The Committee on Education was called to order at 3:55 p.m., on Monday, February 22, 1999. Chairman Wendell Williams presided in Room 3143 of the Legislative Building, Carson City, Nevada. Exhibit A is the Agenda. Exhibit B is the Guest List. All Exhibits are available and on file at the Research Library of the Legislative Counsel Bureau.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT:

Mr. Wendell Williams, Chairman

Mr. Tom Collins, Vice Chairman

Mr. Greg Brower

Mrs. Barbara Cegavske

Mrs. Vonne Chowning

Mr. Don Gustavson

Mrs. Ellen Koivisto

Mr. Mark Manendo

Ms. Genie Ohrenschall

Ms. Bonnie Parnell

COMMITTEE MEMBERS EXCUSED:

Mrs. Sharron Angle

Mrs. Marcia de Braga

STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT:

OTHERS PRESENT:

Sandra Douglass, student of the Black Student Organization and Sister II Sister Organization at the University of Nevada Reno

Denylle McDowell, student of the Black Student Organization and Sister II Sister Organization at the University of Nevada Reno

Ebony Houser, student of the Black Student Organization and Sister II Sister Organization at the University of Nevada Reno

Eboni Washington, student of the Black Student Organization and Sister II Sister Organization at the University of Nevada Reno

Latoyshia Parson, student of the Sister II Sister Organization at the University of Nevada Reno

Keith Jackson, student of the Black Student Organization at the University of Nevada Reno

Theodore Quicksey, student of the Black Student Organization and Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc. Chapter at the University of Nevada Reno

Marques Threats, student of the Black Student Organization and Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc. Chapter at the University of Nevada Reno

Steven Stewart, student of the Black Student Organization and Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. Chapter at the University of Nevada Reno

William E. Brock, Chairman, Bridges Learning Development Programs

Dr. Kelly Sturdy, Principal, Ed Von Tobel Middle School

Chairman Williams asked committee members to take action to introduce the following Bill Draft Request (BDR):

• BDR 31-179 – Requires annual audit of certain expenditures by certain school districts and performance audit of University and Community College System of Nevada (A.B. 368).

ASSEMBLYWOMAN CHOWNING MOVED FOR COMMITTEE INTRODUCTION OF BDR 31-179.

ASSEMBLYMAN MANENDO SECONDED THE MOTION.

THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

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Chairman Williams started the meeting with presentations from students at the University of Nevada, Reno.

Sandra Douglass, a junior at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR), represented the Black Student Organization (BSO) and the Sister II Sister Organization at UNR. She was past president of the BSO in 1996 and 1997 and the current Chair of the Sister II Sister Organization. She was also a member of The Associated Students of the University of Nevada’s Programming Board, a resident assistant, and a student ambassador, which were non-ethnic organizations. She was aware of the monies received, the retreats they attended, and all other proceeds those non-ethnic organizations received. Everything was funded, for example, food, books, folders, pens, paper, and so on. However, the BSO and Sister II Sister Organization had to find outside funding sources for anything needed at retreats attended. The Reno Police Department privately funded a retreat Ms. Douglass personally attended. Therefore, as a member of both types of organizations she saw the difference.

She spoke on The Ethnic Student Resource Center at UNR, which was the only center of that type on campus. There were only five computers at that resource center, several of which were donated. There was one director and one secretary who were supposed to be available for all ethnic students on campus. She felt it was impossible for only two people to help all ethnic students on campus. They needed and requested a peer advisor to help first and second year students ease the transition from high school, ease the college tensions, and let them know about other resources on campus.

Ms. Douglass said the current director of the center felt he could not call it a resource center because there were no resources, only computers. There was no funding for books, publications, videos, magazines, or anything of that type. The Ethnic Student Resource Center was funded through the Department of Student Services. That department received funding from the president of UNR who received it from the Board of Regents. By the time the resource center received money, it was very limited. They currently received $7,000 a year as an operating budget, of which $1,000 went to student workers. She felt there was no way to get services to students with that budget.

Denylle McDowell, a senior at UNR, the Co-Chairwoman of the Sister II Sister Organization, and a member of the BSO, was concerned with the curriculum at UNR simply because she was a future educator. She was concerned about the lack of representation of diverse cultures.

Unfortunately, her experience at UNR, as far as the classroom setting, had not been a very positive experience. Therefore, she would never recommend any of her future students go to UNR, because she wanted her students to be constructive and positive participants in the diverse community the United States of America had become and for which UNR would not prepare them.

