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NOVEMBER 2005

Teachers College Symposium Exposes Social Costs of Inadequate Education

By Liza Young

Laurie Tisch, Trustee
President Arthur Levine
Charles Rangel, US House of Rep.
Michael Rebell, Director CFE

One of the soundest investments for the financial and moral future of society is proper management of education. Significant educational gaps remain between whites and low income minority groups, spawning the creation of the Campaign for Educational Equity. At the recent symposium at Teachers College of Columbia University, underwritten by the Laurie Tisch Foundation, a member of the TC Board of Trustees, entitled “The Social Costs of Inadequate Education,” a wealth of information was provided regarding the social ramifications of inadequate education, balanced by presentations of experts in educational research who shed light on promising pathways in education.

Ronald F. Ferguson, of Harvard University, enlightened the audience with his idea of school reformation, which he describes as needing to occur at the level of a national movement. He envisions the move towards educational equity as founded on school transformation within the framework of whole-district reform. That is, school reform towards equity requires adequate training of teachers for involvement, but also comprehensive district support in terms of leadership and appropriate accommodations in the classroom to implement changes.

Ferguson indicated standards called for by the Council of Great City Schools as including a “school board focused on policy-level decisions that support improved student achievement and a shared vision between superintendent and board.”

He provided the example of Union City, New Jersey, which over the course of ten years moved from the second lowest performing district in the state to leading in test scores among New Jersey’s largest cities. Rather than the State taking control over the district, the Board gave the authority to completely revamp the system, with Tom Highton, then principal of the Gifted and Talented school appointed as Superintendent and Fred Carrigg, then supervisor of bilingual and English as a second language (ESL) education chosen as executive director of academic programs.

The transformation occurred through a comprehensive examination of what was not working with design of new policy which is annually reviewed, and revised as necessary; effective communication between policy makers and implementers; active support of teachers; properly tailoring programs to the respective needs of localities, such as geared literature to those for whom English is a second language.

Within the home, Ferguson underscored the role of parenting, stating that parents need to be more cognizant of their influence on children. Fergusson highlighted five variables of preschool parenting which research has demonstrated as contributing school readiness, which are: nurturance, discipline, teaching, language and materials. In studies, whites scored higher on these parenting dimensions than minorities, which can be partly contributed to resource inequalities.

In line with Fergusson’s emphasis on the essential role of parenting to school performance, Dr. Clive Belfield, Dept of Economics, Queens College, provided a comprehensive examination of the role and state of early childhood education. Research has demonstrated far-reaching, long–term positive effects of pre-kindergarten on the individual and on society, with participation in such programs leading to reduction in the future in the high school dropout rate, crime, and teen pregnancy.

Belfield described that access to early education is actually higher for African Americans than for whites although examination of access to pre-school across the poverty line reveals that rates are lowest for those just above the poverty.

The challenge for attaining the promises Pre-K programs offer, according to Belfield, is to ensure that the most disadvantaged kids are getting access to quality pre-school. The caliber of pre-K education directly impacts the results it will generate; the gains of Head Start were not equivalent to those of Model Programs—the latter would require more funding.

Belfield further described the debate of Universalizing Pre-K versus targeting it. While Universal pre-school is more politically correct, due to funding limitations it would likely occur at a smaller scale, and according to Belfield, “small universal public subsidy is neither fully efficient nor especially equity enhancing.”

Janet Currie, Department of Economics, Columbia University, a discussant at the program, expressed the view that there is hope for closing the educational gap as seen through examples such as Union City and model pre-school programs. She also indicated that more research is needed with respect to ideal parenting interventions—for example, with respect to the findings that parenting interventions have not increased math scores, she emphasized the need for more research to find out “ what works pedagogically.”

Currie applauded Fergusson’s earlier call for open revelation of research findings among minority groups, positive or negative. Such revelations and research conferences as this pave the road towards reaching equity in education.#

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