Stats That Stick: June 20, 2012

Time for your weekly dose of Stats That Stick! Here are some of the articles and their statistics that stuck in our minds this week.

Percent of 12^th grade students who were able to explain results and draw conclusions from data collected from experiments during NAEP 2009: 11%.
According to a report released Tuesday by the National Center for Education Statistics, American students had a lot of trouble coming to conclusions and explaining results of science experiments during the science portion of the National Assessment for Educational Progress 2009. This indicates that many American students may be lacking the deeper learning skills that they will need to succeed in college and a career. For more information about deeper learning skills, check out the Alliance’s report “A Time for Deeper Learning: Preparing Students for a Changing World.”

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Afternoon Announcements: June 20, 2012

It's Wednesday, and it is very hot here in Washington, D.C. Why not cool down and read some of today's education news?

In an effort to get the presidential candidates to focus more on reforming education, the College Board yesterday set up 857 desks on the National Mall to represent the number of students who drop out each hour of every school day. The news on the "Don't Forget Ed!" Campaign comes from the Associated Press.

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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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Afternoon Announcements: November 2, 2011

The New York Times reports on the recent test results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress: Elementary and middle school students have improved greatly in math, but their reading skills have stagnated over the last two decades.

In an Politico op-ed, Governor Terry Branstad (R-IA) and former Governor Jim Hunt (D-NC) push ahead with implementation of the common core state standards, despite what is happening in Washington, DC.

According to NPR, the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think thank in Washington, DC, is causing waves with a study  it released today that find teachers are overcompensated, compared to “similarly educated and experienced private-sector workers.”

Idaho would become the first state to require students to take at least two credits online under a plan headed to education officials for final approval, writes the Idaho Statesman.

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Morning Announcements: November 1, 2011

Grab a few pieces of leftover Halloween candy and settle in for the latest education news.

According to U.S. News & World Report, the latest test scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) released this morning show that American fourth and eighth graders took a small step forward in math achievement but stayed relatively stagnant in reading scores between 2009 and 2011.

Riverside, California’s Press-Enterprise reports on the continued battle to increase graduation and college-going rates saying, “A generation ago, a high school degree was enough to land a decent-paying job at the local steel mill or aerospace plant and gain entry to the middle class. In the years since, the job market has evolved into one that requires more brain power and less muscle. In the San Bernardino-Riverside-Ontario area, dropouts in 2010 totaled some 27,700 students, who, as underemployed workers, cost the region billions of dollars in lost purchases, investments and state and local tax revenues, according to the Alliance for Excellent Education.” The P-E’s staff artist put together this nifty graphic using Alliance data to show the economic benefits of improving high school graduation rates.

According to the Albuquerque Journal, educators on Monday cautioned Gov. Susana Martinez’s administration against rushing the implementation of a new law requiring the state to assign grades to rate the performance of public schools. Teachers, superintendents and others raised questions about the grading system at a hearing by the Public Education Department on proposed rules for evaluating schools.

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September 6 Issue of Straight A's Is Available

The September 6, 2011 issue of Straight A's, the Alliance's biweekly newsletter, is now available. This week's issue focuses on the Alliance's new Center For Secondary School Digital Learning and Policy, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's testimony before a senate appropriations subcommittee, two new Alliance reports on deeper learning and digital learning, and more.

Individual articles from this week's issue are listed below, or you can download a .pdf of the entire newsletter here.

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Afternoon Announcements: August 1, 2011

Education Week reports that the debt ceiling fix could mean problems for schools, citing Rep. George Miller, the top Democrat on the House education committee, who warned that the reductions contained in the debt ceiling legislation are “going to make life much more difficult" for public schools.

The Los Angeles Times reports that after a particularly brutal budgeting season this summer, states and school districts across the country have fired thousands of teachers, raised college tuition, relaxed standards, slashed days off the academic calendar and gutted pre-kindergarten and summer school programs.

The Save Our Schools march on Saturday called for teacher-backed reform, reports the Huffington Post. And the Washington Post shares Matt Damon’s speech during the rally. In his opening remarks, he says, “I landed in New York a few hours ago and caught a flight down here because I needed to tell you all in person that I think you’re awesome.”

The Atlantic reports that according to Missouri Senate Bill 54, just signed by state Governor Jay Nixon, any social networking is prohibited between teachers and students; this includes not only Facebook, but any social network “that is exclusive and allows for private communication,” according to ABC News.

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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)

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Morning Announcements: July 20, 2011

The New York Times writes about a new framework for improving American science education that calls for paring the curriculum in order to focus on core ideas and teaching students more about how to approach and solve problems, rather than just memorizing factual nuggets.

Yesterday, the Common Education Data Standards Initiative released its first draft of the second stage of its core data definitions, which is intended to get state data systems talking the same language, as reported by Education Week.

A new study Chicago study finds that when given the authority, principals make dismissal decisions that put a premium on teacher effectiveness and student achievement, reports Education Next.

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Afternoon Announcements: July 19, 2011

According to the Wall Street Journal, officials who are frustrated with No Child Left Behind try to substitute their own plans.

Raising new questions about the effectiveness of school discipline, a new report finds that 31 percent of Texas students were suspended off campus or expelled at least once during their years in middle and high school, reports the New York Times.

Obama pushes businesses to invest $118 million in education, writes USA Today.

Education Week reports that the National Center for Education Statistics, which administers the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), released results today for the 2010 NAEP geography test, finding that fourth graders scored on average 213 out of a possible 500, an “all-time high” since the test started in 1994, but the rising scores have not translated to more students moving from “basic” to “proficient” performance on the test, and the percentage of students achieving at the “advanced” level has gone down in every grade.

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