Moscow Education (Idaho)

Via the Inside Higher Education:

The Alliance for Excellent Education, a high-school focused think tank, released a report on Tuesday estimating the cost of remediation for community colleges in all 50 states. In sum, the report indicates that two-year institutions spend $1.4 billion annually to help students receive the skills they need in order to graduate or join the work force — skills they ideally should have earned in high school.

On the low end, Alaska is spending approximately $182,000 on such endeavors, while California, at about $135 million, spends the most. ( For the full state listings, turn to page six of the report.)

Officials with the alliance calculated the price tag by multiplying the cost of one course by the number of students under the age of 25 who take at least one remedial course, as gathered by the National Center for Education Statistics in 2004. (NCES also estimates that 42 percent of community college freshmen and 20 percent of freshmen at four-year institutions enroll in at least one remedial course.)

Bob Wise, president of the organization, said that the new estimates are probably on the “very conservative” end because the numbers do not include students who attend four-year public or private colleges, nor older community college students. Additionally, they assume that each student takes only one remedial course. “It’s a somewhat murky world,” he said. “It just isn’t always easy to figure out what remediation costs really are.”

Gary Palmer, president of the Alabama Policy Institute — a nonprofit research organization – noted that his own organization conducted a study in 2004 that found remediation costs at two-year institutions alone in the state to be about $48 million. The Alliance for Excellent Education’s new analysis puts Alabama’s number at $24 million.

“It’s difficult to estimate all of the costs involved with remedial education,” said Palmer. He added that because states cover different amounts of tuition, number crunching can often be difficult. “It all comes down to how you calculate it,” he added.

No matter how the numbers are derived, Wise believes that the economy will suffer immensely if the problem isn’t curbed. “It’s the difference between having a student who ends up as a fast food worker and one who ends up operating CAT scan machines,” he said.

To help curb the problem, Wise suggested that statewide performance standards for college admission would enable educators to better assess student progress toward readiness for college. According to the report, states with these standards in place, such as West Virginia and Florida, have seen a long-term decline in the proportion of students who need remediation.

“It’s not going to be an easy task,” said Wise. “We’re having to reverse a century of one type of system — but I think we can do it.”

 Here’s the Idaho Data from page 6 of the report (click to enlarge):

From Alan Schaeffer at School and State:

You may remember back in January that ABC News aired a special program of 20/20 with John Stossel called “Stupid in America.”  It tore back the curtain of public school to graphically reveal a few of it’s disastrous failings.

 

The network has decided to rebroadcast that show on Friday, September 1 at 10:00 PM Eastern & Pacific. - FOR MOST OF YOU, THAT’S TOMORROW! -

 

If you missed it before, please tune in. This is one of the truly great critiques of government involvement in school, because it uses the visual media so effectively.

 

If you saw it, I don’t need to tell you it was effective. I just need to remind you to grab a friend by the arm and get them to see it too. And while their confidence is melting, why don’t you send them right over to our new web site: www.SchoolandState.org

 

Questions are sure to follow such an exposé. The Alliance’s web site is just the place to look for practical insights and the deep answers that get behind the issues

 

One important note: While John Stossel does a masterful job exposing the problem, the Alliance does not agree with a solution that leaves the government in charge of the flow of money. Even his carefully selected example of Belgium is buckling to government control over private schools because the government still handles the money.

Sincerely,

Alan Schaeffer
President

From Washington’s Evergreen Freedom Foundation:

A recent survey of 400 registered voters in Washington shows that almost everyone has opinions about whether or not the state is spending enough on its K-12 public schools, but almost nobody knows how much is actually being spent.

 

Sixty percent of those asked felt public schools were under-funded . . . until they found out how much is being spent. Our state spends an average of more than $10,000 per pupil annually, but only 12 percent of respondents came within $2,000 of knowing that number. When asked if $10,000 per pupil each year seemed too high, too low, or just about right, 61 percent said it seemed either too high or just about right. [DMC: which means that when informed, 39 percent said the schools were not funded enough; or undecided]

 

Responsible citizenship, especially on matters relating to the education of our children, requires more than simply having opinions and going to the polls on voting day. But even the most responsible citizens will have trouble finding the facts about K-12 public education spending in our state.

