January 8, 1986

Education Week, Vol. 05, Issue 17
Education Refugee Files Suit Over Language Instruction
A 16-year-old Cambodian refugee, classified recently as mentally retarded, is suing the School District of Philadelphia, claiming he has received neither adequate instruction in the English language nor counseling services in his native tongue.

The boy, identified only as Y.S., has done poorly in school since he immigrated to this country in 1982, said his lawyer, Leonard Rieser.

January 8, 1986
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1 min read
Education Panel Opposes Center on Teacher Quality
A study group formed last month by the Education Department's top research official has advised him not to initiate a new competition for a multi-million dollar research center devoted to issues of teacher quality and effectiveness, an aide to the official said last week.
Tom Mirga, January 8, 1986
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1 min read
Education Alternative Licensing Prevalent
Although two-thirds of the states have raised standards for teacher training and certification in the past two years, a new 50-state survey has found that half the states permit the hiring of teachers who have bypassed many state certification requirements.
January 8, 1986
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2 min read
Education Appeals Courts Grapple With Issue of Access to Public Schools
Two federal appeals courts have handed down rulings in an unsettled area of law that is of growing concern to school administrators: the rights of students and teachers to use school facilities to express religious and political views.
Tom Mirga, January 8, 1986
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5 min read
Education Black Leaders' Group Backs Nontraditional Language Curriculum
Seeking remedies to "the national disaster in minority education," an ad hoc group of black leaders is promoting a nontraditional language curriculum that abandons remediation as the road to standard English in favor of methods that encourage learning through self-expression.
James Crawford, January 8, 1986
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5 min read
Education Teachers' Role in Reform Highlighted by E.C.S.
Union, NJ--Gov. Thomas H. Kean of New Jersey, after sitting in on the first of a series of "Talks with Teachers" sponsored by the Education Commission of the States, said here last month that he was convinced education reform would not continue without the involvement of teachers.
Denise Graveline , January 8, 1986
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3 min read
Education Federal File: Form-al Protest; Civil Rights; Civil Wrongs
The Reagan Administration's proposed new rules for bilingual education, which followed a highly publicized speech by Secretary of Education William J. Bennett last fall, had generated only a handful of comments as of last week.

But advocacy groups that have condemned the change in federal policy--which encourages more English and less native-language instruction--are now mounting their campaign against the rules.

January 8, 1986
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2 min read
English-Language Learners Many Bilingual Pupils Unaided, Study Finds
More than half of the language-minority children whose reading abilities are substantially below the national average are not receiving bilingual or English-as-a-second-language instruction, according to a study by the Educational Testing Service.
Lynn Olson, January 8, 1986
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4 min read
Education Court Invalidates N.J. 'Silence' Law That Omits Prayer
A 1982 law mandating a daily "moment of silence" in New Jersey schools violates the constitutional separation of church and state, even though it makes no explicit reference to school prayer, a federal appeals court has ruled.
James Crawford, January 8, 1986
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4 min read
Education Research And Reports
The growing tendency of child-protection agencies to keep families together and to use foster care only as a last resort has resulted in an increased incidence of serious physical and mental abuse of children, a researcher at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health has concluded.

According to Roger White,' associate professor of maternal and child health, the percentage of abused children among those entering foster-care programs has increased since 1980, even as the total number of children in foster care has declined--from more than 500,000 in 1980 to 260,000 today. In recent years, the researcher estimates, at least 60 percent of the children moved into foster homes have been mistreated.

January 8, 1986
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2 min read
Education Sava Quits as Head of Education Leaders' Group
Washington--Samuel G. Sava, executive director of the National Association of Elementary School Principals, has resigned as chairman of a coalition of education leaders following the group's release last month of a statement harshly critical of Secretary of Education William J. Bennett.
James Hertling & Blake Rodman, January 8, 1986
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3 min read
Education News Update
A Suffolk County, N.Y., law that would have required all school buses purchased after Jan. 1 to have seat belts was voided last month during legal proceedings brought by three Suffolk school districts that opposed the law. (See Education Week, Oct. 16, 1985.)

In a consent decree filed with the state supreme court, Martin B. Ashare, the Suffolk County attorney, agreed to withdraw the law, acknowledging that it violates a provision of the state constitution giving the state the first right to regulate motor vehicles.

January 8, 1986
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1 min read
Education Honors
Clayton Adams, a social-studies teacher at Kenmore (N.Y.) West Senior High School, has received the Louis E. Yavner Award for Outstanding Contributions to Teaching About the Holocaust and Other Violations of Human Rights from the New York State Board of Regents.

Patrick Allen, a teacher of world literature and culture at Shenendehowa High School in Clifton Park, N.Y., has been selected by the New York Stock Exchange to receive first prize in their contest, "A Call to Educators: A Test for Business." The award of $10,000 was given for his proposal for regional centers that would collect and distribute information about business issues that affect students.

January 8, 1986
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10 min read
Education States News Roundup
The North Carolina panel that advises the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has agreed to conduct a study of the causes behind resegregation in the state's public schools, according to a member of the panel.

Joseph DiBona, professor of education at Duke University and a member of the advisory committee, said demographic shifts in the state's urban and rural counties are eroding gains in integration made over the past 20 years.

