Fast Report
09/13/05 -- SAT math scores are highest ever
• Average scores on the math portion of the SAT for the class of 2005 are at an all-time high at 520. That is two points above last year and 14 points more than 10 years ago, the College Board announced Aug. 30.
Average scores on the verbal portion increased only fractionally from the year before, remaining at 508. Average verbal scores have held steady for the past three years and are 4 points above what they were 10 years ago.
The number of SAT takers has risen every year for the past 15 years and reached an all-time high of more than 1,475,600 in 2005.
Meanwhile, the average composite score for students in the class of 2005 who took the ACT Assessment is 20.9, unchanged from 2004. ACT reports that a record number of students took the test, and the number of test-takers increased by 11 percent since 2001.
Schools prepare for Constitution Day
• The first annual Constitution Day is fast approaching and schools and districts across the country are scrambling to come up with ways to commemorate it.
When Congress approved an omnibus appropriations bill last fall, it included a provision designating Sept. 17 -- the day in 1787 that the U.S. Constitution was ratified -- as Constitution Day. The measure requires educational institutions that receive federal funds to create educational programming on or around Constitution Day. Because Sept. 17 falls on Saturday this year, many schools are planning activities before or after the weekend.
To help schools participate, the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, a lead sponsor of the initiative, is offering free teaching materials.
The center will broadcast two videos, online and via satellite Sept. 16. One features Supreme Court Justices Stephen Breyer and Sandra Day O’Connor answering students’ questions about the Constitution, and the other features experts on the First Amendment.
More information about the videos, as well as other educational resources, are available at www. justicelearning.org.
Report documents anti-NCLB revolt
• The grassroots rebellion against the No Child Left Behind Act has spread in some form to 47 states, reports NCLBgrassroots. org, a project of the Civil Society Institute.
Several states, including Utah, Colorado, and Connecticut are in “open revolt,” states NCLB Left Behind: Understanding the Growing Grassroots Rebellion Against a Controversial Law.
“Even though awareness of this grassroots rebellion has not yet fully registered with most national policymakers and commentators, it is a reality that likely will become more evident during the upcoming 2005-06 school year as NCLB’s harsher penalties begin to take effect,” the report states.
It predicts Minnesota, Maine, Nevada, New Jersey, and Virginia will be part of the next wave of the rebellion.
According to the report, anti-NCLB legislation has been proposed in 21 states. Forty states are considering waivers, exemptions, or opting out of NCLB altogether; four states are involved in anti-NCLB litigation; and 21 states have undertaken studies to document the costs of complying with NCLB’s underfunded mandates. Nine states have issued reports detailing the detrimental impact of federal testing requirements on state education systems.
“Those responsible for implementing NCLB at the local level -- administrators, teachers, parents, school boards -- are increasingly skeptical that NCLB’s rigid approach will help close the achievement gap,” says Civil Society Institute President Pam Solo. In fact, they fear that the law might “hamper promising approaches that had started to take root before NCLB.”
Task force urges more time on task
• A task force supported by the Center for American Progress and the Institute for America’s Future issued an education reform agenda that calls for a longer school day and year.
Too many U.S. students are not prepared to thrive in an increasingly competitive world, says the group’s co-chair, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano. “In comparison to several industrialized nations, American children spend less time in school than their international peers.”
The Renewing Our Schools, Securing Our Future Task Force, which has ties to the Democratic Party, also recommends:
• universal preschool and full-day kindergarten,
• voluntary national standards and expanded accountability measures;
• connecting all students to postsecondary opportunities;
• more help for low-performing schools and school construction;
• higher teacher pay and more equitable distribution of highly skilled teachers; and
• community schools that offer services for struggling families.
For the full report, see www.americanprogress.org.
Communications tool helps school leaders
• The Learning First Alliance has updated and expanded its Practical Guide to Promoting America’s Public Schools.
The guide, available free of charge at www. learningfirst.org, is designed to help educators and policymakers promote the value of public schools to parents and the public. The Learning First Alliance is a partnership of 11 leading education associations, including NSBA.