Ebony Houser, a freshman at UNR, a member of BSO, and the secretary of the Sister II Sister organization, was concerned with the lack of African American counselors in the office of the Student Support Services Program of which she was a participant. She was concerned there was only one counselor with whom students could talk about issues. There needed to be more counselors in that office who were sensitive to diversity issues and could be made available to students of color since the program was basically for students of color.

Chairman Williams asked how many counselors were available, to which Ms. Houser responded there were three.

Mrs. Cegavske appreciated the students coming forward with their issues. She asked if the students felt there were adequate accommodations for disabled students on campus and if the support services were adequately funded.

Ms. Douglas replied that 50 percent of the students who were part of the Student Support Services Programs were ethnic minorities, but included students with disabilities. She personally noticed wheelchair access around campus and more access being built for those students with physical disabilities.

Ms. McDowell had attended UNR for 4 years and had seen a great increase on the number of ramps and provisions made for students with physical disabilities.

Mrs. Cegavske wondered if any of those students who testified had recommendations or advice for parents who had children going to college.

Ms. Douglass thought a parent should only be concerned with the overall experience of their child and if he/she was receiving the total college experience by learning about different cultures, different people, and about life. She said there had not been an African American history course taught at UNR for approximately 1 year. The professor who taught the course last year moved to another university and therefore no course of that nature was being offered. Every other country and every other culture was addressed except the African American culture.

Mrs. Cegavske was curious if the University of Nevada at Las Vegas (UNLV) offered an African American history course of some type. Mrs. Koivisto responded UNLV had been trying to assemble a multi-culturally diverse curriculum.

Ms. Douglass had spoken to the president of the African American Student Alliance at UNLV and explained the battle was finally won with the multi-cultural core curriculum. Ms. Douglass said UNR was far from having a curriculum of that nature.

Chairman Williams said some of the issues mentioned could be discussed more when university system representatives came to a committee meeting. He was surprised representatives of UNR, who were in the building all day everyday, did not take the time to show up and listen to student’s concerns.

Latoyshia Parson recently became a member of the Sister II Sister Organization, and was in her first semester at UNR. She attended the Florida Agriculture and Mechanical College (FAM) in the past, which was an all black university. FAM University had a course called black psychology, which she had looked forward to taking, but was not offered at UNR. She would encourage African American high school students to attend an all black college because of her experience in coming from an all black university to a predominately white university. UNR did not have many activities in which African American students could get involved. She felt if it were not for Sister II Sister, there would not be anything in which she could participate on campus.

Chairman Williams understood it took a long time to include those concerns in the UNLV curriculum and wondered if there had been attempts to express those concerns to the proper authorities at UNR.

Ms. Douglass said Dr. Johnson Makoba, a former sociology professor at UNR and Andre Thorn, the former director of the Educational Opportunities and Access Programs, went to the University of Missouri at Columbia, but before leaving finally got an ethnic studies minor passed, she believed in spring of 1997. However, because of the lack of faculty to teach that minor, she thought the idea had disappeared already.

Mr. Collins said UNR would not offer the curriculum or diversity of an all black university, but sought a middle ground that would supply the education and diversity for black students.

Ms. Parson said FAM University not only offered an enhanced curriculum, but also provided help to students. UNR had a lot of student teachers and teachers who only gave work, and not willing to help students. She said it was almost like teachers thought students were wasting their time.

Keith Jackson, a sophomore at UNR and a member of BSO, was approached when he arrived at UNR and asked if he was an athlete. He felt it was sad people automatically assumed he was an athlete only because most of the African American students were. He expressed concern that UNR did not appeal to African American students other than those who played sports. He thought there had to be something done, whether financial or not, in dealing with the curriculum to let black students know they could come to UNR for a good education. He said UNR was suitable and conducive for a good education without having to play sports.

Mrs. Cegavske was curious if any of the history instructors incorporated African American history into their instruction at all.

Mr. Jackson had not experienced any teacher doing that. He currently was in a western traditions course, which did not incorporate African American history.

Ms. McDowell had been attending UNR for 4 years and had taken several history courses, which had not incorporated that. She was not just talking about the African American perspective, but also any other ethnic minority group.

