EDUCATION & EQUITY NEWS    

NATIONAL

Senate Rejects Tuition Aid,
a Key to Bush Education Plan
The New York Times, June 13, 2001

The Senate defeated an amendment that would have permitted low- income parents in 10 cities to use taxpayer dollars to send their children to private and religious schools. The tuition aid, often referred to as vouchers, was also rejected by the House several weeks ago on the day it passed Mr. Bush's education bill. ( See also: Kennedy, Bush Team Up for Nation's Schools: They're Both Taking Heat for Compromises, USA Today, June 16, 2001)

Low-Income Students At Heart of Debate
The Milwaukee Sentinel, June 19, 2001

A discussion of the debate over high-stakes testing and its effect on low-income students.

A Lesson in Cruelty: Anti-Gay
Slurs Common at School
The Washington Post, June 19, 2001

Human Rights Watch, an international research and advocacy group, reported last month that 2 million U.S. teenagers were having serious problems in school because they were taunted with anti-gay slurs

Reading Research Gets Respect
The Dallas Morning News, June 19, 2001

Federal researcher Dr. Reid G. Lyon of the National Institutes of Health, a key Bush advisor on education policy, is a strong proponent of phonics instruction.

DELAWARE

2001 Summer Institute in Educational
and Assistive Technology, June 25-August 9

The University of Delaware is offering tuition-free 3-credit courses for Delaware public school teachers and instructional aides.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

D.C. Council Member Proposes
Mandatory Schooling at Age 3
The Washington Post, June 19, 2001

D.C. Council member Kevin P. Chavous (D-Ward 7) plans to introduce a bill that would lower from 5 to 3 the age at which schooling is compulsory, part of a push among school and elected officials to expand early childhood learning.

Vance Likely To Receive 3-Year Pact
The Washington Post, June 18, 2001

Six of the District School Board's nine members said they expect to forgo a national search and will likely offer a three-year contract to Paul Vance, the 70-year-old former Montgomery County superintendent who was hired 11 months ago to serve on a short-term basis after Superintendent Arlene Ackerman's departure.

MARYLAND

Elementary's Beloved 'Miss B' Is Retiring
The Washington Post, June 19, 2001

Joanne Busalacchi, the principal of New Hampshire Estates Elementary School who will be retiring on June 29th, says that districts across the country are having trouble persuading the next generation of teachers to become principals because the demands of the job have changed over the years.

Howard Inspires Pupils to Work Harder
The Washington Post, June 16, 2001

Because of new rules making it tougher for students to be promoted, Howard County is holding back 95 middle schoolers this year, compared with about a dozen last year.

Metts Aides Ask Md. to Intervene
The Washington Post, June 16, 2001

Prince George's County Superintendent Iris T. Metts's top three deputies have made an appeal to the state Board of Education after rejecting an offer from the local school board to have an independent arbiter settle the dispute over $35,000 in bonus money Metts paid them last summer.

VIRGINIA

Teens Confront Stereotypes at Meeting
Richmond Times-Dispatch, June 19, 2001

At the 2001 Virginia Metrotown Institute, held at the University of Richmond and sponsored by National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ), teens gathered to discuss stereotypes and race relations.

PENNSYLVANIA

Facing An Issue Few Want to Touch
The Philadelphia Inquirer, June 17, 2001

Since last summer, leaders of the 5,100-student Cheltenham School district have been working on a pioneering strategy to improve the achievement of district's minority children. ( See also: District Takes a Hard Look at Its Situation, The Philadelphia Inquirer, June 18, 2001)

A Multipronged Attack on a Nagging Problem
The Philadelphia Inquirer, June 19, 2001

In an effort to bridge the achievement gap between white and African American students, administrators of the Cheltenham Township School District, are reaching out to the community.

Link: Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children
(www.papartnerships.org)

SPECIAL ARTICLES & REPORTS

Commentary: Bully for Them: Here
Comes the Anti-Anti-Bullying Backlash
Mother Jones, June 13, 2001

Dose-Response Effects of Methylphenidate
[Ritalin] on Ecologically Valid Measures of
Academic Performance and Classroom
Behavior in Adolescents With ADHD
Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology, May 2001

Emerging Answers: Research Findings on Programs to Reduce Teen Pregnancy - Summary (pdf file)
National Campaign to Reduce Teen Pregnancy, May 2001

Internet Access in U.S. Public Schools: 1994-2000
National Center for Education Statistics, May 9, 2001

Interpreting Trends in the Performance
of Special Education Students
National Center on Educational Outcomes, October 2000

Reading for Understanding: Towards an
R&D Program in Reading Comprehension
RAND Reading Study Group, January 2001

WEBSITES & LINKS

Americans for a Fair Chance
(www.fairchance.org)

A non-partisan consortium of six of America's leading civil rights legal organizations

National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy
(www.teenpregnancy.org)

A nonprofit, nonpartisan initiative supported almost entirely by private donations.

National Center on Education Outcomes
(www.coled.umn.edu/NCEO)

A center that provides national leadership in the participation of students with disabilities in national and state assessments, standards-setting efforts, and graduation requirements.

National Women's History Project
(www.nwhp.org)

A clearinghouse that provides information and training in multicultural women’s history.

The Phelps-Stokes Fund
(www.psfdc.org)

A non-profit foundation whose mission is to address the educational needs of the urban and rural poor of Africa and the United States with particular attention to the needs of people of color.

Poverty & Race Research Action Council
(www.prrac.org)

A non-partisan, national, not-for-profit organization -- convened by major civil rights, civil liberties and anti-poverty groups -- whose purpose is to link social science research to advocacy work in order to successfully address problems at the intersection of race and poverty.

Recruiting New Teachers Online
(www.rnt.org)

A national non-profit organization formed in 1986 to "raise esteem for teaching, expand the pool of prospective teachers, and improve the nation's teacher recruitment and development policies and practices."

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