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Today has been designated as "PISA Day" by the U.S. Department of Education and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)—the day that results of the 2012 math, reading and science tests are released by the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). PISA tests 15-year-old students every three years in more than 65 countries and issues reports of the data, which are then used to compare the education systems in the tested countries. Then, journalists and politicians with little understanding of how statistics work and with strong ideological agendas will make proclamations about the data—and propose policy solutions—that are not only inaccurate, but are often thinly disguised attacks on teachers, students and parents.
Corporations and their allies on Capitol Hill claim that if corporate tax rates were lowered, it would be a boon to the economy, with much of the tax savings fueling a U.S. job creation boom. The only problem with that theory is that there is no evidence to support it. In fact, a new study finds quite the opposite.
Extremist pro-corporate Republicans in Missouri are getting an early start on attacking the rights of working families by pre-filing a "right to work" for less bill for the 2014 legislative session. While there undoubtedly will be similar attacks in other states in 2014, Missouri is the first state to take formal steps to strip working families of their rights.
AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Elizabeth Shuler went to the National Mall today and honored fasters who haven't eaten in 21 days, urging House Republicans to hold a vote on citizenship for the nation's 11 million aspiring Americans and to end the deportation crisis. New fasters came to take their place during a ceremony presided over by faith and religious leaders. Inspired by the fasters, Shuler also committed to fasting for a day. The AFL-CIO supports the activists participating in the Fast for Families in Washington, D.C., and the related events from Dec. 1–3.
In the New Jersey village of Ridgewood, Michael Feeney was a celebrity. He swapped campaign advice with the mayor. For a short time, he served as police chief. This Friday, he was to light the big Christmas tree downtown.He was 10 years old.
On Thursday, fast-food and other low-wage workers in more than 100 cities will stage a one-day strike to boost their campaign for a living wage and justice. Rallies and other actions are planned for another 100 cities. The workers and the faith, community and labor groups that back them are calling for a living wage of $15 an hour and the right to form a union without retaliation.
A wintry storm organizing across the Rockies has already closed Interstate 90 in Wyoming and plunged wind chills to minus-12 degress in North Dakota, promising more of the same for a wide swath of the country.
Minimum wage arguments centered on employment or poverty both miss the point. Opponents argue the standard model that raising the minimum will lead to lower employment. They cite a 30-year-old study by the federal Minimum Wage Study Commission that an increase in the minimum wage would lead to a reduction in teenage employment. The impact on adult employment was less clear.
Company owners and executives who violate federal workplace safety standards that result in serious worker injuries or death seldom face criminal charges and are even more infrequently convicted. But last week, the owner of a New Hampshire gunpowder plant, where two workers were killed in a 2010 explosion, was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison on manslaughter charges.
Fifteen-year-old students in the U.S. made scant progress on recent international achievement exams and slipped further in the global rankings amid fast-growing competition abroad, according to test results released Tuesday.
