could have filled the lower bowl of Orlando 
     Arena with Central Florida freshmen who couldn't make a 2.0. 
     This year, the first that the rule applies to every student, 
     you could fill the entire arena and still leave another 6,000 
     standing outside.

  ``Students who earn more than 24 credits can drop their lowest 
grade'' in some of these schools, Berry says. ``There are classes 
without tests. There are sessions where kids get one-on-one 
attention.'' But regardless of what the teachers do, these kids still 
don't have a 2.0 average.
  The question he poses is: Who is to blame for this? And we can go 
through a lot of hand-wringing. Obviously, we know there are problems 
with the schools themselves, but there are also problems with the kids 
and there are problems with the parents and their involvement.
  ``Regardless of what teachers do, too many kids,'' he says, ``care 
only about their lives outside the classroom. One Oak Ridge math 
teacher, Cherry Jones, struggles to teach multiplication, only to hear 
kids respond, `Why? I've got a calculator.' '' And another surprise 
these days is the attitude of some parents. They don't care either.
  But, Mr. Speaker, I thought the most interesting point of all about 
this came from a diary that accompanied this text and this article by 
an English teacher in Central Florida, and I am just going to quote a 
little bit of what she had to say. This is one day's entry.

       Today I gave a test. As always, the students were allowed 
     to use their notes. The way I see it, I serve them better by 
     honing their note-taking and comprehension skills as opposed 
     to memorization skills. I have been giving open-note tests 
     since day one.
       Even so, every time I lecture I have to remind them to copy 
     what I write on the board. They have been in class for 150 
     days. When will they catch on that it will be beneficial to 
     have notes?
       Last week I put a note on the board about when the test 
     would be. Every day since, I reminded them. Yesterday, I gave 
     them a list of topics that would be covered. Last night I put 
     a reminder on my homework hotline.
       Apparently, I speak a different language than they do 
     because a quarter of them came in this morning and said, ``We 
     have a test today? You didn't tell us we had a test today! 
     Can we use our notes?''
       Now it's 8 o'clock and I've just finished grading the test. 
     My spouse has gone into the other room, tired of hearing me 
     yell, ``How many times did we go over this?'' as I drew a 
     line through another wrong answer.
       More frustrating than the students who answered incorrectly 
     were the ones who don't even attempt an answer.

  We have got a major problem with education in this country this is 
only illustrative of this problem, but I commend my colleagues to read 
the whole text of this article and the diary because it does give an 
insight we do not get anywhere else.

                   [From the Orlando Sentinel Online]

                    Thousands Continue To Fall Short

                            (By Mike Berry)

       First-semester grades for the Class of 2000 are in and they 
     show that a third of Central Florida's sophomores are in 
     serious trouble and on a path that would keep them from 
     graduating.
       Schools have been struggling for a year and a half to find 
     ways to rescue these kids. But the latest grades show that 
     very few have been able to turn things around. More than 
     7,000 students remain on the brink of failure.
       If that weren't bad enough, the new freshman class is doing 
     worse than last year's freshmen. More than 11,000 kids from 
     five Central Florida counties have D or F averages. That's 40 
     percent of the class.
       Under standards that applied to most freshman for the first 
     time last year, these kids will need C averages to graduate.
     Florida's get-tough standards
       The reality is that they cannot meet the most basic 
     standards. Despite numerous remediation programs, schools 
     just don't know how many kids will graduate.
     Number of Students below 2.0 GPA at the end of the first 
         semester '97-'98
       Last year, educators in large part were talking the company 
     line: If you raise the bar, the kids will meet it.
       But the numbers are daunting. There is great uncertainty. 
     More teachers and administrators are acknowledging how tough 
     things really are.
       Here are some of the signs:
       In 23 of 39 Central Florida public high schools, the 
     percentage of incoming freshmen making D's and F's increased 
     this year. At 19 schools, more than 40 percent of freshmen 
     can't muster a 2.0 on a 4.0 grading scale. At four of those 
     schools, half of the freshman class can't cut it.
       In Lake County, where four of every 10 freshmen have D or F 
     averages, officials are rushing to set up alternative schools 
     to help at least some at-risk kids graduate. Lake officials 
     said they've made the decision because of research by The 
     Orlando Sentinel showing that schools aren't coping with the 
     crush of student failure.
       Although grades for sophomores improved a bit from last 
     year, one of every three 10th-graders still is in trouble. 
     The schools are working to help failing kids, but there 
     clearly is no quick fix.
       There are 5,490 juniors and seniors below a 2.0. They, too, 
     must meet that standard for their last years of school. 
     Borderline seniors won't know until a few days before 
     graduation whether they'll get diplomas.
       Lump them all together, and the number of kids at risk is 
     accumulating at a frightening pace.
       A year ago, schools were concerned with 7,311 freshmen who 
     couldn't manage passing grades. Now they must try to help 
     24,000 who aren't making it.
       At some schools, officials say they're not worried, that 
     students tend to do better as they get older.
       In Volusia County, for instance, high school services 
     coordinator Tim Egnor found many historically had begun high 
     school with abysmal grades.
       ``If past history has any accuracy whatsoever, this just 
     won't be that big a deal,'' Egnor said. ``It always looks 
     really ugly up front, but . . . four years later there's 
     always been dramatic improvement.''


