Oregon daily emerald., March 13, 1978, Page 8, Image 8

Study focuses on city school success
By BARRY ESPENSON
Of the Emerald
The University Center for Edu
cation Policy and Management is
currently involved in a project de
signed to bring problem solving in
urban schools back to the “Grass
roots” level.
The project, started in 1975, is
funded through the National Insti
tute of Education (NIE). The
center received a $130,000
nine-month grant from the NIE to
complete the project.
The goal of the project, under
the direction of psychology pro
fessors Richard Schmuck and
Philip Runkel, is to gather informa
tion from nine selected urban
schools that have been success
ful in raising the level of achieve
ment of their students through in
novative programs, Schmuck
says.
Schmuck says the center was
chosen by the NIE because it is
one of the few institutions in the
country with the capabilities to
carry out the necessary research
for the project successfully.
The University center joins the
Center for New Schools in
Chicago in the study. The purpose
of this partnership is to split the
nine successful schools that are
being studied into two regions with
the University center researching
the western schools and the
Chicago Center studying the
eastern schools.
The two centers often collabo
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63
rate on research. Their joint effort
is called the Documentation and
Technical Assistance Project.
The nine schools involved in the
study are located in Oakland, San
Jose and Los Angeles, Calif.;
Louisville, Ken.; Chicago, III.;
Washington, D.C. and New York
City. These school districts are all
in low income urban areas.
Problems encountered by
these schools are common
among low-income area school
districts. The students in these
schools typically have a low level
of achievement compared with IQ
and also compared with students
in schools in higher income areas.
Schmuck cites reasons for this
problem as mainly a lack of
teacher and parent dedication.
The quality of teacher that is a
vaiiable to low income, minority
school districts is generally infer
ior, he says.
“Many teachers hired are either
inexperienced or are available
only because they could not get
hired anywhere else.” Schmuck
says. Teachers in these areas
also have a tendency to leave as
soon as a more prestigious posi
tion is available, he adds.
Another major problem is the
lack of rapport between the middle
class teachers and the lower class
parents and students. Schmuck
believes most teachers do not un
derstand the problems that exist in
impoverished areas.
The role of the center is to
document the successful proce
dures that are in use and put them
in a written form that will be readily
available to teachers, adminis
trators and parents in problem
areas. Observing the day-to-day
activities of the nine successful
schools is the centers main
source of information, Schmuck
says.
The object of the Documenta
tion and Technical Assistance
Project is not to advise, Schmuck
feels, but to show by example that
total involvement by all people
concerned is needed to solve the
problems of urban education in
low income areas.
Watching the
river flow
By Steve Dodge
Although it’s not clear
whether or not last week’s re
ported cloning (creation of a being
from a single cell) of an American
millionaire into a 14-month old boy
is true or not, scientists say clon
ing will be a reality much sooner
than 2525—and at least a few are
worried.
Jonathan Beckwith, a professor
of genetics at Harvard University
and Ethan Singer, professor of
genetics at Massachusetts Insti
tute of Technology have joined in
a Freedom of Information suit to
force various agencies to make
public just exactly what is going on
in genetic research.
“It is time that the whole array of
scientific and medical advances'
which allow meddling in the human
gene pool be explained to the U. S.
population.” said Beckwith in an
interview with the Associated
Press.
Beckwith couldn’t verify last
week’s reported cloning, but said
fedeally funded research has
made such a development possi
ble.
"Cloning of humans will obvi
ously be possible before very
long,” said Prof. Singer of MIT.
"This method has profound and
extensive implications for society
as a whole, because of the ques
tions it inevitably raises,” Singer
said.
Among those questions, he
said, are: "What are the rights of
cloned individuals? What are the
ethical and moral aspects of clon
ing humans? Who has the right to
clone?...What are the political im
plications of having coning availa
ble to some and not to others, and
or hiring women to carry fetuses
not their own?”
The scientists are seeking the
records of the National Institute of
Health, the National Science
Foundation, the Central Intellig
ence Agency and the Depart
ments of Defense and Agriculture.
The Treasury Department
has proposed a new copper dollar
to Congress, a recent Associated
Press report said.
The department told the House
Coinage Committee that the new
dollar, which would be slightly
larger than the current quarter, but
smaller than the half-dollar, would
cost between two and three cents
to produce, with an average life
span of 15 years.
Paper dollars cost only 1.7
cents apiece to make, but they
wear out much faster, the depart
ment said.
Vending machine operators
want a new dollar coin, according
to AP, so they can sell products
costing more than a dollar.
Some members of Congress
have expressed fear it would also
allow vendors to raise prices, and
Nevada casinos are on record
against the copper dollar because
the old silver ones are attractive to
gamblers, the report said.
A recent issue of “Good
Housekeeping’’ said a new
“highly effective and remarkably
safe” contraceptive for women
may be available within the next
12 months if testing proves it out.
In its “Family Doctor" column
written by Alan Nourse, the
magazine said the so-called col
lagen sponge, a pad the size of a
silver dollar and half an inch thick
has none of the side effects of the
pill and does not require fitting by a
doctor.
A natural fibrous material, the
sponge utilizes the same potent
sperm-killing agent used in many
vaginal creams and foams.
After the film “Close
Encounters” debuted in Japan
recently, ploice agencies were
swamped with reports of UFO
sightings. — UPI