- U.S. reading and math scores show slight gains, By Motoko Rich, November 7, 2013, New York Times: “American fourth and eighth graders showed incremental gains in reading and math this year, but achievement gaps between whites and blacks, whites and Hispanics, and low-income and more affluent students stubbornly persist, data released by the Education Department on Thursday showed. The results of the tests — administered every two years as the National Assessment of Educational Progress, sometimes called the nation’s report card — continued an upward trend in both areas over the past two decades. But still, far less than half of the nation’s students are performing at a level deemed proficient in either math or reading…”
- US ‘report card’ for 2013: Student achievement creeps upward, By Amanda Paulson, November 7, 2013, Christian Science Monitor: “America’s students continue to make incremental improvements in math in fourth and eighth grades, and in eighth-grade reading. But schools and educators have made little progress on closing gaps in student performance by race – even over a two-decade period – and the gains that have been made are small ones…”
- U.S. students show incremental progress on national test, By Lyndsey Layton, November 7, 2013, Washington Post: “The nation’s fourth- and eighth-graders made incremental progress on math and reading tests administered earlier this year by the federal government, according to data released Thursday. The results detail performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, that U.S. students have taken every two years since the early 1990s. Also known as the Nation’s Report Card, it’s the country’s most consistent measure of K-12 progress…”
Day: November 8, 2013
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
- Cut in food stamps forces hard choices on poor, By Kim Severson and Winnie Hu, November 7, 2013, New York Times: “For many, a $10 or $20 cut in the monthly food budget would be absorbed with little notice. But for millions of poor Americans who rely on food stamps, reductions that began this month present awful choices. One gallon of milk for the kids instead of two. No fresh broccoli for dinner or snacks to take to school. Weeks of grits and margarine for breakfast. And for many, it will mean turning to a food pantry or a soup kitchen by the middle of the month…”
- Deep cuts to food stamp program started Friday, By Devon Merling, November 7, 2013, Deseret News: “As of last Friday, Nov. 1, 48 million Americans who receive money to buy vouchers under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as ‘food stamps,’ will see a cut to their monthly benefits…”
- Food stamp reductions: N.J. recipients finding it harder to feed families, By Jason Grant, November 5, 2013, Star-Ledger: “The lines are growing deeper across New Jersey at soup kitchens, some volunteers say, in the wake of recent cuts to the federal food stamp program. At grocery stores, such as the C-Town supermarket in Newark, anxious words are filling the air: The cuts that came down Friday — the result of a rollback to increased benefits under President Obama’s 2008 economic stimulus bill — are what many customers are talking about, a cashier says…”
- Cuts to food stamps will mean increased demand at area food pantries, By Jamie Munks, November 6, 2013, Glens Falls Post-Star: “Cuts to the federal food stamp program that took effect Friday have caused anxiety among local people who receive the benefits and those who run food pantries. The cuts to the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, widely known as food stamps, began last week with the sunset of higher benefits that were part of the 2009 federal stimulus package meant to help Americans through the recession…”
ACA and Medicaid Enrollment
Why new Medicaid enrollment is soaring, By Christine Vestal, November 6, 2013, Stateline: “States are reporting far higher enrollment in Medicaid than in private insurance since the Affordable Care Act exchanges opened Oct. 1. In Maryland, for example, the number of newly eligible Medicaid enrollees is more than 25 times the number of people signed up for private coverage. Even some Medicaid experts say they are surprised at the early numbers…”