June 12, 1985

Education Week, Vol. 04, Issue 38
Education Less Aid Going to Minorities, Study Finds
ca The number of minority students receiving financial aid at public colleges and universities dropped by 12.4 percent between 1981-82 and 1983-84, according to an analysis released this month by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.

The study, which reported that the number of aid recipients from minority groups fell from 609,303 to 533,596 over the two-year period, adds to a growing body of data indicating that a decreasing proportion of minority students are attending college. (See Education Week, April 17, 1985.)

June 12, 1985
•
3 min read
Education 'Education Stealing' Charges Dismissed
A state judge in Hartford, Conn., last week dismissed charges against four parents in the city accused of "stealing an education" by enrolling their children illegally in the suburban Bloomfield school system.

But the lawyer representing one of the defendants said he would file suit within the next few months to test whether district boundaries can be used to deny parents from the inner city the opportunity to provide a high-quality education for their children.

June 12, 1985
•
1 min read
Education Bauer, in Hearing, Says E.D. Study On Reorganization To Be Delayed
The study requested by President Reagan on the effectiveness and possible reorganization of Education Department will not be completed until late this year and will most likely be included in the fiscal 1987 budget proposal, a department official said last week.
James Hertling, June 12, 1985
•
2 min read
Education Gap Between Black and White Children's Well-Being Said Widening
The gap between black children and white children is widening on a variety of measures of societal and personal well-being, charges a new report.
Anne Bridgman, June 12, 1985
•
5 min read
Education E.P.A. To Disburse $45 Million To Aid Asbestos Removal
Some $45 million in federal aid will be distributed to 199 school districts to help pay for asbestos abatement in 341 of the 4,800 schools that requested assistance, the Environmental Protection Agency announced last week.
Linda Chion-Kenney, June 12, 1985
•
5 min read
Education N.Y.C. Schools Fund Program for Homosexuals
The New York City Board of Education has contracted with a private, nonprofit homosexual-rights institute to offer a special academic high-school program geared to homosexual students who, because of harassment in school, have become chronic truants and dropouts.
Anne Bridgman, June 12, 1985
•
3 min read
Education Bennett To Spend Discretionary Funds On 'Content, Character, and Choice'
Secretary of Education William J. Bennett plans to spend about $2.3 million, most of the Education Department funds at his discretion, on activities that promote parental choice--such as pilot projects related to vouchers and tuition tax credits--as well as course content and character development, according to department documents.
James Hertling, June 12, 1985
•
4 min read
Education Major Universities Adopt Tougher Teacher-Training Requirements
The education deans of 24 leading research universities voted last week to accept a number of stringent standards for their teacher-training programs, including a provision that requires the colleges to abandon much of their current undergraduate training and offer only master's degrees for "career" teachers.
Cindy Currence, June 12, 1985
•
6 min read
Education Signing of N.H. Aid Plan Could End Finance Suit
Less than one month after vetoing a similar plan, Gov. John H. Sununu of New Hampshire has signed into law a new foundation-aid program that more equitably distributes state funds to school districts that are historically dependent on the property tax.
J.R. Sirkin, June 12, 1985
•
3 min read
Education Is School Speaker's Talk Dangerous? Suicide-Prevention Workers Think So
The suicide death of a 12-year-old Ohio boy following a traveling evangelist's anti-drug and anti-suicide presentation at his school has raised questions about the validity of the speaker's program, which includes a tape recording of an actual suicide.
Alina Tugend, June 12, 1985
•
12 min read
Education Research Should Focus on Improving Teaching, Educators Advise
The federal government ought to focus education research on improving teaching and fostering professionalism among teachers, a panel of prominent educators convened by Secretary of Education William J. Bennett said at its final meeting last week.
James Hertling, June 12, 1985
•
3 min read
Education O'Connor's Concurrence
The religion clauses of the First Amendment, coupled with the 14th Amendment's guaranty of ordered liberty, preclude both the nation and the states from making any law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. [
June 12, 1985
•
6 min read
Education Rules Aim To Aid Recovery of $4.2 Billion in Back Loans
The Office of Management and Budget has published rules to help the government collect some $50 billion in delinquent government loans, some $4.2 billion of which has not been returned by borrowers from four federal student-loan programs.
Sheppard Ranbom, June 12, 1985
•
2 min read
Education Powell's Concurrence
... I agree fully with Justice O'Connor's assertion that some moment-of-silence statutes may be constitutional,[
  • ] a suggestion set forth in the Court's opinion as well.[
  • ]

I write separately to express additional views and to respond to criticism of the three-pronged Lemon test. Lemon v. Kurtzman (1972) identifies standards that have proven useful in analyzing case after case both in our decisions and in those of other courts. It is the only coherent test a majority of the Court has ever adopted. Only once since our decision in Lemon have we addressed an Establishment Clause issue without resort to its three-pronged test. [

  • ] Lemon has not been overruled or its test modified. Yet, continued criticism of it could encourage other courts to feel free to decide Establishment Clause cases on an ad hoc basis.[
  • ]
June 12, 1985
•
1 min read
Education Prayer Advocates Prepared For Battle in Congress
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision last week invalidating Alabama's moment-of-silence law has rekindled the vitriolic debate in the Congress over a proposed Constitutional amendment to permit organized prayer in public schools.
Tom Mirga, June 12, 1985
•
4 min read
Education 175-Year-Old Prep School Goes Coed
After 175 years of educating boys and 18 years of debate about admitting girls, the prestigious Lawrenceville School of New Jersey has decided to become coeducational.

