November 23, 1988

Education Week, Vol. 08, Issue 12
Education Opinion Assessing the Need for Science Education: The Flawed Rationale Of Calls for 'Literacy'
In his best seller, Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs To Know, E.D. Hirsch Jr. suggested that an acquaintance with certain names, ideas, and events is the key to effective communication, and hence to full participation in American society.
Morris Shamos, November 23, 1988
9 min read
Education Opinion Assessing the Need for Science Education: Knowledge of Science Vital for All Children
By the turn of the century, an estimated 7 out of every 10 American jobs will be related to the technologies of advanced computers and electronics.
Beryl Dorsett, November 23, 1988
6 min read
Education California Unions Sign 'No-Raid' Pacts To Limit Turf Wars
The California School Employees Association--one of the largest independent unions in the nation--is about to join forces with several other unions in the state and limit its turf battles.
Lynn Olson, November 23, 1988
3 min read
Education Military Wins 'Doublespeak' Prize
Three defense officials' efforts to explain the downing of an Iranian airliner by the U.S.S. Vincennes have won them the annual "doublespeak" award from the National Council of Teachers of English.

"The language used in the official report and the language used during the press conference was filled with the doublespeak of omission, distortion, contradiction, and misdirection," said William D. Lutz, chairman of the ncte's committee on public doublespeak.

November 23, 1988
1 min read
Education Foundations Column
After 16 years of growth, charitable contributions by U.S. corporations have reached a "steady state," where they are expected to remain for the foreseeable future, according to a report by the Conference Board.

Annual giving reached a peak of $4.6 billion in 1986 and 1987, according to the study, "Corporate Contributions in an Era of Restructuring." But based on a series of workshops with chief executives and business specialists from Fortune 1,000 companies, the report predicted "no dramatic growth or drop on the horizon."

November 23, 1988
2 min read
Education N.A.E.Y.C. Working To Enhance Its Influence
When Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts drafted a bill last year to fund preschool programs for disadvantaged 4-year-olds, the National Association for the Education of Young Children was one of the groups his staff consulted.
Deborah L. Gold, November 23, 1988
8 min read
Education Report Outlines Options for States To Improve Portability of Pensions
Calling pension portability a "critical issue" ahead for the states, a new report from the National Governors' Association's Center for Policy Research suggests that they redesign their systems to increase the mobility of the teacher workforce.
Nancy Mathis, November 23, 1988
4 min read
Education People News
Judge Gerald W. Heaney of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, who has written a number of key appellate rulings in the St. Louis-area school-desegregation case, will move to semiretired status at the end of the year.

Judge Heaney, of Duluth, Minn., will turn 71 in January. In his new position as a senior judge, he will handle a reduced caseload.

November 23, 1988
2 min read
Curriculum Books: Readings
In MegaSkills: How Families Can Help Children Succeed in School and Beyond, Dorothy Rich calls on parents to help their children develop "the values, the attitudes, and the behaviors that determine success in and out of school."

Focusing on everyday activities in the home, she suggests strategies for teaching 10 basic skills: confidence, motivation, effort, responsibility, initiative, perseverance, caring, teamwork, common sense, and problem solving.

November 23, 1988
4 min read
Education Research and Reports
Cancer-causing compounds circulate in schools and other buildings at levels that far exceed those prevailing in the open air, a new report by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has found.

The report examined the levels of volatile organic compounds in a school and nine other buildings. It discovered that every pollutant studied, with the exception of benzene, was present at higher levels indoors than outdoors.

November 23, 1988
1 min read
Education News Updates
The Vermont State Board of Education last week unanimously adopted a proposal to assess student performance on the basis of work portfolios as well as test scores.

Plans for Vermont's first statewide assessment were unveiled last month by Commissioner of Education Richard P. Mills. The proposal, the first of its kind to be adopted by a state, has been praised by national experts and local teachers, principals, and administrators. (See Education Week, Oct. 26, 1988.)

November 23, 1988
1 min read
Education Veterans Aim To Boost Teaching About Vietnam
Leaders of the Vietnam Veterans of America last week announced plans to help speed the end of what many have called the "silence in the classroom" on the divisive Vietnam era.
Kirsten Goldberg, November 23, 1988
1 min read
Education Tests Found Barring Thousands Of Minority Teacher Candidates
Almost 38,000 minority candidates have been excluded from the teaching profession--many in the last five years--because of their failure to pass state-mandated competency tests, a new study has found.
Lynn Olson, November 23, 1988
12 min read
Education School-Readiness Proposals Gain Acceptance in California
The recommendations of a California panel that wants to reshape the state's classrooms for 4- to 6-year-olds have piqued the interest of school districts here and could serve as a model for other states, according to early-childhood specialists.
Deborah L. Gold, November 23, 1988
4 min read
Education News in Brief
Gov. Tommy Thompson of Wisconsin says he will once again ask state lawmakers to authorize a pilot "parental choice" program for disadvantaged families in Milwaukee.

Last year, the legislature rejected the Governor's controversial proposal to allow the parents of 1,000 students in the state's largest city to enroll their children in any public, private, or sectarian school. Parents would have received--and public schools whose enrollment declined would have lost--payments equal to the state's per-pupil contribution for those children.

