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A Different View of Education Testing Results Associated Press education writer Libby Quaid presents a bit of pushback to the current round of dire comments about American education in FACT CHECK: Are US students really that bad? Quaid acknowledges some of the serious issues facing America's schools, but adds some perspective to the current national discussion of U.S. test scores. Nikon "Service" After an early failure of my Nikon Coolpix P60 and a month of frustration in dealing with the incredibly inept Nikon USA Service department, I've had to add a rather negative update to my review of the Nikon P60, A Day Off & A New Camera: Part II. Send Feedback to |
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Continued Flu Concerns A New York Times article, No Guidance on How to Rein In the Flu, asks a key question: "What is the best way to stop an epidemic that spreads mostly in schools rather than in nursing homes?" Do you close schools, keep them open with kids wearing surgical masks and install lots of disinfectant hand rub dispensers and push their use? There appears to be a real lack on consensus. Graduation Rate Contest Here in Indiana, our new Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tony Bennett, has decided the way to jumpstart improvement in graduation rates is to give the 10 schools with the most improved high school graduation rates next year cash incentives to be used as staff bonuses. The Indianapolis Star's Andy Gammill relates in State will pay schools to increase grad rates that "Schools will be free to distribute that money among staff in whatever way they see fit." Bennett said that he hopes schools would decide to reward those key to the school's success rather than divvy up the money equally, but has not supplied any further guidance in that area. Bennett stated, "This type of program breeds innovation, creativity, [and] bold action to help children." Bennett had previously admitted that he did not have specific reforms in mind when he touted that he would "push the state to the nation's highest graduation rate within four years and require students to make unprecedented gains in test scores." Hubble Work Done Astronauts aboard the space shuttle Atlantis released the Hubble Space Telescope from the shuttle's robotic arm this morning and began firing thrusters to back away from the space telescope. Before returning to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday, the STS-125 crew will complete an inspection of Atlantis's heat shield today, which was slightly damaged during the launch, hold a news conference from space on Wednesday, and complete "the standard day-before-landing checkout of landing systems" on Thursday. End of the Year Resources
I reviewed the Teachers' Domain site and several other useful resource sites in an April feature, Resource Sites for Teachers. Entire School Board Recalled I made a brief posting in January about a recall effort in the Big Oak Flat-Groveland Unified School District in California. Parents and students were upset over the dismissal of math teacher Ryan Dutton for alleged plagiarism in a college class. Dutton was ultimately exonerated of the plagiarism allegation, but not rehired by the district. Maria L. La Ganga reports today in Entire Groveland, Calif., school board recalled that residents of the small rural school district near Yosemite National Park "voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to oust all five board members, according to unofficial returns, the first time in memory that an entire school board has been unseated." A report released yesterday by the Government Accountability Office relates abuses in the use of restraints and seclusion in special education classes. The investigation was triggered by a Congressional request to "provide an overview of seclusions and restraint laws applicable to children in public and private schools, (2) verify whether allegations of student death and abuse from the use of these methods are widespread, and (3) examine the facts and circumstances surrounding cases where a student died or suffered abuse as a result of being secluded or restrained." GAO investigators were unable to " determine whether allegations of death and abuse were widespread," but "did discover hundreds of such allegations at public and private schools across the nation between the years 1990 and 2009." Making a bad situation worse, CNN writers Abbie Boudreau and Steve Turnham chose to use the inaccurate but sensational lede for their report, "Congressional auditors have uncovered widespread abuse of techniques use to restrain or discipline special-education students in U.S. schools, with some deaths linked to the practices, a top congressman says." I guess it comes down to your definition of widespread, but even one case is too many. If you're a special educator or work with inclusion special needs kids, you probably should read at least one of the current articles or the full report. It isn't pleasant reading.
Atlantis to Land on Saturday...Maybe
The NASA Image of the Day shown above was taken by the STS-125 crew aboard space shuttle Atlantis as the two spacecraft begin their separation on May 19, 2009. While the shot looks great above, the detail in the full size image is incredible! Atlantis had to stay in orbit another day due to poor weather conditions at its Florida landing site. They'll try again tomorrow for a Kennedy Space Center landing with Edwards Air Force Base and White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico as other landing options should the weather in Florida continue to be poor. Odds 'n' Ends eSchool News reports that California is considering moving to digital textbooks where possible as an economy move. Carlos Garcia, Superintendent of the San Francisco Unified School District, and Margaret Brodkin, Director of San Francisco's New Day for Learning Initiative, have an interesting editorial in the San Francisco Chronicle, A new day for learning in San Francisco. Michael Birnbaum writes in The Cosmos, Cut to Size about a sixth grade teacher's attempt to create a scale model of the solar system. Usually, one has to use one scale for sun and planet size comparison and another scale for the massive distances between the planets. Rick Peck hopes to use one scale to create a county-sized scale model of the solar system that would have a "marble-size Pluto" two dozen miles away from the scaled sun. And...I pulled the counter from Monday's posting about poor service from Nikon. My repaired camera finally arrived today. Total elapsed time since Nikon received the camera for warranty service: 32 days, 4 hours. Have a safe Memorial Day weekend!
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©2009 Steven L. Wood