On this day:
1514
Marriage of Louis XII of France and Mary Tudor.
1604
Supernova 1604, the most recent supernova to be observed in the Milky Way.
1635
Founder of Rhode Island Roger Williams is banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony as a religious dissident after he speaks out against punishments for religious offenses and giving away Native American land.
1740
Dutch colonists and various slave groups begin massacring ethnic Chinese in Batavia, eventually killing 10,000 and leading to a two-year-long war throughout Java.
1845
The eminent and controversial Anglican, John Henry Newman, is received into the Roman Catholic Church.
1854
Crimean War: The siege of Sebastopol begins.
1919
Black Sox scandal: The Cincinnati Reds win the World Series
Marriage of Louis XII of France and Mary Tudor.
1604
Supernova 1604, the most recent supernova to be observed in the Milky Way.
1635
Founder of Rhode Island Roger Williams is banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony as a religious dissident after he speaks out against punishments for religious offenses and giving away Native American land.
1740
Dutch colonists and various slave groups begin massacring ethnic Chinese in Batavia, eventually killing 10,000 and leading to a two-year-long war throughout Java.
1845
The eminent and controversial Anglican, John Henry Newman, is received into the Roman Catholic Church.
1854
Crimean War: The siege of Sebastopol begins.
1919
Black Sox scandal: The Cincinnati Reds win the World Series
1936
Generators at Boulder Dam (later renamed to Hoover Dam) begin to generate electricity from the Colorado River and transmit it 266 miles to Los Angeles, California.
1940
World War II: Battle of Britain – During a night-time air raid by the German Luftwaffe, St. Paul’s Cathedral in the City of London, England is hit by a bomb.
1967
A day after being captured, Marxist revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara is executed for attempting to incite a revolution in Bolivia.
1969
In Chicago, the United States National Guard is called in for crowd control as demonstrations continue in connection with the trial of the “Chicago Eight” that began on September 24.
2006
North Korea allegedly tests its first nuclear device.
2009
First lunar impact of the Centaur and LCROSS spacecrafts as part of NASA’s Lunar Precursor Robotic Program.
***
"It's said that 'power corrupts', but actually it's more true that power attracts the corruptible. The same are usually attracted by other things than power. When they do act, they think of it as service, which has limits. The tyrant, though, seeks mastery, for which he is insatiable, implacable." -David Brin, scientist and science fiction author (b. 6 Oct 1950)
***
About 6.2 million years ago, the Red Sea dried up completely. Some millennia later, the dried seabed filled back up in a cataclysmic flood.
***
I am very excited about Momdani's impending election. Surely he will level the playing field and order the Yankees to give the Pirates one of their excess power hitters.
***
Generators at Boulder Dam (later renamed to Hoover Dam) begin to generate electricity from the Colorado River and transmit it 266 miles to Los Angeles, California.
1940
World War II: Battle of Britain – During a night-time air raid by the German Luftwaffe, St. Paul’s Cathedral in the City of London, England is hit by a bomb.
1967
A day after being captured, Marxist revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara is executed for attempting to incite a revolution in Bolivia.
1969
In Chicago, the United States National Guard is called in for crowd control as demonstrations continue in connection with the trial of the “Chicago Eight” that began on September 24.
2006
North Korea allegedly tests its first nuclear device.
2009
First lunar impact of the Centaur and LCROSS spacecrafts as part of NASA’s Lunar Precursor Robotic Program.
***
"It's said that 'power corrupts', but actually it's more true that power attracts the corruptible. The same are usually attracted by other things than power. When they do act, they think of it as service, which has limits. The tyrant, though, seeks mastery, for which he is insatiable, implacable." -David Brin, scientist and science fiction author (b. 6 Oct 1950)
***
About 6.2 million years ago, the Red Sea dried up completely. Some millennia later, the dried seabed filled back up in a cataclysmic flood.
***
I am very excited about Momdani's impending election. Surely he will level the playing field and order the Yankees to give the Pirates one of their excess power hitters.
