Thursday, December 5, 2013

Community College Rankings 2013 | Washington Monthly

Community College Rankings 2013 | Washington Monthly:

College Guide2013 Community College Rankings


2013 Community College Rankings

Read Community Colleges Rankings in the chart below and use this drop-down menu to check out Rankings charts for other school types:
Read more about the Community College rankings.
First time ever on the Web -- see our "Best Bang for the Buck" schools with this drop-down menu.
* Indicates a public school, ° indicates a for-profit school.
Institution
  
  Active &
Collaborative
Learning
Student
Effort
Academic
Challenge
Student-faculty
Interaction
Support for
Learning
First-year
Retention Rate
Three-year
Graduation/
Transfer
Rate
Credentials awarded
per 100
FTE students
1Saint Paul College (MN)8071.361.571.766.252.647.024.9
2North Florida Community College (FL)62.258.361.165.167.456.956.040.7
3North Dakota State College of Science (ND)64.14755.760.152.471.446.960.2
4Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College (WI)62.554.358.859.151.765.450.844.4
5Lawson State Community College (AL)65.859.459.3595758.949.318.2
6Missouri State University-West Plains (MO)56.558.85459.257.959.249.840.5
7Western Wyoming Community College (WY)61.856.656.358.753.449.776.631.1
8Capital Area Technical College (LA)63.555.751.957.264.555.745.828.3
9Snow College (UT)65.250.852.453.755.254.674.343.8
10North Central Missouri College (MO)57.159.253.253.753.860.158.241.6
11Linn State Technical College (MO)58.847.646.75750.376.059.363.6
12Halifax Community College (NC)53.757.756.860.660.260.642.820.2
13Southeast Kentucky Community & Technical College (KY)56.151.858.557.65854.342.543.8
14Chipola College (FL)52.955.2535356.565.957.944.1
15Grays Harbor College (WA)57.555.860.3555560.837.331.1
16Kauai Community College (HI)5855.155.954.559.554.337.140.8
17Isothermal Community College (NC)59.757.959.258.163.654.712.120.1
18Williston State College (ND)56.649.650.161.55652.535.264.5
19Williamsburg Technical College (SC)62.555.754.761.763.939.833.623.9
20Mississippi Delta Community College (MS)56.157.456.255.65956.729.632.7
21Itasca Community College (MN)59.952.75152.254.455.661.947.1
22Cascadia Community College (WA)67.353.556.250.851.656.853.129.6
23East Central Community College (MS)54.453.95353.555.867.750.134.9
24Washington County Community College (ME)60.452.548.655.445.653.356.667.9
25College of Coastal Georgia (GA)59.556.956.957.85455.030.628.0
26Abraham Baldwin Agriculture College (GA)56.353.654.359.456.553.743.932.2
27Dakota College at Bottineau (ND)57.545.852.255.258.849.566.748.7
28Miami Dade College (FL)55.855.754.756.554.961.635.732.8
29Cumberland County College (NJ)53.752.555.155.856.463.639.137.3
30Bay de Noc Community College (MI)5555.452.956.251.855.444.048.6
31Hocking College (OH)59.956.256.257.75648.231.032.8
32Mayland Community College (NC)51.553.651.358.461.365.248.420.8
33Umpqua Community College (OR)6158.56254.149.446.533.429.7
34Itawamba Community College (MS)50.550.350.759.160.164.040.737.9
35Bridgemont Community & Technical College (WV)58.149.253.663.853.343.939.546.1
36Valencia College (FL)52.654.253.751.152.366.052.540.2
37Southern Arkansas University Tech (AR)52.455.148.153.558.959.948.243.5
38Vermilion Community College (MN)54.951.65254.255.949.065.242.5
39Robeson Community College (NC)57.357.355.956.357.156.025.124.6
40Minnesota West-Granite Falls (MN)54.548.147.957.753.364.961.142.9
41Ridgewater College (MN)53.151.853.353.152.258.759.244.3
42Chippewa Valley Technical College (WI)54.252.652.452.651.357.759.946.4
43Ashland Community & Technical College (KY)53.953.251.76155.558.931.933.7
44Green River Community College (WA)58.855.7545349.855.854.032.2
45Texas State Technical College Marshall (TX)56.648.948.856.559.357.749.338.9
46Tacoma Community College (WA)56.653.356.655.452.454.047.430.3
47Highline Community College (WA)55.157.153.454.252.956.647.630.5
48City Colleges of Chicago-Kennedy-King College (IL)62.36057.958.85339.038.513.0
49Clinton Community College (NY)5155.356.855.551.151.743.940.6
50South Florida Community College (FL)58.856.248.754.154.654.157.656.6

solidaridad: Parent Engagement Committee as opportunity to address LAUSD CAC concerns

solidaridad: Parent Engagement Committee as opportunity to address LAUSD CAC concerns:

Parent Engagement Committee as opportunity to address LAUSD CAC concerns

From an avid reader [edited for anonymity]
Here's the link to the next Early Childhood Education and Parent Engagement Committee meeting scheduled for next Thursday, December 12, 1013. It has an unfortunate late start of 4PM due to Curriculum and Instruction Committee scheduled at 10am, and the Budget, Facilities and Audit Committee scheduled at 1PM the same day. Hopefully the Budget meeting won't go overtime and we can start at 4. As they will be speaking about Local Control Funding Formula, it is possible that public comment will not occur until around 6PM.
School board staffers recently spoke regarding difficulties with our Community Advisory Committee (CAC) meeting structure today and ongoing since PCSB has been helping us. It's been requested that this issue could be placed on the agenda as a whole, but it's full for next week. Officials facilitating the Ad Hoc committee suggest that it would carry weight if members of the CAC and other interested members of the public could come to the meeting and speak to the committee regarding this. The public could ask to have the committee consider this for a future agenda item. If anyone is able to attend, it would be beneficial to the CAC.
Link to committee info and agenda.