                           the harsh reality

       But the bottom line is this: When kids needed a 1.5 grade-
     point average to graduate, about one in four didn't make it. 
     Now, there is an even tougher standard, and no one knows how 
     many more might fall by the wayside.
       Many teachers feel besieged. They say they are facing ill-
     equipped, often uninterested kids they just didn't see 10 
     years ago.
       Florida's new get-tough rules say every student must have a 
     2.0 cumulative grade-point average--a C--to get a diploma. 
     Every time a kid gets a 1.5 in one class, he has to do 
     better than 2.0 in other classes to improve his average.
       But as kids get older, they have less time to pull up their 
     grades. At the same time, the grading scale has gotten 
     tougher. Now, kids have to get a 70 for a D. The cutoff used 
     to be 65.
       Many among the current crop aren't going to make it, or 
     they'll spend six years in high school, or they'll get a 
     certificate of completion, which means they went to school 
     but never got a diploma.
       And that doesn't point to a bright future. Without 
     diplomas, kids cannot get into college. They cannot compete 
     for the best jobs.
       And so there is pessimism.
       At Leesburg High, Principal Wayne McLeod expects half of 
     his freshman class to drop out. A large number of them have a 
     special problem: They cannot read.
       Many simply cannot fathom the contents of a textbook. Forty 
     percent of the freshman are years behind where they should 
     be.
       Lake School Board member Mary Fletcher, a former teacher, 
     remembers her shock when she returned to Leesburg High. ``I 
     assigned a classic to the class,'' she said, ``and one girl 
     raised her hand to protest: `I don't do reading.' ''

[[Page H2221]]

       One indication of the problem is that Lake County held back 
     many more freshmen this year than the year before, but that 
     didn't do much to help the percentage of sophomores below 
     2.0.
       Who's to blame? Everyone points a finger, either at high 
     schools for doing a bad job, or at middle and elementary 
     schools for passing along kids who should be held back, or at 
     parents.
       What is clear is that thousands of kids just aren't ready.
       Oak Ridge High freshman Michael Petty got A's in middle 
     school. Now, he is struggling with a 1.25 grade-point 
     average.
       ``In math class last year, the only real work was graphing. 
     When we came here and went straight to doing equations, it 
     was like, `Equations? I don't know how to do any of this.' ''
       Making things worse, many kids are living in a dream world. 
     School, they think, has no connection with their lives. They 
     just want jobs so they can get cars.
       Many simply won't show up: ``These kids will not come to 
     class,'' McLeod said. ``They will not do a bit of work when 
     they do come. We need to fail them.''
       Parents are scared. Don Peplow, parent of a Lake Mary High 
     junior, said he is afraid too many students below a 2.0 are 
     going to give up. D students can't suddenly be expected to 
     start making B's and A's, he said.
       ``They're going to say, `Screw it. Why bother?' '' Peplow 
     said. ``That's what really gets me.''


