European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 9, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday january 9, 1989 the stars and stripes Page 9 education parents to fill in report card on Dodds by Chuck Vinch Washington Bureau Washington department of defense dependents schools official unveiled a plan last week that will ask the parents of every student to Grade the school system. Administrators with the overseas school system s Headquarters in Washington Are refining a questionnaire aimed at the 154,000 parents of children in the 272 overseas schools said John Stremple Dodds director. I want a scientific response on parents attitudes How they feel about the schools what Type of service they re get Ting How they think their kids Are doing Stremple said. From that we can set goals to Shore up weaknesses an portray publicly our  Dodds Roundup the report card from parents coincides with other Steps Dodds has taken to give parents More say in school operations such As involving parents this school year in the hiring of teachers an principals. This is really a Market Survey Stremple said. Parents Are our custom ers. They re the people we have to satisfy. To the extent that we Are not doing that it needs to be known and made Public because we re a Public  the Survey is in the draft stage said Mary Johnson chief of the evaluation and accreditation Branch of the school system s education division. Plans Call for the Survey forms to be distributed by april 1. In drafting the Survey the school sys tem seeks advice from As Many advocacy groups As possible including the advis Ory Council on dependents education the european Congress of american parents teachers and students and the National military family association Johnson said. The Survey is modelled on an annual Gallup poll on schools and a Survey con ducted by the Clovis calif., Public school system Johnson said. We re asking parents to give grades a for excellent b for Good c for average and so on to schools teach ers administrators curriculum extra curricular activities guidance services just the whole Quality of education she said. Clearly Stremple said there will be relative strengths and weaknesses at various schools and the Survey will be specific enough so that we can isolate them reasonably  he expects the results to be generally positive. The army did a spouse Survey recently and our schools came out quite Well although there s no question there Are some problems he said. We expect to find the schools that Are partic ular hot spots and do further analysis. Where the perception of parents is accurate we will work toward in  the questionnaire will take about 20 minutes to Complete Johnson said. School administrators plan to conduct Field tests with a Small sampling of parents in West Germany before final distribution of the Survey. School Day lengthened for mathematics program Kalmar West Germany Kalmar elementary students will see their school Day lengthened by 15 minutes beginning today in an attempt to Sharpen Stu dents math skills. Students will begin school at 8 15 . For an added 15 minutes of intensive mathematics. Teachers will focus instruction on a particular math skill for 10 school Days with pretesting and Post testing used to assess student Progress. Kalmar elementary principal Mary Connors said the school s six teachers were unanimous in proposing the longer school Day following review of student test scores from the 1987-88 school year. The proposal to lengthen the school Day was brought before the school advisory committee and passed unanimously Connors said. School officials will review the math program at the end of february but Connors said she expects the longer school Day to remain in effect until the end of the school year. All 87 Kalmar elementary students Are bused to and from the Kalmar housing area located about seven Miles away. The school Day ends at 2 45 . Speech drama festival at Alconbury april 9-12 Raf Alconbury England about 150 Stu dents from 12 High schools Are expected to attend the Atlantic Region s speech and drama festival april 9-12at Alconbury High school. The students will compete in debate extemporaneous speaking Public speaking Oral interpretation playwriting and drama. In addition a special Competition featuring one act plays will be held. More than 100 parents will be on hand to help pro vide lodging and registration for the students. Call James Pirkle at civilian 01-868-2017 or ets235-4294 for More information. New Baum older principal coming from school in Japan Wiesbaden an assistant principal in Japan has been selected to take Over As principal at Smith elementary in Baum older. Edward Drozdowski will replace Delores Culmer who was fired last month following an investigation into charges that she ordered the school s fifth Grade and sixth Grade girls to disrobe in front of her. Drozdowski an assistant principal at West Yokota elementary is expected to assume his new duties atthe end of the month. 25 Dodds students to play in University jazz concert Wiesbaden Twenty five students from nine High schools begin practising today for a thursday evening jazz concert at the University of Cologne. The students Are part of an annual program that Al is Dodds High school students to participate in a University level jazz music program under the direction of Jiggs Wigham. Thursday s concert which begins at 7 ., is free and open to the Public. Call Bob Benson at civilian 06121-88247 for More information. Classroom close ups a Dave Didio Steve Mcendree 17, a senior at Kaiserslautern High school puts the Fin Ishing touches on a deserts ene folded in Clay. Mcendree s classroom project is required As a part of the school s studio Art course. Schools seek sociologists help by Amy Stuart Wells new York times Baltimore after years of following psychologists advice Many educators Are now turning to sociologists More Radical prescriptions for solving longstanding educational problems. Outnumbered More than 10 to 1 by other education Al researchers and generally recognized Only for their studies on the effects of school desegregation sociologists in education until recently received Little Atten Tion for their proposals to improve schools. But As educators have become disenchanted with some Reform efforts calling for More of the same More tests More Basic skills the sociologists comparatively extreme school improvement plans Are gaining acceptance. The main difference Between the psychological and sociological approaches to making schools better is where the emphasis is placed. Psychologists focus on How the individual Pupil learns including the partic ular styles motivation and relationship to teacher and classmates. Sociologists look at the entire school and How its organization affects the individuals within it. While a psychologist might hold a teacher workshop on How to motivate students a sociologist would examine ways to change the school s grading process to motivate students through a better Reward system based on individual improvement rather than Competition with other Stu dents. Many of the goals of the recent wave of educational Reform like increasing teacher autonomy and pro Grams to help students who Are at risk of failing or dropping out reflect More of a sociological approach. This includes Calls for greater Pupil participation i school decisions As Well As greater emphasis on How factors outside school affect Pupil achievement. We re not just changing the textbooks said James , professor of sociology and education at the University of Chicago. These Are Radical ideas that change the organization of students and the Way the Community relates to the school. But there has come to be a recognition that Man of the issues in education today Are not in the Domain of educational psychologists but have to do with the social Structure or the school and the world outside the school Coleman said. I think that now is the Tim for sociologists of education to  despite the timeliness of their research the band of american educational sociologists is Small. Of the 12,000 members of the american sociological association only400 specialize in education. Although interest in the sociological Reform efforts has grown educators still tend to resist change especially drastic measures. There s a real sludge of inertia in education that is not Only due to the conservative Ness of educators but also to the political and economic forces that Impact on the schools said James m. Mcpartland a sociologist of Educa Tion and director of the Center for research on elementary and Middle schools at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. But we remain hopeful that some Day schools will really look and feel