A Not So Relaxing Holiday

By Keri Waterhouse

Not everyone is going to be able to relax and enjoy a three day weekend during this expected beautiful weathered holiday. Many people are still out of jobs and spending their much needed stress free time job searching.

Our nation's jobless rate has risen to a 26-year high of 9.7 percent. It's expected to get to 10 percent this year and keep increasing into part of next year before it goes back down. It hasn't been this high since the post-World War II when it was 10.8 percent, which was in 1982.

The number of people who are jobless is just ridiculous. It is so sad to think about 10 percent of our nation are without jobs. I know that my dad has been laid off since July and it is a stressful thing since my mother is a stay at home mom. Unemployment is nice, but when it's less than half of what you're used to coming home with, things get tight.

How are we supposed to boost our economy and get money back out there if no one is bringing home any or hardly any money in the first place? Hopefully things clear up soon or there are going to be some pretty sad things happening in this world.

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A large percent of Iowa's public schools fail to progress in the No Child Left Behind law

By Michelle Zimmerman

Iowa is commonly considered a state whose education is top-notch, but reviewing the number of Iowa schools that failed to meet the standards of the No Child Left Behind law in 2008-2009, might make one think differently.

With testing scores at an all time low, more schools than ever have landed themselves on a list of improvement. Iowa's goal was to develop a system that would track the skills of students as well as the work of faculty. Although it was expected that if teachers focused more on students struggling in math or reading the rate of absences and drop outs would decrease. But instead numbers have significantly fallen once again.

According to Staci Hupp of The Des Moines Register, if the number of schools on the list continues to increase the next course of action is to lay off current teachers and allow a new batch of teachers to try the system. Although this would be a last resort it seemingly is becoming something of reality for the schools.

While there is a large seriousness on how well students perform on a reading and math evaluation it is important to consider that students' improvements are not considered from year to year and the speculations are based solely on one test created by the state given once a year. So it is understandable that there would be slight frustration from both the state and the teachers of Iowa.

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