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This article reports that a Seattle newspaper and Washington state's largest teachers' union are fighting in court over when complaints of teacher sexual misconduct become part of the public record. The Seattle Times argues that any such complaints that are entered into a district's files should be open. The Washington Education Association, on the other hand, would shield unproven complaints from public view. The case has been before the state supreme court but it is drawing attention now because the newspaper recently published the stories that led to the dispute.

Federal agencies issued more than 40,000 pages of regulations in the Federal Register. The Department of Education was one such agency and on December 22, 2003 it provided a preview of forthcoming regulations that will address some of the most heavily scrutinized issues in K-12 education. In the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld the right of the Scouts to exclude homosexuals and controversies over public schools treatment of the Scouts, Congress included language in the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 guaranteeing the Boy Scouts equal access to schools.

The article discusses a working paper by economist James J. Heckman and colleagues that suggest that the Perry Preschool project, which was an early-intervention program for children from disadvantaged families in Ypsilanti, Michigan in the 1960s, had rates of return below 10% rather than the original 16%. Their paper, which is posted at the U.S. National Bureau of Economic Research's web site, argued that the previous findings were flawed because of its randomization process and missing data.

The article reports that a national panel in the U.S. is raising concerns about the quality of much of the research on charter school achievement, and has outlined recommendations to help ensure better analyses in the future. The first in a series of white papers from the group of researchers notes that while the volume of research on student performance in charters has grown dramatically, the actual quality of that research doesn't seem to be improving. The paper was drafted by the Charter School Achievement Consensus Panel, a group convened by the National Charter School Research Project at the University of Washington in Seattle.

This article reports that, according to a research paper by the World Bank concludes, the fees that many countries around the world require children to pay to attend public schools are an obstacle to enrollment in primary school for many youngsters But when such fees are abolished, it's important for countries to have a source of revenue to replace the fees, or the quality of schooling can drop dramatically as school systems become overwhelmed, according to the paper. It says the World Bank is reconsidering some of its past support for policies in some countries that require fees, including textbook fees, for primary school pupils.

This article presents information about reports released and researches conducted in the field of education and career development of students in the U.S. Minority students from low-income families who take part in early-intervention programs in high school have a better chance than comparable non-participants of enrolling in a postsecondary institution, concludes a report by the Washington-based Institute for Higher Education Policy and the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation. A center devoted to helping government and business officials develop a stronger workforce has released a study examining successful strategies for community colleges trying to prepare students for high-wage, high-demand jobs. Papers presented at a symposium and released last month by the National Safety Council found that “graduated” driver's-license programs reduce crash rates for teenage drivers by as much as 33 percent.

The paper says that those who educate early childhood teachers in colleges of education should themselves have experience in the field and that multiple departments and schools within universities not just education can contribute to a preparation program for such teachers. Authors make a number of recommendations for schools, colleges and departments of education, among them, teacher preparation programs should be linked to states' early learning standards. State efforts to help educators understand the law have also not been effective, authors write, except in Georgia, where the state Professional Standards Commission hired regional consultants to work with districts on the highly-qualified-teacher mandate, which public schools must meet by the end of the 2005-06 school year.

San-Antonio, Florida based Harcourt Assessment, one of the largest test publishers in the U.S. has set up a research advisory board to help guide its in-house studies on key topics in assessment, with the goal of launching, an ongoing series of reports that would begin appearing at the end of the year 2004 on the company's Web site. John Olson, who joined the testing company as its vice president for psychometrics and research services last fall, said that in addition to helping set Harcourt's research agenda, the five-member board would review internal proposals and research papers.

According to David M. Steiner, an associate teacher of education at Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts, education is something that is not being taught in many teacher-education programs. Steiner reviewed more than 200 course outlines from 16 education schools. Steiner's findings were part of a recent draft paper, which concluded that education teachers are too often trying to teach teachers an ideology.

Presents news briefs in regards to events and issues in the news. Removal of the D grade from Frederick County schools in Maryland; Details of a new study published in "Lancet" that shows that smog can affect the health of student athletes; Controversial story about drugs and sex that appeared in a Bradenton, Florida school paper; Health effects of comfortable couches in classroom environments.

Discusses the moral stand concerning the issue of cheating among students in the United States. Reasons for the difficulty of addressing the situation effectively with students; Role of the Internet in providing students with easy-to-find term papers; Difference between cheating and lying.

Reports that the Massachusetts Federation of Teachers recommends requiring teacher-candidates to complete a graduate program in education after earning a bachelor's degree in another major. State initiatives called for in the policy paper submitted by the union; Need to teach about religion; Move of the California Teachers Association to drop its opposition to peer review.

Reports on developments about court decisions on cases involving schools in the United States for the week ending June 14, 1995. Includes federal appeals court's prohibition of Christian songs in graduation ceremony at West Lake High School, Salt Lake City, Utah; Teacher Dana Ramsey's refusal to allow a ninth grader to submit a research paper on the life of Jesus.