January 26, 2007
Advocates of using pay to improve teacher performance grow excited over the addition of federal money to supplement local district pay incentives. But maybe they shouldn’t.
Contrary to other provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), there is little research to demonstrate that paying a few teachers more will improve student performance. Cheapskates looking for quick solutions advocate pay incentives, though, and some districts have plunged headlong.
Houston is reaping the whirlwind at the moment. Incentive pay went out earlier this week, and disparities showed up immediately.
The Houston Chronicle’s columnist Rick Casey very briefly explains in today’s edition:
It would be appropriate, in a way, for Houston teachers who are upset that they didn’t get bonuses to protest by calling in sick.
Or by stamping their feet and crying.
Or by holding their breath until they turn blue.
It would be appropriate, in a way, because it would be an immature response to an immature accountability system.
I’m not being snide about HISD’s bonus formula, despite some of the anomalies that have been identified, including no bonus for a teacher whose entire class passed the TAKS test nor for a teacher who had been recognized as bilingual teacher of the year.
There are several articles available on the payout, the way the plan is structured, and the problems. I understand the Houston Chronicle also has a web site featuring details of the payouts, including teachers by name, and amounts paid.
This is a great de-motivator. Who thought this through? No one.
Other sources:
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6 Comments | 
Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), Education reform, Education spending, TAKS, Teacher Pay, TEKS, Texas | 
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Posted by Ed Darrell
January 26, 2007
The first step to maintained equality of opportunity amongst our people is, as I have said before, that there should be no child in America who has not been born, and who does not live, under sound conditions of health; who does not have full opportunity for education from the kindergarten to the university; who is not free from injurious labor; who does not have stimulation to ambition to the fullest of his or her capacities. It is a matter of concern to our government that we should strengthen the safeguards to health. These activities of helpfulness and of cooperation stretch before us in every direction. A single generation of Americans of such a production would prevent more of crime and of illness, and give more of spirit and progress than all of the most repressive laws and police we can ever invent — and it would cost less.
Who said it? Who prescribed such a “socialist” plan for our children? John Dewey? Hillary Clinton? Answer below the fold.
Read the rest of this entry »
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2 Comments | Accuracy, Education, Herbert Hoover, Leadership, Lesson plans, Politics, Presidents, Quotes | Tagged: 1928, Education, Gordon Lloyd, Great Depression, Herbert Hoover, Leadership, Poltics, Presidents, Quotes, Two Faces of Liberalism | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 25, 2007
Posting will be light this weekend — I’m off to Pasadena, California, for a Liberty Fund seminar on the “Hoover-Roosevelt Conversation,” regarding the debates between Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt between 1928 and 1945. Good fun, great company, hoped-for good stuff for future lesson plans.
But little time for blogging (and who knows how well the connections work).
Discuss.
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1 Comment | Economics, Education, Franklin Roosevelt, Free market economics, Great Depression, Herbert Hoover, New Deal, Socialism | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 25, 2007
Sundown January 25 marks the end of the 30-day period of mourning for President Gerald Ford, during which flags in the United States are flown at half-staff.
Flags retired at sundown should be quickly hoisted to the peak of the staff, and then lowered soberly. If a flag is lighted or otherwise authorized for 24-hour display, it should be hoisted back to the peak of the staff at sundown.
Tomorrow, January 26, flags should be posted at full staff, as usual.
See also:
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4 Comments | Flag etiquette, Gerald Ford, Patriotism | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 24, 2007
Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivered the State of the Union speech for 1941 on January 6. Eleven months and one day later, Japan attacked the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii. I have been fascinated by Roosevelt’s clear statement of the freedoms he thought worth fighting for, especially considering that most Americans at that moment did not consider it desirable or probable that the U.S. would get involved in the war that raged across the Pacific and Atlantic.
Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, August 9, 1941; aboard the U.S.S. Augusta, in the Atlantic. Library of Congress.
Here is an excerpt of the speech, the final few paragraphs:
I have called for personal sacrifice, and I am assured of the willingness of almost all Americans to respond to that call. A part of the sacrifice means the payment of more money in taxes. In my budget message I will recommend that a greater portion of this great defense program be paid for from taxation than we are paying for today. No person should try, or be allowed to get rich out of the program, and the principle of tax payments in accordance with ability to pay should be constantly before our eyes to guide our legislation.
