Would Mitt Romney Eliminate the Department of Education?

[randomrogue]

Rick Perry said a lot of completely bat shit crazy things so that the only slightly insane things that Romney says don't look so bad. He was just there for show and you shouldn't take anything he said seriously or think that any other candidate will follow those suggested policies.

 

[nextJin]

There's an ignore list function in the User CP.

Thank you

 

[Matt1970]

The average cost per pupil in public schools is $10,041, while the average cost per pupil in private schools is $8,549.

Fourth grade reading: Private schools averaged 14.7 points higher than public schools.
Fourth grade mathematics: Private schools averaged 7.8 points higher than public schools.
Eighth grade reading: Private schools averaged 18.1 points higher than public schools.
Eighth grade mathematics: Private schools averaged 12.3 points higher than public schools.

http://taboojive.com/private-schools-vs-public-schools-an-analysis/

Board of Education is doing a fine job.

 

[dank69]

The average cost per pupil in public schools is $10,041, while the average cost per pupil in private schools is $8,549.

Fourth grade reading: Private schools averaged 14.7 points higher than public schools.
Fourth grade mathematics: Private schools averaged 7.8 points higher than public schools.
Eighth grade reading: Private schools averaged 18.1 points higher than public schools.
Eighth grade mathematics: Private schools averaged 12.3 points higher than public schools.

http://taboojive.com/private-schools-vs-public-schools-an-analysis/

Board of Education is doing a fine job.

Wow. Kids whose parents care enough about their education (and have the money) to put them into private school do better in school? Must be the system.

 

[theevilsharpie]

The average cost per pupil in public schools is $10,041, while the average cost per pupil in private schools is $8,549.

Fourth grade reading: Private schools averaged 14.7 points higher than public schools.
Fourth grade mathematics: Private schools averaged 7.8 points higher than public schools.
Eighth grade reading: Private schools averaged 18.1 points higher than public schools.
Eighth grade mathematics: Private schools averaged 12.3 points higher than public schools.

http://taboojive.com/private-schools-vs-public-schools-an-analysis/

Board of Education is doing a fine job.

What the author fails to mention is that public schools are forced to deal with students that have special needs, and students that aren't interested in their education and disrupt the education of others. These two aspects alone would likely account for the bulk of the difference in cost. With respect to performance, not only do public schools have to deal with special needs kids and kids that don't really want to be there, they also have to deal with kids that are educationally disadvantaged due to things like language barriers, dysfunctional households, etc.

 

[DrPizza]

Mod note: I warned several people for derailing this thread into a discussion; please keep on topic.

 

[blackangst1]

No, he wont.

 

[DrPizza]

The average cost per pupil in public schools is $10,041, while the average cost per pupil in private schools is $8,549.

Fourth grade reading: Private schools averaged 14.7 points higher than public schools.
Fourth grade mathematics: Private schools averaged 7.8 points higher than public schools.
Eighth grade reading: Private schools averaged 18.1 points higher than public schools.
Eighth grade mathematics: Private schools averaged 12.3 points higher than public schools.

http://taboojive.com/private-schools-vs-public-schools-an-analysis/

Board of Education is doing a fine job.

That's incredible! Only a $1500 difference?! I never would have thought it was so close. I'm familiar with local numbers, and am aware that the difference between regular ed and special ed is over $10,000 per student. Have you ever heard of 12-1-1 or 8-1-1? That means for 8 students, there's one teacher and one aide. And, for many of those students, if they are mainstreamed into regular classrooms, they have aides helping them in those classrooms, in addition to the regular teacher. At one local city school I observed at, there were 16 students, 7 aides, and 1 teacher in a single classroom. It wasn't the school's decision to have so many aides - they were mandated by law to be provided to the students.

Largely, private schools get to pick and choose their students - and can easily exclude an excessive number of special ed students, making it a lot cheaper to provide an education. Furthermore, the number 1 predictor of academic success is the economic level of the parents. Is it a surprise that a private school - presumably with parents who are involved, parents who are more likely to be more educated than parents of children living in poverty, parents with resources to provide tutors, etc. for their children - results in higher scores?

edit: at a glance, I see two figures quoted for NYS. One shows around 17k as the average cost for a special education student; the other, based on the number of special education students and total spending on special ed works out to over $26k per special education student. Add on things like busing - the public schools in NY are required to provide transportation to students to go to private schools, provided the private school is within a certain range (25 miles, I think.) And, that doesn't even begin to touch on other things like disciplinary problems or attendance problems! I can randomly pick a public school from inner NYC and look at their average daily attendance rate (wild guess - 80%, if that?) - I'd bet that you couldn't find a single private school in the entire state with that low of an attendance rate - so with students present only 80% of the time in the inner cities, you expect the teachers and schools to do better??

 

[DrPizza]

There have been a lot of positive changes in education in the past 3 or 4 years under Obama. NCLB is beginning to be pushed aside. There's a new common core curriculum that the majority of the states are picking up. The standards, at least in math, are improving greatly. Part of the push also makes teachers more accountable. I don't agree with the way a few of the changes have been implemented; but we're finally going in the right direction. It would be a shame to have the Department of Education eliminated and possibly wipe out the progress that has been made.