Elizabeth Edwards, the estranged wife of former Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards, has died, according to WRAL. She was 61.HuffPo
12/7/10
Elizabeth Edwards, R.I.P.
12/6/10
10 Things About Charters (I'll Give You #10)
10. Even great teachers can only do so much.Smart Money
Much of the public debate over charter schools focuses on teacher performance and the ability to fire ineffective teachers – something that’s more difficult at a traditional public school where teachers are typically union members. While it’s true that teachers represent the most important in-school factor affecting student performance, out-of-school factors matter more, Ravitch says. “The single biggest predictor of student performance is family income,” she says. “I certainly wish it were not so, but it is.” Children from higher-income families get a huge head start thanks to better nutrition, a larger vocabulary spoken at home and other factors, she says. The narrative that blames teachers for problems that are rooted in poverty “is demoralizing teachers by the thousands,” Ravitch says. “And you don’t improve education by demoralizing the people who have to do the work every day.”
12/3/10
Stuart Rhoden Is A Moron
You need to watch your mouth. I have repeatedly warned you. Keep it up with your personal attacks and they will be deleted.Above we have Stuart Rhoden, a confused know-it-all. He chastises a member for personal attacks by personally attacking him. Oh, the irony. And he is getting a doctorate in something. Amazing. Here is his blog. It's also lame.
Your silly self thinks poverty is a recent invention? It's been around for centuries and yet people have still prevailed, still been educated and still become productive members of society. What was the avg family income in 1950 compared to 2000? Your insistence on using poverty as a crutch is a weak excuse.
I Get Emails
Pink Floyd: Money
Berkeley USD has an unofficial hiring freeze for Instructional Assistants right now but they are also short staffed and even kids with IEPs aren't getting support. It's because of budget reasons, but under IDEA districts aren't allowed to cite budget reasons as an excuse to deny services. Just FYI.Here we have another incident where a district cannot meet its obligations due to lack of funds. And who pays the price? As usual, the most vulnerable pay it. Even in Berkeley. And they have to lie about it, too. Disgusting.
Money makes the world go round, and those without money, well, as Alan Grayson so eloquently put it a few months ago, they should just "die, and die quickly."
Do Ed Schools Suck, Or Are They Not What You Think They Are?
By 2009, “Ed Schools” are a substantially different mix. Not only that, but look at the volume of degree production. Back in 1990, Ed Schools at respectable major universities were putting out about 600 master’s degrees in education related fields per year. They held on to similar rates in 2000 and still in 2009. But by 2009, Walden University and U. of Phoenix were each cranking out 4,500+ master’s degrees per year. Grand Canyon U. comes in next in line. These are the entrepreneurial up-starts that are the product of minimized regulation of teaching credentials.schoolfinance101
Reformers and edupreneurs tout online learning as the way of the future, yet for ed schools, the future is here, and it is this current “future” that they are complaining about.
So, which is it, Duncan/Obama/Gates/Broad/VanderArk? Is online learning great and the way to go, or do online institutions put out garbage?
schoolfinance101's analysis pretty much proves the garbage part. Well done.
BlogTalkRadio Tonight: Call In And Talk To TFT (Or Yell At Me)
The Total Tutor and I will be discussing everything under the education sun at 8pm left coast time (11pm EST) on his blogtalkradio show tonight. Call-in Number: (805) 285-9736
12/1/10
My Laundry. Again. Washing, Not Drying, This Time
There are some folks on Twitter who are posting laundry blogs. I think this post, by me almost 2 years ago, is probably the best laundry post of all time. Of all time!
There's just something about laundry. The whole process (minus the folding when it's dry) is filled with, well, process. There is the separating of colors, which brings up all kinds of thoughts; American racial segregation, church and state, apartheid, the middle east, political parties/ideologies, to name a few. And those are just the thoughts that the separation of clothes into like colors brings up.
