EDUCATION & EQUITY NEWS    

NATIONAL

Congress Passes Education Bill
Associated Press, December 18, 2001

Congress has passed legislation requiring annual math and reading tests for millions of students as part of an effort to improve classroom performance.

  See also:

Senate Passes Bush Education Bill,
The Washington Post
December 18, 2001

Senate Passes Education Bill,
in Major Shift for Public Schools
The New York Times
December 18, 2001

Q&A on the Education Bill
CNN.com, December 19, 2001

After Schools' Test Success Comes Worry Educators Fear Impact Of Emphasis on Scores
The Washington Post, January 2, 2001

Dramatic test-score gains in Mount Vernon, N.Y., offer powerful evidence that standardized tests can focus instruction and be part of a comprehensive approach to raising achievement. But even as Mount Vernon basks in its rising test scores, its top school officials worry that the impending federal law takes a good thing too far.

Helping Students Understand the
World of Religion Teaching Diversity,
Tolerance Takes On Urgency in Schools
The Washington Post, December 27, 2001

Teaching about religion is tough terrain for public school teachers, but something that a growing number of educators believe is imperative to help young people understand not only the forces that drive human history but also the diversity in their own neighborhoods.

MARYLAND

State to Spend Millions on Tests
The Baltimore Sun, December 30, 2001

Maryland will have to make extensive and costly revisions to its school testing program - and add a seventh-grade test - to comply with a landmark education bill awaiting President Bush's signature.

State Schools Plan Called
Unfair by Some, Too Costly
The Baltimore Sun, January 2, 2002

An ambitious plan to boost Maryland's public school funding by $1.1 billion over the next five years faces pockets of opposition from across the state, jeopardizing its prospects amid the budgetary belt-tightening likely in the coming General Assembly session.

Prince George's Magnet Attracts Anger
The Washington Post, December 28, 2001

The Prince George's County school board's plan to remove all the neighborhood children from the Robert Goddard Middle School and convert it to a magnet school has aroused the anger of local parents. (See also: Goddard PTSA Protests Conversion to Magnet: Students Would Be Bused Out Under Plan, The Washington Post, December 27, 2001.)

Graduation Standards Raised
The Washington Post, December 20, 2001

The Montgomery County school board has just adopted new standards to increase rigor and raise expectations for all students.

Alternative Refuels Boundaries Debate
The Washington Post, December 20, 2001

In Howard County, a proposed plan for redistricting high schools has some groups complaining that it will keep low-income students out of certain schools.

Changes to Grading Policy
Narrow as Board Vote Nears
The Washington Post, December 20, 2001

The proposed changes to Anne Arundel County's grading policy includes a new, county-wide standard for grading homework and a new calculation for choosing high school valedictorians and salutatorians.

Departing Parham Seeks 7th
Period In Middle Schools
The Washington Post, December 20, 2001

Anne Arundel County schools has released a bare-bones budget with one unexpected recommendation from departing Superintendent Carol S. Parham: The system should create a seven-period day in middle school to fit in extra reading instruction and state-mandated electives.

VIRGINIA

Opinion: It's Little Wonder A
Sense of Humor Can't Be Learned
The Washington Post, December 15, 2001

The author comments on the effects of zero tolerance policies on the lives of students in Fairfax and Loudoun Counties.

PENNSYLVANIA

Street is Still in Education Driver's Seat
Philadelphia Daily News, December 26, 2001

Agreements between Mayor Street and Gov. Schweiker give Street even more control over the remade Philadelphia school district than was first apparent. Besides veto power over the hiring of a CEO, Street effectively has a veto over the creation of bylaws for the new School Reform Commission, the hiring of its general counsel and any borrowing the commission plans.

Philadelphia Turns Schools Over to State
The Washington Post, December 22, 2001

State and city leaders have reached agreement on a state takeover of the Philadelphia school system as part of a plan to install a private company to help run the district and dozens of its worst schools.

WASHINGTON, DC METRO REGION

D.C. Schools, City May Share Student Data
The Washington Post, December 31, 2001

City and school officials in the District would share access to students' academic, health and welfare records, starting this fall at nine low-performing schools, under a proposal that the Williams administration is pushing as a way to help children whose problems in class are linked to poverty.

In-State Tuition for Outsiders:
It Pays to Investigate
The Washington Post, January 2, 2001

The D.C Tuition Assistance Grant Program allows students who are D.C. residents to attend public universities and colleges outside the district for the same cost that in-state students pay. (See also: D.C. Residents to Receive More College Tuition Aid, The Washington Post, December 31, 2001.)

D.C. Acts to Avert School Furloughs
City Pledges Multimillion-Dollar Bailout
The Washington Post, December 13, 2001

District officials say they would provide $10 million to the school system to avoid the elimination of seven days from this year's school calendar, a budget-cutting measure that the Board of Education had taken two weeks ago to avoid a deficit. (See also: Hill Panel Rejects D.C. School Plan Norton, Morella Say Shortening Calendar Is Wrong Way to Deal With Deficit, The Washington Post, December 8, 2001.)

48 Schools in Region Found to Beat Odds
The Washington Post, December 13, 2001

The Education Trust, a non-partisan research group, has identified 4,577 public schools -- including 48 locally -- that register high test scores despite teaching large numbers of poor or minority students.

SPECIAL ARTICLES & REPORTS

The High School Diploma Drought
Hoover Institution, December 24, 2001

Recent research shows that an alarmingly high number of students—particularly black and hispanic students—are not completing high school on schedule.

Dispelling the Myth Revisited:
Preliminary Findings from a Nationwide
Analysis of "High Flying" Schools (pdf file)
The Education Trust, 2001

See also: Dispelling the Myth Online, a web-based data warehouse that allows users to identify high-poverty and high-minority schools whose students are achieving at high levels on state assessments.

Welfare, Children & Families: A Three-City Study
Boston College and Johns Hopkins University, December 2001

WEBSITES & LINKS

Young Americans and the Digital Future Campaign

A multiyear program to promote state and local policies that increase young Americans’ access to the benefits of the Internet and other information technologies. Working with both the public and private sectors, this Campaign pays particular attention to the needs of low-income and other underserved young people.

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