November 3, 1999
Education Week, Vol. 19, Issue 10
School & District Management
Taking the High Road
In five years as Philadelphia superintendent, David Hornbeck has raised achievement--and made some enemies. Includes "Status Report: Children Achieving."
Teaching Profession
Payroll Snarls Cause Anger, Frustration In Several Urban Districts
Nearly two months into the school year, some big-city districts are still working out kinks in their payroll systems that have caused embarrassing and frustrating problems.
Equity & Diversity
New School Curriculum Seeks To Combat Anti-Gay Bias
While educators concentrate on keeping gay and lesbian students safe from bullying and other harassment, a Massachusetts advocacy group is offering a new program intended to take the issue out of the hallways and into the classroom.
School & District Management
Gathering of Mayors Focuses On Vouchers, Charter Schools
To stem further middle-class flight to the suburbs, big cities must offer parents as much choice in public schools as they have in food and entertainment, Mayor John O. Norquist of Milwaukee said at a gathering of mayors and education experts in Washington, D.C., last week.
Reading & Literacy
PBS Stations To Bring Poetry Festival To the Classroom
"Fooling With Words," a weekly program airing on public-television stations throughout this month, is chock-full of poetry on childhood and family life, politics and history, faith and skepticism--topics intended to capture students' attention.
School & District Management
Research Notes
- Chicago Study: Students Rise to Challenging Assignments
- Where Are the Men?
- Vouchers and Equity
- Research vs. Diversity
School & District Management
Dealing With Declining Student Numbers
The Consolidation Quandary
In North Dakota and other states, educators often clash on the wisdom of merging smaller districts into larger units. Common cases for and against consolidation break down as follows:
Ed-Tech Policy
Many School Computers Still Aren't Ready for Y2K
The dawn of the new year may catch many schools unprepared for the Y2K computer bug, a U.S. Department of Education survey suggests.
Teaching Profession
State Journal
Cuban aid
Illinois Education Association President Anne Davis accompanied Gov. George Ryan and other state leaders on a humanitarian trip to Cuba last week. The only representative from the teaching profession on the mission, Ms. Davis brought several thousand dollars' worth of chalk, erasers, and other basic educational supplies to the Abraham Lincoln Primary School in Havana.
Education
Thompson Vetoes School Construction Rules; Spares Test
Veto pen in hand, Gov. Tommy G. Thompson of Wisconsin inked out complicating requirements last week from a plan that will make up to $170 million, which had been earmarked for busing Milwaukee schoolchildren, available to help build neighborhood schools instead. The governor also let pass with scant change a weakened version of the high school graduation test he had strongly backed.
Education
Ky.'s Commissioner of Education To Step Down at End of Year
Kentucky's education commissioner announced last week that he will leave his post at the end of the year.
Teaching Profession
Calif. Groups Unite To Promote Peer Review
Four major education stakeholders in California came together last week in an unprecedented collaboration aimed at helping alleviate concerns over the nation's first statewide peer-assistance and -review program for teachers.
Education
Texas Notifies Parents Of Teachers' Shortcomings
Mailboxes across Texas have been filled this fall with letters notifying parents that their children are being taught by teachers who are either unlicensed or have emergency credentials.
School Choice & Charters
After Flap, Students Allowed To Return To Failing Fla. School
A new twist in the ongoing controversy over Florida's voucher program emerged recently, when two families whose children had transferred to a private school using state vouchers were initially denied permission to return the students to the failing public school they previously attended.
Federal
Federal File
A senator remembered
Sen. John H. Chafee, the Rhode Island Republican who died unexpectedly Oct. 24, was best known as a moderate who defended environmental policy and abortion rights. But education groups will also remember him as an advocate for some of their causes.
Education Funding
House Passes Spending Measure; President Is Expected To Veto It
House Republicans last Thursday succeeded in passing an education spending plan that would provide about the same increase for the Department of Education-- roughly $1.2 billion-- as President Clinton had requested earlier this year.
English-Language Learners
Bilingual Ed. Advocates Decry Changes to Title VII
Bilingual education advocates aren't happy with the bill passed by the House last month to reauthorize funding for the instruction of children with limited English skills.
