Post by lilly on Jun 3, 2009 9:06:10 GMT -5
Check out NY's overall grade of C comprised of rigorous standards (A), return on investment (D) with data quality and truth in advertising for student proficiency at C's. Scroll over the map to NY to get all the details.
_____________________
www.uschamber.com/icw/reportcard/default
Overview
Report Card Home
The United States in the 21st century faces unprecedented economic and social challenges, ranging from the forces of global competition to the impending retirement of 77 million baby boomers. Succeeding in this new era will require our children to be prepared for the intellectual demands of the modern workplace and a far more complex society. Yet the evidence indicates that our country is not ready. Despite decades of reform efforts and many trillions of dollars in public investment, U.S. schools are not equipping our children with the skills and knowledge they-and the nation-so badly need.
It has been nearly a quarter century since the seminal report A Nation at Risk was issued in 1983. Since that time, a knowledge-based economy has emerged, the Internet has reshaped commerce and communication,
The measures of our educational shortcomings are stark indeed; most 4th and 8th graders are not proficient in either reading or mathematics.
exemplars of creative commerce like Microsoft, eBay, and Southwest Airlines have revolutionized the way we live, and the global economy has undergone wrenching change. Throughout that period, education spending has steadily increased and rafts of well-intentioned school reforms have come and gone. But student achievement has remained stagnant, and our K-12 schools have stayed remarkably unchanged-preserving, as if in amber, the routines, culture, and operations of an obsolete 1930s manufacturing plant.
The measures of our educational shortcomings are stark indeed; most 4th and 8th graders are not proficient in either reading or mathematics. Only about two-thirds of all 9th graders graduate from high school within four years. And those students who do receive diplomas are too often unprepared for college or the modern workplace.
Despite such grim data, for too long the business community has been willing to leave education to the politicians and the educators-standing aside and contenting itself with offers of money, support, and goodwill. But each passing year makes it clear that more, much more, is needed. America's dynamic, immensely productive private sector is the envy of the world. Are there ways in which business expertise, dynamism, accountability, and problem solving could improve our schools? What would a business plan for reform include?
With these questions in mind, last year the U.S. Chamber of Commerce launched an effort to dig deeper into the nation's educational effectiveness.
We decided on the following goal: to grade all 50 states and Washington, DC, on their K-12 school systems in order to identify both leaders and laggards in the tough business of school performance.
We began with the premise that national statistics, while important for sketching the challenges ahead, mask tremendous variations in educational outcomes and delivery from state to state. It is the states, after all, that are ultimately responsible-both constitutionally and practically-for the quality of schooling. We decided on the following goal: to grade all 50 states and Washington, DC, on their K-12 school systems in order to identify both leaders and laggards in the tough business of school performance.
Recognizing the complexity of this task, the Chamber assembled a team of national experts to aggregate and analyze existing state-by-state data and to use that data to construct innovative measures, including evaluating the relationship between spending and student achievement. Our principal partners were the Center for American Progress, a research and educational institute led by former White House Chief of Staff John Podesta; and Frederick M. Hess, Director of Education Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. The Chamber and its partners did not set out to conduct new research; we organized and analyzed existing evidence to inform and promote reform efforts across the nation.
We also shared our data and methodology with an outside panel of academic experts: Dan Goldhaber, Research Associate Professor of Public Affairs at the University of Washington; Richard Ingersoll, Professor of Education and Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania; and Susanna Loeb, Associate Professor of Education and Business at Stanford University.
The panel reviewed and provided helpful feedback on our methodology. However, the Chamber takes sole responsibility for the final determination of methodology and therefore the resulting state grades.
Our effort to evaluate the states is not the first such undertaking. In the past two decades, a range of groups have graded the states on education on numerous occasions. The most notable of these evaluations is perhaps the one issued by the newspaper Education Week in its annual Quality Counts report, with other evaluations that weigh various aspects of state systems issued by groups as diverse as the Education Commission of the States, the American Federation of Teachers, the Data Quality Campaign, the quarterly journal Education Next, the Education Trust, and the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation.
Only about two-thirds of all 9th graders graduate from high school within four years. And those students who do receive diplomas are too often unprepared for college or the modern workplace.
Where our project differs from previous efforts is its emphasis on coupling a focus on academic outcomes with attention to key business metrics: innovation, flexibility, management, and fiscal prudence.
The indicators used in this report, in other words, draw upon and reflect the business expertise of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and its members. We focused on the performance measures vital to competently operating-and improving-complex organizations in any sector. To our knowledge, for example, this is the first national report that has examined each state's return on its educational investments. Where most previous report cards have focused primarily on inputs in terms of spending or regulations, this report card reflects our premise that American education should be accountable, rigorous, innovative-and focused on achievement.
