Saturday, March 19, 2016

The 2015 graduating high school class had the lowest SAT scores in the past forty years.

Their was one state in the USA that earned an average higher than 1800 points out of 2400 points. (click here)

Illinois with 5,728 students averaged 1802 cumulatively. Those students reflect 0 to 10 percent of any graduating class in Illinois.

1802 out of 2400 points is a success percentage of 75 percent. In reflecting on generational tests and their scoring of the past; it was not unusual to have students achieve 800 or more scores out of 1000. That means from the time I was in school the percentage of correct scores has dropped 5 percent in 40 years. That is tragic. As time goes by the high achievers should be reaching higher and not lower than the generations before. Learners in my generation didn't have college level parents to help with the homework.

The highest number of participating students in California in 2015 was 241,553 students reflecting 51 to 60 percent of any class tested. They had an average of 1492 points out of 2400 points.

There are states with 91 to 100 percent participation of any graduating class:

- Delaware with an average score of 1369 points out of 2400 points.
- District of Columbia with an average score of 1313 points out of 2400 points.
- Idaho with an average score of 1372 points out of 2400 points.
- Maine with an average score of 1392 points out of 2400 points.

The average of those four states is 1362 round up to eliminate the decimal. I think that is an interesting average from schools where the entire graduating class was participating. I think that is where the average is for the entire country if all students were required to participate. 

I congratulate the states that required every graduating student to take the SAT tests. It is a requirement and the students know it. It brings the expectation of students to a real platform. The SAT scores are a real world test that actually moves a person from a diploma to a college and a promise of upward movement. I think that is important.

Of course, when asking a entire student population to take the SAT tests it will drag the overall score down. California also had a drag on it's overall average because of the large number of students. Illinois did really, really well, but, only had participation by 0 to 10 percent of any graduating class. That is more democracy in learning than should exist. 

I don't believe learning is a democracy. Learning is a DISCIPLINE. Summer reading for all grades in primary and secondary school is vitally important. I realize there may be some schools that attend school all year round. For the schools with a year round program it is important students stay up on their learning and have "course material pak" to review on their month off between semesters. 

An average of 1200 of 2400 is 50 percent and is completely unacceptable for a First World country. The lowest average was 1368 in Delaware with 91 to 100 percent participation. That should be a strong warning sign the USA is slipping far too much in their educational standards.

Do parents read to their children from as soon as they can see well? Is there not a devotion to children anymore that sets a time to stop doing adult things and responsibilities to read; before bedtime or after breakfast or a time of day where a half hour can be set aside to read to children?

I find this reality about our country tragic. It did not happen overnight. There has been a deterioration over time. I strongly suggest educators find where the downturn began through several different statistical data and realize past educational processes were far better than today. That may very well mean the reassessment of computers in education.

The country needs to do better. It needs to have better pay for work so parents have time for children. It needs regular medical benefits to be sure parent and child are healthy in order to learn. The WELLNESS of our citizens is very, very necessary to insure a healthy mind and body in order to learn. There can be absolutely NO more Flint, Michigans. The country needs to concentrate on it's domestic budget far more than it's military budget. The country needs infrastructure, sound public school buildings, clean air and clean water.

The country needs to set it's priority straight in the year 2016. After all with the most recent meeting between the DOD and the Senate Oversight Committee this past Thursday, a draft would be worthless. That's right. The DOD has no need nor desire for a draft. According to the DOD a draft would not deliver the quality of individual they are looking for due to problems with young adults including the requirement of a high school diploma and to be drug free. 

The return of excellence to our primary and secondary schools is a national defense issue. Did I ever think I would see that day in the USA? Never. 

Senator Mark Kirk did the right thing. There should be no politics on either side of the aisle. Chief Judge Garland is amply qualified.

March 18, 2016
By Mike DeBonis

Sen. Mark Kirk, of Illinois, (click here) on Friday became the first Republican senator to call for an up-or-down vote on Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland, saying on a Chicago radio show that his colleagues ought to “just man up and cast a vote.”
Meanwhile, a conservative legal group moved to counter a fierce Democratic push to target embattled incumbents such as Kirk, launching a multimillion television, radio and digital advertising campaign to block Garland’s consideration.
The round of ads from the Judicial Crisis Network is the latest in an onslaught of opposition from conservative interest groups that are throwing money and opposition researchers aimed at halting the nomination process and discrediting Garland, the 63-year-old chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
That Kirk would be first to break with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, and other GOP colleagues who think the next president should pick the replacement for the late Justice Antonin Scalia is not surprising: Kirk was one of two Republican senators, joined by Susan Collins of Maine, to call for confirmation hearings....
                 

FOX News is nothing but hot air. They lie because they are corrupt with right wing priorities to INFLUENCE elections. FOX SELLS INFLUENCE! It is called corruption.

From Forbes:

Alternative energy is not causing the collapse of coal mining. (click here)

The coal industry has been in trouble for years, as evidenced by the recent announcement by Peabody Energy BTU +4.17%, the world’s largest private-sector coal company, that it may have to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. There are a number of reasons behind the demise of the U.S. coal industry, but the biggest factor is displacement of coal by natural gas in the power generation sector. This week the Energy Information Administration (EIA) published a graphic that highlighted the role of natural gas in displacing coal:...

...“Energy Infrastructure Update”, the agency noted that 468 megawatts (MW) of wind power and 145 MW of solar power accounted for 100% of new electrical generation capacity brought into service in January 2016. FERC’s December 2015 “Energy Infrastructure Update” revealed that renewables were responsible for 64% of all new electrical generating capacity installed last year....

...This is why, despite the fact that renewables took the lion’s share of new electrical generating capacity installed last year, it was natural gas that seized the largest share of power production from coal utilities....

Steve Forbes is on FOX stating the threat to coal are renewables at the very same time his publication has FACTS indicating that natural gas is displacing coal. That is the case. Currently, natural gas is the one form of energy that has displaced coal.

This goes to prove FOX is nothing but political right wing rhetoric and not the TRUTH.

There are no facts at FOX. Why bother with them?

Is Michael Wear bullet proof? He's got at least nine lives.

He should title it "The Dark Heart."