Mrs. Chowning was proud to be a co-sponsor of a bill almost 10 years ago with Chairman Williams that stated all history presentations, whether they be text books or any other mode of information being conveyed, must include all of the ethnic representations and contributions of Nevadans. Therefore, teachers could not leave any ethnic group out. She was disappointed because maybe the bill was only mandated to include kindergarten through grade 12 and not higher education. If so, the committee had further work to do.

Ms. Douglass said the mandatory western traditions course at UNR was about the history of the west but included little information on slavery and Native Americans. She knew the university was working on the western traditions 203 course, which talked about the 1800’s to present day and there were some professors who were trying to get the slavery movement more involved in that course, but it had not been incorporated yet.

Eboni Washington, a freshman at UNR, a member of BSO, and Sister II Sister, was concerned university representatives did a lot to recruit high school students who lived in Reno and made a lot of promises that UNR had a lot to offer African American students. She said they had not lived up to what they promised and thought that was part of the reason so many African American students who had graduated from a Reno high school, went out of state for higher education.

Chairman Williams asked if any of the students were athletes, which no one was.

Steven Stewart, a junior at UNR, a member of BSO and a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. Chapter at UNR, shared Mr. Jackson’s concerns that African American students were assumed to be athletes. He said two ways ethnic students related to each other were by being a part of an athletic team or by sharing a class. He was interested in taking a Japanese language class but it was not available because only one class was offered per semester. He said expansion of Japanese language classes, as an example, would be an avenue for greater cultural diversity and offer more opportunity for students to relate to each other. He mentioned an emphasis of his fraternity was to teach young men about black history.

Marques Threats, a junior at UNR, a member of BSO and a member of the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. Chapter at UNR, which was the only black fraternity on campus, addressed the issue of diversity within the curriculum and as far as he was concerned there was none. The prime example of being diverse at the university was the core curriculum system. Students were put through core classes, enrolled in a number of classes that did not necessarily pertain to their major, but yet were supposed to be well rounded individuals to go out into the world and possess diverse knowledge. He thought the courses offered should be a reflection of the people who attended the university.

He was also concerned there were not any African American history courses available, which he thought needed to be addressed. In a western traditions course, students learned about European culture and Native American culture, but not African American culture. He suggested African American history be included within the core curriculum.

Another issue Mr. Threats brought up was his involvement with BSO. In the past, the organization had a lot of trouble receiving funding from the university and support from other people on campus. It seemed almost as if BSO never got any support unless they put up a fight. In order for that organization to be heard or seen, they had to protest. It should not have to be that way because there was proper etiquette that went along with requesting funding. BSO students followed that etiquette and still did not receive anything, which forced them to protest.

Theo Quicksey, a sophomore, a member of BSO, and a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. Chapter at UNR, originally attended UNR because he had planed to play football, which did not happen. He said when he first applied at UNR, basically he was accepted because of his color, with which he had no problem because he had the required grades. He thought UNR should have scholarships for African Americans and even Mexican Americans because it was very easy to be accepted but not easy to find money for books. As a member of Kappa Alpha Psi, they had tried to bring culture and diversity to the campus, which was really hard since they did not have the funding other organizations and fraternities had.

Mrs. Cegavske asked if any of the students had addressed the president or the chancellor of the University System about their concerns. She made a recommendation for the committee to send the minutes of the meeting to the University System because no representative was present. She thanked the students for bringing up those issues because committee members did not get to hear the students’ perspective. She asked if the students had some suggestions and recommendations because she wanted to help organize their concerns on how the University System could better serve students who were attending.

Chairman Williams thought that was a good idea. Several of the students mentioned some good things and he thought those things should be expressed as well because the good things that were happening should be continued and expanded upon. He thought the things not perceived as good, along with the quality of life on campus, should be improved. He wanted to get many student organizations from all the colleges around the state to talk about those issues, not to bash the universities or colleges, but to make education in Nevada a better place and a better situation for all students. He appreciated all the comments made and the time spent on them. He thought Mrs. Cegavske’s recommendation was good because the only way situations would become better, was when people stepped up and spoke their minds.

Ms. Douglass said the vice president of student services and the director of the student union attended a BSO meeting, but the president of UNR did not attend. Many people from student services who went to that meeting made promises and were devoted to diversity, but nothing had really changed. She was grateful for The Ethnic Student Resource Center and felt lucky to even have that. The main interest was recruiting students, but those students were not being retained. She said so many of her friends had left UNR after their sophomore year. The number of African American students recruited compared to the number graduating was like "night and day."

