May 1, 1985

Education Week, Vol. 04, Issue 32
Education Study: Trust in Professionals Low Among Handicapped Pupils' Parents
Parents have lost some confidence in professionals who work with learning-disabled children in the 10 years since the passage of the federal law protecting the handicapped, according to a study to be completed this summer.
Alina Tugend, May 1, 1985
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3 min read
Education More Financial Support for Home Care Is Urged
The parent of a severely handicapped child told members of a Congressional select committee here that it is an "amazing paradox" that federal and state governments will spend far more to institutionalize a handicapped child than to allow him to remain with his family.
Alina Tugend, May 1, 1985
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3 min read
Education Title I Turns 20: A Commemoration and Debate
Twenty years ago last month, President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed into law the first major program of federal aid to education--the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965--and ushered in what many who supported the initiative hoped would be a new era.
Lynn Olson, May 1, 1985
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14 min read
Education For The Record
Following are excerpts from an April 19 speech by Secretary of Education William J. Bennett in which he announced a three-point "Intellectual Initiative" to promote the teaching of history in the nation's schools.

Mr. Bennett spoke at a conference sponsored by the Ethics and Public Policy Center, a Washington-based research organization, on "civic virtue and educational excellence."

May 1, 1985
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8 min read
Education Minnesota Senate Defeats Perpich's Choice Proposal
Minnesota's Democratic-controlled Senate Finance Committee last week deleted from an omnibus education-aid bill Gov. Rudy Perpich's controversial open-enrollment plan, dealing a severe blow to the state's chances for a public-school choice plan.
Austin Wehrwein, May 1, 1985
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4 min read
Education The Montessori Method Is Making Its Way to U.S. High Schools
The "Montessori method," an individualized approach to learning normally used with preschool and elementary-school students, may prove to be workable at the high-school level as well, according to the headmaster of a secondary school that is testing the method.
Blake Rodman, May 1, 1985
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6 min read
Education Math Educators Said Unprepared for Reform Agenda
Mathematics educators "got caught with their curriculum down" when states increased high-school-graduation requirements as part of the current education-reform movement, the president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics observed at the association's annual conference here recently.
Ginger Hall Carnes , May 1, 1985
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3 min read
Education N.S.F. Budget: Science-Education Trim Backed
The House of Representatives has approved a fiscal 1986 authorization for the National Science Foundation that some science educators say amounts to a $60-million cut in funds for science education over two years.
Lynn Olson, May 1, 1985
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2 min read
Education Teacher Colunmn
Nearly 100 newspapers across the country have endorsed the concept of a national professional examination for teachers since the first of the year, according to the American Federation of Teachers, whose president, Albert Shanker, called in January for making such a test a requirement for all new teachers.

"To require teachers to pass a tough examination before they can work in a classroom makes a great deal of sense," said the Ft. Lauderdale News.

May 1, 1985
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2 min read
Education Low-Wealth Districts Sue Montana; Claim Financial Inequities
A coalition of 39 low-wealth Montana school districts and a handful of individual taxpayers have filed suit against the state claiming that its system of financing public education is inadequate and inequitable.
Linda Chion-Kenney, May 1, 1985
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4 min read
Education State News Roundup
The Utah State Board of Education last week appointed a three-member "fact-finding" committee to weigh the evidence of a charge made in copyrighted news stories that State Superintendent G. Leland Burningham may have improperly kept more than $3,000 in public expense money.

According to Richard Kendell, an associate state superintendent, Mr. Burningham agreed on April 18 to take a paid leave of absence for an indefinite period while the charges are investigated by the board, the state auditor, and the legislature.

May 1, 1985
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3 min read
Education News Update
The West Virginia Board of Education has voted unanimously to appeal a federal-court ruling striking down the state's voluntary-prayer amendment. (See Education Week, Feb. 13, 1985.)

West Virginia voters had approved the amendment by a wide margin last November, but Judge Elizabeth Hallanan of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia in late February barred voluntary prayer in public schools on constitutional grounds.

May 1, 1985
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3 min read
Education District News Roundup
About 250 Ithaca, N.Y., students spent a day in "alternative classes" last month to protest planned budget cuts that could affect the district's affirmative-action office.

Raymond Davis, one of several parents who organized the April 15 boycott, said it was also a protest against the school district's tracking system, which he said places minority students in the lowest educational tracks.

May 1, 1985
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4 min read
Education E.D. Officials, Citing Abuses, Seek End To Financial Aid for School Dropouts
Education Department officials told a Congressional subcommittee last week that students without high-school certificates or diplomas would be ineligible for federal aid under the department's 1986 budget proposal.
Alina Tugend, May 1, 1985
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3 min read
Education Higher-Education Boards Focus On Minority-Enrollment Drop
Boards of higher education in three states have turned their attention in the past month to the problem of declining minority enrollments in public colleges and universities.
Sheppard Ranbom, May 1, 1985
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4 min read
Education Federal File: Onward And Upward; Down and Out
Gary L. Bauer, nominated by President Reagan last week as expected to the Education Department's number-two post, has been by Secretary William J. Bennett's side from the moment the new Secretary was picked in January.

Mr. Bauer, 38, briefed Mr. Bennett for his confirmation hearings, has accompanied him to Capitol Hill appearances and elsewhere, and has been trying, through informal contacts in the Congress, to minimize the political damage of the controversies that have swirled around the Secretary.

May 1, 1985
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2 min read
Education Supreme Court Declines Case on Damages Claim Over Placement
The U.S. Supreme Court last week declined, without comment, to allow a claim for damages under federal civil-rights laws for harm allegedly caused to a handicapped child by school officials' placement decisions.
James Hertling, May 1, 1985
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1 min read
Education Washington Governor Pledges Tax-Reform Push
Washington State's new governor, who has been threatened with a statewide walkout by teachers angry over his failure to back higher teacher salaries and other school-reform proposals, told the state's largest teachers' group last month that he would press the legislature to enact tax initiatives that could expand revenues for education spending.
Anne Bridgman, May 1, 1985
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3 min read
Education Don't Leave School Without It
To recognize high-achieving students, school officials in Newark, N.J.--adapting a status symbol that denotes good credit, if not good spending habits--will award them "gold cards."

Bearers of the card will be entitled to attend all school-related functions--such as dances and athletic competitions--free of charge. Letters praising their academic performance will be sent to their parents. And local merchants are being asked to offer them discounts on purchases.

May 1, 1985
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1 min read
Education Health Column
In response to 13 adolescent suicides in New York's Westchester and Putnam counties last year, local educators and psychiatrists have published a handbook designed to aid schools in dealing with the crisis of teen-age suicide.

The handbook, "Teenage Suicide: Prevention, Intervention, Response,'' outlines the behavioral signals that may indicate a troubled teenager and suggests elements that should be included in a suicide-prevention program. It also includes a 22-page listing of professional and curriculum materials for teacher education and classroom instruction.

May 1, 1985
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2 min read
Education E.D. Proceeds on $75 Million in Magnet Funds
The Education Department was to announce last Friday the availability of $75 million in new federal magnet-school funds, a department official said last week.
James Hertling, May 1, 1985
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1 min read
Education N.H. State-Aid Increase Could Result in End of School-Finance Suit
One of the most closely watched school-finance suits in the nation could be dropped in the next few weeks if the New Hampshire Senate and Gov. John H. Sununu agree to raise state foundation aid to a level already approved by the House.
J.R. Sirkin, May 1, 1985
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3 min read
Education California Reforms a Mixed Success, Study Finds
California school districts are trying to meet the intent of the state's sweeping 1983 education-reform law, according to a privately financed study, but their participation rate in some components remains low.
Michael Fallon, May 1, 1985
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1 min read
Education Federal News Roundup
The Congress is taking its first step in the debate over the future of the National Institute of Education, with the introduction of a bill to extend the life of the Education Department's research agency for a year.

The short-term authorization, which was to be introduced in the House late last week or early this week by Representative Pat Wil chairman of the House panel that reviews nie, would permit the completion of a Congressional study on the effectiveness of the nie and the National Center for Education Statistics. It would also allow for consultation between the department and the Congress, which has thus far been lacking, say Congressional aides.

May 1, 1985
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1 min read
Education Science Preparation of Students, Teachers Is Debated
Significant numbers of American high-school graduates lack the necessary preparation for college-level scientific studies, according to the National Survey on the Status of College Science Education, which was released here at the annual convention of the National Science Teachers Association.
Carol Ellison, May 1, 1985
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3 min read
Education Four States, Feeling Pressure, Loosen Home-Schooling Rules
Intensified pressure from Christian fundamentalist groups and citizens expressing disenchantment with the public schools has prompted the introduction of permissive home-schooling bills in a number of legislatures this year.
Sheppard Ranbom, May 1, 1985
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8 min read
Education Opinion The 'Paradox' of a Growing Federal Role In Private Education
The use of federal funds to support private education is a subject that evokes intense reactions both in Washington and around the country. Ironically, even as the Reagan Administration's philosophy and policies directly call for a dramatic reduction of the government's role in education, there has been an expansion of federal influence and involvement in nonpublic schools.
Lynne Glassman, May 1, 1985
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6 min read