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Hello: Danny… : )
Birmingham News – 130 Alabama high schools score poorly on reading, stumble on bedrock of education
What does it take?
“What you need to do is either replace leadership and teachers in the school, create a charter school or do a school transformation,” which includes hiring a new principal and measuring teacher and principal effectiveness, she said.
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–education standards–
It’s the circle of life! We create standards. Students don’t meet them. We dumb down the system so we can say students meet them. Then we recreate standards. This is what happens when government decides what students need to learn and how well they need to learn it. Nothing can be done that makes the system look bad. That’s the prime directive. The best hope we have for freeing ourselves from this alcoholic cycle of abuse is to create schools for The 21st Century Student.
It seems to me that educators and economists have different ways of knowing things, and likely different value and belief systems. Educators need to understand that their specialty is efficiently and effectively communicating knowledge and skills to large groups of learners. Just because they’re in an education system, it doesn’t mean they know how to design it for optimal performance. They simply haven’t been trained to that. This requires the skills of non-education professionals, but educators generally exert high resistance against the suggestions of non-educators, perhaps especially when the objective evidence goes against their positions.
You believe that you can see the big picture now and that you know what’s best for everyone involved. But you may be viewing the future possibilities through such a narrow filter that you’re missing something very important. Your positive attitude may seem like blind optimism to others until you consciously decide to also look into the darker side of your feelings. Don’t be afraid of negativity because it offers a perspective that can move you closer to the truth.
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–The Rubber Room–
In a windowless room in a shabby office building at Seventh Avenue and Twenty-eighth Street, in Manhattan, a poster is taped to a wall, whose message could easily be the mission statement for a day-care center: “Children are fragile. Handle with care.” It’s a June morning, and there are fifteen people in the room, four of them fast asleep, their heads lying on a card table. Three are playing a board game. Most of the others stand around chatting. Two are arguing over one of the folding chairs. But there are no children here. The inhabitants are all New York City schoolteachers who have been sent to what is officially called a Temporary Reassignment Center but which everyone calls the Rubber Room.
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–One school principal has said that Randi Weingarten, of the teachers’ union,“would protect a dead body in the classroom.”– hummm… sound like somebody we know?
Read more:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/08/31/090831fa_fact_brill?currentPage=all#ixzz0Wyj74IkR
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-Pookie
GOP club’s poll favors Tim James
Sunday, November 22, 2009
From staff reports
Huntsville Times
Businessman tops Byrne, Moore in straw ballot here
Greenville businessman Tim James, the son of former Gov. Fob James, got the most votes for governor Saturday in a straw poll of the Madison County Republican Men’s Club.
James, who attended the club’s breakfast meeting, got 52 of 148 votes cast or 35 percent.
He is seeking the Republican nomination for governor next year.
James was followed by former post-secondary school Chancellor Bradley Byrne with 38 votes or 26 percent, and former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore with 22 votes or 15 percent.
Tuscaloosa physician Robert Bentley polled 10 votes or 7 percent, and the remaining votes were scattered among other candidates.
Nearly 250 people attended the meeting at which the straw poll was conducted, but only those adults who had attended a club meeting before were allowed to vote, according to club President Elbert Peters.
“I had the privilege of meeting the enthusiastic Republicans of Madison County this morning,” James said in a statement released later. “I am honored to have their vote.”
“none of thier damn business” riley DA conference AUDIO …
http://www.rickeystokesnews.com/article.php/district-attorneys-fail-to-support-governor-6749
There is an extremely interesting clip of audio from the DA’s conference that has been posted on http://www.rickeystokesnews.com. It appears to expose the manipulation by the association’s director, Randy Hillman, of the association’s membership by working behind the scenes (and the member DA’s backs) to further damage the relationship between the DA’s and Troy King. This is nothing new as Hillman has been the antagonist between the DA’s and King since day-one when he was rejected for the AG appointment in 2004 in favor of King. What is new this time is that Hillman was recorded and the tape is on the internet. I wonder how Governor Riley feels when he hears Hillman telling the DA’s that he and the governor cut a deal whereby the governor agreed to send the DA’s money, “if you have spent any money on prosecuting electronic bingo, gambling or crap in your county, Governor Riley will reimburse those costs. The estimated expenditure so far is $ 280,000.00.” Hillman then tells the DA’s that time is running out to get the money from the governor’s finance director and they need to get their estimates to him quickly – and make them high. I also wonder how the governor feels about announcing he was appearing at the DA’s conference for a joint press conference with them. It appears Hillman’s deal with the governor was to have the DA’s endorse the governor’s position that King, and not the DA’s, should be responsible for enforcing the supreme court’s newly created definition of bingo in their jurisdictions. Apparently, the DA’s refused to go along with their renegade association leadership and throw some of their own under the Hillman/Riley/Strange political bus. Riley then cancelled his scheduled appearance due to a “scheduling conflict.” Sure. Finally, I wonder how long it will take for the DA’s to take back control of their association – and their reputations.
hey!! somebody wants to talk to little todd stacy..watch em both!!
http://www.rickeystokesnews.com/article.php/one-on-one-with-ronnie-gilley-6747
hoss… there is a transcript of the meeting in the works…it will be alot easier to read than it is to hear…..people are starting to see the light..and its about damn time!! and anyone who questions rickey stokes reporting abilities now is nothing more than a damned fool….so go for it guys and girls!!! where are you now?? eh?? lets hear it…
one last thing……hoss said..”Sure. Finally, I wonder how long it will take for the DA’s to take back control of their association – and their reputations.”
let it be known far and wide that Douglas Albert Valeska, Houston County district Attorney, DECLINED to attend this conference….
It appears from the article Tim James was the only candidate at the meeting.
And that also means he would have put out the word for his people to show up.
And with the deck stacked for him – he gets 35%! Rather underwhelming.
princeliberty – even though James was the only candidate at the meeting – only regular attendees of the meeting (like me) were allowed to vote (to minimize stacking the vote). One could argue that James’ personal appearance earned him some votes.