EDUCATION & EQUITY NEWS    

NATIONAL

Bush's Plan to Push Reading
in 'Head Start' Stirs Debate
The New York Times, February 10, 2001

Some developmental psychologists and educators, including members of the Head Start establishment, believe that the president's accelerated reading approach could be harmful.

Editorial: On K-12 Tax Deductions,
Bush Goes Too Far
Minneapolis Star Tribune, February 12, 2001

President Bush's education blueprint includes a tax deduction that could be used for private schools. The tax break would cost billions in lost tax revenues -- funds that might be spent on improving public schools.

Editorial: Culture or Classroom? Latinas
Deserve the Focus of Parents and Educators
The Dallas Morning News, February 13, 2001

A new report by the American Association of University Women (AAUW), titled ˇSí, Se Puede! Yes, We Can: Latinas in School, warns that public schools are not meeting the educational needs of Latino girls, the country's fastest-growing female minority population.

Career Academies Doing the Job, Study Finds: At-Risk Students Staying in School, Earning Diplomas
The Washington Post, February 3, 2001

A report by Manpower Demonstration Research Corp., a New York-based nonprofit group that studied nine career academies, shows a one-third decline in the dropout rate for troubled students at academies compared with at-risk students who aren't admitted to the special schools-within-schools.

MARYLAND

Special Education Teachers Become Scarce Commodity: Prince George's Must Fill 36 Slots
The Washington Post, February 11, 2001

Midway through the school year, Prince George's school officials are still searching to fill 36 special education teaching slots, leaving some of the county's neediest students in the care of untrained substitutes.

Lawyers Make Case for Literacy Project
The Baltimore Sun, February 11, 2001

The Baltimore Bar Association's "Power Readers" program sends lawyers to area elementary schools to read aloud to illustrate the importance of literacy.

VIRGINIA

Editorial: Chipping Away at SOLs
The Washington Post, February 10, 2001

The Virginia House Legislature passed some bills this week that would lessen the negative effect of poor SOL test performance on school accreditation and on graduation for some students.

Standards of Learning: Testing the Teachers:
Virginia Educators Adjust To SOL Necessities
The Washington Post, February 13, 2001

The second in a series of occasional articles on Virginia's Standards of Learning (SOL) Testing.

SEMINARS AND TRAINING EVENTS

The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) is offering a telephone seminar on "Promising Practices in Reducing Disproportionate Representation in Special Education" on March 7, 2001.

Participants can register for these workshops by calling KRM Information Services at 1-800-775-7654. For more information, contact Lisa Wells at 703-245-0616 or send an e-mail to conteduc@cec.sped.org.

ARTICLES & REPORTS

ˇSí, Se Puede! Yes, We Can: Latinas in School
American Association of University Women, 2000


Career Academies: Impacts on Students’
Engagement and Performance in High School (pdf file)
Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation (MDRC), February 2000


High Achievement in Mathematics: Lessons
from Three Los Angeles Elementary Schools (pdf file)
The Brookings Institution, 2000

This paper describes characteristics and academic policies of three low-income elementary schools in the Los Angeles area whose students are unusually successful in mathematics.

WEBSITES & LINKS

National Partnership for Excellence and
Accountability in Teaching (NPEAT)

This site contains information and resources on teacher professional development.


National Awards Program for
Model Professional Development

This webpage lists the winners of the 1999-2000 competition, as judged by the Department of Education's Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI). It links to descriptions of the professional development activities that were worthy of recognition.

Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation
A nonprofit, nonpartisan social policy research organization that focuses on issues concerning low-income communities.

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