Franklin Schargel’s Blog

The National Center for Education Statistics released, Condition of Education 2011 which presents fifty different indicators of important developments and trends in U.S. education. The indicators focus on participation and persistence in education, student performance and other measures of achievement, the environment for learning, and resources for education. The report also includes a special section on changes in postsecondary education in the United States by institution level and control.

According to the report, public elementary and secondary enrollment in U.S. schools is expected to increase from 49.3 million to 52.7 million students, while undergraduate enrollment is expected to increase from 17.6 million students in 2009 to 19.6 million in 2020.

The report also notes that progress on national assessments in reading and math have been made among fourth- and eighth-grade students since the early 1990s, although “significant” gaps remain between white students and students of color.

With regard to college remediation, the report finds that about 36 percent of first-year undergraduate students reported taking a remedial course, while about 42 percent of students at public, two-year institutions reported taking a remedial course. The report also notes that about 54 percent of male and 60 percent of female first-time students who sought a bachelor’s degree and enrolled at a four-year institution full time in fall 2002 completed a bachelor’s degree at that institution within six years.

Young adults ages twenty-five to thirty-four who held bachelor’s degrees earned more than twice as much as young adults without a high school diploma or its equivalent, according to the report. College degree recipients also made 50 percent more than young adult high school graduates. The report also notes that young adults ages twenty-five to thirty-four with at least a bachelor’s degree had a full-time employment rate (74 percent) that was over 30 percentage points higher than that of their peers who had not completed high school (41 percent).

The complete report is available at https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2011/2011033.pdf.

New York State is requiring districts to add “more than a dozen new standardized tests” in public schools in order to develop a more effective way to measure teacher performance as well as to improve the performance of its students.  I do not have any objection to standardized tests as along as they provide an objective metric of students and teacher performance.  But tests which rate teacher effectiveness have no validity because students are not held accountable if they pass or fail these tests is simply irresponsible in times of budget crises and teacher layoffs.

Where will the state get the tens of millions of dollars to develop and implement these new tests?

If principals cannot figure out whether teachers who work for them every day are effective, then we need different training for principals, not more tests for students.  Why isn’t New York State  using peer evaluations to rate teachers, in addition to the principal’s assessment as well as student performance?  It’s being done in universities, law firms and the medical field.

The Gary Indiana School Board voted to cancel contract for 333 teachers since the district expects a 19% cut in state funding.  The district has (according to state records) 720 teachers.  If my math is correct that is a cut of 44 percent.  That means that the remaining 387 teachers will have to teach the 11,000 students.  The ratio of teachers to students would increase from 1 to 15.2 students to 1 teacher for every 28 students.

That’s the end of today’s math lesson.

On May 25, the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce passed the first in a series of education reform bills designed to revamp the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), currently known as No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). The bill, “Setting New Priorities in Education Spending Act,” which passed on a party-line vote of twenty-three to sixteen, would eliminate more than forty federal education programs, including Striving Readers, Smaller Learning Communities, High School Graduation Initiative, and Enhancing Education Through Technology (Ed-Tech).

Representative Bobby Scott (D-VA), offered an amendment that would have restored some of the dropout prevention activities that the bill eliminated. The amendment failed on a party-line vote of sixteen to twenty-three.

In defense of the amendment, Scott noted that it would specifically restore dropout prevention services that are not duplicative and authorized in other sections of ESEA. “There are dropout prevention services that are successful,” Scott said. “Those services should be expanded. There are also dropout prevention services that are unsuccessful. Those services should be cut. Dropout prevention services ensure that the nation’s high school students””and the nation itself””succeed.”

Since the vote to eliminate federal funding for dropout prevention services was along party lines (the Republicans voted to cut; the Democrats voted not to cut) remember to ask your representative how they voted before you vote in November.

To those of you who read this in school and will be leaving for the summer – a fond farewell.  As a former classroom educator, I know that this is an ideal time to recharge your batteries, swim, relax, read and enjoy yourself.  If you are of the mind to read in the field of education, let me recommend my books.

To those you who are in Texas, Baton Rouge or Nashville, I will be speaking in those places during the summer and look forward to seeing you there.  Check the right hand side of this website under “Engagements” for specific times and dates.

I will still be working on this blog during the summer, you can register to automatically receive it by signing up for it near the top right of this homepage.

So we will be parting for a brief time.  Stay well.  Enjoy.  See you in the fall.

Franklin