Dive Brief:
- The new White House report gauges progress on education under the Obama administration, laying out a number of successes, goals and works currently in progress, including being "on track" to train 100,000 more outstanding math and science teachers by 2021 and making science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education a national priority.
- One accomplishment includes reducing the number of students who don't complete high school on time; bringing the number down from 1,015,946 students in 2008 to just 744,193 students in 2012, a 27% decrease across four years; drop-outs have also been reduced by 42%.
- With the administration's federal School Improvement Grants (SIG) program, schools in every states and the District of Columbia (D.C.) received at least $7 billion to turnaround failing schools, and the White House reports progress.
Dive Insight:
There's lots to parse in the new White House report, and one takeaway is the progress cited by officials in the pressing area of school connectivity. According to officials, President Obama's ConnectED initiative has already resulted in the connectivity gap being slashed by more than half, saying ConnectED is on target to meet connectivity goals. "In 2013, only 30% of school districts had access to high-speed broadband, leaving 40 million students without access to that connectivity," the report says. "Today, 77% of school districts do, reaching an additional 20 million students."
Projects like the international Hour of Code have also likely played a role in highlighting the growing importance of tech in K-12 schools. This year, many school systems participated in Computer Science Education Week, and President Barack Obama joined other high-profile celebrities and power-brokers like Ashton Kutcher, Chris Bosh, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg in promoting the Hour of Code via YouTube videos showcased on Hour of Code's website.
