April 11, 1984

Education Week, Vol. 03, Issue 29
Education Any Resemblance to Living Principal Is Purely....

However unpopular school administrators may think they are in the real world, their situation seems to be worse in the realm of fiction.
April 11, 1984
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1 min read
Education State Legislatures Pass Education Reforms as 1984 Sessions End
Legislatures in Maryland, Nebraska, and Wisconsin concluded their 1984 sessions this month, approving a variety of education initiatives. The following summary was reported by Anne Bridgman, Susan Foster, and Sheppard Ranbom.

MARYLAND

April 11, 1984
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10 min read
Education News Update
Arlene Pfeiffer, an unmarried mother whose membership in the National Honor Society was revoked after she gave birth to a child, has filed suit in federal district court on the grounds that her dismissal from the honor society at Marion Center (Pa.) Area High School represented illegal discrimination.

The suit names as defendants the state secretary of education, the Marion Center School District, the superintendent of schools, four members of the National Honor Society faculty council at the high school, the school board, and the National Association of Secondary School Principals, which administers the National Honor Society.

April 11, 1984
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5 min read
Education Research and Reports
Early Use of Drugs

Found Linked With

April 11, 1984
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1 min read
Education People News
Producers of the children's television show "Sesame Street" have agreed to stop using a song about monsters following a Madison, Wis., parent's complaint that four lines in the song could be misinterpreted to encourage child molestation.

Martha A. Deming wrote to the Children's Television Workshop about "I Want a Monster To Be My Friend" after she heard the song performed at a "Sesame Street" road show in Madison last year. The song includes the lines: "If I make friends with a friendly monster/I'll let him bounce me on his knee/I'll let him do whatever he wants/Especially if he's bigger than me."

April 11, 1984
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1 min read
Education Federal News Roundup
Justice Department

To Create Center

April 11, 1984
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1 min read
Education L.A. Abuse Investigation Continues As Scope of Case Appears To Widen
Investigations by California authorities into the activities of what was apparently a child-pornography ring at a Manhattan Beach preschool indicate it was probably a large-scale and lucrative operation, officials said last week.
Anne Bridgman, April 11, 1984
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4 min read
Education Plan To Shut Indian School Sparks Outcry
The federal government's decision to close a Utah school that is one of the few remaining boarding schools for American Indians has sparked a legal battle and charges that the closing will place the future of its students--many of whom are dropouts from other public schools--in grave jeopardy.
Anne Bridgman, April 11, 1984
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14 min read
Education Panel Opposes Florida Merit-Pay Plan
Florida's new merit-pay system for teachers relies too heavily on such conventional factors as teachers' educational attainment and years of service and should take into consideration student achievement, a legislatively created advisory panel has concluded after seven months of heated debate.
Patti Breckenridge, April 11, 1984
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4 min read
Education Provo, Utah, Citizens Approve A Career-Ladder for Teachers
Citizens in Provo, Utah, voted late last month to approve the transfer of funds from the school district's capital-improvements budget in order to establish a career-ladder plan for teachers.

But the transfer of funding may also make it necessary for the school district to develop a year-round school session for its 20 elementary and secondary schools, according to James G. Bergera, assistant superintendent for instruction.

April 11, 1984
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1 min read
Education House Panel Urged To Boost Funding for Equity Program
Advocates of equal rights for women in education urged a House subcommittee last week to substantially increase funding for the $6-million Women's Educational Equity Act.
Sheppard Ranbom, April 11, 1984
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3 min read
Education State News Roundup
A six-member "investigative committee" of top National Education Association officials has concluded that a new Arkansas teacher-testing law is a "political gesture" intended to sidestep serious problems within the teaching profession in the state.

The testing law, which calls for all Arkansas teachers to take a basic-skills test during the 1984-85 school system, "is clearly an error that should be abandoned," the committee wrote in its report. "Teacher morale has plummeted [since the testing law was passed], while emotional and hostile challenges to teachers' authority and credentials have dramatically increased."

April 11, 1984
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9 min read
Education Broadcasters' Group Accused of Using 'Misleading' Data
The National Association of Broadcasters issued "false data" in publishing a guide on children's television programming, officials of Action for Children's Television charged at a press conference here last week.
Cindy Currence, April 11, 1984
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1 min read
Education Judge in Landmark Handicapped Case Sees Urgent Need for Skilled Teachers
Asserting that "these kids can't wait," the federal judge who presided over a special-education case that influenced the development of the federal handicapped-students law charged last week that educators are failing to provide severely handicapped students with the one thing they most need: specially trained teachers.
Patricia Ford, April 11, 1984
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5 min read
Education 200 High Schools Named Winners of Carnegie Improvement Grants
Two hundred high schools across the country will receive grants of about $3,000 each to improve their academic quality, the president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching announced last week.
April 11, 1984
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8 min read
Education Colleges Column
A disproportionate share of the tax benefits that help families meet the cost of college goes to families with incomes above the national median, according to a study released this month by the Washington office of the College Board.

