March 28, 1984

Education Week, Vol. 03, Issue 27
Education Schools and Colleges Celebrate, Explore Successful Cooperation
School officials met with college leaders here this month to celebrate successful partnership programs, discuss ways of removing barriers to collaboration, and seek approaches that will help stabilize support for their efforts.
Sheppard Ranbom, March 28, 1984
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10 min read
Education Bell Backs Targeting of Chapter 2 Funds to Needy
Secretary of Education Terrel H. Bell told a group of urban educators last week that he backs the concept of targeting Chapter 2 block grants to areas enrolling a disproportionate number of "high-cost" children, but that the Office of Management and Budget has blocked his efforts to do so.
Tom Mirga, March 28, 1984
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2 min read
Education E.D. Opposes Reauthorization of Asbestos, Immigrant Programs
During a House subcommittee hearing last week, representatives from the Education Department argued against sections of an omnibus bill that would extend for five years several expiring programs in elementary and secondary education.
Alex Heard, March 28, 1984
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3 min read
Education Colorado Panel Urges Reforms, End to Tenure
Colorado Springs--Gov. Richard D. Lamm's Task Force on Excellence in Education has added its voice to the chorus of Colorado commissions recommending the replacement of the state's teacher-tenure law with an evaluation system that is objective, fair, effective, and involves teachers.
Elaine Yaffe, March 28, 1984
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2 min read
Education Experts Seek To Shift Focus of Reforms To Content, Texts
The focus on "more" that has dominated the quest for excellence in education must be broadened to include equal attention to the curriculum, textbooks, and instructional methods that make up the "what" of schooling if improvement efforts are to pay off, a forum of nationally known educators and policymakers has suggested.
Susan Walton, March 28, 1984
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13 min read
Education Los Angeles Board Member Tackles Issues on the Air
A member of the Los Angeles School Board has combined her background in broadcasting and knowledge about schools to generate a rare kind of television programming--a local prime-time talk show devoted to education.

"The time had come for the issue of education to be really explored," Ms. Weintraub says. In order to do that in what she calls a "visible" manner, she proposed last summer to one of the city's independent commercial television stations, KHJ-tv, that she produce and host a talk show about education.

March 28, 1984
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2 min read
Education Legilsative Report
As of 12 P.M. on March 23.

SenateHouse

March 28, 1984
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4 min read
Education Finance Experts Debate Effects Of Reform Efforts on Funding
Experts in education-finance issues, meeting here this month, agreed that the recent wave of school-reform initiatives does not directly address their concerns about the unequal distribution of the resources that support public schools, but expressed hope that increased state support for schools will be a byproduct of those efforts.
Charlie Euchner, March 28, 1984
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5 min read
Education Media Column
Officials of about 60 percent of a national sample of public radio stations surveyed recently by the Southern Educational Communications Association said they "would be interested in a major block of quality children's programming" if such programs were available.

The survey was the first of four that the seca, a nonprofit network of public radio and television stations in the Southeast, will conduct this year under a $125,000 planning grant awarded last December by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

March 28, 1984
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2 min read
Education Missouri Approves New Graduation Standards, Reform Agenda
The Missouri State Board of Education has formally adopted an "Action Plan for Excellence" that it devised in conjunction with officials of the state department of education.
Sheppard Ranbom, March 28, 1984
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5 min read
Education Congress Turns to 'Equal Access' After Prayer Vote
Support for legislation guaranteeing the right of student religious groups to meet on school grounds gained momentum last week following the Senate's resounding defeat of a proposed constitutional amendment that would have allowed vocal, organized prayer in public schools.
Tom Mirga, March 28, 1984
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6 min read
Education Supreme Court Turns Down N.Y. Case On Use of Exit Tests for Handicapped
The U.S. Supreme Court last week turned down a New York school district's request that it rule on the state's use of competency tests as a graduation requirement for handicapped students.
Tom Mirga, March 28, 1984
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3 min read
Education 1983 S.A.T. Scores Said To Reflect Better Academic Preparation
Students who planned to enter college in the fall of 1983 received more and better academic training at the high-school level than their recent predecessors, according to a new analysis by the College Board of data supplied by the students who take its Scholastic Aptitude Test.
Susan G. Foster, March 28, 1984
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4 min read
English Learners New Bilingual Reauthorization Calls for More Funding, Data
A bilingual-education reauthorization bill that differs "substantially" from the legislation supported by the Reagan Administration was introduced in the House last week.
Cindy Currence, March 28, 1984
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5 min read
Education States To Work on Improving Text Selection, Adoption Policies
Education officials from 22 states, convened here last week to form "a cartel for excellence" that would pressure publishers into improving instructional materials, instead turned their criticism mainly on themselves.
Anne Bridgman, March 28, 1984
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9 min read
Education Florida Merit-Pay Plan To Exclude Many 'Teachers of the Year'
Florida's merit-pay program--heralded as the nation's first statewide, performance-based bonus system for teachers--will apparently bypass many teachers recognized in the state's teacher-of-the-year program.
Patti Breckenridge, March 28, 1984
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3 min read
Education 'Effective' Principals Found To Work More Hours, Favor Cooperation
The "effective" middle-school principal plans staff-development activities with the assistance of teachers, involves parents and the community in school decisions, and seeks the guidance of experts outside the schools, according to a new study by the National Association of Secondary School Principals.
Susan G. Foster, March 28, 1984
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3 min read
Education Squeal Rule Defended
The Reagan Administration, which announced last year that it would halt its efforts to force federally funded clinics to notify the parents of minors who receive prescription birth-control measures, is defending its original position in a related legal dispute.

