The Beauty of Choices...Part Three

DID YOU KNOW?

On March 13, the Obama administration released its blueprint for revising the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).
The blueprint challenges the nation to embrace education standards that would put America on a path to global leadership. It provides incentives for states to adopt academic standards that prepare students to succeed in college and the workplace, and create accountability systems that measure student growth toward meeting the goal that all children graduate and succeed in college.
Read the blueprint or download it PDF (1.9M). Learn how the blueprint empowers educators: read Built for Teachers. See a slideshow comparing the blueprint to No Child Left Behind PDF (101K). Find out what the blueprint proposes for...

• accountability PDF (1.03M)
• a complete education PDF (2.10M)
• college- and career-ready standards and assessments PDF (2.24M)
• diverse learners PDF (1.99M)
• early learning PDF (1.17M)
• families and communities PDF (912K)
• public school choice PDF (2.04M)
• rewarding excellence and promoting innovation PDF (2.65M)
• rural schools PDF (737K)
• science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education PDF (833K)
• teachers PDF (851K)
• turning around low-performing schools. PDF (1.77MB)
• National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL)
  Adults age 16 or older were assessed in three types of literacy (prose, document, and quantitative) in 1992 and 2003. Literacy is defined as "using printed and written information to function in society, to achieve one's goals, and to develop one's knowledge and potential." The average prose and document literacy scores of U.S. adults were not measurably different in 2003 from 1992, but the average quantitative literacy score increased 8 points between these years.
  One measure of literacy is the percentage of adults who perform at four achievement levels: Below Basic, Basic, Intermediate, and Proficient. In each type of literacy, 13 percent of adults were at or above Proficient (indicating they possess the skills necessary to perform complex and challenging literacy activities) in 2003. Twenty-two percent of adults were Below Basic (indicating they possess no more than the most simple and concrete literacy skills) in quantitative literacy, compared with 14 percent in prose literacy and 12 percent in document literacy.
  Differences in average literacy scores were apparent by sex and race/ethnicity. Women scored higher than men on prose and document literacy in 2003, unlike in 1992. Men outperformed women on quantitative literacy in both years. Male scores declined in prose and document literacy from 1992 to 2003, while female scores increased in document and quantitative literacy. In 1992 and 2003, White and Asian/Pacific Islander adults had higher average scores than their Black and Hispanic peers in the three types of literacy assessed. Black performance increased in each type of literacy from 1992 to 2003, while Hispanic average scores declined in prose and document literacy.
  Additional differences in average literacy were apparent by education and age. Educational attainment is positively related to all three types of literacy: those with any education after high school outperformed their peers with less education in 1992 and 2003. Between these years, average prose literacy decreased for most levels of educational attainment, and average document literacy decreased for those with some college, associate’s degrees, and college graduates. From 1992 to 2003, the average prose, document, and quantitative literacy scores of adults ages 50–64 and 65 or older increased.
  SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2007). The Condition of Education 2007 (NCES 2007–064), Indicator 18.
• TO BE CONTINUED*************************************************************