Minimum "N sizes" chosen by states for NCLB AYP reporting

Of all the states, Maryland has the smallest "N-size" by far.

N-SIZE: STATES
----------------------------------------------------------
05 : MD
10 : LA SD UT
11 : NH
16 : CO
20 : ME MN
25 : AK AR NM NV
30 : FL IA IN KS MI MO MT NE NJ NY OH OK PR WA WY
34 : ID
40 : AL AZ CT DE GA HI MA MS NC PA SC VT WI
42 : AZ OR
45 : IL RI TN
50 : CA TX VA WV

Missing: KY and ND


You can also find N-sizes for many states on this "accountability illusion" data map.

If I remember my statistics correctly, statisticians recommend--in most situations-- a sample size no smaller than 30 or 40 to have reasonable confidence that the sample is representative of a population.

Almost all of the states were in this ballpark.

My guess is that the folks from the Maryland Department of Education who chose the tiny N-size of five would flunk Statistics 101 and perhaps get forty lashes from their statistics teacher. Nancy Grasmick, are you listening?

To find the reasoning behind your state's N-size, go here, open the PDF for your state's "Consolidated State Application Accountability Workbook" and scroll about two-thirds of the way through the document to "critical element" #5.5.

Another way President Obama is holding back the economy

James Pethokoukis:

But the wonks aren’t driving U.S trade policy in the Obama administration. The political team is. Its priority is passing healthcare reform. To pass healthcare reform, Obama needs his core union support. And a push for new trade agreements would alienate Big Labor.

So Obama has not nudged Congress to pass long-stalled treaties with Colombia, Korea and Panama. Instead, the emphasis has been on get-tough actions such as slapping preliminary duties on tires from China and bricks from Mexico.

As goes California, so goes Baltimore County?

I've been wondering lately how far down this road we are in the Baltimore County Public Schools:

The school systems of California’s major cities are broken; the wealthy praise them and flee, and the poor complain about their inadequacy, but insist on the sort of identity “pride” politics curriculum and staffing that ensure the inadequacy.

On the subtleties of sales & why people buy

Gary Jones at Muck and Mystery:

I know the risk of being sensible when dealing with customers. They do not want to hear the pros and cons of your product. They want you to reassure them that they are making a wise purchase. It's part of what they are paying for. They want to have a satisfying buying experience as well as acquiring a good product. They don't want to be cheated out of the pleasure of making a buy.

That's part of why I don't do the selling. I'd be honest - it's a mental disorder - and so deny my customer an important portion of what they seek.

Ayuh.

A "sudden acceleration" problem even bigger than Toyota's

Glenn Reynolds:

Personally, I’d like to see some Congressmen forced to testify before a panel of car dealers, about the budget deficit’s Sudden Acceleration Problem.

How to put the the insurance back into health "insurance"

Michael Tanner of the Cato Institute makes the case for high-deductible health care insurance:

But both sides seem curiously unwilling to address the most important participant in the health care equation - the consumer.

Democrats appear to see consumers only as a class needing protection. Their focus is almost exclusively on government action.

Republicans at least give lip service to a consumer-focused health care system, but seem reluctant to really endorse proposals that shift more risk and responsibility to those consumers.

Perhaps that is because in the long-run, the only way to spend less on health care is to consume less health care.