November 6, 1985
The problem was, there weren't any trumpets.
The new group, called the Organization of Professors of Elementary School Administration (opesa), was formed last month by 60 education professors who are members of the naesp
They might not realize it, but the 83 senators who recently approved an $18.3-billion fiscal 1986 Education Department budget simultaneously endorsed Secretary of Education William J. Bennett's bilingual-education initiative.
Buried on page 166 of the Appropriations Committee report accompanying the $105-billion spending bill for the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education was a statement of support for the flexibility that Mr. Bennett seeks in the bilingual-education program--which now mandates use of the transitional method, in which non-English-speaking students receive some instruction in their native language.
The report by the Educational Priorities Panel, a coalition of 25 parent and civic groups that monitors management and budget issues confronting the city's board of education, also said that only 30 percent of the nearly 114,000 students entitled to full bilingual-education services in 1985 received them, while another 26 percent were given only extra English instruction.
The bill, HR 1210, also drops the ban on the teaching of secular humanism in programs underwritten by the $75-million magnet-school program (see related story on page XX). The measure is part of a bill reauthorizing the National Science Foundation.
The fcc's "must-carry" rules, which for more than 20 years required cable operators to retransmit all local television channels, were struck down this past summer by a federal appeals court in a case brought by Turner Broadcasting and a small cable operator in Washington State.
The report, called "The Forgotten Factor In School Success--The Family," outlines policy options for legislators and educators.
The ced, a nonprofit organization whose trustees represent 225 of the nation's leading corporations and higher-education institutions, called in its report for "bottom up" school reforms that would give more authority to teachers, provide more resources for preschool programs for the disadvantaged, and direct more attention to elementary and middle schools. (See Education Week, Sept. 11, 1985.)
The task force is one of seven launched this past summer by Gov. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, the nga chairman, in an attempt to "set the American education agenda for the next five years."
The following excerpt from that paper--a section titled "Five Issues and Dilemmas"--raises questions the Secretary and Mr. Finn see as confronting American educators in light of the current reform movement.
According to papers filed with the court last month in Bradley v. Robb, the state contends that the Richmond school board has presented insufficient evidence supporting its position that the state should be held liable for the funding of desegregation-related compensatory-education programs. In addition, the state argues that recent gains in scores by Richmond students on standardized tests indicate that the compensatory programs are unnecessary.
gm announced plans earlier this year to locate its revolutionary plant in Spring Hill, subject to an agreement with local and state officials concerning taxes, access roads, and water. At the time, gm officials cited Gov. Lamar Alexander's education reforms as one reason for their decision to locate in Tennessee. (See Education Week, October 30, 1985).
Guy R. Doud, a language-arts teacher at Brainerd (Minn.) High School, has been named Minnesota's 1985 Teacher of the Year.