School grades drop under new formula, By Michael Vasquez and David Smiley, July 26, 2013, Miami Herald: “Florida education officials released preliminary school grades for elementary and middle schools on Friday – and, as expected, the grades dropped due to changes in the state’s complicated accountability formula. In Miami-Dade, including both district schools and charters, nearly 60 schools received failing grades — 46 Ds and 13 F’s. In Broward, 33 schools got a D and 13 got F’s. Last year, Miami-Dade had 29 D schools and four F’s; Broward had 13 D’s and four F’s. With public skepticism growing about the validity of Florida’s A-to-F grading system, the dominant question has become: Are public schools really failing, or is it the state’s letter-grade system that deserves an F?…”
Month: July 2013
Aging Immigrant Population – New York City
Immigrant struggles compounded by old age, By Kirk Semple, July 25, 2013, New York Times: “After retiring from his job as a security guard in 2011, Wahid Ali spent his days struggling against tedium. Speaking only limited English and with few friends, he had little to do and mainly stayed at home, a small rented room in an illegal basement apartment in Coney Island. But the tougher fight was financial. Mr. Ali, 78, had meager savings, and his wife had not worked since they immigrated to the United States from Pakistan in 2006. So the couple depended on his monthly Social Security check of less than $600…”
Unemployment Among Veterans
Unemployment among recent veterans drops sharply, By Alan Zarembo, July 23, 2013, Los Angeles Times: “Unemployment among recent veterans has fallen sharply and now is the same as for the rest of the U.S. population, hovering just above 7%, new federal statistics show. The figures suggest that a vexing and stubborn trend of higher joblessness among veterans who left the military after September 2001 has been reversed. It now appears that veterans are being hired at a faster rate than non-veterans. Advocates credited a variety of public and private efforts, including major U.S. corporations beginning to make good on pledges to hire hundreds of thousands of veterans, federal tax incentives for employers and allowances for veterans to receive professional licenses based on their military training…”