Why do some folks insist on all-caps email subject lines and headers? So rude.

TEACHING AND THE MIRACLE IDEOLOGY. TAPPED
Just because some teachers are successful at turning around the lives of a small number of impoverished children, the thinking goes, it doesn't mean that it's fair to ask all "good" teachers to perform such "miracles."

Teacher Incentive Fund. Yglesias
Some Senators represent states that just basically don’t have the kind of high-poverty schools with high concentrations of minorities that are the intended beneficiaries of these sorts of reforms.

Fat Kids Also Dumb Gawker
Studentswho score higher on physical fitness tests also reliably score higher on math and reading tests, disproving the fat kid's standard "dumb jocks are dumb" defense.

Give Each Student a Kindle Bits Blog
The paper proposes a year-long pilot program, during which some 400,000 students would receive reading devices. If judged a success, the program would be gradually scaled up to include the entire student population within four years. They estimate such a project would cost about $9 billion more than the amount spent to acquire print textbooks.

Some insights from the EWA listserve about the issue of whether the public is well-served when journalists go off record (used with permission):

"If your reporting is solid, your sources grow, over time, to respect you and tell you things – on the record...I think in a way it strengthens the professional relationship and doesn’t open the door to misunderstandings."

-- Jennifer Jordan, Providence Journal

"I find the whole thing icky, icky, icky. Basically, it's acknowledging, "We won't say the truth when we can be held to it publicly. Then we will only speak in soundbites."...I do think there are some instances for sources to go off the record. Whistleblowers are the most obvious. But the idea this should apply in the same way to the big policy conversations? Puke."

-- Linda Perlstein, EWA public editor

Staying on the record 100 percent of the time doesn't apply to all situations (ie, with kids, teachers, parents),  Not all journalists feel this way, and some don't seem to feel they can get the job done without going off record.  But they can, and I hope they will.

I’ve always respected the work of Robin Chait and Raegen Miller, so I’m dismayed by their report "Getting the Facts Straight on the Teacher Incentive Fund." They admit that the "TIF requires that compensation systems consider gains in student achievement ... and that their grants "are explicitly structured to help schools transform their compensation ..."

Is it any reassurance that TIF’s efforts to stimulate NATIONWIDE, SYSTEMIC change do not allow test scores as the "sole" method of evaluation? 

Chait and Miller cite an example of a district that uses data properly, and some incentive systems like the Teacher Advancement Program that make sense.  But teachers must protect themselves against the invalid use of data.  If Florida extended its merit pay formula (of 60%) to evaluations, a teacher in a tough school would start every year with "two strikes against him."  If a district used TAP's bonus model for job retention decisions, a teacher with challenging classes would be like a basketball player going into every contest with "three fouls on her."  Teachers could never enjoy any peace of mind.

Primitive and unreliable statistical models based on primitive and unreliable standardized test scores, if applied substantially to individual evaluations, represent a loaded gun aimed at the heart of the teaching profession. A flawed bonus system would just be a mistake, and mistakes happen.  Adopt an incompetent evaluation or tenure model and no self-respecting professional would remain in a high-challenge school where it often takes a truly heroic effort to keep scores from falling even further.  Would teachers of English Language Learners, Seriously Emotionally Disturbed and mentally ill students, or the most traumatized and behaviorally challenged students be willing to trust their careers to the wisdom of social engineering?

Would "reformers" with no practical experience in the urban schools seek to use the same growth model for Algebra I as for Algebra II, not knowing that the challenge of those two classes could not be more different? It is one thing to raise test scores with inner city juniors and seniors who survived until they reached higher math, while ½ of their classmates in Algebra I dropped out, as opposed to meeting statistical goals with rowdy freshmen who frequently have an abysmal enrollment and attendance rate. This is especially true when schools refuse to enforce their attendance and disciplinary policies. 　

How’s this for a counter-proposal? Ban "credit recovery programs," outlaw the "working off of absences, and provide strict sanctions for pressuring teachers to just "pass on" students who have not met standards, and then we could talk. Put an end to curriculum narrowing, excessive test prep, and gimmicks that may boost decoding skills, while driving down reading comprehension, and then we can talk about the role of student performance data in teacher evaluation.