The Chamber and its partners firmly believe that the traits that have long made the American private sector an engine of global prosperity-its dynamism, creativity, and relentless focus on efficiency and results-are essential to tapping the potential of our educators and schools. It is this understanding that informs and shapes this report.
_____________________
www.uschamber.com/icw/reportcard/default
Overview
Report Card Home
The United States in the 21st century faces unprecedented economic and social challenges, ranging from the forces of global competition to the impending retirement of 77 million baby boomers. Succeeding in this new era will require our children to be prepared for the intellectual demands of the modern workplace and a far more complex society. Yet the evidence indicates that our country is not ready. Despite decades of reform efforts and many trillions of dollars in public investment, U.S. schools are not equipping our children with the skills and knowledge they-and the nation-so badly need.
It has been nearly a quarter century since the seminal report A Nation at Risk was issued in 1983. Since that time, a knowledge-based economy has emerged, the Internet has reshaped commerce and communication,
The measures of our educational shortcomings are stark indeed; most 4th and 8th graders are not proficient in either reading or mathematics.
exemplars of creative commerce like Microsoft, eBay, and Southwest Airlines have revolutionized the way we live, and the global economy has undergone wrenching change. Throughout that period, education spending has steadily increased and rafts of well-intentioned school reforms have come and gone. But student achievement has remained stagnant, and our K-12 schools have stayed remarkably unchanged-preserving, as if in amber, the routines, culture, and operations of an obsolete 1930s manufacturing plant.
The measures of our educational shortcomings are stark indeed; most 4th and 8th graders are not proficient in either reading or mathematics. Only about two-thirds of all 9th graders graduate from high school within four years. And those students who do receive diplomas are too often unprepared for college or the modern workplace.
Despite such grim data, for too long the business community has been willing to leave education to the politicians and the educators-standing aside and contenting itself with offers of money, support, and goodwill. But each passing year makes it clear that more, much more, is needed. America's dynamic, immensely productive private sector is the envy of the world. Are there ways in which business expertise, dynamism, accountability, and problem solving could improve our schools? What would a business plan for reform include?
With these questions in mind, last year the U.S. Chamber of Commerce launched an effort to dig deeper into the nation's educational effectiveness.
We decided on the following goal: to grade all 50 states and Washington, DC, on their K-12 school systems in order to identify both leaders and laggards in the tough business of school performance.
We began with the premise that national statistics, while important for sketching the challenges ahead, mask tremendous variations in educational outcomes and delivery from state to state. It is the states, after all, that are ultimately responsible-both constitutionally and practically-for the quality of schooling. We decided on the following goal: to grade all 50 states and Washington, DC, on their K-12 school systems in order to identify both leaders and laggards in the tough business of school performance.
Recognizing the complexity of this task, the Chamber assembled a team of national experts to aggregate and analyze existing state-by-state data and to use that data to construct innovative measures, including evaluating the relationship between spending and student achievement. Our principal partners were the Center for American Progress, a research and educational institute led by former White House Chief of Staff John Podesta; and Frederick M. Hess, Director of Education Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. The Chamber and its partners did not set out to conduct new research; we organized and analyzed existing evidence to inform and promote reform efforts across the nation.
We also shared our data and methodology with an outside panel of academic experts: Dan Goldhaber, Research Associate Professor of Public Affairs at the University of Washington; Richard Ingersoll, Professor of Education and Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania; and Susanna Loeb, Associate Professor of Education and Business at Stanford University.
The panel reviewed and provided helpful feedback on our methodology. However, the Chamber takes sole responsibility for the final determination of methodology and therefore the resulting state grades.
Our effort to evaluate the states is not the first such undertaking. In the past two decades, a range of groups have graded the states on education on numerous occasions. The most notable of these evaluations is perhaps the one issued by the newspaper Education Week in its annual Quality Counts report, with other evaluations that weigh various aspects of state systems issued by groups as diverse as the Education Commission of the States, the American Federation of Teachers, the Data Quality Campaign, the quarterly journal Education Next, the Education Trust, and the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation.
Only about two-thirds of all 9th graders graduate from high school within four years. And those students who do receive diplomas are too often unprepared for college or the modern workplace.
Where our project differs from previous efforts is its emphasis on coupling a focus on academic outcomes with attention to key business metrics: innovation, flexibility, management, and fiscal prudence.
The indicators used in this report, in other words, draw upon and reflect the business expertise of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and its members. We focused on the performance measures vital to competently operating-and improving-complex organizations in any sector. To our knowledge, for example, this is the first national report that has examined each state's return on its educational investments. Where most previous report cards have focused primarily on inputs in terms of spending or regulations, this report card reflects our premise that American education should be accountable, rigorous, innovative-and focused on achievement.
The Chamber and its partners firmly believe that the traits that have long made the American private sector an engine of global prosperity-its dynamism, creativity, and relentless focus on efficiency and results-are essential to tapping the potential of our educators and schools. It is this understanding that informs and shapes this report.