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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina s congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Myorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Former Intel CEO: U.S. Schools Slipping vs. Rest of World

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Monday, May 23, 2011   

PHOENIX, Ariz. - Compared to the rest of the world, U.S. students rank near the bottom in the vital areas of math and science. That's according to former Intel CEO and school reform advocate, Craig Barrett. He will be a featured speaker at the Arizona Business and Education Conference on June 6 in Phoenix.

Barrett blames an education system that, in his view, refuses to change. He says low expectations are a primary culprit, and points to Arizona's AIMS test as an example.

"Everybody passes it because we 'dumbed it down' so that everybody could pass it. We basically lie to the kids and lie to the parents and lie to the public, when we say if you pass the AIMS test, you're ready to graduate from high school."

In addition to having higher expectations for graduates, Barrett believes school days must be longer, with more time spent on math and science. And he says outcomes must be compared internationally, not just with other U.S. students.

Higher-quality teachers are needed, he adds. They should have backgrounds in the subjects they teach, such as those who join the Teach for America program, he says.

"Those are kids who are at the top of their class. But they're not School of Education majors. They're history majors, math majors, science majors. They don't get educated in teaching. They go to teaching boot camp, and they do a good job."

Barrett, who is currently CEO of Basis Schools, a group of Arizona charter schools, also would like to see more innovative charter schools as an alternative to traditional public schools.

"Half of the top-performing schools are charter schools. Charter schools are only 10 percent of the total, but half of the good schools are charter schools. That's got to tell you that charter schools, at least some charter schools, have the right formula."

Barrett recently made news by saying if Intel was a new company looking to locate, it likely wouldn't pick Arizona, because of the state's funding cutbacks to higher education. He believes the state should stop funding universities altogether, allowing them to prosper by letting tuition rise to market rates. Instead, he says, the state should instead fund scholarships.

"The state could provide fellowships or scholarships to its citizens, thereby satisfying its need to make university education as inexpensive as possible for them."

The Arizona Business & Education Coalition-sponsored conference, "Rethinking Today, Preparing for Tomorrow," will be held at the Desert Willow Conference Center, 4340 E. Cotton Center Blvd., Phoenix. Information is available at www.expectmorearizona.org.


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