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www.mybaycity.com October 30, 2005
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Education Reform Crusader Hopes to Change Achievement Trend

Onetime Peace Corps Trainer Frank Starkweather Eyes Global Competitiveness

October 30, 2005       Leave a Comment
By: Dave Rogers

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Economist Frank Starkweather, right, and Sue Fortune, executive director of East Central Michigan Regional Planning agency, discuss links between education and the local economy.
 

"The nation's success in the global economy depends on how well we think," says economist Frank Starkweather, jabbing the air at the Saginaw Valley Torch Club to make his point recently.

Business and professional elites at the meeting nodded gravely, but looked quizzically at each other as if to say: "What can we do?"

Mr. Starkweather's agency, East Central Michigan Planning and Development Regional Commission (ECMPDR), released a comparison of MEAP test scores from 74 high schools in the region in 2003. (Available on line at ecmpdr.org). The report of last year's results is pending.

"The Commission is hopeful that the information will be a call for action, a focal point for cooperation in your community toward improvement of the K-12 education system," said a letter from William R. Mrdeza, chair, and Sue Fortune, executive director, of ECMPDR.

The letter stressed: "Communities having strong schools stand a much better chance of expanding job producing industries and other enterprises as well as attracting new investment."

Mr. Starkweather is highly qualified to assess educational achievement. He won a Regent's Scholarship to the University of Michigan upon graduation from Arthur Hill High in 1956. He earned a B.A. in Economics at U-M in 1961.

He was part of a student group that got John F. Kennedy, then a Presidential candidate, to explore the idea of the Peace Corps. He wrote working papers used in formation of the Peace Corps, was a trainer for the organization and served with the agency in Nigeria, West Africa.

He has seen the global picture in education and wants to use his skills and perspective to benefit his home area. But the big question is: Will anybody listen?

Education has been described like the weather: Everybody talks about it but nobody does anything about it. Maybe there is little that anyone can do anything about it.

Mr. Starkweather is trying to change the momentum of education in the Bay City and area community. For the past two years he compiled and published the first comparisons of area high school test scores.

His comparisons were sent to school and governmental officials and the response was mainly a deafening silence.There was some concerned clucking, but little action that might lead to improvement.

He ran unsuccessfully for the Bay City Board of Education and is undecided whether to run again.

He joins with local educational leaders supportinga bond issue on the ballot Nov. 8 in Bay City, knowing that safe, decent school facilities are vital to students and the community.

But he continues to gather comparative statistics that prove something also needs to be done to raise achievement levels, especially in the tri-city area.

Mr. Starkweather notes that the education establishment has traditionally avoided unfavorable news. And lately, test scores in the U.S., and especially the Saginaw Valley, have not been keeping pace with the rest of the world.

The best of all possible worlds for the education establishment is one described by Garrison Keillor, "all the children are above average."

Mr. Starkweather is concerned about the "brain drain" in which we educate youngsters at high cost and they leave, using their talents to develop communities elsewhere. "We need to be able to control our human resources better," he observes.

"Are we committed to adapting to change?" Mr. Starkweather asked the Torch Club members, punctuating the question with a truism: "The stakes are high!"

As manager for Economic Programs at the East Central Michigan Regional Planning and Development Commission, Mr. Starkweather sees first-hand the consequences of low educational achievement. His job involves conducting economic research and giving guidance on economic efforts in 14 mid-Michigan counties.

He also recently spent a year and a half teaching at high schools in Bay City, Essexville and at his alma mater, Saginaw Arthur Hill.

Mr. Starkweather completed a Master's equivalent in African studies at Michigan State University and studied in Ph.D. programs in Economics and Social Anthropology and was a faculty member of the School of Education researching Conflict and Crisis in American High Schools at the U-M.

He has not confined his activities to academics. He played two years on the U-M Rugby Team and is the only person to letter four years as a University of Michigan cheerleader.

He is on the board of Saginaw's Vision 20/20, is a member of the Bay City Planning Commission, the Economic Development Commission, Brownfield Authority and Committee to Redesign Wenonah Park.###

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Dave Rogers

Dave Rogers is a former editorial writer for the Bay City Times and a widely read,
respected journalist/writer in and around Bay City.
(Contact Dave Via Email at carraroe@aol.com)

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