                            A bleak outlook

       These kinds of problems are not new. The truth is that 
     schools have been graduating kids who can't read for years. 
     In Florida, one of every four freshmen entering a college or 
     a university needs some kind of remedial help.
       And though educators and legislators have been talking 
     about the 2.0 rule for a couple of years, there still is no 
     comprehensive plan for a way to turn things around.
       That is being left up to individual schools. At the 
     district level, officials only now are starting to talk about 
     overall strategy.
       In Lake County, ``we are absolutely still developing a 
     program,'' Superintendent Jerry Smith said.
       For 10th-graders who did very poorly last year, Lake has 
     special programs. But only 60 kids at each high school can 
     get in.
       In Osceola County's Gateway High, where 40 percent of the 
     Class of 2000 is below 2.0, the dropout prevention program 
     was dumped two years ago.
       A few miles west, at Poinciana High, there is a seventh-
     period class for extra help. But it only works for kids with 
     transportation because it ends more than an hour after the 
     last bus has gone.
       Most remedial programs deal with small groups, so teachers 
     can work closely with the kids. And that means they are 
     expensive.
       To try to buck that trend, Colonial High tries to find a 
     mentor for every kid in trouble.
       Social studies teacher Dee Libonati recognized that Jeffrey 
     Cope needed help. Jeffrey is bright and conscientious, but he 
     lost interest and got behind. She offered to meet regularly 
     with him before school.
       ``You gave me a lot of encouragement,'' he told her. ``You 
     always checked up on me.''
       Jeffrey is doing a lot better. But the bad news is that 
     there are almost 600 underclassmen at Colonial alone who need 
     help.
       What has been left out of the discussion of ``raising the 
     bar'' is this: How long it will take before results begin to 
     show?
       ``We knew we were in for a long-term fight. But we have to 
     start somewhere,'' said Frank Brogan, state education 
     commissioner.
       ``We were always very careful to point out that you cannot 
     take a freshman already two grade levels below his peers and 
     in six months see that student catch fire.''
       Nevertheless, the new rules affect thousands of kids who 
     would have graduated under the old system.
       Last year, you could have filled the lower bowl of Orlando 
     Arena with Central Florida freshmen who couldn't make a 2.0. 
     This year, the first that the rule applies to every student, 
     you could fill the entire arena and leave another 6,000 
     standing outside.
       Jennifer Reeves, a senior director for Orange County 
     schools, thinks it was a mistake to impose the 2.0 
     requirement all at once, instead of phasing it in.
       ``It wasn't our decision. I wouldn't have done it that way. 
     It was a lot to throw at kids. It's a feel-good thing: `We're 
     going to be tough.' ''
       Caesar Campana, who teaches freshman English at Orange 
     County's Edgewater High, isn't surprised at the poor showing.
       ``On top of the 2.0, we're asking our students to pass a 
     year of algebra I, and this is difficult for a lot of our 
     students.''
       ``They say, raise the bar. I love that, It's like taking a 
     kid in a weight room who can't bench press 200 pounds, and 
     saying, `I'm going to make you stronger. So you have to bench 
     press 300 pounds.' ''


