“The 2016 edition of the Brown Center Report (BCR) is number five in the third volume and the 15th issue overall. The series began in 2000, making this the fifth consecutive presidential election year in which an issue has been published. As is customary, this year’s BCR contains three studies. Part one is on the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and instruction in math and reading. National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) data indicate that nonfiction is receiving greater emphasis in both fourth and eighth grade reading instruction, data and geometry are receding in importance in fourth grade math, and course enrollments in eighth grade math are shifting away from advanced courses toward a single, general math course. The CCSS supports all of these trends…The second section investigates whether tracking in eighth grade is related to Advanced Placement (AP) outcomes in high school. Tracking, the practice of grouping students into different classes based on ability or prior achievement, is a controversial topic…Part three examines school leadership from an international perspective. All around the world, school principals are called on to provide instructional leadership…”
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Daily Archives: March 28, 2016
Population Aging Slower than Other Countries, Census Bureau Reports
“America’s 65-and-over population is projected to nearly double over the next three decades, ballooning from 48 million to 88 million by 2050. However, the U.S. Census Bureau projects the U.S. population will age at a slower rate compared with other countries.Worldwide, the 65-and-over population will more than double to 1.6 billion by 2050, according to… Continue Reading
EFF Has Questions After FBI Breaks Into iPhone
March 28, 2016 | By Andrew Crocker – The FBI has successfully accessed data on an iPhone that has been the subject of a legal battle between the Justice Department and Apple, according to a court filing. EFF is pleased that the Justice Department has retreated from its dangerous and unconstitutional attempt to force Apple to… Continue Reading
Garland Nomination to Supreme Court Gets Positive Reception From Public
Pew Research Center: “Although Merrick Garland’s nomination to the Supreme Court faces an uncertain fate in the Senate, more Americans say they favor (46%) than oppose (30%) Garland’s confirmation to the high court. About a quarter (24%) offer no opinion. Before President Obama nominated Garland on March 16, Senate Republican leaders had vowed to not… Continue Reading
Library of Congress to Cancel the Subject Heading “Illegal Aliens”
Via Library of Congress – “Executive Summary – In response to constituent requests, the Policy and Standards Division of the Library of Congress, which maintains Library of Congress Subject Headings, has investigated the possibility of cancelling or revising the heading Illegal aliens. PSD also explored the possibility of revising the broader term Aliens. It concluded… Continue Reading
GAO Reports – Drinking Water, Financial Regulation, IRS Information Security
Drinking Water: EPA Needs to Collect Information and Consistently Conduct Activities to Protect Underground Sources of Drinking Water, GAO-16-281: Published: Feb 26, 2016. Publicly Released: Mar 28, 2016: “The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has not collected specific inspection and complete or consistent enforcement information, or consistently conducted oversight activities, to assess whether state and EPA-managed… Continue Reading
Urban Wire – Should the FBI be able to hack your smartphone?
Via Urban Institute: “This week [March 23, 2016], a federal judge postponed hearings in Apple v. FBI, one of the most high-profile court cases in the nation—and one that has reinvigorated the privacy versus security debate. This postponement came on the heels of the FBI’s revelation that an outside firm may have found a mechanism… Continue Reading
Commentary – DC, Maryland, and Virginia: We need to talk about Metro
Via Urban Institute: “The nation’s second-busiest heavy rail transit system, the Washington, DC area’s Metro, is in crisis. This is a long-term crisis, occasionally punctuated by national headlines, like when smoke filled a train killing one passenger in January 2015, or when nine people died in a crash in June 2009. In both cases, the… Continue Reading
NYT – Ethereum, a Virtual Currency, Enables Transactions That Rival Bitcoin’s
New York Times: “A new virtual gold rush is underway. Even as Bitcoin, riven by internal divisions, has struggled, a rival virtual currency — known as Ethereum — has soared in value, climbing 1,000 percent over the last three months. Beyond the price spike, Ethereum is also attracting attention from giants in finance and technology,… Continue Reading
