EDUCATION & EQUITY NEWS    

NATIONAL

Bush Seems to Ease His Stance
on Schools' Accountability
The New York Times, July 10, 2001

With a joint committee yet to tackle differences in the House and Senate education bills requiring annual nationwide testing of public school students, the White House appears to be favoring the Senate's weaker demands for state accountability for educating poor, black and Hispanic children.

Senate Adds Education Programs, Study Says
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, July 7, 2001

According to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress, the Senate version of Bush's education plan would increase the number of federal programs for elementary and secondary schools from 64 to 101, contrary to President Bush's request to streamline 64 old federal programs for elementary and secondary schools into 37 new ones.

Paige Asserts He'll Smooth Early Bumps
Education Week, July 11, 2001

Education Week interviews Secretary of Education Rod Paige and reviews his first six months in office.

U.S. Asks High Court To Review Voucher Case
Education Week, July 11, 2001

The Bush administration is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the Cleveland voucher case and to use it to rule that the inclusion of religious schools in educational choice programs does not violate the U.S. Constitution.

Teachers Mull Paper-Swapping
The Washington Post, July 8, 2001

The practice of having students review each others' work could be in jeopardy because the Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether swapping papers to correct them violates students' privacy rights.

As Stakes Rise, School
Groups Put Exams to the Test
The Washington Post, July 9, 2001

Now that Congress is moving toward approving President Bush's education reform plan -- a plan that relies heavily on standardized testing -- some observers are becoming increasingly vocal in making a case against such exams.

Teachers Vote to Let Parents Decide on Tests
The New York Times, July 8, 2001

In its strongest stance against standardized testing, the National Education Association has voted to support any legislation that permits parents to let their children skip the tests.

Misperceptions Cloud Whites' View of Blacks
The Washington Post, July 10, 2001

According to a national survey by The Washington Post, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard University, large numbers of white Americans incorrectly believe that blacks are as well off as whites in terms of their jobs, incomes, schooling and health care.

The Teaching Curve
The Washington Post Magazine, July 1, 2001

Only 2 percent of the country's 2.9 million public school teachers are black, and of the 7,659 college degrees in education awarded African Americans in 1998, 73 percent were received by females.

Vouchers Get a Boost From Black Alliance
Christian Science Monitor, July 10, 2001

This article profiles the Black Alliance for Educational Options, a Milwaukee-based group that has stirred controversy in the black community because its pro-voucher position is at odds with more established black advocacy groups like the NAACP and the Urban League.

Recruiting a New Class of Leaders
The Washington Post, July 3, 2001

School boards and mayors have developed a taste for a new kind of superintendent, one whose expertise comes from outside the field of education and who is often impatient with the leisurely, collegial pace that many veteran school administrators prefer.

MARYLAND

A Break From Fun in Summer
The Baltimore Sun, July 10, 2001

In Baltimore, about 30,000 children failed to meet tough new standards for promotion. The eighth-grade class was the hardest hit, with 5,000 pupils - or nearly half - directed to summer classes to make up work.  (See also: Summer School Enrollments on the Rise, USA Today, July 1, 2001)

Review Tests Go Too Far, Critics Say
The Washington Post, July 10, 2001

Education activists and parents have complained that exam review sheets provided to students often contain examples that are far too close to the actual test questions.

State Readies Online Studies
The Baltimore Sun, July 5, 2001

Maryland is planning to launch its statewide virtual public high school this fall. The school will offer only about a dozen classes in its first year, most of which will be of an advanced nature and targeted at students at high schools that don't offer upper-level courses.

PENNSYLVANIA

District Withholds a Payment
The Philadelphia Inquirer, July 11, 2001

The financially-strapped Philadelphia School District has withheld about $8 million in payments to its 40 or so charter schools this month. The district says it cannot afford to pay charter schools until it receives its first state subsidy of the fiscal year in late August.

Schools Inventing Incentives to Attract Teachers
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 8, 2001

As part of an omnibus bill that covered a variety of education issues, Pennsylvania lawmakers changed the state School Code two weeks ago to prevent Pittsburgh and Philadelphia from mandating that professional employees such as teachers and administrators live within their school districts.

WASHINGTON, DC METRO AREA

Schools Awash in Bad Behavior
The Washington Post, July 11, 2001

Teachers at elementary schools in Maryland, Northern Virginia, and Washington, D.C. have reported an increase in student bad behavior and discipline problems over the past few years.

SPECIAL ARTICLES & REPORTS

Federal Programs for Children and Families:
A Tool for Connecting Programs to People (pdf file)
Congressional Research Service, 1999

Opinion: The Pros and Cons of
the Bush Character Education Plan
Time.com, July 11, 2001

WEBSITES & LINKS

Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC)
(www.liscnet.org)

An organization that provides grants, loans and equity investments to Community Development Corporations (CDCs) for neighborhood redevelopment.

Schools to Watch
(www.schoolstowatch.org)

A national initiative, launched by the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform, that identified four exemplary schools across the country.

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