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Monday, February 24, 1997

Study, scores indicate students doing better

By PEGGY FIKAC Associated Press

AUSTIN - When lawmakers passed the landmark education overhaul known as House Bill 72, this year's high school graduates were just getting ready to enter kindergarten.

Because of the 1984 law, their public schools were required to keep classes smaller in the lower grades. They had to pass their courses to participate in extracurricular activities. And their younger brothers and sisters may have benefited from more widely available prekindergarten classes for disadvantaged students.

Some requirements still draw criticism from those who consider them too stringent or expensive or punitive.

But the basics have endured, even through a 1995 education overhaul that returned more control of education to local school districts.

The bottom line is that the 1984 provisions have paid off in better-prepared students, officials say.

"House Bill 72 and its emphasis on raising standards for all children has paid dividends. I do think the children who have graduated and who went through our public school system with those reforms are better prepared" for work or college, said Texas Education Commissioner Mike Moses, who was a school superintendent when the bill was passed.

That is borne out by preliminary results of a study by the nonprofit RAND Corp., which does research on public policy.

When controlling for differences such as parental education, family income and size, and proportion of minority students, Texas was ranked from second to fourth among states examined on national standardized test scores in 1992 and 1994.

"The first factor that comes out as the main difference between the states that are at the top and the bottom is student-teacher ratio," said David Grissmer, senior management scientist with RAND.

Under the 1984 law, Texas class size is capped at 22 students-to-one teacher in kindergarten through fourth grade.

Texas also enrolled about 23 percent of its 4-year-olds in pre-kindergarten classes between 1990 and 1992, compared with a national average of 16 percent, Grissmer said.

Some progress also can be seen in other measures.

Mean scores on the SAT college entrance exam have increased, from 493 on the verbal portion in 1987 to 495 in 1996. On the math portion of the SAT, the increase has been from 486 to 500. The earliest year available for SAT scores is 1987 because the scores have been refigured.

Dropout rates also have declined, according to the Texas Education Agency.

In the 1987-88 school year, the earliest available, 6.7 percent of students in grades seven through 12 dropped out, according to TEA. The agency said that figure dropped to 1.8 percent in 1994-95. A state audit has raised questions about the accuracy of dropout figures.

Bill Haley, a former state lawmaker who sponsored House Bill 72, said the RAND study is particularly gratifying to those who knew it would be years before the changes paid off.

"I remember us telling people over and over, 'Don't look at tomorrow or next year or the next to see the results. The results are going to be seen 12 years from now when these kids start graduating'," he said.

Moses said, "When you factor in the (enrollment) growth we've had, it appears children are doing better. And having said that, let me say we're still not where we need to be."

But Eddie Joseph of the Texas High School Coaches Association still maintains the no-pass, no-play provision of the law has had negative effects.

He supported a 1995 law change that shortened the extracurricular suspension for students who make below grade 70 from six weeks to three weeks if they can bring up their grades.

"I think what we said back in 1984 really kind of came to pass - we were having youngsters drop out if they weren't able to participate in the seventh grade. A lot of those didn't come back," he said. "A lot ... probably dropped out of extracurricular activities, a whole lot of them did that.

"I think the effect was a lot more negative than it was positive," he said.

Still, Joseph said, "The one positive thing it did was put the focus on what you're in school for. You're in school to get an education."

James Crow of the Texas Association of School Boards said his group has wanted more flexibility in the class-size limits, which some have criticized as a state mandate requiring schools to spend local money on more facilities.

But Crow - who supported the 1995 effort to give more leeway to school districts as long as they achieve student performance - said the 1984 law improved education by focusing attention on it.

"A lot of local school officials, teachers, principals, superintendents, school board members up and down the line sort of redoubled their efforts after House Bill 72, when the public eye was focused on our education system," he said. "I think they increased their own expectations of themselves." Send a Letter to the Editor about This Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
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