New Straight A's Issue Now Online

The newest version of the Alliance's Straight A's newsletter is now online.

Articles in this issue focus on

• The bill passed by the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee (HELP) to rewrite the No Child Left Behind Act;
• Efforts underway in New York City, Wyoming, and Ohio to reduce the need for remedial courses among college students;
• Hidden costs of community colleges; and
• Dropout rates among students in special education and the economic benefits associated with special education students who graduate from high school.

Links to each of these articles appear below. For a free email subscription to Straight A's, join the Alliance's mailing list.

Afternoon Announcements: October 20, 2011

According to a new report from Pew Charitable Trusts, Philadelphia’s school closing plan probably won't raise much revenue, writes the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The New York Times reports that he Learning Network is celebrating National Day on Writing today by offering a host of ways for parents, teachers, and students to share their writing.

According to a recent report by the American Institutes for Research, students who drop out of community college before their second year have cost taxpayers nearly $1-billion annually, writes the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Education officials in Tennessee are taking flak from teachers and unions for rushing the implementation of a new teacher-evaluation system that will eventually undergird tenure decisions—a move, some worry, that could undermine redesigns of evaluation in other states, writes Education Week.

The Christian Science Monitor asks, “Can new No Child Left Behind law pass before 2012 elections?”

Stats That Stick: July 20, 2011

As many as four out of five community college students in the United States want to transfer to a four-year institution so they can obtain a bachelor’s degree, according to a College Board report. But many transfer students have taken classes that make the advising process complicated.

According to a new U.S. Department of Commerce study, growth in science, technology, engineering, and math fields (STEM) jobs over the past ten years was three times greater than other occupations and STEM workers earned 26 percent more than their non-STEM counterparts.

Countries in which schools frequently hold back or kick out students with low academic performance tend to have weaker, more expensive, and more socially inequitable education systems overall, according to a new analysis by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). While fewer than 3 percent of students in 13 countries—including Japan, Norway, and the United Kingdom—reported ever repeating a grade, more than 25 percent of students repeated at least once in France, Spain, Brazil, and a dozen others studied. The United States reported more than one in ten students repeating a grade, higher than the OECD average, while the top-performing countries, Finland and Korea, do not allow grade retention. (Education Week)

Morning Announcements: June 9, 2011

Yesterday, President Obama visited Northern  Virginia Community College to discuss a $2 billion program aimed at tailoring classes to match the needs of manufacturing companies, according to the New York Times. The effort, supported by the National Association of Manufacturers, aims to train half a million community college students for manufacturing jobs over the next five years, to help offset the retirement of 2.7 million older workers over the next decade or so.

At Henry Ford Early College in Dearborn, Mich., students get a diploma, a degree, and a leg up on a job in the local health industry, Education Week reports.

In his School of Thought blog on TIME Magazine’s site, Andrew Rotherham asks Are These End Times for Charter Schools?

Stats That Stick: June 8, 2011

The nation’s graduation rate has reached its highest point in two decades. The proportion of public high school students earning diplomas for the class of 2008 approached 72 percent, exceeding an earlier peak in 1991. Every racial and ethnic group posted solid gains for the class  of 2008, marking the second straight year of across-the-board improvements. –Diplomas Count 2011

Minority children spend an average of 13 hours a day using mobile devices, computers, TVs and other media — about four and a half hours more than white kids, a study has found.  –Associated Press

The percentage of Hispanic 18- to 24-year-olds who are not enrolled in high school and don't have an equivalent degree was 22 percent in 2008, down from 34 percent in 1998. Meanwhile, the number attending a 2-year college increased 85 percent, from 540,000 in 2000 to 1 million in 2008. -Associated Press

Report Round-Up

Education and the Economy: Boosting the Nation’s Economy by Improving High School Graduation Rates Among Students of Color and Native Students from the Alliance for Excellent Education. This report demonstrate the economic benefits that the nation as a whole would likely see by improving the high school graduation rates of students of color and Native students.

The rise of K-12 blended learning: Profiles of emerging models from the Innosight Institute. This white paper seeks to provide a working definition of blended learning, along with a framework for mapping and defining blended-learning models.

2010 Distance Education Survey Results – Trends in eLearning: Tracking the Impact of eLearning at Community Colleges from the Instructional Technology Council. This survey finds that community colleges reported a 9% increase in their distance education enrollments from 2009 to 2010. The increase was found to be higher than the 8% increase in overall student enrollment at two-year institutions.

Report Round-up

Baseline Analyses of SIG Applications and SIG-Eligible and SIG-Awarded Schools from the American Institutes for Research (AIR). This study finds that states that awarded federal Title I School Improvement Grants (SIG) vary widely in their approach to implementing the grants and in distributing the funds to schools.

Who Wins? Who Pays? The Economic Returns and Costs of a Bachelor’s Degree from the American Institutes for Research (AIR) and Nexus Research and Policy Center (NEXUS). According to his report, taxpayer subsidies that cover the operating costs of most colleges and universities ranges from around $8,000 to more than $100,000 for each bachelor’s degree awarded, with most public institutions averaging more than $60,000 per degree.

Slow Off the Mark: Elementary School Teachers and the Crisis in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Education from the Center for American Progress. This publication urges lawmakers to change current teacher preparation policies so that more elementary teachers are adequately equipped to teach math and science effectively in the classroom.

Stats That Stick: April 13, 2011

The percentage of high school graduates completing a “rigorous” curriculum, with higher-level mathematics and science curricula, jumped from 5 percent in 1990 to 13 percent in 2009. Those who took a “midlevel” curriculum increased from 26 percent to 46 percent in the same period. –National Assessment of Educational Progress

Approximately 3 million children in the United States have a parent in prison. –Restorative Justice blog

The overall annual price tag for incarceration, youth detention, and parole in the United States: nearly $70 billion – of which $50 billion is spent at the state level. –NAACP

A student who can't read on grade level by 3rd grade is four times less likely to graduate by age 19 than a child who does read proficiently by that time. Add poverty to the mix, and a student is 13 times less likely to graduate on time than his or her proficient, wealthier peer.- Annie E. Casey Foundation

Morning Announcements: February 24, 2011

Education Week reports that most of the 17 urban districts that took part in a prominent science exam fell below the national average, with the exception of the school systems in Austin, Texas; Charlotte, N.C.; and Jefferson County, Ky.; where 4th graders scored about the same as their peers across the country. Meanwhile, at the 8th grade level, only students in Austin had an average score that did not fall below the national level; it was not statistically different.

In the Washington Post, President and CEO of the Hispanic Scholarship Fund Frank Alvarez writes about Generation First Degree, a project to help more Latino students earn their family’s first college degree.

The Community College Times explains how rural community colleges are getting creative in raising funds.

The Hechinger Report asks can universities keep the minority students they woo?

Report Round-Up

Community College Estimated Growth: Fall 2010 from the American Association of Community Colleges. This report provides enrollment counts for credit enrollment 2000–2010 and finds that although enrollment has continued to increase, the rate of increase has slowed in comparison to previous years.

Data for Action 2010 from Data Quality Campaign. This report finds that despite progress in recent years, 11 states still cannot link data from schools with information from colleges.

Improving Middle Grades Mathematics Performance from EdSource. This analysis examines the relationship between students' 7th grade math scores on the California Standards Tests (CSTs), their 8th grade mathematics placements, and their subsequent performance on either the Algebra I CST or the General Mathematics CST.