- Turns out districts applying for the latest Race to the Top grant competition will, in many cases, spend more applying than they’d receive if they win–sometimes nine times more.
- A Time and Carnegie Corporation poll of 1,000 adults found that 80% believe that, at many colleges, the education students receive is not worth the costs, and 41% of 540 college presidents and senior administrators agree.
- According to the Thomas Fordham Institute, between 1987 and 2003, the average amount of social studies instructional time in public schools decreased by 18 hours.
- According to a NSTA poll, nearly 80% of teachers report using at least “some” class time to implement the Common Core Standards in math and 89% do so for the reading standards for literacy in science and technical subjects. Plus, 84% say that implementing the English/language arts standards was taking at least “some” class time away from science instruction.
- Kentucky–the first state in the country to have its state tests tied to the Common Core Standards–found that the number of its elementary and middle school students scoring at the proficient level or better dropped by about 33% or more.