Reading scores set off alarms

Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt is "uncomfortable" with a drop in reading scores among some elementary students in the Beehive State and said Thursday he will target that problem with money and attention in the upcoming legislative session.

Leavitt's comments came after a comprehensive session titled "Education in the states: An exchange of ideas" at meetings of the Republican Governors Association here this week.The effort to improve education got attention from the country's 32 Republican governors Thursday and has been identified as one in a handful of top-drawer issues for the increasingly powerful association.

During six years in office, Leavitt has addressed several factors in Utah's expansive education system: charter schools, class sizes, technology, parent involvement and problems specific to middle schools and the so-called "highly impacted" campuses.

But he's scanned the education horizon and is now most concerned about Joey and Jennie Utahn's diminished ability to read beyond books about Dick, Jane and their dog, Spot.

"Fourth- and fifth-grade reading scores are really worrying me," Leavitt said.

For the first time, reading test scores are dropping. Meanwhile, most other subject areas are improving. "But I don't think you can tolerate any type of erosion in reading scores. That kind of thing feeds through the system and the kids never catch up."

Leavitt gave no hints about the new initiative but said he has coordinated with the State Office of Education and other governors for ideas.

He is reworking parts of his proposed budget for fiscal 2000 to accommodate parts of his plan, he said.

Leavitt remains a player in national GOP gubernatorial politics. Friday morning he was elected to RGA's executive board and so will continue to oversee the organization he chaired several years ago.

In a session moderated by former CNN news anchor Susan Rook, Leavitt was one of 10 governors who shared states' ideas about improving the quality of education for America's schoolchildren.

And it is just this kind of information exchange between Leavitt and his colleagues that helped him hone a strategy the governor says he will announce in a couple of weeks.

- California Gov. Pete Wilson has launched an education renaissance in the huge state. He has worked to reduce class sizes, strengthen teacher preparation for reading programs and has enacted statewide testing standards.

- New Jersey Gov. Christine Whitman shared stories from a 30-year court battle over school funding. Her rigorous statewide academic standards and educational reform won praise from the state Supreme Court. Whitman's reforms emphasized what students are actually learning and whether they are reaching their full potential, rather than the money being spent on education.

- Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar has increased funding for elementary and secondary schools by more than $1.5 billion. He has established charter schools and championed reform such as the much-publicized efforts in the Chicago Public School sys-tem.

- Michigan Gov. John Engler's efforts have gone toward improving equity in education. He also supported the "bring a gun and you're done" legislation, under which 568 kids who brought guns or knives to school have been expelled since January 1995.

- New York Gov. George Pataki has increased funding for pre-kindergarten programs and instituted school report cards, which require each school district to release an annual report card allowing parents to measure and compare performance.

- Texas Gov. George W. Bush has a goal to teach every Texas child to read, and has secured $32 million for intensive reading academies throughout the state. Beginning this fall, every school in Texas is required to evaluate the reading progress of kindergarten through third-grade students with child and teacher-friendly reading assessments to identify problems.

Leavitt's comments emphasized Utah's focus on technology in the classroom. Colleague governors around a table listened as Leavitt talked about the five education objectives under way in Utah.

Every classroom is wired into the Internet, Leavitt told the group, and every student is learning computer keyboarding as a life skill. Teachers, both new teachers and those who have been on the job, are being trained in these skills and the equivalent of community college course are being delivered to every high school.

The fifth objective is to have the ability to deliver a full baccalaureate degree into every home.

Leavitt said he has talked with Englar and Bush about their reading reform and now envisions a very "aggressive, results-oriented" approach for Utah. This is the way change happens best, Leavitt said.

"We need a national agenda, not a federal agenda." As it applies to education, a federal agenda presumes the federal government has to do something for positive change to occur. Not so, said Leavitt. "The major and real progress in education has to happen at a level where you can really get something done."

This is where the information exchange taking place at RGA meetings this week is valuable.

Gov. David Beasley of South Carolina, outgoing chairman of the RGA, said he organized the forum to improve what he called the "rhetoric we have seen in education reform." And common themes - surrounding ideas of accountability, higher standards, smaller classrooms and less red tape and better training for teachers seemed to be emerging from the governors.

The exchange is what's important, Beasley said. "I want to be able to know what works in Utah, and Mike, how does it work?" he said.

Leavitt has taken advantage of other governors' experiences.

"I've learned from governors Bush and Englar. I've asked, `What are you doing?' I've modified things a little for our purposes, but the exchange has been extremely important."