It’s no surprise that the voice of educational opportunity is spreading and growing louder as part of the Occupy Wall Street movement.
Education has always been the bridge to prosperity and opportunity for Americans. And it still is: The unemployment rate for college graduates is less than half what it is for non-college graduates.
But the nation seems to have forgotten this.
No classroom factor is more important in the success of students than teachers. Unfortunately, that message often gets lost in today’s education debates.
Putting young people in jail – particularly for nonviolent offenses – is a failed strategy, according to a new report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation that relied on decades of research and data. The report's most scathing findings include that youth incarceration does not reduce future offending; provides no overall benefit to public safety; wastes taxpayer dollars; and exposes youth to high levels of violence and abuse.
Putting young people in jail – particularly for nonviolent offenses – is a failed strategy, according to a new report from the Annie E.
Schools have long been inundated with rules that stifle sensible practice and ostracize the professionals who work in them. Up until the 1950s, married women in St. Louis were banned from teaching, and in Chicago if a teacher even looked pregnant she was ushered from the classroom. Since their inception, teachers unions have worked to abolish ordinances like these and address the shameful history of how teachers have been treated.
Here's an important question: What sector of public employees recently received a 71 percent approval rating from its core constituents? If you said elected officials, well, you are wrong.
Give up?
Schools are receiving less state funding than last year in at least 37 states, and in at least 30 states school funding now stands below 2008 levels -- often far below. These cuts are attributable to the failure of the federal government to extend emergency fiscal aid to states and school districts and the failure of most states to enact needed revenue increases and instead to balance their budgets solely through spending cuts.
This report looks at America's Pre-K-12 public schools -- from the perspective of what Americans are reading and hearing in their local newspapers and media broadcasts. Sifting through these on-the-ground accounts revealed that there is indeed a growing crisis in America's public schools that hinges on two factors: state austerity budgets that cut funds from services to students and families, and new policies redirecting tax dollars meant for public schools to charters.
At the Edge finds that 80 percent of the districts surveyed eliminated teaching positions and more than half were forced to increase class sizes as a result of the state's $1.3 billion cut. It's plain and simple, school cuts HURT. The hurt is even greater because New York students are being robbed of learning opportunities as part of a budget pushed by Gov. Cuomo that gives millionaires a $5 billion tax break. Read and share the report. Stay informed. New York's example can't be repeated in other states.
This report, released by The Pew Center on the States, urges our nation’s policymakers to move our public education from a K-12 to a Pre-K-12 system. The report outlines how starting children earlier will be more effective in developing the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in school.