                         uninterested audience

       As difficult as the task is, schools are feeling great 
     pressure to get kids through. There is remediation, tutoring, 
     night school.
       In Volusia County, they've held pep rallies to fire kids up 
     about studying harder. Some schools sent letters home to 
     parents. Some offer alternative classes that award more 
     credits in less time.
       Students who earn more than 24 credits can drop their 
     lowest grade. There are classes without tests. There are 
     sessions where kids get one-on-one attention.
       At Lake County's Eustis High, Lino Santos, 17, has done 
     well in a special class for 10th-graders.
       ``I used to be a D student,'' he said, ``and now I am 
     pretty much an A and B student.''
       Here, the work is simpler. ``It is much easier,'' said 
     Crystal Edge, 15, another Eustis High 10th-grader.
       And that may be a mixed bag.
       ``There are some days when I feel this is great. If kids 
     don't get their diploma, what will they be doing? This keeps 
     them in school,'' said Skellie Morris, who teaches at Tavares 
     High.
       ``But maybe we are giving them the easy way out.''
       Yet, it's not just a matter of finding something that 
     works. Regardless of what teachers do, too many kids care 
     only about their lives outside the classroom.
       At Oak Ridge High, Assistant Principal Susan Storch said 
     some kids are far more concerned about having good jobs and 
     cars.
       ``Their future is Friday night,'' Storch said.
       Oak Ridge math teacher Cherry Jones struggles to teach 
     multiplication, only to hear kids respond: ``Why? I've got a 
     calculator.''
       Bobby Jones is a typical 10th-grader at Umatilla High. He 
     has a C average. He could do better. It just isn't worth the 
     investment.
       ``I would have to spend all of my time in school,'' he 
     said. ``I just won't do it.
       ``I'm a slacker. I'm still passing, but I could have good 
     enough grades to get a scholarship. But it is not going to 
     happen because school is not my main priority.''
       Sadly, it is not simply a question of attitude. Talk to 
     longtime teachers. They'll tell you there have been 
     fundamental changes in the way things are.
       Storch calls it ``simplistic'' to impose higher standards 
     and expect kids suddenly to rise to the occasion.
       ``We will do our best. But we would all like to see some of 
     these people come to a high school--any high school--and 
     experience it for themselves. How they remember school to be, 
     that it is not what it is today.''
       For DeLand High School sophomore Shante Thomas, the tougher 
     standard has added to an already hefty load. Shante is 15, 
     has a 1.7 grade-point average and often misses school because 
     her 1-year-old, Lametriana Harding, suffers from chronic 
     bronchitis.
       Shante brings her son to a child-care facility at her 
     school. And although there is an after-school tutoring 
     program, she can't attend. The child-care program closes when 
     classes end.
       ``I want to do good, and I know I could, but for me it's 
     hard to catch up,'' she said. ``I have all these other things 
     I have to do, like change diapers and take care of my baby.''
       Another surprise these days is the attitude of some 
     parents. They don't care, either.
       ``We have parents now who advise their children to drop out 
     of school and get a job,'' said Delores Gray, longtime 
     guidance counselor at Leesburg High. ``I about fall out of my 
     chair when I hear them.''


                        Push for accountability

       So what's the answer?
       Across Florida and the nation there is a push for more 
     accountability. Brogan, the education commissioner, three 
     years ago began publishing a list of Florida public schools 
     that fall below minimum expectations in test scores. Since 
     then, the number of schools on the list has dropped from 158 
     to 30. Those still on the list this year may face some sort 
     of state intervention.
       Administrators are thinking about typing principals' job 
     reviews to student performance. But they are stepping very 
     gingerly.
       What happens, Seminole County's secondary education 
     director Tom Marcy asks, if a school consistently fails to 
     improve?
       You would have to look for a trend, not just a change from 
     one semester to the next, he said. Then you would have to 
     make sure there were no significant changes in the student 
     population or faculty, that might explain a drop in grades. 
     That can happen with something as simple as a change in 
     attendance zones.
       Should teachers who raise test scores get more money? 
     Should principals who fail to teach kids get fired?
       Historically, educators have fiercely resisted such moves. 
     The rationale: Should a principal of a school with a largely 
     poor, highly mobile student body be as accountable as one in 
     an affluent, stable community flush with bright-eyed honors 
     students?
       ``It's very controversial,'' said Peter Gorman, associate 
     superintendent in Osceola County.
       However, he said, ``the public can no longer accept us 
     saying we can't improve our schools based on factors beyond 
     our control.''
       Eventually, the pressure--and the new emphasis on grades--
     will bring most kids up to speed, Seminole Superintendent 
     Paul Hagerty says.
       But for years to come, some kids will go without diplomas.
       ``It may take a trauma for a few kids,'' Hagerty said, ``to 
     get the attention of the others.''


