Daily Policy Digest
Education Issues
| What Does It Mean to Be Proficient? After raising its standards on what constitutes "proficient" on standardized tests, Tennessee reported only 34 percent of students fall into that category compared to 91 percent under the old standard... |
| Financial Literacy in Schools More than half of teachers say they feel unqualified to use their state's financial education standards, and few feel "very competent" lecturing a class on topics such as risk management and debt... |
| Bullying Takes Toll on High School Test Scores Schoolwide passing rates on three different standardized exams were 3 percent to 6 percent lower in schools where students reported a more severe bullying climate... |
| Lower Funding, Higher Test Scores Statewide, California school districts spent 6 percent less from 2008 to 2010, but the percentage of second- to seventh-grade students scoring proficient on the state's standardized English test rose from 48 percent to 55 percent... |
| Are Student Loans Next? In 2010, the Department of Education announced that default rates for student loans jumped from 4.6 percent in 2005 to 7 percent in 2008... |
| Do We Really Need to Spend More on Schools? Sixty-five percent of people surveyed oppose the idea of increasing taxes to fund public schools, saying instead that spending should either decrease or stay about the same... |
| The Impact of Ohio's Voucher Program on Public School Performance The largest gains among the traditional public schools were observed in the highest and lowest categories of test performance, meaning schools may be placing their focus on students most likely to use a voucher program to exit their residentially assigned school... |
| Federal Compliance Works against Education Policy Goals Federal fiscal compliance rules can stifle innovation and hinder federal education programs from achieving their goals... |
| Linking Costs and Postsecondary Degrees There is not a magic formula to arrive at a cost of education that will serve every possible need... |
| How Certification Rules Impede the Growth of Virtual Schools Certification and licensure rules artificially limit the number and kinds of teachers that state-managed virtual schools employ... |
