Thought that if anything at all in my blog interests you, this definitely will. The Senate subcommittee on Oversight of Government Managament. You can watch or read pdfs of those who testified. Basically, the hearing deals with foreign language education policy, as it functions across a broad swath of government.
You'll have to forgive me, I'm exceedingly tired today for an unknown reason. I just had too big of a lunch? Don't know. Anyway, here's the link.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Monday, January 29, 2007
New Orleans: The solution is teachers?
Rarely do I post from another blog... dunno why, I just haven't before. Anyway, this post talks about the recent crime spree in New Orleans, and how it might be due to a lack of solid education systems. In other words, kids are committing crimes rather than sitting in class. Sounds like the rationale for big city school systems back at the turn of the century. Enjoy!
"Feds send more cops, but not teachers, to New Orleans." (From Facing South. Posted 1/26/07 12:22 pm.)
"Feds send more cops, but not teachers, to New Orleans." (From Facing South. Posted 1/26/07 12:22 pm.)
More FLA!
A couple articles on the sad state of Florida's higher education system... which fits right into my theory that the state is doing little to retain their brightest students.
"Florida's Failures: Blunt words for the state's university system." (Daytona Beach News-Journal Online. January 29th, 2007.)
"Planning for Florida's Educational Future; Our opinion: Not every school can, or should, aspire to elite status." (Miami Herald online. January 29th, 2007.)
"Florida's Failures: Blunt words for the state's university system." (Daytona Beach News-Journal Online. January 29th, 2007.)
"Planning for Florida's Educational Future; Our opinion: Not every school can, or should, aspire to elite status." (Miami Herald online. January 29th, 2007.)
Yeah!
Just one more thing... the Hoover Report gives the following as a recommendation:
13. ...Florida should move toward a more streamlined approach to certification. The state should allow principals to hire any candidate, provided they have a bachelor’s degree, can demonstrate substantive competence, and can pass a background check. Passage of subsequent requirements or coursework should not be required, if a teacher is meeting administrator expectations. To help eliminate poorly performing teachers, Florida should increase the probationary period of new teachers from three to five years to allow districts a reasonable length of time to observe their performance and make retention decisions.
This is what I'm talking about. Why should I (and so many other qualified individuals) be prevented from being teachers? I've taught for three years and have a master's degree in my subject (and will have another one soon!). I love that the state requirements could actually keep me from helping kids. It's just ridiculous.
13. ...Florida should move toward a more streamlined approach to certification. The state should allow principals to hire any candidate, provided they have a bachelor’s degree, can demonstrate substantive competence, and can pass a background check. Passage of subsequent requirements or coursework should not be required, if a teacher is meeting administrator expectations. To help eliminate poorly performing teachers, Florida should increase the probationary period of new teachers from three to five years to allow districts a reasonable length of time to observe their performance and make retention decisions.
This is what I'm talking about. Why should I (and so many other qualified individuals) be prevented from being teachers? I've taught for three years and have a master's degree in my subject (and will have another one soon!). I love that the state requirements could actually keep me from helping kids. It's just ridiculous.
FLA part deux
FYI, the opinion piece in my last post cites the Koret Task Force. The Hoover Institution, a right-leaning research organization/think tank, funded the Koret Task Force. However, I've read Hoover posts for about a year, and although they're very liberal in the economic sense, I think they're pretty rational - not really a bunch of right wing crazies or anything. So Koret did a whole report on Florida, and if you'd like to look at it, here it is!
FLA! FLA!
Nothing to be proud of here from my home state, folks. Florida is apparently so incompetent that they can't even tell you what their graduation rate is.
I think a larger problem lies in the fact that so few of Florida's best and brightest want to stay in the state. Everyone I know, with the exception of my best friend, seems to have left - especially the people who went to top-25 colleges. They're living in New York, Boston, Washington DC (that would be me, I guess... as well as a few other grads from my high school I've randomly run into). Florida provides no incentive for any of us to stay. There's no cultural life, there are no cities based around an economy other than tourism, and about 10 months of God-awful weather. Maybe I'm wrong and there have been some cultural developments, but I became tired of going to a place where every restaurant you eat at is owned by some large, faceless corporation.
If the state doesn't do anything to keep the best and the brightest in house, then there's no way that the graduation rate can go up. I'm not volunteering to go back... but maybe they can look at some other states who have attempted to keep their brightest from fleeing. I mean, I like beaches as much as the next person, but I want to be able to have a fulfilling career that is intellectual stimulating and a variety of activities to do on the weekend. I also wanted to be surrounded by other smart and interesting people. Florida offered none of that to me, and it certainly doesn't seem to want to try.
"Graduation rate debate." (From The Tampa Tribune, published in Ocala.com on January 26th, 2007.)
I think a larger problem lies in the fact that so few of Florida's best and brightest want to stay in the state. Everyone I know, with the exception of my best friend, seems to have left - especially the people who went to top-25 colleges. They're living in New York, Boston, Washington DC (that would be me, I guess... as well as a few other grads from my high school I've randomly run into). Florida provides no incentive for any of us to stay. There's no cultural life, there are no cities based around an economy other than tourism, and about 10 months of God-awful weather. Maybe I'm wrong and there have been some cultural developments, but I became tired of going to a place where every restaurant you eat at is owned by some large, faceless corporation.