Or seriously, outlaw evaluation models that may be competent for calculating incentives from use in individual performance evaluations or tenure, thus threatening the very careers of educators

Doctors are allowed to use medicines and technologies for purposes for which they have not been approved.  Even in our inefficient health care system, however, we have systems to control incompetent experimentation.  We can not fault innovators for loving their new tools.  But we need institutionalized systems to deter educational malpractice.  For a concise guide of how that could be done, check out Sherman Dorn's "Bayesian bump." - John Thompson

Best lines and stats from the achievement gap report coverage: 

Black-white education gap persists AP
On average, the gap narrowed by about 7 points from 1992 to 2007, so that black students scored about 28 points behind white students on a 500-point scale.

Regional Shift Seen in Education Gap NYT
The nation’s widest black-white gaps are no longer seen in Southern states like Alabama or Mississippi, but rather in Northern and Midwestern states like Connecticut, Illinois, Nebraska and Wisconsin, according to the federal data.

Gap Students Smaller in Va. Than Md. Washington Post
In the District, black fourth-graders trailed their white peers by 54 points in math and 67 points in reading in 2007.

Black students gain on tests, fail to close gap SF Chronicle Black fourth-graders in West Virginia, for example, scored just 14 points below their white peers. But as was the case in other states, the small gap relied upon a below-average performance from the white students rather than high achievement among black students.

Generally a good job keeping the demagogues and opportunists out of there, newspeople, in addition to making reasonably nuanced points and talking to real-world folks. 

Complaints?  Comments?.

"I am a lead pencil—the ordinary wooden pencil familiar to all boys and girls and adults who can read and write."

I, Pencil | The Freeman | Ideas On Liberty

Presidential first pitches and Supreme Court nunchuks:

L.A. Unified delays bids on schools LA Times
The Los Angeles Board of Education put on hold Tuesday a proposal that would have allowed charter operators and other outside groups to bid for control of 50 new schools scheduled to open over the next four years.

Back-to-school spending likely to drop Chicago Sun-Times
Total spending on back-to-school is expected to be $17.42 billion.

Accountability Looms as Charter Proponents Mull Future EdWeek
U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan says charters' goal "should be quality, not quantity."

Obama: Community colleges can help boost ailing economy CNN.com
Community colleges are only two-year institutions, but the Obama administration says they could play a key role in helping boost the ailing economy for years to come.

How much homework is too much? US News
A grassroots parents movement has taken hold in recent years calling for less — or at least better — homework. Many school officials are taking note.

Is there any pen better than an inky, slim, retractable Pilot V7 RT? No, there is not. (Though the stainless steel retractable Sharpie looks cool, too.)

Four of seven turnarounds see progress, high schools now on deck Catalyst
Half to 75 percent of the teachers in the AUSL turnarounds come from AUSL’s yearlong training academy and are used to working collaboratively with a common purpose.

Does This Make Me A School Supplies Pimp?? Flowers and Sausages
As I casually sipped my coffee and flipped back and forth between the opening banter on Regis and Kelly and the Golden Girls...I caught a commercial for something called the Expo Click Retractable Dry Erase Marker.

Should High Schools Bar Average Students From College-Level Courses and Tests? Uncle Jay
Fifteen years ago, when I discovered that many good high schools prevented average students from taking demanding courses, I thought it was a fluke, a mistake that would soon be rectified.

And the Livin' is Easy... Nancy Flanagan
It's time for the annual round of teachers-in-summer blogs.

Getting the Facts Straight on the Teacher Incentive Fund  CAP
Robin Chait and Raegen Miller debunk myths about the Teacher Incentive Fund, which supports performance-based teacher and principal compensation systems in high-needs schools.

Education Reform and the Freedom to Mod Learning Now
Dear Blogger:  We have received 473 nominations for the top 100 language blog 2009 competition.

