Free Republic

HOME SCHOOL STATISTICSThe following study can be found in its entirety at: http://www.hslda.org/docs/study/rudner1999/Rudner1.aspAbout the studyBob Jones University Press Testing and Evaluation Service, the largest home school testing service in the nation, provides Assessment services to home school students and private schools on a fee-for-service basis. In Spring 1998, 39,607 home school students were contracted to take the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS, grades K-8) or the Tests of Achievement and Proficiency (TAP, grades 9-12). Both the ITBS and TAP are published by Riverside Publishing Company and were developed after careful review of national and state curricula and standards.BJUP certified...

When I was in high school, the honor roll was dominated by beautiful young ladies. The homecoming queen and her princesses were always near the top of the list, as were many of the cheerleaders. Why was it that the prettiest girls in the school were also the smartest? Well, they weren't. Appearance, personality and the ability to fit in socially often gave these girls an advantage over equally able peers when it came to getting good grades. Likewise athletic, outgoing, middle-class guys tended to get better grades than their less socially-adept classmates. Because of hidden (and difficult to overcome)...

Exams test educator integrity Emphasis on scores can lead to cheating, teacher survey finds By Aimee Edmondson edmondson@gomemphis.com September 21, 2003 The stories she'd heard about cheating started to make sense when Kim McCrary Marsh's eighth-graders asked for answers during annual achievement tests. "My students asked me, 'Are you going to help us on the test a little bit like So-and-So did?' " said Marsh, a former Trezevant High School history teacher. These days it's not just students who feel pressure to cheat. Marsh and other teachers in Memphis and Shelby County tell stories of adults taking shortcuts on the...

School exam chiefs are to remove all risk of failure from key national tests by replacing the current F for "fail" grade with an N for "nearly". The changes, which have been condemned as "politically correct twaddle", include instructions that markers are to grade maths exam answers as either "creditworthy" or "not creditworthy" instead of correct or incorrect. Guidelines explaining the changes were sent by the Government's Qualifications and Curriculum Authority to the markers of this summer's national curriculum exams. The instructions cover English, maths and science exams at key stages one, two and three, which are taken by seven,...

LAS VEGAS (AP) - Government scientists conducted an underground nuclear materials experiment Friday at the Nevada Test Site, the National Nuclear Security Administration said. The subcritical experiment, dubbed Piano, involved detonating high explosives to chart the behavior of plutonium in a non-nuclear explosion. It did not trigger a self-sustaining nuclear reaction, NNSA spokesman Kevin Rohrer said. Scientists from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California completed the test at 1:44 p.m. in a cavern 960 feet below ground, Rohrer said. No abnormalities and no surface damage were reported at the vast site, about 85 miles northwest of Las Vegas....

U.S. to conduct subcritical nuke test Thursday Thursday, September 18, 2003 at 02:04 JST WASHINGTON — The United States will conduct a subcritical nuclear experiment at the Nevada test site on Thursday, for the first time since Sept 26 last year, the U.S. Energy Department said Tuesday. It will be the 20th such test since 1997 and the seventh since President George W Bush took the office in 2001. The tests have been strongly criticized as undermining the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. (Kyodo News)

In 2003 the median score for whites on the ACT was 21.7. (The ACT test is scored on a scale of 0 to 36.) For blacks, the median score was 16.9. Thus, on average, blacks scored 13 percent lower on the ACT than whites. The good news is that while the median score for whites remained the same, the black score increased by 0.1 point. However, the bad news is that the racial gap on the ACT test has been expanding over recent years.The median scores for both blacks and whites had remained the same for three years from 1997...

For Immediate ReleaseOffice of the Press SecretarySeptember 6, 2003 President's Radio Address      Audio THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. This month, as students across the nation are starting a new school year, parents, teachers and principals are starting to notice a difference in America's schools. The No Child Left Behind Act that I signed into law last year is raising standards for student achievement, giving parents more information and more choices, requiring more accountability from schools, and funding education at record levels. The premise of the No Child Left Behind Act is simple: all children can learn, and the only way to...

<p>September 6, 2003 -- Score a big one for the kids.</p> <p>And maybe a small one, too, for the cause of competence over excusehood.</p> <p>Federal Judge Constance Baker Motley's decision Thursday to toss out charges that teacher certification tests were "culturally biased" marks a notable - and all too rare - step forward for public education in Gotham.</p>

<p>September 5, 2003 -- A federal judge yesterday upheld the state's license exams for teachers as appropriate — tossing out complaints from minority instructors that the tests were culturally biased.</p> <p>Manhattan Judge Constance Baker Motley said the bottom line is that the state has the right to expect aspiring teachers to be able to write a clear and cogent essay on an exam as a condition of employment.</p>

ALBANY, N.Y. -- State officials have regraded a standardized math test that most New York high-schoolers failed this year, transforming failing marks into passing ones for thousands of students. Rather than rescoring all the math Regents exams, the state Department of Education released tables Friday to regrade the tests to more closely match the 2002 test results. For example, a ninth- or 10th-grader who received a 47 percent or 48 percent score in June now has a passing grade of 65.

Sue Friedman has seen the future of medicine -- and it's her life. About six years ago Friedman, then in her early 30s, tested positive for a genetic mutation that signals a higher-than-normal probability of developing breast and or ovarian cancer. ''It was kind of an undiagnosis, youre diagnosed with this risk,'' recalls the Coral Springs resident. Having lost a breast to cancer the previous year, Friedman took no chances. She had her other breast and her ovaries surgically removed as a precaution. Friedmans actions might seem radical, but in the future many of us may base our critical health...

Citizenship tests for immigrants JAMES GOFFIN September 3, 2003 20:09 Immigrants who want a UK passport will have to improve their English and prove their knowledge of the British way of life, under proposals revealed today. The proposals by Home Office advisor Sir Bernard Crick say would-be British citizens should take evening classes on UK culture and history and practical skills like paying bills and getting jobs. Candidates would also have to brush up their written and spoken English, although there would be no minimum level of literacy. Home Secretary David Blunkett jointly unveiled the proposals, part of Government plans...

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - State officials have regraded a standardized math test that most New York high-schoolers failed this year, transforming failing marks into passing ones for thousands of students. Rather than rescoring all the math Regents exams, the state Department of Education released tables Friday to regrade the tests to more closely match the 2002 test results. For example, a ninth- or 10th-grader who received a 47 percent or 48 percent score in June now has a passing grade of 65. The recalculations mean the number of students passing rose from 28 percent to 55 percent for 12th-graders, from...

Question: When is 39 a passing grade? Answer: When it's the Math Regents exam. A new scoring system announced yesterday suddenly transformed hundreds of failing grades on June's Math A Regents into passing grades. So many students flunked the test that state Education Commissioner Richard Mills threw out the scores, allowing schools to substitute coursework grades for the Regents scores. A new scoring table was released yesterday that establishes a grading curve based on the June 2002 test. "It holds this year's students to the same standards as the ones to which the June 2002 students were held," Mills said....

Mukwonago - Home-schooled students could have to take tests so high school officials can confirm that the teenagers have done the work their parents say they have. A proposed policy before the Mukwonago School Board would require any high school student who is not coming from "a recognized or accredited public/private educational institution" to take a semester final exam or achievement test for a report card grade in certain subjects. Students would be required to pay $20 for each test taken, with a maximum $160 charge. Requiring a test also would allow the district to properly place the students in...

New Test Scores, Old B-S.By Tom ReevesNational Association of Scholars | August 29, 2003 Recently announced SAT scores for 2003 prompted the College Board's president and others to rejoice at the progress being made in the nation's high schools.  The gains were modest, to be sure.   Verbal scores for women increased by only one point, and men's scores rose three points.  Both men and women enjoyed a gain of three points in mathematics.  Still, the math scores were the highest in more than 35 years.  A record 1.4 million high school students took the examination.Not everyone was jubilant.  The Center...

Something else positive to post. Math SAT scores in 2002 were 516. That matches the 1967 value of 516. But, most importantly, 46% of students now take the SAT whereas much fewer did in 1967. Also way more minorities take the SAT now (whites scored 533 in 2002, which is way above the mostly white 1967 crowd). All things considered, I think it is fair to say this is the best SAT result ever!! Congratulates students.

The study found that public schools whose students were eligible for vouchers made significantly larger test-score gains than other public schools in the state. Even public schools that had only one failing grade but faced the threat of vouchers if they failed again made exceptional improvements. Similar low-scoring schools that did not face the prospect of voucher competition, however, did not make similar gains. In Florida, vouchers have provided public schools with powerful incentives to improve. If schools don't improve, they stand to lose students - and the funding they generate - to other schools. WASHINGTON - Few question...

<p>This year's crop of college-bound high school graduates had the highest average mathematics scores in more than three decades on the SAT.</p> <p>The national average math score on the SAT this year was 519 &#8212; three points higher than last year and 14 points higher than in 1974 &#8212; according to the College Entrance Examination Board, which administered the test to 1.4 million students in the class of 2003.</p>