Contraceptives and Teens, DC Schools Achievements Questioned, and McCaskill’s Report on College Sexual Assault: Required Readings 07.13.14

In a not-Hobby-Lobby related contraceptive story, Colorado has been offering free birth control to teens and low income women.  The results:  A drop in the teen birth rate by 40% over the past five years, and a drop in the teen abortion rate by 35%.  It makes economic sense, it makes social sense, I wonder why its not catching on across the nation.  Oh right, the mythical overlord in the sky.

In D.C., officials have been celebrating gains in student achievement as measured by the D.C. CAS.  However, those who oppose some of the policies in the district are questioning the data and the analysis of the data.  They are calling for greater transparency, and asking for the district to release more data.

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo) released her report on college sexual assault this week.  The results were a punch in the gut.  Her biggest concern was that some schools who had reported an incident to the Department of Education, hadn’t launched a single investigation.  She also concluded that a great majority of schools are not making reasonable efforts to discover the true prevalence of incidents on their campus, instead relying on victims to make a complaint.

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image by keith