 

This is because the average person gets information about schools from a newspaper, and our state’s large newspapers aren’t reporting specifics when it comes to total education spending.

 

A recent analysis by the Evergreen Freedom Foundation discovered that out of a total of 489 education-related articles published in one year in three large regional newspapers (216 in the Seattle Times, 119 in the Columbian and 154 in the Spokesman-Review), not one mentioned the state’s average total per-pupil spending (or total spending, period) for K-12 schools. Only twelve articles mentioned specific portions of school funding.

 

Meanwhile, calls for more money from officials and staff within the state’s K-12 public school system are perpetual and loud. Members of the Washington Learns initiative (chaired by the governor) are likely going to recommend an education spending increase. The Washington Education Association (state teachers’ union) is threatening to sue if the Committee doesn’t recommend a big enough increase.

Idaho is in a similar situation.

From EIA:

Suppose you wanted to make an omelet. You have more than enough eggs, onions and mushrooms, but you have no peppers. Would you buy more onions and mushrooms because you were short of vegetables?

 

That seems to be the preferred solution to the teacher supply problem in places where it exists. The Arkansas legislature recently received a report titled "Teacher Supply and Demand in Arkansas," meant to address chronic teacher shortages in the state.

 

The Arkansas News Bureau published a story on the problem headlined, "Need to find ways to keep teachers teaching, lawmakers told." But it takes until the 12^th paragraph to get this vital tidbit of information: "In the report, Wilson said the state has enough teachers, but that some areas are reporting shortages of teachers of some subjects."

 

And it isn't until the 16^th and final paragraph that you learn that "The highest percentage of surpluses were found in elementary education, with 81 percent of schools reported (sic) more than enough teachers in that area."

 

Since elementary education teachers comprise the majority of the public school teaching force in any state, there are two questions that should be answered: a) How do we persuade teachers to specialize in the shortage areas of math, science and special education, rather than join the overstaffed elementary education field? and b) Why is the 16^th paragraph never, ever the lead paragraph in a story on teacher supply and demand?

From The Education Intelligence Agency.

From EIA:

Illegal immigration is all the rage in the public policy debate these days, but the enthusiasm for creating school district border patrols seems to cross party lines.

 

The New York Times is the latest to examine the issue EIA has dubbed "the black market in school choice" – parents who lie about their residency in order to enroll their kids in better schools. Reporter Joseph Berger gets points for wondering whether hiring private investigators to conduct surveillance on students' homes is cost-effective, never mind its obtrusiveness.

 

But we have to take those points away because of this sentence: "One way to resolve the differences is to think of the rules governing out-of-district pupils in the same way as marijuana laws. There should be a law to keep marijuana under control, but police don't arrest all the smokers they see because the prisons couldn't hold them."

 

In reaching for a relevant analogy, Berger picked a really bad one. Parents who want to put their kids in a better school, but can't afford to live in the proper neighborhood, shouldn't be equated with pot smokers. Nevertheless, ignore Berger's reefer madness and read the worthwhile article.

From The Education Intelligence Agency.

Tom Shuford has an article, GRE Scores of School Administrators over at Education News.

Here’s the bottom line:

Mean Verbal-429, Mean Quantitative-520, Total-949: These are the mean Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores of applicants for graduate study in Education Administration tested between July 1, 2000 and June 30, 2003. Of 51 intended areas of graduate study, applicants in 45 fields had higher Total GRE scores than applicants in Education Administration.

…Verbal and Quantitative scores follow the same pattern. Applicants in 46 fields had higher Verbal scores than candidates in Education Administration. Applicants in 4 fields had lower Verbal scores. (The data seem to explain why articles and Op-Eds by education administrators are extreme rarities.)

