September 18, 1985

Education Week, Vol. 05, Issue 03
Education Kean Signs Law Setting Base Salary for N.J. Teachers
Hours after the state Senate voted its approval of the measure, Gov. Thomas H. Kean of New Jersey last week signed into law a bill that ensures the state's public-school teachers a minimum salary of $18,500 and sets up a statewide teacher-recognition program.
Susan Hooper, September 18, 1985
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5 min read
Education Research And Reports
Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have developed a model child-care kit of toys, games, books, posters, and picture cards, all specially designed to aid the development of children from birth to age 2.

The kit, called "Partners for Learning," is based on 14 years of research. Additional kits for older children are planned by the center.

September 18, 1985
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2 min read
Education Publishing Column
Book sales in 1984 increased by 6.2 percent over sales in 1983, according to figures released by the Association of American Publishers. Total sales exceeded $9.1 billion.

The highest percentage increases were reported in the following categories: audiovisual and other media (22.4 percent, to $175 million), elementary and secondary textbooks (14 percent, to $1.3 billion), standardized tests (7.8 percent, to $85.8 million), and university-press books (7.2 percent, to $139.9 million).

September 18, 1985
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5 min read
Education Cuomo Attacks Plan
Gov. Mario Cuomo of New York campaigned here last week against President Reagan's proposal to end the deductibility of state and local taxes, saying the plan could seriously harm the middle class and undermine state efforts to provide crucial services such as education.
James Hertling, September 18, 1985
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1 min read
Education News Updates
The parents of 11 students at the 68th Street School in Los Angeles have filed a $110-million claim against the Los Angeles Unified School District, charging officials with negligent hiring and retention, conspiracy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress in connection with a child-abuse case.

The claim is in response to allegations that school and district officials waited as long as a year before reporting to the appropriate authorities that they suspected a teacher at the school--Terry E. Bartholome--of molesting a number of his 3rd-grade students. (See Education Week, Aug. 21, 1985.)

September 18, 1985
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1 min read
Education 'Ecstatic' District Officials Get Word on Magnet-Schools Aid
A number of school districts enjoyed red-letter days last week after being notified by the Education Department that they had qualified for multi-million-dollar grants for the operation of magnet schools.
Tom Mirga, September 18, 1985
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3 min read
Education States News Roundup
A substantial portion of Wisconsin's public schools already comply with a recently passed state law requiring a minimum six-hour day, according to a survey by the Wisconsin Association of School Boards completed last month.

Ninety-eight percent of the 216 school-board presidents surveyed--representing about half of the school boards in the state--said their districts are already in compliance with the law, which will not go into effect until 1988.

September 18, 1985
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5 min read
Education Michigan Teachers Return to Work
Public-school teachers in Pontiac, Mich., returned to classes without a contract last week, while strikes moved into their second week in Flint and Marquette.

In Seattle, negotiators were scheduled to resume talks last Thursday in an effort to resolve the largest teachers' strike in the nation.

September 18, 1985
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1 min read
Education N.Y.C. Parents Boycott Schools To Protest City's AIDS Policy
Parents of some 12,000 students kept their children home from the first day of classes in two New York City school districts last week to protest officials' decision to allow a 2nd-grade student with acquired immune deficiency syndrome to continue attending school.
Anne Bridgman, September 18, 1985
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4 min read
Education Books: New In Print
The following excerpts provide a sampling of current books of particular interest.

September 18, 1985
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11 min read
Education Learners Come Knocking on Opportunitues Door
With a handful of teachers, a soup kettle for student suppers, and a condemned building for classes, a Denver schoolteacher, Emily Griffith, began in 1916 what has become "a magic place" for thousands seeking the American Dream on slim resources.

Ms. Griffith put into action her belief that education should be available to anyone who wants it. She convinced the city to let her use a dilapidated elementary school to teach English lessons and such subjects as horseshoeing and millinery to European immigrants and local residents seeking a better life.

September 18, 1985
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2 min read
Education District News Roundup
A 16-year-old high-school junior in Nashville gave birth to a five-pound baby boy in a school rest- room this month, then returned to her mathematics class and asked the teacher for permission to leave.

The infant was discovered later by another teacher after a student complained of unexplained noises in the bathroom.

September 18, 1985
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2 min read
Education Federal News Roundup
The federal government must use its resources to help stem the "alarming" rise in youth suicides, legislators and health experts told a House committee last week.

Witnesses testified before the House Education and Labor Committee on two bills, both aimed at informing the public about youth suicide and supplementing community and school suicide-prevention efforts.