Mr. Jackson said some sort of program needed to be implemented to make it more appealing for black students to attend UNR. For example, The Western Student Exchange recruited students from Alaska and some of the neighboring states. There were also programs for Japanese students, which brought students all the way from Japan. He noticed it had been real hard to get black students from Las Vegas to attend UNR, even though they were in the same state. If possible, some kind of program was needed to make it more appealing to attend UNR.

Mr. Collins said if the University System recruited students from Japan, it needed to recruit students from Alabama, Connecticut, or New York, if it was to be a full University System that offered the full programs they claimed to want to offer. He supported Mrs. Cegavske’s recommendations to make sure the regents and universities would hear from the committee.

Mr. Quicksey thought there should be more advertisement in letting the students know where the president of UNR was going to be speaking because he never knew where or when the president would speak. He was from Chicago and tried to recruit his friends to bring some diversity, but they did not see any diversity and therefore had not stayed. They noticed the problems and did not want to go to UNR, and that was a big issue because no matter how hard he tried to recruit different people, different cultures or backgrounds, it did not seem to work.

Mr. Threats emphasized UNR was one of the best small state universities in the country. He was receiving a quality education, but yet did not feel like he was receiving a full education because he was being denied education of other cultures. He reiterated there needed to be more diversity and there needed to be an effort both by students and by university faculty. Everyone could come together and make a strong effort to bring diversity into the university.

Mrs. Cegavske wondered how many students went to high school in Nevada and if they felt their high school education had the things they were asking for now.

Mr. Stewart said his personal experience in high school was similar to the one he was having at UNR. He said high school was probably one of the most diverse places he could be and they still had not offered the facilities and resources for educating students on different cultures and different ethnicities.

Mr. Quicksey was from Chicago but went to high school in Las Vegas. When he was in sixth and seventh grade he was in an algebra course and was going into calculus by the time he was in eighth grade. When he attended a Las Vegas high school he was put back at pre-algebra. He said it seemed like the education level was lower in Las Vegas than Chicago.

Ms. Douglass went to Eldorado High School in Las Vegas and the only difference was the curriculum was not there. However, there were counselors, teachers, staff and even a vice-principal who were of an ethnic minority background, which helped because an ethnic student had someone to talk to who was sensitive to diversity issues.

Ms. Washington was the only representative that went to high school in Reno. She went to Bishop Manogue High School and understood that was a private school, but they still did not discuss African American history.

Ms. McDowell went to Green Valley High School in Las Vegas. She explained there were more community resources in Las Vegas for all students of color, whether they were African American, Hispanic, or Asian American. Therefore, students could utilize services offered through the community when services were not available through schools.

Mrs. Chowning thanked the students for expressing their concerns and complimented them on the difference they were making in the University System. The University System needed to take a culturally diverse approach to every single part of the curriculum because education needed to mirror what would be experienced in life after the university. It needed to be a reflection of everyone, whether a position would be created to address culturally diverse issues or simply adjust the curriculum to include those issues. She said for the first time in the history of Nevada, a culturally diverse position was created in the Department of Education, but only for kindergarten through grade 12. It was, however, removed from the governor’s budget in 1999, so the fight needed to be started all over again. She therefore asked that a resolution be drafted to ask the university to report back to the committee next legislative session on their progress and what their plans were to improve the curriculum to reflect culturally diverse issues.

Mr. Manendo wondered if a couple of representatives from the BSO could possibly work with bill drafters on the language and be a part of it, since they brought those issues to the attention of the committee.

Chairman Williams explained the motion was for a resolution to be submitted to the Board of Regents to address issues brought up by the students who testified. He said it was a broad motion, but he thought all committee members understood the concept. He thought Mr. Manendo’s comment on having students work with Mr. Kelly, the senior research analyst, to develop the wording on the resolution would be very helpful.

ASSEMBLYWOMAN CHOWNING MOTIONED FOR A RESOLUTION TO BE SUBMITTED TO THE BOARD OF REGENTS TO ADDRESS THE DIVERSITY ISSUES THAT UNR NEEDED.

ASSEMBLYMAN MANENDO SECONDED THE MOTION.

THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

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Ms. Ohrenschall recommended the committee write a letter commending all of the young student leaders who testified and wanted that letter sent to the university authorities.

Chairman Williams opened the hearing for the next presentation.

