April 13, 1983

Education Week, Vol. 02, Issue 29
Education People News
Wilmer S. Cody, currently the superintendent of schools in Birmingham, Ala., has been named the top candidate for the soon-to-be-vacant superintendency in Montgomery County, Md.

Last week, Mr. Cody came to the suburban Washington district and met further with school officials, as well as with local citizens and the chamber of commerce. If the board members, five of whom visited Mr. Cody in Alabama, continue to be favorably impressed with him, he will be offered the position, a spokesman said.

April 13, 1983
1 min read
Education District News Roundup
A Wisconsin student who was not elected to his high school's chapter of the National Honor Society does not have a constitutional right to an impartial review of his application, a federal court has ruled.

The Penwaukee High School student's grades were high enough for admission to the society, but a faculty committee judging his "scholarship, service, character, and leadership" did not select him for membership, even after the student's father sought and won a second vote.

April 13, 1983
2 min read
Education States News Roundup
In a precedent-setting decision, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has ruled that school committees must bargain with employees' unions before they lay off workers.

The state court's decision upheld the findings of the Massachusetts Labor Relations Commission that the Newton, Mass., school committee violated the state's collective-bargaining law when it laid off seven custodial workers in 1976 without first consulting with union officials.

April 13, 1983
3 min read
Education Schools' Interest in Advanced-Placement Classes Increases
When the College Board launched its Advanced Placement Program in 1955, 1,229 students from 104 schools--primarily independent schools in the Northeast--took the examinations.
Sheppard Ranbom, April 13, 1983
10 min read
Ed-Tech Policy Students Using Computers Are Found To Achieve More
The debate over the merits of computer-based instruction has been joined by three researchers at the University of Michigan, who say that most studies indicate that students using computers perform better than other students.

The researchers analyzed data from 52 independent studies of all forms of computer instruction. According to their analyses of the studies' findings, students receiving some form of computer-based instruction got better scores on tests, reduced the time they needed to study, and had more positive attitudes about their studies and technology than students who did not have access to computers.

April 13, 1983
2 min read
Education District Ordered To Make Buildings Available to Religious Groups
A federal judge has ruled that a Kansas school district must allow a local church to use school buildings for religious services during non hours.
Alex Heard, April 13, 1983
3 min read
Education National News Roundup
The Justice Department is taking the Buffalo, N.Y., school board to court because it alleges the board unlawfully denies sick-leave benefits to pregnant employees and long-term disability insurance to women disabled by childbirth.

The department said last week's action marked the first time that the government has gone to court to enforce a 1978 law barring discrimination against pregnant women.

April 13, 1983
14 min read
Education Hispanic Leader Charges Students Racially Isolated
A leader of one of the nation's largest Hispanic advocacy groups was expected to urge the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights this week to investigate the racial isolation of Hispanic public-school children--a phenomenon that has received little national attention but is reported to be as severe as that among black children.
Hope Aldrich, April 13, 1983
4 min read
Education Carnegie-Mellon, I.B.M. Designing Futuristic 'Wired' University
In collaboration with one of the computer industry's most influential corporations, Carnegie-Mellon University is attempting to create in two years the "wired city" that so far has been only the dream of futurists.
Charlie Euchner, April 13, 1983
8 min read
Education Catholic Teachers Urged To Address Nuclear-War Issues
Joseph Cardinal Bernardin of Chicago, speaking at last week's meeting of the National Catholic Educational Association (ncea), asked educators to help develop through their teaching "the living message" of a pastoral letter on nuclear-war issues being drafted by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Alex Heard, April 13, 1983
3 min read
Education Maryland's School-Finance System Ruled Legal
Acknowledging that Maryland's system of financing public education was "imperfect," the state's highest court last week overturned a two-year-old decision mandating "mathematical equality" in per-pupil spending among school districts.
Eileen White, April 13, 1983
4 min read
Education School Lunches Said Healthful
Schoolchildren who participate in the National School Lunch Program eat more nutritious lunches than those consumed by their counterparts who do not, according to a new study issued by the Agriculture Department (usda).
Susan Walton, April 13, 1983
3 min read
Education Simon's Rock: A Venture in 'Early' College
John Donne, the English poet and theologian, entered Oxford in 1584--at the age of 12.
Thomas Toch, April 13, 1983
11 min read
Education 49 Government, Civic Leaders Suggest Guidelines for Senate Math-Science Bill
Forty-nine of the nation's leaders in government, business, labor, and education have told the U.S. Senate, which this week is considering numerous bills to improve mathematics and science education, that they believe the legislation should "reflect" 10 general principles.
Eileen White, April 13, 1983
6 min read
Education Vocational Education
The construction of houses by students has become a popular component of vocational-education programs in the nation, despite the recent drop in real estate sales.

But in Michigan the practice has provoked opposition that led to a legal opinion by the state attorney general barring school districts from engaging in construction projects on private property.

April 13, 1983
2 min read
Education Voucher Proposal Is Deplored By House Education Panel
Secretary of Education Terrel H. Bell asked a House Education and Labor subcommittee last week "for a little more objectivity'' in judging a proposal to let state and local school officials provide educational services to disadvantaged children through a voucher system.
Tom Mirga, April 13, 1983
3 min read
Education Athletics Column
An annual national survey of football injuries has found that offensive players were much less likely to be seriously injured than defensive players last year.

