Coming Soon:
Ushering in a new approach to test taking, the Educational Testing Service plans to inaugurate a system that will enable students to take examinations on a nationwide computer system. The system, which will begin this fall for students taking the Graduate Record Examination, is expected to expand next year to include other ETS tests, including the National Teacher Examinations and perhaps eventually the Scholastic Aptitude Test. The new system will enable students to take tests at their convenience, receive scores the same day, and immediately send them to colleges and employers.
A Calculating Move:
The trustees of the College Board have voted to allow students to use four-function, scientific, and graphing calculators on the mathematics sections of its new tests. Students taking the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test will be able to use the calculators beginning October 1993; students taking the SAT will be able to use them in March 1994.
Feeling Embattled?:
There is a new national hot line for teachers who believe their methods or curricula are under attack from the so-called “far right.’' Carole Edelsky, a professor of curriculum and instruction at Arizona State University, created the hot line to provide information for embattled teachers and to link them with other educators who have volunteered to offer advice. The Center for the Expansion of Language and Thinking is sponsoring the service. The number is: (602) 929-0929.
If You Could Make $100,000:
When Esquire surveyed 1,000 college students recently, the magazine turned up what it characterized as some “nonestablishment tendencies,’' such as a desire to teach. It asked the students, “If you could make $100,000 a year at any of the following jobs, which one would you pick: teacher, lawyer, doctor, investment banker, or politician?’' Nearly half (49.4 percent) chose teacher. The next most popular choice (17.1 percent) was lawyer.
Retire Old Joe:
In March, U.S. Surgeon General Antonia Novello and the American Medical Association demanded that the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. stop using “Old Joe’’ in its advertisements for Camel cigarettes. Novello said the controversial cartoon camel specifically appeals to kids and is designed to persuade youngsters to start smoking. She cited as evidence a recent study that found that 6-year-olds were as familiar with Joe as they were with Mickey Mouse.
College Going:
Enrollment in the nation’s institutions of higher education reached a record high this past fall of nearly 14.2 million students, 3.2 percent more than the year before, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Much of the increase came in two-year institutions, which saw a 7.6 percent jump in enrollment.
Management For Hire:
The Duluth, Minn., school board is paying Education Alternatives Inc., a for-profit school-management firm, $40,000 to provide an interim superintendent of schools, conduct a search for a permanent superintendent, and study the possibility of running the district itself on a long-term basis. The firm’s president said in March that the company is also negotiating a long-term management contract with a New Jersey district.
See You In Court:
The Baltimore Teachers Union has sued the city in federal court charging that its decision to save money by not paying teachers for one week of work is unconstitutional. A second lawsuit, filed by the union in state court, challenges a measure passed last fall by Maryland lawmakers that allows local jurisdictions to renegotiate existing contracts. Baltimore’s teachers had negotiated a 6 percent pay raise that was subsequently deferred.