William E. Brock, Chairman of the Bridges Learning Development Programs, gave his prepared testimony in writing (Exhibit C) and also handed out an overview of the program (Exhibit D). He said the presentations from the UNR students were marvelously articulated. He spent most of his life trying to promote the cause of education reform and been looking for something that worked. Everything that had been done was external to the child. There had been a lot of time spent trying to get better teachers and better textbook publishers which were desperately needed in his opinion, because the publishers had done a miserable job. He said more time had been spent in trying to do a better job with school buildings and trying to bring in extracurricular programs but not much had changed.

Mr. Brock explained national test scores in reading had just been reported and people in Washington were ecstatic because the scores were better than those in 1994. The scoring from 1992 was a little below the level of 1970. He said something was being missed because there were a lot of people working their hearts out to help children.

When he saw a program that focused on an individual child and determined what problems existed, Mr. Brock said he got real excited. Approximately 3 years ago he decided to devote his Medicare years to convince people they could go to a school that could provide a system to allow children to be helped on an individual basis. He insisted children should not be told they were not trying, but instead, making sure their problems were addressed. Sometimes teachers were told they were not working hard enough. Neither the child nor the teacher needed to be told they were doing a bad job because they might have done everything they knew how to do and it still did not work. If a child could not receive and process what was taught, then nothing else could work. When he saw the Bridges system, he decided to do whatever he could to promote it and encourage people to do something different. The program had been promoted so far in approximately 15 states. Some of those states had incorporated it legislatively and some administratively.

Mr. Brock highlighted a letter from a very distraught mother whose child had trouble learning to read. Her child, Tommy, was found to have a problem learning as early as kindergarten. He was prescribed different types of drugs that were supposed to help, but there was no improvement. It was suggested enrolling him in a special education class, but she could not agree to that. Tommy struggled through second grade with very little progress and finally she agreed to send him to special education classes in third grade. He hated it there, but she had high hopes that was the answer and kept stressing to him it was the only way he would ever be able to read. He was diagnosed as learning disabled that year.

As the school years dragged by, Tommy’s mother never gave up hope that somehow, somewhere there was a way of teaching him to read. She called people, wrote letters, read articles and even e-mailed the White House with her concerns and was always hoping to connect with someone who had a solution. She was told by a special education director that he basically was retarded and not to expect any improvement. There was no way she could accept that statement because he was smart in so many other ways and mature beyond his years.

After all those struggles, he began to change in the fourth grade. It became a daily battle to get him to go to school, which continued for the next several years. He began calling himself dumb and stupid and became very withdrawn. His self-esteem was gradually dwindling.

In sixth grade Tommy was evaluated and found to be dyslexic. She was told a language therapist could help him and therefore, being a concerned mother, coaxed him to go to therapy 3 days a week. Once again explaining to him, he had to do it if he wanted to be able to read, but still nothing changed. She began to worry about much more than the reading problem over the next few years. He became so frustrated with himself and with his mother. He was angry all the time and refused to cooperate with her. It was impossible to get him to go to school and he developed a bad behavior pattern that could lead him down the path of self-destruction.

By the time Tommy was 14 years old, he was reading at the second grade level. The summer before he started the eighth grade, there was a new program being started at a school. It was called Bridges Learning Development Program. He started the program in eighth grade and went through the program 3 days a week for 1 hour. He was ashamed and embarrassed to have to go back to grammar school and hated having others hear him struggle to read. After 5 weeks, he began to become himself again. He was more eager to attend school than ever. The program had completely changed Tommy’s life and had given back his pride and self-esteem.

Mr. Brock said it was so important to start looking beyond the classroom and beyond the teacher to get "out of the box" and start looking for things that were within the child. If a teacher had not been trained in how to deal with a child with a learning problem, then the teacher was not at fault and neither was the parent or the child. He said there was an obligation to give those tools to teachers so they could determine what problems existed.

Dr. Kelly Sturdy, principal of Von Tobel Middle School in Las Vegas, did not testify as a Clark County School District employee, but as an educator. She walked the committee through the process she went through at Von Tobel Middle School when they selected the Bridges Program. She said Von Tobel went from being a targeted Title 1 assisted site to a school-wide site. That meant they were charged as a faculty to take an overall look at the school and students and select a program most appropriate for the students. They reviewed six different programs, none of which had a middle school component and required the teachers to do more work than they were already doing to make the curriculum more relevant to the child. The curriculum was not the problem. Students were starting at that school without the skills and ability to do the course work and that was when they heard of the Bridges Program. She saw it working in both an elementary school and a middle school that had implemented the program. She saw one group of children going to their seats to do school work right after the bell rang from recess, and one group jumping on trampolines. She thought, "Wow, this is kind of bazaar for me. I am not sure. This is a program that is going to do what?" Another teacher, with whom Dr. Sturdy had worked with, told her it definitely worked and had seen the program improve test scores.

