Eight years have passed since the "Nation at Risk" report shook America's educational institutions to the core with a gloomy prognostication for the future if things didn't change.
In those eight years, some things have happened to reverse the slide into mediocrity, but not near enough, says Terrel H. Bell, a Utahn who headed the U.S. Department of Education when the report was issued."We've regained a little in our (college entrance) scores but not nearly what we anticipated," he said. "Our dropout rate continues as high as ever."
Bell hopes to spur the reform process through a book he has written with Donna L. Elmquist, a partner in Terrel Bell and Associates, educational consultants. They are working in cooperation with Elam Hertzler of Washington, D.C., to get their ideas before America's education community.
The book, "How to Shape Up Our Nation's Schools," will be officially introduced to Washington's press corps this week, Bell said.
The book outlines "three crucial steps for renewing American education," and they're what Bell sees as common sense approaches to revitalization of America's schools.
They begin with a major shift in motivational gears as the necessary underpinning for an effective educational system. Students, teachers, parents and others involved in education need to re-evaluate their perceptions of why schools exist and what they should be doing, Bell said.
"School should become the place where students want to be," not a process they tolerate, he said. A national curriculum in basic core subjects, accompanied with national assessment, would be part of the restructuring to make schools more efficient and accountable.
The second thrust would involve parents. They would be required - by law, if necessary - to sign an agreement committing themselves to their child's progress in school.
"We know that won't get all the parents," Bell conceded, "but we need some structure, a deliberate program to get parents back into the schools. We propose that every school district have a mandatory reading program with a list of required books, with parents responsible for seeing that their children read them."
The third element - and the one for which Bell has the most enthusiasm - would be a concerted effort to make every school a "high-tech learning center." Computers - not in labs, but in the classroom - would facilitate individual learning and help teachers be more effective, he said. Every child would be spending a third of his or her educational time on a computer if the authors had their way.
The costs, admittedly, would be enormous, but Bell and Elmquist are convinced that technology is "the catalyst for restructuring our schools." Districts should begin immediately to convert schools, he said, not with scattered efforts, but school by school over a preset period of time.
"Education is still in another era, technologically," said Bell. "It's inevitable that it has to catch up."
"Technology goes beyond computers," Elmquist added. "For instance, teachers should have phones in every room to help them communicate with parents."
President Bush's proposal for extensive research and then a period of testing school restructuring proposals at 535 sites around the country is "too long and too late," said Bell. The need for drastic change to keep American competitive in a world economy is too urgent for a long phase-in.
After serving as education secretary from 1981 to 1985, Bell says he has changed his mind about some things as he's assessed where education is and where it needs to be. As education secretary, he advocated abolition of the Cabinet post. Now he sees a larger role for the department, "not commanding directly, but coordinating and facilitating."
An educational trust fund, similar to the one that operates for highways, could be a motivation for schools to meet high standards, Bell said.
The consultants are working with Idaho, which seems prepared to forge ahead with major restructuring of its schools, Bell said.
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Bell's Basics\ T.H. Bell's book, "How to Shape Up Our Nation's Schools," recommends updating schools with the latest technology, motivating students through frequent interscholastic academic competition and forcing parents to sign contracts pledging to work with their child.