It’s a Mega “Free For All!” Jim Moulton
Wow.  Microsoft has announced that in 2010 it will begin giving away a version of its flagship Office productivity suite as an online toolset.

 Maybe this Twitter thing is getting out of hand. (Or maybe it's finally getting interesting.)

Last week's ALA conference in Chicago included an unofficial (and somewhat hook-up oriented) Twitter hashtag (#ALA2009) so that participants could share their insights about things other than the panels.  (Hashtags let folks search by very specific topics rather than just by name or word.)

I pity conference organizers and classroom teachers who have to deal with this.

There was also a shared/anonymous thread that was -- get this -- apparently censored and shut down by one of the ALA's own.  Yes:  hot librarian self-censorship.  Read all about it here.

 Maybe you've tried one of those newfangled Internet browsers (like Firefox, Flock, Camino, or Chrome). 

Maybe you've tried Feedly or one of the other new RSS feed readers that are competing with Bloglines and Google Reader.  But the changes never stop coming. 

Now the New York Times' David Pogue is encouraging you to try Bing, a new search engine on the scene.

Not quite ready to go for it?  I don't blame you.  But you can get a taste of the new arrival by trying out this side by side Google Vs. Bing page where you can enter terms and see how each site responds. Fun!

The Consortium on Chicago School Research has another "must read" report on teacher mobility. About 100 Chicago schools suffer from chronically high rates of turnover and the reasons are hiding in plain sight. Thirteen high schools and 84 elementary schools lose more than 30% of their teachers every year. "Most important for teacher stability is the degree to which teachers feel they have an influence over school decisions," wrote the Consortium. "Teachers are more likely to stay where the environment is conducive to teaching," and particularly for high schools, "teachers are more likely to stay at schools where students feel safe, and where students report that their classroom peers engage in appropriate academic behavior."

There has been a lot of discussion about teachers fleeing African-American schools, but in high schools it is classroom behavior that explains ½ of this mobility. Please excuse the social scientific phrasing, but the following is representative of the care in which this invaluable report explains these sensitive issues. "In fact, once we consider teachers’ reports of the climate and organization of the work at their school, only a quarter of the variation in teacher stability rates among elementary schools remains to be explained (24%), and almost no variation remains among high schools." - John Thompson

In this recent post (Just Between Us...), Eduwonk Andy Rotherham makes the case against "on the record" conversations.  Going off the record more often would make for better journalism and a better-informed public, says professor Rotherham. 

From where I sit, the problem isn't that policymakers and advocates can't talk with candor or nuance on the record, in groups or solo; it's that some of them are getting out of the habit.  They aren't made to.  They don't like to.  Why should they?  It makes it so much harder to control what gets reported.  It puts the reporter on equal footing with the (often powerful) source.  It's convenient self-interest disguised as a favor.

The solution isn't to dummy down what gets reported with more off-the-record conversations.  Instead, let's get sources back in the habit of knowing that if they don't want to talk for attribution a journalist will find someone else who will. There's no shortage of knowledgeable sources out there. [And let's make sure reporters are held accountable for getting the full meaning of a source's statement, not just the sound bite.]

AFT conference, or NAEP scores? You be the judge about which is newsier:

Student success still a mixed bag USA Today
Since the early 1990s, schools have helped minority elementary schoolers close the achievement gap...But by the time they get to middle school, it seems, their progress all but vanishes.

U.S. Education Secretary Urges Teachers' Union to Join Reform Effort Washington Post
To them, and about 2,000 others gathered at a Washington hotel yesterday for the American Federation of Teachers conference, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan offered variations on the same answer: Trust us; we'll work with you.

Union challenges Obama work with teachers AP
A teachers' union challenged the Obama administration Monday to live up to its promise of working with teachers and not against them.

Congress Investigates Radio Programming on School Buses US News
Do radio shows on school buses turn students into captive audiences?

Wish you were at the AFT Quest conference? 

Bored? 

Both?

Check out the small but growing set of Tweets at #AFTQ. 

Or just search AF and Quest. 

Even better, add your own Tweets from inside the conference. 

