f c. ,e 6/ni'he Battalion/Thursday, March 26, 1987
College of Education to cooperate
with school districts in research effort
By April Coventry
Reporter
Texas A&M’s College of Edu
cation is forming the School-Uni
versity Collaborative Research
Committee to build a foundation
for collaborative research.
At a conference Jan. 8-9, rep
resentatives from eight school
districts and 30 researchers from
the College of Education dis
cussed constraints and benefits of
collaboration to both school dis
tricts and the University and ways
to enhance collaboration through
field- and University-oriented re
search.
Dr. James McNamara, profes
sor of educational administration
and of educational psychology,
said the committee found con
straints including lack of funds,
time factors, increased paper
work for teachers, relevancy of
research to the school and prior
ity of research to the researchers
as opposed to the schools.
Some of the benefits, McNa
mara said, are to provide actual
lab work in the schools rather
than simulation, an increased rel
evancy of University courses, a
broader base to bring about
change, and a rejuvenation of
learning.
The committee consists of 12
representatives from A&M and a
representative from each of eight
school districts: Bryan, College
Station, Spring, Klein, Conroe,
San Antonio, Highland Park and
Richardson.
The committee is co-chaired by
Robert Smith, superintendent of
the Spring ISD, and McNamara.
Committee members will work
together on a single project that
both researchers and school dis
tricts agree on and is targeted for
improvement of the schools, Mc
Namara said.
v pr<
solved,” he said. For that reason
the committee will study the pro
ject for a year to acquire a the
oretical framework for its re
search and analysis, he said.
After collecting data from the
schools in the fall semester, the
committee will have achieved two
important objectives, McNamara
said.
“We’ll have the research find
ings and we’ll have learned how
to work with each other, which is
very important for us,” he said.
The researchers and districts
will know each other’s interests
and constraints in working to
gether and, he says, more impor
tantly, they will know the true
meaning of collaboration: a coop
erative effort to produce what
neither side could produce alone.
“The bottom line,” McNamara
said, “is to become more proac
tive than reactive.” The commit
tee will share its findings with
school trustees, the Texas Educa
tion Agency and state legislators.
The groups may then act on the
committee’s research.
The committee met again
March 6 to determine possible
projects for the collaborative re
search. McNamara said these
projects include assessing teacher
effectiveness, becoming more fi
nancially ef ficient and developing
an annual report for school dis
tricts to communicate a school’s
success. The plan will be finalized
in April, he said.
“The future for this group is
bright,” he said.
After conducting the pilot pro
ject, committee members will de
cide whether they want to con-
tinue in the effort for
collaborative research.
“I think we will,” McNamara
said.
Pope plans short tall<
to 200 black Catholic!
at New Orleans stop
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Pope
John Paul II has added a brief
speech to black Catholics from
around the country to his heavy
schedule in New Orleans, Arch
bishop Philip Hannan announced
Wednesday.
Hannan said blacks in the arch
diocese asked for such an address af
ter meetings with Hispanics and
protestants were added to the sched
ule for the pope’s 10-day, nine-city
visit in September.
“Originally ... he was not going to
address any one racial or ethnic
group,” Hannan said.
He said John Paul’s schedule in
New Orleans is busier than in any
other city he is to visit. Other stops
are scheduled in San Antonio, Mi
ami, Columbia, S.C., Phoenix, Los
Angeles, Monterey, Calif., San Fran
cisco and Detroit.
In recent months, planners added
Detroit, where an estimated 600,000
Polish-Americans live, as the ninth
city
Spamsn
also was
ule.
the itinerary. A si
at a San Antonio
is added to the popoi
“1 felt he should also speal
resentatives of black Catnofc
United States,” Hannan said
He said he proposed thei4
ing meetings in Rome last*f-
the pope and cardinals.
Louisiana was the obvio#
for such remarks, he said,be
has the nation’s highest
tion of black Catholics. Niu
1 2 black bishops born inthii
are from the Gulf Coast, he
Five are from Louisiana t
each from Mississippi and.
said Tom Finney, a spoked
the Archdiocese of New OrltJ
Hannan said the pope v |
to about 200 black Cathofiol
around the country.
The talk will be given inii
1 at Notre Dame Seminar I
So
rL
?2
Texas inmate on death row hopes for new trial
HUNTSVILLE (AP) — Texas death row
inmate Clarence Brandley said Wednesday
he was pleased with a stay of execution that
kept him from being put to death this week
and hoped for a new trial that would exoner
ate him.
Brandley, 35, was to die by injection early
today for the Aug. 23, 1980, rape-slaying of
16-year-old Cheryl Dee Fergeson at Conroe
High School. A state district judge Friday
granted him a stay and Brandley’s attorneys
insist they now have statements from wit
nesses who can clear him.
“I don’t know any more than I’m hearing
and seeing,” Brandley said Wednesday in an
interview outside death row. “I’m very hope
ful something will turn up for the good for
me. I feel better now that I’ve got a stay.”
Brandley said he would prefer another
trial — which would be his third — rather
than merely walk free.
“I think I’d much rather be retried because
I think there would still be a lot of doubt in
people’s minds,” he said.
The trial, however, should be anywhere
but Montgomery County, Brandley said, be
cause he did not believe he could get a fair
trial in the county where the Fergeson slaying
occurred.
Meanwhile, a former Conroe High School
janitor, the focus of an evidentiary hearing
last summer in the Brandley case, said he was
harassed by defense attorneys trying to free
Brandley.
James Dexter Robinson, 26, of Greenville,
S.C., said investigators for Brandley’s attor
neys visited him last week.
Robinson said defense attorneys and their
investigators are trying to “make me look like
a suspect” and free Brandley.
Brandley, who also was a janitor at the
school, said Wednesday he was unaware of
Robinson’s possible new connection with his
case.
Bradley said, “I never knew he was even at
the school that day."
Defense attorneys said two former high
school janitors witnessed the abduction of
Fergeson. The janitors also said in videotaped
statements that Brandley was not involved,
the attorneys said.
Meanwhile, an attorney for Brandley said
he met in Houston Tuesday with FBI agents
to discuss the case.
Lawyer Mike DeGuerin said an investiga
tion by authorities could crack the case and
catch the right murderer within two weeks,
paving the way for Brandley’s release.
Brandley said, “I'd like to see anybody
come into this case to solve it."
He said he has not talked with federal offi
cials recently but his supporters have asked
for a federal probe. His case has generated
widespread publicity, with supporters staging
rallies and demonstrations alleging that
Brandley is the victim of racism. Brandley is
black. Fergeson was white.
Montgomery County District Attorney
Peter Speers has branded the racism allega
tion as preposterous.
Brandley, who said he had no first-hand
knowledge to identify the killer, said he
would like to see Texas Attorney General Jim
Mattox get involved because he thinks Mattox
would be fair.
Jeffrey P. Marcon, assistaci
coordinator for the papal |
New Orleans, said prcliminir|
call for a 15-minute talL:|
about 8 a.m.
After that come event!
scheduled: remarks at St
thedral, across town in tht
Quarter; a one-car "paradi
there to the Superdome,
gives a speech to Catholic
ministrators and conduct!
rally; an open-air Mass, at
to naif a million people
pected; and a speech toC
lege and university leaders
There won’t even be diKtj
for supper before thesperr:
lege and university leaders!
University, Hannan said.
“We’re counting on die
have an enormous amountof
just to get through his
here,” Hannan said. “It'sal
*
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Mushroom Gravy, Whipped Potatoes, Choice of Vegetable,
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Two Cheese Enchiladas with Chili, Rice, Beans, Tostados
WEDNESDAY EVENING CHICKEN FRIED STEAK
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The Association of
Former
Students
Spring Senior
Induction Banquet
r
ij,
UK
yr’
i
m
1876'
Wednesday & Thursday, April 8 & 9, 1987
6:30 p.m.
MSC Room 224
All May graduates are invited to attend. Complimentaiy tickets will be
available as long as they last, Mon., March 30, Tues, March 31 and Wed,
April 1 in the lobby of the Forsyth Alumni Center., room 131, MSC.
This is your invitation to attend the formal induction of all
Class of ‘87 graduates. August grads welcome.
TICKETS GIVEN ON FIRST COME-FIRST SERVED BASIS
[‘Quality First’