Sunday, December 21, 2014

US Education is toast

The U.S. became the world’s leading economic, military and political power largely because of the educational lead America established. From 1870 to 1950, according to The Race between Education and Technology, the level of average education in the U.S. rose 0.8 years per decade. By the mid-20th century, America had an enormous educational advantage over most European countries. While no European nation had 30 percent of teenagers in high schools, 70 percent of American peers attended secondary school. Then around 1970, American education stagnated and over recent decades the U.S. lost its economic advantage to rivals, many of whom surged ahead in academic outcomes. To illustrate, it will take American students at current rates of progress over a century to catch up to peers in some Asian countries—in English proficiency.
 
"As a result, the average per-student cost of K-12 public schooling nationwide grew from $57,602 in 1970 to $164,426 in 2010 in constant 2013 dollars. This 185-percent spending increase, however, produced no significant, sustained gains in reading and math achievement, according to the nation’s report card (National Assessment of
Educational Progress [NAEP] tests, which are legitimate academic measures since they are immune from political pressure, unlike many city and state tests). There were some gains in math in age 9 and 13, but these disappear by age 17. NAEP science scores got worse."
 
"America’s K-12 public education system has experienced tremendous historical growth in employment, according to the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics. Between fiscal year (FY) 1950 and FY 2009, the number of K-12 public school students in the United States increased by 96 percent, while the number of
full-time equivalent (FTE) school employees grew 386 percent. Public schools grew staffing at a rate four times faster than the increase in students over that time period. Of those personnel, teachers’ numbers increased 252 percent, while administrators and other non-teaching staff experienced growth of 702 percent, more than seven times the increase in students."
 
Remember to thank a Democrat.
 
Source: Herman Talmadge III posted in New Georgia Republican Leadership for Principles above Politicians
 
Bad Measurements Promote U.S. Education Failure: Urgent National Security Risk The first step in developing strategy is to determine precisely where you want to be at a specific time in the future—what we call a “Future Picture”—which contrasts sharply with amorphous concepts such as “vision.” In crafting a Future Picture, it is critically important to distinguish the desired… See Forbes article
 

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