September 28, 1981

Education Week, Vol. 01, Issue 04

Education Opinion Behind the Razor Wire

Like so many teachers, Jeffrey Meisler spent much of his first day on the job asking himself, “What am I doing here?” But it was more than the usual first-day jitters, he writes.

Jeffrey Meisler, January 1, 1990

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4 min read

Education Opinion Unsettling Young Minds

In Dead Poets Society, one of last summer's more popular movies, Robin Williams as John Keating, an unconventional English teacher at a stuffy all-male prep school, climbs up on his desk and urges his students to join him.

Ronald A. Wolk, January 1, 1990

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3 min read

Education Opinion Don't Let Them Eat Cake

Pity the poor students of Metamora High School, near Peoria, Ill., one day living off the fat (and sugar) of the land, the next day facing draconian dietary restrictions.

January 1, 1990

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1 min read

Education Opinion Taking On The Book Banners

For many teachers, censorship is not just something that appears in textbooks' discussions of the First Amendment. It is a very real, and sometimes frightening, problem. Consider what happened last year to a teacher in a small rural community in Georgia when she assigned Arthur Miller's classic play, Death of a Salesman, to her 9th grade honors English class.

Donna Hulsizer, January 1, 1990

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4 min read

Education College Board Acts To Reverse Quality Decline

In response to a 14-year drop in Scholastic Aptitude Test scores and what they describe as "a decline in quality in the nation's schools," officials of the College Board last week proposed a set of academic qualifications they say will be needed by college-bound students in the 1980's.

Thomas Toch, September 28, 1981

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4 min read

Education Judges' Comments Support Testing of Florida Seniors

The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this month denied a petition asking it to re-hear the case of Debra P. v. Turlington--a class-action suit contesting the state's use of minimum-competency testing as a requirement for high school graduation.

And as the court issued its ruling, three judges on the panel released accompanying comments that are being interpreted by educators in Florida as a victory for advocates of minimum-competency exams. The commentaries may also be an important signal for other states watching the progress of the case, which is the first important challenge nationwide to the use of student minimum-competency tests in public schools.

September 28, 1981

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4 min read

Education Cut Now, Pay Later: Critics Assail New Lunch Program

The Reagan Administration's proposal to reduce the quantity--and perhaps the quality--of federally supported school lunches has drawn a barrage of criticism, and evoked both jokes and indignant protests about ketchup, pickle-relish, and tofu.

Susan Walton, September 28, 1981

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7 min read

Education Power, Visibility Come To Heritage Foundation

In the summer of 1980, Ronald Docksai, a legislative assistant to Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, began holding planning meetings with 10 Capitol Hill colleagues--most of them also staff assistants to Republican members of Congress--to design the "blueprint'' for a new federal education policy.

Eileen White, September 28, 1981

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13 min read

Education Boston's New Superintendent Seeks To Rebuild the System

During the first six weeks of Robert R. Spillane's tenure as superintendent of Boston's public schools, he has had to contend with a disgruntled teacher workforce, an indifferent community, administrative mismanagement, severe economic constraints, and a school committee tainted by corruption.

Susan G. Foster, September 28, 1981

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10 min read

Education In Federal Agencies

Child health and development. The National Advisory Child Health and Human Development Council announced, in the Aug. 3 Federal Register, a meeting on Oct. 5-6 in building 31, conference room 10, of the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md. This meeting will only be open to the public on Oct. 5, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

Juvenile justice. The Department of Justice announced, in the Sept. 17 Federal Register, a meeting of the Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention on Sept. 30, beginning at 10 a.m., in the Hubert Humphrey Auditorium, 200 Independence Ave., S.E., Washington. Program and budget changes affecting Federal delinquency-related programs will be discussed.

September 28, 1981

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1 min read

Education Cities News Roundup

Administrators in Philadelphia turned to the courts last week in an effort to end the bitter teachers' strike that today enters its fourth week. But the threat of a walkout in Boston ended when union members rejected their leaders' recommendation for a strike.

In Philadelphia, picketing teachers harassed administrators as special classes opened for high-school seniors and for the severely handicapped. The schools for seniors opened last Wednesday with 10,400 out of 11,700 seniors showing up, and most of the 400 administrators and other non-striking personnel were there--under protest--to teach them. The Philadelphia Association of School Administrators filed suit last week against the school district, objecting to Superintendent Michael P. Marcase's order that administrators teach at the schools.

September 28, 1981

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3 min read

Education National News Roundup

Educational costs will rise by nearly 10 percent this academic year, while enrollments decline by approximately 1.5 percent, according to preliminary estimates from the National Center for Education Statistics.

Schools and colleges--public and private--will spend approximately $198.3 billion on education this academic year, up from approximately $181 billion last year, according to the agency's back-to-school forecast. The largest share, nearly $113 billion, will be spent by public elementary and secondary schools.

September 28, 1981

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3 min read

Education People News

More than 1,000 students at Plainview (N.Y.) High School boycotted their morning classes for a day last week to protest the breakdown of negotiations between the local teachers' union and the school administration.

