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Star student gets F for attitude Garfield disciplines senior for shirking standardized exam By Stephanie Warsmith Beacon Journal staff writer The nearly straight-A student would rather have been in class. Instead, Jake Bogdanovich was taking a test with no bearing on his grades or ability to get into college. ``I didn't want to be there,'' he said. ``I didn't want to take the test.'' So, the Garfield High School senior did something rare for him: rebel. On the familiar bubble answer sheet, he made a tic-tac-toe pattern. He drew characters from the television show South Park in the short-answer section....

Students who came away from last week's Regents Math A exam convinced it was a snap may well have been ahead of the curve. Scoring scales issued Wednesday by the state will produce passing rates of 85 to 90 percent statewide, educators familiar with the exam say. In contrast, only 40 percent of teens passed math exams last spring when more stringent scoring standards were used -- a debacle that touched off widespread protests by teachers and parents. Local reactions to the latest scoring system vary sharply, with some school administrators and teachers convinced it is fairer to students and...

<p>YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Matthew Benton, a self-possessed sixth-grader with an "A" average and an I.Q. of 132, is likely to pass the Ohio Proficiency Tests next month with ease.</p> <p>But his prowess on the tests, which are used to assess schools' performance, won't help Bennett Elementary, where Matthew is in a citywide program for academically gifted students.</p>

Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) essay question from 1988: "Community Hospital, serving a population of 150,00 people, has received a large federal grant to improve its facilites. Write an argument supporting one of the following proposals for use of those funds. Two considerations guide your decision: 1. Funding is only adequate to institute one of the programs under consideration and future funding cannot be anticipated. 2. Community Hositpal is committed to meeting the needs of the community it serves. Specifically, the community has a large population of people in retirement and has numerous, haszardous industrial plants. One proposal calls for...

Md. (AP) - The 21-year-old son of former Vice President Al Gore must complete substance abuse counseling as part of a pretrial diversion program to settle a marijuana possession charge. The agreement approved by a judge Monday calls for the misdemeanor charge to be dropped after a year if Albert Gore III submits to urine testing, community service and counseling, and steers clear of criminal convictions. The younger Gore, who attends Harvard University, had no comment after the brief hearing. He was accompanied by his mother, Tipper Gore, who did not comment other than saying the issue was a ``private...

FORT HUACHUCA - A new high-technology life began for this Southeastern Arizona Army post when the Electronic Proving Ground came here and re-activated the fort on Feb. 1, 1954. A half-century later, much of the post's missions are in the Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance, the military's C4ISR arena. EPG is still the major leader in the testing and developing of critical systems for the Army and all of the nation's armed services. Col. Jerome Payne sits at the EPG's helm. And he is the only soldier now with the organization, that includes 130 civil service employees...

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has decided to test several indigenous missiles in a bid to restore the strategic balance upset by India when it test fired its missiles last month, Online news agency reports. The testing will begin in late March and continue till early April, defence officials said.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Following up on plans outlined in President Bush's annual address to the American people, a Pennsylvania lawmaker formally introduced a new program Wednesday encouraging public schools to test students for drug use. The $23 million testing plan, targeted at grades 8-12, would not be mandatory, but parents who do not want their children to participate would have to opt out. It is sure to draw critics who argue the pilot program will invade student privacy. But Rep. John Peterson, R-Pa., said efforts to get youngsters off drugs far outweigh any concerns over their privacy. ''This is about...

This article pertains to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg (NC) public schools, but it is applicable to many other public school systems. A great deal of attention is being given to "the gap," but less to overall achievement. I wonder why... A coalition of activists gathered at the Marshall Park statue of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Thursday and urged Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools to close longstanding test-score gaps between minority and white students. The recent release of CMS's first-ever results on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, often known as the nation's report card, highlighted that gap: White students were three to five times...

<p>Washington -- The Bush administration has decided to revamp the civics test that hundreds of thousands of prospective citizens each year must pass to become Americans, and is developing a new exam, officials said Thursday.</p> <p>President Bush alluded to the effort in his speech last week on immigration reform, and this week the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services convened a two-day conference of more than 100 immigrant advocates and academics at a hotel here to discuss the principles for change and its implications.</p>

Test for U.S. Citizenship Faces Overhaul The White House wants the exam to reflect what it means to be an American. But immigrant advocates fear new barriers. By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Times Staff Writer WASHINGTON — The Bush administration has decided to revamp the civics test that hundreds of thousands of prospective citizens each year must pass to become Americans, and is developing a new exam, officials said Thursday. President Bush alluded to the effort in his speech last week on immigration reform, and this week the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services convened a two-day conference of more than 100 immigrant...

