kitchen table math, the sequel: "the schools need more money"

Friday, February 20, 2009

"the schools need more money"



source:
U.S. Department of Education



update from Joe Heater 2.21.2008:

I believe the news is even worse than that displayed on the chart you posted.

Looking at the most current data from the same sources you will find that 34% or fourth graders are below the basic level and another 33% are categorized as basic. By 2007 federal aid to K-12 education increased by some 45%, in constant dollars, over 2001 levels while reading scores in total went from 217 to 220. When you look at the ethnicity gap, we continue to see very little progress. Average reading scores for Fourth grade Black and Hispanic students are 203 and 205 respectively. The cut score for reaching the basic category is 208. Even more disappointing are the scores of American Indian/Alaska Native scores, dropping from 207 to 203. Even more inexplicably, the scores for this sub-set of students reached 214 in 2000. Until we fix this problem, I fear that racial and ethnic tensions will go unabated.

No mater how you slice and dice the data, piling on more resources i.e., tax payer dollars, in not the answer.

For those interested you can find the entire report here (pdf file).

3 comments:

Kyle Hampton said...

Education spending will continue to skyrocket and performance will remain flat until there is a mechanism linking the two. That mechanism is school choice. Please join us at www.vouchersystem.org.

Anonymous said...

Catherine,
I believe the news is even worse than that displayed on the chart you posted.

Looking at the most current data from the same sources you will find that 34% or fourth graders are below the basic level and another 33% are categorized as basic. By 2007 federal aid to K-12 education increased by some 45%, in constant dollars, over 2001 levels while reading scores in total went from 217 to 220. When you look at the ethnicity gap, we continue to see very little progress. Average reading scores for Fourth grade Black and Hispanic students are 203 and 205 respectively. The cut score for reaching the basic category is 208. Even more disappointing are the scores of American Indian/Alaska Native scores, dropping from 207 to 203. Even more inexplicably, the scores for this sub-set of students reached 214 in 2000. Until we fix this problem, I fear that racial and ethnic tensions will go unabated.

No mater how you slice and dice the data, piling on more resources i.e., tax payer dollars, in not the answer.

For those interested you can find the entire report here: http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/pdf/main2007/2007496_2.pdf

Catherine Johnson said...

Thanks!

I'll check the report for other charts.

That's what I really need now: graphics.