EDUCATION & EQUITY NEWS    

NATIONAL

Sept. 11 Prompts Lesson Review:
Educators Rethink Multiculturalism
The Washington Post, October 1, 2001

Despite a trend toward multiculturalism in schools and record numbers of immigrants during the 1990s, educators say there exists deep ignorance in the United States about people beyond its borders. The attacks, they say, should lead to a broader curriculum that takes students outside Americans' traditional mind-set.

Education Initiatives Survive Attacks
New Orleans Times-Picayune, September 28, 2001

The preoccupation of Congress and the Bush administration with responding to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks has put much of the domestic agenda on hold, with one notable exception: education. The administration and key members of Congress report progress in reaching bipartisan agreement on a comprehensive overhaul of federal education law, including a requirement for yearly reading and math tests for all pupils in third through eighth grades.

State Lawmakers Buck Bush Education Plan
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, October 1, 2001

The National Conference of State Legislatures has released a letter informing Congress that it opposes President Bush's "seriously and perhaps irreparably flawed" education plan. The letter lists nine objections, the most serious of which is, "The testing requirement at the heart of [Bush's plan] is an egregious example of top-down, one-size-fits-all federal reform."

Experts Say Young Children Need More Math
Education Week, September 24, 2001

In response to concerns that early-childhood education's heavy emphasis on encouraging children's literacy skills could be overshadowing the development of skills in mathematics, the National Association for the Education of Young Children is working with the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics to draft a joint position statement about appropriate math instruction for 3- to 6-year-olds.

Academy Issues Guidelines For Treatment of ADHD
The Washington Post, October 1, 2001

The American Academy of Pediatrics has issued its first guidelines for treating attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder for children ages 6-12, suggesting that stimulant drugs may be most effective but that behavior techniques should also be used.

School Voucher Program Tops High Court's Agenda
The Baltimore Sun, October 1, 2001

In what might be the highest-profile case of the Supreme Court's 2001-2002 term, the court has agreed to rule on the constitutionality of a school voucher program in Ohio that uses public funds to pay the tuition of thousands of children enrolled in religious schools.

NAEP Results Create Confusion Over Reading Scores
The Washington Post, September 25, 2001

While releasing reading scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress last spring, top education officials warned that the gap between the nation's best and worst fourth-grade readers was widening. But a report this month from the Brookings Institution examining data from NAEP challenges that assertion.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

D.C. Seeks Charters For Special Education
The Washington Times, October 1, 2001

The D.C. school board is weighing the creation of charter schools for students with special needs after suffering a $30 million cost overrun in special education.

Tax Surplus To Salvage D.C. Schools
The Washington Post, September 27, 2001

An unexpected $60 million in additional tax receipts will be used to help cover a budget shortfall in the public school system, but the District could lose millions in revenue while the tourism and hospitality industries struggle to recover from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Opinion: High-Tech IDs Have No Place In D.C. Schools
The Washington Post, October 2, 2001

The author rails against the District of Columbia's proposal to take digital photographs and fingerprints of all its children, issue every child a bar-coded ID card, and store the information with the Motor Vehicles Department.

PENNSYLVANIA

Cyber-School Bill Moves Forward
Philadelphia Inquirer, September 28, 2001

The Pennsylvania House Education Committee voted, 18-1, this week in favor of a measure requiring Internet-based charter schools to obtain state licensing before they could enroll students who live outside the school district that granted their charter. The bill also would require the state Education Department to set aside funds to pay for the schools.

MARYLAND

Uniform Teaching Program Advances
The Baltimore Sun, October 2, 2001

A state panel examining Maryland's decade of education changes and a national education reform group has made preliminary recommendations to the state superintendent calling a statewide curriculum critical for schools to improve.

Principals Pace Pupils' Progress
The Baltimore Sun, September 30, 2001

A new program in Carroll County aims to equip teachers with data on individual reading performance, require them and their principals to identify pupils who need help, and regularly evaluate whether that help is working.

Metts Offers Plan for Prince George's Schools
The Washington Post, September 26, 2001

Prince George's County Superintendent Iris T. Metts has laid out a plan to improve academic performance at 15 poorly performing schools and move them off the state's watch list for possible takeover within three years.

VIRGINIA

Minority Scarcity Alarms Jefferson
The Washington Post, September 27, 2001

Of the 420 members of the current freshman class at the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Fairfax County -- which boasts more National Merit semifinalists than any school in the nation -- only seven are Hispanic and two are black. The numbers are the lowest in at least eight years.

Driven by the Ignored Child Within: Fairfax
School Chief Intent on Helping All Pupils Succeed
The Washington Post, September 30, 2001

A profile of Fairfax County school superintendent Dan Domenech.

Virginia Schools to Get $500,000 in Federal
Trauma Aid Grants for Those Affected by Attack
The Washington Post, September 30, 2001

The U.S. Department of Education is giving Virginia schools $500,000 to help those directly affected by the terrorist attack on the Pentagon. The money will be used for counseling for students and teachers, hiring substitute teachers for those who need time off, increasing security and developing long-term crisis planning.

School Districts Seek Extra Pay, Say
Northern Virginia Systems Treated Partially
Richmond Times-Dispatch, September 29, 2001

School boards across Virginia are speaking out against a state funding discrepancy that grants school divisions in Northern Virginia millions of dollars extra each year from the General Assembly, allowing teachers near Washington to make up to $20,000 more annually than those in surrounding localities.

SPECIAL ARTICLES & REPORTS

Assessing the Definition of "Adequate Yearly Progress" in the House and Senate Education Bills
The Brookings Institution, 2001

Clinical Practice Guideline: Treatment of
the School-Aged Child With Attention-
Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
American Academy of Pediatrics, October 2001

Closing the Gap: Promising Approaches to Reducing the Achievement Gap - Conference Papers
The Brookings Institution, 2001

WEBSITES & LINKS

American Academy of Pediatrics
(www.aap.org)

A membership organization consisting of approximately 55,000 pediatricians dedicating their efforts and resources to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults."

National Association for the
Education of Young Children
(www.naeyc.org)

The nation's "largest and most influential organization of early childhood educators and others dedicated to improving the quality of programs for children from birth through third grade."

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
(www.nctm.org)

An organization of 100,000 members whose mission is to "provide the vision and leadership necessary to ensure a mathematics education of the highest quality for all students."

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