Saying that the original notification rule was "substantially justified," the government argues in court papers filed in federal court this month that a coalition of family-planning groups should not be reimbursed for their costs in challenging the rule.

March 28, 1984
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1 min read
Education Yonkers Desegregation Plan Approved
In a rare display of unanimity, the Reagan Administration, a major civil-rights group, and the Yonkers, N.Y., school board have agreed on a five-year plan to desegregate the city's public schools without mandatory busing.

But the fate of the agreement was cast into doubt almost immediately when the Yonkers City Council voted on March 20 not to finance it. According to municipal officials, the council rejected the $18.5-million proposal because the city already faces a $48-million deficit in the fiscal year that begins on July 1.

March 28, 1984
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2 min read
Education Effect of College Requirements on High-School Academics Said Slight
The recent tightening of admission standards by many state systems of higher education is likely to have little influence on the academic standards in the high schools, educators meeting here were told.
Thomas Toch, March 28, 1984
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4 min read
Education Court Voids Section of Oklahoma Anti-Homosexual Law
A portion of an Oklahoma law that allows schools to fire employees for practicing or advocating certain homosexual activities has been struck down by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit in Denver.
Alex Heard, March 28, 1984
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2 min read
Education New Jersey Plans State Academy for Teaching and Management
New Jersey education officials have unveiled plans for a state institute that will help public-school teachers and principals improve their classroom and administrative skills.
Peter Marks, March 28, 1984
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2 min read
Education County Budgets
County governments increased their overall spending by 8.5 percent from fiscal 1981 to fiscal 1982, but the percentage of money spent on education increased by only 4.7 percent, a new analysis by the U.S. Census Bureau reports.

In fiscal 1982, 14.3 percent of the counties' budgets went for education, according to the Census Bureau. With an overall spending level of $67.2 billion, counties provided $9.6 billion for education.

March 28, 1984
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1 min read
Education S.C. House Approves Mandatory Kindergarten Bill
The South Carolina House of Representatives has approved amendments to an appropriations bill that would require all 5-year-olds to attend kindergarten unless their parents sign a form exempting them from the programs.

By allowing exemptions, delegates backed off from a plan promoted by Gov. Richard Riley that sought to make South Carolina the only state in the nation that mandates kindergarten for all students.

March 28, 1984
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1 min read
Education Texas Commission Proposes Reforms With $2.4- Billion Price Tag
The dramatic education reforms proposed by a governor's commission studying the Texas public schools would cost more than $2.4 billion during the first year, according to preliminary estimates developed by the state comptroller's staff.
Dale Rice, March 28, 1984
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6 min read
Education Letter to the Editor Letters to the Editor
Michele Hewlett-Gomez Ph.D. Candidate esea Title VII Fellow The University of Texas Austin, Tex.

A recent article presented the importance of research methods for bilingual-education programs ("Research and the Quest for 'Effective' Bilingual Methods," Education Week, Feb. 8, 1984). What makes this article so valuable to all educators is its documentation of past and current research presented in an objective manner. For example, you use James Cummins' research to focus on the difference between acquisition of knowledge and learning a language to stress the complexities of designing a successful bilingual program. Here, Mr. Cummins states that incorporation of one route to planning a successful bilingual-education program is not realistic, since what occurs in one local school district generally does not occur in another in the exact manner.

March 28, 1984
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7 min read
Education Opinion The Great Farmington TV Turnoff
Last fall, I welcomed a statewide librarians' forum held in the new Farmington (Conn.) Public Library with some startling statistics I had found while reviewing research for a study of how Farmington students spend their time out of school.
William H. Streich, March 28, 1984
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9 min read
Education Opinion Independent Schools and the Public Interest
It has been said of the leadership of the world's major countries that: The Soviet Union is governed by engineers; France by philosophers; England by humanists; and the U.S. is governed by no one, but is regulated by lawyers.
John C. Esty Jr., March 28, 1984
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8 min read