Introduction and Note from John Holmes, ACSI Director for Government Affairs
In a recent issue of Education Week (May 12, 2010), two respected educators, Phillip Harris and Bruce Smith, wrote a commentary that called us to remember that “The Purpose Is the Point” (subtitle for “An Idea to Consider”). I concur with their opinion that the American culture has come to believe the ad copy of “Just do it” and the comedic line of “Git ‘er done.” But what are we doing? What are we getting done?
In our haste to get to the finish line, find out who won, and award the trophies and hand out the lashes, we don’t take time to think about why we do what we do. What are schools for? (p. 33)
Their commentary could have been the basis for a teacher college’s commencement address. They call us to think again about why we should emphasize accountability in public schools. To think again about the goals we want to achieve. Then they quote Professor John I. Goodlad’s (coauthor of Looking Behind the Classroom Door [Charles A. Jones Publishing, 1974]) “concise historical summary of the goals of schooling”:
Beginning with narrowly academic and religious goals in the 17th century, vocational and social goals were added in the 18th and 19th centuries, and goals of personal or self-realization in
the 20th. (p. 33)
Then Harris and Smith shrug off the loss of “religious goals [that] have fallen by the wayside,” which they say was necessary in order for our nation’s “disparate colonies” (founded by people of various religions) to weave themselves together.
So all the other goals still remain, but American educators cannot understand why our culture has lost its way. Forgive me for being so blunt, but we’ve lost our way because we have forsaken our understanding of our biblical purpose. We must reexamine the true stability and clear direction brought to us by the Word of God. We need its rudder, its engine, and its compass. No wonder Harris and Smith conclude the following:
It’s as if we’re careening down a highway at breakneck speed, happy just to be in motion. But lacking either a GPS system or a map, we have no idea where we’re going. (p. 34)
God bless you, Christian educator, for not forgetting why we do what we do. Let’s continue to offer our students an understanding of Christ, the Rock of our Salvation: there is hope in Him; there is purpose in our lives through Him; there is peace—that the world does not understand—through Him.
Our Creator, by whom all things consist, helps each of us, whether teacher or student, to find His perfect direction for our lives as He gives meaning to them. Our life purpose can emerge through a complete education through which we know that we are created to bring praise and glory to the true and living triune God.
Have a great summer, and don’t forget the very essence of why we are called to the Christian school ministry!
School Choice
Review granted by the Supreme Court! The U.S. Supreme Court granted a review in the Arizona school choice case on May 24, 2010. In November 2009, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit “declared the 13-year-old school choice program unconstitutional because taxpayers are allowed to donate money to religiously affiliated scholarship-granting organizations and children may attend religious schools through the program.” The Supreme Court granted the petitions filed by the state of Arizona and the Alliance Defense Fund. This is good news for the more than 27,000 children who have relied on Arizona’s Individual School Tuition Organization Tax Credit program in order to attend both private secular and private religious schools in Arizona.
ACSI totally agrees with Chip Mellor, the president of the Institute for Justice (IJ) that has litigated for Arizona school choice, when he said, “Securing genuine school choice for every family in America, which includes empowering parents to choose both public and private schools, is one of the most urgent issues of our time.” —“U.S. Supreme Court Grants Review in Arizona School Choice Case: Court to Consider at Later Date IJ’s Request for Summary Reversal,” IJ news release, May 24, 2010
From Capitol Hill
Education, Achievement, and Opportunity Act. Through HR 5060, ACSI’s friend Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) seeks to “amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow a refundable credit against income tax for tuition expenses incurred for each qualifying child of the taxpayer in attending public or private elementary or secondary school.” The bill was referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means on April 15. Please ask your representative to become a cosponsor of Mr. Smith’s bill. So far, there are no cosponsors.
