European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 10, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 4 the stars and stripes wednesday May 10,1989 sex Bias again claimed in scholarship test new York a nearly two thirds of this year s National Merit scholarship Sci finalists Are boys according to a report tuesday that blamed sex Bias in the standardized test the awards arc based in. An estimated 62.9 percent of the semifinalists in1989 arc male according to the third annual Analy Sis of the National awards program conducted Tyfair test a Cambridge  research group that has frequently criticized standardized testing. Thirty one percent of this year s semifinalists Are girls according to the state by i ate analysis of first names. The genders of the remaining 6 percent could t be determined from their names. The group reached similar findings in two pre Vious surveys. In 1987-88, it found 60.1 percent of Merit scholars were boys and in 1986-87, 61 per cent were boys. In All there arc 15,000 High school students who arc semifinalists in the Competition for about 6,000 National Merit scholarships. Fair test has argued that the National Merit scholarship corp., based in Evanston iii., unfairly distributes its awards because it relics solely on the results of the preliminary Scholastic aptitude test to determine semifinalists. The past is a multiple Choice test similar to the Scholastic aptitude test which critics accuse of sex Bias. Marianne Roderick the corporation s executive vice president disputed the Bias charge in a Tele phone interview of course we would t use a test that s biased. We have been assured by the College Board and the educational testing service that the test is not  the College Board sponsors the past taken annually by More than i million students mostly High school juniors and the sat taken by about 1.5million students a year. The educational testing service administers both exams. Test critics claimed a key court Victory in february when a Federal judge ruled that new York state scholarship programs discriminated against women because they relied exclusively on sat scores. There s no excuse for National Merit s continued Reliance on a biased test when a Federal court has ruled that using similar exams to select scholarship winners constitutes sex discrimination said cinthia Schuman fair test s executive director. The ets and College Board have repeatedly argued that the court decision did not Brand the sat As biased but merely ruled that the test should note taken As the sole criterion for making state scholarship decisions. Roderick said that while the past is used to determine semifinalists actual scholarship winners must produce an array of information about their academic record leadership potential and other personal qualities. In 34 years we have never based our scholarship decisions solely on a test she said. She said it was too soon to confirm fairest figures for 1989, since scholarship winners won t be announced until later this month. In 1988, she said,62 percent of All Merit scholars were men. However in the achievement program aimed at awarding 700 Merit scholarships to Black Stu dents women outnumbered male winners by 58percent to 42 percent Roderick said. That Competition requires information about High school coursework leadership qualities and other criteria. The non profit corporation distributes some $24million in Merit scholarships a year with individual awards ranging from $500 to $8,000. Some 6,000high-achieving students win the scholarships annually. The dispute Over whether standardized tests like the sat and past arc biased against female Stu dents has heated up lately. Following the new York stale court Victory bythe american civil liberties Union a report last month by the Center for women policy studies identified 23 test questions used in a 1987 sat exam in which one sex outperformed the other by a least 10 percent. In All but two of those questions boys bested girls. The College Board denies the charge of test Bias and argues instead that women arc less Likely than men to take College prep courses in High school. 2 revues dominate nominations in weak Tony Field new York a two revues Jerome Rob bins Broadway and Black and Blue dominated the 1989 Tony nominations after a theater season so weak that the musical categories for Best Book and score were  show received 10 nominations monday including Best musical. They will compete against Star Miles a campy space age musical that got six  1988-89 Broadway season was the poorest in Quantity and Quality for musicals in several  seven new musicals opened compared with 14 a year ago. Several shows particularly Carrie and legs Diamond were spectacular flops. The decision by the nominating committee to eliminate the two categories was unusual but not  1985, nominations for Best actor and actress in a musical and for choreography were  and Blue and