economics

Showing 117 posts tagged economics

How Will the Fiscal Cliff Impact Education Funding? While a straight 8 percent cut would seem to suggest everybody would share the fiscal pain equally, things get cloudier when you look at how federal education money is distributed. On average, money from Washington only makes up about 10 percent of public school funding, with the rest coming from state and local governments. But the actual spending breakdown is weighted towards services for the most vulnerable students.

How Will the Fiscal Cliff Impact Education Funding?

While a straight 8 percent cut would seem to suggest everybody would share the fiscal pain equally, things get cloudier when you look at how federal education money is distributed. On average, money from Washington only makes up about 10 percent of public school funding, with the rest coming from state and local governments. But the actual spending breakdown is weighted towards services for the most vulnerable students.

Grades, the currency on campus In the end, instructors who wield grades should try to understand how they work, since incentives have the power to help or hinder learning. “We create and foster these anxieties in students because ultimately it’s good for business,” says U of T’s Dr. Mount, “But that’s not really what they’re there for, and that’s not what I’m there for.” photo via flickr:CC | LShave

Grades, the currency on campus

In the end, instructors who wield grades should try to understand how they work, since incentives have the power to help or hinder learning. “We create and foster these anxieties in students because ultimately it’s good for business,” says U of T’s Dr. Mount, “But that’s not really what they’re there for, and that’s not what I’m there for.”

photo via flickr:CC | LShave

As Debt Rises and Job Prospects Dim, Some Say It’s Time to Put a Warning Label on Graduate School “The situation we face today is one of good news and bad news,” said the council’s president, Debra W. Stewart. “The good news is that there is broad bipartisan agreement here in Washington and among elite stakeholders that educating people up to the highest level possible is necessary for America to be competitive and prosperous. There are very few people who say they don’t want their kids to go beyond college.” The issue going forward, Ms. Stewart said, is, “How are we going to find the money to do it?” photo via flickr:CC | nerissa’s ring

As Debt Rises and Job Prospects Dim, Some Say It’s Time to Put a Warning Label on Graduate School

“The situation we face today is one of good news and bad news,” said the council’s president, Debra W. Stewart. “The good news is that there is broad bipartisan agreement here in Washington and among elite stakeholders that educating people up to the highest level possible is necessary for America to be competitive and prosperous. There are very few people who say they don’t want their kids to go beyond college.”

The issue going forward, Ms. Stewart said, is, “How are we going to find the money to do it?”

photo via flickr:CC | nerissa’s ring

No, Teachers in Finland Are Not Paid Like Doctors In Finland general practitioners earn, on average, about $70,000 per year, which is less than half of what doctors earn in the United States. The average salary for primary education teachers with 15 years experience in Finland is about $37,500, compared to $45,225 in the United States. Moreover, the cost of living in Finland is about 30% higher. In short: higher teacher salaries are not what make Finland’s education system better than ours. And I suspect it isn’t recess either. Edit: Thank you for holding me accountable. Thanks to applesanshanana - if you don’t like this source, try factcheck.org. And thanks to Angry Little Dad  who points out what Finland’s secret is (all 26). I think part of Finland’s success is their 5.3% child poverty rate (compared with 23.1% in the US). High-res

No, Teachers in Finland Are Not Paid Like Doctors

In Finland general practitioners earn, on average, about $70,000 per year, which is less than half of what doctors earn in the United States. The average salary for primary education teachers with 15 years experience in Finland is about $37,500, compared to $45,225 in the United States. Moreover, the cost of living in Finland is about 30% higher.

In short: higher teacher salaries are not what make Finland’s education system better than ours. And I suspect it isn’t recess either.

Edit: Thank you for holding me accountable. Thanks to applesanshanana - if you don’t like this source, try factcheck.org. And thanks to Angry Little Dad  who points out what Finland’s secret is (all 26). I think part of Finland’s success is their 5.3% child poverty rate (compared with 23.1% in the US).

Education Isn’t Entirely About Economic Utility Most of what students learn in math and reading also has no economic utility. Relatively few students will ever use algebra, let alone calculus, in their jobs.  Even fewer students will use literature or poetry in the workplace. When will students “use” history?  We don’t teach those subjects because they provide work-related skills. We teach algebra, calculus, literature, poetry, and history for the same reasons we should be teaching art — they help us understand ourselves, our cultural heritage, and the world we live in.  We teach them because they are beautiful and important in and of themselves.

Education Isn’t Entirely About Economic Utility

Most of what students learn in math and reading also has no economic utility. Relatively few students will ever use algebra, let alone calculus, in their jobs.  Even fewer students will use literature or poetry in the workplace. When will students “use” history?  We don’t teach those subjects because they provide work-related skills. We teach algebra, calculus, literature, poetry, and history for the same reasons we should be teaching art — they help us understand ourselves, our cultural heritage, and the world we live in.  We teach them because they are beautiful and important in and of themselves.

Where Does Daycare Cost More Than College? Nearly half of children under the age of five in the United States are in some form of childcare center or family childcare home for an average of 35 hours a week. While the number of working parents grows, the demand for quality childcare remains as strong as ever. But in a period of slow economic growth, paying for this service is increasingly difficult for parents all across the country. Exactly how costly is daycare today? Turns out, in some states, it’s even more than the price tag for a year at a public university. High-res

Where Does Daycare Cost More Than College?

