Word: carr
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...John le Carré could scarcely have plotted it better...
This month Florida Federal District Judge George Carr ordered that a diploma be awarded to Gary, and to others among the 3,445 blacks and 1,342 whites who flunked the literacy test after three tries but were otherwise eligible for graduation. In the first federal court ruling on the new wave of minimal competency graduation requirements, which have been adopted in various forms by 17 states, Judge Carr upheld the graduation requirements in general, but ruled that the Florida program was imposed too hastily. Florida's mandatory literacy test was announced in 1977, while this year...
...first, 77% of blacks failed the literacy test, compared with 24% of whites; after remedial instruction and two more tries, 20% of blacks and 2% of whites still had not passed. "The vestiges of the inferior elementary education [blacks] received still are present and affect their performance," said Carr...
...Carr's decision strengthens competency testing in most states, but it also warns that too hasty an imposition of these graduation requirements can discriminate against past victims of segregation. North Carolina gave students three years' notice when its 1980 target date for competency testing was announced in 1977, a schedule almost as short as Florida's. However, North Carolina officials, who will allow students at least five tries at an acceptable score, say that a greater percentage of pupils, black and white, have already passed the state tests...
Eventually, competency testing may improve the lot of the nation's slow learners. For the present, Judge Carr's postponement comes as a great relief to students like Gary Berrien, caught in an awkward transitional period. In Tampa, after the decision was announced, Ezell Berrien, who testified in the case, said: "We're very happy about the ruling. I'm not against testing. I just think it should be done fairly...