Two very recent reports from The Brookings Institution: Do School Districts Matter? and School Districts and Student Achievement (Technical Paper) attempt to create a dialog on this topic. The former document states that: “When we turn from policies that assume the importance of school districts to empirical evidence on their impact, we move from a rich to a sparse landscape.”(5) The report examines school districts in Florida and North Carolina, posits questions, explains caveats, and delineates limitations of the study. It concludes: “…differences between school districts in effectiveness are large enough at the extremes to represent more than a half-year difference in schooling.”(17) The technical paper supplies a more formulaic version of the research involved. An important read as the 14,000 school districts in this country are the recipients of $500 billion in funding annually.
Archive for March, 2013
How Much Are Baseball Teams Worth? What Are Players Paid?
A lot. Not surprisingly, the Yankess top the list at $2.3 billion. For a listing of the other teams and the rationale behind the valuations, please come here. On a related note, come here to find out ballplayers’ salaries.
Transcripts and Audio Files of Oral Arguments Before the Supreme Court
All oral arguments before the Supreme Court are now readily available on the Court’s website. You can retrieve both a printed transcript of the arguments as well as audio files. And these are made availavle within 24 hours. For example; the arguments on March 26 dealing with same-sex marriage are already online. SCOTUSblog maintains a Twitter feed on the arguments as well as providing fabulous secondary coverage; i.e., links to various other sources. C-SPAN also provides an audio feed.
New Jersey Takes Over Camden School District
For the fourth time in history and for the first time during the Christie administration, the state is taking over the supervision of a school district – Camden. This administrative order initiates the process in a school district that is consistently failing its students and details the poor showings in many assessment tools and tests; this document states that: “The District as a whole exhibits a lack of leadership and mismanagment.”(7) A state intervention plan has already been drawn up. Here is the press release from the Governor’s office; a video of his announcement is also available from NJTV. Analysis and news coverage is at: NJ Spotlight, The Star-Ledger, CNN, and PolitickerNJ
Mayor Healy and Councilman Fulop on the Radio Today
Both of these candidates will appear this morning on the Brian Lehrer Show. if you can’t listen live, consult the show’s archives.
“Hispanic” Just Doesn’t Mean Cuban, Mexican, or Puerto Rican
Nor can we lump all Hispanics together; each culture has a unique voice and perspective. According to the 2010 Census, while Hudson County has an Hispanic population of 42%, only 3.5% are Mexican, 8.9% hail from Puerto Rico, and Cuban accounts for 4.5%. The other 25.7% are from elsewhere such as the Dominican Republic, and Central and South America. These latter three groups form what is known as the “New Latinos.” A timely report – Hispanics in the United States: Not Only Mexican – from Brown University provides an overview of this topic with charts and statistics to buttress its argument.(On page four of this report will be found population estimates of all Hispanic groups.) Another place to find a plethora of information is the highly-regarded Pew Hispanic Center, and one should not ignore the excellent work of the Migration Policy Institute.
Video Lectures on the Civil War
C-SPAN’s American History TV presents an ongoing series of presentations on a vast array of Civil War topics from emancipation to naval technology. Each lecture is presented by an historian or scholar; additional informational links are presented in a sidebar. There are almost one hundred lectures available and while they vary in length, most last at least an hour. Venues range from the New-York Historical Society to the Smithsonian. YouTube hosts Yale Courses on The Civil War and Reconstruction(27 videos); the Virginia Historical Society has audio/video lectures on diverse Civil War topics; Echoes of the Civil War video series was presented at Augustana College; dozens of lectures by distinguished scholars can be viewed at Civil War Multimedia from the Gilder Lehrmann Institute for American History; and Lowell Lecture Series: Remembering the Civil War from Boston Public Library highlights half a dozen presentations by experts on this conflict.
Fifteen Indicators of Health Released by the CDC
This report – Early Release of Selected Estimates Based on Data From the January–September 2012 National Health Interview Survey – tracks fifteen measures of well-being from 1997 until September 2012. Among the areas examined are: lack of health insurance, diagnosed diabetes, alcohol consumption, and obesity. Each indicator is accompanied by charts and statistics. The bibliography is replete with links.
Online Primary Sources for American History: The Iraq War
As we mark the 10th anniversary of this war, there are primary sources readily available. The National Security Archive has published three compilations of documents, each one accompanied by an essay that places the sources in context. These are government reports, notes and briefings, some secured under the Freedom of Information Act. The three collections are: The Iraq War–Part I: The U.S. Prepares for Conflict, 2001; The Iraq War–Part II: Was There Even a Decision?; and The Iraq War Ten Years After. The George W Bush volumes of the Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States contain messages, remarks, speeches, letters of transmittal, writings, and addresses generated while performing his duties as President. The American Presidency Project also contains the Public Papers and includes many YouTube videos of his addresses. The CIA site offers access to testimony and speeches. Archived news coverage is at Media and Iraq while C-SPAN provides hundreds of Congressional hearings and programming on Iraq. Interviews with Iraq War veterans can be found at the Veterans History Project and The New York Times section A War, Before and After.
Two Percent of School-aged Children Have Autism
According to this just-released report – Changes in Prevalence of Parent-reported Autism Spectrum Disorder in School-aged U.S. Children: 2007 to 2011-12 – the increase was greater with boys and with adolescents 14-17. Figures and tables accompany the report. Previous blog entries on autism are available.
U.S. Students Show Significant Improvements on International Tests
The latest findings from the 2011 TIMSS and the 2011 PIRLS indicate that U.S. students have made great strides in improving their performance. Of course, work needs to continue so that U.S. students lead the world and not just run with the pack. The above links direct you to the NCES pages for the U.S. highlights. The complete international reports in math, reading, and science can be accessed here. Over a million children from almost fifty countries participated in these tests that are given at five-year intervals. Of additional value are the profiles of the educational systems in each of the countries where the testing took place. Both the TIMSS Encyclopedia and the PIRLS Encyclopedia present country chapters detailing the structure of the education system; the math, reading, and science instruction in the primary grades; teacher education requirements, and teacher assessment. For example, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Finland, Poland, and the Slovak Republic require teachers to have a master’s degree. An informative, readable overview is found in the 2013 Brown Center Report on American Education: How Well Are American Students Learning?
National Security Reports – March 2013 Update
Lawfulness of a Lethal Operation Directed Against a U.S. Citizen Who Is a Senior Organizational Leader of Al Qa’ida or an Associated Force (US Department of Justice); Security Engineering, 2d ed (John Wiley); Year of the Drone (New America); Economic Security: Neglected Dimension of National Security? (National Defense University); Trafficking in Persons: U.S. Policy and Issues for Congress (CRS); Border Security: Understanding Threats at U.S. Borders (CRS); and Terrorism (ongoing series from PBS).
Decades’ Worth of U.S. Economic Data in One Place
Accompanying the 2013 Economic Report of the President are dozens of tables tracking economic development over the past decades. From “corporate profits by industry, 1964-2012” to “new housing starts, 1967-2012” to “national income by type of income, 1964-2012,” these compilations provide the researcher with authoritative numbers from various governmental departments such as the Census Bureau, the Department of Labor, and the Federal Reserve. And they can all be found in one publication! In addition, economic reports back to 1947 are accessible online; they, too, offer a glance at the past. For example, the 1947 report carries economic data dating to 1929. For a years-long snapshot of the U.S. economy along many axes, this would be a great place to start.
What Are MOOCs?
“A massively open online course (MOOC) is a model for delivering learning content online to virtually any person—and as many of them—who wants to take the course. Course activities can be scheduled or asynchronous, and a fluid structure is valuable because students can choose their level of participation and many will do so in an à la carte manner. A MOOC throws open the doors of a course and invites anyone to enter, resulting in a new learning dynamic.” (7 Things You Should Know About MOOCs) Currently, most MOOCs are not taken for credit and students are charged little or no fees. And in many cases, the courses are offered by non-higher education institutions. But MOOCs may become a game-changer in the not-too-distant future. In California, Senate Bill 520 would allow students to take faculty-approved MOOCs and receive credit for them from their home institutions. This is in response to the gutting of education funding in California and the resulting inability of students to register for their oversubscribed gateway courses, thereby prolonging their college stay. Up to 50 courses considered gateway classes will be in this program. Faculty members would scour MOOC providers, evaluate their offerings in light of these 50 courses, approve them, and allow students to take them for college credit. More information can be found here: California Bill Seeks College Credit for Online Courses (The New York Times); Outsourcing Public Higher Ed (insidehighered); MOOCs (Chronicle of Higher Education); Five Courses Receive College Credit Recommendations[from the American Council on Education](Coursera); and Massive Open Onlince Courses, aka MOOCs, Transform Higher Education and Science (Scientific American). Lastly, this EDUCAUSE site provides a wealth on information on MOOCs.
Biography of Pope Francis I
Here are some reliable sources: Time, Politico, Biography.com, NPR, The Washington Post, National Catholic Reporter, The New York Times and the BBC.
A New Pope Has Been Elected
He will appear before the crowd in about an hour. This New York Times link will give you updated information as will the National Catholic Reporter.
Why the Neanderthal Disappeared
If anyone is interested in reading the latest theory as to the demise of the Neanderthal, please read New insights into differences in brain organization between Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans found in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 280 (#1758, March 13, 2013). This news release from the Society offers a good overview. For other theories, please look at What Happened to the Neanderthals from Nature.
Papal Succession in the Catholic Church
This “backgrounder” from the Council on Foreign Relations answers many questions both Catholics and non-Catholics have about this topic. Among the queries are: how is the pope elected and what are the foreign policy duties of the pope. Answers provide links to authoritative sources (including in-depth biographies of the main candidates or papabile), and it ends with a brief list of relevant links. A really good place to get valuable information.
Immigration Trends in the United States
This recent CRS report – U.S. Immigration Policy: Chart Book of Key Trends – identifies major developments that have occurred over time with regards to both immigration and immigration policies. Charts and graphs, some covering 100 years, asssist in understanding this complex process. Another excellent site is the Migration Policy Institute’s U.S. Immigration, Borders, and Security section that features The Fundamentals of Immigration Reform. Other sites, some offering differing perspectives, include: Brookings’ Institution Immigration with its informative State of Metropolitan America Indicator Map highlighting immigration trends in the 100 largest metro areas and in all 50 states; Migration at the Rand Corporation; Immigration from the Wilson Institute; Center for Immigration Studies; Pew Hispanic Center and its brief report – A Nation of Immigrants; National Council of La Raza; Federation for American Immigration Reform; and the Urban Institute.
2012/2013 Higher Education Faculty Salaries by Discipline
This report from the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources – Faculty in Higher Education (Four-Year Institutions) Salary Survey – based on responses from hundreds of institutions, shows the median salary at the different ranks of professorship as well as providing breakdowns by tenure and discipline. These are aggregate numbers; universities are not listed by name but the information is pooled into the aforementioned groupings. While one expects salary differentials among the various ranks, it is quite revealing to see the salaries paid according to discipline.
Congressman Frank J. Guarini Library Blog 