Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 14, 1998)
• T A Page A5 (Elie JJnrtlanh © bserüer OCT. 14,1998 on Paulus R eleases Annual O regon Report Card ^M in o rity students represented 16.3 percent o f total enrollment in 1997-98, up from 11.2 percent in 1990. Nomia Paulus, state superinten dent o f public instruction, today re leased the Oregon Report Card, an annual report on trends in Oregon schools. The report covering the 1997-98 school year captures demographic, financial and academic achievement trends, describes progress toward implementing the Oregon Educa tional Act for the 21st Century and summarizes other details ofO regon’s public school system. Oregon schools are expecting more o f students in reading, writing, mathematics and other basic sub jects,” said Paulus. “We are raising our academic standards. This report highlights our achievement thus far.” Here is a sample o f some o f the information contained in the report: * Only one country scored signifi cantly higher than Oregon on inter national science tests. Eight coun tries scored significantly higher than Oregon on international math tests. * Oregon focused on mathematics curriculum and instruction - through three math summits with mathemat ics teachers from around the state and a donation o f $600,000 from Wells Fargo for grants to school dis tricts to improve mathematics edu cation. * T eachers face increasingly crowded classrooms as O regon’s population o f school-age children continues to grow. The number of Oregon students has risen by 11.7 percent since 1990 to 541,346 stu dents, while the number o f teachers has risen by only 2.9 percent to 26,935 Mayor Vera Katz Announces Grant To Help Foster Job Opportunities I Outer SE Portland Manufactur ing Learning center will train studentys, unemployed, and under employed adults Mayor Vera Katz tomorrow will present an ordinance to City Council accepting a $65,000 planning grant from the U.S. Department o f Com merce, Economic Development Ad m inistration (EDA), matched by $22,000 from the Office of the Mayor, to help establish the Outer Southeast Portland Manufacturing Learning Center. The grant furthers efforts to ex pand on the Mayor’s Quality Jobs Initiative by creating a center that will encourage job creation leading to economic self-sufficiency by link ing the jobs to the unemployed in one o f the city’s most economically dis tressed areas. The Outer SE Portland Manufac turing Learning Center, to be built in partnership w ith M arshall High School, Portland Community Col lege, and the local community and employers, is envisioned to: * train high school and unem ployed and under employed adults for careers in manufacturing with coursework taught to industry em ployer standards; * provide skills upgrade training for outer southeast Portland manu facturers; and * broker technical assistance to local manufacturers to increase busi ness and worker retention. The Learning Center will be built on the foundation o f Marshall High School’s four-year technology pro gram. This year, the school is starting three new manufacturing/technology courses in computer refurbishing (STRUT), computer programming, and NT networking. The Center would use M arshall’s facility to implement program targeted to manu facturing and Outer Southeast, that would serve both youth and adults. The curriculum would be industry- driven with input from Southeast P o rtla n d m a n u fa c tu re rs, m eet O reg o n ’s education reform stan dards, and include a long-term em p lo y er involvem ent strategy to keep course content relevant, com petitive and continually im prov ing. To finish the vision o f the Learn ing C enter, the partnership is de veloping a business plan that will define how the center w ould func tion. It w ill be follow ed by an assessment o f the training and tech nical needs o f O uter SE m anufac turers. Council is set to consider the o rd in an ce during th e ir reg u lar m eeting on W ednesday, Septem ber 30th. The ordinance is not a “Tim e C ertain ,” but is expected to be the first on the agenda. in the same period o f time. Student enrollm ent is expected to climb through the rest o f the decade. * M inority students represented 16.3 p e rc e n t o f to ta l e n ro llm e n t in 1997-98, up from 11.2 p e r cen t in 1990. O f the total n u m ber o f new stu d e n ts w ho en tered O reg o n p u b lic