May 31, 2000
Education Week, Vol. 19, Issue 38
Student Well-Being
Border Ills
The United States has whipped most childhood diseases. But along the Mexican border, schoolchildren are still being stricken at alarming rates.
Teacher Preparation
Wanted: A Few Good Teacher-Preparation Programs
The Department of Education has announced a competition that aims to showcase the nation's most successful teacher-preparation programs.
Families & the Community
Chicago To Size Up Parents With 'Checklists'
Starting next fall, Chicago parents are scheduled to receive reports every five weeks from their children's public schools. But unlike most correspondence between teachers and parents, these reports will focus less on student performance than on the parents' own role in their children's education.
Education
Federal File
CPR in the Spotlight
Two members of the House are hoping to draw more attention and money to the cause of helping students learn cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
School Climate & Safety
Future of Florida's School Impact Fees Cast Into Doubt
Striking a blow to some of the state's fastest-growing districts, the Florida Supreme Court has ruled that an adults-only housing complex near Daytona Beach does not have to pay school impact fees because none of its residents are school-age.
Budget & Finance
State Journal
Unexpected turnout
Educators in Portland, Ore., breathed a sigh of relief last week, after Multnomah County election officials declared a $78 million, five-year tax levy had passed—nearly a week after widespread reports that it had failed because of insufficient voter turnout. ("Five Ore. Districts OK Local-Option Taxes in Mail-In Vote," May 24, 2000.)
Standards
News in Brief: A State Capitals Roundup
- Vt. To Punish Bomb Scares by Taking Driver's Licenses
- Ariz. Court Upholds Unruly Student
- Pro-Standards Group Forms in N.J.
- N.Y. Charters Sue Over State Tests
Education
Time Grows Short on ESEA Renewal
If the effort to reauthorize the nation's main K-12 education law were a patient, it would be in critical condition. Includes the chart, "Progress Report."
Equity & Diversity
As Graduation Day Nears, A 4.0 Student Hopes for a Miracle
Edith Carmona is in the Twilight Zone of immigration status known as "in-process."
Equity & Diversity
Guidance Counselors Often Struggle To Help Undocumented Students
Trying to help high-achieving students who are undocumented aliens reach their college goals has become a routine as confusing as it is heartbreaking for many high school guidance counselors here and across the country.
Federal
Testing System in Texas Yet To Get Final Grade
As the 2000 presidential campaign heats up, the rapid gains that Texas students are making on state tests are being called everything from a "miracle" to an "outright fraud" by commentators and academics from coast to coast. Almost certainly, neither of those extremes is true, but in the swirl of conflicting evidence surrounding the state's school performance, it's difficult to tell which tale, in the end, will be taller.
Standards
Indiana Out in Front On Giving Students Extra Help
As Indiana has ratcheted up its expectations for young people, it also has invested heavily in remediation to help students pass its high school exit tests.
School & District Management
Governance Changes Sought For D.C. Schools
Improving a wayward urban school system is tough enough. Add oversight from Congress, competing supervisory boards, and other levels of government to the mix, and checks-and-balances become hurdles-and-haggles.
School & District Management
Health Update
- Many More Students Are Abusing Ritalin, DEA Official Testifies
- Drowsy Children
Ed-Tech Policy
Cheaper Quasi-Personal Computers To Be Marketed to Schools
Personal computers continue to get better and cheaper, but many schools still can't afford enough of them to provide the technology-saturated educational environment they want.
Teacher Preparation
Teachers' Idealism Tempered By Frustration, Survey Finds
Teaching is a labor of love for educators, yet many report that their working conditions are undesirable and they lack classroom-management skills, says a study released last week.
School Choice & Charters
Reporter's Notebook
- Conflicting Views on the Effects of School Choice on Integration
School Choice & Charters
Administrators
Charter Leadership: Most charter schools are run by educators who took their jobs because they wanted to achieve excellence or gain more freedom than traditional public schools offered, according to a recent survey.
School & District Management
Levy Settles Into the Driver's Seat In N.Y.C.
Vast, struggling and chaotic, the New York City school system can be compared to many things—a Fortune 500 company; an old, lumbering train; a squabbling family—but only a man like Harold O. Levy would compare it to an artistic gathering capable of unspeakable beauty.
Education
News in Brief: A National Roundup
- Hartford Board Offers To Extend Amato's Contract
- Principals Demoted in Seattle
- Miami To Begin Safety Repairs
- Anchorage Slashes Budget
- Utah District Spares School
- Dallas May Lose Filipino Teachers
- Ind. Student Charged in Plot
- Adamany Accepts Temple Post
- OSHA Penalizes Ore. District
- Detroit Parent Seeks $10 Million
Education
Take Note
Photo Finish?
And you thought the Sports Illustrated curse was bad. The magazine is famous for featuring a top-ranked team on its cover at the beginning of a sports season—an honor many fans consider a bad omen that all but guarantees the team will stumble on its way to a championship.
College & Workforce Readiness
Minn. Reaches Uneasy Accord Over Learning Standards
By the final gavel closing their legislative session this month, Minnesota lawmakers had not scuttled the state's embattled graduation standards, as many had hoped. Nor had they offered school districts a competing, turn-back-the-clock system, as many others had feared.
Law & Courts
High Court Refuses To Hear N.Y. Appeal in Yonkers Case
The U.S. Supreme Court last week declined to hear New York state's appeal of lower-court rulings that require it to pay half the costs of desegregating the Yonkers public schools.
Federal
House Panel Passes Bill To Probe Ed. Spending
House Republicans and Democrats agreed last week that the Department of Education's accounting records should be examined more closely following recent incidents that point to fraud and abuse.
Education
News in Brief: A Washington Roundup
- House Judiciary Committee Approves School Security Funds
- Gore Proposes More After-School Help
- Bill To Improve Food Program Passes