March 18, 1992
Education Week, Vol. 11, Issue 26
Education
Senate Panel Clears Bill To Revamp and Expand O.E.R.I.
A Senate subcommittee last week unanimously approved legislation to reorganize and expand the Education Department's office of educational research and improvement, although less dramatically than would a comparable House measure.
Education
Federal File: New hire?; Mass appeal; Signing off; Kudos
Digger Phelps, the former basketball coach at the University of Notre Dame, apparently was seeking a job in the Education Department last year, and officials confirmed he was being considered for an advisory post.
Education
Foundations Seen Increasing Efforts To Evaluate Impact of Grants
Communication problems, power struggles, and the red tape created by government regulations and school administrators are the major barriers to evaluating the effectiveness of grants to education, foundation officials and educators said at a conference here this month.
Education
Desegregation Costs Put Ga., Ohio Officials at Odds With Districts
Ohio and Georgia officials have become enmeshed in legal battles with school districts over who should foot the bill for rising school desegregation costs.
Education
Column One: Curriculum
School driver-education programs foster sexist stereotypes of women, a researcher at the University of Wisconsin at Madison has concluded.
Education
Group Agrees on Draft Framework for NAEP Test in U.S. History
WASHINGTON-Arriving at common ground in one of the most fractious fields in education, a group of educators and public officials has developed a draft framework for the 1994 National Assessment of Educational Progress test in U.S. history.
Education
News In Brief
The Education Committee of the Mississippi Senate has approved a bill aimed at helping school districts cope with fiscal strains created by state budget cuts.
Education
Quality-Management Movement Spurs Interest in New Awards for Education
In an effort to enhance their economic competitiveness, a growing number of states are creating awards that encourage schools, government agencies, and industries to pursue quality-management techniques.
Education
National News Roundup
U.S. Surgeon General Antonia Novello and the American Medical Association last week jointly demanded that the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company stop using a controversial cartoon camel in its advertisements for Camel cigarettes because they say the character specifically appeals to children.
Education
Wilder Drops Repeal of Tax on Drugs To Fund Poor Districts
Gov. L. Douglas Wilder of Virginia has backed off one of his pet projects in order to help fund an $80-million package of additional aid to school districts in poor communities.
Education
State News Roundup
A state judge has overturned a Montana law that allows teachers and other union members to withhold dues if they belong to religious groups opposed to organized labor.
Education
Letter to the Editor
Letters to the Editor
To the Editor:
Although I agree with U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education Diane S. Ravitch's statement that "this has been 20 years of remarkable change'' for women ("National Groups Promise Steps To Combat Inequities for Girls,'' Feb. 19, 1992), I cannot agree with her assertion that gender-equity programs are no longer needed. Empowering environments are needed for adolescent females now more than ever.
Although I agree with U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education Diane S. Ravitch's statement that "this has been 20 years of remarkable change'' for women ("National Groups Promise Steps To Combat Inequities for Girls,'' Feb. 19, 1992), I cannot agree with her assertion that gender-equity programs are no longer needed. Empowering environments are needed for adolescent females now more than ever.
Education
Opinion
An Ex-Superintendent on Why He Quit
What you are about to read I shall call the lamentations of an Unhappy Warrior-make that the tired Unhappy Warrior. Like Don Quixote, I am weary of fighting the battle, I am fatigued from trying to uphold standards, and I am exhausted from pulling the slings and arrows from my back daily. I am an ex-superintendent of schools who has left the arena of public service for the relative calm of running my own business.
Education
Opinion
When the Job Candidate Can't Count
If you can't do simple math, maybe you can become a public-school superintendent. No basic math skill is required for this job that pays a six-digit annual salary plus generous benefits. Not bad in a time of high unemployment for white-collar workers.
Education
Opinion
Do We Need Big-City School Superintendents?
When three Washington-based research and consulting organizations, backed by five leading foundations, launched the "Superintendents Prepared" program this year (''Foundations Seek Th Expand Pool of City School Chiefs," Education Week, Feb. 5, 1992), I wonder whether they considered an alternative: abolishing the troubled office completely.
Education
In N.Y.C. Schools, Budding Philanthropists Aid Their Community for Credit
Sound like a group of middle-aged foundation officers, clustered around an oak conference table in their ornate Park Avenue office? Yes, these are the voices of foundation officers, but they are not run-of-the-mill ones by any means.
Education
For-Profit Firm Hired To Manage Schools in Duluth
The Duluth, Minn., school board last week entered into an unprecedented agreement with a for-profit school-management firm to provide the district with an interim superintendent of schools.
Education
G.A.O. Assails Standards-Setting Process for NAEP
The General Accounting Office last week issued a stinging rebuke to the National Assessment Governing Board over its effort to set standards for student performance.
Education
Q & A: Researcher Sees Reason for Optimism in Social-Studies Texts
Social-studies textbooks have long borne the brunt of criticism aimed at classroom materials. Attacked as bland, "dumbed down," and superficial, the books have also come under fire from representatives of minority groups, who complain that the books ignore the contributions of their cultures.
Education
House Postpones Vote To Allow Transfers to Domestic Spending
House Democrats, apparently unsure whether they had enough support, last week postponed a vote on legislation that would permit funds to be transferred among defense, domestic, and international accounts and thus allow more generous funding for education.
Education
Measure Would Require Schools To Test for Radon
Schools located in radon "hot spots" would be required to test for the presence of the odorless, colorless gas in their buildings, under a bill adopted by the Senate last week.
Education
To Maintain Trends, NAEP Scales Back Math-Test Changes
Citing the need to be able to track student performance over time, the National Assessment Governing Board has adopted a scaled-back version of a proposed revision of its mathematics assessment.