Afternoon Announcements: July 12, 2012

Today’s afternoon announcements cover college completion, standards-based grading, how the health-care ruling might affect education, and getting dropouts to come back to school. There’s a little something for everyone, unless you’re looking for the latest news on Olympic water polo, in which case we’ve got nothing for you. Away we go.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will announce tomorrow in Williamsburg, Virginia that the United States had about 100,000 more postsecondary graduates in 2010 than in 2009. Census data show that the percentage of adults aged 25 to 34 with a postsecondary degree increased half a percentage point between 2009-2010. This is an extremely slow increase in the number of degrees, to be sure. The Huffington Post has more.

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Afternoon Announcements: June 18, 2012

 Happy Monday! In response to your question, yes, we are in the business of leading off blog posts oxymoronically. We hope you’ve had a wonderful weekend and are all set for a busy week of education news. Before we get into the announcements, you should know that the Alliance is hosting a briefing on Early Warning Indicator Systems with the Association for Middle Level Education, the National Association of Secondary School Principals, and the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform, along with Honorary Cohosts Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (RI) and Representative  Raúl Grijalva (AZ-7). More information about that event can be found here. If you can’t make it to the briefing, we’ll have a video of it a few days later! Alright, off to our announcements for the day!

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Stats That Stick: November 2, 2011

Here are this week's Stats That Stick courtesy of our policy intern, Bill DeBaun:

Percentage of eighth graders reading below the basic level on the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as the Nation’s Report Card: 24%

Number of points, on average, that fourth and eighth graders improved in math on the 2011 NAEP over the 2009 NAEP: 1
The Washington Times reports on yesterday’s release of the 2011 NAEP results. The 1-point increase in 2011’s results over 2009 is modest but also represents a 20-point increase since 1990, when math was first administered on the “Nation’s Report Card.” Forty percent of fourth graders and 35 percent of eight graders reached proficiency in math in 2011.

Difference between the nation’s fourth-grade NAEP reading scores in 2009 and 2011: 0 points
The same article from Washington Times highlights that reading scores for fourth graders were unchanged from two years ago. Eighth graders improved by 1 point in 2011 over 2009. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan noted, "The modest increases in NAEP scores are reason for concern as much as optimism. It's clear that achievement is not accelerating fast enough for our nation's children to compete in the knowledge economy of the 21st century."

 

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Stats That Stick: October 6, 2011

African-American male students in middle school who have been suspended: 28 percent

Black and Hispanic students are far more likely to be kicked out of school when they break the rules, including some that often have nothing to do with keeping students safe, according to a new report from a civil rights research and advocacy group. Education Week reported school discipline records are too often seen as a measure of how safe a school is and not often enough as a gauge of how healthy a school is academically. Analyzing 2006 data from the U.S. Department of Education’s office for civil rights, Mr. Losen found that more than 28 percent of African-American middle school boys had been suspended at least once, compared with 10 percent of white males nationwide. For girls, it was 18 percent of black students, compared with 4 percent of white students. Read Entire Post

Morning Announcements: October 3, 2011

Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced the department’s proposed reforms to improve teacher preparation programs and better prepare educators for classroom success, according to Ed.gov. “America’s teachers and America’s children deserve world-class preparation programs that prepare teachers for today’s classrooms and students for today’s information age,” he said.

According to US News & World Report, most high school districts offer some sort of dropout prevention program. A new report released last week by the National Center for Education Statistics shows a majority of high schools (approximately 8 in 10) offer services such as tutoring and remediation classes for students who have fallen behind, but less than half of school districts offer an after-school program for high school students at risk of not graduating.

The New York Times report if no deal is reached by Friday, 716 of New York City’s lowest-paid workers — school aides, parent coordinators and other members of school support staffs — will lose their jobs, the latest victims of budget cuts to the public schools. Nearly 350 schools will be affected, in a scattered pattern, according to a list of layoffs by school, which was obtained and analyzed by The New York Times. The newspaper found the poorest and most struggling schools will be hit the hardest.

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Morning Announcements: August 25, 2011

Here are your Thursday morning announcements!

A judge ruled yesterday that the New York State Board of Regents erred in its interpretation of a new law on teacher evaluations. The state teachers’ union sued the board in June arguing that the Regents made last minute changes that increased the role of student test scores in teacher evaluations beyond what a 2010 law permitted. Justice Michael C. Lynch of State Supreme Court in Albany sided with the union, but the board plans to appeal, according to the New York Times.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan held his first-ever Twitter Town Hall yesterday, answering questions submitted by people via the social-networking site. Duncan discussed waivers to No Child Left Behind, how much testing is too much, and the country’s dropout rate. Check out Education Week’s summary of the key highlights from the Q&A session.

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Afternoon Announcements: July 18, 2011

Good afternoon! Education news was aplenty this weekend and this morning, so let’s get to it.

Today, President Obama hosts a meeting at the White House with CEOs to try to raise some cash for K-12 education, reports Education Week.

U.S. News & World Report writes that in a country where white students vastly outperform black and Hispanic students on national standardized tests, one education innovator says the performance gap can be eliminated on a school-by-school basis by having honest discussions with teachers about race.

USA Today reports that jobs in science, technology, engineering, and math fields pay an average 26 percent more than other occupations and grew three times faster the past decade, according to a Commerce Department study to be released Thursday.

Easing test pressure won’t save kids, says Jay Mathew’s of the Washington Post.

 

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Morning Announcements: June 21, 2010

A new University of Chicago report finds that people who receive GEDs fare little better economically than high school dropouts when factors such as their greater academic abilities are taken into consideration

According to a survey of 2,000 of last year’s college graduates, 80 percent moved back home after getting their diplomas.

The Detroit News editorial board is against recent legislation that would allow Michigan community colleges to grant four-year degrees in select high-need job areas.

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