A new US Census news release says, “A larger percentage of foreign-born than native-born residents had a master’s degree or higher in 2007, according to a new report from the U.S. Census Bureau. Nationally, 11 percent of foreign-born — people from another country now living in the United States — and 10 percent of U.S.-born…
Data from the Tax Foundation out today suggests sending more money to Frankfort won’t solve the state’s spending problem. From Fiscal Year 2007’s actual state operating revenue of $21.5 billion to Fiscal Year 2008’s estimated state operating revenue of $25 billion, Kentucky’s revenue growth was higher than every other state in the nation except Louisiana.…
If we start fining parents for no-showing teacher meetings, it’s easy to see how we will need to expand the school bureaucracy. A school official would have to be brought in to hear appeals and a low-income fund would have to be set up to pay fines for poor parents. Then we would surely need…
A couple of days ago I posted “NAEP – Beware Those Pesky Cautions” with some interesting data on how our kids’ performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress looks after you separate data for Whites and Blacks. I have now had a chance to run some statistical significance tests on the White eighth grade…
Andy Hightower at the Kentucky Club for Growth suggests the hand-wringing about the state budget “shortfall” may be off base by almost $200 million. “Let’s say January is a precursor and state revenues remain down 4% for the next five months,” Hightower wrote. “That would leave the state with a $277 million shortfall, only 60%…
The National Council on Teacher Quality recently released “No Common Denominator,” a report on the preparation of elementary school teachers to teach mathematics. The report lists five standards that “would be the mark of a high quality program of teacher training.” Standard #3 is catching attention in some national Listservs that deal with mathematics issues.…
Earlier today, I posted a blog about a Position Paper on Assessment from the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE). That paper deals with changing the state’s CATS accountability system. That first Blog focused on the fact that while the KDE’s news article says the Kentucky Board of Education “released” this paper, in reality the board…
Several state House and Senate members will join representatives of the Kentucky Club for Growth and Bluegrass Institute Tuesday morning at 9:30 am in the Capitol Rotunda for a press conference to discuss why giving the state more money right now isn’t the best idea. Senate President Pro Tem Katie Stine will be one of…
Like it or not, Senate Bill 1, which makes extensive revisions to Kentucky’s CATS public school assessment program, is stirring a lot of discussion. It just triggered a mistake over at the Kentucky Department of Education. Senate Bill 1 is likely to pass in the Senate this week. In a possible attempt to forestall that,…
Kentucky’s biggest growth industry got a boost today from last year’s bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Gov. Steve Beshear and Lexington Mayor Jim Newberry joined Kentucky Housing Corporation CEO Richard McQuady to celebrate receipt of a $1.5 million federal grant to “help” 2200 subprime borrowers with their troubled home loans. Can’t imagine $681.81…