A more realistic view of standards
This week I’ve been spending most of each day in a workshop on the Spanish Civil War for area history teachers. In it, teachers learn about the war in general and also the involvement of American volunteers for both medical services and fighting on the Republican side (what’s now known as the Abraham Lincoln Brigades). […]
Gates in Tampa … no, my daughter’s school!
Two chances in one week to provide personal perspective on Gates’ philanthropy. Along with a few thousand other AFT delegates, I saw Gates’s speech last Saturday. Today’s comment comes via the Business Week article on the Gates Foundation’s education program. The article is one of the better journalistic portraits of the foundation, including historical perspective […]
Fat tails and audit trails in Florida test scores
I’m starting the day behind on a bunch of things, thanks to a week at the AFT convention in Seattle and the beauteous handling of bad weather by Delta. I arrived in Tampa about 23 hours after leaving Seattle, and let’s leave it at that. So I’m a bit behind on the background behind the […]
Gates speech at AFT
Originally written Saturday, July 10: I’ve figured out how to hang this electronic device onto the back of the chair in front of me while my old PDA foldable keyboard is synced and sitting on my lap, so I can write this blog entry in the middle of the AFT session. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka […]
Brief note justifying the lack of productivity this week
I have gotten less done this week in Seattle than I expected. I did the right thing and walked around the city as much as I could when not in the AFT convention’s business meetings. Since Seattle has real hills, this is healthy exercise, and I used the Pike Place Market six blocks from the […]