No, I don’t know what’s going on with the masthead and a couple of other minor quirks. Around WordPress, you generally get far in excess of what you pay for; on a bad day, maybe, you only get what you pay for. The masthead will reappear, “magically, as if by magic,” as John Lennon would have said. Sometime.
Drop me an e-mail if you have other problems.
Leave a Comment » | 
Administrivia | 
Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
The Des Moines Register followed up on the story of the community college professor who said he was fired for teaching the Bible as literature, and not as religion, in a class on western civilization.
I still think the fired teacher, Steve Bitterman, could have a contract claim against the school. But the article points out that adjunct faculty often do live in a sort of “adjunct hell,” in which they have few rights, but lots of obligations, all at something less than half-pay.
But that’s not news.
Leave a Comment » | Academic freedom, College, Creationism, Religion, Teaching | Tagged: Academic freedom, adjunct faculty, Creationism, lack of tenure | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Fourth grade math scores on NAEP, called “the nation’s report card,” rose from 238 to 240 from 2005 to 2007, while 8th grade performance climbed from 279 to 281, both on a 500-point scale. The 2007 NAEP results were released today.
Those gains continued an overall upward trend in NAEP math scores in both grades that dates to the early 1990s, while reading scores have been more stagnant over that time. While the gains in math were smaller than in some previous testing cycles, they were still statistically significant, as were the increases in reading.
“It shows that the public attention to math instruction and professional development of teachers is having a positive impact,” said James Rubillo, the executive director of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, in Reston, Va. The movement for stronger standards that dates to the 1980s “has brought math and reading to the forefront of attention,” he said.
In reading, the subject that has seen the greatest investment of federal and state education spending over the past several years, 4th graders’ scores have risen from 219 to 221, also on a 500-point scale, since 2005. Eighth graders’ average mark increased from 262 to 263, which was a statistically significant gain, though that test score dipped slightly from the NAEP reading test given five years ago.
Two point gains on a 500 point scale sound measly to me. That’s less than 1%, after five years of a program that should have produced much more significant gains.
Is the No Child Left Behind Act badly misnamed?
Perhaps, instead of spending money on testing and forcing teachers to teach to the test or else, we should try putting some money into getting the best teachers, by providing significant pay raises, and put more money into providing the resources teachers need to make their classrooms successful — books, projectors, software, film, video, grading machines, classroom tools, classroom supplies (paper and pencils), preparation time, and parental involvement.
Other resources:
1 Comment | Education assessment, Education quality, Education reform, Education success, No Child Left Behind Act, State school boards | Tagged: Bush administration failure, math acheivement, NAEP, NCLB, reading acheivement | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Images: Daumier’s drawing of Thetis dipping Achilles in the River Styx; Homer Simpson and the official fried beignet of Louisiana, credit for the latter lost, though no doubt copyrighted.
Homer to Homer Simpson: This is at least a good class warm up, if not a whole lesson plan of itself. Shades of Harry Wong, who knew there were such links?
What? Ken Jennings knew?
Tip of the old scrub brush to Alun Salt at Clioaudio, and at Revise and Dissent, for pointing to Debra Hamel at Blogographos.
1 Comment | Harry Wong, Lesson plans, Warm-up exercises, World history | Tagged: Harry Wong, Homer, Homer Simpson, warm-up | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
You are currently browsing the Millard Fillmore's Bathtub blog archives for the day Wednesday, September 26th, 2007.
Ed Darrell on Texas's Colorado River
Come on in, the water's fine. Come often: Cleanliness is next to godliness.
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 