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Bush to Name 17 to Hispanic Education
Panel
President Bush plans to appoint 17 prominent Hispanic Americans to a Commission
on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans. Commission members will
provide strategies and advice on improving the school performance of Hispanic
American students. Bush plans to charge the commission with creating a
multi-year plan to reduce the achievement gap between Hispanic American
students and other students.
Source: U.S.
Department of Education
Kansas Teacher Quits Over Plagiarism
Dispute
A high school science teacher in the Piper (Kansas) School District resigned
after she claimed the board of education had failed to support her for
penalizing students who plagiarized online research materials in preparing
a biology project. The teacher, Christine Pelton, claimed that 28 sophomores
committed plagiarism. Students were told at the beginning of the year
that the project would count for 50 percent of their grade and that anyone
found plagiarizing would receive no credit. After complaints from parents,
board members told Pelton to count the project as 30 percent of the students'
grades and to deny them credit only for the written section of the project.
As a result of the board's actions, many of the students who were accused
of plagiarism passed the course.
Source: Kansas
City Star
Smaller Classes Pay Off in California
California has spent about $1.5 billion a year for the past six years
to help decrease kindergarten class sizes, and teachers and administrators
say they are seeing the results in increased student achievement. Most
kindergarten classes are kept to 20 or fewer students, allowing teachers
to spend more time with each student and help those who fall behind. Some
school officials say the initiative has not been fully funded, however,
and the cost to the district of hiring additional teachers is creating
a financial strain.
Source: Contra
Costa Times
Hartford Schools Ask Specialty Teachers
to Teach Reading
School officials in Hartford, Connecticut, are asking state legislators
to change the state certification law so more teachers can teach reading.
The Hartford schools have adopted a scripted reading program, which requires
students in the elementary schools to spend 90 minutes a day working on
reading. Children are grouped according to ability and because there are
not enough classroom teachers to handle all the reading groups, specialty
teachers have been asked to fill in. Some teachers are concerned that
they will lose pension funds because pension money is earned for teaching
within their certification.
Source: ctnow.com
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By Ellen R. Delisio
Education World®
Copyright © 2002 Education World
01/31/2002
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