2009 International Literacy Day: September 8

Obama urges students to work hard, stay in school
CNN: September 8, 2009

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- One of the most unexpected controversies of the Obama administration came to a head Tuesday as the president delivered a hotly debated back-to-school speech to students across the country.

Many conservatives expressed fear over the past week that the president's address would be used to push a partisan political agenda. Obama, however, avoided any mention of political initiatives. He repeatedly urged students to work hard and stay in school (text).

"There is no excuse for not trying," he told students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia (video).

"This isn't just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. What you're learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future." READ MORE !

Dropouts Cost Texas $9.6 Billion
Texas A&M: August 26, 2009

Students who drop out of high school will cost Texas up to $9.6 billion in lost revenue and outright expenses over their lifetimes, and that figure escalates as each new crop of dropouts is created, concludes a study commissioned by the United Ways of Texas and written by The Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University.

A team of 10 graduate students used lost wages, diminished sales tax revenue and welfare payments to calculate the costs in their report, “The ABCD’s of Texas Education: Assessing the Benefits and Costs of Reducing the Dropout Rate.” The effects of dropouts on crime and the associated costs were also considered.

The calculations were based on the projected dropout rate for the class of 2012 – 12.2 percent to 22.2 percent, or 40,519 to 73,692 students.

Facing California’s Dropout Crisis

The dropout rate in California reached record highs in the 2006/07 academic year, the last year for which data is available. Each county's data for the past ten years was compiled by the California Department of Education, and is available on their DataQuest page. The data reflects the four-year derived dropout rate, which is defined in the California Department of Education's Glossary of Terms.

Videos, slideshows and statistics.
The Problem
The Numbers
The Dropouts
The Consequences
The Solution

The Condition of Education (NCES)
looks at information gathered from recent international studies that U.S. students have participated in:
~ Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS)
assesses the reading performance of 4th-graders every 5 years.
~ Program for International Student Assessment (PISA)
assesses the reading, mathematics, and science literacy of 15-year-old students every 3 years.~ Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS)
assesses the mathematics and science performance of both 4th- and 8th-graders every 4 years.

In reading, the average scores of U.S. students are the same or higher than their peers in roughly three-quarters of the other countries that have participated in PIRLS and PISA assessments. Moreover, the number of countries that outperformed the United States on PIRLS increased from three in 2001 to seven in 2006 among the 28 countries that participated in both tests.

In mathematics, results from the 2007 TIMSS assessment show that U.S. students have improved at both grades 4 and 8 since the first administration of TIMSS in 1995.

The most recent PISA results suggests that U.S. 15-year-olds are not as successful in applying mathematics knowledge and skills to real-world tasks as their peers in many other developed nations. The mathematics average score placed U.S. 15-year-olds in the bottom quarter of participating developed nations, a position unchanged from 2003.

In science, results from TIMSS 2007 assessment show that U.S. 4th graders have fallen behind their peers in several countries, even though their average scores in science have not declined since the first administration of TIMSS in 1995. Among the other 15 countries that participated in the 1995 and 2007 TIMSS at grade 4, the average science score increased in seven countries and decreased in five countries; at grade 8, the average science score increased in five countries and decreased in three countries among the other 18 countries that participated in both 1995 and 2007.