Congressional Arrogance

I think the tort reform problem is the liberal/lawyer axis.

Dennis Kucinich has sued the House restaurant for $150,000 because he broke a tooth on an olive pit.

I’ll bet most of us have broken a tooth on some commercial food, and I’ll bet NONE OF US has sued for $150,000!

Congressional teeth are, of course worth more, and their @@@@ doesn’t stink, either.

So, Why The Liberal Silence on Public Education?

Here is my guess: Public education is the center piece of liberalism —  their demonstration that government works.

Well it may do so in some states, and in those states liberals can brag about it — but it does not work in others and in those states the liberals go SILENT.

Every year, I publish a column bothin my newspapers and in the NC Times on the really poor results of the National Report card for California: writing, reading, math, science…the subject makes no difference, the state standing is the same.

But the subject is never picked up by the San Diego Union, of the LA Times, of the Chronicle…because, well, it does not look very good.

Amtrak and the Post Office are universally identified as failures — but nothing, absolutely nothing looks as bad as public education and nothing is so large.

Think anyone wants to say that? Not on your tin-type!

Oh, there will be articles by the AP, like the one in today’s paper. Generic articles that do not mention California and Mississippi in the same sentence.

And, if the liberals mention the problem, they would have to face the problem of illegal aliens, and English Language Learners…

For liberals, better for California liberals to just ignore the problem.

(They do.)

Bad, Bad Situation

The National Report Card, produced by the US Department of Education, is out with their scores for science in 2009. The National Report Card tested approximately 150,000 students in 9,000 schools nationwide, and as you know, Gallup seldom uses more than 2,000 in their surveys, so the National Report card has great statistical relevance.

In general, nationally: 34% of Fourth Graders, 30% of Eighth Graders and 21% of 12 Graders performed at or above the “proficient” level. This is why, internationally, the United States stands behind Hong Kong, Singapore, Chinese Taipei,  Japan, Kazakhstan, Russian Federation, England, Latvia.

(http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2008-12-09-math-sci-scores_N.htm).

There is a statistical breakdown of states.. There is also a breakdown by states by free lunches, disabilities, ethnicity, English learners, and several other categories – and this year 12 Graders were added, but the 12th graders were underrepresented in the testing (only 11,000, or so), and there was no breakdown by state.

This, however is a quote about the test scores for each grade Science:

 

For Fourth Grade, Science:

 

“ In 2009, the average score in California was lower than those in 43 states/jurisdictions higher than that in 0 states/jurisdictions not significantly different from those in 3 states/jurisdictions”

“in 2009, the average score in California was lower than those in 43 states/jurisdictions higher than that in 1 state/jurisdiction not significantly different from that in 7 states/jurisdictions “

You might think that 43rd is an improvement over previous years 47th average ranking in reading, writing, math…but, as the Hertz ad says, “Not exactly.’ This time, in math, we actually were worse at 43 because four states and the District of Columbia did not participate!

Here are the raw scores for the bottom five states in the nation in science in 2009, uncorrected for race, ethnicity, economic status, one blue-eye-one brown-eye, etc., etc:

 

 

(Bottom Five States 4th Grade Public Schools)

Nevada (140.7)

Hawaii (139.7)

(Arizona (137.5)

California (136.2)

Mississippi (132.0)

 

 

(Bottom Five States 8th Grade)

 

Louisiana (139.1)

Alabama (138.6)

Hawaii (138.5)

California (136.6)

Mississippi (132.0)

Just for comparison, the top five states at the fourth grade level are  New Hampshire, Virginia, North Dakota, Kentucky and Massachusetts. At the eighth grade level, the top states are North Dakota, Montana. Department of Defense Schools, South Dakota and New Hampshire.

http://nationsreportcard.gov

Having viewed the Hawaii school system for years, I am stunned that we can’t even beat Hawaii, not to mention that in science we lag behind Louisiana and Alabama.

Now, if you want to rationalize the numbers, you can go to the website and check on many different variables, but the overall numbers speak for themselves.

In science, white students outperform Latino students who outperform Black students. Students in wealthy school districts outperform those in low economic status, and males outperform females.  (But, Black females outperformed Black males, only at the fourth and eighth grades, just not at the 12th grade level.)

For many years I have pondered over the reason that the California national standing in education does not cause outrage among families in this state, and I still do not have an answer.