“Governors and state commissioners of education from 48 states, 2 territories and the District of Columbia committed to developing a common core of state standards in English-language arts and mathematics for grades K-12.”
Common Core State Standards Initiative
OK, guess which two states didn’t participate.
From The New York Times:
Dozens of public high schools in eight states will introduce a program next year allowing 10th graders who pass a battery of tests to get a diploma two years early and immediately enroll in community college.
Students who pass but aspire to attend a selective college may continue with college preparatory courses in their junior and senior years, organizers of the new effort said. Students who fail the 10th grade tests, known as board exams, can try again at the end of their 11th and 12th grades. The tests would cover not only English and math but other subjects like science and history.
The new system of high school coursework with the accompanying board examinations is modeled largely on systems in high-performing nations including Denmark, Finland, England, France and Singapore.
Yeah, but are they ready for the drinking games?
New Mexico is among the eight states participating.
Another incredible essay from Roger Ebert.
“Sometimes two films set up an uncanny resonance with one another. I saw two documentaries back to back. One filled me with hope and the other washed me in despair. They were both about the education of primary school children.”
Just read it.
But both authors tell the story of Gregory Watson, a University of Texas undergraduate who wrote a paper on one of the amendments proposed at the time of the Bill of Rights but not adopted. It would have made Congressional pay raises effective only after the next election. Watson started a letter-writing campaign, noting that in this case there was no deadline for ratification. The upshot was the most recent amendment, the 27th, ratified in 1992.
Characteristically, it is Lipsky who includes the killer detail. Watson’s professor, unconvinced that the amendment was still pending, gave him a C.
From an Adam Liptak review of Annotated Versions of the Constitution from Seth Lipsky and Jack N. Rakove
Posted on this date in 2005.
The Kansas State School Board, known for eliminating evolution from its science curriculum, has now taken action to eliminate Spanish. All Spanish words will be replaced with English in textbooks and on maps beginning next year.
For example, three U.S. state names will change: Montana will become “Mountain,” Nevada will be “Snowy” and Colorado will be called “Colored.” Geographic landmarks will be changed as well. The Rio Grande will be renamed “Big River” and the Sierra Nevada changed to “Snowy Mountain Range.”
Chips and salsa will be “chips and gravy.”
Even Christmas will be affected. The Board, apparently misunderstanding the Dutch origins of Sinter Klaas, ruled that Santa Claus must now be called “Holy Nicholas.”
Property values dropped 15% overnight in Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico, with fear that the city would become known as “Holy Faith.” Elsewhere, the Las Vegas chamber of commerce is re-considering its slogan, “What happens in Fertile Lowlands, Stays in Fertile Lowlands.”
Test preparation has long been a big business catering to students taking SATs and admissions exams for law, medical and other graduate schools. But the new clientele is quite a bit younger: 3- and 4-year-olds whose parents hope that a little assistance — costing upward of $1,000 for several sessions — will help them win coveted spots in the city’s gifted and talented public kindergarten classes.
In Manhattan, Preparing for Kindergarten Admission Test – NYTimes.com
“‘It’s quite pricey, but compared to private school, which averages about $20,000 for kindergarten, the price is right,’ she said of the tutoring. ‘I just want the opportunity to have a choice.’”
Most people, I suspect, still have in their minds an image of America as the great land of college education, unique in the extent to which higher learning is offered to the population at large. That image used to correspond to reality. But these days young Americans are considerably less likely than young people in many other countries to graduate from college. In fact, we have a college graduation rate that’s slightly below the average across all advanced economies.
Scot Key writes about how this boy —
ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) – An Albuquerque woman faces a criminal charge after her 13-year-old son was dropped off at a hospital unconscious and extremely drunk.
Crystal Deleon, 31, faces a charge of child abuse resulting in great bodily harm.
The boy told police he was drinking with his mom and others on Wednesday.
— and those like him undermine the reality of standardized testing and No Child Left Behind.
And Annette links to an article that says that the war on drugs in Mexico doesn’t exist. It’s really a war for drugs.
Imagine, you and your kid are watching what’s supposed to be a DVD retrospective of the past school year. The video shows children sharing stories, clapping, then … sex. And not just sex, but sex involving your kid’s fifth grade teacher.
“It goes from my son, straight to her on the couch,” recalled “Joe,” a parent who wished to remain anonymous. “My son’s reaction was, ‘Dad, is that Ms. Defanti?’”
Yes, it was.
It was, of course, just poor editing. The Scavenger has a few more details. Great photo.
The spelling mantra “i before e except after c” is no longer worth teaching, according to the [British] government.
Advice sent to teachers says there are too few words which follow the rule and recommends using more modern methods to teach spelling to schoolchildren.
Do you suppose they applied sufficient scientific weight to this matter. What do you think neighbor? I sure was never willing to open a vein over it. Keith and Sheila always thought it was silly, too.
Another question: Does caffeine make you feisty?
Note that the unemployment rate has risen sharply for all categories in 2009. For “less than a high school diploma” the rate has increased from 9% in [2008] to almost 16% in May.
