Monday, September 4, 2006 - Labor Day

NCLB

A quote in an eSchool News report pretty well tells the story on how out of touch with reality the Bush Administration is. This time it's about education:

In an interview with reporters on Aug. 30, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings said NCLB is close to perfect and needs little change. That contrasts sharply with the results of a new Phi Delta Kappa (PDK)/Gallup poll, showing only three in 10 people have a favorable opinion of the law--and just 26 percent say it is helping public schools.

The stated goals of the No Child Left Behind bill were lofty and admirable. No one can quibble with a goal of all children learning to read. The focus on minorities and students with disabilities is necessary. But in practice, the bill has created havoc in schools across America by shifting the attention of teachers from teaching to achieving acceptable results on standardized tests.

Time to Throw the Bums Out?

A (thinly, I know) related item appears in today's New York Times, G.O.P. Seen to Be in Peril of Losing House. The same folks who brought us the joys of NCLB also are responsible for an energy bill and congressional non-action on greedy oil companies that have produced $3/gallon gasoline. Now that elections are drawing near, the oil companies are letting prices slide, presumably to help out their Republican buddies in trouble in Congress.

Isn't is about time we Throw the Bums Out who've brought us NCLB, $3 gasoline, Iraq, an unparalleled assault on our constitutional rights, and constant divisiveness of a variety of issues to hide their corrupt actions?

Online Resource Sites for Teachers (and parents and students)

After two political statements in a row, you need a reward for your classroom. If you're into teaching using computers, a lot of great web portals have sprung up that help winnow the results of a search for materials to a manageable number. I work for one, PRISM, that does an outstanding job of presenting teacher-reviewed listings for middle grade math and science. Recently, I achieved one of my goals since coming to PRISM of having a front page site link to other resource sites that teachers may find helpful. Other Resource Sites is a work in progress, but the links are there for some excellent resources.

Not Much Posted

The entire MATH DITTOS 2 site continues to suffer from neglect. I haven't posted a column in well over a year, and Educators' News only gets a short blurb every now and then. Like everyone else, I'm busy. Yesterday, I had the joy of all three of our grandchildren visiting. At work (PRISM), I'm constantly writing, but for the PRISM site, more often in emails to classroom teachers, but occasionally online stuff that is close to being a column. One of my tasks this past year was writing a How To series of illustrated, step-by-step directions on how to use our site's implementation of the Moodle Course Management System. It's a continuing effort and probably will never be quite done.

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