Jerome Robbins Broad Way use old songs and have no Book. Lend me a Tenor a farce by Ken Ludwig about an indisposed opera Star and the a Cobbish who re places him garnered seven nominations including est play. Its Competition for Best play includes wend Wasserstein s the Heidi chronicles Winner of the 1989 pulitzer prize Shirley Valentine will Russell s comedy about an unfulfilled English housewife and largely new York Bill Irwin splay without dialogue that picked up four other  also was nominated for Best acting in the play for direction and for choreography which redid with Kim Okada. Other nominations for Best actor went to dance superstar Mikhail Baryshnikov for his portrayal of a Man who turns into a dung Beetle in metamorphosis and to Philip Bosco and Victor Garber for lend me a  ,111. The Trio who announced the Tony awards from left Leslie Uggams John Rubens twin and Chita Rivera. Jerome Robbins Broadway picked up multiple nominations in two categories. Jason Alexander and Robert la Fosse were nominated for Best actor in a musical and Jane Lanier Faith Prince and Debbie Shapiro were chosen in the category for featured actress in a musical. Besides Robbins nod for Best director of a musical the show which features numbers from some of his greatest works also got nominations for Charlotted Amboise actress in a musical Scott Wise featured actor in a musical and Jennifer Tipton lighting de sign. Black and Blue a tap dancing and blues revue received nominations for its stars Ruth Brown and Linda Hopkins actress in a musical for two of it featured performers Bunny Briggs and Savion Glover its lighting design Neil Peter Jampolis and Jane Reisman and its choreography by Cholly at Kins Henry Actang Frankic Manning and Fayard Nicholas. The producers of Black and Blue Claudio Segovia and Hector Orezzoli were nominated for two other awards lighting and direction of a musical. The nominees for Best actress in a play were Jonallen the Heidi chronicles Pauline Collins Shirley Valentine Madeline Kahn born yester Day and Kate Nelligan spoils of  Irwin s Competition for Best director of a play includes Gregory Mosher. Our town Daniel sul Livan the Heidi chronicles and Jerry Zaks lend me a  Best revival nominations went to a Wilder Ness Ain t mis Chavin cafe Crown and our  a special Tony award will be Given to the Hart Ford stage company which was picked by the american theater critics association for the ton for outstanding regional theater. Winners will be announced june 4 during a Cere Mony broadcast on lbs to from the Gershwin theater. Maryland begins countdown to . Head count by the Baltimore Sun Chestertown my. With Parade and a Pun Maryland gov. Wil Liam Donald Schaefer on monday launched the slate s and the nation s Campaign to push for a full population count in the 1990 . Cen sus. Billing Maryland As the first state to come to our census Schaefer said that each Marylander overlooked inthe National head count costs the state $1,500 a year in lost Federal funds. He vowed to Overlook no one in next year s census. At stake nationwide in the april i,1990, head count is $38.7 billion in Federal Grant funds that arc allocate Don the basis of census data according to the . Census Bureau. Maryland officials contend that Testate s population was under counted by 70,000 to 80,000 in the 1980 Cen sus resulting in the loss of an Esti mated $100 million in Federal funds each year according to state planners. The Chestertown Parade the first fits kind to promote the 1990 head count served As the National census Kickoff. This town of 3,300 was chosen forthe extravaganza because in 1790, when the first . Census was taken Chestertown was the nation s Popula Tion Center. The Center which has moved steadily West was Dusolo mo.,in 1980the year of the last census. Schwac for even provided some of the crowd for monday s unabashed Media  several busloads of state employees were brought in from Annapolis and Baltimore to join Ches Terlow residents and a Phalanx of senior citizens groups along the Parade route. Robert Douglas the governor spress Secretary said he had no apol Ogies at All that state workers were i effect being paid to attend a Parade. Slate employees who attended would become census activists Over the 11 months leading up to head count Day he said and their depart ments would enjoy the increased Feder Al funds that a Complete count would bring the state. Douglas said the event achieved it main objective of bringing the census to the Public s attention. He said us today had touted the Parade and a video of the event was transmitted by satellite to television stations across the country. C. Louis Kincannon Deputy director of the . Census Bureau recited a three part census Litany that Ameri cans will hear much about it is important to be counted it is easy to fill out the necessary forms and it is Safe to participate because individual census data is confidential by Law