School-Building Officials Developional Plan To Improve Facilities
Education officials and school-construc tion experts from 30 states have developed a national plan for improving educational ilities.
The recommendations arose from a con ference in Washington, D.C., earlier this . month jointly sponsored by the Council of Educational Facility Planners Internation
al, the National Governors’ Association, and the National Conference of State Legis latures.
The conference participants proposed to public of the need for improved educational facilities; to form a coalition to influence state and federal legislation; to push for the first national assessment since 1966 of the physical condition and adequacy of schools; and to establish a clearinghouse of informa tion on educational facilities.
The c.e.f.p.i. plans this summer to an nounce a detailed agenda for improving ed ucational facilities so that schools will be equipped to meet the national education . goals established by President Bush and . the nation’s governors.
The Child Care Employee Project, a California-based child-care research and advocacy organization, has issued a new report on how states can use new federal child-care aid to recruit and re tain qualified child-care workers.
The report outlines how states can use some $732 million allocated for 1991 under the Child Care and Development Block 7& Grant to address goals laid out in the ' group’s 1989 National Child Care Staffing Study, which documented how low wages and high turnover rates are hampering the quality of child care. >+
The 16-page booklet offers guidelines on , directing block-grant funds toward salary - enhancement, reimbursement rates, and 7. health-benefit pools, as well as improved / child-care staff training and the collection of salary data.
Single copies of the report, “What States Can Do to Secure a Skilled and Stable Child Care Work Force: Strategies to Use the New Federal Funds for Child Care Quality,” are available for $5 from the Child Care Em
(6 ployee Project, 6536 Telegraph Ave., A-201, Oakland, Calif. 94609; telephone (415 653- 9889. Bulk discounts are available.
Juvenile-justice services should be ; coordinated with education, child-we&< fare, mental-health, and vocational- training services to help improve state and local government intervention ? strategies for juvenile offenders, a re cent report concludes.
The report, released last month by the
National Governors’ Association, includes five profiles of successful community-based programs for juvenile offenders. The report suggests that coordination 9 with education and other services in such a setting can be less expensive and more posi tive for the youths than institutionalization and without compromising public safety, .
the report says.
Copies of “Kids in Trouble: Coordinating Social and Correctional Service Systems for Youth” are available for $15 each, prepaid, St., N.W., Washington, D.C., 20001-1572.
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The Rockefeller Brothers Fund has . announced that 23 colleges and univer sities have been selected to participate in a major new fellowship program for minority students entering teaching.
Under the program, each institution will nominate up to three minority undergrad uates each year, from which 25 Rockefeller fellows will be chosen annually. Fellows 2 will receive a stipend of up to $2,500 during the summer following their junior year and will work with a faculty member who will also receive a stipend.
After graduation, fellows will receive a yearly stipend of $6,000 for full-time grad uate study in teacher education. After com pleting their graduate work, fellows will re ceive up to $1,200 each year to help repay student loans for their first three years of public-school teaching. %
The fund expects to spend $3.5 million & over the next six years in bringing the pro’ gram to its full enrollment of 150 fellows, ( and $650,000 a year thereafter.
The schools, chosen for their record of
- commitment to the education of minorities + and to improving teaching in the public , schools, come from 17 states and include - both private and public institutions.
