wow. >I didn't want to edit or summarize too much, because I think this is such a >neat study in reality--in seeing, without "spin" a real piece of Littleton >in 1994 long before the tragedy struck. > >Well, I didn't realize how truly long the piece was. So, I cut out a lot. If >anyone just wants the "instant gratification" of seeing an obvious irony >without reading all of it, skip down to the last three or four paragraphs. > >~Kimberly > > >UIBM > 6/1/94 Education Week - Requiem For A >Reform >By Ann Bradley > > >On the surface, the only thing that distinguishes Littleton, Colo., from >thousands of other American suburbs is the spectacular view of the Rocky >Mountains that rise to the west of town, above the shopping malls and streets >of well-kept, middle-class >homes. > >Beneath its placid facade, though, Littleton is a town torn apart >by a raging argument over its schools. Once the pride of the >community, the school system is now at the center of a fierce >debate over how and what teachers should teach, what should be >expected of students, what roles parents should play, how school >board members should govern, and what schools should look like at >the close of the 20th century. > >Seven months after a trio of candidates running on a back-to- >basics slate took control of the five-member Littleton school >board, the answers to most of these questions are far from clear. >But many people with high hopes for improving American education >are paying attention to the furor in the Denver suburb, because >its voters appear to have rejected many of the central tenets of >the school-reform movement. And Littleton residents, they know, >are not alone in their disaffection with the call for higher >standards for all students, new ways of measuring their progress, >depth rather than breadth of knowledge, and greater attention to >developing students' thinking and social skills. > >In tackling these emotional issues, Littleton has plunged into a >remarkably sustained dialogue about its schools. A town that used >to draw 10 people to its school board meetings has become accus- >tomed to overflow crowds. Nearly every week's issue of the Lit- >tleton Independent carries articles and editorials on the >schools, which serve 16,000 students, 91 percent of whom are >white. > >The major metropolitan newspapers in the area also have paid >close attention. When the new board forced Superintendent Cile >Chavez to resign in early February, large color photos of the >crowds that showed up to support her--estimated at about 1,500 >people--dominated the front pages of both The Denver Post and the >Rocky Mountain News. > >"The silver lining is that there is greater awareness and partic- >ipation than ever before,'' Chavez says. "There is no apathy in >Littleton.'' > >Since her resignation at the special board meeting that has come >to be called the "Sunday-afternoon massacre,'' Chavez has had >plenty of time to ponder the transformation that is reshaping the >district she led for 10 years. The image that comes to her mind >is a kite. It was built, she explains, by Bill Cisney and Carol >Brzeczek, two of the new school board members, out of their >concerns about changing graduation requirements at Heritage High School. The >framework of the kite was made up of their complaints >that parents were not listened to, that the school was venturing >into uncharted territory with performance assessments, and that >the decisionmaking committee at the school was breaking state >"sunshine'' laws by holding closed meetings. > > (skip) > >"What the election told us,'' Brzeczek says, "is that the schools >really didn't know their parents and the community.'' > >One immediate and high-profile casualty of the political shift >was Littleton High School's new graduation system, called Direc- >tion 2000. All three of the district's high schools had been >working to develop outcomes they wanted students to demonstrate >in order to graduate, rather than just pass a list of required >courses. But Littleton High was furthest along. > >The Littleton High faculty, under the direction of Principal Tim >Westerberg, devoted countless hours over eight years to develop- >ing the new system. Teachers put in the time not because their >school wasn't doing well, but because they believed it could do >much better. They had all heard--and many agreed with--the asser- >tion that too many high school students were capable of much >higher levels of academic achievement. They all knew students who >would figure out the minimum required to pass a class, and then >do only that. They also taught "good students'' who exerted >themselves only to learn what they knew would be tested. The >familiar lament about graduation being based on seat time, not >real learning, stung. > (skip) > >Now, after what many refer to as a grieving period marked by >anger and tears, teachers are coming to grips with what they had >and lost. Not all teachers, of course, were sad to see the re- >quirements dropped. > >(skip) > >Student opinion about the performance-based requirements was >divided, at best. Alan Davis and Catherine Felknor, a University >of Colorado at Denver professor and an independent consultant, >respectively, who studied the Direction 2000 reforms, found that >only 36 percent of this year's junior class supported the gradua- >tion requirements. They also found that only a handful of the 18 >students with Spanish surnames believed they could complete the >requirements. > >What's more, the researchers learned that the majority of stu- >dents weren't doing proficient work. Teachers did note, however, that >students were gradually improving and that they were becom- >ing more motivated to complete the demonstrations. > >(skip) > >One reason, Davis says, is that the demonstrations and accompany- >ing skills were woven throughout the school. "All teachers were >emphasizing the same skills in various classes,'' he explains. >"The concerted effort of the teachers was paying off.'' > >The same writing demonstration could be attempted, for example, >in an English or a social-studies class. Many departments took >responsibility for teaching overarching skills. Science teachers >taught listening, because they felt that listening closely was >critical to laboratory work. > >For many students, Katie Pridgeon, a sophomore, says, the bottom >line was worry over whether they could graduate under the new >system. Students had to complete pull-ups to be proficient in >physical fitness, she complains, and give a series of speeches to >fulfill a communications requirement even if they were shy. If >they elected to do a musical performance to meet the performing- >arts requirement, they had to perform a solo or duet--not just >pass the class. > >(skip) > >Parnell describes Littleton High's staff as "sort of in chaos'' >since the return to Carnegie units. > >(skip) > >"It would have been much easier to stay the way it was and make >superficial changes, like is being done in other schools in >America,'' Letvin remarks. "What we tried to do was a little too >much for some in the community to deal with.'' > >(skip) > >Now that Littleton High is back to using decade-old graduation >requirements, there's a widespread feeling that the school board >is finished with the high schools. Its task now is to figure out >what to do with its elementary and middle schools, the focus of >many parents' complaints. > > (skip) > >"The major issue for us, underneath all this stuff, is that there are major >philosophical differences in the community,'' she adds, "and we don't know >how to address them and talk about them with each other.'' > >Chavez, the former superintendent, has done lots of reading about change, and >believes the country is going through an era of "vigilante consumerism'' in >which people not only want to be involved in decisionmaking, but insist that >decisions go their way. Combined with the well-documented distrust of public >institutions and anti- tax sentiment that pervades many states, includ- >ing Colorado, it's a potent mix. > >Still, people in Littleton try to sound hopeful that compromise can be >reached and that the wounds inflicted during and after the election can heal. > >"I don't think we're going to end up killing each other off,'' Cisney says. > > End >