What's everyone saying, wearing, doing, thinking? 

Help us get through the afternoon.

Another beautiful day in Brooklyn.  Plus blog posts.

Those evil union supporters who denigrate objective measures... Sherman Dorn
Quick: who said the following recently? We do see the incredible power of setting stretch goals. But if you set a goal that's really not within reach, people will just give up on it and you really don't have a goal.

10 Questions I Didn’t Hear (But Wish I Had) GothamSchools
Without further ado, ten questions, in no particular order, that I wish I had a chance to answer:

Liberals turn on teachers’ unions Joanne Jacobs
Everybody Hates The Teachers’ Unions Now, writes Mickey Kaus.

Scientists Are Democrats and Independents, Almost Exclusively, Really TFT
When 94% of an entire class of well-educated professionals has summarily rejected your party, you're in big, big trouble.

CTA Defends Minimum Education Funding Law Stephen Sawchuk
The California Teachers Association is going all out to protest Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposal to waive Prop. 98, the minimum school funding law, to make up part of the state's $24 billion budget shortfall.

Anarchist Maniacs Burn Dollar Sign Into East Hampton High Football Field Gawker
Prey tell, what it is?! Or who? Maybe the Greasers, trying to mess with the Socs!

Senator Michael Bennet writes that "the accountability system we have ought to be a way to check right direction/wrong direction. The idea that from Washington we're going to be able to materially inform people's instruction is a little bit of an illusion, and I'm not sure we should be trying to do it anyway. And I think there's usefulness to having some distance between the accountability framework and the tools that people use every day to (give) quality instruction to our kids."  (emphasis mine)

That essential "distance" has traditionally been protected by due process, collective bargaining, and tenure. Bennet’s Denver Plan for performance pay, like the Toledo Plan and other methods of peer review, are great examples of negotiating improved systems for the 21^st century.

The next steps should be a "no-brainer" for President Obama. We can tear down the "firewalls" between teacher identifiers that link test scores to individual teachers when we have a firewall that prevents that data from being used for evaluations or tenure. The rationale should be obvious. We have Value Added Models that are valid enough for incentives or for rough "right direction/wrong direction" judgments regarding schools. But results from primitive growth models are not reliable enough to destroy a teacher’s career.

Similarly, the Citizen's Commission on Civil Rights, apparently, just came out in favor of "comparability," or methods to achieve equity for poor schools that would not allow forced transfers of teachers in violation of collective bargaining agreements. Create a firewall prohibiting school systems from forcing transfers or denying transfers in violation of seniority provisions, and together we can seek equity for poor children. - John Thompson

The report's findings are "reminiscent of revelations from Houston in 2003, when state investigators found that 15 high schools had underreported dropout rates under former superintendent Rod Paige, who by then was George W. Bush's Education secretary."

Chicago schools report contradicts Obama and Duncan USA Today

If I weren't stuck in New York I would probably make it down to the AFT confab going on in DC this week, which will reportedly include charter school teachers who are unionizing (Civitas in Chicago, KIPP AMP in NYC, Accelerated in LA), as well as the usual suspects (Randi Weingarten, Arne Duncan, Hilda Solis, Steve Barr). 

Apparently Duncan is going to answer unscreened questions from attendees (as opposed to screened or scripted ones, I assume). How about asking Duncan why he touted Chicago's ever-increasing state test scores if he knew they were inflated? [There's a new USA Today story about this.] 

See the advance below.  I'm sure there's a Twitter hashtag, but I don't know what it is yet. 

Weingarten, Duncan, Solis Featured at AFT’s

QuEST Educational Issues Conference

July 13-15 at Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington 

WASHINGTON—The American Federation of Teachers’ biennial educational issues conference begins Monday and features U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan taking questions from the audience of 2,000 educators, a speech by U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, a keynote address by AFT President Randi Weingarten, events with unionized charter school teachers, and a panel on community schools.  

