November 9, 1994
Education Week, Vol. 14, Issue 10
Education
Federal File: Cultural revolution?; Another 'no'
Only a few weeks after its unveiling, the National Education Goals Panel's "community action toolkit" is being denounced by critics.
Education
Take Note: Food for thought; Checks in the mail
If, as the saying goes, you are what you eat, students in Paul Stitt's nutrition-education program have nothing to worry about.
Food for thought
If, as the saying goes, you are what you eat, students in Paul Stitt's nutrition-education program have nothing to worry about.
Education
Using Challenge Grants Has Fans And Detractors
When the billionaire philanthropist Walter H. Annenberg announced
last December that he would contribute $500 million to public school
reform, he stressed that his gift alone would not be enough.
Education
Adventures in Learning
From this distance, the fat, cartoonish outline of the C-130 several thousand feet up looks like a clumsy bird hurtling through the clouds. Blink, and you might lose sight of the image for a moment in the afternoon haze.
Education
$200 Million Settlement Reached in Asbestos Case
Thousands of school districts reached a $200 million property-damage settlement last week with several major asbestos manufacturers, bringing a decade of litigation one step closer to an end.
Education
Summary of the Improving America's Schools Act
President Clinton signed the Improving America's Schools Act, which reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act for five years, on Oct. 20. The law authorizes about $11 billion in fiscal 1995 for most federal K-12 education programs and enacts program changes that are considered the most significant since the E.S.E.A. was first passed in 1965.
Education
Mass. To Require Immunization for Hepatitis B in 1996
Starting in September 1996, children entering kindergarten in Massachusetts will be required to have vaccinations for the hepatitis B virus.
Education
State Journal: Errata; A smoking controversy
Illinois school officials are waking up from a dream come true that turned out to be too good to be true.
Education
Keeping Faith
Anyone who labors under the impression that the post-baby-boom generation is full of apathetic, self-centered nihilists hasn't met the eight young people who inhabit a former convent in this Washington suburb.
Education
New & Noteworthy
If the decades-old debate on how to reform American education is ever to produce results, it must be grounded in economic reality, 12 leading economists contend in Making Schools Work: Improving Performance and Controlling Costs. That reality, they insist, means schools must start to observe basic economic tenets commonly followed in the private sector. Led by Eric Hanushek, the economists, who collectively make up the independent five-year-old Panel on the Economics of Education Reform, urge educators to see that their efforts conform to three broad guidelines: efficient use of resources; performance incentives; continuous learning and adaptation. They conclude that schools do not necessarily need more money, but can be improved by spending existing monies more pragmatically. They recommend administrators support only those reforms that improve student performance and jettison those that have no measurable impact. (The Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C.; $34.95 cloth; $14.95 paper) Washington; $34.95 cloth; $14.95 paper)
Education
Boston Picks 6 Schools To Operate Largely Free of Regulations
Boston school officials have approved six proposed pilot schools that will operate largely independent of the district and the teachers' union.
Education
N.M. Border Town Proposes Binational School
A southern New Mexico community is seeking to create a novel binational public school that would receive students and funding from both the United States and Mexico.
Education
Regional Desegregation Plans Submitted in Conn.
School officials and town leaders throughout Connecticut have given the state its first glimpse of how they would reduce racial isolation in their schools.
School Choice & Charters
Mich. Judge Strikes Down Charter Law
A Michigan judge ruled the state's new charter-school law unconstitutional last week, dealing the charter-school movement a major legal setback.
Education
High Court To Rule on Funding for Religious Student Magazine
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed last week to decide whether a state university properly denied funding to a student magazine because it has a religious viewpoint.
Education
N.J. Bill Requires Criminal Checks for Employees
About 70,000 New Jersey school employees hired before 1987 would have to undergo criminal-record checks under a bill working its way through the state legislature.
Education
Teacher Education Tiff Playing Out in Print
Lately, the pages of several national magazines have been ablaze with talk of a cutting debate between two of teacher education's more visible personalities.
Education
Legislative Update
The following are summaries of governors' budget requests for precollegiate education and final action by legislatures on education-related matters.
Education
C.D.C. Funds Project Evaluations
The National Center for Injury Prevention and Control at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is funding evaluations of several youth-violence intervention projects.
Education
Appellate Court Declares Black Scholarships Illegal
A federal appeals court has ruled that a scholarship program for
black college students is unconstitutional because it was not "narrowly
tailored" to redress past racial discrimination.
Education
Teaching Board Approves Assessments for 1st Two Certificates
The national body that has been developing a system to certify expert teachers will now make the tests widely available to candidates in two fields.
Education
Officials Moving Swiftly on E.S.E.A. Rules
Washington
The Education Department is moving swiftly to draft regulations for the newly reauthorized Elementary and Secondary Education Act--but not too many of them.
The Education Department is moving swiftly to draft regulations for the newly reauthorized Elementary and Secondary Education Act--but not too many of them.
Education
Events
A symbol (*) marks events that have not appeared in a previous issue of Education Week. * 15--Reading: A special presentation of the Junior Great Books Curriculum, sponsored by the Great Books Foundation, for district and school administrators, to be held at the Northshore Hilton in Skokie, Ill. Contact: Henrietta Perlman, G.B.F., 35 East Wacker Dr., Suite 2300, Chicago, Ill. 60601-2298; (800) 222-5870.
November
A symbol (*) marks events that have not appeared in a previous issue of Education Week. * 15--Reading: A special presentation of the Junior Great Books Curriculum, sponsored by the Great Books Foundation, for district and school administrators, to be held at the Northshore Hilton in Skokie, Ill. Contact: Henrietta Perlman, G.B.F., 35 East Wacker Dr., Suite 2300, Chicago, Ill. 60601-2298; (800) 222-5870.
Education
Impact of College-Admissions Criteria on Schools Explored
Educators who have been rethinking college-admissions requirements
delivered a progress report at the College Board's recent annual
meeting here.
Education
Airwave Auction Should Fund School Wiring, F.C.C. Head Says
Washington
Money from the auction of potentially lucrative licenses to provide advanced telecommunications services should help wire schools for the "information age," the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission says.
Money from the auction of potentially lucrative licenses to provide advanced telecommunications services should help wire schools for the "information age," the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission says.
School Climate & Safety
Schools Embrace Violence-Prevention Curricula
Every day in America, children make victims of other children, whether with their fists, with knives, or with guns.