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We’ve heard some “spin” lately about ACT scores, and we think this article provides some helpful insight. We also note that ACT scores are periodically “recentered” and that starting with the graduating class of 2013, ACT Inc. began “including both standard-time and extended-time test takers in its annual report. This change has the effect of both reducing mean ACT scores and increasing the number of seniors included in the statistics.” (A (Mostly) Brief History of the SAT and ACT Tests). http://www2.ljworld.com/weblogs/first-bell/2013/aug/22/the-spin-begins-on-act-scores/...

We agree with this letter. http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2013/aug/24/opinion-frustration-k-12-schools-misplaced/?opinion...

“With Stegall’s selection, however, there is little question that the state’s judiciary is being consolidated to align with the governor’s mode of thought. At the least, it raises questions about how a judge so closely aligned with the governor – who largely owes his political advancement to him – reasonably could be expected to issue rulings that effectively check the governor’s powers. Despite its advertisement as a more transparent and apolitical method of appointing judges, Brownback’s first selection confirms critics’ suspicions that it diminishes the value of jurisprudence in exchange for a frightening focus on like-mindedness and political...

The best way for Kansas to grow its economy is by investing in a well-educated workforce, according to a new paper from EARN—the Economic Analysis and Research Network, a project of the Economic Policy Institute, which includes the Kansas Center for Economic Growth.  http://www.epi.org/publication/states-education-productivity-growth-foundations/...