Hitting The Bottle
A U.S. Department of Health and Human Services study estimates that 8 million, or 40 percent, of junior and senior high school students drink weekly and together consume approximately 35 percent of all the wine coolers sold in the United States. The study, which surveyed 956 7th and 8th graders in eight states, has led some observers to question whether anti-drug programs pay enough attention to teenage drinking.
Parental Involvement
More than 170,600 parents joined the National PTA during the 1990-91 school year, bringing total membership in the organization to more than 7 million. It was the PTA’s 10th straight year of growth.
Critical Shortage
California is more than 14,000 bilingual teachers short of meeting the needs of its limited-English-speaking students and is likely to fall even further behind unless sweeping recruitment efforts are undertaken, according to a state task force. The 30-member panel suggested that the state consider such short-term remedies as hiring foreign teachers and such long term-solutions as mounting an effort to recruit “language-minority” students into teaching.
Suicidal Notes?
The parents of a Boise, Idaho, student who committed suicide have filed a $500,000 lawsuit against the Meridian school district and an English teacher, claiming the system and teacher failed to notify them when suicidal notes appeared in their son’s class journal. A district official defended the educator, saying that teachers are not required to read every journal entry.
Teacher Ed
The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education granted accreditation to a larger proportion of teacher education institutions in its latest round of decisions than has been customary since the council toughened its standards in 1988. Only four out of 40 institutions were rejected. In prior rounds, about one-third of the schools up for accreditation were rejected.
Poor Preparation
About one-third of the freshmen enrolling in Southeastern colleges need remediation in reading, writing, or mathematics, according to a survey of 15 states by the Southern Regional Education Board.
A Lucrative Settlement
An Oregon judge has allowed the Pacific Power & Light Co. to pay $1.3 million of a $12 million environmental lawsuit settlement to a scholarship program for low-income Portland students.
