July 11, 2001

Education Week, Vol. 20, Issue 42
Professional Development Groups Pushing for Measures To Attract, Retain Principals
The national associations representing elementary and secondary school principals are anxious about the fate of their two top legislative goals: bills that aim to attract and keep school leaders.
Mark Stricherz, July 11, 2001
3 min read
Student Well-Being ESEA Amendment Would Regulate School Pesticide Use
School districts across the country would be required to notify parents before using bug-killing chemicals on school property, under legislation now moving through Congress.
Darcia Harris Bowman, July 11, 2001
3 min read
Assessment NAGB Delays Civics Test as Possible Other Testing Strains Budget
The governing board that oversees the National Assessment of Educational Progress, concerned about preparations for the wave of new testing contained in education legislation before Congress, has voted overwhelmingly to delay giving a national civics test.
Lynn Olson, July 11, 2001
3 min read
Law & Courts As Term Ends, Supreme Court Takes Student-Grading Case
The U.S. Supreme Court will decide in its next term whether school districts violate federal law when they allow students to grade each other's classwork. Inlcudes a table, "Education and the Supreme Court: The 2000-01 Term."
Mark Walsh, July 11, 2001
6 min read
Education Education and the Supreme Court: The 2000-01 Term

Many legal observers expected this U.S. Supreme Court term to be relatively quiet. It was, until the small matter of Bush v. Gore (Case No. 00-949) came along in late fall after Election Day. Besides the two extraordinary decisions stemming from the disputed presidential election, the justices also handled a number of cases involving schools or related issues of interest to educators.

Here are capsule summaries of the education-related cases decided by the high court in its 2000-2001 term:


July 11, 2001
4 min read
Equity & Diversity Colleges
Hispanics and Higher Ed.: Narrowing the gap between Hispanics and non-Hispanic whites earning college degrees will take a broad-based commitment by educators, civic leaders, and business groups, according to a report written for the Hispanic Scholarship Fund.
July 11, 2001
1 min read
Education American Students Know Too Little About Asia, Group Says
American students lack even a basic knowledge of Asia—and of world affairs and cultures in general—despite the continent's significance in U.S. history and in current and future economic and security matters, the report of a national panel suggests.
Kathleen Kennedy Manzo, July 11, 2001
4 min read
Student Well-Being Panel Criticizes College, High School Sports
College athletes should be treated the same as other students in admissions decisions and graduation requirements, a commission that has studied college sports for more than a decade says.
John Gehring, July 11, 2001
1 min read
Education Funding Philanthropy
Anonymity Altered: Two foundations that have given millions to K-12 education while trying to stay out of the public eye have decided to make their grant-making more transparent.
July 11, 2001
2 min read
Education D.C. Schools Dismiss 531 Uncertified Teachers
About 10 percent of the District of Columbia's teaching corps was fired last month for being uncertified.
Karla Scoon Reid, July 11, 2001
1 min read
Equity & Diversity NEA Poised To Defer Vote on Aid For Gay Students
The question of how public schools should deal with homosexuality, if at all, became the source of a highly emotional debate here last week, both within the National Education Association and among outside groups that condemned an NEA proposal on the issue.
Jeff Archer, July 11, 2001
4 min read
Teaching Profession International Union To Debate Effects Of 'Globalization'
Stories of global economic challenges are expected to drive much of the discussion when some 1,000 teacher leaders from across the globe converge in Jomtien, Thailand, later this month for a meeting of Education International, a worldwide coalition of organizations representing education workers.
Jeff Archer, July 11, 2001
5 min read
Education Early Years
Preschool Payoffs: Several studies have shown that well-designed preschool programs can be a wise educational investment for disadvantaged children. But a new study suggests that, financially speaking, the payoff to the public may be just as good.
July 11, 2001
2 min read
School & District Management Chicago Chief Named Amid Urban Turnover
As the new chief executive officer of the Chicago schools settled into his position late last month, only one of the nation's 10 largest districts was being run by a leader with more than two years on the job.
Karla Scoon Reid, July 11, 2001
5 min read
Federal ESEA Passage Unlikely Before Fall
Hopes that Congress will complete an overhaul of federal education legislation by summer's end appear to be waning, with observers predicting that some of the differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill will not yield to easy solutions.
Erik W. Robelen, July 11, 2001
11 min read
Education Models for Schoolwide Redesign
Here are the schoolwide reform programs in place during the 2000-01 school year in the Memphis public school district, along with the number of schools in the city in which those models were being used. Some schools used more than one of the programs. Two of the models, Middle School Initiative and Widening Horizons Through Literacy, were locally developed.
July 11, 2001
1 min read
Federal Paige Asserts He'll Smooth Early Bumps
In an interview with Education Week, Secretary of Education Rod Paige addressed questions about his stewardship of the department, discussed his role in the education bills now before Congress, refuted rumors that he might resign, and laid out his vision for improving America's schools. Includes an edited transcript.
Alan Richard & Joetta L. Sack, July 11, 2001
20 min read
Assessment Michigan Kills Test-Heavy School Rating Plan
Michigan’s new schools chief has scrapped a school accreditation system that had yet to produce its first public ratings, saying it relied too heavily on state test scores.
Bess Keller, July 11, 2001
4 min read
School Choice & Charters U.S. Asks High Court To Review Voucher Case
The Bush administration is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the Cleveland voucher case and to use it to rule that the inclusion of religious schools in educational choice programs does not violate the U.S. Constitution.
Mark Walsh, July 11, 2001
3 min read
Education Events
A symbol (**) marks events that have not appearred in a previous issue of Education Week.
July 11, 2001
36 min read
School & District Management Memphis Scraps Redesign Models In All Its Schools
Memphis district leaders have announced that, after six years and $12 million, they are pulling the plug on their closely watched experiment to put schoolwide improvement models in every public school in the city.
Debra Viadero, July 11, 2001
9 min read
States N.H. Lawmakers OK Finance Plan, But Debate Lives On
New Hampshire legislators have approved a school finance plan that, on paper at least, presents a permanent solution to the state’s long-running problems in paying for its schools. But lawmakers on both sides of the aisle said last week that they expect to revisit the issue yet again next year.
Debra Viadero, July 11, 2001
3 min read
Federal Federal File

