Education News

Maryland Is #1 In AP (Advanced Placement) Success For 3rd Year In A Row

1:44 pm EST February 9th, 2011 | Education, Maryland | Comments Off

Congrats to Maryland’s students. From the College Board:

The top 10 states with the greatest proportion of their seniors from the class of 2010 having at least one successful AP experience were: Maryland (26.4 percent), New York (24.6 percent), Virginia (23.7 percent), Connecticut (23.2 percent), Massachusetts (23.1 percent), California (22.3 percent), Florida (22.3 percent), Vermont (21.8 percent), Colorado (21.4 percent) and Utah (19.2 percent).

Topic: Education, Maryland

Only 47% Of Black Males Graduated High School In 2007-8

12:29 pm EST August 17th, 2010 | News | 21 Comments

This is why people who claim racial disparities are a thing of the past are nuts, and why projects like Harlem’s Children Zone are so important.

Are young black men ready for the increasingly brutal, knowledge-based job market in the U.S.? The answer is a resounding ‘no,’ according to a new report, Yes We Can: The Schott 50 State Report on Public Education and Black Males 2010. Calling it a ‘national crisis,’ the report found that only 47 percent of black males graduated from high school in the 2007-2008 school year.

The report’s authors also stated that the results of the eighth grade reading assessment test scores, which measure how many black males read at or above the proficiency level, ‘should set off alarm bells.’ The ‘best’ score was a dramatically low: 15 percent (Kentucky, New Jersey), and several states averaged only five percent (Mississippi, Nevada).

According to the report, ‘(M)ore than twice as many black students are classified as ‘mentally retarded’ in spite of research demonstrating that the percentages of students from all groups are approximately the same at each intelligence level.’ The report adds, ‘The persistent over-classification of black male students as ‘mentally retarded’ reflects, at best, a lack of professional development in this area for teachers and other staff.’

Topic: Education, Race

NEA Names Martin O’Malley “America’s Greatest Education Governor Award”

11:27 am EST July 1st, 2010 | Maryland | 5 Comments

martin o'malley Nice pull for the gov.

Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley will receive the America’s Greatest Education Governor Award from the National Education Association (NEA) on July 5 during the NEA’s Representative Assembly in New Orleans. The annual award is presented to a governor who has made major, statewide efforts to improve public education.

‘Governor O’Malley took office in 2007, just months before the nation plunged into a deep recession,’ said NEA President Dennis Van Roekel. ‘Despite the economic devastation to his state, he kept his eye on the big picture—he understands that the recipe for economic recovery and success means preparing Maryland’s young people for the challenges of the 21st century.

‘Governor O’Malley is a strong advocate for public education,’ Van Roekel added. ‘He has made great strides in improving school funding, expanding school programs, and taking the needs of the whole child into account in education policy decisions. He continues to be a champion of public education and truly believes, as we do, that education will lead to a brighter and better future for all of us.

‘Lots of governors like to think of themselves as education governors, but Governor O’Malley has really earned that accolade.’

Topic: Bob Ehrlich, Education, Martin O'Malley

George Will Wants Belt Tightening On Education, Undermining It

11:46 pm EST June 6th, 2010 | Conservative | 43 Comments

teacher George Will would like for those stupid ass teachers to chow down on a crap sandwich and quit asking for money in exchange for their jobs. He argues in favor of educational belt-tightening, in that way that conservatives who think everyone has the option of private education does.

Here’s a crazy idea: Let’s cut wasteful spending in areas like the military and other segments of the government in a way that won’t undermine American education aka our future.

But I’m just some liberal.

Topic: Education

Oh Noes, Hard Works!

7:15 pm EST January 25th, 2010 | Uncategorized | 9 Comments

Sorry, I’ve got no sympathy for people complaining about how tough and intense the coursework is in AP classes. We are competing with the world here, and significantly behind. We should have year-round school, not the constant coddling.

