tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188586382015-11-10T10:34:37.710-05:00<b>This is an unofficial and oftentimes humorous look at my Region19 Board of Education experience. I will try to stimulate interest and discussion along the way. This is a sandbox of ideas that we'll explore together so feel free to comment.</b>Frank Krasickihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01484416897999464357noreply@blogger.comBlogger904125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18858638.post-20059034067616639432015-10-28T13:21:00.003-04:002015-11-10T10:34:37.733-05:00

Adios. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/25/us/obama-administration-calls-for-limits-on-testing-in-schools.html I tried this comment with the the Times; "So the reign of terror is being reigned in. Rather than be allowed to resign and collect a fat federal pension, Duncan should be put on trial for child abuse. Good lord get the federal government out of the Education business. Close the

Frank Krasickihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01484416897999464357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18858638.post-71902416276528127392015-09-17T13:29:00.003-04:002015-09-17T13:29:44.525-04:00

One of the subjects of interest that the Region 19 Digital Learning Committee will be discussing this year is School Bus Technology.  We talk a lot about school technology but the most tragic headlines seem to involve high-risk students and school bus incidents. And given the high-tech advances in automobiles its time to examine school bus technology. The following video is a useful, indirect

Frank Krasickihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01484416897999464357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18858638.post-73210245792120941302015-01-24T22:35:00.002-05:002015-01-24T22:35:42.337-05:00

Frank Krasickihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01484416897999464357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18858638.post-66047541256083725112014-11-30T14:30:00.000-05:002014-11-30T14:30:17.303-05:00

Let's take a look at some of the metaphorical implications of the Michael Brown execution and examine the likelihood of co-incidence to the possibility that a new cult may have systematically infiltrated the Missouri government and local political offices. Here we'll examine whether or not the actions that have yet to be cross-examined in any court of law constitute clues to the migration and

Frank Krasickihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01484416897999464357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18858638.post-26304497578661625852014-11-29T23:19:00.000-05:002014-12-03T03:06:02.351-05:00

Update: The initial narrative of this post is corrected based on the fact that some of the preliminary information it was based on has been clarified and given greater detail We're back with yet another lesson we learned from the Ferguson execution of Michael Brown. you won't see this one on Sesame Street but you should and every urban school in America should be learning this because, well, *

Frank Krasickihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01484416897999464357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18858638.post-14169324562611657542014-11-29T03:27:00.001-05:002014-11-29T17:22:00.498-05:00

There is hardly a case when a Law Officer is involved in a shooting of a suspect that the ubiquitous defense used to justify the shooting is the Split-Second Decision.  This terminology is so popular and romanticized that it qualifies as a popular culture meme. Just about everyone who shoots another person claims both self-defense and the necessity to make a split-second decision. The importance

Frank Krasickihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01484416897999464357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18858638.post-26028494866252408012014-11-27T03:00:00.002-05:002014-11-27T03:00:56.844-05:00

The Grand Jury process used to secure a trial for Michael Brown in Ferguson failed.  A recent Slate article written by Dahlia Lithwick and Sonja West entitled Shadow Trial details the consequences of this failure. In it they write, "St. Louis County prosecutor Robert McCulloch’s decision to “open up” the grand jury proceedings by including massive amounts of testimony and evidence has been

Frank Krasickihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01484416897999464357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18858638.post-73947199339560104872014-11-25T21:18:00.003-05:002015-02-05T17:14:44.288-05:00

The past year has been a violent one and the most disturbing source of violence has been the seeming indiscriminate execution of individuals whose life was taken by police who choose the option of execution rather than anything else.  The fact that this impulse to execute is so strong and so predictably inevitable is becoming imprinted in the minds of the American people. For police, police

Frank Krasickihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01484416897999464357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18858638.post-84123720739154829392014-11-21T14:52:00.002-05:002014-11-21T14:52:33.351-05:00

Today I received a copy of the Connecticut Elementary and Secondary Social Studies Framework. You can get a copy here.  It came with the following letter of explanation; "Request for Public Comment Working with a broad and diverse group of stakeholders, including teachers and content experts, Connecticut has developed a statewide framework for social studies across the elementary and

Frank Krasickihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01484416897999464357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18858638.post-25503758360056594472014-06-04T13:25:00.001-04:002014-06-04T13:25:42.389-04:00

One of the ideas that I've been kicking around involves the idea of sending parents back to high school to refresh their high school diplomas. The point of the exercise is to reacquaint parents with how much teaching, learning, and high school conditions have changed so that when we have conversations about education that the context is correct. Such a program might familiarize parents with the

Frank Krasickihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01484416897999464357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18858638.post-66281003497205591682014-04-27T23:13:00.003-04:002014-04-27T23:15:33.108-04:00

Parents across the country are legally opting their children out of public school standardized testing.  Not only is it their right to do so but it may be the last vestige of voting with  your feet that American parents can exercise for their children. About a month ago, Slate Magazine published I Opted My Kids Out of Standardized Testing and it documents the kind of fear government has put

Frank Krasickihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01484416897999464357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18858638.post-16568060726057116932013-11-16T16:05:00.002-05:002013-11-16T16:05:25.413-05:00

Frank Krasickihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01484416897999464357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18858638.post-51324812287431747762013-07-21T13:07:00.001-04:002013-07-21T13:07:58.712-04:00

Yes, we are this luminous - nice to see someone noticed; http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/25/smartest-cities-in-america_n_3499187.html

