This article comes from https://www.idahoednews.org/top-news/a-painful-reality-school-closures-follow-shrinking-enrollment-across-the-country/?brid=YWdncwE40l_v_VDBnKWzuqunWOFp BALTIMORE – School districts around the country are facing a painful reality as enrollments decline. For many districts, there are too many schools for the number of kids they’ll serve in a few years, according to Marguerite Roza, director of the Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University. It’s not a matter of if schools will close but when, as lower birth rates have led to smaller incoming kindergarten classes. “We have this misalignment and it’s making it really painful for districts,” Roza … [Read more...]
First Common Core High School Grads Worst-Prepared For College In 15 Years
The Federalist shares an article that pulls together data on Common Core's...failure. Here's the link to the original article. The author is Joy Pullman. For the third time in a row since Common Core was fully phased in nationwide, U.S. student test scores on the nation’s broadest and most respected test have dropped, a reversal of an upward trend between 1990 and 2015. Further, the class of 2019, the first to experience all four high school years under Common Core, is the worst-prepared for college in 15 years, according to a new report. The National Assessment of Educational Progress is a federally mandated test given every other year in reading and mathematics to students in … [Read more...]
K-12 Education Washington State: Does more $$$ = higher test scores?
This article is going to be one of those that is complicated and full of data. There's simply no way around it. However, we'll summarize the data AND provide the spreadsheets and links so you can go look for yourself. The graphic chart to the left comes from an article from the Seattle Times titled "Washington’s 2018 state test scores still show large gaps between student groups". The title of the article is a hot link incase you want to read it. Please note that the Times makes it clear that Washington States "passing" score levels are lower than other areas of the United States...which means that the "passing" scores are even worse when compared to other states. What is the … [Read more...]
More screen time = lower IQ?
We've been sharing our concerns about the growth in screen time. We've pointed out that as screen time increases social problems increase; suicide risk increases and we lose personal interactions. Today we add to that list of concerns...dropping IQ. The following article from Intellectual Takeout walks us through a new study covering 700,000+ men from Norway over 29 years. Schools continue to push more and more screen time on top of what happens outside school. Perhaps schools should focus on handwritten and reading basics? Some of our articles on-screen time: https://swweducation.org?cat=947&paged=2 Jeff Minik shares his thoughts with us today... Are we getting … [Read more...]
Are public schools going the way of Newspapers and the Post Office?
The US Post Office has been an American Institution. Mail delivered in rain, sleet and snow. Union represented. Well paid people. Nice pensions and healthcare. Postal workers (prior to 1984) DO NOT participate in Social Security...they are part of the federal pension plan. They contribute 7-8% of their earnings into the plan. Post 1984 new employees participate in both the Federal Plan (at a reduced rate) and Social Security. In 2017 the Postal Dept lost $2 billion. It is $15 billion in debt and has over $100 billion in unfunded pensions and healthcare obligations. You may find the report in this link of interest: … [Read more...]
Post-Common Core, U.S. Kids Slide On Another Academic Measure
Common Core...renamed in some states. Called Washington State Learning Standards...is Common Core. Why change the name? To fool parents and watchers. So, let's be clear...a rose by any name is still a rose rather...a swamp is still a swamp until you drain it. Common Core has harmed education in the United States. Along with the associated high stakes testing we've spent billions...yes...billions of dollars on new curriculum and testing for what? In the following article more attention is drawn to the failure. The article ran in The Federalist. The author is Joy Pullmann. International test results released this week show U.S. students losing ground on yet another measure in the … [Read more...]
What are public schools becoming?
Public school has played an important, nay, critical role in the education and economic success of America. From the original one room school houses with a range of ages with one teacher and textbooks like the McGuffey Readers to computers, virtual reality and cell phone apps...the world has changed and is continuing to change. Education was focused on the 3 R's (reading, 'riting and 'rithmatic). If we asked 10 people what the current purpose of modern education is we would likely get 10 different answers. I went looking to see who had addressed this topic and found a few articles. One in the Huffington Post lists 20 categories of services. Another article uses references from Oregon … [Read more...]
United States Drops In Overall Freedom Ranking
Reposted (link at the end of the article) A new report on the freedom of countries around the world ranks the United States 20th, putting countries like Chile and the United Kingdom ahead of the U.S. Last year, the U.S. was ranked 17th, but a steady decline of economic freedom and “rule of law” has dropped the level of freedom, according to the Cato Institute, Fraser Institute and the Swiss Liberales Institut, which created the study together. Co-author of the report Ian Vasquez told The Daily Caller News Foundation that the steady growth of government and increased regulations of business and labor contribute to the U.S. low rating. “Since the year 2000, the U.S. has been on a … [Read more...]
States Leave Common Core SBAC and PARCC Tests like Rats Deserting a Sinking Ship
This is a re-post of an article chronicling the decline of participating in the Common Core tests: SBAC and PARCC. It's worth a read. http://coalitiontoprotectourpublicschools.org/states-leave-common-core-sbac-and-parcc-tests-like-rats-deserting-a-sinking-ship … [Read more...]