The Revolution will be posted on the net: From the Rocky Mountain News via instapundit.com

This is an entire virtual superorganism evolving in Internet time right before our eyes, based on an unfiltered free trade in ideas. Its participants are far more engaged than the average newspaper reader. . . .

And the blogosphere is not limited by geography. At www.buzzmachine.com Jeff Jarvis harps on the importance of nurturing Web logs in Iraq, Iran and other places where the means of free expression have been severely restricted.

The influence of "blogs" is huge right now. I hope users can keep the multi-nationals out of it.

One more today: Maine wants out of the NCLB act. Here is the major warning sign that standardized testing will eventually die: Some states have lowered their testing standards so fewer of their schools would be penalized under the law for not measuring up to state standards.

You know the people at Nintendo and Sony love this: A new study suggests action-packed video games like Grand Theft Auto III and Counter-Strike may sharpen your mind. I knew it wasn't a waste of time like all the "smart" people told me. Read the article.

A call to action: Kohn urged teachers to refuse to open the test booklets and parents to refuse to permit their children to participate in standardized testing. We have all read and discussed Mr. Kohn and I just have one thing to add, God Bless Alfie. Here is the article with the above quote and while you're "surfing" visit www.alfiekohn.org Great information.

The bugaboo that is social promotion. Here is what one study says .."the committee reached the conclusion that low-performing kids who are held back in a grade, compared to similar low-performing kids who are promoted, do less well academically. They also do less well socially, and they are much more likely to drop out." Personally I feel that there needs to be more synergy between elementary and the middle schools. I like the idea of more "transition" grades. Read the article.

Here is a piece of sanity in an insane educational year: The Student Testing Flexibilty Act Yes, it is a step in the right direction. Still districts and states will have to meet too many benchmarks, 37 at last count, to make this work.

I had to do a double take when I read this article. Florida needs 20,000 teachers? Wow!

I'm going to do a few more learning sessions for this blog. I really want this to be a "team" site and include more thoughts and opinions.

From the Star-Tribune: Starting today, more than 400 Minnesota elementary schools will hear for the first time that they will likely be tagged as needing improvement under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, according to a computer analysis by the state education department. How long will this last? Read the article.

More kids not meeting the standard in Boston.

Florida is a hot bed of ed news right now. This article shows that if unchecked, even a union can hurt the teachers in the long run.

Oregon update: Tax measure's pass. The bad news? One measure is retroactive to Jan 1st, so residents are 5 months behind in paying taxes. Just a shot in the dark, I'm guessing the anti-tax crowd will jump all over this one real quick.

A cyber school to open in Pennsylvania. How many of those will we see in the near future? I'm sure after the initial start up, the "school" is very inexpensive to run. Then again, what do I know?

Another story from the "no kidding" file - PE classes, nutritious lunches curb obesity. I honestly didn't make that headline up. The story is just a short editorial.

From the "no kidding" file - Strong leadership turns around Baltimore's elementary program. IMO the best plan - NO social promotion, especially at the younger ages. Stop worrying about the kids feelings and make sure that they can read. Social promotion is basically a lie, we tell the kid and parents that everything is ok, and it is not.

PDX and NW update: Voting ends tomorrow on a county income tax. Here is an article from the Seattle Times with a comparison of Washington's ed problems as well.

Teaching to the test works! That's how this headline should read. Isn't there a better way to gauge if kids are learning? Testing should be a part of all assessment but it is not the panacea. Oh yeah, here is the caveat, "Because the FCAT is still relatively new, testing experts warned that rising scores do not necessarily come from better teaching or smarter pupils. As teachers and students become more familiar with the test, scores will naturally rise, they say."

Update: The governor is comparing apples to oranges again. The "soaring" FCAT scores represent comparisons between two different groups of students. Even the data reported in the Times compares last year's third-graders with this year's third-graders, last year's fourth-graders with this year's fourth-graders, etc. A much more significant data comparison would be between last year's third-graders and this year's fourth-graders. Oh, and what about that thing called random variation? Do we even know if the differences reported between the 2002 and 2003 FCAT reading and math scores represents significant improvement? And let's remember that a single data point is no basis for making high-stakes decisions about anything. FCAT critics shouldn't back off. Not only is the test being misused, but so are the data from the test. Op-ed from St. Petersburg Times

Testing has gone too far at this middle school

This story, on the surface isn't necessarily about education, but the quotes by Bear Bryant are great.

If you get the chance and have the $, support Fair Test. Their web site has a lot of great information.

Isn't the Net a great idea ?

The Hazing Case: Parents and other adults admonished in the suburban Chicago, stupid, idiotic, rite of passage. Here is a link to the charges the kids face.

Fear of failure leads to FCAT rebellion Florida's standardized test is real popular in Miami. Only when actions like this become commonplace will the testing "revolution" fail. ''It is one of the most abusive things ever perpetuated on our children,'' said Robert Ingram, vice chairman of the Miami-Dade School Board. Are we sure that no students are left behind?

Maybe the NCLB is a conspiracy? It's just not big oil that loves the current president.
"Education companies are in high gear, aggressively targeting teachers, school principals and librarians to increase their slice of an increasingly lucrative market fed by President Bush's "No Child Left Behind Act."
Read the entire article.

"It's just impossible to keep programs going," said Tuntutuliak principal Pam Verner. Alaska has it's own unique problems but the NCLB act will provoke many responses like this one all around the country.

An interesting story brewing in Portland. School boards that want less central admins? It's been said before, Portland's crisis is a great test for public education.

Read this and then this. These two problems are systemic all over the country. A great example of the "robbing Peter to pay Paul" syndrome to problem solving. Most districts do face a shortage of teachers, they need warm bodies period. What happens when these people enter the classroom? Turns out they aren't "qualified" to teach what they've been assigned. The fast track program is a band-aid when major surgery is needed.

Portland's situation is by no means unique; it is just a school district that has reached that point. Many school districts will be in the same situation in the years to come. Take heed and learn. In many ways, I hope that the problems in Portland continue until the whole system is failed. It is a ruined system built on an antiquated system that reflects the industrial revolution--if I remember correctly, we are in what has been called by many to be the "digital revolution". So Portland fails, then what? That is just too much negativity for our kids in Portland. True. However, if this is not solved now with a serious solution, it will forever plague the city and the city's already tarnished name (yes, it is used as an example across the country--my own father-in-law, a principal in an eastcoast school, has had it come up in conversations). Band Aids and the quick fix will not fix this. I hope it falls to ruin and it is built back up by forward thinking revolutionaries. The public school is worth saving, but the system is not. How about a community based school? This problem will force people to come up with creative alturnatives and pragmatic solutions. Knight (Nike) has stepped in and Gates (Microsoft) has stepped in amongst countless others. You may fear a bueracratic (sp?) business overtake, but I say that the crap-does-not-sell attitude and experience of these companies can be useful models in how the new system is built. I say all of this knowing that my son will enter into the system this coming September and I hope for the best and have a strong interest in his schooling future be it in the public school or other. T$

Just checking things to see how they work

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