American Educational System

[Farfromgeneva]

If the school year were to be increased from 180 days to 225 days, a 20% increase, then a 20% increase for all teachers and staff. Where does that money come from?

A 9-12 week on and 3-4 week off schedule for K-5 children is extremely difficult because of establishing routines after a 3-4 week break. The spiraling of their education can be challenging. Spiraling, also know as scaffolding refers to building on prior knowledge while introducing new content. This can be difficult when the students are not in school for 3-4 weeks because they do not retain content that they learned in the previous 9-12 weeks since it is not reviewed consistently. Some students will get the support at home to minimize this, others will not.

It is the same challenge we are facing now coming out of the pandemic. Students received varying amounts of support at home during that experience. Public education spends a great deal of effort trying to raise the low and close the gap. This effort is more of a challenge now, then it was before.

A good question and aligns with my earlier comment that the shorter school year is a function of lowering operating expenses for political divsions overseeing the school systems. Though it wouldn't be 100% it would be a portion because some (many?) teach summer school so some of those expenditures are already accounted for. But you'd have a ton more HVAC and other overhead to cover as well.

I've been debating throwing the kids in Kumon a little. It's freaking expensive but I don't know as much as I try if I can provide all the academic support they need at home between parents. But that's a massive luxury many don't have even possible to them obviously.

[Andersen]

If the school year were to be increased from 180 days to 225 days, a 20% increase, then a 20% increase for all teachers and staff. Where does that money come from?

Where all money for such things come from, taxpayers etc., its a question of our priorities as a society. Seems to me like a very good investment. To me, there's just not enough instructional days.

A 9-12 week on and 3-4 week off schedule for K-5 children is extremely difficult because of establishing routines after a 3-4 week break.

I'm thinking more like 2 week breaks, not 3-4. As it is now, most math and language teachers spend all of September and perhaps parts of October reviewing. Heck, some students don't retain content and skills from Friday to Monday.

[Farfromgeneva]

If the school year were to be increased from 180 days to 225 days, a 20% increase, then a 20% increase for all teachers and staff. Where does that money come from?

Where all money for such things come from, taxpayers etc., its a question of our priorities as a society. Seems to me like a very good investment. To me, there's just not enough instructional days.

A 9-12 week on and 3-4 week off schedule for K-5 children is extremely difficult because of establishing routines after a 3-4 week break.

I'm thinking more like 2 week breaks, not 3-4. As it is now, most math and language teachers spend all of September and perhaps parts of October reviewing. Heck, some students don't retain content and skills from Friday to Monday.

Yeah you couldn't do 3-4 weeks off in my 220-240 day setup more than once and once would just be a restructuring of the first system given we have approx. 100 weekend days out of the 365 leaving 20-45 left to be spread out throughout the year after also accoutning for a dozen or so federal holidays.

[NattyBohChamps04]

180 days is plenty if we had smaller class sizes. Kids are learning so much more than we did growing up, like we learned so much more than our parents did.

[youthathletics]

In NC, the teachers follow the track they are assigned.....which means NC likely has more teachers on staff to support the year round 4-track system.

[KI Dock Bar]

180 days is plenty if we had smaller class sizes. Kids are learning so much more than we did growing up, like we learned so much more than our parents did.

Certainly another way to look at it and every teacher I know would love that!

Private tutoring is a great way to move a student forward. I believe if the public schools could provide free tutoring to need based students it would go a long way toward moving them forward. After school programs attempt to do this to a certain degree but many times the intended purpose is not realized.

[Andersen]

180 days is plenty if we had smaller class sizes. Kids are learning so much more than we did growing up, like we learned so much more than our parents did.

Hope I'm not overdoing it, here.

I would guess that you are imagining 180 instructional classes, but when you factor in schedules where the class meets only three or four days a week, early dismissals for sports and other activities, pep rallies, halloween parades, field days, speakers and special assemblies as well as a course specific test days once or twice a month, and finally, a few standardized testing days the number of actual instructional is often significantly less than 180 days.

Many schools don't do a good job of "keeping the main thing, the main thing".

[a fan]

180 days is plenty if we had smaller class sizes. Kids are learning so much more than we did growing up, like we learned so much more than our parents did.

Certainly another way to look at it and every teacher I know would love that!

Which is why we should do it.

We're in desperate need of an Apollo-type program for education and education funding.

Cap class sizes at 10. Federally fund the teachers needed to do it. Invest in our kids and our future......instead of throwing them under the bus in pursuit of ever lowering taxes.

Our effective Federal income tax have been cut in half since Clinton left office. THAT is where you get the money for it.

[KI Dock Bar]

180 days is plenty if we had smaller class sizes. Kids are learning so much more than we did growing up, like we learned so much more than our parents did.