"Of the existing tax provisions, only benefits from the exclusion of scholarship and fellowship assistance accrue primarily to lower-income families," the study said. "All other existing tax provisions, however, probably go disproportionately to families with incomes above the median."

April 11, 1984
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4 min read
Education [States, National, etc.]

Will Not End 'Crisis'

April 11, 1984
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23 min read
Education Higher Standards Linked to Dropout Increase
The Louisiana State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education will meet later this month to consider formal adoption of the new graduation standards it tentatively approved in late January. The standards mirror those proposed by the National Commission on Excellence in Education.
Sheppard Ranbom, April 11, 1984
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11 min read
Education Indian Groups Back New Legislation For Greater Tribal Control of Schools
Representatives of American Indian schools and tribal groups strongly support proposed legislation that would require the Bureau of Indian Affairs to evaluate the needs of each student before deciding whether to close a bia-run school.
Susan Walton, April 11, 1984
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3 min read
Education Jobs, Nutrition Funds May Increase
Summer youth-employment programs would receive an additional $100 million and child-nutrition programs an additional $545.5 million in the current fiscal year under amendments to a supplemental appropriations bill passed by the Senate earlier this month.
Tom Mirga, April 11, 1984
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1 min read
Education States' Teacher-Incentive Plans Are Hitting Snags
In the wake of last year's reports on schooling, a number of states--including Florida, California, Illinois, and Arkansas--moved rapidly to bolster their teaching ranks. In most cases, they established programs to toughen the evaluation of teachers and reward the best ones.
Thomas Toch, April 11, 1984
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7 min read
Education Federal Judge Strikes Requirement For Draft-Registration Aid Form
A federal district judge in Boston last week struck down a U.S. Education Department rule requiring all college students seeking federal aid to sign a form stating that they have registered for the draft or are not required to do so by law.

U.S. District Judge Robert E. Keeton ordered the department to halt the practice temporarily in a ruling handed down on April 11.

April 11, 1984
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1 min read
Curriculum Youths Reading Less, Adults Read More, New Survey Finds
Young people are reading less than they did five years ago, a study of reading and book-buying habits released last week by the Library of Congress has found.
Anne Bridgman, April 11, 1984
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5 min read
Education Court Reaffirms Stand on Prayer, Will Rule on Moments of Silence
The U.S. Supreme Court last week reaffirmed its earlier rulings that organized, spoken prayer in public schools is unconstitutional, but agreed to consider for the first time the constitutionality of laws calling for "moments of silence" in the schools.
Thomas Toch, April 11, 1984
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4 min read
Education Schools Said Failing To Tell Pupils of N.C.A.A. Rule
Few high-school principals have taken steps to ensure that their students are aware of the new academic standards for freshmen college athletes passed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association last year, according to a survey by four faculty members at Clemson University.
Thomas Toch, April 11, 1984
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3 min read
Education Philadelphia Moving To Promote Students on Basis of Performance
In high schools and junior high schools across Philadelphia, teachers have been asking the same question for years about students who turn up in their classrooms with the academic skills of 5th graders: "How did they get here?"
Vernon Loeb, April 11, 1984
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4 min read
Education District News Roundup
Members of the Chicago school board receive expense checks of $300 per month, although the payments appear to violate an Illinois law forbidding school-board members to be compensated for their work.

Section 34-4 of the school code of Illinois says that "board members shall serve without compensation," according to Julia Q. Dempsey, legal advisor to the Illinois State Board of Education.

April 11, 1984
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4 min read
Education Federal File:
Charles L. Heatherly, one of a number of the so-called "New Right" conservatives appointed to posts in the Education Department by the Reagan Administration, has left his post as deputy undersecretary for management for a White House job.

On April 1, Mr. Heatherly became director of the White House Fellows program, where he will be responsible for introducing talented young professionals and academics to the top levels of government through year-long interships. Those familiar with the post describe it as a "plum" and "a lot easier" than his job at the department. Mr. Heatherly was traveling abroad last week.

April 11, 1984
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2 min read
Education English Teachers' Panels Urge More Focus on 'True Literacy'
Efforts to reform education will not result in "true literacy" if they persist in focusing on narrow, testable skills at the expense of writing, literature, and other less quantifiable areas of the language arts.
Susan Walton, April 11, 1984
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4 min read
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