October 16, 1996
The gavel slammed last week on the last of 99 parcels of land being auctioned by the Oklahoma School Land Commission over the past two weeks. Crowds attended auctions at 16 county courthouses to hear the auctioneer's spiel and bid on a total of 14,769 acres, mostly pasture.
The earliest testing data from the first four schools run by the Edison Project show some positive results. But the results should be interpreted cautiously, experts stressed.
Math and science curricula in the United States lack a coherent vision of how to educate students, compared with the coursework of other countries, a long-awaited federal study concludes. And that fuzzy perspective, the report says, may leave students in this country at an enormous disadvantage when it comes to pursuing academic success.
Diva's refrain
Arizona education officials were in for a surprise when they arrived for a recent meeting of the state school board and saw television cameras and photographers swarming the boardroom.
Washington
The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments last week in a case challenging a Maine law that denies tax exemptions to nonprofit groups that mainly serve out-of-state residents.
A cash-flow problem
For most high-profile federal education programs, Congress gives the secretary of education some money to support experimental national programs.
Deborah Meier, whose long-running experiment with a small high school in New York City made her one of the nation's best-known education reformers, has submitted a proposal to the Boston school district that would allow her to open a school there.
Dade Schools To Review Discipline Code for Bias
Following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Educations office for civil rights, the Dade County, Fla., district has agreed to review its discipline procedures and work to ensure that students of certain racial or ethnic backgrounds are not punished disproportionately.
Washington
The U.S. Supreme Court last week declined its first opportunity to examine the red-hot question of whether schools are responsible for sexual harassment of students by their classmates.
When a 9-year-old San Francisco girl went in search of a Nancy Drew book last spring, she discovered that the local public library system did not stock the popular series that has been around since 1930.
New Telecommunications Discounts Proposed
The Clinton administration offered new details last week of its proposal to give K-12 schools and libraries discounted access to communications services, including the Internet.
Who says you have to be tall enough to reach the voting levers in order to cast a ballot?
Anderson Township, Ohio
The National Education Association is running into resistance and skepticism from its own members in this predominantly Republican suburb.
From all appearances, Matt Kolling fits the mold of a classic scholar-athlete.
The Spring Valley, Minn., student graduated from Kingsland High School last spring with a 3.7 grade-point average out of a possible 4.0. And after having played on the school's state championship football squad, he was headed to Minnesota's Mankato State University on an athletic scholarship this fall.
Both candidates for state superintendent of public instruction in North Carolina feel that the post can be an effective bully pulpit on education issues.
Results from a new report on test scores show the nation's students making modest gains in math and science in recent years, while failing to significantly increase their reading and writing performance.
The recently reported drop in births among teenage girls is welcome news for those who work with adolescents. But experts say it's difficult to determine what contributed to the decline.