Hope I'm not overdoing it, here.

I would guess that you are imagining 180 instructional classes, but when you factor in schedules where the class meets only three or four days a week, early dismissals for sports and other activities, pep rallies, halloween parades, field days, speakers and special assemblies as well as a course specific test days once or twice a month, and finally, a few standardized testing days the number of actual instructional is often significantly less than 180 days.

Many schools don't do a good job of "keeping the main thing, the main thing".

Most schools adjust their schedule, ie. shorten each class period to accommodate special days so the student attends each class.

In my middle school we have a 5 period day, 4 content periods that meet every day and a UA period that meets every other day for 65 minutes each. In addition, we have a 40 minute EEI class in the morning that provides opportunities for students who need additional help in reading and math. Students who do not need special help go to classes that provide enrichment and extension services.

[NattyBohChamps04]

180 days is plenty if we had smaller class sizes. Kids are learning so much more than we did growing up, like we learned so much more than our parents did.

Hope I'm not overdoing it, here.

I would guess that you are imagining 180 instructional classes, but when you factor in schedules where the class meets only three or four days a week, early dismissals for sports and other activities, pep rallies, halloween parades, field days, speakers and special assemblies as well as a course specific test days once or twice a month, and finally, a few standardized testing days the number of actual instructional is often significantly less than 180 days.

Many schools don't do a good job of "keeping the main thing, the main thing".

I'm not imagining anything different than what we have. We've been doing the same public school schedule for decades, with sports and field days and what not from kindergarten through 12th grade.

An expanded year with larger classes is the same as the existing year with more teachers and a smaller class size.

Actual instruction on a per student basis is very, very small each day as you yourself noted. Ask a qualified home-school teacher. They can knock out an entire schoolday in an hour or two for two or three kids.

180 days is plenty with a small class size. It's the same as 240 days a year with larger class sizes. Or 60 days with six kids per class. Repetitive practice is needed regardless, but actual instruction from evidence-based learning methods is not the time-sink/bottleneck in education.

[SCLaxAttack]

In NC, the teachers follow the track they are assigned.....which means NC likely has more teachers on staff to support the year round 4-track system.

Just to be clear for the folks who may not know: The NC year round system is a voluntary implementation of a year round calendar. The level of implementation is decided on by the local (usually county) school district and not the state. Here in New Hanover County (basically Wilmington), of the 25 elementary schools in the county it's only available at four, and two of those are target schools. No availability in any of the county's eight middle, eight high, or four alternative/specialty schools.

At least in New Hanover County the school district doesn't have money flowing in to accommodate the large investment needed for year round education and I suspect that's the same for most if not all NC school districts.

[PizzaSnake]

Shocking.

“Elite colleges have long been filled with the children of the richest families: At Ivy League schools, one in six students has parents in the top 1 percent.

A large new study, released Monday, shows that it has not been because these children had more impressive grades on average or took harder classes. They tended to have higher SAT scores and finely honed résumés, and applied at a higher rate — but they were overrepresented even after accounting for those things. For applicants with the same SAT or ACT score, children from families in the top 1 percent were 34 percent more likely to be admitted than the average applicant, and those from the top 0.1 percent were more than twice as likely to get in.”

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/202 ... sions.html

[Typical Lax Dad]

Shocking.

“Elite colleges have long been filled with the children of the richest families: At Ivy League schools, one in six students has parents in the top 1 percent.

A large new study, released Monday, shows that it has not been because these children had more impressive grades on average or took harder classes. They tended to have higher SAT scores and finely honed résumés, and applied at a higher rate — but they were overrepresented even after accounting for those things. For applicants with the same SAT or ACT score, children from families in the top 1 percent were 34 percent more likely to be admitted than the average applicant, and those from the top 0.1 percent were more than twice as likely to get in.”

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/202 ... sions.html

I heard it was unqualified black kids whose grades aren’t good taking up all the seats…..In on quotas….not on merit.

[Farfromgeneva]

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/h ... noonReport

Local educators concerned after study says Texas has 4 of 10 least educated cities in US

Peter Breen , Staff writer Updated: Aug. 1, 2023 12:05 p.m. Comments

Peter Breen
A person walks Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022 next to the UT - Rio Grande Valley Edinburg campus. UTRGV is poised to get approval from the UT regents for a football team.
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A person walks Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022 next to the UT - Rio Grande Valley Edinburg campus. UTRGV is poised to get approval from the UT regents for a football team.
William Luther/Staff
HOUSTON ISD: HISD’s Miles will convert some libraries into discipline areas, eliminate librarians

The Brownsville-Harlingen, McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Beaumont-Port Arthur and Corpus Christi metro areas took four of the bottom nine spots in the ranking. And although they acknowledge the challenge ahead, educators in those communities say the statistics don’t define their towns.

