Over 25 years ago James Coleman wrote a report funded by the United States Office of Education. What Coleman essentially found was the children from poor families could not learn at the same achievement levels as their more affluent peers regardless of what schools did. Subsequently Paul Edmonds, then director of the Center for Urban Studies at Harvard, and others developed research (known as the "effective schools" research) which clearly showed that there were many schools which served poor students which were highly effective. Furthermore, they found that there were elements which were common to all - clear school mission, high expectations for success, instructional leadership, frequent monitoring of student progress, opportunity to learn/student time on task, a safe and orderly environment and strong home-school relations.

In the years since the publication of the effective schools research, no new data has emerged disproving it. Sadly, however, the findings have not been put into practice across the board in the country with the result that many poor children still receive an education which is inadequate. This has long-term ramifications both for them as individuals and for the society as a whole.

Every few months there is a story somewhere in the media about a school in an impoverished area in which students achieve beyond general expectations. While these stories are heartwarming because it is good to see deserving children who have been well served by their schools, it is also sad. The factors which make that school successful are not a new formula which has only been discovered recently by that school or the media, but the courageous implementation of steps which have been repeatedly proven to be critical. We need to get to the point when these kinds of schools become the rule rather than the exception.

While the inevitability of low achievement on the part of children from poor families was disproved a long time ago, it is implicitly assumed by many to be true. These beliefs have a power of their own, creating self-fulfilling prophecies at times. I was reminded of this when reading some of the stories about the results of the PISA test on reading, mathematics and science which was given to 400,000 15 year olds in 57 different countries in 2006. While there were discernible differences between affluent and less affluent students in every country, the differences between groups in the United States were among the largest in the world.

What needs to be done is clear and has been clear for a long time. Doing it is not easy, however. It is not paint-by-the-numbers. Failing to put it into practice has had and will continue to have serious consequences.

Budget Meeting Information

Over the next month and a half, the members of the Board of Education will be reviewing the 2008-09 school budget, along with interested members of the public. For your information, the schedule of meetings and specific presentations is as follows:

February 7

Presentation of the 2008-09 Preliminary Budget

Review of Elementary School Budgets

Review of Special Education Budget

February 28

Review of Middle School/High SchoolBudgets

Technology Infrastructure Budget

March 6

Budget Deliberations

March 13

Budget Deliberations/Adoption of 2008-09 General Fund Budget.

All of the meetings will be held at the Community Center in Room 208. The meetings start at 7:15 p.m.

All members of the Herricks community are welcome to attend.