January 8, 1986
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8 min read
Education Teachers Column
Thousands of Los Angeles-area college students may be returning to public school this spring as part of a teachers' union campaign to recruit them into the profession.

United Teachers of Los Angeles announced late last year the initiation of its "Joy of Teaching" program, which will team the approximately 220,000 students enrolled in area colleges with city school teachers.

January 8, 1986
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4 min read
Education Will Suggests More Flexibility in Education Aid
The Education Department's top special-education policymaker has suggested that schools be allowed more flexibility in allocating resources to special-needs students.
Alina Tugend, January 8, 1986
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2 min read
Education Panel Set To Study Administrators' Preparation
A 26-member national commission has been established to devise ways of upgrading preservice and inservice training for school administrators.

Formed by the University Council for Education Administration, a consortium of 48 universities devoted to improving the professional preparation of school administrators, the National Commission on Excellence in Educational Administration will make recommendations on ways to train administrators and to attract talented individuals to the field.

January 8, 1986
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1 min read
Education Little Woman Cooks Up a Book
Julia Child, watch out: Gretchen Anderson, 7th-grade student and culinary historian, has just published her first cookbook, which she wrote when she was 8 years old.

The young author blended her love of cooking with her fondness for the works of a popular 19th-century writer to produce The Louisa May Alcott Cookbook, featuring 28 recipes for dishes mentioned in Little Women and Little Men, Ms. Alcott's best-known works.

January 8, 1986
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1 min read
Education California's Student-Dropout Rate Falls
But the dropout rate, last estimated at 29 percent statewide, remains a "critical problem and challenge to us all," Mr. Honig said in testimony before the Assembly's education committee.
Michael Fallon, January 8, 1986
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3 min read
Education Slim Majority Passes New Teacher Test in Connecticut
Only a slight majority of the college students taking Connecticut's first examination for prospective teachers passed in all three subject areas required, the state department of education has announced.
Lynn Olson, January 8, 1986
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3 min read
Education Debt-Cutting Bill Stalls in Congress
Washington--Before recessing last month, lawmakers failed to pass an omnibus $74-billion debt-cutting package that includes a provision requiring Medicare coverage for new school-district and other public employees.

It remains unclear whether the Congress will pass the bill after members return on Jan. 21.

January 8, 1986
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1 min read
Education In Detroit, Metal-Detector Searches Hit Legal Snags
Detroit school officials, entangled in court proceedings over their periodic use of metal detectors to screen students for weapons, have agreed to halt the searches temporarily.
William Snider, January 8, 1986
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4 min read
Education San Jose Desegregation Plan Approved
A federal district judge has approved a desegregation plan fashioned by the San Jose, Calif., public schools that would rely on a new system of magnet schools to achieve its goals.
Tom Mirga, January 8, 1986
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4 min read
Education District News Roundup
A $200,000 program in character education will be instituted in Baltimore's 123 elementary schools this month to help students develop such traits as honesty, punctuality, and self-respect.

Donations from companies and individuals will finance the program, which was approved by the Baltimore Board of Education last month, according to Sharon Green, an educational specialist with the city schools.

January 8, 1986
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2 min read
Education Federal News Roundup
The Senate last month confirmed the nominations of Wendell L. Willkie 2nd as the Education Department's general counsel and Bruce Carnes as its deputy undersecretary for planning, budget, and evaluation. Both confirmations had been widely expected.

The Senate last month also confirmed by voice vote the nomination of Anne Graham, the department's assistant secretary for legislation and public affairs, to a seat on the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Ms. Graham's nomination had been held up for months, largely as a result of accusations that the department's Publication and Audiovisual Council (pavac), which she headed, had censored the work of the department's educational research laboratories.

January 8, 1986
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2 min read
Education Vocational Units Cited
Ten vocational-education programs nationwide were cited for excellence by Secretary of Education William J. Bennett last month.

The Secretary's Awards for Outstanding Vocational Education Programs, now in their fifth year, highlight those secondary, postsecondary, and adult vocational programs that excel in providing preparation for employment. Selection criteria include job-placement rates, the degree of cooperation of local businesses and industry, and the extent of "hands-on" work experience, according to Wilma Bailey, a spokesman for the Education Department.

January 8, 1986
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1 min read
Education Schools Said Uninformed on Sports Rule
Less than eight months before its controversial new rules governing freshman eligibility for intercollegiate sports take effect, the National Collegiate Athletic Association may have yet more problems on its hands involving those most affected by the rules--high-school athletes and their advisers.
Elizabeth Rose, January 8, 1986
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7 min read
Education Workplace Remains Sex-Segregated, Panel Concludes
Although employment options widened substantially for women in the 1970's, the workplace--including schools--remains predominantly sex-segregated, and that segregation continues to depress women's wages and opportunities for advancement relative to men's.
Anne Bridgman, January 8, 1986
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5 min read
Education Governors' Education Task Forces Begin Hearings; State Policy Agenda Is Goal
Competency tests for prospective school administrators, competition between states for the best teachers, and choice without vouchers were among the ideas governors were urged to consider at a series of task force hearings conducted recently by the National Governors' Association.
J.R. Sirkin, January 8, 1986
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12 min read
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