EDUCATION & EQUITY NEWS    

NATIONAL

The More Things Change:
Teaching in an Online Classroom
Christian Science Monitor, October 30, 2001

Because of a nationwide teacher shortage, educators interested in professional development are now seeking alternatives to going back to school full time. Teaching and learning online seems one cost-effective solution.

Educators, Journalists Spar Over Media Access
Education Week, October 24, 2001

Advocates of the freest possible access contend that public schools have clamped down on information that should rightfully be in the public eye. They suggest that educators have gone too far in their efforts to protect students' and teachers' privacy rights.

Opinion: Ignoring the Gap and
Raising the Bar on Test Scores
The Washington Post, October 23, 2001

The author writes, "[P]aying . . . attention to ethnic differences [on test scores], recording every percentile point change, carries a potentially destructive message: my group is looking bad because your group is looking good."

MARYLAND

Projected Cuts, Economy Curtail School Budgets
The Washington Post, October 30, 2001

Anticipated cuts in state revenue and worsening county economies are wreaking havoc with local school budgets, forcing Montgomery County to propose cutting $176 million in construction projects and prompting Fairfax and Prince George's schools to restrict spending and hiring.

Harford County School to Keep Indian Mascot
The Baltimore Sun, October 30, 2001

A community panel charged with deciding the fate of Havre de Grace High School's Warrior mascot has voted to retain the American Indian symbol, Harford County's superintendent of schools announced last night to the Board of Education, which unanimously endorsed the group's recommendation.

Little Evidence of Inequity
Found in Howard Schools
The Washington Post, October 30, 2001

An audit of Howard County schools released yesterday found little basis for the community complaints that helped prompt it: namely, that the county's lower-performing schools have fewer resources and poorer facilities than its higher-performing ones.

Independent Study Critical of Schools
The Baltimore Sun, October 28, 2001

According to a new independent study, the Howard County school system isn't doing enough to narrow a lingering achievement gap between ethnic groups, has no centrally coordinated plan to affect student performance in low-performing schools and is behind in technology, compared with other systems.

Emphasis on Exams Draws Fire
The Baltimore Sun, October 26, 2001

A plan to standardize grades in Anne Arundel County's 117 public schools - to ensure that an A in one classroom means an A in another - has drawn fire from students, parents and teachers for its heavy emphasis on final exams.

School Board Redrawn To Magnet Proposal
The Washington Post, October 25, 2001

The Prince George's school board is expected to discuss the hotly debated magnet school program after complaints by the county NAACP that a $4 million plan to create new magnets is aimed at appeasing vocal parents rather than diversifying the student population -- the program's original goal in a decades-old desegregation agreement.

VIRGINIA

High Court Permits Virginia Moment of Silence
The Washington Post, October 29, 2001

Virginia's requirement that public school children start their days with a minute of silence survived its final court test this morning, as the U.S. Supreme Court let stand a lower court ruling that the law does not violate the First Amendment.

Virginia Schools Urge Help In Keeping Teachers Proposals by Warner, Earley Scrutinized
The Washington Post, October 27, 2001

Gubernatorial candidates Mark L. Earley (Republican) and Mark R. Warner (Democrat) both say that they would lift teacher salaries to the national average by the end of the governor's four-year term. Many teachers say that this would help ease the teacher shortage, but that it would not solve the complex issue of teacher retention that plagues Virginia districts large and small.

PENNSYLVANIA

Party Lines, Views of City
Cited in Votes on Schools
The Philadelphia Inquirer, October 29, 2001

Given less than a half-hour by Governor Schweiker to digest a bill clearing the way for the state to seize control of Philadelphia's schools, most area legislators fell back on party lines. Many Republicans said they voted for the bill even though they were not sure it was the right thing to do, acknowledging that it blasted a hole in one of their bedrock principles, local control. Most Democrats voted against it, even though they agreed the district needed drastic change, calling the move a "surprise attack" that undermined Mayor Street.

  See also:

Guv's Radical School of Thought: Schweiker Rips District and Philly Students, Hints Privatization is Near
Philadelphia Daily News,
October 25, 2001

Guv's Plan: $95M to
Revise Reading, Math
Philadelphia Daily News, October 30, 2001

Schools Takeover Could Hit Managers
The Philadelphia Inquirer, October 30, 2001

The jobs of the Philadelphia School District's top 50 administrators could be in jeopardy if the state takes over the system and hires a private management company to run it.

They're Lining Up For Chance to Run Schools
Philadelphia Daily News, October 26, 2001

The state cannot take over Philadelphia's public schools until more than a month from now - but local power brokers already are calling the governor's office, hoping to run some schools after the inevitable privitazation.

SPECIAL ARTICLES & REPORTS

Any Time, Any Place, Any Path, Any Pace:
Taking the Lead on e-Learning Policy
National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE), 2001

Bridging the Organizational Divide: Toward a Comprehensive Approach to the Digital Divide (pdf file)
PolicyLink, 2001

Building Tests to Support Instruction and Accountability: A Guide for Policymakers (pdf file)
National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP), October 2001

The Eye of the Storm: Promising
Practices for Improving Instruction (pdf file)
Council for Basic Education, October 25, 2001

The Local Television News
Media's Picture of Children
Children Now, October 2001

Tuition-Free, Back-to-Basics,
Inner-City Private Schools
Salon.com, October 29, 2001

WEBSITES & LINKS

Children Now
(www.childrennow.org)

A nonprofit, nonpartisan agency that "utilizes research and mass communications to make the well-being of children a top priority across the nation."

Council for Basic Education
(www.c-b-e.org)

A national non-profit organization that "advocates high academic standards for all students and exemplary teaching in every classroom in our nation’s public schools."

Harvard Family Research Project's
Out-of-School Time Online Forum
(www.gse.harvard.edu/hfrp/projects/
afterschool/symposium/intro.html)

A forum for evaluators, practitioners, funders, and policymakers to share information, ask questions of each other, and discuss issues related to after school programs.

PolicyLink
(www.policylink.org)

A national advocacy, research, capacity building, and communications organization that focuses on equity issues.

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