State end-of-course scores rise – mostly

The State Department of Education released scores from its end-of-course exams in literacy, geometry, Algebra I and biology. These are the tests given to high school students – the equivalent, in other words, of the benchmark exams given in grades 3 through 8.

The press release is pretty straightforward. Here it is.

LITTLE ROCK —The results of the Spring 2011 End-of-Course exams revealed increases in the percentage of students scoring proficient in Literacy, Geometry, Algebra I, and Biology.

The Arkansas Department of Education released the scores Thursday.

Algebra I proficient/advanced scores increased from 76 percent in 2010 to 78 percent in 2011. Geometry proficient/advanced scores increased from 69 percent to 73 percent. Biology proficient/advanced scores increased from 36 percent to 41 percent.

In Literacy, the percentage of students scoring proficient or advanced increased from 60 percent in 2010 to 65 percent in 2011. Notably, the percentage scoring in the advanced range increased from 2 percent to 16 percent.

“We’re pleased with the improvement Arkansas students have shown on these exams,” said Commissioner Tom Kimbrell. “The challenge will be sustaining that improvement over the long haul.”

Mid-year End of Course scores in Geometry, Algebra I, and Biology were lower in comparison to those of 2010.

Algebra I proficient/advanced scores dropped from 73 percent in 2010 to 57 percent in 2011. Geometry decreased from 76 percent to 60 percent. Biology dropped from 40 percent to 36 percent.

“The transition to the Common Core State Standards will allow teachers the time needed to teach core concepts well and students opportunity for mastery,” said Kimbrell.

Complete scores can be viewed at http://www.arkansased.org/testing/test_scores.html

Don’t compromise on ending the debt; compromise on how to do it

What Congress should have done is agreed that ending the debt is nonnegotiable. The it should have compromised on the details.

What it did was decide that the details were nonnegotiable. But it compromised on the principle that we should stop passing on the debt to our children.

That’s a subject I tackle in this week’s column for the Arkansas News Bureau.

And still more good news: Big rig truck crashes way down

A recent report by the pro-trucking American Transportation Research Institute featured a lot of good news, including this: The number of fatal crashes involving large trucks dropped from 5,684 in 1979 to 2,987 crashes resulting in 3,380 fatalities in 2009.

Here’s another way of looking at it: They dropped from 2.2 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT) to fewer than 1.3 from 2000 to 2009.

Big rigs also are causing far less injuries as well as property damage now than they were in the past.

The report, “Predicting Truck Crash Involvement: a 2011 Update,” was prepared by Micah Lueck, ATRI research associate, and Daniel Murray, ATRI vice president of research.

The purpose of the report was to analyze which driver violations and convictions in 2008 were most closely associated with a crash in 2009 and to compare that with a similar report done in 2005.

The most predictive behavior, surprisingly, was a conviction for either failing to use a turn signal or using one improperly, which increased the likelihood of a cash by 96 percent.

Why would such a seemingly minor conviction lead to so many more crashes? Murray said the industry has greatly reduced the number of truly hazardous drivers in recent years. A driver who doesn’t obey such a basic rule as using a turn signal properly, on the other hand, is an accident waiting to happen.

The Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration recently adopted a new enforcement mechanism, CSA, that better keeps track of company and driver violations. It will make it very difficult for unsafe drivers to job hop from company to company, as they sometimes do now. It’s a headache for companies, but it seems likely to make our highways safer.

Good news: Medical malpractice insurance rates going down

Looking for good news in a bad economy? Medical malpractice rates have not only stabilized but are decreasing.

According to the latest available information, rates in Arkansas are down 1.3 percent since 2006 as a result of malpractice insurance companies paying out less in claims, and they appear likely to remain at low rates.

According to Lars Powell, Ph.D., Whitbeck-Beyer chair of insurance and financial services at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock College of Business, “Every new piece of information we get about claims and loss experience has been less than what we’ve seen before. So it’s possible the rates could go back up. But you would expect to see that precipitated by large losses or an increased frequency of claims, and to my knowledge, we haven’t see either one in Arkansas yet.”

The decrease follows a big run-up in rates during the first part of the 2000s, when the state Insurance Department allowed companies to have double-digit increases several straight years and turned down increase requests of as much as 100 percent.

So why are the rates going down? Primarily it’s the economy. Nationally, the Physician Insurers Association of America says claims frequency is down 25-30 percent from four or five years ago. That’s because plaintiffs’ attorneys don’t want to pay the high costs of filing suit unless they have a very good case. According to the PIAA, only 30 percent of all claims filed against doctors end up in a payment to the plaintiffs.

There are also more competitors in the marketplace. In 2004, when the dominant St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company abruptly left the market, no one was offering coverage. Now there are a couple of dozen companies either renewing business or seeking new policyholders.

Other reasons: Arkansas has not had any huge verdicts in several years. Also, physicians appear to be doing a better job of applying risk management practices that reduce the potential of a lawsuit.

One factor not really affecting the rates: tort reform. Arkansas’ 2003 law has been eviscerated by the courts. Health care reform also should have little effect, good or bad, on rates.

We’re due for a comprehensive Insurance Department report that will shed more light on the subject. I will keep you posted.

No Labels says “Enough”

There’s a bipartisan group called “No Labels” that has been making the argument that it’s time for Republicans and Democrats to stop playing partisan games. Among its leaders is Dave Walker, the former comptroller general under Presidents Clinton and Bush who was featured in the movie “I.O.U.S.A.”

The group is going on the air with the ad, “Enough,” shown above.

Here is the No Labels website.

And if you have never seen the movie, “I.O.U.S.A.,” here is the link. It called attention to the national debt problem way back in 2007, when the debt was $8.7 trillion. It’s now $14.3 trillion.