Rio Grande Valley

Christopher Nelson, dean for liberal arts at South Texas College, said in an email he wouldn’t have expected his home metro area, McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, or nearby Brownsville-Harlingen to lead the nation in education because the Rio Grande Valley is relatively young in terms of expanding access to higher education.

South Texas College, a public community college with an enrollment approaching 30,000, is turning 30 years old this year.

“If there was some way of indicating progress made over time, intra-regionally rather than just inter-regionally, I think we might be in for some more encouraging news,” Neslon wrote.

Jayson Valerio, dean of nursing and allied health at South Texas College, said the WalletHub study provides a sobering reminder of the challenges the Rio Grande Valley region faces.

“It’s important to understand that these statistics don’t define us, but rather, challenge us to redefine ourselves. We can, and we must do better,” Valerio said in an email.

“But to do so, we need to leverage every resource available and work collaboratively across our communities — public schools, colleges, universities, businesses, nonprofits and local governments. Education is a collective endeavor that requires the input, support and commitment of all stakeholders.”

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in Edinburg has created 43 new degree programs aimed at retaining the region’s top high school students since the institution’s founding in 2015, according to Patrick Gonzales, the university’s vice president for marketing and communications.

“At the end of this fall, UTRGV should eclipse 50,000 graduates since 2015,” Gonzales said in an email. “That’s 50,000 new individuals out in the workforce with a higher ed degree in a span of eight years.”

Corpus Christi

From graduating more than 2,500 students each year to working with the city to reach residents aged 16 through 24 with support for returning to school or accessing job training, Corpus Christi Independent School District does everything in its power to provide quality education to students of all abilities, according to Leanne Libby, the district’s director of communications.

“In addition to a robust curriculum that follows state-mandated TEKS, our highly trained faculty includes counselors and social workers who help our students and families obtain the resources they need to create conditions conducive to learning,” Libby said in an email.

The district serves around 33,000 students from pre-K to high school, who are offered free breakfast and lunch regardless of their ability to pay.

Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi is involved in numerous partnerships with the K-12 community in Corpus Christi and the Coastal Bend to facilitate the advancement of students into higher education, according to a statement from University President Kelly Miller.

“Examples include our dual enrollment program for high school students which allows them to earn college credits while still in high school; our engagement with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) outreach programs aimed at inspiring K-12 students; summer camps held at our beautiful Island University in subjects like theatre, music, athletics, robotics, writing, and more,” Miller said.

Many TAMU-CC students, Miller added, go out into the community as tutors and mentors for K-12 students, providing inspiration to those students to pursue a college degree.

Beaumont-Port Arthur

Lamar University in Beaumont, part of the Texas State University System, educates around 17,000 students and provides more than 100 degree options. Across the street from the university, Lamar Institute of Technology enrolls about 8,000 students annually and offers more than 50 degree and certificate programs in fields such as healthcare, energy, technology and public safety.

Beaumont Independent School District and Port Arthur Independent School District matriculate each year about 16,000 and 8,000 students, respectively.

No educators from those four schools responded to requests for comment regarding the Beaumont-Port Arthur metropolitan statistical area ranking as the 8th least educated city in the United States.

[youthathletics]

Millions of kids are missing weeks of school as attendance tanks across the US

https://projects.apnews.com/features/20 ... index.html

I can say that I have seen an uptick in homeschooling....even on local facebook groups discussing the transition.

How Many Homeschooling Students Are in the USA?
According to the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI), there were 3.7 million homeschooled students in the USA during the 2020/2021 school year. The institute’s data also shows that from late March to early May of 2022, 5.22% of all school-age children were homeschooled. So far, homeschooling has had a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.1% between 2016-2021.

[a fan]

Millions of kids are missing weeks of school as attendance tanks across the US

https://projects.apnews.com/features/20 ... index.html

I can say that I have seen an uptick in homeschooling....even on local facebook groups discussing the transition.

How Many Homeschooling Students Are in the USA?
According to the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI), there were 3.7 million homeschooled students in the USA during the 2020/2021 school year. The institute’s data also shows that from late March to early May of 2022, 5.22% of all school-age children were homeschooled. So far, homeschooling has had a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.1% between 2016-2021.

Our entire public K-12 education system, and the future of non-5%er Americans has been falling apart before our eyes.

And no one is working to fix it in either party. Oh well. I'm ready for more tax cuts.

[youthathletics]

Millions of kids are missing weeks of school as attendance tanks across the US

https://projects.apnews.com/features/20 ... index.html

I can say that I have seen an uptick in homeschooling....even on local facebook groups discussing the transition.