ENDA becoming an issue again. The House and Senate versions of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2009 (ENDA, or HR 3017) are coming to the fore again. ENDA has a religious exemption (of sorts), but faith-based groups will be harmed by this special-rights-for-homosexuals bill. The author of the bill and an avowed homosexual, Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) has gleaned support from 202 cosponsors, or 46% of the House members. The Senate ENDA bill, authored by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), is S 1584, and it has 45 Senate cosponsors. [Editor’s prediction: The House will again pass ENDA before Labor Day, and the Senate will vote on the House bill after the November election.]
USDE plan lacking help for private school students. U.S. Department of Education (USDE) officials now indicate that no decision has been reached about including any provision in the reauthorized bill to ensure that private- and religious-school students would receive their proportionate share of any new ESEA (Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965) funds before state and local administration funds are taken off the top. Recent USDE documents outline the research that supports the department’s ESEA proposals, but these documents make no reference to private schools. Further, it is unclear what criteria would be used to involve private schools in the proposed competitive grants, if indeed private and religious schools are even allowed to be involved. However, ACSI and CAPE (Council for American Private Education) have been encouraged in these legislative struggles by Rep. Dale Kildee (D-MI), who is chairman of the House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education. Kildee said that private and religious schools would “find friends on both sides of the [political] aisle” who would support equitable participation for private schools. Read more in the April 2010 CAPE Outlook.
ESEA hearings. The Senate HELP Committee, chaired by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) continues to hold hearings on the reauthorization of ESEA (also known as NCLB, or No Child Left Behind), focusing first on student health, physical education, and well-being, and then on early childhood education.
Financial reform. Portions of S 3217, the Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010, proved to warrant the earlier concerns of the private school community. Would the drafted Senate wording have a possible impact on schools that accept donations or tuition payments by credit cards, or that allow parents to pay annual tuition monthly? Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) included four amendments to S 3217 that address our concerns. The U.S. Chamber of Congress and the National Federation of Independent Business also expressed their concerns about this new law’s implications for small entities.
News You Can Use
The Condition of Education 2010—an annual statistical portrait of American education. The National Center for Education Statistics report was released and submitted to Congress and the president on May 27, 2010. The 2010 report features a special section on high-poverty schools. It examines the types and locations of schools that have the highest levels of poverty; the characteristics of the students, their teachers, and their principals; and student achievement. The Condition of Education 2010 annual report covers all aspects of education, from student achievement to school environment and from early childhood through postsecondary education. The report contains 49 indicators that provide a progress report on education in America. The full text of the report is available at the National Center for Education Statistics website.
ACSI-school alum John Wall: First in the NBA draft? John Wall, a graduate of Word of God Christian Academy in Raleigh, North Carolina—an ACSI member school—and a star basketball guard at the University of Kentucky, is purported to be in line for the number one pick in the 2010 National Basketball Association draft.
Problem behaviors persisting from poor-quality childcare. A federally funded childcare study of 1,300-plus children that began in 1991 has been released in the May–June issue of Child Development. The study found that academic and deportment problems by those who have received low-quality childcare from ages 0 through 4½ persisted through age 15.
This was unexpected by the researchers because they thought the negative effects would disappear when other influential factors such as maturation, elementary teachers, and peers came into play. “They discovered that teenagers who had received higher-quality child care were less likely to report engaging in problem behaviors such as arguing, being mean to others and getting into fights.”
Deborah Lowe Vandell, of the University of California, led the analysis. She stated, “What was the surprise for us was that the effects at age 15 were the same size as we had seen in elementary school and just prior to school entry.” The researchers plan to continue this study. —Rob Stein,
"Study Finds That Effects of Low-Quality Child Care Last into Adolescence,”
Washington Post, May 14, 2010
Uproar over National Day of Prayer tradition. A bipartisan press conference was held April 21 at the Capitol to defend the National Day of Prayer in response to a federal judge’s ruling it unconstitutional. Presidents have issued a proclamation designating a National Day of Prayer since 1952.
National Notes, June 2010