Frank Krasickihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01484416897999464357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18858638.post-60598733492748778902013-05-12T02:46:00.000-04:002013-05-12T02:46:15.730-04:00

Jeff Bliss was clandestinely taped as he responded to his history teacher telling him to "stop bitching" about a testing anomaly.  The video went viral. In the following follow-up video apparently created by students, Jeff Bliss reveals himself as what Joseph Campbell might call one of the thousands of faces of the hero.  There is a nobility in his words and a humility of heart that separates

Frank Krasickihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01484416897999464357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18858638.post-19049284622788779782013-04-07T02:04:00.000-04:002013-04-07T02:04:11.075-04:00

There's a great article in School Matters that revisits the phony rhetoric that surrounds the STEM and Race to the Top educational programs. Gerald Bracey's work still shines; "Another recent article by In These Times entitled Study Demolishes the Myth That U.S. Workers Lack Skills further puts the lie to the notion that U.S. workers are lacking in the education or skills department. The piece,

Frank Krasickihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01484416897999464357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18858638.post-88840734322785798072013-03-24T14:23:00.003-04:002013-03-24T14:24:33.932-04:00

The Guardian Media Group has launched a student debt network. Why? "Recent figures paint a dramatic picture: According to the Federal Reserve, student debt in the US is approaching $1tn – a number disputed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which says that milestone has already been reached. Join our source network, and you'll help us tell a more nuanced and personal story of debt.

Frank Krasickihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01484416897999464357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18858638.post-4936850661479364102012-12-24T02:14:00.003-05:002012-12-24T02:14:50.540-05:00

The Newtown Massacre has left me with a profound grief that I cannot shake.  The wrong committed is unspeakably wrong. The aftermath of this horrific act is to once again to step into a self-fulfilling dance of waiting for the next inevitable tragedy to occur.  The system is gamed to endlessly and futilely debate what constitutes an automatic weapon, who the weapons should be sold to, the sanity

Frank Krasickihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01484416897999464357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18858638.post-86205036572558519182012-11-04T11:21:00.000-05:002012-11-04T11:21:14.899-05:00

This is my traditional election year endorsement slate.  I believe romney and McMahon will lose but they are the superior candidates and I think Courtney and Eastwood will win because they are the superior candidates. It would be easy to endorse Obama based on the mindless cheerleading and utterly disgusting negative campaign that has been waged against Romney and the Republicans in general.

Frank Krasickihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01484416897999464357noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18858638.post-17690496062522262612012-10-28T23:01:00.004-04:002012-10-28T23:01:42.328-04:00

I had the opportunity to come across a copy of the Connecticut Education Association's newsletter that endorses Barack Obama rather than Romney.  It was a piece called "The Choice is Clear".  And in that endorsement it contained a comparison chart of the two candidates that was surreal. The reasons to endorse Obama included numerous assertions that Obama's commitment to NCLB and RTTT were

Frank Krasickihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01484416897999464357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18858638.post-20387910971140574232012-10-05T23:01:00.002-04:002012-10-05T23:05:13.155-04:00

The first of the presidential debates is over and the battle lines are being drawn by the same special interests whose interests are at stake.  And there is no shortage of Sherlock Holmes-wanna-be "fact-checkers".  The argue about the magic numbers each candidate uses to justify their so-called political positions. My rant is a bit different.  Let this post be the first reality check on this

Frank Krasickihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01484416897999464357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18858638.post-33074732613178264442012-05-27T19:52:00.001-04:002012-05-27T19:52:22.158-04:00

Despite a lot of special interest Romney bashing on the issues of education at least Romney want s to return local control.  I'll vote for that any day over the convoluted Obama policies. FireDogLake expose the hypocrisy. For my money, I'm more interested in Ron Paul's position on education. Of course, these gents including George Carlin may be the best observers of where we are with education

Frank Krasickihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01484416897999464357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18858638.post-14200590862538205462012-05-27T18:44:00.000-04:002012-05-27T18:44:01.388-04:00

This is the time of year that commencement addresses flood the internet and so many are good that there simply isn't enough time to see or read them all. This one by Sheryl Sandberg is outstanding in its entirety but most excellent where speaking to career advice for anyone in or out of work. "As the world becomes more connected and less hierarchical, traditional career paths are shifting as

Frank Krasickihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01484416897999464357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18858638.post-60804935408317406132012-05-20T12:39:00.003-04:002012-05-20T12:56:20.568-04:00

A report from National Public Radio informs us that a new study disrupts our understanding and practice involved with the application of Bell curves in many of our endeavors. The report published in Personnel Psychology by Ernest O'Boyle Jr. and Herman Aguinis draws a number of interesting conclusions that educators should consider in evaluating the performance of students.  All bolded statements

Frank Krasickihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01484416897999464357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18858638.post-5662009772355065472012-05-13T03:01:00.000-04:002012-05-13T03:01:20.704-04:00

Last night I experimented with TED-Ed's latest tool to create tutorials from YouTube content. Here's the link.

Frank Krasickihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01484416897999464357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18858638.post-11531044778918023162012-04-15T18:53:00.005-04:002012-04-15T18:53:58.876-04:00

Noam Chomsky has written an article for Truthout in which he describes the current situation eloquently. "Mass public education is one of the great achievements of American society. It has had many dimensions. One purpose was to prepare independent farmers for life as wage laborers who would tolerate what they regarded as virtual slavery. The coercive element did not pass without notice.

Frank Krasickihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01484416897999464357noreply@blogger.com0