December 14, 1988
The popular state schools chief announced at a press conference Nov. 30 that he would instead seek reelection to a third term in order to oversee implementation of Proposition 98, the constitutional amendment passed by voters last month that establishes a minimum state-funding level for education.
A giant teleconference from the Titanic discoverer's voyage is being planned as part of an effort to improve science education by enabling students to "share in the excitement of seeing a science expedition first-hand," according to Frank Ireton, project director for the National Science Teachers Association.
The lawyers maintained that Kathleen Madigan, principal of Berkeley Gardens Elementary School, showed an "extreme and distorted understanding" of the First Amendment by ordering the books removed.
The General Electric Company has announced a $20-million initiative aimed at boosting college enrollment among poor and minority students at schools in selected communities.
"Big-time" college athletes had lower grade averages in high school and scored less well on standardized tests than did students involved in other sports or extracurricular activities, the study found.
Ms. Frost was a leader of a group of fundamentalist Christian parents who sued the board on the grounds that a textbook series violated their children's First Amendment rights by exposing them to stories on witchcraft, evolution, and one-world concepts.
Officials of the 12 districts that plan to test next fall had been waiting for the guidelines before organizing their programs.
The rule, which took effect this year, requires that the teenage children of welfare recipients and teenage parents on government assistance continue attending school in order to receive full benefits. Dropouts and those with unsatisfactory attendance records will have payments reduced by an average of $102 a month.
At-Risk, Low-Achieving Students in the Classroom, by Judy Brown Lehr and Hazel Wiggins Harris (National Education Association Professional Library, P.O. Box 509, West Haven, Conn. 06516; 104 pp., $12.95 paper). "The key ingredient in successful programs for at-risk students ... is the attitude of the classroom teacher," write the authors, who describe characteristics of such students and recommend methods for involving them in learning.
The study, completed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, questioned 9th- through 12th-grade students in 24 states and local districts. The percentage of stu6dents in different areas who knew that the disease is spread sexually ranged from 88 percent to 98 percent, while between 83 percent and 98 percent recognized the role of intravenous drugs.
The move came just days after Bishop Peter J. Lee of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia announced that he intended to merge St. Stephen's with its sister school, St. Agnes, and to appoint the headmistress of the girls' school as director of the combined institution.
In New York City, the College Town Center of the nonprofit Job and Career Center opened this month. There, students can obtain information about the city's 87 colleges and universities by using i.b.m. Infowindow "touch-screen" computers that contain information about school location, size, tuition, financial aid, and unusual programs.
The policy defines instances in which the suspension of a disabled student for more than 10 days in a year is to be deemed a change in the student's placement--an occurrence requiring special procedures.
Secretary of Education Lauro F. Cavazos said last week that the general level of science and mathematics achievement among many American students is "dismal."
Announcing the new feature in its Dec. 5 issue, the magazine gives Mr. Bush a B+ for retaining Lauro F. Cavazos as U.S. Secretary of Education.