• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

National Math/Reading Scores tank...

AlaskaBushPilot said:
We're mystified how it is that nobody seems to care.

They can't even find members for our local PTA anymore, and the only thing they did in the past was run a spook house and candy giveaway on Halloween. They played no roll in academics and now play no role at all.

They actually hired a principal for a K-8 school that has only 33 students. I would think the first order of business would be to find out why enrollment is only roughly 27% of a decade ago when population has increased.

Among the people who homeschool, we all follow the test scores and the academic curricula. That's why we homeschool.

But it has gotten harder to see what they are doing. It used to be that you could pull all their curricula off the internet. Spelling sets, math, reading materials, etc.

But now it is like some kind of top secret data. You need a student or parent of an enrolled student who has registration access to provide you with the materials.
Click to expand...
1) Example being set by people like Sarah Palin, getting rich and famous even though they are as dumb and low as walrus poop, and just as rancid.

2) Lack of investment (actually, reduction in investment) in schools and education by GOP governments, at state and federal level. No money spent.
 
Norman Alexander said:
1) Example being set by people like Sarah Palin, getting rich and famous even though they are as dumb and low as walrus poop, and just as rancid.

2) Lack of investment (actually, reduction in investment) in schools and education by GOP governments, at state and federal level. No money spent.
Click to expand...

They were spending $33k per student operating cost last time I checked.

We get zero funding. People like us are deciding against lavishly funded schools and for schools that are not only completely unfunded, but you can't have your spouse in the work force making money if she is teaching the children.

So the swing for us is on the order of a hundred thousand dollars difference: giving up the $66k in funded school, and giving up a job to stay home and educate.

That's a pretty strong statement.

Covid did not affect our school in any way. Other than I lost a lot of money in my construction business because they killed the tourist industry and I was building tourist accommodations.
 
AlaskaBushPilot said:
They were spending $33k per student operating cost last time I checked.
Click to expand...
Who is "they"? I'm going to assume it is the Alaskan government, but please correct me.

We get zero funding. People like us are deciding against lavishly funded schools and for schools that are not only completely unfunded, but you can't have your spouse in the work force making money if she is teaching the children. So the swing for us is on the order of a hundred thousand dollars difference: giving up the $66k in funded school, and giving up a job to stay home and educate.

That's a pretty strong statement.
Click to expand...
Since that $66K was funded from your taxation, you are actually financing other kids' education. Which is the dreaded socialism you abhore. ;)

Covid did not affect our school in any way. Other than I lost a lot of money in my construction business because they killed the tourist industry and I was building tourist accommodations.
Click to expand...
They don't build anything else in Alaska?
 
Startz said:
According to the most recent data in https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d21/tables/dt21_236.75.asp?current=yes, Alaska spent $20,000 per student. The data is a little out of date, so the amount is probably little higher now. (Also, many states had a spending surge with Covid money, but that is a one-time, temporary thing.)
Click to expand...

You can look up school by school funding on the state site. The rural schools like ours spend WAY more per pupil.

I see that this last academic year it was down. To $29k per student.
 
Norman Alexander said:
Who is "they"? I'm going to assume it is the Alaskan government, but please correct me.

Since that $66K was funded from your taxation, you are actually financing other kids' education. Which is the dreaded socialism you abhore. ;)
Click to expand...


The school is "they".

You seem like such a nice fellow.

Half my property tax funds the schools. I have no problem with that.

Very odd that you assume so much. I am also not a republican, I figure you made that assumption too since you seem to have a false dichotomy world you live in.
 
Norman Alexander said:
Have they ever been allowed to be kids? Will you allow them to be teenagers in a year or so?
Click to expand...

They're exactly what they want to be. They are completely self-directed now and have been for a long time.

They let us know daily how much they love their lives. It's something we did not expect in terms of a homeschool benefit - how much gratitude they would have.

We keep hearing how hard it is at age 2, 3, 4, etc. and it's just never happened. It has been wonderful.

They've also been giving invited presentations to schools, the biggest one was over 100 students, teachers, and administrators.

That one was 93 power point slides. They got a standing ovation, and the kids asked some pretty hard questions of their own teachers and admins afterwards. Namely "why can't we do that?"
 
AlaskaBushPilot said:
They're exactly what they want to be. They are completely self-directed now and have been for a long time.

