Republican: Push more money into academics

he result was an operation that he says pushed more dollars into academics, brought the deficit under control and created a more efficient, collaborative administration -- the same things the Republican said he wants to focus on if elected Indiana superintendent of public instruction.

Bennett said Indiana's schools aren't doing well enough and thinks greater efficiency at the top of school districts is key to freeing up money to offer more resources to students and teachers.

Bennett, 47, said he would reshape the Indiana Department of Education by freeing school districts of regulations he said have been foisted on them over the years.

Once in office, Bennett said, he would have staff go through the regulations and identify ones that might be burdening schools. He would meet with superintendents and principals to find the regulations that frustrate them.

"We have not achieved at the levels we need to achieve in Indiana," he said. "We need to deliver the best education to kids in the United States. When it comes to schools, there should be local control, but it should be local control on how you hit the highest educational standards."

Bennett and his opponent, retired Tippecanoe Schools Superintendent Richard D. Wood, agree on many things but have sharp differences on issues such as local control and how to put more money into classrooms.

Bennett has served as superintendent of Greater Clark County Schools since July 2007, when the district had about 11,000 students, and was an assistant superintendent in New Albany-Floyd County Schools before that, overseeing human resources and administration.

His short tenure as a superintendent leaves little record of his decisions or accomplishments, but he cites hard bargains he has driven with teachers unions at both districts among his accomplishments. The unions did not return calls seeking comment.

And he points to the statistic that his district spends more than 65 percent of its money on direct classroom expenses under a state formula.

Although consistent statewide numbers are unavailable, many districts acknowledge much lower percentages, and many educators reject the idea of a goal of putting 65 percent of school funding into direct classroom expenditures because each district has different needs.

Bill Halter, a retired teacher and former Greater Clark County School Board member, said he expects Bennett would try to do the same things at the state level as he did at the local level, especially looking for places to trim costs.

"My impression is he would probably do a good job; I know he's got the energy for it," Halter said. "He was a fair person."

But Bennett also has a reputation as a tough negotiator and says that when he makes a decision, he knows he's the final word.

State education board accepts takeover plan

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools revoked Clayton’s accreditation effective Sept. 1, citing a dysfunctional school board. Gov. Sonny Perdue also removed four board members after a judge found they had violated the state ethics code and Open Meetings Act.

The Commission for School Board Excellence recommended a series of legislative changes, including no longer paying local board members, prohibiting educators from serving on school boards and reducing large school boards to five or seven members. The commission also recommended legislation to allow the state board to take over poorly performing districts and to remove board members.

With the state board’s initial acceptance, the commission will now look at how to move forward, including proposed legislation, said Gary Price, co-chair of the commission.

“We’re certainly pleased that the state board accepted our recommendations,” said Price, a managing partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers. “If we can get the House and Senate education committees behind what we’re doing and the governor has already signaled he’s supportive, we think we could come out of next session with something ready to move forward in 2010.”

Price said he has heard some concerns — including State Schools Superintendent Kathy Cox’s hesitancy to bar educators from serving on local school boards — but no changes have been made to the initial report. Cox was a high school social studies teacher before she
State superintendent Jack O'Connell has said California would need to spend an additional $3.1 billion to meet the new mandate because so many students are ill-prepared for tougher math classes. O'Connell says an infusion of cash is needed to reduce class sizes in sixth- and seventh-grade math, recruit additional math teachers and add extra time for pre-algebra math. About 52 percent of California eighth-graders take Algebra I courses, but not all of them pass.

Education News(1)

NEW YORK, Oct. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Young voters are headed to the polls in unprecedented numbers. At colleges and universities, these voters are also headed to courses in American government. As Election Day nears in one of the most historic American presidential races ever, it is important for students to understand the issues, listen to what the candidates are saying and take a stand for what they believe in at the polls. Instructors of American government courses are constantly looking for ways to help students make that connection between what they learn in the classroom, how politics gets done, and what that means to them as they learn to participate in their own civic life.

McGraw-Hill Higher Education and National Journal--the nation's premiere political insider information source--have joined together to create exclusive print and digital content for all McGraw-Hill Higher Education American government texts. This alliance combines the academic scholarship of McGraw-Hill authors with the most trusted source in current, non-partisan, political information, and will provide students and professors with the most current and relevant materials available in the market. This alliance is the first to join the exclusive beltway information resource with one of the nation's largest higher education publishers.

"Through ethnographic research of student learning behavior over the last few years, we know that students learn better when their reading materials are directly relevant to their lives," said Steve Debow, president of McGraw-Hill Higher Education's Humanities, Social Sciences and Languages Group. "Nothing could be more relevant during this historic election than the content National Journal brings to the table."

