September 15th, 2007 walkere
No Child Left Behind has been a major topic of discussion for educators for years. Every faculty meeting has something to do with test scores, AYP, and improving performance.
Now that NCLB is coming up for renewal, it’s returning to the public discussion, too. So what do we do with the law?
Undoubtedly, some educators would like to scrap it altogether. That might not be such a bad idea. It’s bad PR, though. Even though we know that NCLB is a poor measure of student achievement and school success, the public (i.e. the media and politicians) perceive it as a real way to enforce accountability on corrupt and ineffective schools.
Rather than completely scrap the law, we need to look for other ways to enforce accountability. The proposed changes to the law, that would allow for different measures of student success, is a step in the right direction. To be truly effective, though, the law needs to move away from standardized tests and move towards authentic assessments.
In my opinion, electronic portfolios are the way of the future and they should be the way to go. Check out my article No Child Left Behind: The Needs of Children Vs. Politicians to get a better idea of what I mean.
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September 14th, 2007 walkere
When I graduated with a Masters of Ed in May, I didn’t think I’d have that hard of a time finding a job. I had good credentials (M. Ed from Rutgers). I graduated with honors and aced the Praxis exam. I also wanted to work in an urban district, which I thought would cut down on the competition a lot.
I was a bit surprised when August rolled around and I hadn’t gotten a single interview. I finally got a call back from one district (the one that hired me) in mid-August and one other call back a few days later. Why was this process so drawn out and tough? Was it something I did, or is there something wrong with the system?
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September 9th, 2007 walkere
The lending crisis involving mortgages is front page news. People across the nation are losing their homes to foreclosure, and in the worst areas whole communities are getting vacated.
People obviously have mixed feelings about the cause of the crisis. Some genuinely want to blame working class and middle class families, arguing that if they worked harder they could pay off their debts. Others satirize this viewpoint, like this blog article, and presumably blame the mortgage companies for luring people in with clearly dangerous offers.
For my part, I think there’s plenty of blame to go around. Lenders certainly lured working and middle class families into buying houses they couldn’t afford. It was a despicable way to make a buck, and it will take a while for the housing market to sort itself out. Although the people that took out these loans were set up to fail, they could have avoided the crisis by researching the lending options offered to them.
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August 15th, 2007 walkere
There has been a recent movement to restrict or completely ban the use of cell phones while driving. Proponents of the ban cite studies showing that cell phone usage distracts the driver and that cell phone usage corellates with a large number of accidents. Opponents of the ban see this is as a violation of simple freedoms and overzealous legislation. Cell phones are no more distracting than other common distractions, so why ban them?
For the record, although I support hands-free legislation I am opposed to an outright ban. Check out my full argument in this debate on Helium.
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January 19th, 2007 walkere
Welcome one and all to my writer’s desk. This site is a collection of my writings, ramblings, and thinkings. Some things will be unique to this website. Others will be summaries and links to articles that I have written elsewhere. Hopefully they will all interest you.
Glad you stopped by. Check back often.
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