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Lawmakers get good news on schools Friday, Jan 12, 2007 By Doug Thompson Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - Arkansas is making more progress than any other state in improving public school students' academic performance, spokesmen for the Southern Regional Education Board told legislators Thursday. Arkansas fourth-graders are now slightly above the national average in reading results, according to federal education figures, compared to a four-point gap as recently as 2002 and a 5 percentage point improvement in national reading results since 1998. "Would you consider testifying for us before the state Supreme Court?" Sen. Mary Anne Salmon, D-North Little Rock, said during the board's presentation. The state Supreme Court declared Arkansas' public education funding system unconstitutionally inadequate and inequitable in 2002. Every legislative session since has dealt with court-imposed deadlines to increase school spending and make academic improvements. "When have you ever seen that?" said Sen. Jim Argue, D-Little Rock, chairman of the Senate Education Committee, tapping the reading chart with his finger during an interview. Thursday's meeting was a joint meeting of the Senate and House Education committees that was open to other lawmakers, who crowded the room normally reserved for Budget Committee meetings. "Arkansas ahead of the national average on something; I don't think I've ever seen that," Argue said. The state saw improvement in all areas checked by the regional board. Fourth grade math results showed the gap between Arkansas and the national average closing from 9 percentage points in 2000 to 1 percentage point since in 2005, despite a 15-percent improvement in the national average over those same years. Eighth-grade reading results went from a gap of 3 percentage points to 2. The gap in math went from 13 percentage points in 2000 to 4 point. Most surprising is that the improvement bucks a strong connection between academic performance and income, board spokesman Dave Spence told lawmakers. Those income figures for Arkansas have not improved relative to the rest of the nation, making the gains in education even more impressive, he said. However, there is still a major problem with college graduation rates. The number of Arkansas students graduating with a college degree is lower than the national average, board members said. Argue said he was at a loss as to why the education improvement came so quickly. "We raised teacher salaries, but I don't think the improvement is from paying the same teachers more," Argue said in an interview. The state's relatively new pre-kindergarten program has not had time to have much of an affect on fourth-graders, he said. "Maybe it's all the focus the issue has received, he said." In other figures, average classroom teacher salary is higher in Arkansas than in any surrounding state, although beginning teacher salary is lower. |
