 From funding issues to under-educating students to innovative ways to reach at-risk students, the following facts all revolve around high school education. 1. Underfunded. Many high schools are seriously underfunded, resulting in less opportunities for students to succeed, particularly in low-income or urban schools. In Chicago, more money is spent housing adult prisoners ($21,000 annually) than educating students ($10,000 annually). 2. Many students are lacking history and literature knowledge. A study done by Common Core indicates that a shocking number of students do not know many basic facts from literature and history–even recent history. Sometimes as many as 50% of students from the study didn’t know facts such as that the first World War was between 1900 and 1950, who Adolph Hitler was, or could identify Oedipus. 3. Dropout rate. While dropout rates have fallen considerably since the 1970′s, there are still high numbers of students dropping out of high school. The high school dropout rate for black and Hispanic males is the highest, with rates at 11% for blacks and 23% for Hispanics compared to only 6% for whites. Males are much more likely to drop out than females. 4. Building condition. 44% of schools said that the condition of their physical buildings interfered with learning in some capacity. Most commonly to blame for the interference is air conditioning. Principals reported more interference among portable buildings where such elements as lighting, air quality, noise control, and size of the rooms caused concerns. 5. Distance learning. Most people hear the words "distance learning" and think about college. Surprisingly, more and more high schools are incorporatingdistance learning into their programs to help alleviate overcrowding, adjust to special scheduling needs of students, and provide AP classes. Results from a 2008 study show that over 9,000 schools had already started using distance learning as a tool for their students. Read more: (Although first printed in 2009 the article is still very much relevant today)Additional Information: 1. 10 Staggering Facts about Education in America 2. 11 Facts about Education and Poverty in America 3. Education in The USA |
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Shocking Facts About American High Schoolsposted Jan 18, 2012 3:17 AM by Graham William Hendrey [ updated Jan 18, 2012 3:22 AM ] |