*********************************
From the NASSMC Briefing Service (NBS) that is provided by the
National Alliance of State
Science & Mathematics Coalitions through grants from the ExxonMobil
Foundation and the National Security Agency (NSA). Wednesday, July
18, 2001, See http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/13/politics/13EDUC.html
for the original source of the first item below, and
http://24hour.sacbee.com/24hour/nation/story/629378p-675387c.html
for the second.
*********************************
School Heads See Problems In Legislation
Superintendents of two of the nation's largest school systems told the National
Press Club Thursday that the accountability measures pending in Congress could
have an unintended effect: driving down educational standards.
Because the bills include tough sanctions for districts that do not bring all
students up to proficiency within a certain time period, local
authorities might
be tempted to dilute state standards to make it easier to meet the
requirements,
warned Roy Romer, superintendent of schools in Los Angeles.
"You'll have people out there gaming the system," Romer said.
Both the House and Senate bills would allow states to define
proficiency and how
to measure it.
Harold Levy, chancellor of the New York City schools, said many of the ideas
being discussed in Congress are already under way in New York. His experience
has been that improvements in student achievement are correlated more with
teacher quality than with magnet schools or annual testing. Congress, he said,
must provide more money to enable districts to attract qualified teachers.
"If the system's accountable, then I say the politicians and policy makers also
have to be accountable," Levy said.
SOURCE: New York Times, 13 July 2001 (p. A10)
---------------
Pennsylvania Board of Education OKs science standards
The Pennsylvania Board of Education approved the state's first
science standards
Thursday. The board voted 13-2 to approve the standards after changing wording
that could have led to the teaching of creationism throughout the
state's public
schools.
An earlier version of the standards called for students to "analyze evidence of
fossil records, similarities in body structures, embryological studies and DNA
studies that support or do not support the theory of evolution."
The version approved by the board requires students to "analyze data
from fossil
records, similarities in anatomy and physiology, embryological studies and DNA
studies that are relevant to the theory of evolution."
The standards outline what students should know by the end of grades four,
seven, 10 and 12.
SOURCE: Sacramento Bee (Associated Press), 12 July 2001
***************************************************
--
Jerry P.Becker
Department of Curriculum & Instruction
Southern Illinois University
Carbondale, IL 62901-4610 USA
Phone: (618) 453-4241 [O]
(618) 457-8903 [H]
Fax: (618) 453-4244
E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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