Featured Stories
Educational “establishment” and “reformers” redux
December 14, 2008
by David Safier A few days ago, I complained about how the media is using the terms "establishment" and "reformer" in the current educational debate. "Establishment" has come to refer to teachers, teacher unions and liberal education profs. "Reformers" is used to refer to people who agree with the Bushies on education — merit pay
How we can be more like Finland
December 14, 2008
by David Safier According to Matt Yglesias, in Finland, teacher education programs turn away five applicants for every one they accept, and the applicants typically come from the top half of upper secondary schools which themselves only basically the top half of Finnish primary school graduates (the rest go to vocational schools). Why? It's not
Stupidest. President. Ever.
December 13, 2008
by David Safier According to an AP article, Bush was "reflective" during a speech at Texas A&M. Listen to what passes for reflection in this deeply shallow and uncaring man. According to the article, Bush told graduates that "popularity is capricious and what matters is whether they think they’ve done what is right." Not whether
More on school tax credit suggestions
December 12, 2008
by David Safier The Citizen ran articles yesterday and today about the public school tax credit. (Here is my explanation about what it is and how to give a donation and get 100% refunded to you when you pay your taxes. Remember, you must make your donation by Dec. 31 to get a credit on
Robin Williams on America’s election – from London
December 12, 2008
Posted By AzBlueMeanie: A friend of mine forwarded this video to me from Francine and asked me to post it. Will do. John Cleese and Robin Williams take to the stage for one night only at the New Wimbledon Theater to mark Prince Charles' 60th Birthday on the comedy program We Are Most Amused –
You mean Obama is planning to put in regulators?
December 12, 2008
by David Safier Here's my nominee for today's best quote in a daily newspaper. The Washington Post has an article about Obama's three top picks for environmental posts. Many environmentalists are happy with the picks, while some think they're a bit too moderate. That tells me they're probably excellent choices. But the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
On a totally different subject
December 11, 2008
by David Safier Watch the documentary, Who Killed the Electric Car?, available on Netflix. Then ask yourself, if GM created a reliable electric car in the 90s with something like a 90 mile range before needing a charge, leased them in California to ecstatic drivers, then took them back from the drivers (who begged to
It’s the teachers, stupid!
December 11, 2008
by David Safier
(TASL)
In remarks at last week’s gathering, Mr. Gates said the foundation had seen success with some of the small high schools it helped create through its emphasis on that school improvement strategy, but that much of that work did not deliver the academic gains the foundation had hoped for.
“To be successful, a redesign requires changing the roles and responsibilities of adults, and changing the school’s culture,” Mr. Gates said. “You can’t dramatically increase college readiness by changing only the size and structure of a school.
So now the Foundation plans to focus more of its energies on "teacher effectiveness." That means trying to identify what makes for effective teaching, but it also means finding ways to "retain and compensate teachers based on their effectiveness, and help ensure that high-quality teachers are place in schools that need them the most."
