This latest report shows that gaps in educational achievement aren’t necessarily based on sex, but on social backgrounds. Any sighs of relief? Didn’t think so.
The American Association of University Women, whose 1992 report on how girls are shortchanged in the classroom caused a national debate over gender equity, has turned its attention to debunking the idea of a “boys’ crisis.”
“Girls’ gains have not come at boys’ expense,” says a new report by the group, to be released on Tuesday in Washington.
Echoing research released two years ago by the American Council on Education and other groups, the report says that while girls have for years graduated from high school and college at a higher rate than boys, the largest disparities in educational achievement are not between boys and girls, but between those of different races, ethnicities and income levels.
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One out of every 15 Georgians is in prison, parole probation, one of the highest rates in the nation. The human costs for this statistic notwithstanding, taxpayer costs are spiking. Most agree that reducing recidivism would help. How much more successful would anti-recidivism programs be if focused on young people?
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A new study from the Annie E. Casey Foundation on the condition of homes foster kids encounter is disturbing but not surprising. How many people take in foster children just for the stipend? It’s a deplorable situation when considering the wealth and size of many metro Atlanta homes. There has to be some room for at least one child.
Children in foster care live in poorer, more crowded and less educated homes than kids in other families, often taking them from one disadvantaged environment into another, new research shows.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation study is the first to analyze 2006 Census Bureau data, the most recent available, for a detailed look at foster parents.
“The gaps were so pervasive,” says demographer William O’Hare.
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Good news. Perhaps Wall Street can wait two years before getting America’s best. Kids will surely benefit.
Teach for America, the program that recruits top college graduates to teach for two years in public schools that are difficult to staff, has experienced a year of prodigious growth and will place 3,700 new teachers this fall, up from 2,900 last year, a 28 percent increase.
That growth was outpaced, however, by a surge in applications from college seniors. About 24,700 applied this spring to be teachers, up from 18,000 last year, a 37 percent increase, according to figures released by the organization on Wednesday.
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The headline in the Star-Tribune of Minneapolis-St.Paul says it all in a question. Many states have raised their school drop out ages and others are considering the measure, despite no clear evidence that forcing kids to stay in school longer actually works. Would it work in Georgia?
Should Minnesota follow the lead of many other states and raise the high school dropout age from 16 to 18?
Minnesota legislators hope to solidify just such a proposal in the next few days. The intent is to force at least some of the state’s thousands of high school dropouts every year to stay in school. Though there’s little evidence nationwide that raising the dropout age improves graduation rates, proponents want to drive the point home that it’s bad to leave school at 16 or 17.
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