Desegregation: The U.S. Department of Justice says it will seek a remedy to segregated schools that will provide minority students with “an education of comparable quality” and one that “does not depend on court-ordered busing.” Education Department officials say those remedies could include voluntary student-transfer programs, magnet schools, enhanced curriculum requirements, and in-service training programs for teachers and administrators.
Union Activity: The 1.7 million-member National Education Association gears up for a political battle against the Reagan administration. The union opposes the administration’s plans for dismantling the Department of Education and making deep cuts in federal education spending. [Not in archive.]
Ad Campaign: The NEA, meanwhile, also produces a television public-service announcement starring actor Ed Asner as part of a campaign to build public support for public schools at a time when budgets are being cut, teachers are being laid off, and schools are being closed.
Accreditation: The National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education, in a major policy shift, approves new standards that, for the first time, would require schools, colleges, and departments of education seeking national accreditation to maintain specific student-faculty ratios and funding levels. NCATE’s governing council votes to require that those institutions have a ratio of one full-time faculty member for every 12 full-time students in their undergraduate programs.
Rating Educators: North Carolina has embarked on a plan to create and apply a comprehensive method of evaluating the performance of teachers and principals, a program believed to be the first attempt in the country to establish a systematic, statewide means of appraising the work of educators.
Students With Disabilities: A profoundly deaf 17-year-old Maryland student wins the right to attend her public high school in Frederick County, with the aid of an interpreter. The local school board files a lawsuit to block the move, saying it could set a costly precedent.
Standards: The Maine education department weighs a plan that would require high school students to take two years of mathematics and two years of science in order to graduate. Current requirements call only for four years of English, one year of American history, and one semester of state history.
