February 22, 1984

Education Week, Vol. 03, Issue 22
Education Increase Found in Handicapped Pupils Enrolled in Special- Education Classes
The overall number of handicapped students in special-education programs increased last year for the sixth consecutive year, with much of the growth attributable to expanded services at the preschool, secondary, and college levels, according to the Education Department's latest report to the Congress on special education.
Susan G. Foster, February 22, 1984
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5 min read
Education Wyo. School-Aid Plan Said Successful
Wyoming's new system of allocating state aid to school districts has functioned well in its first year of operation, but could be improved by the addition of a cost-of-education factor reflecting local economic conditions, according to Lynn O. Simons, state superintendent of public instruction.

In a report last month to the legislature on behalf of the state board of education, Ms. Simons said the finance reform, which involves recapture and redistribution at the state level of some local property-tax revenue, has reduced disparities in per-pupil spending between rich and poor districts.

February 22, 1984
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2 min read
Education Final Passage Likely Of Career-Ladder Bill
Gov. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee this week could sign into law the legislation that he has been promoting for more than a year--a measure that would fundamentally alter the teaching profession in the state's public schools.
Charlie Euchner, February 22, 1984
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2 min read
Education Sizer Announces School Coalition To Try Reforms
Theodore R. Sizer, whose report on American high schools was released here last week, has announced the creation of a coalition of schools that will attempt to implement the reforms outlined in his study.
Charlie Euchner, February 22, 1984
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3 min read
Education QUIZMASTER

Which state experienced the greatest percentage growth in the number of its public elementary and secondary schools from 1971 to 1981?
February 22, 1984
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1 min read
Education News Update
Members of the Vermont Senate recently approved a measure that would require all school districts in the state to offer kindergarten programs.

A similar bill is now being considered by members of the House.

February 22, 1984
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4 min read
Education Research and Reports

A nationwide survey of 709 "latchkey" children reveals that most of them are not afraid, lonely, or bored when they are at home alone, and that many actually enjoy the experience.
February 22, 1984
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3 min read
Education States News Roundup
About 100 public-school teachers protesting their low salaries lined up outside a post office in Summerville, S.C., this month to apply for a custodian's job that offered $7,000 more than starting South Carolina teachers make.

"We're doing this as a protest because we want to show people that we make much less than a janitor who doesn't even need to have a high-school diploma," said Eileen Maness, a junior-high-school teacher in Summerville.

February 22, 1984
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6 min read
Education District News Roundup

School security guards in Philadelphia public schools are now allowed to make arrests on school property.
February 22, 1984
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2 min read
Education National News Roundup
Most of the members of the American Bar Association who responded to a recent survey said they favored awarding salary increases and promotions to teachers based on performance evaluations rather than on a seniority system.

According to the results of a telephone survey conducted for the American Bar Association Journal by Kane, Parsons & Associates of New York City, 78 percent of those questioned said they supported performance-based pay scales.

February 22, 1984
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3 min read
Education The Education Policies of the Democratic Presidential Candidates
Reubin Askew

Former Governor Reubin Askew of Florida has not proposed any specific education initiatives, his aides say. Rather, he has advocated a phased-in federal takeover of welfare and Medicare programs that he argues would allow states to spend more money on education.

February 22, 1984
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8 min read
Education Media Column
Members of the California Congress of Parents and Teachers began a campaign last month to rid television of computer commercials that they say create a "false" impression that computers are necessary for success in school.

Because the commercials may have damaging effects on children, said Harriet Borson, educational technology chairman of the state pta board, pta leaders adopted a resolution last month urging members to protest the commercials by writing or calling the companies that produce them.

February 22, 1984
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2 min read
Education Maine Panel Recommends Master-Teacher Program
After months of deliberation, the Commission on the Status of Education in Maine has issued a preliminary report recommending higher base pay for starting teachers and several changes in the state's teacher-certification standards, including the creation of a master-teacher status.
Susan G. Foster, February 22, 1984
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2 min read
Education N.C. Commission To Urge Teacher 'Career-Growth' System
A blue-ribbon commission appointed by Gov. James B. Hunt Jr. is recommending the establishment of a "career-growth" program for teachers, the reduction of class sizes in grades 4-6, and a recommitment to learning as schools' top priority.
William Cohan, February 22, 1984
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5 min read
Education Studies Find Supply, Quality Of Future Teachers Is Promising
Enough young people might be interested in the teaching profession to meet the demand for the next several decades, and the academic standing of students who enter teacher-preparation programs is as strong as that of other college students, two separate studies have concluded.
Charlie Euchner, February 22, 1984
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4 min read
Education Police Seizure of Student Discipline Records Provokes Outcry
School officials and parents in Summit, N.J, an affluent suburb of Newark, have reacted with anger and legal countermoves to the "unprecedented" confiscation by local police of student discipline records from central administration offices and the principal's office of the district's one junior high school.
Cindy Currence, February 22, 1984
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4 min read
Education Okla. Tax Hike To Raise $300 Million for Schools
Gov. George P. Nigh of Oklahoma--who warned that the legislature's failure last year to increase taxes could imperil recent reforms in the state's education system--last week signed into law a temporary tax increase that will guarantee the state a balanced budget for the rest of the fiscal year.
Charlie Euchner, February 22, 1984
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2 min read
Education N.C. Remedial Study
Expressing concern about the number of high-school graduates who require remedial education in college, the North Carolina State Board of Education has approved a $100,000 study of the students' educational history to determine "where things went wrong."

