Stats That Stick

In the first year of DC public school’s IMPACT system, an effectiveness assessment system for school-based personnel, 662 teachers, or 16 percent of the District’s teaching force, were rated highly effective. –The Washington Post

Ninety seven percent of American schools and nearly all public libraries have Internet access, but nearly 80 percent of E-Rate recipients have reported they need faster connections, because several still have dial-up. –Federal Communications Commission

The Rural Trust studied graduation rates in 616 of the nation’s poorest rural districts and found that the graduation rate of just over 60 percent in those districts was nearly 10 percentage points lower than the rate for other rural districts (70 percent), and nearly seven points below the rate for nonrural districts (67 percent). These 616 high-poverty spend $7,731 per pupil compared to $8,134 for all other rural districts and $9,611 for nonrural districts nationally. –Center for American Progress

More students with disabilities have pursued postsecondary education. Forty-six percent of students with disabilities in 2005 were reported ever to have enrolled in a postsecondary school, compared with 26 percent in
1990. –Education Department’s Institute of Education Sciences