…What do the data on Graduate Record Examination scores of aspiring Education Administrators mean? What do the data tell us about the quality of decision-making in state education departments, in district central offices and in principals' offices? How are curricula, textbooks, instructional programs, teachers impacted by school leaders with such academic aptitude scores?

…But for all their limitations, the GRE and the SAT measure what they purport to measure with some success. There is, therefore, a special irony if – as seems certain from the data – we are selecting as heads of our K-12 academic institutions, individuals who demonstrate negligible academic promise.

Linda Schrock Taylor asks the hard questions:

Let me repeat those questions… "What do the data tell us about the quality of decision-making in state education departments, in district central offices and in principals' offices? How are curricula, textbooks, instructional programs, teachers impacted by school leaders with such academic aptitude scores"?

Such questions are of great importance for there are currently thousands of teachers; millions of pupils; under the control of these low-scoring candidates, many of whom are not only inept, but defensive; retaliatory; and manipulative.

Such questions are also important since public schooling shows greater failure rates with each passing year. These failure rates mean greater numbers of illiterate and uneducated citizens; which mean increased numbers of persons who barely exist, and most certainly fail to meet potential and so fail to thrive in life. Every year more taxes are taken from working people in order to support growing numbers of welfare-dependent individuals and rapidly expanding prison populations.

Such questions and their answers are of greatest importance since, in the process of pondering them, intelligent, reflective persons will discover yet more reasons for the steady decline of America and of the American way of life. More will note exactly where the blame should be placed. Rational people will come to the conclusion that the era of mass public schooling should come to an end, and the sooner, the better.

It’s well worth reading her entire critique.

HT: Dave G.

Not all local schools are doing well on the NCLB requirements.

The following article ran in today's Lewiston Tribune (subscription required).

Schools in seven local Idaho districts failed to meet the yearly learning goals set by the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Clearwater Valley Elementary School at Kooskia, Grangeville Elementary Middle School, Kamiah High School, Lapwai High School, Lapwai Middle School, Jenifer and Sacajawea junior highs in Lewiston, Weippe Elementary School, Potlatch Elementary School and the Idaho Distance Education Academy charter school based at Deary all failed to show adequate yearly progress in a report released by the Idaho Department of Education Friday.

From today's Idaho Statesman:

Nearly two out of three Idaho schools met state and federal goals for improved academic progress in 2005-06, up from one out of two a year ago.

…

Results released Friday come from the state's annual listing of schools and districts making adequate yearly progress under the federal No Child Left Behind law, which has reshaped the way schools are teaching kids across the state.

Out of Idaho's 620 schools statewide, 409 made adequate yearly progress compared to 340 schools in 2005.

…

Schools must show that 72 percent of their students are proficient in reading and 60 percent are proficient in math to meet academic expectations. Next year, the bar will rise to 78 percent in reading and 70 percent in math.

No Child Left Behind set a goal that every student will be proficient in reading and math by 2014.

The law also requires that several subgroups of students such as low income and students learning to speak English, meet the state expectations, along with a school's general population. Student performance is measured by the Idaho Standards Achievement Test, given in the spring of each school year.

Schools that don't perform well face sanctions, including offering to move children to better performing schools or paying for additional tutorial services to help kids catch up.

Most of the schools that fell short missed their academic goals among subgroups, which school officials say are among the most challenging to educate.

One example are special education students who may struggle with learning. Many of these students may not be able to pass the exams because of severe learning problems, said Kathleen McCurdy, principal at South Junior High in Boise.

Schools that perform well often target students' specific weakness and offer additional instruction to correct learning problems.

From the Associated Press:

Advocates for early childhood education told a legislative task force on Thursday that eager-to-learn 3-year-old kids in the state are falling behind their counterparts elsewhere because Idaho doesn't give them a chance to attend publicly funded preschool.

"Society pays in many ways for students who do not participate in early childhood education," said Sherri Wood, president of the Idaho Education Association, the state teachers' union. [DMC: Notice the self-interest here that IEA has to get younger and younger kids in the classroom?]

Idaho is one of 10 states that contributes no money to preschool programs. It takes the additional step of barring school districts from spending state money on pre-kindergarten programs.

