3/29/11
Diane Ravitch On Rhee's DC Shenanigans
...
Diane Ravitch
...A computer analysis of erasures found a dramatic pattern of changing answers from wrong to right at Noyes. In one seventh grade classroom, students averaged 12.7 wrong-to-right erasures on the reading test, as compared to a district-wide average of less than 1. When parents complained that their children's high scores didn't make sense, since they were still struggling to do basic math, they were ignored.
What will this revelation mean for Rhee's campaign to promote her test-driven reforms? Her theory seemed to be that if she pushed incentives and sanctions hard enough, the scores would rise. Her theory was right, the scores did rise, but they didn't represent genuine learning. She incentivized desperate behavior by principals and teachers trying to save their jobs and meet their targets and comply with their boss' demands.
Diane Ravitch
3/27/11
Joe Bageant, R.I.P.
After a vibrant life, Joe Bageant died yesterday following a four-month struggle with cancer. He was 64. Joe is survived by his wife, Barbara, his three children, Timothy, Patrick and Elizabeth, and thousands of friends and admirers. He is also survived by his work and ideas.Joe Bageant dot com
According to Joe's wishes, he will be cremated. His family will hold a private memorial service.
About Joe
Born 1946 in Winchester VA, USA. US Navy Vietnam era veteran.
After stint in Navy became anti-war hippie, ran off to the West Coast ... lived in communes, hippie school buses... started writing about holy men, countercultural figures, rock stars and the American scene in 1971 ... lived in Boulder Colorado until mid 1980s ... 14 years in all ... became a Marxist and a half-assed Buddhist ... Traveled to Central America to write about third World issues...
Moved to the Coeur d'Alene Indian reservation in Idaho, built a cabin, lived without electricity, farmed with horses for seven years ... tended reservation bar (The Bald Eagle Bar), wrote for regional newspapers... generally festered on life in America ... Moved to Moscow, Idaho, worked on third rate newspaper there ... Then moved to Eugene Oregon, worked for an international magazine corporation pushing insecticides and pesticides to farmers worldwide.
Then back to hometown of Winchester VA to settle some scores with the bigoted, murderous redneck town I grew up in. I love'em but they need a good ass kicking.
Died in 2000 when George Bush got elected ... died along with 275 million other Americans ... Plan to rise again from the dead when he is tossed out ...maybe reincarnate as a Commie terrorist on Wall Street ... maybe as a sex worker in Amsterdam ... can't decide ... both have their advantages.
Joe Bageant
3/26/11
Geraldine Ferraro: R.I.P.
Geraldine Ferraro died today at the age of 75. Hers was the first Presidential election I was able to vote in, and I was pretty proud to be a member of the party that chose a woman for VP.
Get Your TFT Android App
I made an Android App for your phone-viewing pleasure you can purchase for 99 cents get free. It looks like this.
I put it over in the sidebar, along with the QR code.
Please enjoy it!
And like this.
I put it over in the sidebar, along with the QR code.
Please enjoy it!
3/25/11
Michelle Rhee Makes A Dubious Claim
RheelinkAmericans also have strong opinions about how we should determine teacher quality. In fact, of the 1,510 voters surveyed, 75 percent believe standardized tests, individual student progress and principal assessments are the best ways to evaluate teachers.
Really? Who were these voters? How were they chosen? What was the method used to get the opinions? Can we have any information about your survey at all, like the wording of the questions?
Michelle Rhee's site -- studentsfirst.org -- was at first happy to have comments on her blog. When the comments got overwhelmingly negative about the direction Rhee would like to see education go, they began deleting offending comments. Then they reposted some positive comments and attributed them to others. Then they began to moderate all comments, which pretty much shut down any conversations that were happening, and there were some, and people's minds were changing.
Now it appears they have shut down comments completely.
Please go to the mirror site I set up if you would like to comment, unmoderated.
And I have a new free Android App (QR code in sidebar) for her site, and a
Friday Cartoon Fun: Look For The Union Label Edition
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City on March 25, 1911, was the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of the city of New York and resulted in the fourth highest loss of life from an industrial accident in U.S. history. The fire caused the deaths of 146 garment workers, who either died from the fire or jumped to their deaths. Most of the victims were recent immigrant Jewish and Italian women aged sixteen to twenty-three.[1][2][3] Many of the workers could not escape the burning building because the managers had locked the doors to the stairwells and exits. People jumped from the eighth, ninth, and tenth floors. The fire led to legislation requiring improved factory safety standards and helped spur the growth of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, which fought for better working conditions for sweatshop workers [and for which the song below was penned.].Wikipedia
Look For The Union Label Song
3/23/11
3/22/11
Fact: Chris Christie "failed to carry [his] burden."
New Jersey Superior Court judge Peter Doyne (acting as an appointed special master) issued his report on how the Christie $1 billion budget cut will hurt the most at-risk students.
"The difficulty in addressing New Jersey's fiscal crisis and its constitutionally mandated obligation to educate our children requires an exquisite balance not easily attained," wrote Doyne, according to the Star-Ledger. "Something need be done to equitably address these competing imperatives. That answer, though, is beyond the purview of this report. For the limited question posed to the Master, it is clear the State has failed to carry its burden."HuffPo
"Despite spending levels that meet or exceed virtually every state in the country, and that saw a significant increase in spending levels from 2000 to 2008, our 'at risk' children are now moving further from proficiency," he said.NJ.com
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