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Department of Defense Education System Ranked Best Schools in the Nation

Ekosj
@Ekosj
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The DoD shows them how it's done. The Department of Defense runs 161 schools in the US and around the world to educate the children of US military members and other DoD personnel. The just released "Nation's Report Card" ranks the DoDEA as the best school system in the country... by a lot. My state of NJ is ranked 3rd, behind Massachusetts and DoDEA. We are 3rd ... but it's not really close. Here is a comparison of DoDEA vs NJ vs the National Average for 4th and 8th Grade math:

4th Grade Math
% BELOW Basic % @ Basic % @ Proficient % Advanced
DoDEA 9 37 43 11
NJ 23 33 33 11
National (Public) 24 36 31 9
8th Grade Math
BELOW Basic Basic Proficient Advanced
DoDEA 19 40 30 11
NJ 35 29 23 14
National (Public) 41 32 19 8

I can't find the National Average by Race, but the Demographic Breakdowns are available for the states and some select cities. Below is NJ vs DoDEA:

4th Grade Math
DoDEA BELOW Basic Basic Proficient Advanced
By Race
Asian 4 96 63 18
Black 17 83 37 4
Hispanic 11 89 47 7
White 7 93 60 13
NJ BELOW Basic Basic Proficient Advanced
By Race
Asian 6 94 78 35
Black 43 57 21 4
Hispanic 36 64 25 3
White 10 90 57 14
8th Grade Math
DoDEA BELOW Basic Basic Proficient Advanced
By Race
Asian 15 85 51 17
Black 33 67 22 4
Hispanic 23 77 35 8
White 14 86 46 13
NJ BELOW Basic Basic Proficient Advanced
By Race
Asian 4 96 78 43
Black 58 42 13 3
Hispanic 52 48 18 3
White 22 78 46 15

It's particularly horrifying that in NJ — the 3rd best State in the country — OVER HALF of Black and Hispanic 8th graders lack even a Basic understanding of math. This explains the economic statistic for adults where Black and Hispanics show dramatically lower earnings and higher unemployment than Whites and Asians. If these kids can't do math, then most of the best jobs in America are unavailable to them. Moreover, most of these kids are being educated in large urban districts, like Newark and Camden and Trenton and Paterson and Plainfield, that have been run by Democrats for 100 years. But the DoDEA system shows that it doesn't have to be this way.

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Discussion (46)

  • EODmom@EODmom

    Beware the assessments now based on vaguely defined “proficiency” under Competency Based Education, regardless of the venue. It is not knowledge based and leaves children lacking actual working knowledge of fundamental subject matter. It’s a follow on from Common Core Curriculum debasement of public schools.

    It actually reminds me of my approach to high school physics- learn just enough to pass the 6 weeks’ tests and the not cumulative final. And write good lab reports for my much more capable lab partners who crammed me before the test.

  • John H.@JohnH

    The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) hadn't seemed very formidable when I took it (in 1989), but maybe it screens just enough to get smarter enlistees, who later become smarter parents having and/or raising smarter kids.

  • Ekosj@Ekosj
    ReplyingtoEODmom

    EODmom (View Comment):

    Beware the assessments now based on vaguely defined “proficiency” under Competency Based Education, regardless of the venue. It is not knowledge based and leaves children lacking actual working knowledge of fundamental subject matter. It’s a follow on from Common Core Curriculum debasement of public schools.

    It actually reminds me of my approach to high school physics- learn just enough to pass the 6 weeks’ tests and the not cumulative final. And write good lab reports for my much more capable lab partners who crammed me before the test.

    Its hard to imagine that the numbers for Black and Hispanic students could be much worse. Let's look at, for example, the Washington DC school system... 54% of 8th graders BELOW BASIC

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