Nearly half of children under the age of five in the United States are in some form of childcare center or family childcare home for an average of 35 hours a week. While the number of working parents grows, the demand for quality childcare remains as strong as ever. But in a period of slow economic growth, paying for this service is increasingly difficult for parents all across the country. Exactly how costly is daycare today? Turns out, in some states, it’s even more than the price tag for a year at a public university.

theatlantic: How Millennials Could Save the Economy Young people are the lazy, smelly scapegoat of the recession. They’re not working, they’re living at home, they’re constantly complaining about their debt, they’re not buying cars or houses, and they’re not even having babies. But there is an outside chance that The Twentysomething, the media’s favorite economic whipping boy, is poised to become the hero of the recovery, and it all comes down to two words. Household formation. Read more. [Image: Ivy Zelman] High-res

theatlantic:

How Millennials Could Save the Economy

Young people are the lazy, smelly scapegoat of the recession. They’re not working, they’re living at home, they’re constantly complaining about their debt, they’re not buying cars or houses, and they’re not even having babies.

But there is an outside chance that The Twentysomething, the media’s favorite economic whipping boy, is poised to become the hero of the recovery, and it all comes down to two words. Household formation.

Read more. [Image: Ivy Zelman]

How a Teacher Made $1 Million Selling Lesson Plans Deanna Jump is not a trust fund baby. She never married into money and she has never won the lottery. But in the past year-and-a-half, the 43-year-old kindergarten teacher in Warner Robins, Ga., has earned more than $1 million. Her unlikely strategy: selling catchy kindergarten lesson plans to other teachers. Jump is just one of some 15,000 teachers currently marketing their original classroom materials through the online marketplace, TeachersPayTeachers (TPT). Since signing on to the site, she has created 93 separate teaching units and sold 161,000 copies for about $8 a pop. photo via flickr:CC | Images_of_Money

How a Teacher Made $1 Million Selling Lesson Plans

Deanna Jump is not a trust fund baby. She never married into money and she has never won the lottery. But in the past year-and-a-half, the 43-year-old kindergarten teacher in Warner Robins, Ga., has earned more than $1 million. Her unlikely strategy: selling catchy kindergarten lesson plans to other teachers.

Jump is just one of some 15,000 teachers currently marketing their original classroom materials through the online marketplace, TeachersPayTeachers (TPT). Since signing on to the site, she has created 93 separate teaching units and sold 161,000 copies for about $8 a pop.

photo via flickr:CC | Images_of_Money

Segregation Prominent in Schools, Study Finds The United States is increasingly a multiracial society, with white students accounting for just over half of all students in public schools, down from four-fifths in 1970. Yet whites are still largely concentrated in schools with other whites, leaving the largest minority groups — black and Latino students — isolated in classrooms, according to a new analysis of Department of Education data. The report showed that segregation is not limited to race: blacks and Latinos are twice as likely as white or Asian students to attend schools with a substantial majority of poor children. photo via flickr:CC | blmurch

Segregation Prominent in Schools, Study Finds

The United States is increasingly a multiracial society, with white students accounting for just over half of all students in public schools, down from four-fifths in 1970.

Yet whites are still largely concentrated in schools with other whites, leaving the largest minority groups — black and Latino students — isolated in classrooms, according to a new analysis of Department of Education data.

The report showed that segregation is not limited to race: blacks and Latinos are twice as likely as white or Asian students to attend schools with a substantial majority of poor children.

photo via flickr:CC | blmurch

No ‘magic solution’ to college affordability The numbers are alarming. The real cost of a college education in the United States has grown more than 100 percent over the last three decades, a rate that is exponentially higher than the wage increases and cost of living adjustments of most Americans. The latest figures from the College Board put the average cost for 2011-2012, including tuition, fees, room and board, at $17,131 for four-year public colleges (a 6 percent increase over the previous year) and $38,589 for private, nonprofit institutions (a 4.4 percent increase over the previous year). At this rate, it is estimated that a private, four-year undergraduate education will cost $280,000 or more when today’s preschoolers enter higher education in 2026. High-res

No ‘magic solution’ to college affordability

The numbers are alarming. The real cost of a college education in the United States has grown more than 100 percent over the last three decades, a rate that is exponentially higher than the wage increases and cost of living adjustments of most Americans.

The latest figures from the College Board put the average cost for 2011-2012, including tuition, fees, room and board, at $17,131 for four-year public colleges (a 6 percent increase over the previous year) and $38,589 for private, nonprofit institutions (a 4.4 percent increase over the previous year). At this rate, it is estimated that a private, four-year undergraduate education will cost $280,000 or more when today’s preschoolers enter higher education in 2026.

Public Schools and Money States and districts can discontinue costly practices that have not been shown to enhance student achievement, including paying educators for out-of-field master’s degrees and salary premiums for experience; following “last in, first out” personnel provisions; relying on regular classroom instructional aides; and adhering to mandated limits on class size. Regulations that mandate inefficiency, such as legislatively precluding outsourcing, requiring intergovernmental grants to “supplement not supplant” existing spending, and prohibiting end-of-budget year surplus carryover, can also be revised to encourage smarter spending. Doing more with less.

Public Schools and Money

States and districts can discontinue costly practices that have not been shown to enhance student achievement, including paying educators for out-of-field master’s degrees and salary premiums for experience; following “last in, first out” personnel provisions; relying on regular classroom instructional aides; and adhering to mandated limits on class size. Regulations that mandate inefficiency, such as legislatively precluding outsourcing, requiring intergovernmental grants to “supplement not supplant” existing spending, and prohibiting end-of-budget year surplus carryover, can also be revised to encourage smarter spending.

Doing more with less.