After lawmakers failed to overturn the prohibition in last year's Legislature, the leadership in both chambers appointed a panel to study the issue — the Early Childhood Education Task Force.

At its first meeting Thursday, the panel heard from a chorus of education officials touting the necessity of early schooling. Experts, they say, suggest a link between preschool instruction and future college attendance, educational success and abstinence from crime and drugs.

The following story of interest was in today's Spokesman Review (subscription required):

The problem area in most of the districts was reading. No Child Left Behind tracks student achievement for each race and for special education students as well as low-income students. Special education students in the St. Maries, West Bonner, Kellogg and Wallace all failed to meet standards in reading. Plummer-Worley's low-income students didn't meet standards for language usage.

The Plummer-Worley district is now in its fifth year of not meeting state standards in reading and will be required to draft a plan, which could include school closures and teacher replacements, if improvement is not made next year. But Lakeside Elementary School met state standards, and Lakeside High School and Lakeside Middle School showed progress, Superintendent George Olsen said.

"We're going to be celebrating those things," he said. "And if the federal government doesn't like it, well, too bad."

The state Department of Education reported good news overall, with the number of schools and districts not meeting standards decreasing over last year. Sixty-six percent of the state's 620 schools met standards this year, compared with 57 percent last year. 

Remember the old adage: you get what you inspect, not what you expect.

To see the progress report for various districts or for individual schools, go to http://www.sde.state.id.us/admin/Ayp06/default.asp

Here’s the direct link for the Moscow School District: http://www.sde.state.id.us/admin/Ayp06/default.asp 

The following story of interest was in today's Spokesman Review (subscription required):

It took long into the night, but Idaho lawmakers called into special session by Gov. Jim Risch on Friday endorsed Risch's plan to cut property taxes and raise the sales tax.

The session inched into its 15th hour before the Senate finally voted 24-11 for final passage of the bill. [DMC: That’s not even a close vote. ]

"I represent a district that has been crying out for property tax relief for many years," Sen. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint, told the Senate as the hour neared 10 p.m. North Idaho residents, she said, "demand to be heard, and they are appreciative of this effort today."

Risch's legislation, which he plans to sign into law next week, makes major changes in Idaho's tax system. Under the bill, Idaho's sales tax will rise from 5 percent to 6 percent on Oct. 1, to generate at least $210 million. At the same time, a major property tax levy that now goes to fund schools will be eliminated, cutting $260 million in property taxes statewide for all property taxpayers. The $50 million gap in school funding will be made up by dipping into the state's $203 million budget surplus.

The People’s Republic of Moscow is in trouble. Our liberalism is greatly disliked in Boise. The chances of getting a piece of the pie from Boise will be difficult. So we’ll be paying an extra 1% in sales tax but unlikely to get our money’s worth.

This is truly a bad move.

As reported in today's edition of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

Moscow teachers and the Moscow School Board appear to have reached an agreement on a new contract after months of negotiations, plus about 10 more hours Wednesday night.

“We reached a tentative agreement (Wednesday) night in the wee hours,” Superintendent Candis Donicht said.

Negotiators headed home around 4:30 a.m. Thursday, said Moscow Education Association President Penni Cyr.

“We’re thrilled that we actually reached a tentative agreement,” she said. “We’ve been talking since the end of April.”

The sticking point came down to compensation, said Cyr, who is also the Moscow High School librarian.

The details of the contract won’t be released until it’s been ratified by both sides, she said. The MEA will meet Monday morning and hopes to ratify the contract at that time.

KQQQ carried an audio report with updates about local labor contracts negotiated with the teacher unions.

Listen Here (201 KB)

KQQQ carried an audio report about the annual college rankings, especially discussing WSU and UI’s rankings by U.S. News & World Report.

Listen Here (158 KB)

KQQQ carried an audio report about UI’s enrollment being down this Fall.

Listen Here (212 KB)

My astute 15 year-old asks: why are they increasing faculty if they are losing students?

