EDUCATION & EQUITY NEWS    

NATIONAL

Explosive School Issues May Ignite Quiet Congress
The Philadelphia Inquirer, April 30, 2001

While the White House has deftly avoided a partisan blowup in the Senate on controversial elements of Bush's school-reform agenda, conservatives in the House are agitating to revive school vouchers for private schools and a number of other potentially explosive proposals.

Bush's Demand for School
Accountability May Be Weakened
The San Francisco Chronicle, May 1, 2001

White House and Senate negotiators are trying to define what a failing school is as they develop legislation built around President Bush's plan to strip some federal funds from schools that don't measure up. A current Senate plan would take money from failing schools and allow students to use it on tutoring or for transportation to another public school.

 (See also:

Bush Backs Away From Education Bill, The Seattle Times, May 1, 2001;

Education Compromise Reduces
Full-Proficiency Pledge,
The Washington Times, May 1, 2001.

These articles report that the White House has backed off from supporting a system that would punish school districts if their minority students don't make acceptable progress.)

Bush Budget Won't Fund Famed Reading Program
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, April 28, 2001

President Bush's budget advocates cutting all federal funding for Reading is Fundamental, a 35-year-old nationwide reading program that supplies millions of books every year for poor children and trains volunteers to help children learn to read at 18,000 sites nationwide.

Test Stress: Do Kids Suffer?
The Dallas Morning News, April 26, 2001

Citing evidence that many students suffer from stomach aches, headaches and other maladies when faced with standardized tests, Maryland-based nonpartisan Alliance for Childhood is asking policy-makers to assess the toll that tests take on kids. (See also: Overkill on School Testing Earns 'F', The Arizona Republic, April 26, 2001)

Survey: 30% of U.S. School
Children Involved in Bullying
The Washington Post, April 25, 2001

A recent survey conducted by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) found that thirty percent of U.S. students in grades six through 10 are involved in moderate or frequent bullying -- as bullies, as victims, or as both.

Whites in Minority in Largest
Cities, the Census Shows
The New York Times, April 30, 2001

According to census figures, for the first time, nearly half of the nation's 100 largest cities are home to more blacks, Hispanics, Asians and other minorities than whites.

Most Likely To Succeed
Education Week, April 25, 2001

This article profiles Teach For America, the private Peace Corps-style program that recruits recent college graduates to teach for at least two years in an urban or rural school.

Child Care Worries Adding Up:
New Study Finds Staffing Problems
The Washington Post, April 30, 2001

A study released by the University of California at Berkeley and the Center for the Child Care Workforce reports that child-care centers are losing well-educated teaching staff and administrators at an alarming rate and hiring replacements with less training and education.

Rutgers Study Finds Extensive Cheating
The Baltimore Sun, April 29, 2001

A study conducted at Rutgers University found high levels of cheating among high school student nationwide. It also suggests that the Internet and other technologies are presenting difficult moral choices for students.

Testing Could Cost States As Much As $7 billion
USA Today, April 27, 2001

According to the National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE), fulfilling President Bush's proposal to test every student in grades three through eight could cost states as much as $7 billion over the next seven years.

MPS Gains Are Linked to Vouchers
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, April 24, 2001

According to a study by Harvard professor Caroline Hoxby, Milwaukee's private school choice program pushed the city's public elementary schools to improve.

Voucher Foes Lose Round
The Florida Times-Union, April 25, 2001

The Florida Supreme Court has refused to consider a challenge to the constitutionality of the state's 2-year-old vouchers program.

PENNSYLVANIA

Schools to Disband 22 Clusters for Savings
The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 1, 2001

Interim Chief Executive Officer Philip R. Goldsmith has disbanded the Philadelphia School District's 22 clusters, saying that the move would save the cash-strapped district more than $60 million over the next five years.

  (See also: Schools Drop Cluster System,    Philadelphia Daily News, May 1, 2001.)

Teachers Also Seek a Pension Increase
The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 1, 2001

While lawmakers are pushing to increase pensions for state workers by 25 percent and boosting retirement benefits for legislators 50 percent, teachers have been left out of the equation. Members of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, which represents teachers and other public-school employees, are now lobbying for an increase in their retirement-benefits formula.

