In my consideration of the use of student test scores in teacher evaluation, I have yet to touch on a contentious issue: granting tenure to public school teachers. In most states, teachers, after a certain number of years, are granted job protection. In many cases, this means that the teacher cannot be fired without due
Justifying Test Score Use in Teacher Rating
Yesterday, I considered some necessary assumptions or antecedents before using test scores to rate K-12 public school teacher effectiveness. Today, I want to expand upon this thinking to consider the necessary justifications that school administrators and lawmakers must provide before using test scores as part of the teacher evaluation process. It is necessary to provide
The Teacher/Test Score Rating Matrix
During a conversation with my dad last night, I suggested that there is little reason for the majority of K-12 public school teachers to be worried about the use of test scores in evaluating their performance. That’s not to say that there aren’t very reasonable arguments against such a change. Various technical hurdles obviously impact
Obese Children Need State Help
Cuyahoga County, OH officials have removed an obese 8-year-old boy from his home and placed him in foster care. Though many children qualify as obese, this particular boy (who weighed over 200 pounds) was a special case because county officials believed his mother to be incapable of dealing with his weight thus placing him at
Dashing through the Mall, Cell Phone Being Tracked
In a clever way to capture more data about shopper movements, some malls have installed multiple cell phone attennas throughout their facility. This allows the mall to track shoppers as they move from store to store, providing malls with a rich dataset of where shoppers go, where they linger, and what stores they aren’t getting
How Much Profit in Content Sales?
Amazon’s new tablet computer, the Kindle Fire, seems destined to be a hit with consumers this holiday season. This success comes despite a relative paucity of positive reviews and a small screen (less than half the size of the iPad’s). Instead, the tablet seems destined to succeed because it is priced very competitively at just
Gadget Breakdown Nightmares
Tell me if you’ve had this dream before. You need to complete some kind of task, but somehow certain things keep blocking your progress. I had a dream a couple of weeks ago where I needed to drive someone somewhere, but first I couldn’t find my keys, next I couldn’t find where I parked the
Is Child Labor Instructive?
Newt Gingrich has some unconventional ideas regarding education, says the New York Times. Reading over their coverage of his views, unconventional is putting it mildly. Mr. Gingrich essentially advocates that child labor be instituted in public schools. He suggests that, for poor schools, janitors be fired and children hired to do the cleaning of the
In Favor of Aesthetic Destruction
I’m currently in New Orleans for a conference, and that means being treated to another city’s architecture. Most large cities have their own unique feel in terms of buildings, street layout, and overall organization, and New Orleans is no different. Most unique are the relatively short buildings, no more than three or four stories tall,
Packing Light
In a grand experiment, I have traveled to New Orleans (where I will stay for three nights and four total days) with just a single backpack as luggage. A small backpack at that, with just one main area and a front pocket. I had to jettison my laptop and suffice instead with my iPad. Clothes,
How Do Candidates Not Know the Answers?
Last week, we had Republican presidential contender and current Texas governor Rick Perry forget the three federal departments he would eliminate if elected. This week, we have Herman Cain stumble over an answer to a foreign policy question about President Obama’s response to uprising in Libya. There have been plenty of other missteps by candidates
Don’t Get Dizzy!: Media Spins Pew Internet Report
Last week, the Pew Internet and American Life Project released the results of a new survey about teens and their use of social networking websites. Given that this particular topic hits on several sexy areas, multiple sites around the web reported on it. But the results of the reporting show that this type of survey
Penn State Scandal: Incomprehensible Failure
We will likely never fully understand just how so many bright people could make so many mistakes that would allow for assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky to be charged with molesting and raping 8 boys over the course of 15 years ON PENN STATE PROPERTY AND AFTER BEING WITNESSED IN THE ACT. (Read a helpful
Herman Cain: She Was Asking to be Groped
Herman Cain, candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, has been facing a lot of tough allegations lately. No less than four different women have accused him of sexual harassment and sexual assault. The accusations have momentum as well, as the claims seem to spark others to come forward as well. To stop these accusations, Mr.
The Value of an Email Client
I fondly remember when email was a frequent way for young people to engage in social communication. Back in 2002, in my dorm room, experiencing broadband internet for the first time, I would regularly click that “check mail” button on my web-based email, just waiting for something new to trickle in. Today, things are different.