They let us know daily how much they love their lives. It's something we did not expect in terms of a homeschool benefit - how much gratitude they would have.

We keep hearing how hard it is at age 2, 3, 4, etc. and it's just never happened. It has been wonderful.
Click to expand...
How long have they been living in the Alaskan tundra? All their lives? Or are they grateful just not to have to go to school each day...

They've also been giving invited presentations to schools, the biggest one was over 100 students, teachers, and administrators.

That one was 93 power point slides. They got a standing ovation, and the kids asked some pretty hard questions of their own teachers and admins afterwards. Namely "why can't we do that?"
Click to expand...
Wow! 93 powerpoint slides! That sounds convincing. Or obsessive. So all these kids want to be genius microprocessor engineers and auto mechanics and skip school?
 
Lithrael said:
I just still can’t figure out why it seems so impossible to just try having more teachers and smaller class sizes. Whenever I look at a school staff budget it looks like if they get any more money after taking care of straight up building maintanence it goes to more admin positions and I don’t really understand how those help the situation. When I was a kid class sizes already seemed too big to help any individuals and it doesn’t seem like that has improved. Or did they try that and I missed it?
Click to expand...

The problem is that a lot of the admin positions are mandated by law and/or required to receive federal or state funding. A friend of mine who was a schools superintendent told me that she did not see any real need to hire staff psychologists for each of her K-5 schools, but she was required to.

I recently went back to my old hometown and wanted to look at the school I went to. I was impressed by the new building in the front until I realized it was the new administration building; the classroom buildings behind it had not changed in 60 years. When I went there, there was a principal, a vice-principal, a nurse and maybe 2 secretaries; this building looked like it must hold 20-30 people. And this was a K-4 school, not even junior high.
 
I think people are reading too much into the fact that academic performance tanked during the pandemic.

My kids' school performance went haywire during that time, but they both still scraped into a university place suggesting that they weren't alone.
 
Robin said:
I think people are reading too much into the fact that academic performance tanked during the pandemic.

My kids' school performance went haywire during that time, but they both still scraped into a university place suggesting that they weren't alone.
Click to expand...

Seconded!

I have had much the same experience.

My grand-daughter had a straight A average before the pandemic,
she had a C average during the pandemic, and
now she has a straight A average post-pandemic.
 
Crossbow said:
My grand-daughter had a straight A average before the pandemic,
she had a C average during the pandemic, and
now she has a straight A average post-pandemic.
Click to expand...
The pandemic is a red herring. This is about whether a switch from STEM to DEI has been beneficiary or if it is dumbing down education. "No child left behind" seems to be a euphemism for "No child gets ahead".
 
psionl0 said:
And how do you incorporate "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion" into a maths lesson?
Click to expand...
By not assuming girls and gays are stupid at maths and don't need it. By helping students for whom English is a struggle to understand the concepts by being able to explain them in better ways. This is what teachers are trained to do - teach every student.

Oh, unless you were being sarcastic. Were you being sarcastic? Because if you were then I missed it.
 
Here's a link to the study highlights.
https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/highlights/ltt/2022/

Reading and mathematics scores decline during COVID-19 pandemic

Declines were least among the 90th percentile at 1% and greatest at the 10th percentile at about 6%. Both in math and reading. Not surprising. The highest achievers likely have more home resources.
 
Last edited:
Norman Alexander said:
By not assuming girls and gays are stupid at maths and don't need it. By helping students for whom English is a struggle to understand the concepts by being able to explain them in better ways. This is what teachers are trained to do - teach every student.
Click to expand...
That doesn't answer my question.
 
psionl0 said:
That doesn't answer my question.
Click to expand...
Because you assume that STEM, the teaching of science, technology, English and mathematics, is mutually exclusive and incompatible with DEI, being aware of student diversity, equality and inclusion. So I did answer your question, just not in the way you desired. Because you misunderstood what these concepts mean.
 
Norman Alexander said:
Because you assume that STEM, the teaching of science, technology, English and mathematics, is mutually exclusive and incompatible with DEI, being aware of student diversity, equality and inclusion. So I did answer your question, just not in the way you desired. Because you misunderstood what these concepts mean.
Click to expand...
You clearly don't know what DEI is nor how it can be incorporated into a maths lesson.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom