"Part of the problem in Willow Glen schools is that we need and have very good teachers but we need to look into the ways of keeping them here," said Kristina Cunningham, senior policy aide to county supervisor Blanca Alvarado.

Superintendent of Santa Clara County Schools Colleen B. Wilcox announced in June in her "State of the Schools" speech that the "inadequate funding and resources for local schools" was creating a crisis and she had thus created the Blue Ribbon Task Force.

The task force held the second of five "solution forums" at Willow Glen Middle School on Nov. 19.

Task force co-chair Carl Guardino and panelists Wilcox and Susan Hammer, who is the co-chair and vice president of the state board of education, fielded questions and comments from the estimated 50 people who attended the meeting.

The task force's objective is to approach the community with information about the county's educational situation and its ideas for what needs to be done to get the county up to par with both state and national standards.

The task force—which consists of 24 community leaders and education officials who met for "hundreds of hours," according to Guardino—explored ways to maintain and recruit teachers.

The meeting at the middle school drew a good crowd from the San Jose area.

"I'm particularly proud of the turnout tonight," Wilcox said after the meeting. "I was pleased to see representatives from San José State University and private schools."

Wilcox spent about 30 minutes explaining the county's situation, comparing county, state and national data that ranged from cost of living, money spent per student and public school scorings on standardized tests.

Wilcox showed the county's performance on the Academic Performance Index and said Santa Clara County schools beat the state average score of 678. The county's score is 747. The target score is 800.

"While we're doing better," Wilcox said, "we're not doing enough."

Wilcox showed that currently the county needs 13,000 credentialed teachers but only has 11,000. If the county's current rate of growth continues, 22,000 teachers will be needed by 2006.

One of Wilcox's slides showed a pie chart explaining math achievement by third- through fifth-graders in 1999 through 2000. The data, compiled by Linda Darling-Hammond of Stanford University, showed that 43 percent of students' math achievement was due to qualified teachers. Eight percent was the result of reduced class size, but the largest factor, 49 percent, was students' socioeconomic background.

During the open discussion segment, one speaker asked the panelists why the socioeconomic factors were not considered in the task force's study.

Guardino asked if anyone had any ideas or input regarding this issue, but no one had an answer.

In her presentation, Wilcox also showed the importance of per-student funding. If the county is going to improve student performance, it's going to need more money, she said. The county spends only $6,000 per student; $11,000 per student was needed for the past four years, she said.

"This is an extraordinary problem," she said.

Several speakers addressed the panel, many of whom were teachers, retired educators or representatives of educational institutions.

Linda Ramus, acting director of health and realization services for the Santa Clara County Department of Alcohol and Drug Services, said that teachers need a positive working environment to do their best.

San Jose Unified School District Board Member Carol Myers, who didn't attend the solutions forum due to a schedule conflict, later said, "Sometimes teachers may forego additional salary if they feel they're being valued."

Janet Wright, an advisor for new teachers in the Berryessa Union School District, said at the meeting that school districts should be more aware that some foreign families are unfamiliar with how the public school system works. She said there should be a program to educate the community, not only on public school procedures but also on school funding.

Another teacher pointed out that some teachers perform better when they are allowed greater freedom in the classroom and aren't tied to a prepared curriculum.

Another suggestion was to set up a "demonstration school" where new teachers can train and watch model class sessions on relevent subjects, Wright said.

"Teachers need to be included in the decision-making process," Myers said. "Unfortunately, district administrators have serious tunnel vision regarding this."

Some suggested streamlining the teacher credential procedure, especially for out-of state teachers and industry professionals who leave jobs in business or some other field to teach.

"I sometimes feel devalued as a professional," said one teacher whose Massachusetts teaching credential is not recognized in California.

Guardino later said that getting public input is important for furthering the task force's goals.

"We didn't want to do this in a vacuum," he said.

The solution forums will meet at different schools and approach the public again in February with the task force's findings and plans.

For more information on the Blue Ribbon Task Force, call 408.453.6500 or visit www.sccoe.org/blueribbontaskforce.