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Educators Focus on 'Pain' of Standards
By JACQUES STEINBERG
Three years ago, when most of the
nation's governors and dozens of cor
porate leaders joined President Clin
ton at an education summit meeting
in Palisades, N.Y., only 14 states had
standards outlining what students
should know and be able to do.
Now, with the word "standards" a
near mantra of politicians and edu
cators - by spring, 49 states will
have adopted some form of them in
at least some grades and subjects
the delicate and politically charged
task of meeting such lofty guidelines
is beginning.
Ultimately, millions of students
could be held back.
To anticipate such hazards and
sustain the momentum generated at
the last gathering, the same group is
reconvening today and Friday at the
same place, an I.B.M . conference
center on the New York-New Jersey
border.
After listening to an opening talk
from President Clinton, the 117 lead~
ers - including 28 governors, 21
state school superintendents and 34
executives - are committed to figur
ing out what comes next: defining
the standards so that they make
sense to students and parents; set
. ting aside new funds to retrain teach
ers; drafting tests that gauge the
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students' new knowledge, and stand
ing firm when some students invari
ably fall short.
How the leaders decide to proceed
will ripple across the country in the
coming months and years, affecting
the academic experiences, and fu
tures, of a generation.
Louis V. Gerstner, the chairman of
I.B.M. and the driving force behind
both conferences, says the current
gathering will focus on what he calls
"the pain," which he defines as the
sting that teachers, principals and
students feel when they realize that
they are now being held accountable
for their performance and will be
disciplined accordingly.
"People are saying, 'Oh my God,
these kids are gOing to fail,' or,
'They're not going to make it, so we
need to lower standards because
we're going to hurt their esteem,' ..
Mr. Gerstner said in an interview.
"We understand the pain. And we're
going to have to deal with it. But
we're not going to deal with it by
backing oft."
But there are already indications
that some states are doing just that.
In New York, " some teachers and
principals are saying that although a
new high school graduation test is
more difficult than previous ver
sions, a lower passing score and le
nient grading guidelines make it eas
ier for students to pass.
While standards have been hailed
as a means to insure that students in
rich and poor schools alike are cov
ering the same high ground, there is
hardly unanimity among educators
that establishing such goals is the
best course for AmerIcan schools.
Among the movement's loudest crit
ics is Alfie Kohn, an author whose
most recent book, "The Schools Our
Children Deserve" (Houghton Miff
lin), laments that standards stunt the
creativity and flexibillty of the class
I:oom teacher.
"Thank God for Iowa," Mr. Kohn
said, of the only state that has de
clined to write standards, deferring
instead to districts and schools ... Be
cause of the sensibility reflected in
this conference, whole schools across
the country have been transformed
into giant test-prep centers, where
not much thinking is going on."
Bob Chase, the president of the
National Education Association, the
nation's largest teachers union, says
that his members support the idea
that they should be "held account
able for student learning." But he
adds that when he addresses the
conference participants, he intends
to give them a bracing report from
the classroom.
"With all due respect," he wrote in
a recent essay, "the prevailing mind
set among too many politicians is
something out of 'Field of Dreams' :
'If we set high standards, students
will magically achieve.' And they are
deluding themselves."
Mindful of such critiCism, Mr.
Gerstner and Gov. Tommy G.
Thompson of Wisconsin, who are
leading the event, have put together
a IOO-page briefing book of the
states' experiences with standards,
warts and all. They write, for exam
ple, that many states have crammed
their standards with so many topics
to memorize as to paralyze students,
and then have written tests that bear
no connection to the standards.
They also lament that although so
many states have put standards on
the books in the last three years, in
no state has a majority of either
fourth- or eighth-grade students been
judged to be " proficient readers."
In a reference to the pain that Mr.
Gerstner has described, the briefing
book refers to New York state,
among others, where more than half
of all fourth graders failed a new
English test given last January, a
performance that shattered the con
fidence of even the most elite dis
tricts in the state.
