Some Water Use Estimates and School Testing Measures

I. Some Water Use Estimates in the Home
* Do a load of laundry - 13-41 gallons
*Take a 10-minute shower - 20-25 gallons
*Flush a toilet - 1.6-8 gallons [1]

II. Overall California Water Use
Annual water use in California homes (in billions of gallons)
Lawns and pools - about 475
Toilets - about 240
Showers - about 160
Faucets - about 140
Washing machines - about 110
Leaks - about 90
Dishwashers - about 15  (Sources: Natural Resources Defense Council, estimates by the Pacific Institute, 2003).

III. Testing Measurements, Outcomes and Critical Student Disparities
1. By 2009, President Barack Obama used his Race to the Top initiative to promote using test scores to hire, fire, and compensate teachers. Today, 35 states require teacher evaluations to include these scores as a factor and many states have introduced new tests just for this purpose. In addition to the scandal in Atlanta, Georgia public schools, in which teachers and school administrators changed answers on students' test results -- and a number have been sentenced to serve time in prison -- for the 2011-12 school year, the Government Accountability Office reported that officials in 33 states confirmed at least one instance of school staff flat-out cheating. [2]

2. Testing Hours in Ohio and Urban-Suburban Testing Disparities
Average testing hours by selected grades for students in Ohio are as follows: kindergarten - 11.3; 1st grade - 11.6; 2nd grade - 13.6; 3rd grade - 28.0; 8th grade - 23.0; 10th grade - 28.4; 11th grade - 18.9; and 12th grade - 12.2. The average for all grades is 19.8 hours. [3]

Studies have shown that urban students spend far more time on district-mandated tests than do those in the suburbs -- especially in high school. Urban students spend 80% more time on these tests than do suburban students in grades 3rd through 5th; 73% more time in grades 6th through 8th; and 266% more time in grades 9th through 12th. Yet, given the additional time devoted to standardized testing since No Child Left Behind was enacted, American students' performance compared to other nations -- on tests that measure skills and knowledge more broadly -- remained flat or declined between 2000 and 2012.  [4]

3. Gaps in Teacher Pay, Qualifications and School Funding
Teachers in schools with the highest share of black and Latino students are paid roughly $2,000 less than those with the lowest share of such students in the same district. Black students are more than four times as likely as white students to attend schools where less that 80 percent of teachers are fully certified. [5]

The per student funding gap between rich and poor schools nationwide has grown 44 percent in the last decade -- even as the number of needy students has grown. "In 2013, for the first time in at least 50 years, a majority of US public school students came from low-income families." [6]

Yet, in the final analysis, studies have consistently shown that the home environment is the greatest single factor in how well students perform in school.

Footnotes
[1] Mother Jones, July/August 2015

[2] "Sorry, I'm Not Taking This Test," Mother Jones, September/October 2015.

[3[; [4]; [5]; and [6] All ibid.