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In 2019, two-thirds of American fourth-graders scored below "proficient" in reading in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) test. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, scores declined again, reaching a 30-year low. However, despite a widespread national literacy problem among American schoolchildren, several states have managed to stave off the dramatic declines in test scores that plagued other states. Since 2013, Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana have all passed legislation mandating that teachers be trained in the "science of reading"—methods that typically center around phonics, an approach in which children are taught to read words by decoding the sounds that different letters...

President Joe Biden appeared to have a “Ron Burgundy” moment on Tuesday while reading a speech about gas prices off a Teleprompter. Biden was compared to the fictional newscaster from the movie “Anchorman” when he recited the words “end of quote” after referencing a statement from the CEO of Walmart. “And, by the way, you may have heard the CEO of Walmart yesterday on the steps we’ve taken. He said, and I quote, ‘The combination of private enterprise and government working together has been really successful,'” Biden said in the speech.

I'm looking to find a syllabus that I could use to do Sunday School via teleconference with my grandson(s). File under: 21st Century Headlines. I have 2 grandsons, the older one is almost 7, so I'd be starting with him. The little one is only 2, so maybe just get him to do an art project or something for now. I'd be willing to spend some money to get a quality product I googled this and there were SO MANY ads that came up! Of course that made me happy, but I feel a little overwhelmed. So I figured I'd...

Greetings and Salutations to everyone on this fine Valentine's day and I hope this stupid little Vanity I spit out finds it's way to your eyeballs. I'm moving my family across the country, but I'm not sure where yet. Luckily, this thread isn't about that. What it is about is my simmering desire to take to the air. When I move across the country, I really want to se my next goal to be a private airplane owner. But I know nothing on the topic. I mean I read a lot on it, but I'm itching to talk to someone...

Author John J. Newman has some explaining to do. His textbook, United States History: Preparing for the Advanced Placement Examination, literally rewrites the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution. On page 102 of Newman’s book (page 134 of the PDF version), the author cuts the Second Amendment in half and leaves out several key words.

Emerging as a force in American education a century ago, social studies was intended to remake the high school. But its greatest effect has been in the elementary grades, where it has replaced an older way of learning that initiated children into their culture with one that seeks instead to integrate them into the social group. The result was a revolution in the way America educates its young. The old learning used the resources of culture to develop the childÂ’s individual potential; social studies, by contrast, seeks to adjust him to the mediocrity of the social pack. Why promote the...

According to the Hawaii Reporter, Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie (Dem) signed a bill into law that will make it easier (or at least more tempting) for NRA representatives to give firearm training instruction in the beautiful island state. Governor Abercrombie signed House Bill 679 into law on July 9. The bill, which you can find official information about here, aims to protect NRA instructors. It “exempts NRA instructors from absolute liability for injury or damage caused by their firearms during the course of providing firearms training at a firing range for the purpose of acquiring a permit to purchase a...

The Louisville, KY Courier-Journal reported recently that an elderly woman who was able to defend herself with a firearm during an attempted home invasion two years ago is now certified as an NRA-certified instructor, teaching others the same life-saving skills. From the article: Sylvia Hall had never used her handgun for protection until the morning four strange men appeared at her doorstep impersonating evangelicals. "We want to read the Bible to you," they said when she answered the door. Hall said no. They insisted, and one of them began to push on the screen door and force himself in. That's...

ABBEVILLE — Ed Strickland spends his days surrounded by guns. While the career lawman and avid hunter might have one of the best-guarded homes in Abbeville, the claim to fame he’s particularly fond of is his 10-year role as a concealed weapons permit course instructor — a $65 “public service” he provides for about 20 residents from throughout South Carolina each month. Who goes there Strickland’s class Saturday attracted 19 people — 14 men and five women — of varying races and ages. Some were in their 20s, while others were well into retirement. Several identified themselves as victims of...

Stop listening to instruction, my son, and you will stray from the words of knowledge. Proverbs 19:27 I used to think that knowledge was the key to life. What I mean by that is, I once thought that if we were all enlightened and went to college, we would know how to solve the world's problems. In fact, with so much collective knowledge out there, why aren't the world's problems solved? But there's knowledge and there's instruction. We often equate the two, and sometimes they're related. More often than not, though, they're as different as night and day. You can...

Or is he (she) simply "overmedicated?" Because if the problems for the students don't stem from drugs, like a 100%, there may be something else at work here.

The good news about nuclear destruction Posted: August 24, 20061:00 a.m. Eastern By Shane Connor What possible good news could there ever be about nuclear destruction coming to America, whether it is dirty bombs, terrorist nukes or ICBMs from afar? In a word, they are all survivable for the vast majority of American families, if they know what to do beforehand and have made even the most modest preparations. Tragically, though, most Americans today won't give much credence to this good news, much less seek out such vital life-saving instruction, as they have been jaded by our culture's pervasive myths...

WASHINGTON, June 7, 2006 – The Defense Department yesterday issued an instruction detailing the standards of medical care in detainee operations. DoD Instruction 2310.08, titled "Medical Program Support for Detainee Operations," reaffirms the responsibility of health care personnel to protect and treat all detainees under their care humanely, said Dr. William Winkenwerder, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs. "It is a comprehensive, thoughtful policy document that's reaffirming high ethical principles and humane care and treatment for detainees and persons under the authority and control of the U.S. armed forces," Winkenwerder said in a telephone interview. "In a phrase,...

The Vatican’s new document on the ordination of homosexuals brings it all back. I sat in the mental hospital for five days, reading Trollope, watching the Nagano Olympics, giving God an earful. Why me, Lord? Why, when all I wanted was to serve God as his priest? My desire for priesthood was born out of gratitude for my deliverance from the homosexual lifestyle and from my history of depression. Since my conversion to the Catholic faith in 1992, I had functioned for five years without anti-depressants, and I thought I had mastered my same-sex attractions sufficiently to manage as a...

Gay priest ruling adds fuel to fire Vatican document stands out more as pope's first than for whom it bans By Margaret Ramirez and Manya A. Brachear, Tribune staff reporters. Tribune news services contributed to this report Published November 30, 2005 The Vatican issued a long-awaited document Tuesday on the explosive issue of homosexuality in the priesthood, but the document banning men with "deep-seated homosexual tendencies" added more heat than light to the controversy. In fact, several scholars said that the text of the document--which largely restates long-standing Roman Catholic teaching on homosexuality--matters less than its timing and prominence. It...

Here's a rich irony: I'm writing today about a new children's book, but I can't describe the plot in a family newspaper without warning you first that it is entirely inappropriate for children. The book is "Rainbow Party," by juvenile fiction author Paul Ruditis. The publisher is Simon Pulse, a kiddie lit division of the esteemed Simon & Schuster. The cover of the book features the title spelled out in fun, Crayola-bright font. Beneath the title is an illustrated array of lipsticks in bold colors. The main characters in the book are high school sophomores -- supposedly typical 14- and...

Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean was in Phoenix Wednesday but the state's top Democrat -- Gov. Janet Napolitano-- steered clear of the liberal bulldog during his Arizona visit. Dean addressed a rally hosted by the Young Democrats of Arizona and attended by state Democratic Party chairman Jim Pederson. Pederson is a shopping mall developer and is considering a challenge next year to GOP U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl. But the head of the Democratic ticket, Napolitano, was not at the Dean appearance and had no meetings scheduled with the former Vermont governor and vanquished 2004 presidential candidate. Napolitano spokeswoman Jeanine...

PHOENIX - Gov. Janet Napolitano said Friday she might veto the state's entire $8.2 billion budget over a dispute with the Republican-controlled Legislature on funding to teach English. A veto would force the Legislature, which adjourned about 1:15 Friday morning after 123 days, to return in a special session. Napolitano said the budget deal negotiated with the GOP leadership a week earlier included an "understanding" that Republicans "would sit down and negotiate a Flores resolution with the Democrats." That refers to a 14-year-old lawsuit in which a federal judge ruled Arizona was not meeting its legal obligation to provide adequate...

The new dean of the Rev. Jerry Falwell's Liberty University theological seminary is a former Sunni Muslim who plans to turn out a hipper generation of graduates by relating to them with lyrics from rapper 50 Cent, TV's "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" and the latest movies and film stars. Ergun Mehmet Caner cracks one-liners as easily as he quotes a Bible verse. Lecturing to a packed auditorium of 450 students, Mr. Caner mixed religion with jokes to keep his students on their toes in a late afternoon theology class. He asked his students which popular actors they would...

by Russell Shaw  Contact this Author The Third Rail? 12/29/04 Is sex the third rail of Catholic homiletics and catechesis — just touch the subject and you're dead? Considering the lengths to which some preachers and religion teachers seem to go to avoid the topic, you have to suppose that's how they think of it. If so, they're wrong. In today's sex-saturated society, after all, nobody else steers clear of sex. The routine presence of scandalous sexual content in popular media has reached epic proportions, and lately — a sign of the times — we've been treated to a movie...