Tracking vs high standards for all

[Arthur Hu <ArthurH@TANGIS.COM>]

So let's have some discussion. Is the politically correct NCTM "all students
must
learn calculus and it must be integrated into K-6, we must not deny
opportunity
to students of color" the right way or is the "world class" standard that we
give a
test that determines who will excell at math and science and who will fix
air
conditioners? Maybe the US should give up and go back to tracking system
like
Europe, or at least make it voluntary.

AUSTRIA TRACKS LOWER STUDENTS INTO VOC-ED, NYC FLUNKS THEM
z43\clip\2000\07\nyaust.txt New York Times June 26, 2000 Imported
Austrian Teachers Gain Insights, and Thick Skins By ABBY GOODNOUGH
Thomas Lepuschitz, 30, a math teacher at Roosevelt, said he did not
understand why New York State required even the poorest students to
take math and science to graduate. In Austria, he said, students who
do not excel academically are sent to trade school, which he said was
a more sensible route.  "Our school system divides people who can do
certain things and people who can't," Mr. Lepuschitz said. "The
people who can't are not lost; it's just a slower track."



June 26, 2000


          Imported Austrian Teachers Gain Insights,
          and Thick Skins

          By ABBY GOODNOUGH

              udith Hergovich had only the
              vaguest expectations of what lay
          ahead when she left her tiny village of
          Trausdorf, Austria, in August 1998 to
          spend a year teaching math in New
          York City.

          "I knew it would be hard," said Ms.
          Hergovich, who was 25 at the time
          and had been teaching only a year. "I
          knew the students are a little bit
          tougher than in Austria."

          What she did not know was that her
          new workplace, Adlai E. Stevenson
          High School in the southeast Bronx,
          had 3,500 students -- more than twice
          the population of Trausdorf -- some of
          the most crowded, chaotic classrooms
          in the city, and one of its highest
          dropout rates.

          But Ms. Hergovich plowed right in,
          teaching five classes a day and
          soaking up life in New York -- which
          in her case meant an austere
          apartment in the Pelham Parkway
          section of the Bronx, far from the skyscrapers she knew from
movies and
          postcards. Despite the unnerving challenges she faced, she found
the
          experience rewarding enough to stay for a second school year.

          Like Tocqueville touring America in the 19th century, Ms.
Hergovich and
          the 45 other Austrians recruited to help ease a shortage of math
and
          science teachers have observed life here from an outsider's
vantage point,
          and they are bubbling with insights about New York City's
education
          culture. Almost all have struggled with more serious discipline
problems
          than they expected, and with the quandary of how to teach students
          whose abysmal grades would relegate them to trade school in
Austria.

          "I have to be more strict and more mean here," said Eva Kailbauer,
28,
          who is teaching math at Franklin Delano Roosevelt High School in
          Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. "In Austria, if a kid says they have to go
to the
          nurse, they really have to. Here, kids take every opportunity to
really test
          you. I trusted them at first."

          But the Austrian teachers have also been moved by the hardships
that
          many teenagers here face. "It's always your worst students who
have the
          biggest problems at home," said Lutz Holzinger, 30, a biology
teacher at
          Roosevelt who has signed up for a third year here. "One bad
student
          who acts up all the time, I learn his mother has AIDS and there is
no
          father. I would freak out, too."

          At the same time, Mr. Holzinger and several others say they cannot
          believe what they see as stubborn indifference among many city
students
          and the enormous tolerance of failure.

                                     "It's very frustrating that many
                                     students give up before they enter the
                                     classroom," said Ms. Hergovich, who
                                     was transferred from Stevenson to
                                     DeWitt Clinton High School, also in
                                     the Bronx, this year. "I never saw
                                     something like this in Austria. I don't
                                     know who to blame here; I wouldn't
                                     say American culture. Just maybe the
                                     circumstances of how they were
                                     raised and where they live."

          Ms. Kailbauer and Mr. Holzinger said that to their surprise, other
          teachers had told them not to blame themselves when many of their
          students failed standardized tests.

          "In the beginning I was shocked because 50 percent failed the
tests," Mr.
          Holzinger said. "But then I found out this is normal. Chemistry,
math, all
          classes. If 50 percent pass, it's O.K."

          Thomas Lepuschitz, 30, a math teacher at Roosevelt, said he did
not
          understand why New York State required even the poorest students
to
          take math and science to graduate. In Austria, he said, students
who do
          not excel academically are sent to trade school, which he said was
a
          more sensible route.

          "Our school system divides people who can do certain things and
people
          who can't," Mr. Lepuschitz said. "The people who can't are not
lost; it's
          just a slower track."

          The Board of Education began recruiting in Austria in 1998, after
Alfred
          Posamentier, a professor of mathematics education at City College,
          pointed out that Austria had a surplus of math and science
teachers,
          many with advanced degrees. The Austrian government was
enthusiastic
          because the teachers would come back fluent in English, an
increasingly
          sought-after credential.

          "I immediately wanted to go for it," recalled Mr. Holzinger, who
heard
          about the opportunity from a radio advertisement. "I already was
          planning to go to New York, and this was a chance to do reasonable
          work instead of being a waiter or something like that."

