May 2009 Archives

Here it is:

A straight fence is to be constructed from posts 6 inches wide and separated by lengths of chain 5 feet long. If a certain fence begins and ends with a post, which of the following could not be the length of the fence in feet? (12 inches = 1 foot)

A. 17
B. 28
C. 35
D. 39
E. 50

Although saying that preschool is beneficial for students, Rand Corp. researchers say that many California pre-schoolers are not high-quality program, according to this story in Oakland Tribune. An excerpt:

In the final report of a series examining the state of California preschools, researchers recommend that the state improve the efficiency of its education systems, broaden access, raise standards and strengthen the regulation of state-subsidized programs. The report also suggests that California create recognition systems -- such as a 1-to-5 rating scale or monetary rewards -- that would encourage all licensed providers to improve their services.

Providers currently have little incentive to exceed California's standards, which are weak compared with those in other states, researchers concluded.

From KCBS comes this story about a controversy in the Alameda Unified School District. The debate is over whether the district should adopt lesson plans for children to reduce bullying due to gay and lesbian stereotypes. An excerpt:

District leaders could decide Tuesday night whether to adopt a series of lesson plans meant to reduce bullying, connected to gay and lesbian stereotypes. The lessons would begin in kindergarten and continue through the fifth grade. They cover teasing, stereotypes and even include a story about two same-sex penguins.

The proposed curriculum has created an emotional firestorm among parents. Hundreds packed a public meeting last week.

Another personal grooming controversy at a school, this time in Kansas and dealing with a faux-hawk. An excerpt from the story

The school still didn't like it and had a staff member who was licensed to cut hair shaved Derby's head. His parents said the action was taken without their permiss."

Derby's father, Jesten McReynolds, says they let students have various shapes in their hair the rest of the year that could draw just as much attention. He and other family members said it seems unfair they won't let him wear his hair how he wants. They're also upset the shaving was done without their permissions.

Here's an odd story from Ohio, published in the Cleveland Plain-Dealer. A 28-year-old school board member, who lives with his parents, lashed out after his father told him to "clean his room," leading to the police being called to the house. An excerpt:

It's odd enough that a Bedford father would actually call police after arguing with his son about cleaning his room. Stranger still, the sloppy son is 28 years old and serves on the Bedford school board.

"I know this looks bad," said school board member Andrew Mizsak, who lives with his parents and works as a political consultant. His mother, Paula, is a Bedford councilwoman.Mizsak's dad, also named Andrew, called 9-1-1 on Thursday after his son threw a plate of food across the kitchen table and balled his fist up at his dad when told to clean his room. The senior Mizsak wouldn't press charges and told police, "I don't want to ruin his political career."

..... According to the report, "Andrew was sent to his room to clean it. He was crying uncontrollably and stated he would comply."

This interesting Associated Press "Fact Check" article looks at some of the claims that people make frequently about international comparisons, saying that U.S. kids test worse than other countries, spend less time in school and have a lower graduation rate. According to the AP, statistics tell a more complicated story, with U.S. performance - although not absolutely stellar - comparing more favorably than some education critics assume. An excerpt:

"The U.S. does trail the most high-achieving countries, mostly developed nations in Asia such as Singapore, Taiwan and Japan. But the U.S. holds its own in the group that comes next, a group of developed countries that, depending on the test, includes England, Germany and Russia. In fact, the U.S. has gained on some of its toughest competitors since 1995, making bigger strides in math than Singapore and Japan, and in science than Japan."

For the sake of adherence to the "spirit" of the question, please don't use calculators. Here's the question. To see the answer, click on the comments button.

Tom, Dick and Harry went for lunch to a restaurant. Tom had $100 with him, Dick had $60 and Harry had $40. They got a bill for $104 and decided to give a tip of $16. They further decided to share the total expenses in the ratio of the amounts of money each carried. The amount of money which Tom paid more than what Harry paid is:

A) 120
B) 200
C) 60
D) 24
E) 36

Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder who are given stimulant drug treatments performed better on standardized tests than ADHD students not taking the medicines, according to a story reported here. An excerpt:

"We're not promoting drugs as the answer. But we did find medication does improve standardized math and reading scores in the long term," said Richard Scheffler of the University of California, Berkeley, one of the researchers.

"Our study found that the children with ADHD who used the medication were several months ahead of their nonmedicated peers in reading and math, which is significant because early progress in school is critical to ongoing academic success," Scheffler said.

Scheffler said children with ADHD who are left untreated do poorly in school, with higher dropout rates and more substance abuse, arrests and social isolation.

An interesting story on the idea can be found here, from a website that is slightly opinionated.

Researchers in Britain produced a study showing that students who get more hours of physical activity at home just cut back exercise at home, meaning the effects are a washout. An excerpt from a UPI story on the study:

Scheduling more physical education time in school does not mean children will become more fit, say researchers in Britain. The researchers, who presented their findings at the European Congress on Obesity in Amsterdam, said students who got more exercise at school compensated by doing less at home, and those who got little gym at school made up for it by being more active at home.

What do you think of this? Do you think this applies to American children? I imagine obesity rates differ between both countries, but I have no data to prove that. Curious to hear your thoughts.

According to this study by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, education is liked to good health. When looking at California:

Compared with college graduates, adults who have not graduated from high school are nearly three times as likely--and those who have graduated from high school are twice as likely--to be in less than very good health.

I'm a little uncertain as to how directly the two can be connected, as education is linked to income, which is linked to socioeconomic status, which has been clearly linked with health indicators. The study does acknowledge income effects. The variables seem rather linked and hard to separate.

Researchers say between 7 and 15 percent of children they studied had what they call "written-language disorder," which they say is different from dyslexia and attention-deficit disorder, according to this article on Forbes.com. An excerpt:

Education specialists define written-language disorder as the inability to write near the level expected based on a person's age, intelligence and education. People who suffer from the condition may have problems with such skills as grammar, spelling, paragraph organization and handwriting, Katusic said. For the new study, (researchers) looked at the school and medical records of 5,718 students in Rochester, Minn. The researchers found that between 6.9 percent and 14.7 percent of the children had the condition, depending on the formula used.

Have any of the readers of this blog heard about such a disorder? Anyone have an opinion about it? Feel free to make comments to this post.

A new study of high school dropouts found that "California had the most dropouts of any state (710,000), with a 14.4 percent dropout rate among 16- to 24-year-olds," according to this USA Today story. The study faulted states for cutting back on reenrollment programs.

Nearly 6.2 million students in the United States between the ages of 16 and 24 in 2007 dropped out of high school, fueling what a report released Tuesday called "a persistent high school dropout crisis."
...
 The total represents 16 percent of all people in the United States in that age range in 2007. Most of the dropouts were Latino or black, according to a report by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, and the Alternative Schools Network in Chicago, Illinois.