                     florida's get-tough standards

       Florida's education reform effort isn't just the 2.0 rule 
     and a tougher grading scale.
       This year, all teachers must teach the Sunshine State 
     Standards--guidelines for what kids should know and be able 
     to do by certain grades. This year, the state begins to

[[Page H2222]]

     measure progress with its Florida Comprehensive Assessment 
     Test.
       The state is requiring schools to target students who fail 
     to meet math and reading standards, a chronic problem. In 
     Orange and Osceola counties, for example, at least 30 percent 
     of eighth-graders scored below the 25th percentile on reading 
     and math achievement tests. That means they did worse than 75 
     percent of kids across the country.
       There is a push to get kids up to speed early on, 
     particularly in reading. A state law that takes effect next 
     year won't allow grade school kids who don't read well enough 
     to be promoted. Seminole County has new elementary school 
     tests to diagnose reading problems. In Lake County, there are 
     250 reading volunteers in elementary schools. Orange County 
     this year will have summer school in at least 19 low-
     achieving elementary schools--more than double the number 
     last year.
                                 ______
                                 

                   [From the Orlando Sentinel Online]

 Teacher's Diary: `Apparently, I Speak A Different Language Than They 
                                  Do'

       Today, I gave a test. As always, the students were allowed 
     to use their notes. The way I see it, I serve them better by 
     honing their note-taking and comprehension skills, as opposed 
     to their memorization skills. I have been giving open-note 
     tests since day one.
       Even so, every time I lecture, I have to remind them to 
     copy what I write on the board. They have been in class for 
     150 days. When will they catch on that it will be beneficial 
     to have notes?
       Last week, I put a note on the board about when the test 
     would be. Every day since, I reminded them. Yesterday, I gave 
     them a list of the topics that would be covered. Last night, 
     I put a reminder on my homework hotline.
       Apparently, I speak a different language than they do, 
     because a quarter of them came in this morning and said, ``We 
     have a test today? You didn't tell us we had a test today! 
     Can we use our notes?''
       Now, it's 8 o'clock and I have just finished grading the 
     tests. My spouse has gone into the other room, tired of 
     hearing me yell, ``How many times did we go over this!?'' as 
     I drew a line through another wrong answer.
       More frustrating than the students who answered incorrectly 
     are the ones who don't even attempt an answer.
       I explain to them before every test that I will give them 
     partial credit if I can see they knew at least a little about 
     the answer.
       Even if their answers are different from what we discussed 
     in class, I will give credit if they can explain their point 
     of view.
       Believe it or not, I have had students choose to take a 
     zero because they left their notes at home. What do they do 
     in other classes? What were they doing for the last week when 
     we were learning about the ideas that test covers? Where is 
     their survival instinct?
       I encourage what is known as ``thinking out of the box.'' I 
     want my students to disagree with me. I want them to think, 
     to seek alternatives. Sadly, most of them just can't. Sadder 
     still, many don't want to. They want to be given the answer; 
     they want to write it on the test from memory; and then they 
     want never to think about it again.
       I think that the theory that high expectations will cause 
     kids to rise up to meet those expectations is only true if 
     the kids already have some foundation to stand on. But by the 
     time they reach the upper grades, their feet are already 
     mired in quicksand.
       One foot is stuck in their own inescapable kid-ness, which 
     causes them to try and get out of as much work as possible.
       But the other is mired with teachers who don't expect them 
     to do anything but memorize. I have kids who are about to go 
     to college whose teachers actually give them a copy of the 
     upcoming test to use as a study guide.
       And do you know what? Even after that, some of them fail. 
     Why should I try to teach them to think?

                          ____________________