Learning: Innovators
Math Texts Don't Add Up

Will publishers help find the solution?

Growing up in rural Idaho, Gerald Kulm would troop off to a two-room schoolhouse, then "come home, sit my brothers and sisters down, and teach them what I'd learned." He went on to teach high school students, and then prospective math teachers.

Now, Kulm heads up a panel of math educators for the American Association for the Advancement of Science that critiques math best sellers on the textbook market.

The panel's first report, on middle school math books, flunked every popular, commercially produced textbook that came under scrutiny.

Kulm's second report, on algebra texts, was a bit more upbeat--seven were judged "adequate." Still, five of the 12 texts were "so inadequate that they lack potential for student learning." None was rated "excellent."

What's the problem? For most of the books, Kulm explains, the teacher editions don't help teachers teach-- a critical factor, since most American teachers must rely on books for lesson plans. European and Asian teachers have much more time for collaboration and lesson prep.

Kulm adds that the books try to cover too much. "Each state has its own standards, and the commercial texts try to address the standards of as many states as possible."

Impact: The reports may be impacting the textbook industry. Kulm says that when the first report was issued, publishers said, "You're crazy!" But when the algebra report came out a year later, publishers asked for help in interpreting the findings.

For More: Visit www.project2061.org/newsinfo/press/rl000426.htm for study summaries and links to more detailed results and other AAAS evaluations.

On Educating Black Males

Innovator:
Vernon Polite

Job:
Associate professor, coordinator of graduate programs for education administration, Catholic University

Bright Idea:
As editor of African American Males in School and Society (Teachers College Press), Polite has pulled together a book targeted to educators that explores barriers to learning that Black males face throughout their K-12 years, into college, and beyond.

As early as second or third grade, African American males begin receiving subliminal messages about who they are in society, says Polite. And those messages, quite often, aren't good.

"Parity in education for African American males is still not there," asserts Polite, a former public school administrator and elementary and high school principal.

"In terms of their treatment, the number of expulsions and disciplinary actions taken in school, and the disproportionate referrals to special ed as opposed to gifted and talented programs, these students get the message that they are a problem population," Polite notes.

With co-editor James Earl Davis, Polite presents the work of leading scholars such as Michele Foster and Edmund W. Gordon, who examine education policies and practices that challenge African American males' ability to succeed.

Topics include attitudes toward learning, identity development, achievement and social class, the impact of technology, responsible fatherhood, and college recruitment and retention.

Looking at the cycle of failure that many young Black males experience, Polite emphasizes the importance of getting them through the K-12 years in a positive mode. Otherwise, he notes, "they're not going to make it to higher ed at all.

"And if we fail to use technology for knowledge construction," Polite adds, "we relegate this entire population from the job market of the future."

Impact: The book provides concrete recommendations for educators, parents, school administrators, and policy-makers that, according to Polite, stand to positively influence the education and social outcomes of African American males.

For More: E-mail Polite at polite@cua.edu. To order African American Males in School and Society ($23.95 paper), visit www.teacherscollegepress.com/
authfiles/polite.html or call 800/575-6566.

Drug Programs That Work

In 1978, nurse Denise Hallfors saw a young drug addict after open heart sur-gery to repair drug-induced damage. "He had tubes everywhere. His thin chest had been wired and sutured shut," she recalls. "I got him to bring friends in to see the horrible things he was living through." Now a University of North Carolina professor, Hallfors has surveyed schools to learn what prevention programs they use--and isn't happy with the results.

What programs are most popular?
Drug Awareness and Resis-tance Education (D.A.R.E.), Here's Looking At You, and McGruff's Drug Prevention and Child Protection.

But there's no credible research that these programs work. D.A.R.E. has been found to have minimal short-term and no long-term effect. It's not enough for a teacher, parent, or police officer to tell children that drugs are bad for you.

Are there programs that do work?
Yes. They include Recon-necting Youth, Life Skills Training, Project ALERT, Project STAR, Alcohol Mis-use Prevention, and Project Northland.

Effective programs make extensive use of role-playing to help children rehearse what to do when they run into difficult life situations.

They're carefully developed and should be carried out as designed. Modifying them--doing less role-playing, for example--may harm their effectiveness.

Why don't districts use the best programs?
A program may be politically popular or well-marketed, with user-friendly materials. But that doesn't mean it actually works.

For More:
Visit www.sph.unc.edu/external_affairs/news/. Go to Spring 2000 news releases and click on "Study of 81 Dis-tricts..." for the complete study. E-mail Hallfors at denise_hallfors@unc.edu.

Know Rocket Scientists?

Innovators:
Nick Frankovits,
Leila Gay Evans
Grant Luton

Job:
Teachers from Springfield Local High School in Akron, Ohio, and directors of Partnership for America's Future Inc. (PAF Inc.)

Bright Idea:
PAF Inc., founded in 1990 by Frankovits (center), posts challenges for young "inventucators" online, inviting them to apply scientific problem-solving methods to real-life quandaries submitted by businesses and other organizations.

Students may elect to design a bicycle that's more visible at night, devise a method to demonstrate the Doppler effect in a classroom, or create a logo for a local company.

Inventors with the most creative and viable solutions may be rewarded with modest donations from businesses or trips to demonstrate their project.

But "we believe the greatest reward will come from a feeling of personal success," says Evans, a 30-year teaching veteran. "When students believe in themselves and the processes they are being taught, there is no limit to what they can achieve."

To preserve these student achievements, Frankovits, Evans, and Luton established the National Gallery for America's Young Inventors in conjunction with the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

The gallery inducts a maximum of six inventions annually, each chosen by a student board of directors. The youngest inductee is eight-year-old Spencer Rocco Whale, who invented "KidKare," a device that combines a riding toy, such as a wagon, with an I.V. pole to make an unpleasant hospital experience less traumatic for children.

Next Steps:
As a result of her work with four of the Rocket Boys from the movie October Sky, Evans is developing Rocket Camps nationwide, hoping to inspire a new generation of forward-looking young scientists.

For More:
For More: Call 330/376-8300 or visit www.pafinc.com.

Innovator:
Tim Crawford

Job:
NEA staffer managing NEA teacher quality programs and projects

Bright Idea:
As the standards movement began to gather steam, NEA's Teaching and Learning unit set out to provide answers to members' questions about high-stakes testing and accountability. That's how the Student Assessment Series was born. Titles such as Assessing Learning in the Classroom and Implementing Standards-Based Education have been published to help provide knowledge and skills and to relieve members' stress about standards and testing.

"There was still one voice missing from the discussion of standards implementation and testing: the teacher's voice," says Crawford, who's part of NEA's Teaching and Learning staff.

That voice comes through loud and clear in the newly released publication Coping with Standards, Tests, and Accountability.

"I was particularly pleased that this book provided an opportunity to co-publish with the NEA Professional Library," Crawford notes.

The book presents the views of teachers, teacher educators, and administrators who have thought deeply and written extensively about accountability, testing, and standards programs in states and school districts throughout the nation.

Because standards implementation efforts differ from state to state--and often from community to community within a state--the book's 12 well-referenced chapters represent a wide variety of views and experiences.

For More:
Contact the NEA Professional Library at 800/229-4200 or visit the Web at www.nea.org/books. The Student Assessment Series publications can also be ordered at that Web site.