The afl-cio, the nation’s largest labor coalition, last month endorsed competency testing for entry-level teachers.
The endorsement is the first public statement on the issue from the labor group, whose membership includes the American Federation of Teachers, one of the country’s two national teachers’ unions.
The resolution containing the endorsement, which was approved by delegates at the group’s biennial convention, also advocates the raising of beginning teachers’ salaries by about $6,000 over the current national average of $14,000. And it suggests that teacher-salary schedules be shortened to allow teachers to reach maximum pay within three to five years of entering the profession.
In addition, the resolution calls on colleges and universities that train classroom teachers to place “greater emphasis on subject-matter competency and less emphasis on methods courses,” said Scott D. Widmeyer, a spokesman for the aft
The aft has supported the idea of testing prospective teachers, and its president, Albert Shanker, has advocated a national test for new teachers. Mr. Shanker is also president of the afl-cio’s 4-million-member department of professional employees, which drafted the resolution.
The afl-cio resolution does not advocate a national test.
N.C.A.A. To Study
Modified Proposal on
Freshman Athletes
The council of the National Collegiate Athletic Association and the association’s commission of college presidents will co-sponsor an amendment modifying proposed academic standards governing the eligibility of freshman athletes for intercollegiate sports.
The amendment, scheduled to be voted on at the ncaa’s January convention, phases in the proposed standards, according to Jim Marchiony, a spokesman for the association.
In 1983, the ncaa approved as minimum requirements for freshman eligibility a 2.0 high-school grade-point average in an 11-course core curriculum and either a combined Scholastic Aptitude Test score of 700 or a score of 15 on the American College Testing program’s college entrance examination. These standards are now scheduled to become effective next August.
The proposed modifications would delay implementation of the standards until the 1988-89 academic year and would substitute a flexible indexing formula, using high-school grade averages and scores on college entrance examinations, to establish eligibility for the next two years.
The rules apply only at colleges and universities in Division I, the ncaa’s top competitive division.
Record Companies
Accept Guidelines
On Rock Lyrics
A group representing most of the nation’s record companies has recommended that its members either include warning labels on albums containing potentially offensive lyrics or print the records’ lyrics on the backs of album covers.
The Nov. 1 announcement by Stanley M. Gortikov, president of the Recording Industry Association of America, represented a victory for the National pta and the Parents Music Resource Center, which have been waging a highly publicized campaign against youth-oriented recorded music that they say promotes sex, violence, and substance abuse.
Mr. Gortikov said that all of the 22 members of the riaa he has approached so far have agreed to abide by the guidelines. The association’s members produce more than 80 percent of all records sold in the country.
According to Mr. Gortikov, the warning “Explicit Lyrics--Parental Advisory” will begin appearing on the backs of some album jackets by early next year.
In a prepared statement, leaders of the pmrc and the National pta applauded the record group for “responding to the core concerns of our organizations.”
Work Begins on
TV Series About
Desegregation Suit
A Berkeley, Calif., television production company has received a $200,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to help finance the production of a four-part television “mini-series” on the landmark Brown v. Board of Education school-desegregation lawsuit.
According to the project’s director, Avon Kirkland of New Images Productions Inc., the neh funds will be used to support the adaptation for television of Simple Justice, Richard Kluger’s award-winning history of the Brown case.
The series, which is being produced jointly with WGBH-tv in Boston, will probably be aired on public-television stations during 1987, Mr. Kirkland said.
“We think Simple Justice will make excellent television,” said Mr. Kirkland. “Brown was a landmark decision, one that marked an important change in the direction of race relations in America. What we’re trying to do is bring that story to the screen. Simple Justice documents the story so well.”