***
Grading
Keeping score has intimations of hierarchy.
The National Assessment of Educational Progress NAEP, which provides data for the Nation's Report Card, is mandated by Congress and is the largest nationally representative test of student learning. NAEP tests were first administered in 1969.
Today, the assessments in math and reading are given every two years to a broad sample of students in fourth and eighth grades; 12th-graders receive them every four years. NAEP also administers voluntary assessments in other subjects outside the congressional mandate.
It has been tracking students’ progress since 1969. The latest results show a decade-long decline in high school students' reading and math scores. (It should be remembered that school dropouts cannot be assessed and are not included in the results, so the results are probably misleadingly high. The national average dropout rate in the U.S. is approximately 5.1%, with some states reporting rates as low as 2% and others as high as 10%.)
The NEAP has released its latest findings. From January to March 2024, it assessed about 23,000 eighth graders in science, 19,300 12th graders in math, and 24,300 12th graders in reading.
The NEAP found that just 31% of the eighth graders performed at or above proficient.
For 12th-grade math, only 22% performed at or above proficient.
There was a slightly better result for 12th-grade reading, with 35% performing at or above proficient.
So what’s happening? The NEAP states that while the COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on student achievement, some experts argue that scores had been declining before that. Some of the other factors include heightened absenteeism, increased screen time, and shorter attention spans.
Compared with NAEP's first 12th-grade reading assessment in 1992, this average score is 10 points lower.
"Scores for our lowest-performing students are at historic lows — continued declines that began more than a decade ago," Matthew Soldner, acting director of IES, told reporters. "My predecessor warned of this trend, and her predecessor warned of this trend as well. And now I am warning you of this trend."
The National Assessment of Educational Progress NAEP, which provides data for the Nation's Report Card, is mandated by Congress and is the largest nationally representative test of student learning. NAEP tests were first administered in 1969.
Today, the assessments in math and reading are given every two years to a broad sample of students in fourth and eighth grades; 12th-graders receive them every four years. NAEP also administers voluntary assessments in other subjects outside the congressional mandate.
It has been tracking students’ progress since 1969. The latest results show a decade-long decline in high school students' reading and math scores. (It should be remembered that school dropouts cannot be assessed and are not included in the results, so the results are probably misleadingly high. The national average dropout rate in the U.S. is approximately 5.1%, with some states reporting rates as low as 2% and others as high as 10%.)
The NEAP has released its latest findings. From January to March 2024, it assessed about 23,000 eighth graders in science, 19,300 12th graders in math, and 24,300 12th graders in reading.
The NEAP found that just 31% of the eighth graders performed at or above proficient.
For 12th-grade math, only 22% performed at or above proficient.
There was a slightly better result for 12th-grade reading, with 35% performing at or above proficient.
So what’s happening? The NEAP states that while the COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on student achievement, some experts argue that scores had been declining before that. Some of the other factors include heightened absenteeism, increased screen time, and shorter attention spans.
Compared with NAEP's first 12th-grade reading assessment in 1992, this average score is 10 points lower.
"Scores for our lowest-performing students are at historic lows — continued declines that began more than a decade ago," Matthew Soldner, acting director of IES, told reporters. "My predecessor warned of this trend, and her predecessor warned of this trend as well. And now I am warning you of this trend."
"And I alone am escaped to tell thee?"
If spending is any indicator of effort, we are working hard to fix this problem. The national average public school spending/student is approximately $17,074 (2025-26). The state with the highest average student spending is New York, with $32,199 spent per student. The state with the lowest average student spending is Idaho, with $9,364 per student.
But, of course, the spending is a placebo. The truth is, we don't care. Quality has been leaking out of education for more than a generation, drip, drip, dripping every year. We have other priorities like the teacher's union, bizarre teaching methods, and sociological goals. To some, quality is a defect in the culture. It lifts and separates. They are happier if there is no curve in the bell curve at all.
The stagnant pool of algae has advantages over the dangerous savannah.
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