January 29, 1997
Education Week, Vol. 16, Issue 18
Special Education
Opinion
Funded Into Perpetuity
A more apt headline for Education Week's page-one story "States Rethink How To Pay for Special
Education" (Nov. 27, 1996) might have been: "States Think of New
Ways Not To Pay for Special Education." Evidently, officials have
decided that if they can't fix the problems in special education, they
can make it go away by a process of attrition.
English-Language Learners
Opinion
Beyond Ebonics: Why 'Black English' Matters
The Oakland, Calif., school board's decision to view "ebonics," or "black English," as a distinct language has precipitated a rhetorical game of political tetherball that has the unfortunate feel of being played most vociferously on the schoolyard rather than in the schoolhouse.
Families & the Community
Opinion
Welfare Reform and the Schools
Will it throw more than a million people into poverty, or will it
increase family self-sufficiency? Whatever position you hold on welfare
reform, one thing is clear: It will have profound, if indirect, effects
on public education. Some of the major changes and their likely impact
on families and children are highlighted below, along with legislative
provisions that potentially offer schools a role in welfare reform.
English-Language Learners
Opinion
Beyond Ebonics: Indoctrination Isn't Teaching
At the heart of the furor over
black English is one of the
most seductive and yet dangerous
ideas in all of American
education: self-esteem.