Stats that Stick: February 29, 2012

Estimated number of people in the United States born on Leap Day (February 29th): 205,000.

Every four years is a leap year. Leap years add one extra day to February due to an astronomical fact that the earth’s revolution around the sun equals 365.25 days not 365.00 like the Gregorian calendar follows. The probability of a leap day birthday is 1/1461, therefore, a leap day birthday on February 29 is the least probable of all birthdays. This means that less than 0.07% of the world’s population was born on a leap day.

Number of states that offer online public schools: 30.

The popularity of online public schools is increasing, along with its availability. Full-time public cyber schools are now an option in 30 states, allowing approximately 250,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade to press buttons to raise their hands and message their teachers. However, many questions still remain about the quality of K12 education provided online

 

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Morning Announcements: February 24, 2012

Happy Friday! We bring you the Morning Announcements even earlier so that you can get caught up on all the latest education news before the afternoon lag sets in and you mysteriously disappear from the office. Enjoy!

Education Week is reporting that the U.S. Department of Education has begun switching its focus to the most important part of the No Child Left Behind waiver process: holding states accountable for the promises they’ve made. With 11 states now granted an exemption from some parts of the No Child Left Behind Act and another round of states preparing their waiver applications, the Education Department now stands ready to monitor subgroups.

PBS is highlighting the increase in popularity for online public schools. Full-time public cyber schools are now an option in 30 states, allowing some 250,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade to press buttons to raise their hands and message their teachers. However, many questions still remain about the quality of K12 education provided online and PBS analyzes the issue in one of the states most popular for online learning: Pennsylvania.

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Afternoon Announcements: November 21, 2011

Starting in 2014, the General Education Development (GED) test will make changes with the goal of encouraging adults to continue studying for an associate's or bachelor's degree, reports U.S. News & World Report, which states that the test's five subject areas—writing, social studies, science, reading, and math—will be revised to more closely reflect the set of English and math common core state standards and topics that students are expected to learn. According to the article, New York Times columnist and author Thomas Friedman is quoted in the article saying, "If you do not have a high school degree that allows you to get through college without significant remediation, there is literally nothing for you." The article also cites this finding from an Alliance report: If half of the Class of 2010's 1.3 million high school dropouts had graduated, America would have gained nearly $7.3 billion in annual potential earnings.

While more students from all backgrounds are finishing college, the difference in graduation rates between the top and bottom income groups has widened by nearly 50 percent over two decades, reports CNN.

The Washington Post writes that failure of the congressional supercommittee tasked with reducing the federal deficit by at least $1.2 trillion could lead to across-the-board budget cuts, which would have a serious impact on already-distressed public education funding.

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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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Afternoon Announcements: August 15, 2011

Happy Monday! Here are today’s headlines in education news:

Montana officials seem to have reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Education on student proficiency targets that will allow the state to avoid losing federal funding for its schools, according to the Huffington Post. The dispute had been ongoing for months and arose after Montana’s Superintendent for Public Instruction decided to go against No Child Left Behind, which requires states to regularly increase their testing targets in an effort to reach 100 percent student proficiency in 2014.

The New York Times also reported on Montana’s deal with federal education officials, takinga deeper look into what this incident – in addition to the slew of states requesting NCLB waivers, such as Georgia – means for the future of federal involvement and regulation of public education. Read Entire Post

Afternoon Announcements: July 13, 2011

According to the New York Times, some state education chiefs say that if Congress does not overhaul No Child Left Behind, the main federal law governing public education, by the fall, they may be allowed to propose their own accountability systems as an alternative.

Education leaders, teachers, and their advocates gathered at the American Federation of Teachers national conference this week and expressed deep frustration at the lack of movement to overhaul the vastly unpopular No Child Left Behind education law, reports the Huffington Post.

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Governors Bush and Wise Convene Digital Learning Council

Yesterday, former governors Jeb Bush and Bob Wise launched the Digital Learning Council to identify policies that will integrate current and future technological innovations into public education. The council unites a diverse group of more than 50 leaders from education, government, philanthropy, business, technology, and think tanks to develop the roadmap of reform for local, state and federal lawmakers and policymakers.

“The members of the Digital Learning Council share a sense of extreme urgency about the need to bring digital learning to every school, every classroom and every child,” stated Governor Bob Wise, co-chair of the Digital Learning Council. “We must not squander the opportunity to promote digital innovation to reform our nation’s schools and ensure that all students are prepared to confront the challenges in our economy and society with the tools and skills that digital technology offers.”

During the council’s first phase of work, they will develop a list of best practices that would cover a wide range of issues including online and virtual schools, classroom technology, equity, security and privacy, and digital content. The second phase would be focused on encouraging states to adopt these best practices. The strategy was developed with the Data Quality Campaign in mind and their efforts to encourage states to implement the 10 essential elements of a longitudinal data system.

To see the full list of council participants, read the press release. For more information, check out a recent story on the initiative by Education Week.

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