If the Congress maintains these principles the voters, putting patriotism ahead of pocketbooks, will give you their applause. Read the rest of this entry »
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11 Comments | 1941-1945, Accuracy, Famous quotes, Franklin Roosevelt, Free speech, Freedom - Economic, Freedom - Political, Good Quotes, History, Lesson plans, Presidents, Quotes, Religious Freedom, World War II | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 23, 2007
Clay Bennett cartoon, copyright Clay Bennett. Bennett is the editorial cartoonist for the Christian Science Monitor and winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 2002 for his editorial cartoons there.
Tonight President Bush delivers his State of the Union speech to Congress. State of the Union speeches are increasingly the only time we get to see presidents live, and that may lead to the extreme crabbiness about the speech Ed Brayton shows over at Dispatches from the Culture Wars. It’s a Constitution-required exercise (Article II, section 3), though the prime-time television broadcast and other pomp and ceremony are not mentioned.
Section 3. He shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the state of the union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in case of disagreement between them, with respect to the time of adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper; he shall receive ambassadors and other public ministers; he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed, and shall commission all the officers of the United States.
In our history as a republic, presidents have done everything from just sending the details in a letter to Congress to the current pageant. My recollection is that Richard Nixon gave the first prime-time speech — before that the speeches were given during the business day, and not broadcast live — and that Ronald Reagan was the first president to give all of his SOTUs in the evening. (I’m very willing to correct that information if you have better details.)
And while they have occasionally made history, such as Franklin Roosevelt’s 1941 SOTU (the “four freedoms”), my fondness for the events is mostly personal. Read the rest of this entry »
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Leave a Comment » | Cartoons, Current History, Franklin Roosevelt, History, Political cartoons, Politics, Presidents, U.S. Constitution | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 22, 2007
Town Hall in Leuven, Belgium; image from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Did I really miss this last month? A television network in Belgium, RTBF, started out the morning reporting on the breakup of Belgium. Rather contrary to the rules of hoaxes set up by Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre, no mention of a dramatization was made for at least a half-hour.
And of course, it was all a hoax. The network said they wanted to generate discussion about how Belgium works, etc., etc. Not everyone was happy with the kickoff to discussion.
I have no particular dog in that fight, though I’m fond of Belgium. My wife spent a year studying in Louvin (Louvain, Leuven) (before I knew her), and we have wonderful photos. My own business trip to Brussells was less than 24 hours, though we conducted our business in lightning fashion and were able to spend the evening in a wonderfully lit historic square sampling several brands of beer — okay, many brands. We all made it to the Oh-Dark-thirty airplane home the next morning (some in better shape than others).
It’s always an eye-opener to learn how little most people know about the country, though it plays a huge role in the European Union, in NATO, and in the history of the 20th century, especially World Wars I and II.
Now it appears even Belgians don’t know whether their nation would break up or not. Jacques Brel is no longer alive and well.
More:
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3 Comments | Current History, Geography - Political, History, Hoaxes, Humor, Music education, Travel | Tagged: Belgium, History, Hoaxes, Humor, Travel | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 22, 2007
April, or Valentine’s Day worthy? 
Charles Darwin to Emma Darwin, April, 1858:
Moor Park
The weather is quite delicious. Yesterday, after writing to you, I strolled a little beyond the glade for an hour and a half, and enjoyed myself — the fresh yet dark green of the grand Scotch firs, the brown of the catkins of the old birches, with their white stems, and a fringe of distant green from the larches, made an excessively pretty view. At last I fell fast asleep on the grass, and awoke with a chorus of birds singing around me, and squirrels running up the trees, and some woodpeckers laughing, and it was as pleasant and rural a scene as ever I saw, and I did not care one penny how any of the beasts or birds had been formed.
Francis Darwin, The Life of Charles Darwin (Senate 1995), p. 184.
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Posted by Ed Darrell
January 22, 2007
No, this really isn’t off topic.
The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County has a good website with good materials. On the way to find something else (just what I don’t remember) I found a discussion of the evolution of dogs, and artificial selection in dog breeding.