The report--the sixth by Frederick O. Mueller and Carl S. Blythe, both of the University of North Carolina's physical-education department--said 11 players received "catastrophic injuries" last fall.

April 13, 1983
4 min read
Education Virginia Townsfolk Bedeviled by School's Mascot

High-school students in Christiansburg', Va., have voted almost unanimously to keep their traditional mascot, the "Blue Demon," despite a petition drive by some townspeople who want to have the name changed.
April 13, 1983
1 min read
Education Goodlad Finds Schools Set Goals, But Ignore Them
"If we can only understand schools clearly in our minds," writes John I. Goodlad, "we might be more successful in improving them." Mr. Goodlad's forthcoming report, "A Study of Schooling," has gathered information to further the understanding of schools from students, teachers, parents, principals, and others, as well as from documents. The multi-year study involved more than 1,000 classrooms in elementary, junior-, and senior-high schools.

In an article published in the April issue of Educational Leadership, the journal of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Mr. Goodlad describes some of his findings to date. In answer to the question, "what are schools asked to do?" the researcher found four broad areas of goals: academic, social and citizenship, vocational, and personal.

April 13, 1983
1 min read
Education News Update
Gov. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee took another step toward implementing his merit-pay plan, even though the proposal still has not been passed by the state legislature and the 36,000-member Tennessee Education Association opposes it.

Last week, the Governor appointed an 18-member "proposed" interim selection commission that will work out the procedure for selecting "master teachers." Master teachers, according to the new plan, will be a new tier of teachers selected for their ability in the classroom, not for their academic credentials or seniority, and they will receive pay increases of up to $6,000.

April 13, 1983
2 min read
Education Mother-Child Relationship Guides Early-Learning Effort in Israel
Chaim Adler is the director of the Research Institute for Innovation in Education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's School of Education. The institute was established in 1968 by the National Council of Jewish Women to develop and to implement educational programs for the disadvantaged in Israel.

One of those programs is the Home Instruction Program for Preschool Youngsters (hippy), which began in 1968 as an experimental project with initial funding from the National Council of Jewish Women and, later, from the Israeli government. The hippy program now reaches more than 16,000 Israeli families and is considered successful in its attempt to improve the educational aptitudes of preschoolers through a series of lessons administered by their mothers.

April 13, 1983
13 min read
Education A Streamlined E.C.S. Emerges After Losing Its $3-Million Grant
Late last year, when he was asked to assess the future of the Education Commission of the States, Gov. Robert D. Graham of Florida said he was "looking forward to a very boisterous birthday [in 1984] and not a wake."
Peggy Caldwell & John Chaffee Jr., April 13, 1983
7 min read
Education N.S.F. Group Weighing Science Curriculum-Improvement Plans
More and better science and mathematics courses for general students, as well as a greater emphasis on science in the elementary grades, could play important roles in improving the state of these disciplines, according to "suggested recommendations" outlined by the National Science Board's Commission on Precollege Education in Mathematics, Science, and Technology late last month.
Susan Walton, April 13, 1983
5 min read
Education 'Model' Michigan District Losing Public Support
Not many years ago, this school district was a model for the state. Test scores were high, classrooms were quietly being integrated, and public support was considered to be outstanding.
Glen Macnow, April 13, 1983
4 min read
Special Education Special Education Column
The Educational Testing Service and the New Jersey Department of Education are collaborating on a special project that officials believe will significantly reduce the amount of paperwork required of local special-education directors.

The project involves the use of microcomputers in 11 school districts in Mercer County, N.J., and a computer program developed at ets

April 13, 1983
2 min read
Education St. Louis, Suburbs Await Approval Of 24 Districts' Desegregation Pact
All but one of 23 suburban St. Louis school boards last week endorsed an agreement that, if approved by a federal district judge, would set in motion the nation's largest voluntary school-desegregation effort to date.
Tom Mirga, April 13, 1983
6 min read
Education Letter to the Editor Letters To The Editor
I read with interest your interview with Lyn Gubser, who recently resigned as the executive director of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (ncate), "No One Wants To 'Pull the Plug' on Teacher-Training Programs" (Education Week, March 23, 1983). I was particularly interested in the following comment by Mr. Gubser:

"The [recent] withdrawal from ncate of the University of Wisconsin at Madison was first and foremost a rebellion against having practitioners on campus."

April 13, 1983
8 min read
Education Opinion The Schools Must Teach Nuclear-Weapons Issues
When Jefferson declared, "Preach, my dear sir, a crusade against ignorance ..." in advocating the creation of public schools, he intended public education not only to civilize and cultivate those it touched, but to make them better citizens, better thinkers, more informed people.
Ward Wilson, April 13, 1983
9 min read
Education Opinion In Defense of the Humanities
Not long ago, a history teacher at a well-regarded Northeastern high school asked me to intercede with her principal, who would not grant her leave to attend a National Endowment for the Humanities-sponsored conference on improving the teaching of the humanities disciplines in high schools.
Robert T. Fancher, April 13, 1983
7 min read