My non-answer answer: same reason MSD does…

KQQQ carried an audio report about where the $2.5m in settled lawsuit funds will be used.

Listen Here (209 KB)

Recent polls of interest from the Gallup Organization:

Americans Not Convinced That Local Schools Are in Crisis: While Americans agree there are major problems with the public school system in the United States, the public is much more positive when asked about schools in their local community. Parents of students in the nation's public schools are even more positive when asked about the school their child attends. A new Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup poll also shows that Americans believe the biggest problem faced by public schools is lack of adequate funding.

Update: Listen to the KQQQ audio report on this here (320 KB).

Murf Raquet writes the following for the editorial board of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

See my post “'Knowledge Corridor' concept draws support”. There’s a really good reason that we’re unlikely to see a Knowledge Corridor develop on the Palouse; and the fact that it’s been proposed before (and nothing came of it) is support for my assertion that nothing will come of it again.

The long-awaited finale of the NewCities project is history — at least the conceptual part. After months of research, public input and $20,000 in taxpayer money, the Kentucky-based organization presented its best recommendations for better communication, city planning and economic development to Moscow officials and residents Tuesday.

The result is the Palouse Knowledge Corridor, which takes advantage of two research institutions located eight miles apart. The concept also calls for a pooling of resources to facilitate economic development.

Go with your strengths — a great concept. After all, Washington State University and the University of Idaho are the two largest nonagricultural industries on the Palouse, as well as the largest employers.

It’s not a new idea — just a restating of a concept that’s removed from the closet and dusted off every few years.

The last time it surfaced was in 1998, when the Moscow and Pullman chambers of commerce commissioned a study on how best to market the Palouse. The result — U-Cities: Where Minds Meet — also played on the presence of the universities.

The study was a strategic marketing plan for attracting conferences and group events to the universities and making the Palouse a destination. The thought was, with more people coming to the Palouse for specific reasons, the greater the chances some may choose to relocate their families or businesses here. Economic growth was the desired result of the U-Cities idea.

Not long after the plan was presented to the two chambers the study was shelved.

Eight years later, an idea with remarkably similar goals using the same players is on the table.

For the sake of those who are tired of spending money for studies and consultants, we hope the Knowledge Corridor idea is given more than lip service.

Ideas vary widely on how to achieve economic growth on the Palouse. Some want it slow and steady. Others want to see rapid development. Few want to see the region stagnate.

Growth has to be a compromise, there’s too much to lose. Choosing the right path won’t be easy, but including the two universities in the process makes good sense.

Give it a shot. If nothing else, it will be a good exercise in cross-border cooperation, something sorely needed in recent months. We’re all in this together, good choices are a must.

The following article ran in today's Lewiston Tribune (subscription required).

MOSCOW -- Former University of Idaho Director of Auxiliary Services Daniel P. Schoenberg on Wednesday withdrew his guilty plea to one felony count of misuse of public money and instead pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of petit theft for using UI money to remodel parts of his house.

The following article ran in today's Lewiston Tribune (subscription required).

The University of Idaho will use $2.5 million from lawsuits settled earlier this year to bolster its financial reserves, fund the startup costs of new research and jump-start a new multi-year fundraising campaign, President Tim White announced Wednesday.

The money came when lawsuits stemming from the UI's mismanaged attempt to build the University Place satellite campus in Boise were settled.

White said $750,000 would be tucked away for a "rainy day" when unforeseen expenses arise.

Another $1 million from the settlement will be used for startup costs to attract new researchers. White said all of the UI's colleges will chip in to match that total, bringing the new startup fund to $2 million. "Here's a chance to get two bucks for one," he said.

"The beauty of startup money is that these are one-time costs," he added after his annual address to the faculty to kick off the new school year.

The last chunk of the settlement, $750,000, will go toward the new fundraising campaign. Earlier this year, Christopher Murray was hired to fill the long-vacant position of vice president for university advancement.

Increasing private giving will be crucial to the UI's future success as the competition becomes more fierce for state and federally appropriated funds, White said.