Then there is the prepping of the machine for the load. You must measure a precise amount of detergent (and maybe bleach, depending on color) and put it in BEFORE you load the clothes. I think this may be a step which many people ignore, or are ignorant about, and the step should be followed for better detergent distribution (I think because it mixes with the water before the detergent ever touches the clothes, therefore distributing the detergent more evenly). This whole part of the process involves physics and chemistry, and also constitutes most of my knowledge of physics and chemistry.
Clothes and detergent loaded (not in that order!), now the water level and temperature choices have to be made. This part of the process is partly physics and partly art. The physics involve knowing what kind of dirt you are removing AND what the fabric can handle in terms of heat without relinquishing precious color, thereby preventing the coloring of other items you don't want colored with new colors (that wasn't the art part, even though it involved lots of color). The art part is the water level. I have found that I am able to manhandle the load-size knob to get custom water levels. I can go a bit more than medium without going all the way to large, and such. It takes nimble, strong fingers. I have them, I guess.
I love watching the water fill up in the hopes that the level I chose will need tweaking. I also enjoy predicting, then seeing, which article of clothing soaks up water the fastest. Cotton beats poly by like a billion times. This part of the process is scientific observation. You learn a lot about soak rates, float limits, and the peculiarities of your particular washing machine's fill level knob.
Once all that is done, and you close the lid, you know you have accomplished something pretty big. You are able to sit down, satisfied you have perfectly prepared for a half hour of cleansing, satisfied that everything that could be done was done to insure the clothes would get as clean as physics and science would allow.
The only thing that could improve upon this process would be one of the washing machines like they have in the laundromat with the window. That would be laundry bliss.
There's just something about laundry. The whole process (minus the folding when it's dry) is filled with, well, process. There is the separating of colors, which brings up all kinds of thoughts; American racial segregation, church and state, apartheid, the middle east, political parties/ideologies, to name a few. And those are just the thoughts that the separation of clothes into like colors brings up.
Then there is the prepping of the machine for the load. You must measure a precise amount of detergent (and maybe bleach, depending on color) and put it in BEFORE you load the clothes. I think this may be a step which many people ignore, or are ignorant about, and the step should be followed for better detergent distribution (I think because it mixes with the water before the detergent ever touches the clothes, therefore distributing the detergent more evenly). This whole part of the process involves physics and chemistry, and also constitutes most of my knowledge of physics and chemistry.
Clothes and detergent loaded (not in that order!), now the water level and temperature choices have to be made. This part of the process is partly physics and partly art. The physics involve knowing what kind of dirt you are removing AND what the fabric can handle in terms of heat without relinquishing precious color, thereby preventing the coloring of other items you don't want colored with new colors (that wasn't the art part, even though it involved lots of color). The art part is the water level. I have found that I am able to manhandle the load-size knob to get custom water levels. I can go a bit more than medium without going all the way to large, and such. It takes nimble, strong fingers. I have them, I guess.
I love watching the water fill up in the hopes that the level I chose will need tweaking. I also enjoy predicting, then seeing, which article of clothing soaks up water the fastest. Cotton beats poly by like a billion times. This part of the process is scientific observation. You learn a lot about soak rates, float limits, and the peculiarities of your particular washing machine's fill level knob.
Once all that is done, and you close the lid, you know you have accomplished something pretty big. You are able to sit down, satisfied you have perfectly prepared for a half hour of cleansing, satisfied that everything that could be done was done to insure the clothes would get as clean as physics and science would allow.
The only thing that could improve upon this process would be one of the washing machines like they have in the laundromat with the window. That would be laundry bliss.
Why The Business Model For School Reform Is Nonsense
...American business models include the ability to specify the quality of products accepted into the production process. If my company is building battery powered, hand held drills, I can demand minimum quality specifications on all parts and materials my company obtains to produce that drill. As a result, I have far more control over the production process than any school system in America could dream of having over its student population. That's a fundamental difference and the reason many business models will never be applicable to schools....From Living in Dialogue
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