Characteristics of the 100 Largest Public Elementary and Secondary School Districts in the United States: 1999-2000
National Center for Education Statistics, October 2001
National Center for Education Statistics, October 2001
New Jersey Department of Education, October 2001
Dan D. Goldhaber, from Selected Papers in School Finance 2000-01, National Center for Education Statistics, August 2001
Last Monday, Massachusetts announced that 82% of its class of 2003 passed the state's English test and 75% passed the math test. On Wednesday, Achieve, Inc. released an evaluation of the state's standards and tests.
Parents in two states finally have the information they need to evaluate their school systems, thanks to the analytical skills of Standard & Poor's and the willingness of Gov. John Engler and ex-Gov.
We've heard a lot about the dire shortage of math and science teachers that has forced educators trained in other disciplines to teach those subjects "out of field." But we've heard much less about shortages in field of history.
The charter-school idea is now ten years old. Which is to say, it's completed the "elementary" grades and is ready for "middle school" - and the onrushing storms of adolescence. It's a hopeful but precarious time. And some worrisome issues lie ahead.Meanwhile, expansion continues. The Center for Education Reform reports several hundred new charters this fall.
A new front has opened up in the battle over the SAT, and the combatants are profiled in a long (14 page) article in this week's Chronicle of Higher Education. The new critics of the SAT don't argue that it's biased; they're upset that it's not based on the school curriculum.