Topic: Education

Fiscal Stupidity, Indiana Edition

6:34 pm EST December 16th, 2009 | Uncategorized | 8 Comments

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels is cutting K-12 education spending rather than use a $2 billion rainy day fund. Seems to me education is the first thing you would use a rainy day fund for…

Topic: Education, Indiana, Mitch Daniels

Geoffrey Canada & The Harlem Children’s Zone

12:33 pm EST December 7th, 2009 | Uncategorized | 3 Comments

I love, love, love this kind of thing. We need this everywhere.

Harlem Children’s Zone Breaks Poverty Pattern

“What we’re doing is not some kind of brilliant, eureka moment that we had when we figured out how to do this,” Canada told host Neal Conan. “We have been talking about these issues, providing comprehensive, integrated services to poor children since I was in graduate school… So we just simply did it. We just decided that the time had come to actually put together all that the social scientists and the educators had been talking about for decades in approaching this problem.”

Geoffrey Canada (born January 13, 1952) is an African-American social activist and educator. Since 1990, Canada has been president and CEO of the Harlem Children’s Zone in Harlem, New York, an organization whose goal is to increase high school and college graduation rates among students in Harlem.

Topic: Education

Evolution Mandatory In British Schools

2:25 am EST November 20th, 2009 | Uncategorized | 6 Comments

The Brits do this while the religious right smacks lead pipes into our kid’s ankles, intellectually.

Topic: Creationism, Education, Evolution, Religious Right

Strategic Vision, Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs Faked School Survey Results

5:08 pm EST November 8th, 2009 | Uncategorized | 1 Comment

As one of the people who pushed this story, I owe it to you to note just how shoddy the data was.

There is no reason to think, in other words, that the students in House District 15 should have gotten such profoundly superior results to the “students” in Strategic Vision’s survey. Nor could Strategic Vision’s results have been the result of any sort of mathematical or methodological oddity. Consider their claim that literally none of the 1,000 students they surveyed were able to answer more than 7 of the 10 questions correctly — lower than the average score achieved in Cannaday’s test.

There are, rather, only two possibilities. Either the Strategic Vision survey was entirely fabricated — or Cannaday’s was.

Topic: Education

Connect The Dots, Oklahoma Edition

10:59 am EST September 19th, 2009 | News | 153 Comments

(Oklahoma) Bill promotes school religion at expense of education

The bill requires public schools to guarantee students the right to express their religious viewpoints in a public forum, in class, in homework and in other ways without being penalized. If a student’s religious beliefs were in conflict with scientific theory, and the student chose to express those beliefs rather than explain the theory in response to an exam question, the student’s incorrect response would be deemed satisfactory, according to this bill.

Mayoral Candidate Anna Falling Wants Creationism Exhibit

A push to exhibit the Christian story of creation at the Tulsa Zoo failed four years ago. Republican candidate for Tulsa mayor, Anna Falling, is bringing the issue front and center.

It’s the same exhibit and the same arguments, but now it is given from the bully pulpit of a candidate running for mayor.

“Some may ask why this issue during a Mayoral campaign? And I say why not?” said candidate Anna Falling.

Oklahoma GOP Platform (via)

7. We believe that the scientific evidence supporting Biblical creation should be included in Oklahoma public schools curricula, and if any evolution theory is taught, that both should receive equal funding, class time, and material. Teachers should have the freedom to cover creation science without fear of intimidation, reprimand, or lack of professional respect.

[...]

Curriculum
1. Curricula should include [...] the option of using the Bible as HISTORY [emphasis added] or literature text.

Study Questions Okla. School Performance

A new study claimed that one in four Oklahoma high school students couldn’t identify the first person to be President of the United States.

The study, which found that students also struggled to answer other basic questions, has some people questioning the effectiveness of Oklahoma schools.

Researchers from the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs questioned 1,000 high school students and said that only 3 percent of them would be able to pass the United States Citizenship Test.

Topic: Creationism, Education, Intelligent Design, Religious Right