1. Four years ago, about 40 states were interested in the $370 million federally-funded online Common Core assessments. At least 17 have now backed away from them.
2. Of the 35 waiver-monitoring reports reviewed by the U.S. Department of Education, 17 states are apparently not following through on fixing the bottom 5% priority” schools. Plus 17 other states are said not not be doing enough to help “focus” schools, and 9 are said to be failing to improve achievement in uncategorized schools.
3. According to the National Math + Science Initiative, only about 36% of high schoolers entering college are prepared for university-level math.
4. The NEA lost about 16,000 members in 2013-14, about 64,000 in 2012-13, and about 100,000 in 201l-12. Total membership now stands just under 3 million.
5. Nationally, schools lose between $1 billion and $2.2 billion a year in teacher attrition costs through moving or leaving the profession, says the Alliance for Excellent Education.
6. 70% of voters support a federal government plan to expand quality early childhood programs for low- and middle-income families.
7. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 13% of public school students receive special-education services. Of them 36% have “specific learning disabilities,” 22% have speech or language impairments, and 22% have autism, intellectual disabilities, a developmental delay, or multiple disabilities. Very few have hearing, vision, or motor issues alone.