Carney's Commentary

Straight A’s Alliance for Excellent Education, Vol. 5, No.4 (Feb. 28, 2005)
Report on Summit on High Schools. Forty-five governors met with educators and business leaders. Secretary Margaret Spellings addressed the summit and “remarked on the similarities between the agenda and President Bush’s planned initiative.” Bill Gates also addressed the summit with a speech that included the 3 r’s: Rigor, Relevance, and Relationships. Six partner foundations announced a $42 million initiative to ensure the summit’s call to overhaul the nation’s high school system translates into action. Thirteen states that have over 1/3 of the nation’s students. The American Diploma Network (ADP) will be managed by Achieve, Inc. www.achieve.org

p.3, It is reported that there is now a 71% graduation rate (with regular diplomas) and a 34% college-readiness rate. Thirty-four percent of those who entered 9th grade left with a regular diploma and “abilities and qualifications to even apply to a 4-year college.”
The report: Public High School Graduation and College-Readiness Rates: 1991-2002. The 6 highest (in 80 % bracket): NJ,IA,WI,ND,MN,NE. Lowest (50%):SC,GA,TN,AL,AK,FL

Phi Delta Kappan March 2005, Vol.86, No.7
Washington Commentary: ManaTEENs (Florida) have 10,000 teens in southwestern Florida who have helped 37,000 “elders” to live independently. Many elders have
“returned” as AmeriCorps VISTA volunteers. Civic engagement through service. Lutheran Social Services of Minnesota reports that the state spends $890 million a year on nursing home care and only $90 on “independent” care, thus, “Where do elders want to be?” (Service learning)

p.489, Intuitive Test Theory. Intuitive physics vs ‘formal’ physics. “Perhaps the best way to bring home the concept of ‘noise’ in test scores is to administer multiple tests and let people see for themselves the surprisingly large differences that result.” Phenomenological primitives (p-prims) are discussed at length.
p.498, Textbook Publishing. “The influence of politically motivated interest groups and the impact of adoption states results in high-cost, instructionally confused, and content-poor textbooks.”