The first day of QuEST (Quality Educational Standards in Teaching) features Weingarten’s
3 p.m. keynote speech, which will focus on the need for greater collaboration between educators and school officials. At 4:30 p.m., Secretary Duncan will take questions from teachers during a town-hall-style forum. Immediately following that session (at approximately 5:45 p.m.), Duncan and Weingarten will be available for press. Later, they will join unionized charter school teachers from cities around the country, along with Green Dot Public Schools founder Steve Barr, at a reception.  

Tuesday’s highlights include a 9 a.m. session with Linda Darling-Hammond of Stanford University, who will speak about teacher quality, followed by a rally for healthcare reform. A 4 p.m. panel discussion on community schools will feature educators from New York City and Cincinnati.  

Labor Secretary Solis will address the educators during Wednesday’s closing session.  

In addition to the general sessions, starting at 1 p.m. on Monday, educators also will attend workshops covering a range of education topics, such as common academic standards, early childhood education, English language learners, classroom management, and collaborating with parents and the community.  

Reporters may attend all of the general sessions and workshops, and should first stop at the QuEST Press Office to receive credentials and other materials. 

WHERE:    Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, Washington, DC

PRESS OFFICE:  Jefferson Room

PRESS OFFICE PHONE:   202/745-2176  

For more information or to download a complete QuEST schedule: www.aft.org/quest2009/index.htm

After a mysterious weeklong absence, the EdSec's schedule is back - -with a vengeance.

By which I mean an AFT event, some unfortunate trip to Boston, and a few DC appearances. 

Caption at your own risk.

PUBLIC SCHEDULE OF U.S. EDUCATION SECRETARY ARNE DUNCAN

THE WEEK AHEAD: Monday, July 13, 2009 - Friday, July 17, 2009

Monday, July 13

4:30 - 5:30 p.m. EDT

OPEN: The Secretary joins Randi Weingarten as host of the American Federation of Teachers Quality Educational Standards in Teaching (QuEST) Conference

Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, 2660 Woodley Rd., N.W., Washington, DC

Tuesday, July 14

NO PUBLIC EVENTS

Wednesday, July 15

NO PUBLIC EVENTS

Thursday, July 16

OPEN: The Secretary holds an event at the Museum of Science (Boston). Details TBA.

One Science Park, Boston, MA

Friday, July 17

10:20 – 11 a.m. EDT

OPEN: The Secretary delivers brief remarks at the National Association of Elementary School Principals and National Association of Secondary School Principals’ National Leaders Conference, followed by Q&A

Renaissance Hotel, 999 9th St., NW, Washington, DC

Noon - 12:30 p.m. EDT

OPEN:  The Secretary is joined by White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack for the Department’s summer reading initiative, “Read to the Top!”

U.S. Department of Education Headquarters, 400 Maryland Ave., S.W. Washington, DC

Mid-July but there's still lots going on:

Key Republican Ready to Roll Back Testing Mandates Washington Post
"I'm not looking to tweak No Child Left Behind," Kline said. "As far as I'm concerned, we ought to go in and look at the whole thing."

Chicago schools report contradicts Obama and Duncan USA Today
New research from a Chicago civic group takes direct aim at the city's "abysmal" public high school performance and puts a new spin on the academic gains made during the seven years that Arne Duncan led the Chicago schools before he was named U.S. Education secretary.

Providence schools implement new approach to hiringProvidence Journal
Under orders from the state education commissioner, the district this fall will begin filling vacancies in six schools based not on seniority, but on whether that teacher is a good match for the job -- and the school.

Fiscal Deadline, Thorny Deficits Bedevil States EdWeek
Education funding is imperiled as lawmakers, governors push to agreement on overdue budgets.

Makeup Work Allows Students to Slide by, Critics Say New York Times
In some New York City schools, worksheets and cram sessions have been enough for failing students to earn the credits they need to graduate. [not just NYC!]

Work hard. Be nice The Economist
Charter schools are a mixed bag, but the best of them are achieving results most board-run schools can only dream of and are heavily oversubscribed.

For their own good St. Petersberg Times
They were screwed-up kids, sent to the reform school in Marianna for smoking, fighting, stealing cars or worse. The Florida School for Boys -- that'd straighten them out.

