The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "math" ...
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Questionable course
The Star-Telegram reveals how the Fort Worth school district spent $15 million for a largely untested computer math program that the superintendent proclaimed would eliminate the need for qualified math teachers. The program, doubted initially, ultimately fell short of promised achievements, yet superintendent Thomas Tocco charged ahead, blaming teachers, failing to inform the school board of problems, improperly diverting Title 1 money from the program and lobbying Congress to earmark money for the program maker, and persuading other school districts to buy the problematic program. Many educators endorsing the program had financial ties to the company.
Tags: CAR; Title 1; Fort Worth; Congress; Department of Education; Thomas Tocco; I CAN Learn; JRL Enterprises
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Students concerned about low graders as final tests approach
This computer-assisted reporting based investigation examined grade point average and test scores at Michigan State University. Morath analyzed data to determine the average grades for each class.
Tags: math; average; mean; computer assisted reporting; CAR; database analysis; FOIA
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Bush versus the environment
This book "shows how the White House is quietly undermining the entire system of environmental safeguards that has developed over the past thirty years." The investigation shows how the administration encourages lawsuits against the federal government that challenge environmental laws, ignores scientific evidence that doesn't support its goals, and uses "fuzzy math" to overestimate costs and underestimate the benefits of environmental regulations.
Tags: BOOK; Bush; environment; EPA; Environmental Protection Agency; business; industry; environmental law
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Failing students getting promoted
Despite the high numbers of students who failed statewide reading and math exams, Ohio area schools continue to pass them to higher grades, regardless of if they are ready. This series originally came about after one Cleveland teacher complained of having to promote fourth graders who she did not believe were ready for the fifth grade. Upon their own analysis, the Plain Dealer noticed that, though 99 percent of students were promoted in the last school year, 66 percent of them had failed state examinations. The investigation points out: "that gap was even more pronounced for black and Hispanic students who fail the tests more often than their white peers." The report also looks at the social and educational benefits to promoting or holding these students back.
Tags: No Child Left Behind; state testing; promotion data; dropout rates; Ohio Department of Education; social promotion
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The New Math of Old Age: Why the Nursing Home Industry's Cries of Poverty Don't Add Up
Schmitt reports on the finances of the nursing home industry nationwide. "In an elaborate national lobbying campaign in 2002, nursing home operators used quality of care as a wedge to seek billions more in federal funding, saying lives would be endangered if the homes didn't get more money." U.S. News & World Report finds a very different picture: nursing homes are earning healthy profit margins, usually in the range of 20 to 30 percent; nursing home operators steer big chunks of revenues to themselves or related businesses; and there is no evidence that today's patients are sicker, as the nursing home industry has claimed.
Tags: health care; budget; legislature; group homes; patients; elderly; nursing home industry; lobbying; federal funding
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A Place Hoop Dreams Come True
The major college sports such as basketball and football have major problems with athletes who are not prepared for the academic rigors of college life. This is due primarily to academic fraud, especially when it comes to passing English, math and other core classes. Farrey discovers how it occurs and why the NCAA looks the other way.
Tags: basketball; academics; eligibility; fraud; NCAA; online; CD
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Changing Times
Education Week examines the advantages and disadvantages of block scheduling, a new educational concept involving changing schools' schedules so that students can have longer periods and fewer classes each day. The report explains proponents' arguments that block scheduling can help students to get in-depth knowledge and take more and diverse courses in a year. Some studies, cited in the article, however show that students on traditional and nontraditional schedule score at same or close levels on most tests in academic subjects. The story reveals that most teachers on block schedules teach in much the same way as their colleagues on traditional schedules, and points to this finding as possible explanation for the lack of achievements.
Tags: schools; teachers; students; tests; scores; math; science; algebra; graduation requirements; National Education Commission on Time and Learning; North Carolina Department of Public Instruction
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When 'news' doesn't add up journalists who mangle math might wind up comparing apples with oranges
The Columbus Dispatch reports on the growing problem that journalists often have with statistics and incorporating statistics into their stories. According to this article, when journalists mess up their numbers, inaccuracies are bound to happen, or the final story is misleading.
Tags: Journalism education; journalists and math; journalists and statistics
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Small gains on Stanford 9 scores cut across all levels of language ability
Whether large or small, wealthy or poor, predominantly English-proficient or dominated by students who were not fluent, school districts across California fell into a pattern of slight gains in reading and more robust gains in math on the Stanford 9 standardized tests from 1998 to 1999.
Tags: None
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McGraw-Hill Sees the Light
Corporate logos and brand names in math problems in a middle-school math book. Has "product placement," now so common in Hollywood movies, finally made it into textbooks.
Tags: Marketing; Advertising