The following article ran in today's Lewiston Tribune (subscription required).

[S]tate funding for the UI's fiscal year 2008 may take a hit if White's projection of a 5 percent dip in this year's enrollment comes true. Education funding in Idaho is largely based on formula, and enrollments are a key variable.

White echoed the comments made Monday by V. Lane Rawlins -- his counterpart eight miles away at Washington State University -- that there are no easy answers to the nationwide enrollment slide.

"This is not a University of Idaho phenomenon," White said, noting most universities will see their enrollment decline for the first time in several years. "We have to take this pretty seriously."

But while the 2006 freshman class is smaller, it is better than ever before, he said, with 42 national merit scholars now on campus.

He also touted the UI's unique position as the state land grant university, with extension offices in 42 out of 45 counties. And with a new 2.4 gigabyte-per-second Internet pipeline, the school is able to quickly transfer huge amounts of information to and from its peer institutions.

"The campus of the University of Idaho is the state of Idaho," he said of the school's outreach activities.

From today's Idaho Statesman:

Idaho elementary school students' math skills are soaring, but Idaho's 10th-graders are in an arithmetic slump, based on the 2006 Idaho Standards Achievement Test released Tuesday.

Results also showed that at least 16 percent of last year's 19,500 10th-graders are in danger of not graduating because they didn't pass at least one of the three ISAT tests in math, language and reading in the exams given last spring.

About 90 percent of Idaho's third- and fourth-graders are proficient or better in math. But the gains don't hold through secondary school. By seventh grade, only 76 percent of the students were proficient in math and by 10th grade, the percentage falls to 71.

This year's results reflect the same slump in math scores as in 2005.

Idaho high school students' drooping math performance is one of the reasons the State Board of Education proposes high school students take three years of math, up from the two now required, beginning in 2013. Better math skills are needed, the State Board says, so students can compete in college and a technology-driven workplace. Students would be required to take both algebra 1 and geometry.

The following letter to the editor appeared in today’s Moscow-Pullman Daily News:

We are writing in support of a group in Moscow that is organizing a new public charter school based on the Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound (www.elob.org) model. We have a daughter who has attended Anser Charter School, an ELOB school in Boise, since its opening in 1999. This model allows students to delve deeply into a concept while relating it to their world.

For example, during one yearlong expedition, “The Roots of Rebellion,” the students did a survey at Boise State University asking college students their views, formulating questions about rebellion to guide them as they studied the Revolutionary and Civil wars, the civil rights movement, and the women’s rights movement. They wrote and illustrated poetry, which was compiled into a calendar, reproduced and sold to the public. Students wrote diary entries for two characters, British and Colonial, while studying the American Revolution. After many other activities, the students were better able to understand opposite perspectives and tolerate differences of opinion.

We can’t talk about Anser without mentioning the caring community it has created there. Classroom community and whole-school community are times set aside to share, connect, and recognize individual and group efforts. Bullying is rare, if not nonexistent. Positive character traits are taught and assessed.

Anser was a K-6 school for several years and later added seventh grade and then eighth grade as it gained stability in staffing, finances and other logistics. The Moscow school is proposing to take a similar approach.

An ELOB school would be good for Moscow because it would give parents more educational choice, the service projects would benefit the community, and the lessons learned would guide the children well through the rest of their lives!

Lee and Kathy Wassmuth, Boise

KQQQ carried an audio report about the noise and alcohol complaints in Moscow & Pullman this year over last.

Moscow’s were up; Pullman’s were down.

Listen Here (269 KB)

Here is a list of school start-up dates and their enrollment last spring. The following is from today's Lewiston Tribune (subscription required). 

