How do you rate teachers whose students aren’t tested?
by David Safier As much as I've read about linking teacher salaries and retention to student testing, I've never found a satisfactory answer to this question: what about teachers in subjects that aren't tested? The trend toward tying everything to tests is accelerating. [New York's] Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said on Wednesday that New York … Read more
A public school teacher responds
by David Safier I received this comment on a post I wrote about some of the changes affecting teachers that were thrown in with the latest round of budget cuts. I'm a teacher in the Tempe Union school district, and I now have my eye on the exit signs because of this. Which I'm sure … Read more
Happy Thanksgiving
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: It just wouldn't be Thanksgiving without the traditional playing of Arlo Guthrie's Alice's Restaurant (The Massacree Revisited). Enjoy.
Rep. Ray Barnes’ angry ignorant rant
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: I briefly touched upon the comments of Rep. Ray Barnes during the recent special session in an earlier post, i.e., he said that the state could file for bankruptcy (as I explained, no, it cannot). I had not seen Rep. Barnes' extended comments at the time. It turns out this whopper was part … Read more
Will the last person to leave please remember to turn out the lights
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Arizona has gone from Governor Janet Napolitano and the Republican legislature enacting a ten percent income tax cut in 2006-07 to give back a tax surplus because "it's your money," to a state in economic free fall and financial collapse in 2008-09. As anyone who attended school in Arizona from the 1950s … Read more
We have one private school participant
by David Safier I received an email this morning from a teacher at an Arizona independent school who is planning to ask his students if they were surveyed for the civics test Goldwater Institute used to create 3 separate studies comparing high school students attending public and private schools. The question is, was the survey … Read more
Black Friday Madness: Remembering Jdimytai Damour
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: While I was trying to enjoy a rare night of television on Monday night, I was constantly barraged by television ads from major retailers for their "Black Friday" sales: Open at 5 a.m.! Open at 4 a.m.! Open Thanksgiving Day! After the tragic trampling death of Jdimytai Damour, a part-time security worker at a Long … Read more
Any private school teachers or adminstrators reading this?
by David Safier More on the survey results used for the G.I. civics study (No, I'm not obsessed, just very interested). Here's a way to get closer to finding out whether Strategic Vision LLC actually completed the survey for G.I. and didn't just make up the results. It can be worth a $25 gift card … Read more