sc h o o ls fo r the first tim e sin c e 1990, 60 p e r cen t w ere from m in o rity p o p u la tio n s. T w o out o f three new m in o rity stu d e n ts are H isp a n ic . * D is tric ts sp e n t an a v e ra g e o f $ 5 ,6 2 2 per stu d e n t in 1997- 98, up slig h tly from $ 5 ,4 0 8 p e r stu d e n t in 1996-97 as the s ta te c o n tin u e d to m ove to w ard e q u a liz e d fu n d in g a c ro ss d is tric ts . The report is posted on the O regon D epartm ent o f Education w eb site at w w w .o d e.state.o r.u s/ edact/. fr * ‘ The whole purpose o f this is to make it simpler or more seam less fo r students to reach their goals T he c o n v e n ie n c e o f h ig h e r education through Portland C om m unity C ollege has reached a new level this year w ith the help o f several fo u r-y ear in stitutions. V ia the In te rn e t or m odem , PCC students can now w ork to w ard a b a c h e lo r’s degree by lin k ing w ith O regon State U n iv er sity, M arylhurst U niversity, E ast ern O regon U niv ersity and G ov ernors S tate U n iv ersity in Illi nois. PCC stu dents have prev io u sly been able to com plete selected a sso c ia te ’s d egrees or take as sorted classes from hom e, w ork o r at PC C f a c ilitie s v ia the In tern et or m odem . The new r e latio n sh ip w ith these u n iv e rsi ties allow s stu d en ts to com plete m ore classes at th e ir local c o l lege w hile fulfilling requirem ents for th e ir b a c h e lo r’s d eg rees in d is c ip lin e s su c h as b u s in e s s , m a n a g e m e n t, o r g a n iz a tio n a l co m m u n icatio n and lib e ra l stu d ies. “ The w hole p u rp o se o f this is to m ake it sim p le r o r m ore seam less for stu d en ts to reach th e ir g o als,” said PCC D irecto r o f D is ta n c e L e a r n in g J o h n S n e e d , “w hether it be a o n e -y e a r c e rtifi cate, an a s s o c ia te ’s deg ree or a b a c h e lo r’s d e g re e .” Sneed added that all students seeking b a c h e lo r’s d egrees m ust meet adm issions requirem ents for the in stitu tio n gran tin g the d e grees and need to co n su lt w ith advisors at both PCC and the in stitu tio n w ith th e ir degree o f choice. T he fo llo w in g d e g re e s are av ailable th ro u g h P C C ’s D is ta n c e L e a r n in g d e p a r tm e n t, w hich ad m inisters the program : * asso ciate o f general studies degree; * a sso c ia te o f a rts O reg o n T ransfer D egree; * program aw ard in m an ag e m ent and supervisory d e v e lo p ment; * asso ciate o f ap plied science degree in m anagem ent and su perv iso ry developm ent; * b ach elo r o f science in lib eral studies; * bach elo r o f arts in liberal studies; * b a c h e lo r o f science in m an agem ent; * b a c h e lo r o f arts in o rg an iza tional com m unication; * B o ard o f G o v e rn o rs b a c h e lo r o f a rts d eg ree; * g e n e ra l b u s in e s s d e g re e w ith a m in o r in c o m m u n ic a tions. i i; L « Are our schools being taken over by violence? It has been w idely reported in the press that recently a student at Jefferson High School was found to have hidden a gun in bushes on school property. N orm ally, under these circum stances federal and state law re quire the D istrict to expel the stu dent involved for a period o f one year; how ever, in this case, b e cause the federal special education laws may apply, the disciplinary and expulsion procedures o f those laws may also apply. The length o f any expulsion or exclusion from school under these law s is more lim ited, which may include place ment in an alternative setting for up to 45 days. At the end o f the 45- day period, the placem ent decision is then reexam ined and a final placem ent decision may be made. Because o f the privacy require m ents o f state law in this type o f case, the nam e o f the student and family are confidential and will not be disclosed. An AP w ire released recently today that said the student was ex pelled for one year is incorrect and was based on faulty inform ation provided by the School D istrict to a KXL reporter. . «A • -s • * * • î. M •'¡ f.- ■¿y-’t.-i B« .• » ■ v ■ e ‘ . r •n ; r - ' For more information on Distance Learning programs at PCC, contact John Sneed at 977.4398, or visit the P C C Distance Learning web site at www.distance.pcc.edu. $ Jefferson High School ‘ Bachelor’s Degrees Now Available PCC Distance Learning Mayor Vera Katz I I®