October 4, 1995

Education Week, Vol. 15, Issue 05
Education Opinion Mergers and Acquisitions
It is a sometimes expensive hobby, but I love betting on the stock market. Lotteries are not intellectually stimulating, the racetrack is too inconvenient, and so I bet on the future of American capitalism.
Ira M. Cutler, October 25, 1995
5 min read
Education What the Research Says
Researchers studying the effectiveness of family-preservation programs tend to look first at the percentage of families that are still living together safely a year after the service has ended. States considered successful in that regard--including Maryland--generally report figures in the 80 percent to 90 percent range.
October 4, 1995
4 min read
Education Efforts To Prevent Injuries in Schools Advocated
Slightly more than one-third of injuries to children and adolescents can be attributed to sports and recreation, and almost 30 percent of those occur at school, researchers have found.
October 4, 1995
3 min read
Education ED Publishes New Rules for Title I Schoolwide Programs
Washington
Starting this fall, schools operating schoolwide programs under Title I can combine their compensatory-education aid with funds from most other federal programs.
Mark Pitsch, October 4, 1995
3 min read
Education People
Three longtime educators involved in reshaping and rethinking the way teachers and schools work have been awarded the Harold W. McGraw Jr. Prize in Education.
October 4, 1995
2 min read
Education Partnerships Column
Youth Service America is looking for a few good men and women. The Washington-based group is accepting applications from "visionary" young leaders in their 20s and early 30s who want to start new community-service organizations.
October 4, 1995
1 min read
Education Study Charts Huge Surge in Federal Student Loans Since 1990
Federally guaranteed student loans taken out since 1990 have equaled the total amount borrowed through such loans in the 1960s, '70s, and '80s combined, a new report concludes.
Jeanne Ponessa, October 4, 1995
3 min read
Education Young Teachers In Dade Getting A Helping Hand
When Yolande Ramsay began teaching 1st grade last year, she nearly made herself sick from stress and nerves. "I was so lost, I felt like a fish out of water," the 25-year-old teacher recalls.
Jeanne Ponessa, October 4, 1995
6 min read
Education Family Matters
Landover Hills, Md.
Playing on the floor of her family's two-bedroom apartment, 6-year-old Emerald Gonzalez looks pleased with herself as she runs her hands over her freshly plaited hair. "Only five more to go," she says, fingering the plaits that don't already have barrettes on them. Searching for missing ones, she rifles through a potted plant on the living-room floor, strewing leaves in a circle on the rug.
Deborah L. Cohen, October 4, 1995
16 min read
Education The (Swim) Lane Mutiny
Jackie Jacks and Charla Zizzo, both 15, touched off a rebellion in their swim class at Los Gatos (Ca.) High School when they refused to enter the pool on a cool Monday morning last month. The entire class of 30 sophomore girls joined in, protesting that the 10 minutes they are allotted is not enough time to change, dry their hair, and put on their makeup. Principal Ted Simonson quashed the insurrection by dropping the students' grades in the class by two full letters.
October 4, 1995
1 min read
Education Senate Spending Bill Blocked; Loan Cuts Advance
Washington
Stymied by partisan divisions, the Senate last week postponed action on a fiscal 1996 spending bill that would provide funds for most Department of Education programs and includes $1.5 billion more in education funding than the counterpart House bill.
Robert C. Johnston & Mark Pitsch, October 4, 1995
6 min read
Education New In Print

Communication


How To Talk So Kids Can Learn at Home and in School, by Adele Faber & Elaine Mazlish (Charles Scribner's Sons, 866 Third Ave., New York, N.Y. 10022; 272 pp., $22 cloth). Countless suggestions for promoting an attitude of cooperation among teachers and parents in order to foster children's self-esteem and performance in school.
October 4, 1995
7 min read
Education Take Note

Safe Anniversary


At first glance, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer and Olympian Bruce Jenner appear to have little in common.
October 4, 1995
1 min read
Education Court To Weigh Colo. Anti-Gay-Rights Law
When Colorado voters approved a 1992 ballot measure that prohibits enactment of any law or policy protecting homosexuals from discrimination, Tracy Pharris began getting worried telephone calls.
Mark Walsh, October 4, 1995
5 min read
Education School Links
A number of states are working to integrate their family-preservation efforts with schools. Among them:
October 4, 1995
1 min read
Education State Journal