Here are a few ways the site can be used:
Homeschoolers, you just got a puppy, and the kids are all about learning everything they can about dogs. Here’s a page to sneak in some serious biology on evolution and how it works. Your kids will be reminded of it every time they see a different dog.
Elementary school biology courses can be supplemented with information about how natural selection works to provide the wild dogs native to your area — coyotes for the western U.S., for example (which can lead to a wonderful discussion of how coyotes have spread to all 50 states from the west in just the past 30 years, and how and why that happened).
High school biology students can be directed to this site for supplemental information that I can all but guarantee is not in the textbook — about dogs, an animal that most students will know first-hand.
I had expected that there might be a good, on-line version of exhibits on La Brea Tarpit fossils, but it’s not there. There are a few links on archaeological information, however. The museum seems solid in early Latin American cultures, material that is probably quite useful for junior high and middle school history courses in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, and probably Nevada, Utah and Colorado, too.
If you have a local museum with good on-line resources, please drop a line and let me know — edarrell(at)sbcglobal-dot-net.
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4 Comments | Evolution, Homeschooling, Natural history, Science | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 22, 2007
High school history courses tend to brush over “prehistory” in America, that part of history between the arrival of the first humans in the Americas and the arrival of Europeans with quill and paper to record what they saw and what they did. For a few kids this would be the most exciting part of the course; for all kids, my experience is that textbooks tend to short change what we know, and especially how we know it.
A key problem for the non-archaeologist high school history teacher is just where to find information about prehistory.
A few archaeologists are blogging, and bitten by the meme virus of the moment, they gather together the better posts of recent weeks into a “carnival.” Four Stone Hearth is a carnival of archaeology. Four Stone Hearth 7, hosted by Aardvarchaeology, has several posts that can provide good information for history classes.
Students should learn skepticism in history classes, why to doubt fantastic claims and just-so stories, and how to evaluate sources of information and find good ones. Students often brought in stories intended to debunk standard histories, often involving UFOs or supernatural claims. Hot Cup of Joe’s entry, “Forbidden Archaeology? Some So-called Out of Place Artifacts,” explains the problems of OOPAs — out-of-place artifacts — often claimed to show that most archaeologists or other scientists withhold information that would confirm some of the more wacko ideas about history and prehistory. In the explanation he casts righteous doubt on a bizarre book that is wildly popular among conspiracy buffs, Atlantis Rising.
Students might also be interested in a report from Remote Central on objects found under glacial deposits in Minnesota which have some appearances of being knapped stone tools. This story could form a neat exercise in a series of lessons on what we know about history, and how we know it.
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
6 Comments | Archaeology, Geography - Physical, History, History blogs, Lesson plans, Prehistory | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 20, 2007
Swedes entertain skepticism much better than U.S. residents do, or they attain much better understanding of science.
That conclusion can be deduced from the results of a poll showing that 23% of Swedes think astrology is scientific. Most poll results show more Americans put stock in their daily horoscopes than the 23% of Swedes, but not a lot more.
Swedes really doubt intelligent design: Only 14% think there is any science there.
The poll was conducted by the Swedish group Vetenskap & Allmänhet (Public and Science) (VA).
So, contrary to the recent efforts of Seattle’s Discovery Institute to make inroads in Europe, their push for intelligent design is just more than half as credible as Sidney Omar and other fortune tellers.
The poll found support for science and hope for good results from research very high among Swedes:
Nine out of ten people have high confidence in the potential of research to develop more effective and environmentally friendly sources of energy. A smaller but increasing proportion believes that research can contribute to reducing segregation in cities.
Seven out of ten people believe that there is a strong possibility that research will help increase economic growth, which represents a marked increase since 2005. Six out of ten believe that there is a strong chance that research can help reduce climate change.
The poll also hints at a way scientists can more successfully argue against crackpottery and crank science, such as intelligent design: Emphasize the benefits people get from applied research.
Research areas that are currently in the news tend to be viewed by many as important. Most people would like to see support for research that people can benefit directly from, says Karin Hermannson, Research Manager at VA.
Scientists in the U.S. should spend more time explaining how their research is used in the real world.
