College tuition and fees will rise between 6 percent and 10 percent this fall, with the highest percentage increases at two-year public colleges, according to an annual survey released by the College Board last week.
Tuition and fees at two-year public institutions are up 10 percent over last year, with an average increase of $113. Other increases were 8 percent ($193) at four-year public institutions, 7 percent ($421) at two-year private institutions, and 6 percent ($576) at four-year private institutions.
Room-and-board costs rose 5 percent at four-year public and private colleges, and about 6 percent at two-year private colleges. Figures were not available for two-year public colleges.
Although tuition and fees increased at a higher rate at private institutions than at public institutions during the 1980’s, public-college increases now are outpacing those at private colleges.
American teachers have a mixed response to the Clinton Administration’s push for new standards, curricula, and assessments for students, according to the results of a national poll of 2,000 teachers.
The survey, conducted by LH Research for the Ford Foundation, was designed to find out how teachers view key elements in the nation’s school-reform agenda.
Teachers are generally knowledgeable about the Administration’s proposed reforms, but have “serious reservations’’ about their impact, the survey found. More than half of those polled believed the reforms would establish a “strict set of criteria’’ they would have to follow, and 57 percent said they did not believe new standards and assessments would motivate low-achieving students to higher performance.
Sixty-seven percent of the teachers also expressed concern that schools would be rewarded for “figuring out how to get their students to test well, but not necessarily to learn more.’'
The survey also asked about school-based management, one of the most highly touted reforms of the 1980’s.
Only 41 percent of the teachers surveyed said it had had a major impact on their school. But teachers in school-based-management buildings reported that they were engaged in many other reforms, including cooperative learning, mixed-ability classrooms, authentic assessments, and use of discipline-based standards for learning.
Some playground equipment can become hot enough to cause severe burns if placed directly in the sun, the Consumer Product Safety Commission has warned.
The warning pertains to modular playground equipment with solid metal decks manufactured by Miracle Recreation Equipment Company of Monett, Mo.
The equipment, installed at many schools and parks since 1950, can heat to temperatures above 120 degrees even on relatively cool days, the federal agency warned.
The C.P.S.C. said it has has received reports of more than 200 cases in which children suffered serious burns to their hands, legs, or buttocks as a result of climbing or sitting on the bare metal equipment.
In an effort to prevent additional injuries, Miracle has offered to send out special covers for the metal decks. Owners of such equipment are advised to call Miracle at (800) 523-4202.
