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Missouri Education News
September 2008
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Seven Public Schools Earn National ÒBlue RibbonÓ
Honors
MissouriÕs History Teacher of the Year
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Nineteen
of the top 25 largest U.S. cities have school districts where 40 percent or
more of students do not graduate on time. Research shows that high school
dropouts are three and a half times more likely than graduates to be arrested
and eight times more likely to be incarcerated. Nearly 70 percent of all
inmates in our nationÕs prisons failed to earn a high school diploma.
In
Kansas City area schools, more than 40 percent of students fail to graduate
from high school on time. The new report, entitled ÒSchool or the Streets,Ó
includes research showing that high-quality pre-kindergarten is the most
effective deterrent against high school dropouts.
A
landmark study of the High/Scope Perry PreschoolÐ which Head Start is modeled
after Ð showed the program greatly improved graduation rates and curbed future
crime, increasing graduation rates by 44 percent among those who participated.
Early
childhood education is the most widely implemented school reform that increases
graduation rates and has been proven to increase school readiness among young
children and prevent dropouts.
Increasing
graduation rates by 10 percentage points would prevent 25 murders and 1,700
aggravated assaults in Kansas, and more than 70 murders and 4,400 aggravated
assaults in Missouri annually.
Long-term
benefits of early childhood education and care include higher graduation rates,
college enrollment and income levels, as well as significant reductions in
crime.
Kansas
and Missouri report:
http://www.fightcrime.org/reports/fcik-dropout-mo-kan.pdf
A record number of students in the class of
2008 took the SAT this year, with a higher percentage of first-generation
students than last year and a high rate of minority student participation, the
College Board announced today. This yearÕs average scores mirror those of last
year, indicating that student performance held steady despite the increase in
the number of test-takers.
The number of SAT takers rose to more than 1.5 million
(1,518,859), an 8 percent increase from five years ago and a 29.5 percent
increase from 10 years ago. The SAT continues to be the nationÕs most widely
taken standardized college admissions test. Combined with high school grades,
the SAT is also the best predictor of college success.
Average scores for the class of 2008
remained stable at 502 for critical reading, 515 for mathematics and 494 for
writing.
SAT
Takers in the Class of 2008
á
This
yearÕs class is the most diverse class on record with historic increases in the
number of Hispanic, African American and Asian American students taking the
test.
á
Minority
SAT takers comprised 40 percent of all test-takers, up from 33 percent 10 years
ago.
á
The
number of first-generation students has increased over the last decade and from
last year. In the class of 2008, 36 percent were first-generation students,
compared to 35 percent in the class of 2007.
á
Females
have narrowed the performance gap with males in critical reading, closing the
gap to 4 points, compared with 7 points a decade ago, and females continue to
outperform males on the writing section Ñ by 13 points this year.
á
A
record number of students in the class of 2008 received fee waivers, with
221,962 students qualifying for and receiving them. This indicates an increase
in the number of traditionally underserved students preparing for college
success.
á
The
writing section of the SAT is the most predictive section of the test among all
racial and ethnic minority groups.
á
The
inclusion of the writing section has also contributed to an increased emphasis
on writing in the classroom.
Trends
in Participation
Minority SAT takers have experienced
substantial growth in participation during the last decade. Hispanics have
expanded the most rapidly, more than doubling in number. Growth among Asian
Americans and African Americans reached 61 percent and 52 percent,
respectively.
Female students continue to form a majority
of test-takers among all ethnic groups. Female students made up 57 percent of
Hispanic and 57 percent of African American SAT takers in 2008. More than half
of the Asian American (51 percent) and white test-takers (53 percent) were
women.
Low-income studentsÕ participation has also
remained steady. These students are increasingly taking advantage of the
College BoardÕs fee-waiver program, which granted $22 million in fee waivers
and free services to qualifying students in 2008. About one out of every seven
students in the 2008 cohort who took the SAT this year received free
registration for up to two SAT tests and two SAT Subject Testsª, four free
flexible score reports, and discounted SAT Readiness Programª materials.
The
Missouri report
is available here:
http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/Missouri_CBS_08.pdf
Seven public schools in Missouri have been
selected as 2008 Blue Ribbon Schools, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret
Spellings announced
Tuesday. The Missouri schools, among 320 across the nation to
be honored, are:
á
Ballard
High School
á
Jefferson
High School
á
Kearney
High School
á
Lincoln
College Prep Academy
á
McKinley
Classical Junior Academy Middle School
á
Metro
Academic and Classical High School
á
Stanberry
High School
All of the schools were honored earlier
this year in the state-level Gold Star Schools program, conducted by the
Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
The
ÒNo Child Left Behind Ð Blue Ribbon SchoolsÓ program honors schools that are
achieving at a high level or making significant progress in closing achievement
gaps. Every Blue Ribbon school also must meet the stateÕs annual target
for adequate yearly progress (AYP), as required under the federal No Child Left
Behind law.
Terence Verstraete, a history teacher at
Webster Groves High School, recently received the Gilder Lehrman American
History Teacher of the Year award.
Mr. Verstraete teaches U.S. history,
government, U.S. military history and world geography. His creative classroom
projects and lessons include coordinating student correspondence with current
military personnel and veterans; inviting veterans to speak to social studies
classes on Veterans Day; and recreating a World War I battlefield in his
classroom. In 2004 he developed a mock voter registration and election for the
entire student body.
Mr. VerstraeteÕs previous honors include
the 2007 Outstanding Teacher of American History Award from the Missouri State
Society of the DaughterÕs of the American Revolution and the 2007 E. A. Richter
Award for Citizenship Education from The Missouri Bar Association.
Inaugurated in 2004, the History Teacher of
the Year Award is designed to promote and celebrate the teaching of American
history in classrooms across the United States. It honors one exceptional
K-12 teacher of American history from each state and U.S. territory. Only
secondary teachers were eligible for nomination this year. Nominees
for the History Teacher of the Year Award must meet several criteria:
á
Have
at least three years of classroom experience in teaching American history.
á
Have
a strong commitment to teaching American history, including local and state
history.
á
Show
creativity in addressing literacy and content beyond state standards.
á
Give
close attention to primary documents, artifacts, historic sites and other
primary materials of history, including oral history.