September 18, 1985
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1 min read
Education Study Finds Teachers Unhappy With Reform Process
An independent nationwide survey of teacher attitudes has found widespread disenchantment among teachers with the way in which education-reform measures have been drafted in their states.
Blake Rodman, September 18, 1985
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4 min read
Education Bennett Advises States To Review Church-School Aid
States and districts "should carefully review" their Chapter 2-financed instructional aid in religious schools in relation to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision barring Chapter 1 remedial teachers from those schools, Secretary of Education William J. Bennett told the chief state school officers last week.
James Hertling, September 18, 1985
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3 min read
Education Connecticut Panel Recommends Against High-School Exit Tests
Saying a mandated exit test has "little merit," an advisory panel to the Connecticut Board of Education has recommended unanimously that the state not require high-school students to pass such a test to receive a diploma.
Lynn Olson, September 18, 1985
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4 min read
Education California Measures Promote Teaching of 'Standard English'
Responding to pressure from parents and community leaders concerned that minority students are not getting jobs because they cannot speak standard English, both houses of the California legislature last week approved bills that would require districts to develop in-class programs to assist those students in improving their language skills.
Susan Hooper, September 18, 1985
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7 min read
Education Federal File: Demon Porn (Cont.); Bauer's Successor; Nicholson Cleared

Concerned that federally financed "pornography" is draining the U.S. Treasury while offending the average person, a trio of Texas lawmakers last week tried to block the National Endowment for the Arts from supporting "patently offensive" projects.
September 18, 1985
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2 min read
Education Lotteries: 'Mega-Bucks' Promise Is Disputed
Sold to voters last year as a new and potentially lucrative source of revenue for schools, the California State Lottery debuts next month amid growing uncertainty over its long-term impact on education spending in that state.
J.R. Sirkin, September 18, 1985
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9 min read
Education National News Roundup
Most Americans believe that children's descriptions of sexual abuse are credible, according to a nationwide poll conducted by the Los Angeles Times.

Seventy-nine percent of the poll's 2,627 respondents said they were ''certain" that children under age 13 are capable of providing accurate accounts of abuse, even when the incidents recounted took place several years earlier.

September 18, 1985
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1 min read
Education Lawmaker Threatens To Block New N.I.E. Plan
A key lawmaker, irritated by the planned reorganization of the Education Department's research operation, has threatened to block the move, Congressional sources said last week.
James Hertling, September 18, 1985
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3 min read
Education People News
The Cleveland Board of Education has voted unanimously to select Ronald A. Boyd as superintendent of the city's 75,000-student system.

The 44-year-old Mr. Boyd, whose negotiated contract was expected to be approved by the board late last week, replaces Frederick D. Holliday, the city's first black school superintendent, who committed suicide last January.

September 18, 1985
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2 min read
Education Researchers Propose New Federal Statistics Agenda
Washington--Prominent education researchers and groups have urged the National Center for Education Statistics to launch a major new longitudinal study of preschool children, devise a common method for measuring dropout rates, and revise its surveys to allow more accurate comparisons of public and private schools.
Tom Mirga, September 18, 1985
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5 min read
Education Senate Defeats School-Prayer Bill
The Senate, by a vote of 62 to 36, last week defeated a bill to strip the U.S. Supreme Court and lower federal courts of jurisdiction in school-prayer cases. It was the most lopsided defeat for school-prayer advocates in the Senate since the start of the Reagan Administration. ssues:
September 18, 1985
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2 min read
Education House Panel Grills E.D. Rights Chief On Enforcement
The Education Department's top civil-rights official told a House subcommittee last week that he has asked his staff to consider ending compliance reviews at schools and colleges, but he acknowledged that he may not have the legal authority to do so.
Alina Tugend, September 18, 1985
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4 min read
Education States Not Enforcing Rights in J.T.P.A., New Study Charges
The Labor Department's failure to monitor states' compliance with antidiscrimination laws regulating the major federal job-training program has resulted in "a virtual disappearance of civil-rights enforcement," according to a University of Chicago study.
Alina Tugend, September 18, 1985
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6 min read
Education Opinion How We Arrived at Five-Year Teacher Education
In June, the Holmes Group, a consortium of education deans from 28 prominent research universities, gave its blessing to the idea of a five-year teacher-education program leading to a master's degree.
John E. White, September 18, 1985
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6 min read
Education Letter to the Editor Letters To The Editor
The content of Ted Sanders' letter ("'Credible, Reliable' Study Links Illinois School Size and Student Achievement," Education Week, Aug. 21, 1985) compels me to comment further, not only on my original letter concerning this topic ("Illinois Superintendent Should Reconsider Push for School Consolidation," Education Week, June 12, 1985), but also on the issue of school-district size.

First, my previous comments were limited to your article ("Illinois School Chief Seeks Reorganization of Districts," Education Week, May 22, 1985), which did not provide full details on the study. I have since read the Illinois Board of Education's study, "School District Organization in Illinois," and I am even more puzzled by the conclusions being drawn and the recommendations based on those conclusions.

September 18, 1985
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4 min read