Archived: The Educational System in the United States: Case Study Findings

Two Elementary Schools in Metro City
In the 1993–94 school year, per pupil spending was $3,835 in the school district
to which Parks Elementary School belonged. In contrast, per pupil spending, for
the same time period, was $8,035 in the district to which Rockefeller Elementary
School belonged. A brief description of two classrooms from these schools in
Metro City illustrates the markedly different environments in which children at-
tend school.
Parks Elementary School is located in an inner-city neighborhood surrounded by
apartment buildings, built on average over 70 years ago. In contrast, Rockefeller
Elementary School serves a very affluent suburban neighborhood, surrounded by

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large single-family homes with extensive lawns and well-tended yards. At Rocke-
feller, the windows of the classrooms open to a view of a nearby woods which
surround the school. The classrooms are carpeted, include a round worktable for
projects, a television and VCR. In contrast, the classrooms at Parks were crowded
with aging chairs and desks, the wooden floors provided no sound absorption,
and a window made of glazed-over plastic blocked the view to the outside.
Policies and Procedures That Influence
Achievement in Elementary Schools
At both the school district and the school, decisions are made in regard to areas
such as curriculum content, the selection and use of textbooks, homework
requirements, and the use of technology in the classroom. These decisions, which
establish school policy, inevitably affect some of the basic operations related to
learning and standards.
The elementary schools we visited differed in the amount of structure that they
imposed on teachers. These differences were often reflected in the degree to
which they relied on textbooks for the delivery of the curriculum and the degree
to which teachers were required to demonstrate to school administrators that they
had successfully presented the curriculum. The teachers in the highest-achieving
elementary school had the most freedom from structure. They were allowed, and
even encouraged, to teach without relying on a specific textbook. Instead, they
used materials from a variety of sources. Teachers at this school also described
their own standards for the curriculum they taught as being above those required
by the state’s curriculum guidelines. As an example of these higher standards, they
spoke of a project, which they were working on that involved the creation of a
framework for a new math curriculum based explicitly on NCTM standards.
On the other hand, teachers at the middle- and low-achieving schools said they
used textbooks that have been chosen specifically by the school (or a committee
of teachers at the school) to teach the curriculum. Some of the these schools also
required teachers to demonstrate through in-class tests that at least 70 percent of
their students had learned the information presented in each of the units; other-
wise they were required to reteach the unit. Most of these teachers said that
while they were free to add to the curriculum using materials from other sources,
coverage of the required curriculum was first priority.
Teachers in Metro City and West City elementary schools indicated that the text-
books were often specifically chosen because they incorporated materials required
by the state’s curriculum guidelines. In fact, in West City, the district gave the

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schools a list of approved textbooks, which incorporated materials specified by
the state’s curriculum guidelines.
Most of the elementary schools we visited had explicit homework policies. Often
these were in the form of general homework guidelines for each grade. Very little
homework was generally assigned in the first and second grade, but by third
grade, students were usually required to do approximately 30 to 45 minutes per
day and by the fifth grade, students could expect up to 1 hour of homework per
day. In addition, most schools recommended that students read for pleasure at
least 30 minutes a day at home.
The one elementary school that differed significantly from the above pattern was
the school with the lowest scores on the state assessment, Parks Elementary.
Homework assignments were a debated issue at Parks. Some members of the par-
ents’ council argued that it was unfair to assign homework when some of the chil-
dren did not have parents who could help them. As a result, many teachers did
not assign homework. In response to one of our questions, the principal replied:
All I can say is that it’s easy to teach kids who are well prepared, who have
the parents helping them, who have the advantages of the average middle-class
child. It’s hard to teach kids who don’t have advantages, who can’t go home
and say ‘help me.’
Technology in the form of computers and calculators was used by all of the ele-
mentary schools we visited. Although all had computer facilities for students, the
highest-achieving school, located in the wealthiest school district, had the best
computer facilities of any of the elementary schools. Computer learning games
were commonly used at most of the elementary schools, although the frequency
with which students had a chance to use computers varied from school to school.
In addition to the use of computers for in-class instruction, teachers at Midtown
Elementary also used computers to help students develop library skills.
We also found that calculators were incorporated into the math instruction in
most of the schools we visited. However, they did not play a dominant role. For
example, teachers at Rockefeller said that calculators were used for ‘‘drill and
skill’’ work and to familiarize students with the different mathematical operations.