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Charlatan @drDeasyLAUSD calls transferring wealth to corporations "Civil Rights Issue" http://j.mp/193hZLR 

What Is Teaching All About and Why Does Experience Matter? | janresseger

What Is Teaching All About and Why Does Experience Matter? | janresseger:

What Is Teaching All About and Why Does Experience Matter?

From our national testing law, No Child Left Behind, through programs like School Improvement Grants coming from Arne Duncan’s Department of Education, federal policy is designed these days to blame and scapegoat school teachers.  The assumption under today’s policies is that if we rate and rank teachers by students’ scores, they will work harder and smarter and do more with less to make up for the fact that across many states we are spending less on public education than we did five or six years ago.  And we are spending not nearly enough in the communities where children are segregated in poverty.
Our national obsession with blaming teachers is likely also wound up with the fact that we have all watched a lot of teachers work.  As we sat in their classrooms, it all looked pretty easy.  When one listens to Emanuel Ax play the piano, it is also easy to imagine being a concert pianist  because he makes it look pretty easy.  This morning in her Washington Postcolumn, Valerie Strauss features a commentary from one of today’s best writers about teaching, Mike Rose, a professor at UCLA’s Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, and author of some of my favorite

The Educated Reporter: Sandy Hook 911 Recordings: News Value or Shock Value?

The Educated Reporter: Sandy Hook 911 Recordings: News Value or Shock Value?:

Sandy Hook 911 Recordings: News Value or Shock Value?



With the release of audio recordings of the Sandy Hook 911 calls, media outlets are weighing the news value of using them against the inevitable criticism that to do so is macabre exploitation.

The recordings were released Wednesday after the Associated Press sued for access, calling them a vital piece of the public record. New Britain Superior Court Judge Eliot Prescott agreed, saying that to delay the release “particularly where the legal justification to keep them confidential is lacking, only serves to fuel speculation about and undermine confidence in our law enforcement officials, " USA Today reported. 

If news outlets opt to use the recordings, “context is everything,” said Bruce Shapiro, executive director of the Dart Center on Journalism and Trauma at Columbia University. “Are you just posting a bunch of audio saying ‘Here’s what a school shooting sounds like’ or are you adding real value to the story you’re doing and to the coverage?”

Shapiro pointed to the story accompanying excerpts of the recordings on the

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: The PISA Scores: MICHELLE RHEE CLUCKS THAT THE SKY IS FALLING

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: The PISA Scores: MICHELLE RHEE CLUCKS THAT THE SKY IS FALLING:

The PISA Scores: MICHELLE RHEE CLUCKS THAT THE SKY IS FALLING

More Mediocrity for American Education: The bad news about those mediocre new rankings of America's educational system is the complacency about fixing them

BY MICHELLE RHEE | TIME IDEAS |  HTTP://TI.ME/IFWZQN

Michelle Rhee
Getty Images
Dec. 04, 2013  ::  America’s education system earned headlines this week when it showed, yet again, that compared to the rest of the world, our schools perform in the middle of the pack. The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) tested the math, science, and reading skills of 15 year-olds in 34 countries, and America failed to crack the top ten. Our kids finished 17th in reading, 21st in science, and 26th in math— behind countries including Estonia and Poland, and even developing countries like Vietnam.
The rankings themselves are not reason for outrage. Instead, what should be appalling to every American is the reality that tomorrow, when the PISA rankings fade from headlines, many advocates will go back to defending the current state of this nation’s public schools. They will argue, as they always do, that our education system is not broken — despite the fact that it performs at the same level as the Slovak Republic where the government spends half as much per pupil, and the GDP is 171 times smaller.
Many commentators suggested we should just ignore the results altogether, pointing out that American schools have always ranked in the middle of the global pack. That’s true. But is it a reason to not strive for more? That kind of complacency with mediocrity offends students, offends educators and offends the American spirit.
We don’t settle for 26th place in Olympic competitions. We wouldn’t be happy with a foreign high-tech company usurping Apple’s market position. And when the Soviets beat us into space with Sputnik, we rose to the occasion and put

ALEC: ADVOCACY GROUP PROPOSES RESTRICTIONS ON STUDENT DATA + smf’s 2¢
by Tom Chorneau | SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet | http://bit.ly/1bK6JGr December 5, 2013  ::  (D.C.) Amid growing concerns over the security of student data as states and school districts  transition to common national curriculum standards, one of the country’s leading conservative advocacy groups has proposed legislation that would limit