          Mr. Lepuschitz applied for a job here in 1998 because he was 40th
on a
          waiting list for a teaching job in Austria. He had spent eight
months
          student-teaching in a private school. His first assignment, at
Walton High
          School in the Bronx, was terrifying, he said.

          "Students threatened me," said Mr. Lepuschitz, looking studious
and very
          young in jeans and a baggy sweater. "They didn't behave."

          He requested and was granted a transfer to Roosevelt High School
last
          fall, after hearing from other Austrians that students were better
behaved
          there. But Roosevelt students tried his patience, too, he said.

          "They don't know how to solve an equation after you tell them
three
          times," Mr. Lepuschitz said. "Out of 30 students, maybe 10 will
answer
          the question, three plus seven equals X, what is X? And that is a
simple
          problem!"

          Mr. Holzinger, for one, seems to
          have mastered the discipline problem
          by acting hip and unflappable. One
          rainy spring morning, his students --
          even the one whose T-shirt read,
          "Rule by Intimidation" -- listened
          quietly as he explained the difference
          between DNA and RNA. Ms.
          Kailbauer's approach was similarly
          no-nonsense. After passing out work
          sheets to her ninth-grade algebra
          class, she sat ramrod straight at her
          desk, surveying them with a glare.

          "Those of you who are not sure what
          to do," she said gruffly, "just listen."

          Almost all the Austrians say their
          personal lives in New York City have
          been far less taxing than their professional ones. Many share
apartments
          with one or two other Austrians, typically in far-flung
neighborhoods in
          Brooklyn and the Bronx, furnished with thrift-shop finds. They
tend to
          stick together, venturing into Manhattan on weekends to see movies
and
          visit museums.

          Ms. Kailbauer spends her free time playing league volleyball and
          basketball. Martin Zeindl, who teaches math and physics at the
Academy
          of American Studies in Queens, has found a social network through
his
          church.

          Assigned to high schools in every borough but Staten Island, the
Austrian
          teachers have generally won praise for knowing their material and
          speaking solid English. Adele Vocel, the principal at Roosevelt,
said the
          Austrian teachers fit right in at her school because the teaching
staff and
          the student body were already so diverse. The students speak 32
          languages, and many of the teachers have thicker accents than the
          Austrians.

          "When I heard there was a new wave and I saw we had the ability to
          absorb some of them, I begged," said Ms. Vocel, who hired four
          Austrians last year and four this year. "These teachers are very
well
          prepared, and they work very hard."

          But Sandra Abrams, the principal of James Madison High School in
          Brooklyn, said that although the Austrian teachers know their
subjects
          thoroughly, she had reservations about their "chalk-and-talk"
style of
          teaching.

          "They tend to have a lecture-style approach," said Dr. Abrams,
whose
          school had two Austrian teachers last year but none this year. "We
like to
          see students involved in a very hands-on kind of way rather than
being
          passive and taking notes."

          Officials at the United Federation of Teachers said that they had
no
          complaints about the Austrian teachers, who are paid according to
the
          union-negotiated salary scale. Those with master's degrees earned
about
          $36,000 this year, slightly more than they would make as teachers
in
          Austria, they said.

          Schools Chancellor Harold O. Levy said in an interview that he was
          interested in expanding the program and perhaps starting others
modeled
          on it. The number of teachers from Austria and other countries may
more
          than triple next year if 100 new candidates pass muster. Board
officials
          are interviewing them this week in Vienna and Innsbruck, Austria.

          The applicant pool has grown because the Austrian-American
          Educational Cooperation Association, which administers the program
in
          Vienna, hired a full-time recruiter last fall and stepped up
television
          advertising. The new round of applicants, some of whom were drawn
by
          the ads and some by word of mouth, includes several teachers from
the
          Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy and Sweden.

          New York City needs math and science teachers more than ever;
board
          officials anticipate needing to hire nearly 700 new math teachers
for the
          coming school year. Howard S. Tames, executive director of the
board's
          personnel division, said that most of the 400 math teachers the
board
          hired this year were not certified in math. He said the board
would also
          try to recruit qualified teachers from Canada, the Caribbean and
perhaps
          India and the Philippines over the next few years.

          But Mr. Levy warned that such programs were not ideal because the
          teachers were here only temporarily.

          "This is a good thing in situations where we're really hard up,"
he said.
          "But in the end, we'd rather have permanent teachers who come here
to
          stay."

          Unlike the Austrian teachers in the first round, of whom all but
six went
          home after the 1998-99 school year, 20 of the current 29 teachers
have
          signed on for another year. Last week, at a party in their honor
at the
          Austrian Consulate, several said their students had done
surprisingly well
          on the state Regents exams. Even Mr. Lepuschitz, who had
complained
          about disruptive students in an earlier interview, said the final
weeks of
          school had been unexpectedly pleasant.

          "The troublemakers didn't come to class anymore as soon as the
weather
          got warm," he said with a shrug. "The people who wanted to learn
could
          finally learn."

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