EDUCATION & EQUITY NEWS    

NATIONAL

Affirmative Action Foe Picked for Rights Post
The New York Times, June 27, 2001

The Bush Administration has nominated Gerald A. Reynolds, a lawyer and staunch opponent of affirmative action, to head the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights, the division responsible for protecting the civil rights of minorities, women and disabled people from kindergarten through graduate school.

Rod Paige Learns the Hard Way
The New Republic, June 21, 2001

From the article: "In recent weeks, as the administration's education initiative has made its way through Congress, [Secretary of Education] Paige has been conspicuously absent. . . In any administration, the blatant marginalization of the only African American domestic Cabinet secretary would be noteworthy. In an administration that loudly trumpets its commitment to Cabinet government and racial diversity, it's stunning."

No Vouchers for You
Reason Online, June 15, 2001

A recent speech by Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-Ill.) at the headquarters of the National Education Association -- the nation's largest teachers union -- ignored "the increasingly pro-voucher black community."

DELAWARE

Delaware School Tests Show Few Gains
Associated Press, June 24, 2001

Two-thirds of Delaware's third-graders failed to meet the writing standard on state-mandated tests this year, continuing a steady drop in third-grade writing since the testing program began four years ago.

MARYLAND

Critics Attack School Plan
The Baltimore Sun, June 25, 2001

The Baltimore County Schools system's decision to combine two reading series - one for phonics, one for comprehension - in the early elementary grades has drawn sharp criticism from national reading experts, who warn the strategy could prove confusing to children and teachers.

Mentors' Attention Helps Children Thrive
The Baltimore Sun, June 26, 2001

About 9,000 adults in the Baltimore area volunteered this year to be mentors, a combination counselor, role model and teacher. It is part of a growing movement nationwide to help children who might not have all the advantages.

Related links:

Big Brothers Big Sisters
of Central Maryland
(www.bcpl.net/~bbbscm/)

Montgomery Schools Chief
Wants Testing Bar Raised
The Washington Post, June 26, 2001

Superintendent Jerry D. Weast has proposed a set of targets for better scores at individual schools and for the system as a whole on the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills and other standardized tests. The annual targets for improvement are higher for lower-performing schools than they are for high-performing schools.

School Board a Life Lesson for Students
The Washington Post, June 27, 2001

Many states have student school board members, but Maryland is one of the most progressive -- the student members vote on all matters except personnel, budget and boundaries.

Critics Argue State Algebra Test Too Easy
The Baltimore Sun, June 27, 2001

A small but vocal group --including parents and university mathematicians -- is criticizing Maryland's latest guidelines for math instruction, saying standards are not rigorous enough and the state's new high school algebra exam is better suited for sixth-graders.

Math Degree Will Upgrade Instruction
The Baltimore Sun, June 24, 2001

The Anne Arundel County school system is working with the University of Maryland, Baltimore County to develop a master's degree in elementary math education for interested teachers, starting this fall.

PENNSYLVANIA

State Gives Tentative Approval
to Cherry Hill School Plan
The Philadelphia Inquirer, June 27, 2001

Reversing its position, the state Department of Education has given tentative approval to the Cherry Hill school district's plan for correcting racial imbalance in elementary schools.

Good Schools Group Faces Lonely Vigil
Philadelphia Daily News, June 27, 2001

Good Schools Pennsylvania, an interfaith group led by former Philadelphia Schools Superintendent David Hornbeck, held a vigil in the Capitol rotunda in Harrisburg to pressure the state to increase funding for public schools.

VIRGINIA

Schools Scrambling To Find New Teachers
The Washington Post, June 24, 2001

Northern Virginia school districts need to recruit 3,000 new teachers to fill open positions before school resumes in August.

WASHINGTON, DC

9 D.C. Schools To Be Reborn
The Washington Post, June 23, 2001

D.C. School Superintendent Paul L. Vance yesterday announced the makeover of nine of the city's poorest-performing schools, giving notice to everyone from the principals to the custodians, and ordering new academic programs as well as building improvements.

D.C. Council Backs Textbook Deadline Despite Veto
The Washington Post, June 27, 2001

The D.C. Council yesterday approved a bill identical to one vetoed this month by Mayor Anthony A. Williams that would require the school system to distribute free textbooks to students within the first two weeks of each semester.

SPECIAL ARTICLES & REPORTS

Opinion: How Bad Is the Education Bill?
The Hoover Institution, June 25, 2001

From the article: "There will be no real school choice or empowering of parents. There will be no true flexibility for change-minded states to channel their federal education dollars into reforms of their own devising. Few of today's hundreds of narrow "categorical" programs will be merged. There will, in fact, be no fundamental overhaul of this LBJ-era legislation, despite decades of evidence of its failure. But there will definitely be a whopping price tag, as billions of additional dollars are attached to these meager reforms."

Opinion: Educating the Poor: Time to Boost Funds
The Christian Science Monitor, June 18, 2001

From the article: ". . . the tax bill's education provision is a beguiling piece of work with a fatal flaw. It provides a windfall for the middle class, does nothing for the poor, and calls into question the principles that traditionally have guided the federal role in education."

Opening Doors: Expanding Educational
Opportunities for Low-Income Workers
Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation,
May 2001

This report identifies specific actions states, colleges and others can do to help low-income parents acquire postsecondary training and education.

Economic Inequality Seen as
Rising, Boom Bypasses Poor
Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, June 2001

An increasing number of Americans see society as divided between the 'haves' and the 'have-nots.' More than four-in-ten (44%) now believe the nation is split along these lines, compared to just 26% who felt that way in 1988.

States of Change: Policies and Programs
to Promote Low-Wage Workers' Steady
Employment and Advancement
Public/Private Ventures, May 2001

This report documents recent efforts by state policymakers and local practitioners to devise useful approaches to helping low-income job seekers stay employed and begin advancing.

When Work Isn't Enough
Economic Policy Institute, June 2001

This report documents hardships faced by families after moving from welfare to work.

WEBSITES & LINKS

National Mentoring Partnership
(www.mentoring.org)

An organization that provides resources and tools for mentoring organizations

Pew Research Center for the People and the Press
(www.people-press.org)

An independent opinion research group, sponsored by The Pew Charitable Trusts, that studies public attitudes toward the press, politics and public policy issues.

Public/Private Ventures
(www.ppv.org)

An "action-based research, public policy and program development organization."

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