Quid Pro Quotes

"Is Congress owned by teacher unions?"
July 11, 2001
1 min read
Education Honors & Awards

BLUE RIBBON SCHOOLS

U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige named 264 elementary schools the Blue Ribbon Schools for 2000-2001 last month. Elementary and secondary Blue Ribbon schools are named in alternate years.
July 11, 2001
15 min read
Federal Education Department Update
President Bush has now named candidates for most of the top jobs in the Department of Education, but it could be months before the Senate confirms all those nominees.
July 11, 2001
1 min read
Federal Civil Rights Choice Reynolds An Affirmative Action Critic
President Bush's choice for the Department of Education's top civil rights job, announced in late June, has sparked concerns among some liberal groups. Meanwhile, disability-rights advocates cheered his selection for the agency's special education chief.
Joetta L. Sack & Lisa Fine, July 11, 2001
7 min read
Education Education and the Supreme Court: The 2001-01 Term
Many legal observers expected this U.S. Supreme Court term to be relatively quiet. It was, until the small matter of Bush v. Gore (Case No. 00-949) came along in late fall after Election Day. Besides the two extraordinary decisions stemming from the disputed presidential election, the justices also handled a number of cases involving schools or related issues of interest to educators.
July 11, 2001
4 min read
Assessment State Journal

TAKS Issue

Michigan has its Michigan Educational Assessment Program, or MEAP (rhymes with "weep"). Washington state sits down to the Washington Assessment of Student Learning, or WASL (think tipsy Yuletide revelers). And Maryland, poor Maryland, has to put up with tests known by the acronym MSPAP (pronounced "miz-pap"), for Maryland School Performance Assessment Program.
July 11, 2001
1 min read
Student Well-Being Health Update
  • Surgeon General Urges Teaching
    About Abstinence, Contraception
  • Low Iron and Poor Math Skills
  • Driver Education
July 11, 2001
4 min read