States with Most K-12 Black Student Graduates

National Center for Education Statistics new study shows that my home state, Georgia, is not among the top states with the most K-12 student graduates who are African-American/Black. Unfortunately, this is no shocker to me, but I do hope for the days where Georgia can proudly make this this. Here are those states that are above the national average of African-American/Black graduates.

National average: 69% graduation rate for African-American/Black students compared to 73% for Hispanic students, 86% for white students, and 88% for Asian students.

In reverse order, according to an article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

10. South Carolina and Arizona (71%)

9. Vermont and Maine (72%)

8. Connecticut, Indiana, Massachusetts and Missouri (73%)

7. Iowa, Delaware, Nebraska, West Virginia (74%)

6. Kansas, New Jersey, North Carolina, Virginia (75%)

5. North Dakota, New Hampshire, Hawaii (76%)

4. Maryland (77%)

3. Arkansas (78%)

2. Montana and Tennessee (79%)

1. Texas (84%)

See 2011-2012 data from Governing.com.

Massachusetts Governor's Office is looking for potential candidates to fill positions

A friend shared this with me, now I'm sharing it with you...

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A member of the Diversity in Transition Committee is looking to provide Massachusetts Governor Patrick's successor with access to talented and qualified individuals from communities of color. The office is looking for potential candidates to fill positions in (but not limited to):

- Administration & Finance
- Business & Technology
- Consumer Affairs & Business Regulation
- Economic Development
- Education (K-12 and Higher Education)
- Elders Affairs
- Environmental Affairs
- Health & Human Services
- Housing & Community Development
- Labor & Workforce Development
- Public Safety
- Transportation

If you, or someone you know is interested, please upload resumes or LinkedIn profiles for review by our Committee to http://diversityintransition.com/apply.html . In the questionnaire, indicate whether you are interested in a position or serving on a board or commission within the new Administration. The Committee will organize resumes received and present them to the new Administration in November 2014. 

Please note that submission of a resume does not guarantee a job, nor does it act as an application to a position. Instead, it will help a resume stand out during the transition process and support a formal application in November.

Facebook page at www.facebook.com/diversityintransitioncommittee. 

DeKalb County (Atlanta) ranks 15th on School Choice -- Ahead of Boston and Charlotte and Cobb Co. (outside Atlanta) School Districts

A Brookings study released in Q1 2014, purportedly ranks school districts based School Choice, measured by 13 different categories of policy and practice.  Some of the 13 categories include virtual schools (and the % of students enrolled), availability of alternative schools (such as magnets, vouchers, affordable private, and tax credit scholarships), whether there is a policy of restructuring or closing schools, whether there is a common application to enroll, performance data, comparable standards and assessments, and transportation.  The purpose of the study is to "to create public awareness of the differences among districts in their support of school choice."  

A conversation about measurables aside (everyone knows that what you measure often dictates what you find), Brookings ranks the top 107 school districts -- with only New Orleans schools and NYC schools getting overall "A" or "A-" grades and school districts like Atlanta - Fulton County, Clayton County (south of Atlanta) and Shelby County, TN receiving grades of "F."  

DeKalb County (Atlanta) comes out passing with a "C+" at rank number 15.

Article found here:
http://www.brookings.edu/research/interactives/2014/ecci_2013

-E

Top Universities in the World -- Another LIst

According to a British higher education magazine, Times higher Education,the rankings for the Top Universities in the WORLD are as follows.  Not bad Michigan (special place in my heart), The Ohio State University (dad's alma mater), U of Florida (SEC pride?), and of course... Harvard :-)

More after the break...

DeKalb County School Board Members OUT -- Governor Removes 'Em

Governor Nathan Deal of Georgia removed members of the DeKalb County School Board last week.  The news went national: Huffington Post.  I wrote about my thoughts in several previous posts: Another Atlanta district is on suspension -- UGH!

My thoughts haven't much changed-- it's an embarrassment.

According to Georgia news, Georgia governors have done this often.

The state's last three governors—Roy Barnes, Sonny Perdue and now Deal—have suspended or removed from office members of local boards of education in Spalding, Clayton, Warren and Miller counties when those districts' accreditation was threatened, in part, by dysfunctional behavior on the part of their boards. -- The Daily Report.

 Further, supposedly more than 400 people have applied to fill the school board vacancies. 

StudentsFirst grades States: Georgia and Massachusetts get D+

Did you ever think you'd see the day when the shining beacon on a hill, Massachusetts, would get a state education ranking equal to that of Georgia???  I didn't.

Well, this is what StudentsFirst is proclaiming with its new State Policy Report Card.  If I list out all the states in which I've gone to school, worked, or otherwise have a remarkable connection to, here's what I find:

• Georgia, D+
• Massachusetts, D+
• Virginia, D-
• Mississippi, D
• Michigan, C-
• Florida, B-
• District of Columbia, C+

More after the break...