The American Association of School Personnel Administrators has joined the long list of groups that have issued a formal response to the national education goals approved by President Bush and the nation’s governors.
But its document raises more questions than answers.
In fact, most of the report takes the form of questions that personnel and human-resources administrators might consider in pondering how to meet the goals.
The questions center on such issues as possible changes in staff recruitment and -selection techniques; new relationships with business and industry to expand the pool of qualified math and science teachers; and staff training programs in such areas as alternative-assessment strategies and higher-order thinking skills.
The organization--which represents personnel and human-resources employees in school districts nationwide-maintains that the goals cannot be met without the full participation of its members, “who have a key responsibility in assuring that classrooms across the nation are staffed by the most effective teachers.”
The report, “A Response to the National Education Goals,” is available for $12 from AASPA Headquarters, 2330 Alhambra Blvd., Suite 157, Sacramento, Calif. 95817.
School-board members in Minnesota, Nebraska, and Louisiana are not optimistic about achieving the national education goals, according to a study released last month.
Researchers from St. Cloud State University, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and the University of New Orleans received responses to their survey from 297 school-beard members in the three states.
Respondents cited high costs as the greatest impediment to accomplishing the goals.
The number of female and Hispanic principals in New York City rose significantly this year, as the city moved to fill vacancies created by an early retirement offer.
According to a study by the city’s board of education, the overwhelming majority of school principals continue to be white males. But, it found, of the 211 new appointees so far, 118 have been women, compared with only 79 of the retirees; and 28 have been Hispanic, compared with only 9 of the retiring principals.
Fifty-two new black principals were also hired, compared with 47 of those retiring.
Schools Chancellor Joseph A. Fernandez, who had pushed for the retirement plan as a way to increase the number of female and minority administrators on the job, said in a written statement, “I am encouraged that our new recruitment and testing policies, as well as our training programs, are beginning to pay off.” --L.O.