Even though Dr. Sturdy was reluctant, she finally researched the program. She read everything available. The program helped children have control over their body. It taught them to focus and concentrate. As she was debating using the program, she was walking through Von Tobel School and stopped at the gymnasium. She looked into a physical education class of 40 children, where they were supposed to be hopping with both feet together in a controlled situation. Twenty out of forty children could not even maintain a hop and they were really trying. That was a very strong message to her there were children who did not have control over their bodies and did not have control over the things most people had taken for granted. That was when the program was implemented. The teachers who were selected to teach the program were also very hesitant, but agreed to do it.

The Bridges Program had been up and running at Von Tobel Middle School since August of 1998. It took 1 month to train teachers and set up the lab. Each child went through a 3 hour written test, and a 30-minute "one on one" physical test with a teacher watching. Once the information was collected, it was put into a computer which generated a prescription for each child. At the end of the first month, the Bridges representatives checked on them because there would be no point in putting a child through a prescription unless it was accurate. That was when the program actually got started.

Dr. Sturdy said they still were not where she wanted to be. She envisioned having 420 children per week served by the program. They currently had 88 children in the program. Eventually, Bridges would put that school at the point the faculty wanted the children to be. She exclaimed there was a difference being made. She could see it on the faces of those children. For example, a child who was not reading was entered into the program. She had a focal point she could not even reach. After being in the Bridges Program for 5 weeks, she returned to the classroom dancing, hugged the teacher, and said, "The words do not jump around on the page anymore. I am reading."

Another child who could read, but cried a half-hour into the reading because she could not sustain or comprehend the reading, read for hours after using the program. Dr. Sturdy said it was the physical therapy lab of the Bridges program that remedied her problem. She no longer had massive headaches when she tried to read.

Dr. Sturdy’s last example was a rather heavy-set child who did not want to participate in the program because he did not think he could do anything that was required from the program, especially after he looked at the trampoline. After he was stepped through the exercises, he was the superstar of the classroom and was used as a peer tutor.

Dr. Sturdy did not expect to see the total results from those sixth graders she used as examples, until they were in the eighth grade. Those students did self-reporting of their progress and said they were able to concentrate better. They felt better about themselves and felt like they were doing better in their classes. The program could help all children, even like the one in the letter about which Mr. Brock spoke. It would help give that last spark of hope and another chance in school and in life. The program could help all children remedy their development problems and actually learn in school like most other children.

Mr. Brock said the most exciting thing about the program was it would apply to any child no matter what their age. There were no cultural, racial, or sexual biases because the program was presented in a visual form. There would not be any language difficulties. For example, Hispanic children did not have to struggle with it because there was an assessment of the 26 cognitive abilities done in a way that anybody could understand with any language skill.

As an example, Mr. Brock brought up a prison boot camp in Oregon that installed the program in January of 1996. In the 2 years since the program was installed, they had graduated a class every 2 months. The prisoners’ graduation rate was increased by 54 percent. The General Education Diploma (GED) equivalency rate increased by close to the same percent.

Mr. Brock said assessment tests had not been used for diagnostic purposes, which was "crazy." That was the whole premise of the Bridges Program. Five percent of the children referred to the Bridges Program were referred to specialists because their problems were well beyond the program’s abilities. However, the fact the child was diagnosed with significant problems, such as Down’s Syndrome, was terribly important for that child because no one ever knew the problem existed.

Mr. Brock explained how the program would be implemented. When the Bridges Program was introduced to a school, the representatives from the program asked for one classroom, depending on the size of the school. One teacher for every 300 to 400 students would be needed. The staff to run the program would come from that school. The Bridges personnel would come in with a serious training program and return on a regular basis to review and evaluate how the school was doing with the program. The software for the lab was also provided to the school. The cost would be approximately $50 per child. Mr. Brock explained a special education child could not be taught in America for less than $5000 to $6000, as far as he was aware. Therefore, if special education referrals were reduced by even 3 or 4 children per school, the Bridges Program would be paid. The school would pay for the teachers’ salaries since they would be from that community. Most of the schools that implemented the program used Title 1 project funding but other schools found other resources. Some states had a compensatory fund, or had funded it legislatively.