<p>The nation's terror alert level was raised to orange in the weeks leading up to the holiday season because of threats that Al Qaeda (search) was possibly looking to use explosives on Air France flights, Fox News has confirmed.</p> <p>For the first time since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, a U.S. intelligence source was able to give officials such specific information about how Usama bin Laden's (search) terror group may be planning imminent attacks in the United States using commercial airliners, U.S. officials confirmed to Fox News. The source provided strategic and tactical details of how the terror network wanted to carry out terror attacks on American political and economic targets.</p>

ALBANY — New York's drive to have all students pass five challenging exams before leaving high school is at a critical moment. Flawed tests have fueled an anti-testing movement. Education leaders backpedaled on imposing higher passing scores. And concern has continued to grow around one troublesome figure — the graduation rate.Some studies have shown the rate has declined in recent years. Others have said the rate is overestimated, and states have not been given clear guidelines on how to calculate it. Most important, the much-debated figure is worrying state officials trying to follow new federal regulations that require every student...

The nation's first case of mad cow disease has led to urgent calls for more and better tests to screen animals at the slaughterhouse door. But the universe of testing for this elusive disease is murky. The extent and nature of testing varies from country to country. The tests are not foolproof, and there are many to choose from in a heated international competition. The leading test manufacturers are Bio-Rad based in France, Prionics AG in Switzerland and U.S. Abbott Laboratories, which recently acquired rights to a test developed in Ireland. But in addition, at least 54 other companies are...

Maryland students scored poorly on the new high school competency examinations again last year, and officials said they expect no improvement until passing the tests is required for graduation.About half of 65,000 students failed the 2003 algebra and biology tests, about the same rate as 2002. Four in 10 failed government, and six in 10 failed English, including a large majority of poor and minority students and those with disabilities. The results were posted without notice on the state Education Department's Web site Christmas week, just as students and teachers were headed home for the holidays. But Gary Heath, the...

<p>Worcester school officials placed a principal and teacher on paid administrative leave amid the first state investigation into a case of schoolwide cheating on the MCAS exam. Test scores at the elementary school where the two longtime educators worked increased dramatically in 2003 after previous poor performances.</p>

County students compete for spots at regional contest North Elementray fifth-grader Stephanie Hao (top) concentrates on a written math test during Elementary Math Field Day Wednesday morning in the WVU Mountainlair ballrooms. Hao placed third out of 20 fifth-graders and will compete in the regional Math Field Day competition in Bridgeport on March 6, 2004. Suncrest Middle sixth-grade teacher Sarah Corder (above, left) answers a question for Alliance Christian Schools sixth-grader Zach Evans during Elementary Math Field Day Wednesday morning. Ron Rittenhouse/The Dominion Post Photos BY JENNIFER SCOTT-HEASLIP The Dominion Post Nearly 200 students had a field day with numbers...

CLEARWATER, Fla. - (KRT) - Terri Schiavo has little chance of recovering, and if future medical tests don't show otherwise, she should be allowed to die, her court-appointed guardian recommended in his report to Gov. Jeb Bush. Jay Wolfson, a University of South Florida professor and lawyer, reached that conclusion after spending much of the past month with the severely brain-damaged woman. He also reviewed 30,000 pages of court and medical records from the long legal battle between her husband and her parents in what has become an international debate over right-to-die issues. But after reading the report released Tuesday,...

At an October meeting of the Arizona School Board Association, Graham County Schools Superintendent Phyllis Bryce called for testing homeschoolers every two years. According to the Eastern Arizona Courier, "a rumble of assent rose from the crowd of ASBA members" when Superintendent Bryce said, "We feel like there should be some accountability" for homeschoolers. While no specific legislative proposals have yet appeared, Arizona homeschoolers should be prepared for possible challenges when the legislature convenes in January.

NEW YORK (AP) -- The test results are in, and they confirmed what many in baseball suspected: Some players were taking more than vitamins. Now, Major League Baseball will begin penalizing players for steroid use after learning that more than 5 percent of this year's tests came back positive. Rumors regarding steroids had run high recently as bulked-up sluggers set all sorts of home run records. Stars such as Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa denied taking the drugs. But former MVPs Jose Canseco and Ken Caminiti admitted they had done it before their careers ended. ``Hopefully, this will, over time,...