By Krista Kafer krista555@msn.com The Rocky Mountain News and Denver Post were full of stories this week about mistakes, blunders, and all around poor performance in the public education sector. From missing money, to fishy figures, to poor choices and lost opportunities, K-12 education and higher education had a tough week in the papers.
Got kids? Pay taxes? Check this out
By Krista Kafer Got kids? Do they attend Colorado public schools? You’ll want to see this. Pay taxes? You better look, too. Last week the Colorado Department of Education released School Report Cards for the 2004-2005 school year. Each Colorado school receives a rating of ““Excellent,” “High,” “Average,” “Low,” and “Unsatisfactory” based on achievement data and other school characteristics. The report also states whether student year-to-year achievement as measured by Colorado Student Assessment Program test scores, is improving or declining. The reports also provide a wealth of information beyond CSAP data.
Frosty must make room
By Krista Kafer krista555@msn.com If you’re hitting the malls on Friday for the big post-Thanksgiving Day shopping spree, you may get a “Merry Christmas” with your purchase, but then again you may not. Some stores, it seems, insist their employees use the colorless phrase “Happy Holidays” instead.
And at school, if you’re looking forward to hearing those sweet young voices sing age-old songs at your child’s annual pageant, you may not hear the word Christmas at all. You’ll wait patiently through a string of vapid mid-19th Century jingles and a few songs about Kwanzaa and Hanukkah, and then you’ll head home mystified and a little hollow. What holiday is this?
Is college really necessary?
By Brian Ochsner baochsner@aol.com This question may sound like heresy to teachers and parents today. However, the more I think about the answer, the more it isn’t "yes."
Hard thinking needed on higher ed
By Jim Windham txpilgrim@houston.rr.com>a/> "We have a responsibility," according to US Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, "to make sure our higher education system continues to meet our nation’s needs for an educated and competitive workforce for the 21st century." In this excerpt from the announcement of the Secretary’s appointment of a commission to study and make recommendations on the future of American higher education, I have emphasized "educated" because, while we are appropriately very concerned with our nation’s competitive strength, its research and technological leadership, and providing its succeeding generations with the tools to excel in a globalized environment, we should also be concerned with the education of our youth, properly understood.