Stats That Stick: September 6, 2012

Take a moment. Imagine it’s winter. You’re outside walking. It’s snowing. You come across a lamp post and contemplate whether the old stories about tongues sticking to icy cold lamp posts are true. Three to four minutes pass. You shrug and walk off while concluding, “It couldn’t possibly be stickier than these statistics from High School Soup.” You’re right.

Number of changes proposed to New Jersey’s public schools by a recent task force: 474.

The Star-Ledger reports that the Education Transformation Task Force convened by Governor Chris Christie has presented a 239 page report to the state Board of Education. The report has been “billed as a way to improve student achievement by freeing schools from rules that restrict innovation and, in some cases, duplicate other regulations.”

Stats That Stick: August 29, 2012

These are stats. They stick. This post is aptly named, no?

Number of California community college students on a waiting list at the beginning of the fall semester: 470,000. 
The Los Angeles Times reports, “More than 470,000 community college students are beginning the fall semester on waiting lists, unable to get into the courses they need, according to a survey of California's two-year colleges that captures a system struggling amid severe budget cuts. The survey, to be released Wednesday, quantified the myriad problems affecting the system, many of which have been anecdotally reported by students on many campuses. The colleges expect steep declines in enrollment and class offerings compared with last fall.”

Stats That Stick: August 23, 2012

Here’s a brief list of things that are sticky: chewed gum, honey, super glue, molasses, duct tape, and the following statistics. Enjoy!

Percentage of jobs lost by the least-educated in America from late 2007 to early 2012: 10 percent.
A new study from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce finds that “even during the recession, as millions of jobs vanished, the number of people with bachelor’s degrees who had jobs did not decline. And even as employment rose during the recovery, people who did not go to college continued to lose ground, shedding 200,000 jobs from early 2010 to early 2012.” The New York Times has more on this.

Percent of “very familiar” with No Child Left Behind who say the law worsened American education: 48.
The Huffington Post reports that, “More Americans think No Child Left Behind has made education in the U.S. worse rather than better, according to results from a Gallup poll released Monday. Of those surveyed, 29 percent believe the Bush-era education law has worsened education in America, compared with just 16 percent who said it has improved the system. Another 38 percent said NCLB hasn't made much of a difference, while 17 percent are not familiar enough with the policy to rate its effectiveness.”

Stats That Stick: August 2, 2012

There’s some kind of pun about “sticking the landing” and Stats That Stick that should probably be made, but we’re too mesmerized by medal counts to get the 10.0 on that joke today. Please, take these Stats That Stick as a consolation medal.

Percentage of American colleges and universities “at risk of slipping into an unsustainable condition”: 28.

A report from Bain and Company and Sterling Partners says that American institutions of higher education are facing serious fiscal difficulties. According to the report, unless current trends change, our higher education system will be unable to “meet the diverse needs of the U.S. student population in 20 years.” The Huffington Post has more.

Stats That Stick: July 18, 2012

The Stats! They stick! Go ahead, try to unstick them. We dare you. See? Impossible, right? Here is what has latched onto us this week.

Number of times more likely a white student is to enroll in a highly selective college than a black student: 5.

The Huffington Post reports on a new Stanford University Center for Education Policy Analysis study on race, income, and enrollment patterns at America’s highest-tier universities. The study found that “as recently as 2004, white students were five times as likely as black students to enroll in a highly selective college, and two to three times as likely to gain admission -- even after accounting for income differences between black and white families. White students were also three times as likely as Hispanic students to enroll in a selective college.

Stats That Stick: July 11, 2012

Here at High School Soup, we’re fans of the stickiest stats. Those pieces of data you just cannot get out of your brain. Here are three from the past week we’re still thinking about.

Percentage of new jobs created in the past year that workers over 55 have taken: 58%.
Dean Baker, codirector of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, offered this statistic to The Huffington Post to illustrate the fact that younger workers are having trouble finding gainful employment even as jobs are being added to the economy. Men are also picking up new jobs more frequently than women are.

Stats That Stick: July 5, 2012

It’s your weekly favor! Stats That Stick! Just like “Call Me Maybe,” we just can’t seem to get these out of our heads this week. Have any stats that you’ve seen and just can’t get unstuck? Leave them for us in the comments.

Percent of registered voters who said they know nothing about the Common Core State Standards: 60%.
A recent poll conducted by the education nonprofit Achieve found that public awareness of the Common Core State Standards, which will affect 42 million K-12 students and 2.7 million teachers, is severely lacking. U.S. News and World Report has the story.

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.”

Stats That Stick: June 13, 2012

Time for those Stats That Stick! Here are a few of the statistics we’ve seen in the past week that deserve your attention!

High school graduation rate of the class of 2009: 73 percent.

U.S. News and World Report examines Education Week’s  “Diplomas Count2012,” which was released last week. This edition of the annual report focuses on the achievement of Latino students. From 2008 to 2009, Latino graduation rates increased by 5.5 percent, which helped to spur a 1.7 percent increase in the overall national graduation rate.

Stats That Stick: June 6, 2012

It’s Wednesday, which means that in addition to being halfway through this week, it’s also time for your weekly dose of Stats That Stick! These are some statistics from the past week that caught our eyes. This week’s sticky statistics are brought to you by Alliance Policy Intern Shlon Smith.

Number of recent students who graduated from high school and are not enrolled full-time or working: 3 out 4.

Some recent high school graduates are not able to keep up with the rigorous college coursework and as a result end up taking time off from school. According to a study conducted by Carl Van Horn, Cliff Zukin and Mark Szeltner of Rutgers University's John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development, 3 out of 4 recent high school graduates are not enrolled full-time at a college and are not working.