Suit to Challenge 'Virtual' Schools
The Philadelphia Inquirer, April 24, 2001

The Pennsylvania School Boards Association and four school districts plan to file suit today in Commonwealth Court challenging the legality of "virtual" charter schools - which teach classes primarily over the Internet.

MARYLAND

Board Views School Plan
The Baltimore Sun, April 30, 2001

The Baltimore County Board of Education met yesterday to review Superintendent Joe A. Hairston's plan to improve student achievement at Woodlawn Middle School, which is in danger of being taken over by the state.

State Offers School Choice
The Baltimore Sun, April 25, 2001

State education officials announced that poor children in Maryland's worst-performing schools will soon have the chance to transfer to better public schools as the result of a new federal initiative.

VIRGINIA

School Liaisons Open Arms,
Doors to Immigrant Parents
The Washington Post, April 30, 2001

This article profiles the parent liaison program at Bailey's Elementary School for the Arts and Sciences in Falls Church, which was created 10 years ago to ease the way for immigrant families whose native language is not English.

Learning Their Way: Foreign-Born
Seek Fluency in English
Richmond Times-Dispatch, May 1, 2001

In Virginia, tudents who aren't fluent in English. In Virginia alone, the number of students who speak limited English more than doubled since 1992, to 36,802 last year.

Stakes Are Raised on SOL Tests
Class of '04 Must Pass to Graduate
Richmond Times-Dispatch, April 30, 2001

As the SOL rules are written now, the class of 2004 - this year's freshmen - and the next two classes must pass two SOL tests in English and four in other subjects of their choosing in order to graduate. Parents Across Virginia United to Reform Standards of Learning, a group of more than 5,000 Virginia parents, takes issue with many aspects of the SOL program.

Board Eases Criteria for Teaching License
Richmond Times-Dispatch, April 27, 2001

The Virginia Board of Education has eased the requirements for a teaching license. Instead of having minimum-cut scores on each of the Praxis I reading, writing and math tests, the board approved accepting the composite score of all those tests. However, Virginia still has the highest required minimums of any state that requires Praxis tests for new teacher licenses.

Tax Break A Lure for School
Richmond Times-Dispatch, April 30, 2001

A private foundation headed by former Virginia Governor Gerald L. Baliles is offering to pay $1,000 worth of local property taxes to Patrick County residents who earn the equivalent of a high school diploma, or a two-year or four-year college degree.

SPECIAL ARTICLES & REPORTS

Opinion: Follow the Money
National Review, April 25, 2001

On the desegregation lawsuit soon-to-be settled in Mississippi, Roger Clegg, general counsel of the Center for Equal Opportunity, comments: "The settlement of this desegregation lawsuit . . . has essentially nothing to do with desegregation . . . because the desegregation lawsuit itself no longer has anything to do with desegregation either, and hasn't for a long time."

Taking Charge: Why We Need to Fund
Education Federally and How We Can Do It
The Washington Monthly, April 2001

Ted Halstead, President of the New America Foundation, and Michael Lind, a Senior Fellow at the foundation, argue that in order to solve the underlying problem of the American education system, we must equalize school funding on a national basis.

WEBSITES & LINKS

Alliance for Childhood
(www.allianceforchildhood.net)

A partnership of individuals and organizations committed to"fostering and respecting each child's inherent right to a healthy, developmentally appropriate childhood."

Center for the Child Care Workforce
(www.ccw.org)

An organization whose principal goal is to improve the quality of child care by improving child care jobs for teachers and providers

Center for Equal Opportunity
(www.ceousa.org )

A Washington, D.C.- based think tank devoted exclusively to the promotion of colorblind equal opportunity and racial harmony.

National Association of State Boards of Education
(www.nasbe.org)

A membership organization which represents state and territorial boards of education. Its principal objectives include strengthening state leadership in educational policymaking; promoting excellence in the education of all students; advocating equality of access to educational opportunity; and assuring continued citizen support for public education.

Parents Across Virginia United
to Reform Standards of Learning
(www.solreform.com)

A parent organization formed to improve the Virginia Standards of Learning and Standards of Accreditation assessment program. Its underlying belief is that the current "one-size-fits-all" SOL system will not ensure that all students acquire the knowledge and skills needed for success in school and that it will hurt students, schools, and communities instead of helping them.

Teach For America
(www.tfanetwork.org)

A national corps of recent college graduates who commit two years to teach in urban and rural public schools.

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