EDUCATION & EQUITY NEWS    

NATIONAL

Test Shows Students' Gains
in Math Falter by Grade 12
The New York Times, August 3, 2001

Results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress test in mathematics show that fourth graders and eighth graders made modest, steady gains while the scores of 12th graders declined slightly. The test, sometimes called the nation's report card, also showed a growing gap between the numbers of black and white students who were proficient in math at all tested grade levels. The same held true between Latinos and whites.

See also: School Standards Boost Test Success, The Washington Times, August 6, 2001.

Schoolkids Lead Bilingual Lives
Associated Press, August 6, 2001

A recent Census Bureau reports shows that nearly one-fifth of America's school-age children speak a language other than English at home and that more than 13.3 million immigrants landed in the United States between 1990 and 2000.

See also: Census Sees Vast Change In Language, Employment, The Washington Post, August 6, 2001

Study Says 20% of Girls Reported Abuse by a Date
The New York Times, August 1, 2001

A new study conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health indicates that one in five adolescent girls become the victims of physical or sexual violence, or both, in a dating relationship.

The Feng Shui of Schools
The New York Times, August 5, 2001

A growing number of architects, educators and environmental psychologists now point to other research showing clear links between elements of design and student achievement. There is a kind of feng shui -- a way of thinking about how to structure and decorate a classroom to enhance learning.

Reading Statistical Tea Leaves
The New York Times, August 5, 2001

An Q& A session with Harold Hodgkinson, Director of the Center for Demographic Policy at the Institute for Educational Leadership in Washington, D.C.

Virtual High Schools Gain Following
The Richmond Times-Dispatch, August 7, 2001

According to marketing information company Market Data Retrieval, 15 percent of American high schools now offer online courses and at least 26 states offer virtual high schools.

Opinion: Solidly for Vouchers
The Washington Post, August 6, 2001

Howard Fuller, former superintendent of schools in Milwaukee and now head of the Black Alliance for Educational Options, argues in favor of school vouchers.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

D.C. Bus Drivers Protest at School Headquarters
The Washington Post, August 4, 2001

About 100 D.C. school bus drivers and attendants protested on Friday at public school headquarters, saying that despite repeated complaints, they continue to be shortchanged on pay and leave time.

Miss Moore's Education
The Washington Post, August 7, 2001

Kate Moore is one of 102 career switchers with little or no teaching experience, hired in a new D.C. school system Teaching Fellows program designed to close a teaching shortage.

PENNSYLVANIA

Private Firm Hired to Help Save Philadelphia. Schools
The Philadelphia Inquirer, August 2, 2001

Gov. Ridge has hired New York-based Edison Schools Inc. -- the nation's largest private operator of public schools -- to develop a plan to save the troubled Philadelphia School District.

MARYLAND

Teachers Learn Ways To Tap Into Technology
The Washington Post, August 5, 2001

As part of a partnership with the Comcast Foundation and Cable in the Classroom, teachers in Southern Maryland have taken classes on using the Internet more effectively, using video in the classroom, designing Internet-based projects and making lesson plans and presentations with PowerPoint, a visual presentation program.

8th-Grade Math Test Scores Up in Va., Md.
The Washington Post, August 3, 2001

Eighth-graders in Virginia and Maryland have significantly improved their mathematics scores since 1996, an increase that school officials in both states attribute to tougher learning standards and tests.

Maryland Still Near Top Among
States in Education, Income
The Baltimore Sun, August 6, 2001

The Census Bureau's latest snapshot of the state's residents showed that Marylanders remained among the best-paid and best-educated in the nation last year.

Maryland Board to Rule on Curriculum
The Baltimore Sun, August 7, 2001

The Maryland State Board of Education will decide if sixth-graders in Anne Arundel County will get two reading classes every day - losing time for electives popular with parents and pupils.

Prince George's Weighs Year-Round Schools
The Washington Post, August 7, 2001

Prince George's County is considering year-round school for 15 poorly performing elementary and middle schools being targeted for state takeover in an effort to raise test scores more quickly and move those schools off the state's list.

VIRGINIA

8th-Grade Math Test Scores Up in Va., Md.
The Washington Post, August 3, 2001

Eighth-graders in Virginia and Maryland have significantly improved their mathematics scores since 1996, an increase that school officials in both states attribute to tougher learning standards and tests.

SPECIAL ARTICLES & REPORTS

The Education of Language Minority Students
Testimony of Kenji Hakuta to U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, April 13, 2001

Privatization 2001: Reason Public Policy
Institute's 15th Annual Report on
Privatization and Government Reform
Reason Public Policy Institute, 2001

School Vouchers As Legal Sanction
Reason Public Policy Institute, July 2001

Testing Is about Openness and Openness Works
The Hoover Institution, July 30, 2001

WEBSITES & LINKS

Reason Public Policy Institute
(www.rppi.org)

A public policy think tank promoting choice, competition, and a dynamic market economy.

Black Alliance for Educational Options
(www.baeoonline.org)

A national organization whose mission is to actively support parental choice to empower families and increase educational options for Black children.

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