Mrs. Cegavske was able to go with Assemblywoman Merle Berman to Von Tobel Middle School and saw the program in action. She was very impressed with what they were doing. Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani was a teacher there and she had made a recommendation to implement the program in the prisons. Mrs. Cegavske agreed that was something that needed to happen.

Dr. Sturdy thought it was sad that prisons were being considered instead of elementary schools. Mrs. Cegavske replied Ms. Giunchigliani was just saying there were so many young kids in prison that were there because they had learning disabilities. Mrs. Cegavske explained both prisons and elementary schools needed to be the focal point. She stated sometimes prisons were offered more money for those types of programs, which could not keep happening. She would rather see the funding go to the schools than the prisons but still thought the issue needed to be addressed.

Mr. Brock said it was stunning when he looked at the adjudicated youth, the boot camps, and the prisons. In the boot camp that was using the Bridges Program, the average inmate had 7 years of special education, which obviously had not worked, not to criticize special education. Special education was terrific for some children and the only shot they had. Mr. Brock mentioned the inmates who had 7 years of special education were testing at the third grade level, which should say something. There were 4,000 kids in the adjudicated youth program in Oregon. If those inmates’ problems had been found when they were 5 years of age, many rapes and robberies could have been prevented.

Mr. Collins learned in the Committee on Education and the Committee on Judiciary, both in past sessions and the current session, about the changes in juvenile crime and that most inmates had learning disabilities and educational problems. Therefore, it needed to be decided where the dollar would be spent, whether it was on "the elaborate prisons" or whether it was to focus on new ways to educate children.

The committee watched a video that showed how the lab worked within the Bridges Program. Students would develop their essential competencies: attention, memory, rule following, simple decoding, contextual reasoning, and comparison contrast thinking. In turn those essential competencies would empower students to master reading, spelling, mathematics, and other basic and advanced curriculum content. The program helped students who needed to cross longer bridges to get where other students were learning. The Bridges activities were scientifically designed and proven. It was compatible with any curriculum or subject matter at any grade level. Bridges parents felt more connected. Bridges students found it easier to learn. Bridges teachers had more time to teach each student, which made being an administrator much more rewarding.

Mr. Brock said the hardest thing for him was convincing teachers, principals, and educators they were not given enough tools to teach children in a way they all could learn.

Mr. Brock commented in the east Tennessee hills, where some real Appalachian poverty existed, there were large families who lived in small, dark homes because they could not afford anything else. The television was the baby sitter while the parents were working 8 hours a day. When children were left with a television set as a surrogate parent, their eye muscles started slowing down, which caused them to have trouble moving their eyes from left to right. It was not realized that was happening to children across the country. Children were coming to school with more problems than 20 years ago.

Mrs. Chowning said an education reform act was passed last session and was currently in the process of raising the bar and the standards of education. Part of that effort had resulted in some schools being labeled as needing improvement and when those schools were labeled they were able to receive funding from the Department of Education for special programs. Therefore, she wondered if the Bridges Program qualified as one of those programs.

Mr. Brock was sure it would, but he would have to know precisely about the law. Dr. Sturdy replied the Bridges Program was just added to the list of those types of programs. Mr. Brock stated in every state of which was aware, the Bridges program qualified for every compensatory education fund there was. It also met most federal fund requirements because disadvantaged children were being helped. He commented the program started as a gifted child program, it did not start as a program for children with learning problems. The best work was being done with those students who needed help because those were the ones who were desperate to learn.

Mr. Collins said the program would work with all students but the younger the better. If the program was used with kindergarten students, they would be reading and acquiring the skills necessary to show the best performance they could.

Mr. Brock said there were some school districts that wanted the program in every school because it started with the elementary level and moved up, which was exactly what needed to be done.

Dr. Sturdy invited the committee members to come to Von Tobel Middle School and see the program in action.

Chairman Williams thanked Mr. Brock and Dr. Sturdy for their presentation. He said Assemblywoman Giunchigliani gave her unequivocal support for the program as well.

Meeting was adjourned at 5:35 p.m.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:

Hilary Graunke,

Committee Secretary

APPROVED BY:

Assemblyman Wendell Williams, Chairman

DATE: