As I was looking over the school's website I ran across some statistics that compared Us averages to Utah's averages and Granite school district averages.
Administrative cost per student
USA $160
Utah $ 53
Granite $35
Expenditures per student
USA $8310
Utah $4991
Granite $4828
Student/Teacher Ratio
USA 16.4
Utah 22.9
Granite 22.3
Utah has the lowest expenditures per student in the nation, the 38th lowest teacher salaries, and the highest student/teacher ratios.
Data source: National Center for Education Statistics
That disturbed me a little bit. I knew that Utah did not have as much money for students as other other states, but the fact that they spend the least out of every other state and have the highest student/teacher ratios is discouraging.
When I looked at testing scores I saw that only 64% passed the language arts test and math test. I am not sure how this compared to other states, but this a very small amount when you think that if there are 25 kids in a class that means only 17 or 18 are passing.
Being with kindergartners on Mondays and Wednesdays and with fourth graders on Tuesday and Thursday has shown me the reality if education in our country. George Bush is also concerned about this but has gone about solving it the wrong way. Now we have so many tests that we are teaching to the tests. The No Child Left Behind Act has made it so kids don't think for themselves, they think, what is the only right answer that must be placed on the answer sheet. There is much lacking in this act.
I hope things changes when I am teaching, soon they are revoting to see if we should keep No Child Left Behind. I say we get rid of it. It is not helping our education system.
4 comments:
Uuugggh, those ARE discouraging numbers- You need to come teach in my town!!
Do you know what is going on with the Utah voucher bill?
All I know is that if a parent wants their child to go to a different school then they have to fill out paperwork and hand it into administration. It is on a first come, first serve basis. So not everyone that wants it will get it.
I agre, terrible. I've heard that it's becuase there's such a higher % or poeple have kids, and lots, whereas in other states there's lots of people who don't have many, if any, kids, so there's more moeny to go around. That's been a deterrant for me here. I'm interested to see what you have to say in the future.
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