November 23, 1988
2 min read
Education Chelsea Teachers Vow To Fight Boston University Pact
The Chelsea (Mass.) Teachers Union has declared "war" on a proposal to allow Boston University to manage that city's schools and is seeking to replace it with a school-improvement plan of its own.
Robert Rothman, November 23, 1988
6 min read
Education Chiefs Ponder State-Federal Program to Hike Number of Minority Teachers
The Council of Chief State School Officers is poised to adopt a recommendation that the federal government, working in partnership with the states, create a tuition-free scholarship program for minorities interested in teaching as a career.
Nancy Mathis, November 23, 1988
3 min read
Education Chiefs Back Plan Calling for More Early-Years Aid
The nation's chief state school officers last week endorsed a comprehensive early-childhood and family-education plan calling for universal access to prekindergarten programs, publicly supported day care, and increased federal involvement in efforts to help children at risk of school failure.
Nancy Mathis, November 23, 1988
6 min read
Education Fate Sets Texas TownOn a Collision Course
The citizens of Waxahachie, Tex., have been working for three years to become the home of the world's largest atom smasher. They have studied the federal project's impact on their economy, their land, and their lifestyle.
Kirsten Goldberg, November 23, 1988
4 min read
Education Federal File: Transition time
Speculation about whom President-elect George Bush will appoint to Cabinet posts, including that of Secretary of Education, is a major preoccupation of Washington insiders these days.

Some observers think Mr. Bush will allow Secretary of Education Lauro F. Cavazos to retain his post next year. They cite Mr. Bush's promise to have a Hispanic in his Cabinet, Mr. Cavazos' efforts on behalf of the Bush campaign, and reports that Mr. Bush was involved in the selection of Mr. Cavazos earlier this year.

November 23, 1988
2 min read
Education District News Roundup
The Holbrook (Ariz.) Unified School District has agreed to end at-large voting and create two predominantly Navajo wards for school-board elections beginning in 1990.

The action followed a suit against the district by the National Indian Youth Council of Albuquerque, N.M. The group had charged in federal court that an Arizona law requiring the at-large election of school-board members violated the 1965 federal Voting Rights Act.

November 23, 1988
8 min read
Education Capital Digest
Schools would not be required to test their bus drivers, mechanics, and aides randomly for evidence of drug abuse under a controversial proposed federal rule, a spokesman for the Transportation Department said last week.

The regulation, announced by Secretary of Transportation James J. Burnley 4th on Nov. 14, would force private firms and local mass-transit agencies to suspend workers whose urine contains traces of opiates, marijuana, cocaine, amphetamines, or phencyclidine (pcp).

November 23, 1988
2 min read
Education 'Bandits' say Red Tape Snarled Reform Project
When the Education Department joined the National Governors' Association two years ago in a project designed to boost the efficiency of reform, both promised the school districts involved that they would get greater freedom from regulation in return for progress.
Reagan Walker, November 23, 1988
7 min read
Education State News Roundup
In the wake of the closing of a private school that reportedly had substandard academic and living conditions, Vermont education officials have said that the state needs more stringent rules for private schools.

Commissioner of Education Richard P. Mills has directed his department to come up with proposals by Dec. 15 for toughening laws governing private schools. He also said he would urge the state board of education to revise regulations governing state approval of such institutions.

November 23, 1988
1 min read
Education A 'Collaboration': Urban League Gains Quiet Reform Role
The National Urban League's two-year-old campaign to collaborate with local school officials on reform strategies is already producing tangible results, leaders of the group and some 50 big-city school superintendents said at a meeting here this month.
William Snider, November 23, 1988
7 min read
Education Focus Must Turn to 'Forgotten Half,' Study Says
Washington--America must invest money and human resources in improving the prospects for the 50 percent of all young people who do not attend college, if it is to avoid creating a society rent by economic and social inequality, a new report argues.
Peter West, November 23, 1988
4 min read
Education Kentucky Governor and Lawmakers Urged To Settle Feud
An influential citizens' advocacy group in Kentucky last week strongly urged the governor and state lawmakers to set aside their differences and begin work on a comprehensive school-reform program.
Reagan Walker, November 23, 1988
2 min read
Education State Journal: Winners and losers; An Election Day postscript
Gov. Edward D. DiPrete of Rhode Island, whose re-election bid was almost undone by ethically questionable business practices by his family, received another familial jolt on Election Day, when his son was arrested after being caught tearing down a campaign sign touting his father's Democratic opponent, Bruce Sundlun.

Mr. Sundlun's campaign, however, had little time and apparently little incentive to play up the incident. DiPrete campaign workers, it turns out, had caught two Sundlun workers ripping up DiPrete posters about an hour before the Governor's son was apprehended.

November 23, 1988
4 min read
Education N.Y. School-Based Reform Initiative Rapped
A program to fix New York State's lowest-performing schools by requiring teams of parents and educators to carry out school-improvement plans is wholly inadequate to the task, according to a coalition of 26 civic and parent groups in New York City.
Lynn Olson, November 23, 1988
4 min read