Unless schoolteachers are respected as professionals, the drive to improve education will stall, according to educators speaking at the first national meeting of the Holmes Group, an organization of research universities dedicated to reforming teacher education. Regional priorities, goals, liberal-arts graduates as instructors, and Black teachers…

Public-health specialists say colleges and universities could play a crucial role in halting the spread of AIDS by educating all their students about the disease and how to avoid becoming infected with the virus that causes it. Reaching minority groups and drug users, and "safe sex" kits are discussed. (MLW)

Small-business leaders have persuaded many lawmakers that nonprofit organizations--particularly colleges and universities--have used their tax-exempt status and government support to gain an unfair advantage over privately owned businesses. Computer-store owners, private chemical-laboratory owners, and travel agents say colleges should not receive…

A national survey by the National Association of State Scholarship and Grant Programs found that state spending on grants and scholarships for needy undergraduates is expected to rise 13 percent. State budgets, money for graduate students, and new programs planned are discussed. (MLW)

Tables showing the estimated student aid for 1986-87 in each state in undergraduate, and graduate and professional categories, and by need-based and non-need-based assistance are presented. (MLW)

Alarmed by the decline in the number of minorities graduating from high schools and colleges, representatives of 28 liberal arts institutions met at Swarthmore College in February 1987 to consider strategies to increase minority-group applicant pools and to improve retention rates. A consortium with 300 high schools nationwide was proposed. (MLW)

Private foundations in the United States are being asked to play a more vital role in training and encouraging new leaders. Universities are no longer seen as "the place for the training of leadership and public service in a free society." Identification of leaders is the core of successful grant-making. (MLW)

Michigan State University's Center for Urban Affairs is contributing their expertise, research skills, and volunteer time to help Benton Harbor revitalize. Faculty members and students have already completed studies on street repairs, the homeless, and hotel development. (MLW)

Dwindling education budgets threaten a drive by Alaska natives to obtain secondary and higher education. There are calls for expansion of rural educational services to provide greater access to Western education. Learn Alaska Network, a state-wide audio-conference and instructional-television system is described. (MLW)

Concern about the quality of public colleges and universities and the effectiveness of mechanisms for governing and financing them have led states to launch reviews of their higher education systems. The experiences of four states (Arkansas, Kentucky, Michigan, and Minnesota) are described. (MLW)

Tables outlining the voluntary financial support for higher education, are presented, including purposes of support, sources of support, forms of giving, support through the annual fund, gifts of property, and corporations matching gifts. Both public and private institutions are examined. (MLW)

National Faculty Exchange, and organization that helps faculty members "get away" by teaching at another college, is described. The organization was established by a small group of colleges and universities that were looking for ways to renew their faculty. (MLW)

The text of the American Council on Education's draft of proposed guidelines for drug testing of college athletes is provided. The purpose of programs for testing intercollegiate athletes for use of drugs, it is suggested, should be to prevent use of performance-enhancing drugs that undermine the integrity of athletic competition. (MLW) PUBTYPE-055

Admissions officers are convinced that the Scholastic Aptitude Test offers at least a better clue than high school grades alone as to how well prospective students are likely to perform in their first year of college. Bias is seen as only one of many explanations for score differences among groups. (MLW)

Faculty members are writing computer programs that could change the ways professors teach and students learn. Five examples of software are described including those for presenting mathematical concepts in architecture, staging a scene of a play, and an introductory course in plasma physics. (MLW)