I’ve got three stories to link to today:

- My page-one story on the growth of Chinese classes in high schools:

You could write a fair history of late 20th-century America just by tracking the languages high school students learned in school.

At the height of the Cold War, Russian was hot, spasibo very much.

Japanese boomed in the late 1980s, when it seemed the rising sun would eclipse America’s economy. And by the morning of Sept. 12, 2001, Arabic was getting more attention than ever.

But say “ni hao” – “hello,” that is – to the newest language to push its way to the forefront: Chinese.

- My metro-cover story on missing test documents:

More than 20,000 copies of state tests – supposedly kept under lock and key – disappeared from Texas schools this spring, according to state data. Dallas schools lost more than 7,000 test documents, more than any other district in the state.

State officials say they are reconsidering their testing security policies after some experts said having Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, or TAKS, questions floating around the state could put the integrity of the testing system at risk.

“We probably need to look at some ways to strengthen our security,” said Susan Barnes, associate commissioner of standards and programs at the Texas Education Agency.

- The Miami Herald ran my Jonathan Kozol review in their Sunday book section.

08 November 2005

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