The National Center for Education Statistics released a study Friday comparing private and public schools and factoring for socio-economic differences between the two populations. The study measured fourth grade and eighth grade reading and math achievement using the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which has been testing children for more than thirty years to provide information to policy makers. In summary, the report concludes that after factoring for population differences, there is little difference in achievement for students in public vs. private education settings.
Perhaps best known as the "guy with the baseball cap," former Silicon Valley heavyweight and current U.S. General Consul to Bermuda Gregory Slayton, who spent years in Asia and Africa studying how to improve the economic situation of the poor in the Third World, has taken a stand on education.
With No Child Left Behind, there is an increasing focus on standardized testing as a means of assessment. This is not a new phenomenon, nor is it unique to the public school system. At every turn, there is a test waiting to be taken, whether for school, college or the workplace. But actual performance is routinely overlooked in favor of test scores in attempting to predict a student's subject mastery, readiness for higher education or ability to perform in the workforce.
Research overwhelmingly shows that parental involvement in education leads to greater student achievement. In fact, in his 1984 review of 29 studies of school-parent programs, Herbert J. Walberg found that the family's involvement in education was "twice as predictive of students' academic success as family socioeconomic status." More intensive programs lead to effects ten times greater than other factors.
The National Education Association approved a plan Monday to aggressively lobby Congress to reform the No Child Left Behind Act. Only three of the 9,000 members argued against the lobbying effort, saying the act was too flawed to reform. America's largest education union, the NEA has been critical of the act but this will be "the most organized effort to date."
A little known provision buried within the No Child Left Behind Act requires schools receiving federal funding to provide military recruiters with student information, including names, telephone numbers and addresses. The Pentagon's database includes birthdates, Social Security numbers, courses and majors, grade point averages, email addresses and ethnicity for high school and college students.
On June 20th, Kareem Elnahal gave his valedictory speech at Mainland Regional High School in Limwood, N.J., quite different from the speech school administrators were expecting. He does not look fondly upon his education, challenging what education has come to mean. "Ladies and gentlemen, the spirit of intellectual thought is lost," Elnahal said.
With a growing number of security breaches involving the U.S. government mishandling personal data, it seems one would become increasingly wary of entrusting government entities with any information of a sensitive nature. Unless you are in Virginia and are trying to track sex offenders.
The No Child Left Behind Act, signed into law by President Bush January 8, 2002 includes as one of its measures the standard to staff our public schools with "highly qualified teachers" by June 2007. The main difficulty with this is that school districts are suffering chronic teacher shortages across the nation.
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