20 years ago ...
MARCH 30, 1983
- Enrollments in Roman Catholic elementary and secondary schools dropped by 68,000 students between the 1981-82 and 1982-83 school years, according to a report by the National Catholic Educational Association. The surprising 2.2 percent decline lowers total enrollment in Catholic schools to 3,026,000.
- An eight-member research panel commissioned by the U.S. Department of Education finds that the National Center for Research in Vocational Education “lacks research objectives” and has failed to make “significant improvements” in the nation’s vocational systems. It was the first outside evaluation of the 6-year-old center.
- Minority leaders in Minneapolis criticize a school district plan to deny standard diplomas to seniors who fail “benchmark” tests in reading, writing, and mathematics. But they support the tests to gauge students’ academic performance.
- Responding to protests from teachers’ unions, Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander broadens and revises his controversial merit-pay plan to include a larger percentage of less experienced teachers in the bonus program.
MARCH 31, 1993
- Tennessee’s school aid system is struck down by the state supreme court. Because so little state aid goes toward equalized funding, it rules, “disparities in economic resources among the school districts in the state have resulted in great disparities.”
- More than 800 high school coaches, students, and health educators march to the steps of the U.S. Department of Education to demand that physical education and health be included with academic disciplines in national education goals and standards-setting efforts.
- A Louisiana state judge bars the Caddo Parish school system from using a sex education curriculum that teaches students to abstain from sexual intercourse until after marriage on the grounds that it is “medically inaccurate” and contains “religious beliefs.”