Today:

• Pullman, 2,258;
• Whitepine, 279;

Monday:

• Potlatch, 483;
• Colton, 163;

Tuesday:

• Culdesac, 165;
• Troy, 331;
• Asotin, 542;
• Pomeroy, 363;

Wednesday

• Lewiston, 4,910;
• Clarkston, 2,728;
• Colfax, 701;
• Palouse, 193;
• Garfield, 154;
• Grangeville-based Dist. 241, 1,320;
• Highland, 216;
• Cottonwood, 433;
• Nezperce, 152;
• Orofino-based Dist. 171, 1,339
• Kamiah, 506;
• Kendrick, 301;
• Moscow, 2,285;
• Moscow Charter School, 130;

Sept. 5

• Lapwai, 532

Year-round

• Idaho Distance Education Academy, 1,207.

The following article ran in today's Lewiston Tribune (subscription required). Read the prior post before reading this one.

The story at the University of Idaho is different. Vice Provost Linda Morris said staffers haven't put a ton of effort into providing the wealth of statistics requested by U.S. News and other ranking entities such as the Princeton Review.

"It's a full-time job in terms of putting down all this information, and I've got other things to do," Morris said. "Most schools have full-time people just doing this."

The job has floated around the university in recent years she said, and the UI's ranking has probably suffered as a result. This year the UI remains in the "third tier" in the U.S. News rankings of national universities. As such, it doesn't receive a number ranking, but falls somewhere between 127 and 182. Idaho State University is ranked in the fourth tier. Boise State University didn't make that particular list.

Morris said that if the UI simply did a better job of reporting the requested numbers, its status would climb. A plan is in the works to do just that, with marketing staff devoting more resources to fulfilling those requests. "This year we're going to work on trying to get those numbers," she said. "Right now we don't have a means of getting that information."

Last year the UI suffered through a particularly brutal grading by the Princeton Review, which includes a student survey in its rankings. But Morris said that result was skewed because only about 10 students responded to the survey, magnifying any negative comments such as "dorms like dungeons."

For this year's survey a marketing class was put on the case. The students collected 522 student responses, and the result was a huge turnaround. The Princeton Review, which is not affiliated with Princeton University, now ranks the UI as one of its Best Western Colleges. It was ranked eighth for quality of life among the same western colleges.

The fact that some schools can change their rank by simply focusing on better reporting has some schools rankled. Some claim that rival colleges are merely gaming the system.

Earlier this week, ABC News reported that some of the University of Chicago's peer institutions complained the Illinois school was able to jump an unusual six spots in one year -- from 15th to 9th -- simply by researching the U.S. News statistical method and tailoring its responses.

Washington State University Provost and Executive Vice President Robert Bates said that does happen.

"They make their decisions and they allocate some of their resources just to move the ranking numbers," Bates said. "I don't think we chase them in the same sort of way, but what I would say is that we don't dismiss them either."

He said most schools realize parents and students do pay attention to the rankings. But he said rather than focus on just moving a number, WSU's philosophy is to take care of the business of constantly improving the institution, and better rankings will naturally follow.

WSU moved up eight spots among all national universities this year, from 120 to 112. Among public national universities, WSU is in a tie for 54th, Bates said

You may recall The Washington Monthly College Rankings -- National Universities post.

The college rankings by U.S. News and World Report is also out.

The following article ran in today's Lewiston Tribune (subscription required).

The annual ritual has begun.

Yes, students at all levels are streaming back to class. But late summer also means incoming high school seniors and their parents start sizing up colleges for next year.

One place many of them start is with the U.S. News & World Report rankings of American colleges released last Friday. But the value of those rankings varies, depending on who is asked. [DMC: Funny, the people who value them are those who are on top…]

"We take the rankings very seriously," said Andy Hanson, dean of student services at Lewis-Clark State College. For the third time in the last six years, LCSC was ranked No. 1 among comprehensive bachelor's degree-offering public colleges in the West, a separate category from the main university rankings. "The people who are shopping for colleges, parents and students in particular, take them pretty seriously as well." [DMC: I always look at the local rankings; as well as those for past schools I’ve attended.]

U.S. News looks at more than a dozen factors, from alumni donations to admissions scores, graduation rates and faculty resources.

LCSC employees use the ranking in their recruitment materials, at college fairs and at their speaking engagements, Hanson said.

