News in Brief: A Washington Roundup

Ramon C. Cortines, a former chancellor of the New York City schools, last week became a deputy assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Education, filling what is slated to be a temporary position.

Mr. Cortines will help the department's research office create the voluntary tests President Clinton has proposed in reading for 4th graders and mathematics for 8th graders.

Mr. Cortines will "stay on as long as it takes" to get the tests ready, said Rick Miller, the press secretary for Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley. That stay is almost certain to be less than a...