If the state doesn't do anything to keep the best and the brightest in house, then there's no way that the graduation rate can go up. I'm not volunteering to go back... but maybe they can look at some other states who have attempted to keep their brightest from fleeing. I mean, I like beaches as much as the next person, but I want to be able to have a fulfilling career that is intellectual stimulating and a variety of activities to do on the weekend. I also wanted to be surrounded by other smart and interesting people. Florida offered none of that to me, and it certainly doesn't seem to want to try.
"Graduation rate debate." (From The Tampa Tribune, published in Ocala.com on January 26th, 2007.)
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Takeover
I have to say that my laziness is the only thing preventing me from posting. Lately I've been worried about "leaving no trace" and hurting myself professionally by keeping a blog.
Nonetheless, for now I am pushing on.
Neil McCluskey raises the interesting Republican paradox of No Child Left Behind - reaching into the local domain normally controlled by schools and pretending they're not. Check out this line from the State of the Union:
" Now the task is to build on the success, without watering down standards, without taking control from local communities, and without backsliding and calling it reform. We can lift student achievement even higher by giving local leaders flexibility to turn around failing schools, and by giving families with children stuck in failing schools the right to choose someplace better. (Applause.) We must increase funds for students who struggle -- and make sure these children get the special help they need." (from whitehouse.gov)
So somehow we're both supposed to set high standards and let localities control their schools. We're going to dictate that school districts set their own high standards, but not tell them what the standards are? Or let them do whatever they want and just have a rhetoric of high standards? Not sure. Basically, what he's really saying is that we're going to demonstrate how crappy our public schools really are and let the whole thing be run privately.
"First We Take Your Money, Then We Take Your Schools." (N. McClusky. Newark Star-Ledger. Oct. 23, 2006.)
Nonetheless, for now I am pushing on.
Neil McCluskey raises the interesting Republican paradox of No Child Left Behind - reaching into the local domain normally controlled by schools and pretending they're not. Check out this line from the State of the Union:
" Now the task is to build on the success, without watering down standards, without taking control from local communities, and without backsliding and calling it reform. We can lift student achievement even higher by giving local leaders flexibility to turn around failing schools, and by giving families with children stuck in failing schools the right to choose someplace better. (Applause.) We must increase funds for students who struggle -- and make sure these children get the special help they need." (from whitehouse.gov)
So somehow we're both supposed to set high standards and let localities control their schools. We're going to dictate that school districts set their own high standards, but not tell them what the standards are? Or let them do whatever they want and just have a rhetoric of high standards? Not sure. Basically, what he's really saying is that we're going to demonstrate how crappy our public schools really are and let the whole thing be run privately.
"First We Take Your Money, Then We Take Your Schools." (N. McClusky. Newark Star-Ledger. Oct. 23, 2006.)
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Ahem.
I know some people who need to read this article. Big question is, what if your boss brings her kids to work? And they're sick? Not sure what you're supposed to do about that.
Although I do really like the idea of an on-site day care center for emergencies. That would really help out parents.
"When the Office Becomes Your Day Care Center." (Vilano, M. The New York Times. Jan. 7, 2007)
Although I do really like the idea of an on-site day care center for emergencies. That would really help out parents.
"When the Office Becomes Your Day Care Center." (Vilano, M. The New York Times. Jan. 7, 2007)
Tuesday, January 9, 2007
Notes on Hanushek
Eric Hanushek has been criticized for his methods in the study about the rise in school expenditures and the fall in school achievement for how he weighted different surveys - basically, if you're not interested in statistics, you probably don't care about much more than his findings have been refuted... but not, in my opinion, completely disproven.
This article refers to Hanushek and makes the links between school expenditures and school achivement clear to a non-stat type person. The author also creates a "Teachability Index" (ouch) for different students and uses it to compare teachability to expenditures.
My only worry is that if we assume kids are "unteachable," will we still try and teach them? What will we do to make them more teachable?
"Myths of the Teachers's Union." (Greene, J. FrontPage.com. 1/9/07.)
This article refers to Hanushek and makes the links between school expenditures and school achivement clear to a non-stat type person. The author also creates a "Teachability Index" (ouch) for different students and uses it to compare teachability to expenditures.
My only worry is that if we assume kids are "unteachable," will we still try and teach them? What will we do to make them more teachable?
"Myths of the Teachers's Union." (Greene, J. FrontPage.com. 1/9/07.)
Monday, January 8, 2007
What's Paucity Mean?
As you can see, I'm retooling the ol' blog. Never fear, hopefully I will get it right. I might just have to go back to the old style. I'm not too fond of this one... or maybe host it someplace else. We'll see.
In any case, this article is rather interesting. It talks about Diane Ravitch and how she wrote a book with a son about cultural literacy, and how our society seems to be afflicted by a dearth of good words to use. Even politicians and policy makers quote past speeches, not up to creating a new and powerful language themselves. Interesting, given how many speechwriters there are out there.
"Limp Language Leaves Kids with an Awesome Paucity." (Kersten, K. The Star Tribune. Jan. 7th, 2007).
In any case, this article is rather interesting. It talks about Diane Ravitch and how she wrote a book with a son about cultural literacy, and how our society seems to be afflicted by a dearth of good words to use. Even politicians and policy makers quote past speeches, not up to creating a new and powerful language themselves. Interesting, given how many speechwriters there are out there.
"Limp Language Leaves Kids with an Awesome Paucity." (Kersten, K. The Star Tribune. Jan. 7th, 2007).
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