Trying to sustain
the momentum of
new accountability
in school.
Not all the news is bleak, though.
The conference attendees, includ
ing the leaders of Du Pont, GIaxo
Wellcome and Novell, are likely to
hear much about Texas, where 76
percent of third graders passed the
state's standardized test of academ
ic skills last year, up from 58 percent
in 1994. Gov. George W. Bush, who
presided over much of that progress,
will not be in attendance, citing Pres
idential campaign commitments.
Gov. James Hunt of North Caroli
na will be there, though, and he in
tends to discuss his own success
story: a rise in test scores that he
has attributed , at least in part, to
incentives that raise teachers' sala
ries by as much as $1,500 for their
schools' good work, and threatens
their dismissal if their students lag.
Mr. Gerstner has said he hopes
that the participants will depart on
Friday by issuing a statement of
consensus on the direction the states
should head next. Given that the
compOSition of the group is biparti
san, and the egos strong, it is unclear
how much they will be able to say,
especially with divisive issues like
publicly financed vouchers at the top
of the agenda of many governors.
Moreover, the predecessor of the
1996 summit meeting, a similar
event convened by President George
Bush in 1989, ended on a rousing note,
with commitments to make Ameri
can children first in the world in
math and science by 2000. It is a goal
that, according to standardized tests,
is nowhere within reach.
�, ,
Fannie Mae Eases Credit
To Aid Mortgage Lending
Minority Home Ownership May Increase
By STEVEN A. HOLMES
WASHINGTON, Sept. 29 - In a
move that could help increase home
ownership rates among minorities
and low·income consumers, the Fan
nie Mae Corporation is easing the
credit requirements on loans that it
will purchase from banks and other
lenders.
The action, which will begin as a
pilot program involving 24 banks in
15 markets - including the New
York metropolitan region - will en
courage those banks to extend home
mortgages to individuals whose
credit Is generally not good enough to
qualify for conventional loans. Fan
nie Mae officials say they hope to
make it a nationwide program by
next spring.
Fannie Mae. the nation's biggest
underwriter of home mortgages, has
been under increasing pressure from
the Clinton Administration to expand
mortgage loans among low and mod
erate income people and felt pres
sure from stock holders to maintain
its phenomenal growth in profits.
In addition, banks, thrift institu
tions and mortgage companies have
been pressing Fannie Mae to help
them make more loans to so-called
subprime borrowers. These borrow
ers whose incomes, credit ratings
and savings are not good enough to
qualify for conventional loans, can
only get loans from finance compa
nies that charge much higher inter
est rates - anywhere from three to
four percentage points higher than
conventional loans.
"Fannie Mae has expanded home
ownership for millions of families in
the 1990's by reducing down payment
requirements," said Franklin D.
Raines, Fannie Mae's chairman and
chief executive officer. " Yet there
remain too many borrowers whose
credit is just a notch below what our
underwriting has required who have
been relegated to paying significant
ly higher mortgage rates in the so
called subprime market."
Demographic information on these
borrowers is sketchy. But at least
one study indicates that 18 percent of
the loans in the subprime market
went [Q black borrowers, compared
to 5 per cent of loans in the conven
tional loan market.
In moving, even tentatively, into
this new area of lending, Fannie Mae
is taking on significantly more risk,
which may not pose any difficulties
during flush economic times. But the
government-subsidized corporation
may run into trouble in an economic
downturn, prompting a government
rescue similar to that of the savings
and loan industry in the 1980's.
"From the perspective of many
people, including me, this is another
thrift industry growing up arounq
us," said Peter . Wallison a resident
fellow at the American Enterprisl!
Institute. "If they fail, the govern..
ment will have to step up and bail
them out the way it stepped up an4
bailed out the thrift industry."
';
Under Fannie Mae's pilot pr<k
gram, consumers who qualify c~
secure a mortgage with an interest
rate one percentage point above thal
of a conventional, 30-year fixed rate
mortgage of less than $240,000 - a
rate that currently averages about
7.76 per cent. If the borrower makes
his or her monthly payments on time
for two years, the one percentage
•
point premium is dropped.
Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest
underwriter of home mortgages,
does not lend money directly to Coil'
sumers. Instead, it purchases loans
that banks make on what is called
the secondary market. By expanding
the type of loans that it will buy,
Fannie Mae is hoping to spur banks
to make more loans to people with
less-than-stellar credit ratings.
Fannie Mae officials stress that
the new mortgages will be extended
to all potential borrowers who can
qualify for a mortgage. But they ad~
that the move is intended in part to
increase the number of minority and
low income home owners who tend to
have worse credit ratings than non~
Hispanic whites.
:
Home ownership has, in fact, ex
ploded among minorities during the
economic boom of the 1990's. The
number of mortgages extended to
Hispanic applicants jumped by 87.~
per cent from 1993 to 1998, according
to Harvard University's Joint Center
for Housing Studies. During that
same period the number of African
Americans who got mortgages to
buy a home increased by 71.9 per
cent and the number of Asian Amert
:
cans by 46.3 per cent.
In contrast, the number of nOQ
Hispanic whites who received loan.
for homes increased by 31.2 per cen~.
Despite these gains, home owner
ship rates for minorities continue t{>
lag behind non-Hispanic whites, III
part because blacks and HispaniCS iR
particular tend to have on average
worse credit ratings.
:
In July, the Department of Hous.
ing and Urban Development pr()o
posed that by the year 2001, 50 pel'
cent of Fannie Mae's and Freddie
Mac's portfoliO be made up of lo~
to low and moderate-income borrow-
ers. Last year, 44 percent of the loaris
Fannie Mae purchased were from
these groups.
:
The change in policy also comes at
the same time that HUD is investi~
gating allegations of racial discrimi~
nation in the automated underwrit
ing systems used by Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac to determine the credit
worthiness of credit applicants.
THURSDA y , SEPTEMBER 30,1999
�
Dublin Core
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Title
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Bruce Reed - Education Series
Creator
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Domestic Policy Council
Bruce Reed
Education Series
Is Part Of
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<a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/show/36312" target="_blank">Collection Finding Aid</a>
<a href="http://catalog.archives.gov/description/647429" target="_blank">National Archives Catalog Description</a>
Description
An account of the resource
Bruce Reed's Education Series include material pertaining to national standards and testing; the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and the 1999 efforts to reauthorize the Act; 100,000 teachers and class size; charter schools and vouchers; education events and forums; social promotion; Goals 2000; HOPE Scholarships; Pell Grants; the Education Flexibility Partnership Act of 1999 (Ed-flex); education funding and budgets; and various school and teacher issues. The files contain correspondence, reports and articles, memos, polls, handwritten notes, hard copies of emails, schedules, printed material, and memos to the President.
Provenance
A statement of any changes in ownership and custody of the resource since its creation that are significant for its authenticity, integrity, and interpretation. The statement may include a description of any changes successive custodians made to the resource.
Clinton Presidential Records: White House Staff and Office Files
Publisher
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Clinton Presidential Library & Museum
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133 folders in 9 boxes
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Paper
Dublin Core
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Title
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Achieve
Creator
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Domestic Policy Council
Bruce Reed
Education Series
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Box 88
<a href="http://clintonlibrary.gov/assets/Documents/Finding-Aids/Systematic/Reed-Education-finding-aid.pdf" target="_blank">Collection Finding Aid</a>
<a href="http://catalog.archives.gov/description/647429" target="_blank">National Archives Catalog Description</a>
Provenance
A statement of any changes in ownership and custody of the resource since its creation that are significant for its authenticity, integrity, and interpretation. The statement may include a description of any changes successive custodians made to the resource.
Clinton Presidential Records: White House Staff and Office Files
Format
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Adobe Acrobat Document
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Clinton Presidential Library & Museum
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Date Created
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3/7/2011
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647429-achieve
647429