C.D. Spangler Jr., chairman of the board, told board members that the University of North Carolina system spends between $4 million and $5 million a year on remedial education.

February 22, 1984
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1 min read
Education Two Districts Enlist Community To Prepare for Schools' Future
During the first meeting this month of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development's new network for schools on long-range curriculum planning, participants heard from officials in two districts that are well along in the planning process.

Their approaches differ, but their goals are similar: to make sure that their schools meet the needs of students at the turn of the century.

February 22, 1984
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4 min read
Education Texas Board Approves 'Essential Elements' for Schools' Curricula
The Texas Board of Education has tentatively approved a curriculum-reform package that calls for increased high-school graduation requirements and sets statewide standards for the "essential elements" of 13 subjects at various grade levels.
Anne Bridgman, February 22, 1984
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3 min read
Education Federal News Roundup
The chairman of the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee has formulated a plan to keep proponents of school-desegregation aid from adding a controversial amendment to the bill that would create a $425-million program for the improvement of mathematics and science instruction.

According to Senate aides and local school officials, the chairman, Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah, has proposed adding $60 million to the mathematics-science bill for large urban school districts that lost money as a result of the creation of the Chapter 2 education block-grants program in 1981. Most of those losses occurred because desegregation aid under the Emergency School Aid Act was folded into the block-grants program.

February 22, 1984
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3 min read
Education Ala. Governor Declares 'War on Mediocrity' in Schools
Gov. George C. Wallace has called for a "major war against mediocrity in education" and asked the legislature for $132 million in new taxes to wage it.
Cynthia Smith, February 22, 1984
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2 min read
Education Education and the Democrats: The Contest Begins
During the debate between the Democratic Presidential candidates staged 10 days ago in Des Moines, the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson and former Vice President Walter F. Mondale were asked what they felt the proper federal role in educaàtion should be and what specific programs they would offer to strengthen schools and colleges.
Thomas Toch, February 22, 1984
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9 min read
Education 'Strategic Planning' Network Begins Studying Agenda for Future
Things are going reasonably well at Glenbard South High School in Glen Ellyn, Ill. Peter Abruzzo, the school's principal, reports that 85 percent of the 1,250 students go on to college and only 2.9 percent drop out. Although school officials expect a deficit in several years, the school is operating in the black.
Susan Walton, February 22, 1984
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7 min read
Education Focus on Leader's Role Sparks Concern Over Training, Selection
Citing an accumulating body of research indicating that ''good principals make good schools," three legislators have introduced bills to develop a nationwide training program for school leaders.
Sheppard Ranbom, February 22, 1984
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17 min read
Education S.C. Panel To Study Education Agency
At the request of a Republican state senator, the investigatory unit of the South Carolina legislature will conduct an inquiry into the operation of the South Carolina Department of Education.

State Senator Glenn McConnell this month requested the investigation to determine whether lawmakers will "get our money's worth" if the legislature approves a major education-reform package proposed by Gov. Richard W. Riley, a Democrat. That program would cost $210 million in its first year.

February 22, 1984
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1 min read
Education Letter to the Editor Letters To The Editor
In response to Bruce S. Cooper's commentary, "Government Should Help Families Pursue Religious Education" (Education Week, Dec. 7, 1983): This is the land of opportunity. We all enjoy the same opportunity to pursue happiness in whatever fashion suits us as long as it does not interfere with another person's freedom to pursue happiness.

We all profit from a high degree of literacy among our citizens. We do not profit from an increase in the number of students of religion. Once you have acquired reading and thinking skills, you are free to read and think whatever you please. Therefore, once you learn your public-school lessons, you are free to pursue whatever holy writings you care to.

February 22, 1984
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9 min read
Education Opinion Brown v. Board of Education and the Black History Month Syndrome
February has become the time when we move through the series of racial-pride programs that are the now-predictable agenda of Black History Month. This year, I am also thinking ahead to the commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education.
Derrick Bell, February 22, 1984
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8 min read
Education Opinion Comparing S.A.T. Scores Won't Reveal The State of American Education
On two separate occasions in recent weeks, the Reagan Administration has used Scholastic Aptitude Test data to draw faulty and misleading conclusions about American education.
Daniel B. Taylor, February 22, 1984
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4 min read