Grokking social-science statistics
Several comments in the past few weeks have expressed some wonder that I use statistics when I am publicly skeptical of several policy-related uses of education statistics. I am a little confused by the comments (and implicit accusation of inconsistency), since many of the most articulate critics of high-stakes testing are assessment experts, but for […]
Needing a break, even for a hardened historian
During spring break, I starting reading some books on the Spanish Civil War, and I’m finding it tough slogging: it’s not inherently hard reading, but it’s hard to read for long about a story that ends badly, where thousands of people lost their lives and a country turned into a dictatorship that lasted for decades. […]
New media and academe
A few somewhat-related ideas floating in my head this afternoon: The persistent value of blogging. While many others assert a professional value of Twitter and LinkedIn, and I am sure they can be used in that way, I will stick to blogging: it’s public, it captures thoughts that require more than 140 characters, and I […]
The world is slowing, I’m speeding up, or I have acquired a few afterburner kits
I am now far less behind than I was in early December. The next EPAA article (to be published April 10) is in the can; I have another 5 in various post-acceptance stages, a bunch of decisions to be written up from my scribbles and reviewer comments, a revision ready to read, grad-student manuscripts in […]
Michael Crow and Bernie Machen up the yin-yang
Monday’s New York Times story on Arizona State University stole my point earlier this month about the expenses of public research universities and the tension between undergraduate teaching and the building of a research infrastructure. Either that, or I was stating the obvious (I think I was stating the obvious). The Times quoted the ASU […]