January 24, 1996
Education Week, Vol. 15, Issue 18
Equity & Diversity
District Debates Using Income in Assigning Pupils
The Cambridge, Mass., school district is considering introducing socioeconomic factors into its complex, nationally renowned student-assignment plan for elementary schools.
Budget & Finance
Wilkinsburg Should Rehire Teachers, Arbitrator Says
Teachers who were fired when the Wilkinsburg, Pa., school board turned over management of an elementary school to a private company have won a round in their battle to get their jobs back.
Education
Partnerships Column
While education research may at times dwell on the arcane and
obscure, education professors at the University of Maine want to make
sure their work is in sync with the practical needs of classroom
teachers.
Education
AFT Affiliate in New York Among Top Backers of Clinton Campaign
The political-action committee of New York State United Teachers, that state's affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers, has been the second most important source of campaign financing for President Clinton in his political career, according to a new book.
Education
District News Roundup
Massachusetts' highest court has found constitutional the arrangement that allows a private university to manage the Chelsea public school system. The decision upheld earlier rulings.
Education
State Journal: Power sharing, Pop quiz
In sealing an unconventional arrangement, Democratic and Republican leaders in the Virginia Senate have decided that, for now, power is best when it's shared.
Federal
Measure To Allow Breathalyzers in Wis. Schools Advances
The Wisconsin House is expected this week to vote on a bill that would allow schools to test students for alcohol use.
Education
Books: New in Print
Democracy, Education, and the Schools, ed. by Roger Soder (Jossey-Bass Inc. Publishers, 350 Sansome St., San Francisco, Calif. 94104; 293 pp., $29.95 cloth). Leading scholars from the fields of education, history, political science, and anthropology analyze democracy and what it means for preparing teachers and educating students.
Administrators
Democracy, Education, and the Schools, ed. by Roger Soder (Jossey-Bass Inc. Publishers, 350 Sansome St., San Francisco, Calif. 94104; 293 pp., $29.95 cloth). Leading scholars from the fields of education, history, political science, and anthropology analyze democracy and what it means for preparing teachers and educating students.
Special Education
Special Education Column
Computer games specifically designed to help children understand speech and use language boost users' language skills significantly, researchers have found.
Assessment
Board Ponders New Format To Make NAEP More Cost-Effective, Useful
Pushed by a tight budget, policymakers are considering changes in the format of the National Assessment of Educational Progress that they hope will make it more cost-effective and more useful to educators and the public.
Education
Milestones
Loraine Richardson Green, the first black woman appointed to serve on the Chicago board of education, died Jan. 9 at her home in Chicago. She was 107.
Education
People Column
Mary G. Jarvis of Smoky Hill High School in Cherry Creek, Colo., has been named the National Principal of the Year. The National Association of Secondary School Principals and the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. sponsor the award.
School Climate & Safety
N.Y.C. Plan To Ensure Full Day of Schooling Ordered
The state education commissioner ordered New York City school administrators to submit by this week a plan to ensure that all the nearly 1 million students in the district's crowded schools receive a full day's worth of schooling.
Equity & Diversity
Voluntary Busing Plan Is Unveiled in Denver
Months after the Denver schools were freed from a federal school-desegregation order, the district may return to a busing plan that would allow students to attend schools outside their neighborhoods.
Education Funding
Issues of 'Buildings and Bucks' Put Squeeze on Charters
The suspension last week of budget talks between the White House and congressional Republicans portends a long period of uncertainty for school districts trying to plan for next fall. And without a budget deal, schools are virtually certain to face big cuts in federal funding when September comes.
Education
News In Brief
New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman has signed a bill authorizing charter schools, making her state the 20th in the nation to join the charter trend.
Education
Receiver Takes Control of N.Y. Hasidic School
A federal judge has appointed a receiver to take financial control of a private religious school in a small Hasidic Jewish village in New York state.
School Choice & Charters
Shaky Finances Putting the Squeeze on Charters
Cuyler Reid admits that the finer points of school finance escape her. Meeting a payroll and managing cash flow were not the driving forces behind the former teacher's ambition to help found the Valley Academy charter school in Phoenix.
Federal
E.D. Won't Fault Grantees for Breaking Old Rules
Washington
State auditors are now evaluating state agencies and school districts that received federal money in the 1994-95 school year to determine if they complied with federal rules. But the Clinton administration has essentially decided not to enforce certain rules that changed after the new Elementary and Secondary Education Act went into effect last July.
State auditors are now evaluating state agencies and school districts that received federal money in the 1994-95 school year to determine if they complied with federal rules. But the Clinton administration has essentially decided not to enforce certain rules that changed after the new Elementary and Secondary Education Act went into effect last July.
Ed-Tech Policy
Federal File: Veto power; Retiring; Cyberlobby
Chelsea Clinton was one of the first people to review parts of her mother's new book, Hillary Rodham Clinton says.
Veto Power
Chelsea Clinton was one of the first people to review parts of her mother's new book, Hillary Rodham Clinton says.
Law & Courts
Impact of VMI Case on K-12 Programs Mulled
The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments last week in a case that will decide the fate of Virginia Military Institute's 157-year-old all-male tradition. Several justices appeared skeptical of Virginia's legal defense of a public educational program that excludes women.
Equity & Diversity
New Admissions Policy Sought for S.F. School
San Francisco's schools superintendent has proposed modifying the criteria for entrance to the city's prestigious Lowell High School in hopes of ending a bitter debate over its race-based admissions policy.
School Climate & Safety
Districts Tap Private Firms for Support Services
Six out of 10 school systems have considered hiring private companies to run their districts or at least some portion of them. So says a new National School Boards Association survey.
States
Carlson Vows Aggressive Fight for Choice Plan in Minn.
Gov. Arne Carlson of Minnesota last week put the Democratic leaders of the legislature on notice that he would fight aggressively for his proposals to overhaul public education--and force it to compete with private and religious schools.
States
Unlikely Alliance Targets Ga. Ed. Department
Georgia Gov. Zell Miller and state schools Superintendent Linda Schrenko are living out a cliche.
Education
State News Roundup
Colorado students who get into trouble after they are expelled from school cost state taxpayers millions of dollars a year, according to a new study.
Teaching Profession
N.H. Wrestles With a Draft Ethics Code for Teachers
A proposed code of ethics for New Hampshire teachers--nearly two years in the making--is nearing completion, despite concerns that it could lead to violations of teachers' rights.
Student Well-Being
Wash. Schools Chief Reveals She Has AIDS Virus
Judith A. Billings, the schools chief in Washington state, said last week that she has the AIDS virus. But she vowed to continue working with "energy, zeal, and commitment."