What’s churning:
Updated – Only 24 percent of students who took the ACT test last spring met college readiness benchmarks in all four subjects tested, the testing company reported today. That number has fluctuated between 22 and 23 percent over the last three years.
In Colorado, 23 percent of students met the readiness benchmark.
The numbers of minority students taking the test has grown dramatically in the last five years, including an 84 percent growth in Hispanic students and a 55 percent jump in black students. But only 11 percent of Hispanics and 4 percent of blacks met the readiness standard nationwide. (For more information, check this EdWeek article and read the ACT’s detailed report on Colorado.)
Remember the $10 billion “Edujobs” bill President Obama signed last week, intended to prevent layoffs and rehire laid-off teachers? Well, according to The New York Times, some districts are planning to hold on to their share of the money for a while, rather than rehiring teachers now. The rationale? “With the economic outlook weakening, (districts) argue that big deficits are looming for the next academic year and that they need to preserve the funds to prevent future layoffs,” the Times reports. “Los Angeles, for example, is projecting a $280 million budget shortfall next year that could threaten more jobs.”
On tap today:
Adams 12 Five Star Schools resume classes today. And the Adams 12 school board meets at 6:30 p.m at the Educational Support Center, 1500 E. 128th Ave. in Thornton. Here’s the agenda.
Good reads from elsewhere:
- ACT down: ACT scores dipped across the nation, even as college readiness improved marginally.
- Digitize it: Two former governors want digital education to go more mainstream.
- Rich get richer: Families in affluent neighborhoods file more claims for special education reimbursements.
- Dinging Westwood: Denver-based, for-profit Westwood College is hit with a federal lawsuit.