The Female Discount for Sexual Predators Nashville Scene
The evidence seems mounted against Sandy Binkley as she heads for a trial on seven counts of statutory rape and two counts of sexual battery by an authority figure.

Wrong about the stimulus package. Slate
A mere five months later, it's being declared a failure across the political spectrum.

Trying to stop the spread of swine flu at summer camp. Slate
The counselors were taking children's temperatures before letting them onboard.

Staten Island Teen Ends Up In Manhole Gawker
She was walking on the sidewalk. She was texting.

Should New York Be Allowed To Close Public Schools On Muslim Holidays? TNR
Last week, the New York City Council passed a resolution to close public schools on two Muslim holidays.

Sepaking of Twitter, there's no section devoted to education reporters on Muckrack but there's a great list of education Twitters from Meranda Watling, a young Midwestern reporter who took the time to put together a list of 115 names and share it with all of us. 

Check it out and see if your local scribes are on the list.  Let her know if you or anyone you know should be on the list.  Still TBD:  which if any of the education Twitters are any good.  (Via the EWA list-serve.)

See you in the park / at the beach / in the cafe:

Trying to do charters without doing charters Stafford Palmieri
What is going on in Massachusetts? There are so many kinds of charter-lite options up there my head’s spinning.

Labor-HHS Approps: Round 1Charlie Barone
The Obama Administration did pretty well, in dollar terms, on key priorities in the House subcommittee bill that was swiftly approved this morning.

Vallas on TFA in New Orleans Joanne Jacobs
Paul Vallas, now running New Orleans schools, talks about the Teach for America Effect on Learning Matters TV.

Crystal Ball Busting Charlie Barone
Sherman Dorn apparently needs Windex, a clean chamois rag, and a refund on his degree.

10 essential high school comedies Metromix Baltimore
The best of the bunch use witty dialogue and recognizable characters to explore the pressures, anxities, frustrations and occasional triumphs of high school life. And because of that more than a few have proven themselves essential viewing for movie fans.

Speaking of blogs, there's a lot of conversation going on around the Internet about how blogs have changed over the past few years -- most of it for the worse.

See for example:  The Decline of Blogging, The Blogosphere 2.0, Outrage Blogging, Blogospheric Navel-Gazing.

Blogging has lost much of its charm, it's true.  I blame myself. And you.

There used to be a lot more linking and hat-tipping among bloggers, who lately seem to have taken on the stingy attribution habits of the mainstream media. I can't tell you how many times I've had another blogger say to me "I didn't know you had posted that already." or  "How do you know you were first?"

There used to be a lot more debate among education bloggers, who now seem to ignore each other and focus on criticizing mainstream outlets higher up the totem pole rather than engage with each other or with readers.  Sure, those debates sometimes got ridiculous, but I'd rather have the occasional fight than nothing. 

There used to be a lot fewer "flogs" -- blogs run by associations or PR companies or think tanks that are really just disguised marketing.  Readers sense the conflicts of interest and obvious self-promotion that make many of these blogs less than candid (and less interesting to read).

Burnout has played a role, too -- some folks have been blogging nearly a decade now -- as has the advent of blogging for money. Bloggers want to get paid for their time and ideas, or they start to realize that blogging candidly may not be helping them get that plum job they hope to get one day. 

Lack of funding has been a problem, too -- strong blogs set up at newspapers like the LA Times, the Dallas Morning News, and the Baltimore Sun have all fallen on hard times as part of the newspaper industry shakeup.  InsideSchools is in trouble, as are several other paid ventures.

Feed readers like Bloglines and Google Reader may play a part, as may the difficulties of finding ways to engage with readers who can now blog for themselves simply by sharing on Facebook rather than feeling like their ideas are ignored in the comments section of a blog.

There are exceptions of course -- education blogs that are still new and fresh, that interact with other bloggers and with reader comments, that find new and interesting content and highlight new and interesting ideas. 

