« Take a hike Pluto | Main | Sloppy grading, but not from teachers »
August 25, 2006
Fun facts to know and tellFor those who really like number crunching, a new publication has been released by the Center on Education Policy that pulls together some fun facts about public education. Okay, maybe not that fun, but kind of interesting. For example:
--Children of color make up the majority of public school enrollments in six states (Hawai'i, Texas, California, Mississippi, New Mexico, Louisiana).
--More than one-third of public school students are from low-income families.
--About 35 percent of the nation's school districts are very small, enrolling fewer than 600 students. But the very largest school districts—the top 2 percent—enroll a third of all students.
--The public school teaching force does not reflect the diversity of the student population. Nine out of 10 teachers are white, and almost 8 out of 10 are female. In fact, there were fewer African American teachers in 2001 than in 1971.
Want more? Check out A Public Education Primer.
And speaking of statistics, the annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup poll hit the streets this week with a blistering take on No Child Left Behind:
Nearly six in 10 Americans who are familiar with the federal No Child Left Behind Act believe it has had no effect on our schools or has actually harmed them. "This finding is significant and disturbing given that the nation's schools are spending virtually all of their available money and resources on an effort to meet the demands of this law," said Lowell Rose, the poll's co-author along with Alec Gallup.
The poll finds that two-thirds of those surveyed oppose measuring school success by the percentage of students passing a single statewide test, while 81 percent prefer measuring the improvement that students make during the year.
Commentary from NSBA's exec Anne Bryant was included in this year's poll. She noted that the "poll shows the public's distaste emerge for mayor interference as nearly 70 percent of the public opposes having a mayor take over the public schools even as an answer to turning around low-performing schools." That sentiment aligned with NSBA's adoption earlier this year of a policy that called for mayors to back away from taking over school districts and concentrate on issues outside school that impact student learning.
Still gotta have more facts? Check this out.
Posted August 25, 2006 2:38 PM | Students
Trackback Pings
BoardBuzz Feed
