IN-CLASS OR ON-LINE ACTIVITIES

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Chapter 1: Misconceptions About School Finance

IN-CLASS OR ON-LINE ACTIVITIES

1.Have each class member pair up with one other person. One person will explain (explainer) Misconception 1 to the other person (listener). The goal is to explain articulately and simply what should be said for the misconception. The listener will offer constructive advice for making the issue more clear.

•Misconception 1: The United States spends more on education than any

other country.

2.Have each class member pair up with one other person. One person will explain (explainer) Misconception 2 to the other person (listener). The goal is to explain articulately and simply what should be said for the misconception. The listener will offer constructive advice for making the issue more clear.

•Misconception 2: Education costs have skyrocketed in the last few years

while test scores have gone down.

3.Have each class member pair up with one other person. One person will explain (explainer) Misconception 3 to the other person (listener). The goal is to explain articulately and simply what should be said for the misconception. The listener will offer constructive advice for making the issue more clear.

•Misconception 3: Spending more money on education does not mean

better achievement results.

4.Have each class member pair up with one other person. One person will explain (explainer) Misconception 4 to the other person (listener). The goal is to explain articulately and simply what should be said for the misconception. The listener will offer constructive advice for making the issue more clear.

•Misconception 4: Educator salaries are high in comparison with other

professions with similar qualifications.

5.Have each class member pair up with one other person. One person will explain (explainer) Misconception 5 to the other person (listener). The goal is to explain articulately and simply what should be said for the misconception. The listener will offer constructive advice for making the issue more clear.

•Misconception 5: There are too many school administrators compared

with 30 years ago.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1.Why do these misconceptions continue to perpetuate?

2.What should our role be in debunking these misconceptions?

3.Why do you think US spending on education as a percentage of GDP is ranked 14th out of 29 countries as shown in Table 1.1?

4.What has happened to teacher salaries over the last 20 or so years controlling for inflation?

5.The third graph on Figure 1.4 shows that education costs have increased in current and constant dollars since 1960. What factors account for that spending increase?American Public School Finance 2e William Owings Leslie Kaplan (Instructor Manual (Lecture Notes Only) with Test Bank All Chapters, 100% Original Verified, A+ Grade) 1 / 4

20 6.What has been the trend in SAT scores since 1980?

7.What have been some of the demographic changes in SAT test takers between 2000 and 2010?

8.How do teacher salaries compare with other occupations that require a Bachelor’s degree as a minimum qualification?

9.What do you say to someone who says teacher salaries are high considering children are only in school for about 6.5 hours a day over a 10 month period?

10.If the number of school administrators were cut back, wouldn’t that action allow for a significant pay raise for teachers?

VIDEO ACTIVITIES

1.Check out this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_azBnADP4Q. After watching, explain why the facts and logic are incorrect.

2.Check out this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Iiuq6gJCok. How would you respond to this message?

FIELD EXPERIENCES

1.The next time you are attending a social gathering (and let’s be honest – most of the time teachers associate with other teachers and talk shop) bring up one of the misconceptions and ask for the other person’s views. This might be a great time to educate some of those in our own profession.

2.Write a letter to a news station or to the editor of a paper the next time you see a misconception rebroadcast or reproduced in the media to clarify the facts.

3.Write a letter to the editor to rebut an editorial that promotes misconceptions. Here is a link for one such rebuttal: http://articles.dailypress.com/2010-10- 09/news/dp-nws-oped-owings-1010-20101009_1_education-services-special- education-public-schools.

TEST BANK

Multiple Choice. Select the best answer.

1.Total expenditures for all public education amount to approximately how much?a.Almost $100 billion b.Just over $200 billion c.Somewhere between $350 and $450 billion d.More than $600 billion e.No one really knows for sure

(Correct answer: d)

2.Approximately how many students attend U.S. public schools?a.Around 50 million b.About 45 million c.Closer to 40 million d.Fewer than 37.5 million 2 / 4

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• No one really knows for sure

(Correct answer: a)

• Approximately how many public school teachers are employed in the U.S.?
• Just over 1.5 million
• Approximately 2.5 million
• Around 3.25 million
• Almost 6 million
• We keep losing count

(Correct answer: c)

• Approximately how many individuals are employed in public education as

administrators, counselors, support staff, and paraprofessionals? (d)

• About 1 million
• Approximately 2.175649 million
• About 2.5 million
• Approximately 3 million
• Only the U.S. Secretary of Education knows for sure

(Correct answer: d)

• Which country spends less on public education than the United States on a per-pupil

basis? (e)

• Luxembourg
• Norway
• Denmark
• Switzerland
• United Kingdom

(Correct answer: e)

• Which of the following statements is not true concerning the cost of U.S. education?
• Costs are up because enrollment is up
• Costs are up because we have more teachers than before
• Costs are up because we have lower pupil-teacher ratios
• Costs are up because teacher salaries have risen so quickly

(Correct answer: d)

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• Which of the following is true concerning NAEP test scores in the U.S.?
• Almost all test scores have increased or remained level in spite of a wider

variance in students taking the test

• Student NAEP scores in reading are significantly lower now than they were 25

years ago

• Student NAEP scores in math are significantly lower now than they were 25

years ago

• Virtually all NAEP scores in reading and math for Black students are significantly

lower than they were in the 1970s.

(Correct answer: a)

• Which of the following statements is not true?
• Increasing education spending does not help student achievement.
• Spending money on high quality teachers does not help student achievement.
• Educator salaries are low in comparison with other similarly qualified

professionals.

• Over the past decade, educator salaries have remained flat controlling for

inflation.

(Correct answer: c)

• Which of the following statements is not true?
• Some people believe there are too many administrators in public schools today.
• There are more administrators in public schools today than there were in 1950.
• There are more administrators today than there were 50 years ago because the

complexity of running a school has increased.

• School administrators supervise more employees than do counterparts in health

care, transportation and warehousing, and public administration.

• School administrators supervise the fewest number of employees.

(Correct answer: e)

• While in public administration the average manager supervises 4.4 employees, in

elementary and secondary schools administrators supervise how many people according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics? (a)

• 15.2
• 11.7
• 10.3
• 6.5
• 5.7

(Correct answer: a)

True and False

• In 1950 about two thirds of the population finished high school. (F)
• In 1950 fewer than 15% of Black students finished high school. (T)
• In the U.S. teaching has always been a high prestige profession. (F)
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