Standards
House Bill Adds Science Requirement to Title I
The House wants to add science to the list of subjects that would have to be taught under the largest federal education program, ending Title I's historic emphasis on reading and mathematics.
The House wants to add science to the list of subjects that would have to be taught under the largest federal education program, ending Title I's historic emphasis on reading and mathematics.
College & Workforce Readiness
Colleges
The American public is quick to condemn the K-12 schools, yet expresses confidence that colleges and universities are doing a good job educating students, a recent report found.
Higher Ed. Wins
The American public is quick to condemn the K-12 schools, yet expresses confidence that colleges and universities are doing a good job educating students, a recent report found.
Teacher Preparation
Presidents Point to Selves To Fix Teacher Ed.
College presidents must take the lead in upgrading teacher-preparation programs now or risk seeing the growing demand for teachers stymie efforts to improve K-12 schools, the nation's largest association of colleges and universities argues in a new report.
Education
News in Brief: A National Roundup
- Phila. Board President To Step Down Dec. 1
- No Bible in Class, Court Says
- Mercury-Scare Sequel
- Suit Over NHS Settled
- Wrong Forms Used for Scores
- Rough Start for S.C. Test
- Sex Education Must Go On
- Girls Charged With Sex Crime
- Unusual Outreach in Illinois
- Center Targets Violence
Education
Events (1 of 2)
November
8-Algebra: Hands-On Equations: Making Algebra Child's Play!, sponsored by Phi Delta Kappa International, for educators, in Ardmore, Okla.; Durham, N.C.; St. Paul, Minn.; and Traverse City, Mich. Contact: PDKI, PO Box 789, Bloomington, IN 47402-0789; (812) 339-1156 or (800) 766-1156; fax: (812) 339-0018; e-mail: cpds@pdkintl.org; Web site: www.pdkintl.org.
8-Algebra: Hands-On Equations: Making Algebra Child's Play!, sponsored by Phi Delta Kappa International, for educators, in Ardmore, Okla.; Durham, N.C.; St. Paul, Minn.; and Traverse City, Mich. Contact: PDKI, PO Box 789, Bloomington, IN 47402-0789; (812) 339-1156 or (800) 766-1156; fax: (812) 339-0018; e-mail: cpds@pdkintl.org; Web site: www.pdkintl.org.
Education
Events (2 of 2)
November (continued)
18-Testing: Teachers, Testing, and Change, sponsored by Phi Delta Kappa International, for educators, in Charlotte, N.C. Contact: PDKI, PO Box 789, Bloomington, IN 47402-0789; (812) 339-1156 or (800) 766-1156; fax: (812) 339-0018; e-mail: cpds@pdkintl.org; Web site: www.pdkintl.org.
18-Testing: Teachers, Testing, and Change, sponsored by Phi Delta Kappa International, for educators, in Charlotte, N.C. Contact: PDKI, PO Box 789, Bloomington, IN 47402-0789; (812) 339-1156 or (800) 766-1156; fax: (812) 339-0018; e-mail: cpds@pdkintl.org; Web site: www.pdkintl.org.
Early Childhood
Early Years
French Lessons: Early-childhood educators can learn from the French system of universal preschool, according to a report released last week by the New York City-based French-American Foundation. The group promotes cultural exchanges and works to strengthen relations between the United States and France.
School & District Management
School Board Votes To Buy Out L.A. Superintendent's Contract
The ongoing drama surrounding Ruben Zacarias, the embattled superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, reached new heights last Thursday when the school board voted 4-3 to begin negotiating a buyout of the remaining 20 months of his contract.
Teacher Preparation
Northeastern Rethinks Focus Of Ed. School
The dean of Northeastern University's new school of education doesn't appear to be a man who usually lives on the edge. Yet as James W. Fraser crunches through the leaves on his Boston campus one warm fall day, he talks of risking his professional reputation to change the way teachers are educated.
School & District Management
N.D. Schools Struggle With Enrollment Declines
While school districts in much of the United States are scrambling to build new schools to serve a growing cadre of students, districts in sparsely populated areas of the West and Midwest are contending with the opposite extreme and fighting the threat of extinction. Includes "Dealing With Declining Student Numbers."