LETTERS - Letter to the Editor

School Administrator, Nov, 2000

Unwarranted Conclusions

After well over 40 years in education and 32 years as a superintendent, I am not one to get particularly excited about defending the merits of Texas high school football. However, I am sensitive to sloppy research.

The publishing of unmerited conclusions in a magazine such as The School Administrator does bother me.

It may well be true, as you reported in your August issue ("Athletics and Academics," Resource Bank) that "schools with large athletic budgets scored lower on the SAT and ACT exams." But the conclusion of a causal relationship is totally unwarranted.

To state as a fact that "athletic budgets can have a maximum impact of 45 points on the SAT or 1.2 points on the ACT" ignores the multitude of other factors at work. Important socioeconomic factors, demographic differences, etc., all come into play. The statement that "fewer students at schools with large athletic budgets ... take the SAT and ACT exams" may well be a reflection of those factors.

To further illustrate my point, I recently completed a study of the relationship between the percent of children in about 35 elementary schools receiving free and reduced price lunches and the test scores in those schools. The results were totally predictable. The more we provide such lunches, the lower will be the test scores. Ergo, free and reduced priced lunches cause low test scores!

I would urge the researcher at Texas A&M to read and heed the caveats in the articles by William L. Bainbridge and by John A. Kaufhold in the same issue.

O. L. PLUCKER

Superintendent Emeritus,

Kansas City Public Schools,

Kansas City, Kan.

A Time for Criticism

Lorna Jimerson, in her guest column, "Criticism That's Hard To Swallow" (June 2000), makes several points worth remembering.

School board members function on two levels. One is the role as an elected governing official and the second is as a citizen. Public opinion is critical to open consideration, and school board members should listen. Meetings are open to all, announced in advance and agendas and meeting minutes are made available to anyone who asks. School boards represent the public.

However, not every system is perfect and if one reads Jerry Patterson's The Anguish of Leadership, it is the board itself sometimes that removes decent superintendents. Given our democratic process, the public should carefully consider the alternatives and motives of those they empower in the role of school board member when they vote rather than challenge mistakes after the fact.

As we elect new leadership at the federal and state levels of government in November, we should keep in mind that the voice of the public may not say what we as school leaders believe.

The bottom line: Always put the needs of children first and allow all to work together for the betterment of our future.

LUCILLE SCHONBRUN

Superintendent,

Cochise School District,

Cochise, Ariz.

Silence Counts

Leonard Elovitz hit the nail on the proverbial head in his column, "Sending a Signal Through Silence" (May 2000), about the disruptive effect of loud speaker announcements to classrooms.

Research has clearly demonstrated the positive effect of time on task. Principals and supervisors must not only establish conducive environments to allow teachers to emphasize instruction in the classroom, but they also must focus on instruction in their own interactions with teachers.

Most "administrivia" (useless memos, reports and Elovitz's dreaded loud speaker announcements) should be avoided or, at the very least, handled in a way that does not interfere with instructional time. Staff and grade conferences, emails, memoranda and formal and informal discussions with teachers must focus on instruction.

JEFFREY GLANZ

Associate Professor of Education,

Kean University,

Union, N.J.

A Good Reader Service

Service learning is the education reform that connects academic learning with meaningful community service. It is an approach that has been gaining momentum in the last 15 years.

I was pleased that the August issue of The School Administrator chose to focus its articles on the greatest controversies and trends in the field: assessment, evidence of academic impact, institutionalization of service learning, costs and issues surrounding mandated service. The authors used statistics and examples that provided administrators with an excellent overview.

As Alan Melchior suggests in his contribution ("Costs and Benefits of Service Learning"), service learning is a cost-effective approach to engage many learners and make a difference in a community. However, service learning is not free. Teachers who implement service learning need professional development, time and compensation to develop new lesson plans and support with coordination. Research shows that administrative support is one of the key characteristics that predicts successful service learning in the classroom.

We also thank you for listing the National Service-Learning Clearinghouse as an additional resource. I encourage your readers to call (800-808-7378) or visit us on the Web (umn.edu/[sim]serve) for more information. We have almost anything they might need from research to curriculum models.