How Many Homeschooling Students Are in the USA?
According to the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI), there were 3.7 million homeschooled students in the USA during the 2020/2021 school year. The institute’s data also shows that from late March to early May of 2022, 5.22% of all school-age children were homeschooled. So far, homeschooling has had a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.1% between 2016-2021.

Our entire public K-12 education system, and the future of non-5%er Americans has been falling apart before our eyes.

And no one is working to fix it in either party. Oh well. I'm ready for more tax cuts.

Then you should want to vote for vivek ramaswamy, he wants to scrub the DoE form the books, amongst other federal shenanigan entities.

[Typical Lax Dad]

Millions of kids are missing weeks of school as attendance tanks across the US

https://projects.apnews.com/features/20 ... index.html

I can say that I have seen an uptick in homeschooling....even on local facebook groups discussing the transition.

How Many Homeschooling Students Are in the USA?
According to the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI), there were 3.7 million homeschooled students in the USA during the 2020/2021 school year. The institute’s data also shows that from late March to early May of 2022, 5.22% of all school-age children were homeschooled. So far, homeschooling has had a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.1% between 2016-2021.

Our entire public K-12 education system, and the future of non-5%er Americans has been falling apart before our eyes.

And no one is working to fix it in either party. Oh well. I'm ready for more tax cuts.

Then you should want to vote for vivek ramaswamy, he wants to scrub the DoE form the books, amongst other federal shenanigan entities.

Over here dude…. https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/re ... ily-values

[a fan]

Millions of kids are missing weeks of school as attendance tanks across the US

https://projects.apnews.com/features/20 ... index.html

I can say that I have seen an uptick in homeschooling....even on local facebook groups discussing the transition.

How Many Homeschooling Students Are in the USA?
According to the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI), there were 3.7 million homeschooled students in the USA during the 2020/2021 school year. The institute’s data also shows that from late March to early May of 2022, 5.22% of all school-age children were homeschooled. So far, homeschooling has had a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.1% between 2016-2021.

Our entire public K-12 education system, and the future of non-5%er Americans has been falling apart before our eyes.

And no one is working to fix it in either party. Oh well. I'm ready for more tax cuts.

Then you should want to vote for vivek ramaswamy, he wants to scrub the DoE form the books, amongst other federal shenanigan entities.

What's Vivek's plan for State's to make up the 20%-30% in their school's budget shortage...money that comes from the DoE.

He's a Deep State nutjob who doesn't understand what government does. He just takes their money and services, and pretends it comes from somewhere else. He's a 1%er.

You left out that he wants to shut down the CDC. And the FBI...can't have anyone looking at what he does if elected, now can we?

And the ATF. And the IRS. Sooper curious as how he thinks he'll get paid as POTUS if there's no IRS.

This is not a serious man. He's playing TeamTinFoil's greatest hits when it comes to government boogeymen.

[youthathletics]

Millions of kids are missing weeks of school as attendance tanks across the US

https://projects.apnews.com/features/20 ... index.html

I can say that I have seen an uptick in homeschooling....even on local facebook groups discussing the transition.

How Many Homeschooling Students Are in the USA?
According to the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI), there were 3.7 million homeschooled students in the USA during the 2020/2021 school year. The institute’s data also shows that from late March to early May of 2022, 5.22% of all school-age children were homeschooled. So far, homeschooling has had a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.1% between 2016-2021.

Our entire public K-12 education system, and the future of non-5%er Americans has been falling apart before our eyes.

And no one is working to fix it in either party. Oh well. I'm ready for more tax cuts.

Then you should want to vote for vivek ramaswamy, he wants to scrub the DoE form the books, amongst other federal shenanigan entities.

What's Vivek's plan for State's to make up the 20%-30% in their school's budget shortage...money that comes from the DoE.

He's a Deep State nutjob who doesn't understand what government does. He just takes their money and services, and pretends it comes from somewhere else. He's a 1%er.

You left out that he wants to shut down the CDC. And the FBI...can't have anyone looking at what he does if elected, now can we?

And the ATF. And the IRS. Sooper curious as how he thinks he'll get paid as POTUS if there's no IRS.

This is not a serious man. He's playing TeamTinFoil's greatest hits when it comes to government boogeymen.

The feds can still send a check...dont need an official DoE to cut checks. I see you like keeping gov't bigger...strange that you blow us up not stop for it, now you want to keep it....make up your damned mind.

I didn't leave them out....I alluded to it in the final comment.

Just b/c he said he is cutting those orgs, does not mean he is cutting all their services. I heard him speak of merging the FBI and ATF under the US Marshall, who has overriding authority on those entities anyway. ....so a guy now wants to make gov't smaller, and you now fuss about that....again, make up your mind.

So tell us.....who is NOT a 1% that runs for POTUS in 2024 or eveh? And no, you can't say Bernie, he is also a 1%er.