News in Brief: A National Roundup

New York City Schools Chancellor Harold O. Levy wants to put more bite behind the city's summer school policy by making attendance compulsory, just as in the regular school year.

As part of the 1.1 million-student system's tough new promotion standards, 65,000 students in grades 3-8 and 150,000 high school students were sent to summer school this year as a prerequisite to moving on to the next grade. But in a recent letter to state lawmakers, Mr. Levy pointed out that only 77 percent of the younger students were showing up, while the rate was even lower—55 percent—for high schoolers.

Current state laws that allow truants to be picked up are in effect only...