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3 Comments | Accuracy, Creationism, Intelligent Design, Science, Science and faith | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 19, 2007
The 102nd Carnival of Education is underway at Dr. Homeslice. Substitutes and those wondering about unions should especially follow the links to this post from Get Lost Mr. Chips. Wise principals, vice principals and other administrators will follow the link, too.
Principal and teacher Lyndon B. Johnson with students and fellow teachers in front of the Welhausen Grade School, May 7, 1929. Photo by Unknown, from LBJ Library, Austin, Texas.
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
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Posted by Ed Darrell
January 19, 2007
Freedom Writers arrives at local movie screens this weekend, putting another hero teacher out there as a model, teaching us all that even poor, tough kids from troubled schools can achieve great things, if only someone will take the time to get through to them some important lessons about life.
Frankly my dear, we don’t need another hero teacher.
But I’m not the first to think that. Bronx 10th-grade history teacher Tom Moore wrote an opposite-editorial page piece published today in the New York Times — Friday, January 19, 2007 (free subscription required, and free probably only for a week).
He writes:
While no one believes that hospitals are really like “ER” or that doctors are anything like “House,” no one blames doctors for the failure of the health care system. From No Child Left Behind to City Hall, teachers are accused of being incompetent and underqualified, while their appeals for better and safer workplaces are systematically ignored.
Every day teachers are blamed for what the system they’re just a part of doesn’t provide: safe, adequately staffed schools with the highest expectations for all students. But that’s not something one maverick teacher, no matter how idealistic, perky or self-sacrificing, can accomplish.
He’s right. Go read it. (Still working out solutions for middle schools . . . perhaps this weekend.)
Tip of the old scrub brush to reader R. Becker.
Freedom Writers Foundation home page here.
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
3 Comments | Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), Education, Education reform, Education spending, No Child Left Behind Act, Pedagogy, Teaching | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 18, 2007
The Doomsday Clock on the cover of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists has been ticked ahead two minutes, to show five minutes to midnight — a reflection of how close the world is to destruction by nuclear war.
Except, this time it’s not just nuclear weapons exchanges that figure into the ticking of the Doomsday timepiece: Climatic change is also considered.
“Not since the first atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, has the world faced such perilous choices,” she [executive director Kennette Benedict] said. “North Korea’s recent test of a nuclear weapon, Iran’s nuclear ambitions, a renewed emphasis on the military utility of nuclear weapons, the failure to adequately secure nuclear materials, and the continued presence of some 26,000 nuclear weapons in the United States and Russia, are symptomatic of a failure to solve the problems posed by some the most destructive technology on Earth.”
She said this time, nuclear annihilation is not the scientists’ only concern.
“The dangers posed by climate change are nearly as dire as those posed by nuclear weapons,” she added. “The effects may be less dramatic in the short term, than the destruction that could be wrought by nuclear explosions, but over the next three to four decades, climate change could cause irremediable harm to the habitats upon which human societies depend for survival.”
Read the rest of this entry »
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2 Comments | Atomic Bomb, Cold War, Harry Truman, Nuclear weapons, Peace, World War II | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 17, 2007
Ben Franklin on the cover of Time
Ben Franklin’s birthday is January 17. He was born in 1706.
The drama department at Pleasant Grove (Utah) High School put on Ayn Rand’s play, “The Night of January 16th” when I was an underclassman there. It’s an interesting play — a murder mystery played out in a courtroom, with a jury drawn from the evening’s audience. The play’s ending differs almost every night, with a different jury coming to slightly different conclusions. Suggested posters for the play asked, “Where were you the night of January 16th?”
Ayn Rand
Years later that question came back to me as I rushed my wife to the maternity room at Charlton Methodist Hospital with contractions coming in quick succession, with a few minutes left in January 16th. The question made a good mnemonic to remember the date of the birth of our second child. Only later did I recall that the day is also Ben Franklin’s birthday — Ben being an object of some study and significant space on my personal library shelf. Read the rest of this entry »
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7 Comments | Ben Franklin, Family, History, Personal | Tagged: Ayn Rand, Ben Franklin, Family, History, James Darrell, Personal, Tooth of Time | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 