Menstuff® has information on education. we are at the bottom
of the list of 19 industrialized countries in reading, writing and
math. Currently, 1 out of 3 high school students drop out before
graduation. Check this out!
Graduation Rates a 'Catastrophe' in
Cities
What's to blame for differing test scores
between the sexes?
Dumbing Us Down:
The American Tragedy 
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Graduation Rates a 'Catastrophe' in Cities
|
City |
Rank |
Graduation Rate (%) |
|
Detroit |
50 |
24.9 |
|
Indianapolis |
49 |
38.5 |
|
Cleveland |
48 |
34.1 |
|
Baltimore |
47 |
34.6 |
|
Columbus |
46 |
40.9 |
|
Minneapolis |
45 |
43.7 |
|
Dallas |
44 |
44.4 |
|
New York |
43 |
45.2 |
|
Los Angeles |
42 |
45.3 |
|
Oakland |
41 |
45.6 |
|
Kansas City |
40 |
45.7 |
|
Atlanta |
39 |
46.0 |
|
Milwaukee |
38 |
46.1 |
|
Denver |
37 |
46.3 |
|
Oklahoma City |
36 |
47.5 |
|
Miami |
35 |
49.0 |
|
Philadelphia |
34 |
49.6 |
|
Portland |
29 |
53.1 |
|
Fresno |
23 |
57.4 |
|
San Diego |
15 |
61.6 |
|
Long Beach |
12 |
63.5 |
|
Sacramento |
9 |
66.7 |
|
Seattle |
7 |
67.6 |
|
San Francisco |
5 |
73.1 |
|
San Jose |
2 |
77.0 |
|
Large City Avg. |
50 |
|
|
National Avg. - 2003-04 |
69.9 |
The
report
,
issued by America's Promise Alliance, found that about half of the
students served by public school systems in the nation's largest
cities receive diplomas. Students in suburban and rural public high
schools were more likely to graduate than their counterparts in urban
public high schools, the researchers said.
Nationally, about 70 percent of U.S. students graduate on time with a regular diploma and about 1.2 million students drop out annually.
"When more than 1 million students a year drop out of high school, it's more than a problem, it's a catastrophe," said former Secretary of State Colin Powell, founding chair of the alliance.
His wife, Alma Powell, the chair of the alliance, said students need to graduate with skills that will help them in higher education and beyond. "We must invest in the whole child, and that means finding solutions that involve the family, the school and the community." The Powell's organization was beginning a national campaign to cut high school dropout rates.
The group, joining Education Secretary Margaret Spellings at a Tuesday news conference, was announcing plans to hold summits in every state during the next two years on ways to better prepare students for college and the work force.
The report found troubling data on the prospects of urban public high school students getting to college. In Detroit's public schools, 24.9 percent of the students graduated from high school, while 30.5 percent graduated in Indianapolis Public Schools and 34.1 percent received diplomas in the Cleveland Municipal City School District.
Researchers analyzed school district data from 2003-2004 collected by the U.S. Department of Education. To calculate graduation rates, the report estimated the likelihood that a 9th grader would complete high school on time with a regular diploma. Researchers used school enrollment and diploma data, but did not use data on dropouts as part of its calculation.
Many metropolitan areas also showed a considerable gap in the graduation rates between their inner-city schools and the surrounding suburbs. Researchers found, for example, that 81.5 percent of the public school students in Baltimore's suburbs graduate, compared with 34.6 percent in the city schools.
In Ohio, nearly 83 percent of public high school students in suburban Columbus graduate while 78.1 percent in suburban Cleveland earn their diplomas, well above their local city schools.
Ohio Department of Education spokesman Scott Blake said the state delays its estimates by a few months so it can include summer graduates in its calculations. Based on the state's methodology, he said Columbus graduated 60.6 percent of its students in 2003-2004, rather than the 40.9 percent the study calculated.
By Ohio's reckoning, Columbus has improved each year since the 2001-2002 school year, with 72.9 percent of students graduating in 2005-2006, Columbus Public Schools spokesman Jeff Warner said.
Warner said the gains were partly because of after-school and weekend tutoring, coordinated literacy programs in the district's elementary schools and bolstered English-as-a-second-language programs.
Cleveland's current graduation rates are also higher than the statistics cited in the new report, school district spokesman Ben Holbert said.
Spellings has called for requiring states to provide graduation data in a more uniform way under the renewal of the No Child Left Behind education law pending in Congress.
Under the 2002 law, schools that miss progress goals face increasing sanctions, including forced use of federal money for private tutoring, easing student transfers, and restructuring of school staff.
States calculate their graduation rates using all sorts of methods, many of which critics say are based on unreliable information about school dropouts. Under No Child Left Behind, states may use their own methods of calculating graduation rates and set their own goals for improving them.
The research was conducted by Editorial Projects in Education, a Bethesda, Md., nonprofit organization, with support from America's Promise Alliance and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The alliance is based on a joint effort of nonprofit groups,
corporations, community leaders, charities, faith-based organizations
and individuals to improve children's lives.
Source: news.aol.com/story/_a/graduation-rates-a-catastrophe-in-cities/20080401064409990001
What's to blame for
differing test scores between the sexes?
The reason that home-schooled boys score as well as their female counterparts in English is twofold, said Manthey. First, they are more likely to be given a choice in their reading material. Second, “they’re less likely to fall through the cracks,” he said.
Manthey’s research shows that boys are more inclined to read nonfiction than fiction, and are more likely to relate to subjects related to science, sports and stories that revolve around male characters.
“Then you see boys required to read books like ‘The Joy Luck Club,’” he said, referring to the book by Amy Tan about immigrant mothers and daughters.
It’s no wonder, said Manthey, that boys tune out in English class.
Aaron agrees. “I’m trying to sell ‘The Joy Luck Club’ to a classroom with about 18 boys, and that is definitely a hard sell.” But while the first semester of his class may focus on stories about women, said Aaron, the second semester incorporates texts that are more likely to appeal to a male audience.
“I am definitely aware that there is a gender difference, and you have to be on your toes and hit all the different groups and modes of learning,” he said.
Manthey, however, worries that the system is set up for girls, leaving boys in English class behind.
“I think in the last 20 years or so, schools have focused very heavily on educating girls,” said Napa County Office of Education Superintendent Barbara Nemko. “Because the focus was so much on girls, we have not been focusing on boys.”
Peters said one controversial theory in educational psychology is that boys believe “the classroom game is rigged” and that “it is taught by women and set up for girls.”
And when the state and federal governments base accountability on
student subgroups like ethnicity and socioeconomics with no regard
for gender, Manthey worries that educators simply don’t
care.
Source: Joe Manthey, www.napavalleyregister.com/articles/2008/03/03/news/local/doc47cb98fd7b93d238964869.txt
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