September 12, 1984

Education Week, Vol. 04, Issue 02
Education Letter to the Editor Letters

Success Story


I read the feature article “Breaking The Silence” in your August issue with much interest as I have a 26-year-old son who is autistic. We introduced him to facilitated communication last February, and it has opened up a whole new world for him—and us as his parents.
October 1, 1992
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4 min read
Education Opinion Billiards, Bubbles, And Better Tests
Ever since multiple-choice tests were developed around 1920, they have suffered at the hands of critics, according to Gerald Bracey.
Gerald W. Bracey, October 1, 1992
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9 min read
Education Opinion Books
Book reviews by David Ruenzel.
David Ruenzel, October 1, 1992
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3 min read
Education Opinion One Shining Moment
Being a band director is not always the most enviable job in the world, according to David Royse. The appeal of other lines of work such as door-to-door encyclopedia sales and video rentals rises and falls on the waves of parental hassles and personal frustrations.
David Royse, October 1, 1992
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2 min read
Education Opinion Somebody To Lean On
If you happen to walk past John Morris' classroom at about 7:30 a.m. on a school day, chances are good that you will hear a song coming from the record player.
John Morris, October 1, 1992
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5 min read
Education Illinois Chief Proposes Finance Plan
State Superintendent Donald G. Gill has recommended to the Illinois Board of Education the institution of a sweeping school-finance-reform plan that features an innovative "resource-cost model" to determine local districts' financial needs.
Don Sevener, September 12, 1984
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2 min read
Education Minn. To Study Bus-Driver Licensing
A Minnesota task force on school-bus safety that was appointed last year by the state legislature has turned its attention from accidents to the issue of monitoring the criminal records of bus drivers.

The shift in priorities was decided upon after Guy Phillip Jackman, who has been a school-bus driver for the district since 1975, was charged last month with murder, according to Ray Kroll, director of the district's transportation center and a member of the task force.

September 12, 1984
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1 min read
Education Teachers on Strike Fewer This Year As Schools Open
Judging by the low number of teacher strikes in progress last week, union representatives and school officials across the nation are predicting a relatively quiet year with fewer teacher strikes.
Cindy Currence, September 12, 1984
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6 min read
Education National News Roundup
American men who were eligible for the draft during the Vietnam War completed more years of schooling than they would have had the war not been going on, according to a new report by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The college-enrollment rate for civilian men ages 18 to 24 rose from 24 percent in 1960 to 36 percent in 1969 and then dropped to 27 percent in the mid-1970's, according to the report.

September 12, 1984
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2 min read
Education Is Beauty a Beast in Eye of Beholder?
Is it merely a conversation piece or is it a disruptive influence in the classroom?

Lory Marques, a 16-year-old sophomore in Marietta, Ga., thinks that her pink and black mohawk hairdo is neither, but she transferred from local Wheeler High School to Smyrna's Kenwood Continuing Education Center after her appearance be-came an issue on the first day of school.

September 12, 1984
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2 min read
Education State News Roundup
Commissioner of Education Robert Boose last month proposed Maine's first statewide rules and guidelines for parents who want to teach their children at home.

Wallace LaFountain, curriculum consultant for the state department of education, said the regulations were created because home-education guidelines, drawn up separately by each local school district, were inconsistent across the state.

September 12, 1984
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8 min read
Education Asbestos Report Causes Confusion In New Jersey
As schools across the country opened last week, New Jersey education officials were tackling a mammoth public-relations problem prompted by the release of a state report that about 200 schools involved in asbestos-removal projects might not be ready to open.
Linda Chion-Kenney, September 12, 1984
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9 min read
Education Rise in Foreign Language Enrollments Spurs Teacher Shortage
A 70-percent increase over the past three years in the number of Oklahoma public-school students enrolled in foreign-language courses has sent educators scrambling for ways to recruit language instructors.
Anne Bridgman, September 12, 1984
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7 min read
Education Oregon District Liable in Illegal Student Search, Federal Court Holds
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, ruling that Rainier, Ore., school officials who illegally searched two students were not immune from liability under federal law, has found the school district liable for financial damages in the suit brought by the students.
James Hertling, September 12, 1984
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3 min read
Education People News Briefs
A Newark, N.J., physics professor who believes in a lot of homework, an emphasis on "common sense" thinking skills, and less dependence on textbooks, has been named the 1984 professor of the year by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.

Charles Pine, professor of physics at the Newark College of Arts and Sciences at Rutgers University and chairman of the Mathematics Advisory Committee of the New Jersey Basic Skills Council, was selected from 122 nominees for his university teaching and his service to the community. This summer he instructed more than 50 mathematics teachers and administrators from 16 New Jersey school districts in his teaching methods.

September 12, 1984
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1 min read
Education 98th Congress Has Full Education Agenda as Session Nears Close
The 98th Congress returned here last week with a number of major education matters left on its agenda and only 23 working days left before its scheduled Oct. 4 adjournment date.
Tom Mirga, September 12, 1984
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5 min read
Education Federal Court Orders Pregnant Student Reinstated in Honor Society
A federal judge in Springfield, Ill., ruled last week that Brown County High School officials violated the civil rights of a pregnant student by expelling her from the school's chapter of the National Honor Society.
James Hertling, September 12, 1984
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3 min read
Education N.C.A.A. Rule Found To Bench Most Athletes
A majority of the athletes who were freshmen at college sports powers in 1977 would not have met a new academic-eligibility standard approved a year ago by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, according to a study commissioned by the organization.

The study revealed that only 18 percent of the black athletes and 57 percent of the white athletes who were freshmen in 1977 would have met the new standard.

September 12, 1984
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3 min read
Education O.C.R. Impeding Rights Surveys, Groups Contend
Two national organizations that in the past took opposing stances on the appropriateness of federal statistics-gathering for civil-rights purposes are now pressuring federal officials to expedite the government's biennial civil-rights survey of school districts.
Lynn Olson, September 12, 1984
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11 min read
Education Federal News Roundup
A report prepared for two Congressional caucuses and released last week suggests that disadvantaged high-school students with little or no work history should be issued "employability credentials" by their schools.

The proposed diploma-like document would serve as a benchmark for employers "to measure attainment of employment-related compe-tencies, much as the diploma or the ged certificate are designed to measure educational competencies," according to the report by the Northeast-Midwest Institute, the nonpartisan research arm of the House and Senate Northeast-Midwest Coalitions.

September 12, 1984
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1 min read
Education District News Roundup
The Wyoming Education Association has filed suit in federal court charging that a Campbell County School District policy on student publications is unconstitutional and violates students' and teachers' First Amendment rights. The wea also charges the district with harassment of the journalism adviser at Campbell County High School.

According to Debra Lee, a spokesman for the wea, "the district's [student-publications] policy is unconstitutionally vague, fails to clearly set forth what is forbidden, and is unconstitutionally overbroad in describing the content to be regulated and in providing for broad prior restraint."

September 12, 1984
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5 min read
Education News Update
After a year of debate, the New Jersey State Board of Education has unanimously approved a proposal that will allow local school districts to train teachers largely on their own. (See Education Week, May 9, 1984.)

The so-called "alternative route" to certification will allow prospective teachers to bypass collegiate teacher-training programs, the traditional route to licensing, and enter the profession by completing one-year apprenticeships in the public schools. The new program takes effect next September.

September 12, 1984
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2 min read
Education Opinion A Legal Perspective on Asbestos in the Schools
The problem of what can and should be done about asbestos in school buildings will be with school administrators for some time to come. Protective legislation exists, both nationally and locally.
Robert D. Lang, September 12, 1984
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7 min read