National Journal's "insight for insiders" has been providing unbiased reporting on the politics inside the beltway since 1969 and is the source of information for today's policy makers. This insider information will now be available to all students using McGraw-Hill American government content, including AMGOV (Losco), The American Democracy (Patterson), and American Democracy Now (Harrison) within every chapter of each text giving students a real lens into how politics gets done. The National Journal articles provided have been edited for undergraduates and will highlight key political issues, people and policies, providing them with up-to-date examples and content both in the texts and through weekly articles online.

Education News(1)

NEW YORK, Oct. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Young voters are headed to the polls in unprecedented numbers. At colleges and universities, these voters are also headed to courses in American government. As Election Day nears in one of the most historic American presidential races ever, it is important for students to understand the issues, listen to what the candidates are saying and take a stand for what they believe in at the polls. Instructors of American government courses are constantly looking for ways to help students make that connection between what they learn in the classroom, how politics gets done, and what that means to them as they learn to participate in their own civic life.

McGraw-Hill Higher Education and National Journal--the nation's premiere political insider information source--have joined together to create exclusive print and digital content for all McGraw-Hill Higher Education American government texts. This alliance combines the academic scholarship of McGraw-Hill authors with the most trusted source in current, non-partisan, political information, and will provide students and professors with the most current and relevant materials available in the market. This alliance is the first to join the exclusive beltway information resource with one of the nation's largest higher education publishers.

"Through ethnographic research of student learning behavior over the last few years, we know that students learn better when their reading materials are directly relevant to their lives," said Steve Debow, president of McGraw-Hill Higher Education's Humanities, Social Sciences and Languages Group. "Nothing could be more relevant during this historic election than the content National Journal brings to the table."

National Journal's "insight for insiders" has been providing unbiased reporting on the politics inside the beltway since 1969 and is the source of information for today's policy makers. This insider information will now be available to all students using McGraw-Hill American government content, including AMGOV (Losco), The American Democracy (Patterson), and American Democracy Now (Harrison) within every chapter of each text giving students a real lens into how politics gets done. The National Journal articles provided have been edited for undergraduates and will highlight key political issues, people and policies, providing them with up-to-date examples and content both in the texts and through weekly articles online.

CAT Exams

• CAT-takers can also access their CAT-2008 scores by using SMS facility of mobile phones. For SMS, candidate can type ‘CAT test registration number date of birth (ddmmyy)’ or ‘CAT test registration number application number” for example: “CAT 5370082 030482” or “CAT 5370082 123456” and SMS to “57333”.
• CAT RESULTS by E-MAIL: Candidates who wish to get their results by e-mail should register themselves between October 17, 2008 and November 30, 2008 by sending an SMS to 57333 as follows: ‘CAT test registration number date of birth (ddmmyy) email id’ Please note that only one e-mail id will be registered against a test registration number.

And an even smaller 17.18% have been shortlisted for group discussion and personal interviews. Compare this with a whopping 75.29% men who applied and 82.82% who've cleared the first round, an analysis conducted by the premier B-school of CAT 2006 revealed.

Even among the women, it was general category (26.16%) and ST (23.75%) who were keener on getting into a B-school than women in the other categories.

Sadly, only 18.53% general category and 12.66% ST women have been shortlisted for the next round.

Notwithstanding, the stiff opposition raised by IIMs over bringing OBC students into their campuses, OBC candidates have outperformed their SC and ST counterparts with 43.34% making it to the next round.

The percentile scores in respect of SC\ST was 37.36 and 34.84 respectively. However, it was the general category that took the lead with 52.76% clearing CAT.

What's heartening is that the difference in the average marks obtained between the general category candidates and the OBC candidates is a mere 2%.

While the average scores of general category shortlisted candidates is 99.14%, it's 97.73% among the OBCs. The SC\ST candidates, too, are not far behind, with SCs scoring 89.04% and STs procuring 81.46%.

The performance of the people with disabilities category stood at 86.42%. Yet again, engineers have taken the lead over shortlisted candidates from other disciplines with 904 out of 1,065 candidates shortlisted for round two.

In sharp contrast, only eight candidates have an arts background. While 31 are from the science stream, 59 have a computer science background and 44 from commerce.

Management, law and other categories account for 19 candidates. And this year's CAT reiterated that work experience clearly holds value for an MBA entrance.

The CAT 2006 saw an enthused response from freshers who accounted for 68.85% of the applicants. However, in the shortlisted category, those with work experience outweighed the greenhorns with the ratio tilting to 61.77%-38.22%.

CAT SCORE MERELY ONE CRITERION: Candidates are short listed for the interview on the basis of their performance in the Common Admission test (CAT), their scholastic record and relevant work experience.

The CAT score is only one of the inputs at every stage of the selection process.

It's possible for a candidate with a lower CAT score to be selected for interview and group discussion and to be offered admission in preference to a candidate with a higher CAT score on account of better performance in other criteria.