Education matters!
Calculated Risk has the graph.
“The House stimulus bill had $14 billion for school construction, but the Senate cut all school construction money from its version. See how much construction money your school district stands to lose if funding is not restored in the final bill.”
ProPublica has the data.
Nearly $28 million for Albuquerque Public Schools cut in the name of bipartisanship, or $291 per student.
Anyone interested in politics, education and Washington ways will find The Obama Girls and Blacks at Sidwell – An Inside Perspective, Part II, fascinating reading by Jill of Jack and Jill Politics.
The Jack of Jack and Jill Politics also attended Sidwell Friends. Here’s a video of his stand-up routine at a fundraiser early this year. Some funny stuff.
“You mentioned education and I’m glad you did. I know education you are passionate about with your wife being a teacher for 30 years, and god bless her. Her reward is in heaven, right?”
Do you miss Beijing? Are you pining for some good ol’ fashioned totalitarianism? Enjoy seeing any small voice squashed like a ladybug under a Hummer?
Then come to the University of Virginia!
At Virginia a new rule bans signs of any kind at all sporting events, including football and basketball.
Rick Reilly tells the story.
“Why do we still have big lecture courses in universities? It is somewhat of a mystery…”
Brad DeLong briefly outlines the history. Fascinating.
NewMexiKen already shared this post from Burque Babble with my own favorite teacher lady, but on reflection I thought others might find it interesting too — because we’ve all known school secretaries, but also for the larger macro-economic circumstance it describes — unsung, underpaid and indispensable.
US News and World Report has published its 2009 college rankings. Harvard is at the top. The highest ranked public university is Cal Berkeley at 21st; Virginia is 23rd, UCLA 25th, Michigan 26th, UNC 30th and William & Mary 32nd. California and Virginia are fine places to live.
NewMexiKen’s alma mater, The University of Arizona, is rated 96th among national universities — about the same overall then as its football team.
National universities according to USNews “offer a full range of undergraduate majors, master’s, and doctoral degrees.” Liberal Arts Colleges, such as Amherst and Swarthmore, are ranked in a separate list.
Dallas public school students who flunk tests, blow off homework and miss assignment deadlines can make up the work without penalty, under new rules that have angered many teachers.
. . .For example, the new rules require teachers to accept late work and prevent them from penalizing students for missed deadlines. Homework grades that would drag down a student’s overall average will be thrown out.
Thanks to Bob for the link.
There’s a news item circulating that a number of college presidents recommend lowering the drinking age to 18. According to the reports, the presidents believe it would reduce binge drinking.
NewMexiKen has a better idea. You must be 21 to drink alcoholic beverages unless you are a high school graduate. My plan might reduce binge drinking AND lower the drop out rate.
School starts this week in Albuquerque — Wednesday is the first full day. NewMexiKen never started school before Labor Day and none of my kids did either. What’s with this August-to-May school year anyway?
I bought regular gasoline yesterday for $3.58 (I’m rounding off the tenth of a cent from now on). I was thinking I shouldn’t fill up (that is, I should buy short), because the price will continue to drop at least until election day.
What percentage of time during the Olympic coverage on NBC is actually spent watching athletes do athlete stuff? 10 percent? 15 percent?
There are rumors that McCain will pledge just one term to offset the age issue. I know an even better way — no terms. The Wall Street Journal’s MarketWatch tells us Why McCain would be a mediocre president. “A careful look at McCain’s biography shows that he isn’t prepared for the job. His resume is much thinner than most people think.” Amazingly, McCain is even more of a dilettante than W.
Remember my rant about Comcast and the comment from a representative of Comcast? Well, it seems the outreach is real:
From a sparse desk dominated by two computer screens in the new Comcast Center here, Mr. Eliason uses readily available online tools to monitor public comments on blogs, message boards and social networks for any mention of Comcast, the nation’s largest cable company. When he sees a complaint like Mr. Dilbeck’s, he contacts the source to try to defuse the problem.
“When you’re having a two-way conversation, you really get to clear the air,” Mr. Eliason said.
The New York Times has more — Complaining Bloggers Have a Cable Company’s Ear.
The iPhone is great except for battery life, which is OK at best.
“By [age] 5, it is possible to predict, with depressing accuracy, who will complete high school and college and who won’t.”
David Brooks, citing study by University of Chicago professor.
“In our view, the dumbness of this year’s general-election coverage has been its defining feature.”
BTW, Somerby has a very good analysis today of a misreading of student scores in an article in last Sunday’s New York Times. Recommended.
In the four minutes it probably takes to read this review, you will have logged exactly half the time the average 15- to 24-year-old now spends reading each day. That is, if you even bother to finish. If you are perusing this on the Internet, the big block of text below probably seems daunting, maybe even boring. Who has the time? Besides, one of your Facebook friends might have just posted a status update!
So begins a review by Lee Drutman of Mark Bauerlein’s The Dumbest Generation. Gonna bother clicking and reading it?
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