Highering and Firing


George Critz, the principal of Adair County High School, has come up with a novel athletic application of Kentucky's 1990 school-reform law.
October 4, 1995
1 min read
Education Second Scoring Error on NAEP Acknowledged
For the second time in as many weeks, a government contractor scoring results from "the nation's report card" has announced that it made a mistake.
Millicent Lawton, October 4, 1995
2 min read
Education Mo. 'Speed Traps' Take Aim at School-Funding Law
Drive with a heavy foot in the rural Missouri hamlets of Macks Creek and Curryville, and you can expect to pay a hefty fine.
Peter West, October 4, 1995
3 min read
Education When Budget Rhetoric Becomes Reality
Houston
House Republicans want to slash $3.5 billion from the federal education budget, arguing that every sector must sacrifice to help erase the deficit. But they would have difficulty explaining that to Rossie Ramirez.
Robert C. Johnston, October 4, 1995
9 min read
Education News In Brief

Most Ark. Districts Opt for Higher Tax


Voters in only seven of 132 Arkansas school districts have rejected a property-tax increase called for by state lawmakers earlier this year.
October 4, 1995
2 min read
Education Revived Calif. Assessment Bill Waits As Gov. Weighs His Options
A California bill that creates a new statewide system for assessing student learning was facing an uncertain fate late last week as Gov. Pete Wilson weighed signing or vetoing the measure.
Millicent Lawton, October 4, 1995
3 min read
Education Federal File

Ravitch recollects


Calling her 18-month tenure at the Department of Education "one of the most exciting experiences of my life," Diane Ravitch provides a glimpse of her Washington days in the autumn issue of The American Scholar.
October 4, 1995
1 min read
School Choice & Charters Charter Champion
Cordia Booth looked nervous. It was a cool August evening in the Mile High City, and once again Booth--an 8th-grade science teacher at Hill Middle School--found herself in the first-floor boardroom of the Denver public schools administration building, waiting to make her pitch. This time, she had company: about 45 supporters of her proposed charter school. The board had turned down the charter school several times before, and each time, the Colorado state board of education had ordered the district to reverse its decision. Booth had even filed a lawsuit against the district, claiming that it was breaking the law by ignoring the state's ruling. But the district had argued that the state charter-school law itself was unconstitutional, in that it gave a state body control over a local school board. And there the matter stood, tied up in the courts, with no resolution in sight. Booth's hopes of opening her school in the fall were fading fast.
David Hill, October 4, 1995
25 min read
Education 'Pet Issues' Rush In When Ark. Opens Door to Constitution
After spending much of last month poring over proposed revisions to the Arkansas Constitution, Rep. Ted Thomas had a simple recommendation. Delete just one word from the school-funding section: public.
Lynn Schnaiberg, October 4, 1995
3 min read
Education State Roundup

Land Sales in Okla. to Benefit Schools


Oklahoma plans to start selling off land to benefit its public schools, colleges, and universities.
October 4, 1995
2 min read
Education Case Contesting Census Count To Be Heard
Washington
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed last week to decide whether federal officials are obligated to adjust U.S. Census figures to compensate for an undercount of members of minority groups.
Mark Walsh, October 4, 1995
2 min read
Education Suit Seeks Minn. Backing of Desegregation Plan
The Minneapolis chapter of the NAACP has sued the state of Minnesota, charging that it has failed to provide the city's students with the same educational opportunities as children in nearby suburbs.
Joanna Richardson, October 4, 1995
4 min read
Education Milestones
Rudy Perpich, Minnesota's longest-serving governor, died of colon cancer Sept. 21 at his home in Minnetonka, Minn. He was 67.
October 4, 1995
1 min read
Education Grants To Enlist Older Citizens as School Mentors
Seeking to tap the experience of an older generation for the education of a young one, the National Senior Service Corps announced grants last week to five cities to enlist Americans over age 55 as mentors and tutors in elementary schools.
Meg Sommerfeld, October 4, 1995
2 min read