Monday, July 6, 2009

Odds 'n' Ends

It's a slow day today in education news, but that's pretty typical following a holiday weekend. Our Fourth of July was rainy, but since it had been dry here for almost two weeks, that may have been a good thing. Everyone seemed to get in their cookouts and fireworks on Sunday, anyway.

California is still in its self-created budget woes as Matthew Yi reports in the San Francisco Chronicle's Governor backs off plan to suspend Prop. 98. Mary Beth Schneider and Mark Nichols report in Education budget higher overall, but IPS and other districts see cuts that Indiana's "poorest children in the state took it on the chin" with the new budget and school funding formula. And Greg Burns writes in the Chicago Tribune of Education Secretary Arne Duncan counting on business leaders to help push through school reforms.

Since we're busy shopping for a new digital camera, I'll share some of the models we're looking at for today's ad.

Canon Powershot A1000IS 10MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Grey)	Canon Powershot SX10IS 10MP Digital Camera with 20x Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom	Canon Digital Rebel XSi 12.2 MP Digital SLR Camera with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens (Black)	Canon EOS Rebel T1i 15.1 MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera with 3-Inch LCD and EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens

We're leaning towards a digital SLR, as we've had some bad luck with the retractable lens point-and-shoots. Of course, the old adage, "the best camera is the one you have with you," still makes us wonder about another small camera.

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Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Time to Slow Down on Merit/Performance Pay?

"A new study by a Princeton University economist suggests that 'value-added' methods for determining the effectiveness of classroom teachers are built on some shaky assumptions and may be misleading." Studies Probe 'Value-Added' Measures in Education Week raises some important concerns about the way student test results may be linked to performance/merit pay.

Texas Drops Health, PE, and Technology from High School Requirements

The Associated Press's April Castro reports that Texas has dropped its high school health class requirement. Texas drops health education requirement relates that "a semester of physical education and two semesters of a technology class also were removed from the state's recommended high school program."

Friday, July 10, 2009

Endeavour May Launch Tomorrow Evening

NASA will try again tomorrow to launch the space shuttle Endeavour on its STS-127 mission to the International Space Station. The launch has been postponed twice due to fuel leaks. Unfortunately, the weather for the 7:39 P.M. (EDT) launch and in fact, for the next several days, doesn't look very good. Space.com covers the story in NASA Clears Shuttle Endeavour for Saturday Launch and also provides A Guide to NASA's Last Space Shuttle Missions.

STS-127 4" Embroidered Mission Patch Space Shuttle Mission STS-127 is a planned space shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS). The primary purpose of the STS-127 mission is to deliver and install the final two components of the Japanese Experiment Module: the Exposed Facility, and the Exposed Section of the Experiment Logistics Module.