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Arkansas education receives respectable ranking
Education Week ranks state fifth in K-12 education
states and the District of Columbia on the policies and performance of their schools. Tis year, Arkansas’s public education system was named the fifth best in the U.S. Te number five spot is one better than last year, and it represents steady improvement. We now trail only Maryland, Massachusetts, New York and Virginia in these rankings.
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Te report found that we are the best in the nation at coordinating connections between K-12 and other segments of the education pipeline; namely early childhood education, college readiness and the workforce. Tis shows that we are on the right path toward our goals of doubling the number of Arkansans with college degrees and better preparing our workforce for the 21st century economy.
Early this year, the first 15 school districts and one college technical center were chosen to participate in Arkansas’s STEM Works initiative. Tese schools will focus on educating students in science, technology, engineering and math — fields that require the most qualified workers and have great potential for expanding the state’s economy. Perhaps now more than ever, education and economic development are aligned to build the strong workforce needed for Arkansas’s future prosperity.
Another bright spot in Education Week’s report came in the strength of our teachers and the tools we provide to them. In this category, we received the highest grade awarded this year. Conversely, the nation’s overall score fell, again showing the effects of our nation’s economic struggles. Te dire financial straits of some states have them falling way behind in funding teacher-related policies and programs. Arkansas, however, has improved, thanks to our specific educational priorities and
rkansas’s efforts to provide students with a first-class education received positive affirmation in January from the country’s leading education journal, Education Week. Te journal’s annual “Quality Counts” report grades all 50
conservative budgeting practices. We will continue to balance our commitment to fund education with our cautious fiscal management. My proposed balanced budget for the 2013 fiscal year includes a 2 percent increase for public schools.
From The Governor
While the report shows that we’re doing many things right, we still haven’t done enough. Our low marks in student achievement demonstrate that further hard work is needed. Te journal bases its conclusions on three criteria: current student performance, improvements over time and poverty-based achievement gaps. All of us — parents, teachers and community members — must instill in our children the importance of an education and work with them, so they can succeed academically. Providing the best learning environment possible will only work if students understand the vital difference an education will make in their lives.
Overall, the report represents unprecedented and praiseworthy
recognition for Arkansas. But today’s economy is global and unkind to complacency. We’ve come a long way as a state in our pursuit of academic excellence, and we must continue making improvements that help our students and Arkansas’s future.
Mike Beebe
Te Honorable Mike Beebe Governor of Arkansas
NACo County News - Yellow Dot program helps first responders save lives ByCharles Taylor
NACo County News, Senior Staff Writer Y
ellow dots are showing up in coun- ties nationwide, and first responders couldn’t be happier to see them.
Te canary-colored spots are appearing on
the rear windows of vehicles, signaling that life- saving medical information can be found in the driver’s glove compartment. If a traffic accident or sudden onset of a medi- cal crisis renders the driver unable to communi- cate, the information can help him or her receive the proper treatment. Nassau County, N.Y. is among the latest ju-
COUNTY LINES, WINTER 2012
risdictions to launch a Yellow Dot Program, the first of which can be traced back to Connecticut in 2002. Orange County, Va. has had its pro- gram since 2004; Lee County, Ala. for about a year, and Erie County, N.Y. just approved one. Illinois has a statewide program. Te programs are free to participants.
“Te first moments of a first responder’s time
in care are the critical moments, they’re called the Golden Hour,” said Edward P. Mangano, Nassau County executive, when announcing the pro- gram late last month. “Tink about it when you drive, if you were unable to communicate, how would someone be able to contact someone that could help you with that vital information?” Information such as medications a person is
taking, allergies, emergency contact phone num- bers, recent surgeries and a photograph of the driver are kept in a packet or on a card in the glove box. Nassau and other counties offer the program in addition to File of Life or Vial of Life programs that consolidate similar information that is placed in the home on a refrigerator door. Some counties tailor their programs mainly to
the elderly, but virtually all are open to anyone wishing to participate. In Alabama, about 18,000 of Lee County’s 124,000 residents have signed up to participate, according to Maj. Tommy Carter of the Sheriff’s Office. “We have really pushed this hard and heavy; it doesn’t take but just a few minutes to sign up,” he said.
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Hon. Mike Beebe Governor of Arkansas
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