…

Hanson said LCSC focuses on providing its data to U.S. News and other entities because it generates deserved publicity for the school. "But I wouldn't say that we're just playing by their rules."

All three administrators [WSU, UI, LCSC] said there is value in the rankings, but they should serve only as one factor in such a major life decision.

"It shouldn't be the main factor at all," Hanson said. "The best, absolute best test for deciding whether or not to go to a particular college is to actually visit that campus and talk to the people who teach there and work there and go to school there."

The rankings themselves are bogus. The first major (unduly weighted) category USNWR uses is basically peer recognition. That means they survey College presidents about the reputations of the nation's colleges. But presidents generally don't have escape velocity to leave their own planet, so that information is basically reflective of how much PR an institution generated to capture headlines and send out glossy brochures and magazines.

The peer recognition also often includes the president's own alma mater and previous institutions attended or worked at, of course (now there's objective judgment call!!).

It makes interesting reading, and sparks endless debate ("my college is bigger than your college"). But everyone in the academy knows the USNWR "Best" list is lame.

Some took umbrage at my comments about the freshman class SAT scores at the UI.

Kate wrote:

That report was a fluff piece.  Now, if the difficulty of the freshman English courses doubled and none of the students needed remedial work, that would be good news.  If this freshman class did not need to be taught nouns and verbs, run-on sentence vs sentence fragments vs complete sentences, that would be good news.   If this year's freshmen could put one logical thought after another in their freshmen essays, I would cheer.  I would also faint from shock.

 When the SAT scoring was reconfigured in the 90's, giving everyone an automatic 100 point boost, or an easier test for the same score as before (how ever you want to look at it) the memory of that reconfiguration faded quickly in the light of the "good news of higher scores!" propaganda.

She’s right. The 2001 SAT is not the same as the pre-1996 SAT .

If you want to convert your old SAT results into the new SAT scores, see http://www.greenes.com/html/convert.htm

If you are an average American parent over 40, you’d likely be a genius by today’s SAT standards.

Even Mensa gets into the act, using the pre-recentered SAT to estimate IQ: http://members.shaw.ca/delajara/oldSATIQ.html

According to that Mensa scale, the “average incoming UI Freshman” scores in the 67% on an IQ test.

As I’ve said, the GPA that the Provost trumpets is absolutely the wrong standard by which to decide if the students coming into the UI are “better” than previous years.

You have to have an unchanging standard to judge that. I suggest the pre-1996, pre-recentered SAT test.

The following story of interest was in today's Spokesman Review (subscription required):

About a quarter of Kootenai County 10th-graders who took the Idaho Standards Achievement Test in April didn't post math scores high enough to earn a diploma.

That matches the statewide trend reflected in the test results released Tuesday by the state Board of Education, with math scores starting out strong in the lower grade levels, then declining steadily as the grade levels increase.

"You just slowly see it just decline," said Luci Willits, spokeswoman for the state Board of Education. "It's very clear that we need better math all the way along."

Students are tested in grades three through eight and again in grade 10. Proficient scores in all three areas of the test – math, reading and language usage – are required to graduate from an Idaho public high school.

About 71 percent of Idaho's 10th-graders met math standards on the latest round of the ISAT, taken in April.

This follows the trend in the rest of the country, showing that kids are adequately educated thru about 6th grade; then academics plummet.

Listen here (410 KB) to the KQQQ audio report on MSD’s ISAT results.

Listen to the commentary from KQQQ (263 KB). MSD jolly well should beat the rest of the state on the ISAT. While MSD touts that as excellent news (and it is), it’s really no news.

KQQQ carried an audio report about the incoming freshman class. Some stats they brag about:

• High academic credentials: 3.42 average GPA.
• 16 National Merit Scholars
• SAT average of 1,100
• 65 ranked first in their high school class

Are any of these an objective description that demonstrates that the quality of students is increasing? GPA certainly is not—given all the conversations about grade inflation.

For instance: how would 16 National Merit Scholars today compare to 16 National Merit Scholars from 30 years ago? We’re comparing apples and oranges.

Listen Here (371 KB)