Date sent: Wed, 19 Feb 1997 16:09:08 -0600 (CST)
From: LindaP (Texas)
Subject: Lincoln Oregon- Business Symposium

Dear Loop members:

Last week I joined my husband on a business trip to Portland, Oregon. After his business was finished, we took some time to tour the coast and local towns- absolutely gorgeous area! As always, I pick up the local news-rags to see if there is any mention of 'education' and yes- I am always 'lucky'. Funny how the trend is the same state by state...

The following article (and a few to follow) really got my goat :) The article is 'doublespeak' at its best- and Delphi at its worst. Notice the 'breaking up into small groups'--- how many district meetings have YOU had to do that at lately?

Heaven forbid any of these dolts actually do what is necessary to improve education- they would rather row against the tide. Heaven forbid they take a closer look at the crap they call curriculum- they would rather have the 'business' community involve itself in the never ending money pit. On one hand they say the 'message from the public' is no more money- and on the other hand they say money wouldn't improve things anyhow- which is it?

If the folks at the 'top' do not know how to teach our children to read- then how in the hell is big business involvement going to change that fact? When is 'big business' going to catch on- or do they want to. Following this I will put up some articles from Texas- and what OUR business in education group is doing- By Oregon's (and the other states) own statistics- they PROVE their curriculum is not doing what it is sold to do- educate the children. 50 percent of the kids cannot meet the 'other' standards??????????????? Folks- that is pretty scary.

What the lame-brains at this 'symposium' have done- is akin to the Nation at Risk hysteria- they've jumped on the bandwagon with the right lingo- but are using it for their own motives-SCHOOL TO WORK-the ultimate goal of these fanatics.

I feel like the guy from that movie- (sorry memory lapse) I'M MAD AS HELL AND I AM NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE. The boxing gloves are on!

LindaP

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The News Guard
Lincoln City, Oregon
Feb. 12, 1997

(Note:- the News Guard is online- at http://www.orcoastnews.com/newsguard/ but only new issues every Wed. I missed this article by a day- so I typed it out, most errors are theirs )

EDUCATION LEADERS MEET AT SYMPOSIUM

By Judy Norinsky

"Schools are not like a utility. [They] can no longer say send us your children and we will educate them. Today, like in business, we need to create value webs and new partnerships," said Martin Kaufman, dean of the school of education at the University of Oregon, Monday afternoon.

Kaufman was one of two keynote speakers at the Lincoln County Business symposium, a brainstorming conference that brought together 90 educators and business people from all areas of Lincoln County.

Kaufman said the business community should be more intergrally involved in the lives of their community's children.

"Lincoln County public schools cannot be excellent without the help of the community, businesses, families," he said.

Kaufman said that when children grow up in homes and communities that advocate and nourish learning, they blossom. And when they grow up without such attention, their chances of living full and fulfilling lives diminish significantly.

He explained that by the end of the third grade students who have highly developed reading skills for their grade level have exponentially higher rates of achievement 10 years later. And vice versa.

"The number of students who failed to meet the standards in third grade is 50 times larger in the 10th grade," he said. "If we don't inoculate low readers early, they're on a different trajectory."

"We can further predict," he said, "if the pattern isn't reversed by the end of the third grade, which kids will end up in jail."

With 69 percent of the students in the state unable to meet the math standards and 50 percent unable to meet standards in other subjects, these networks are needed to help increase achievement. The only other alternative is to dumb down the curricula or push more students into alternative schools, he said.

Lincoln County School Superintendent Skip Liebertz, who issued a challenge to the school district last year to increase the number of students meeting state standards by 10 percent, said old academic models no longer work. In order to focus the community's effort on student achievement, the collective power of the community must be harnessed.

This is particularly true, he said, because the message from the public in recent years has been "do more with less."

"Research says if we raise the standards, grades go up," he said.

Timothy McGuire, Dean of the Charles H. Lindquist College of Business at the University of Oregon and the other keynote speaker at the symposium gave a number of reasons that it is in the self interest of businesses to get involved in K through 12 education, including the following:

*The nature of work has changed;
*The system of education in the United States is no longer supplying businesses with workers who have the skills required to do the work; and
*Business is the best organized source of people and opportunities.

"Poor educational achievement is self propagating," he said, and "just throwing money at the system will have limited effect on outcomes."

Conference participation responded heartily to the challenge to come up with ways the business community can get involved. After breaking up into small groups to brainstorm, they reported their ideas to the whole group. The final list included over 50 ideas. Here are a few:

*Develop a volunteer network for business people;
*Establish a human resources list at each chamber of commerce for the whole community to access;
*Have business people spend a day at school;
*Include students in activities like the symposium;
*Encourage flexibility in the workplace to allow children more access to their parents;
*Establish program of host homes for students from other countries;
*Sponsor more junior achievement programs;
*Mentor teachers;
*Hire students to work at local businesses;
*Mentor and tutor students for early intervention;
*Use kids collaboratively in community activities.