Lee's Summit Grads Not Making the Grade

[Lsautism]

Education Week: Mo. Accreditation Rules May Add College Tracking

Missouri officials are considering sweeping accreditation changes for the state's public schools that would add new statewide tests and require districts to better monitor how their graduates fare in college

[Lsautism]

Education Week: Proportion of Schools Falling Short on AYP Rises, Report Says

The Center on Education Policy (CEP), an independent nonprofit organization, has been monitoring national AYP data going back to 2005. This spring, we updated the four-year trends described in our December 2010 AYP report by adding a fifth year of data on the estimated number of schools in the nation and each state that did not make AYP in 2010, based on tests administered in 2009-10.1 These data were collected from what we believe are the most reliable sources available at the time of our research. Here are our main findings:


· A large majority of the states (39 and D.C.) reported that 25% or more of their public schools did not make AYP in 2010.

· In 12 states plus D.C., 50% or more of the state’s public schools did not make AYP in 2009-10. These states were, from highest to lowest, D.C., Florida, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Missouri, California, Arkansas, Massachusetts, Maine, Delaware, Nevada, Illinois, and Minnesota.

· No clear pattern was evident in the four largest states, which together enroll more than one-third of the nation’s students. The estimated percentages of schools that fell short of AYP in these states were 86% in Florida, 61% in California, 37% in New York and 5% in Texas.

[Lsautism]

A Shrewdness of Apes: High School graduation and college readiness: Is there a problem here?

Recently, I read this online from the St. Louis Post-Dospatch, and I include it here in its entirety in case it suddenly disappears and online news articles are wont to do. Please note the parts I have boldfaced:

More than 40 percent of area public high school graduates in 2009 entered Missouri colleges and universities so far behind in reading and math that they took at least one remedial course once they arrived on campus, data show.

Of the 7,067 area graduates who enrolled that year as freshmen in state-funded schools, 3,029 of them landed in academic purgatory, taking catch-up classes that didn't count toward a college degree, according to the Missouri Department of Higher Education.

The proportion of Missouri public school students who end up in remedial college classes has risen only slightly in recent years but is up sharply since 1996. Thirty-eight percent needed remediation before moving on to college-level courses in 2009, compared with 26 percent 14 years ago.

"It is concerning," said Rusty Monhollon, senior associate in academic affairs for the Missouri Department of Higher Education. "It's not a problem that has one easy answer."

President Barack Obama has set a national goal of having the world's highest proportion of college graduates by 2020.

But with college remediation on the rise in some states, such as Missouri, it could be a difficult goal to attain. Studies suggest that the farther behind students are when they enter college, the longer it takes to earn a degree or certificate, if they do at all.

[Lsautism]

Lee's Summit has received some state awards, but those are not very hard to attain. They are not receiving Federal awards because they are not meeting Federal standards. They are actually on their third year of a plan to correct their numbers.

[kcmo]

boy, I hope Missouri figures this out fast because this could be 1980 all over again and the KS side could end up getting 80-90% of the metro suburban growth again.

Only this time it won't be the threat of desegregating with urban KCMO, rather it will be the state will get a reputation for not having as good of schools as they say they do.

Is Kansas in a similar situation though? I have heard they are not much better when you drill down and bypass the states own measuring methods. Plus Kansas only has a few districts that seem well respected, most the rest (rural, kck, Wichita etc) are not great or well funded.

I'm telling you. We have noticed a difference between Missouri and Maryland. I can't put my finger on what it is, but there is a difference. It's been a step up.

[ykamom]

This is a rampant problem all over the country. If you investigate literature aimed at post secondary instructors, there is constant discussion of the problem of unprepared and underprepared students. Not in one sector or one area of the country, but throughout the country. Stems in great part from lack of reading and critical thinking skills. Not reading like decoding, but reading with attention and focus, to understand high level information. There is no easy fix here, and it is not a problem limited to one state. Just look at those numbers.

Can anyone say self inflicted ADD? Internet? Over reliance on media? But that is just my old fashioned notions speaking.

That and 25 years of teaching experience, and several years of parenting.

[casakny]

Are blue springs, lees summit schools good for autistic kids? We are looking at these 2 areas moving from NYC.