The two-hour walkout was prompted by "anxiety over not knowing every morning whether there would be school that day or not," according to Louis Ferrara, superintendent of the Plainview-Old Bethpage district.

September 28, 1981

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1 min read

Education Research and Reports

Pre-season physical examinations for aspiring high-school athletes have been found effective in screening out students who should not participate--and in identifying other potentially serious medical conditions.

A four-year study, conducted by Dr. Forest S. Tennant and colleagues at the University of California at Los Angeles, showed that "pre-participation" physicals were a cost-effective method of keeping students with medical problems out of sports. The researchers also found that 8 percent of those screened had treatable medical problems such as high blood pressure, musculo-skeletal injury, respiratory infection, and tooth decay.

September 28, 1981

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1 min read

Education Reagan Weighing Much Deeper Education Cuts And Faster Dismantling of Federal Department

Last week, as President Reagan prepared a national address to win public support for still deeper cuts in domestic spending levels, Administration officials and others were discussing how further cuts should--or could--be made in education programs already slated to shrink by 12 percent in 1982.

Eileen White, September 28, 1981

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4 min read

Education States News Roundup

Six Hanksville, Utah, parents have gone to court in an attempt to keep their children at home rather than allow them to ride 120 miles to school and back each day.

Sherry Ekker, who has placed her daughter Leslie in a private tutorial arrangement paid for by the six parents, says the four-hour round trip is too strenuous and dangerous for young children.

September 28, 1981

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6 min read

Education Linus Vindicated 'Blanket Habit' Doesn't Hurt, Study Finds

Small children who carry a favorite blanket or toy wherever they go are considered cute, but once a child reaches school age, parents and teachers may worry that the child with a "security blanket" is emotionally dependent and immature.

A new study suggests, however, that these children are being unjustly maligned. They are indistinguishable from other children in terms of their "raisability, adaptability, and independence," according to the study.

September 28, 1981

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1 min read

Education Panels Propose Raising Payments, Setting New Format For Impact Aid

Members of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees last week challenged the Reagan Administration's proposal to cut an additional $74 million from 1982 impact-aid programs.

Alex Heard, September 28, 1981

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2 min read

Education 10,000 Donate Time and Talent To Houston Schools

What do the Sharpstown Baptist Church Women, 20 Hughes Tool Company employees, a University of Houston professor of art, and a World War I veteran have in common?

Thomas Toch, September 28, 1981

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6 min read

Education

September 28, 1981

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1 min read

Education Little Rock Schools Match Worn Image

More than half of the 20,000 students in the Little Rock school system are performing at or above their grade levels, school officials report.

And Central High School, the site of the famous 1957 confrontation between the Arkansas National Guard and federal troops, now is drawing white students back from private schools with its broad curricular offerings and its reputation for good race relations.

September 28, 1981

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1 min read

Education Teaching Jobs Saved By Plan

In an attempt to avoid firing tenured faculty members while coping with severe budget cuts, the Michigan State University College of Education is using a variety of innovative plans that will keep some tenured teachers on the payroll and give others time and money to find new jobs.

The plan is being introduced at a time when sharp drops in enrollment and financial retrenchment are forcing education-school administrators across the country to come to terms with the sensitive issue of removing tenured professors.

September 28, 1981

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1 min read

Education Congress: Back to the Cutting Board

The House and Senate Appropriations subcommittees completed preliminary work last week on a 1982 education spending bill that would slash an additional $1.8 billion from the $15.7-billion federal education budget.

Eileen White, September 28, 1981

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1 min read

Education 24-Nation Study To Examine Math Curriculum, Teaching

Each year, students from Bangalore to Betioky wear down millions of pencils working out fractions, ratios, and other mathematical mysteries. Their teachers create mountains of chalk dust explaining these concepts.

Susan Walton, September 28, 1981

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4 min read

Education Heritage Provides Conservative Blueprint for Education Policy

It is no mystery that the education-related recommendations of the Heritage Foundation's conservative policy guidebook, Mandate for Leadership: Policy Management in a Conservative Administration, are being followed by the Reagan Administration, Heritage leaders suggest.

Eileen White, September 28, 1981

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7 min read

Education Legislative Report

as of 5 p.m. on Sept. 16

September 28, 1981

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7 min read

Education Education Department Begins Own Review Of Handicapped, Other Major Regulations

Federal rules governing the education of handicapped children--and perhaps the very definition of "handicapped"--have received high priority in the Reagan Administration's reassessment of existing government rules and regulations.

Arthur E. Levine, September 28, 1981

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6 min read

Education D.C. May Vote on Tuition Tax Credits

The District of Columbia's Board of Elections and Ethics last week asked the Court of Appeals here to reconsider an earlier decision that placed a controversial education tax-credit proposal on the city's Nov. 3 ballot.

Tom Mirga, September 28, 1981

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2 min read

Education Researchers Claim Sexism in Schools Common

Teachers promote sexism in the classroom by the manner in which they evaluate, reward, and discipline students, according to the first-year observations of a husband-and-wife team studying sexism in education.

Susan G. Foster, September 28, 1981

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3 min read

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