The boarding school's trustees approved the change last week, thus adding Lawrenceville to the ranks of other formerly all-male boarding schools that in recent years have opted to admit girls. Among them: the Brooks School, Phillips Exeter Academy, Governor Dummer Academy in Massachusetts, and the Groton and Hotchkiss Schools in Connecticut.

June 12, 1985
•
1 min read
Education Rehnquist's Dissent
Thirty-eight years ago, this Court, in Everson v. Board of Education (1947), summarized its exegesis of Establishment Clause doctrine thus:

"In the words of Jefferson, the clause against establishment of religion by law was intended to erect 'a wall of separation between church and state.' Reynolds v. United States (1879)."

June 12, 1985
•
10 min read
Education 'Excellence' Tactics Single Out Weakest, but Offer Little Aid
The William F. Dick elementary school lies in the heart of one of this city's poorest neighborhoods.
Lynn Olson, June 12, 1985
•
16 min read
Education Experts Debate Effectiveness of Remediation
Researchers are divided over whether remediation actually improves children's long-term achievement.

Many advocates of Chapter 1 have argued that it has been responsible for an improvement in the basic skills of disadvantaged youngsters, as evidenced by the rising scores of black 9-year-olds on the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

June 12, 1985
•
4 min read
Education Is Retention Without Remediation Punishment?
The most extreme form of remediation is having students repeat a grade. But many educators agree that simply holding students back is not enough.
Lynn Olson, June 12, 1985
•
7 min read
Ed-Tech Policy New York Regents Approve Plan for Technology Uses in Education
The New York Board of Regents has approved a far-reaching "strategic plan" for the integration of technology in the state's classrooms, libraries, museums, and other educational and cultural avenues.
Linda Chion-Kenney, June 12, 1985
•
6 min read
Education Majority Suggests Support For Laws in Other States
The U.S. Supreme Court, acting on one of the most controversial cases presented to it in recent years, last week struck down an Alabama law that permitted a daily one-minute period of silence for prayer or meditation in the state's public schools.
Tom Mirga, June 12, 1985
•
8 min read
Education National News Roundup
While the number of states reporting cases of measles decreased in 1984, the total number of measles cases increased 69 percent, according to the national Centers for Disease Control.

The number of states reporting cases of measles fell from 38 in 1983 to 35 last year, but the provisional number of measles cases rose to 2,534 in 1984, up from 1,497 cases in 1983.

June 12, 1985
•
1 min read
Education State News Roundup
A study of the costs of implementing school reform in Illinois indicates that improvements proposed by state leaders, reform commissions, and legislators will actually cost many times more than the amount anticipated.

In the report, the Chicago Panel on Public School Finances analyzed 18 initiatives proposed by several different reform groups. The panel, which represents 17 civic organizations concerned with public-education issues, warned that "unless more realistic cost estimates are taken into account and reform programs are adequately funded, Illinois's education reform may in fact endanger and undermine" the quality of education in the state.

June 12, 1985
•
2 min read
Education District News Roundup
After a six-month investigation, a special grand jury has called for major improvements in New York City's handling of child-abuse cases.

The grand jury, convened at the request of Bronx County District Attor-ney Mario Merola, issued 38 recommendations for preventing child abuse and neglect and for treating its victims. It also suggested changes in the way such cases are reported, investigated, and prosecuted.

June 12, 1985
•
9 min read
Education Shuttle Diplomacy
With a little help from their imaginations and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, two groups of Ohio elementary-school students became the newest veterans of the space shuttle program.

On May 30, 26 1st through 5th graders blasted off for outer-space exploration in two transformed school buses outfitted with coats of fresh white paint, welded nose cones, rocket engines, and on-board laboratories for conducting zero-gravity experiments.

June 12, 1985
•
1 min read
Education News Update
A federal district judge has told lawyers for a Nebraska student religious group that it may not meet on high-school grounds until the completion of a trial on the issue.

U.S. District Judge Clarence A. Beam late last month denied a request by members of the group for a preliminary injunction allowing them to meet, pending the outcome of their lawsuit, Mergens v. Westside Community School District.

June 12, 1985
•
3 min read
Education People News
She corresponded with the late Soviet leader Yuri Andropov, appeared on national television, interviewed Presidential candidates, and wrote a book about her 1983 trip to Russia--all before she finished 7th grade. And this summer, 12-year-old Samantha Smith will be heading to Hollywood to star with Robert Wagner in a new abc television series scheduled to air this fall.

Samantha, whose family is moving from Maine to California to be with her, first made headlines two years ago when she received a three-page letter from Mr. Andropov in reply to one she had written him about the dangers of nuclear war.

June 12, 1985
•
4 min read
Education Rights Chief Defends Record in Confirmation Hearings
William Bradford Reynolds, chief architect of the Reagan Administration's civil-rights policies, defended himself last week against attacks by Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee who hope to block his promotion at the Justice Department.
Tom Mirga, June 12, 1985
•
1 min read
Load More ▼