I still like to blog -- my dreams of creating an evil empire of education blogs remain intact. But I understand why lots of folks are trying new outlets, like Twitter, which is remarkably interactive and fresh and friendly by comparison. It may soon jump the shark, too, but still seems fun from my few forays into it.

Those are my complaints and observations.  What do you think?

"Maybe Mr. Obama will turn next to measuring the performance of Washington officials so they, too, can be paid for quality."

White House Rethinks How to Pay Pros Wall Street Journal

My students know the drill when Roger Wilkins speaks during documentaries like PBS's LBJ or The Kennedys.  The students' job is to explain the filmmaker's main idea in order to answer the course's Standards.  Since Wilkins' statements are always extra perceptive and quotable, the students know to listen carefully, and after I rewind they are required to write and discuss Wilkin's main ideas and how they fit into the filmmaker's story.  Or, when Wilkins makes statements so compelling that the students can't wait, we discuss his words and then write.

Wilkins, as a board member of the Citizen's Commission on Civil Rights, presumably supports NCLB, but does he know that that law is robbing many students of the right to learn from his story and from PBS, C-Span, and other fantastic sources of knowledge?  Typically, when children are denied the opportunity to study contemporary or African-American history, or multiculturalism, art, music, and PE, it is called "Curriculum Narrowing."  I call it the Narrowing of the American Mind.    When my Black History students arrive in high school without ever studying their own history, that is called an "opportunity cost," as a rich and engaging curriculum was sacrificed for test prep.  I call it the narrowing of my kids' horizons.  Given his wonderful powers of communication, and the learning he shared with his daughter, I wonder what Roger Wilkins could accomplish if he would talk directly to neighborhood school students, cross examine the authors of the Commission's latest attacks on unions, and open up the Commission's discussion beyond their narrow focus of seeking scapegoats - I mean people to hold accountable. - John Thompson     

The new Republican head of the House education committee John Kline has named Barrett Karr as staff director to head his committee work. 

Click below for the announcement. 

Click the thumbnail to see what she looks like.  (That's a White House staff pic, I think. Showoff!)

Feel free to let us know what you think of the choice, or anything about her past work on the Hill or in the previous Administration. Feel free to pass along embarrassing party pics from TCU days as well. 

Some good stuff out there today:

Gimme Three Steps... Knowledge Alliance
As the national debate for common standards among states heats up, one state is already taking a few steps ahead.

Et tu, Arne? Robert Pondiscio
The Secretary of Education thinks schools should be encouraging cell phone use in class?

A word to the wise on accountability Sherman Dorn
Borg-like rhetoric is not likely to convince anyone that they're wrong and you're right.

Innovation! Claus von Zastrow
I'm beginning to wonder if we should start using the word “improvement” instead of innovation. This strategy might help us counter the tendency of some innovation zealots to value novelty over quality.

The Politics Of Academic Merit Jezebel
Another argument, less often openly articulated but perhaps even more broadly believed, says that good education is a scarce resource, and that we should allocate it to "good" students — because they may make better use of it, but also because they may in some way deserve it more.

NEA follow-up Small Talk
Looking back and looking ahead, a lot of us can't help wondering how different things might be had Obama chosen Linda Darling Hammond rather than Arne Duncan as his ed secretary.

Do We Love To Hate Kids? Jezebel
The scary child genre is especially disturbing because of what it does to us as an audience, and perhaps especially as women.

 The education section of the blogosphere is falling behind, if you judge it by whether it's got many of the fun (mean) new single-topic micro-blogs that are everyone's favorites in the rest of the Internet ("This Is Why You're Fat" and other great single-topic blogs). 

Our only real education entry that I know of is DetentionSlip, which focuses in narrowly -- obsessively -- on misdeeds and mayhem at schools. 

But it only takes two minutes to start a new Tumblr blog, and there are lots of possible topics that might be intereting or entertaining:  F-- Yeah, Education (This is why I teach); GatesWatch (The ever-changing machinations of America's biggest education philanthropy); Worst Yearbook Picture Ever (Everyone has a horrible school picture hidden out there somewhere; Stupid Education Pundit (The obvious, self-serving, and ridiculously wrong things pundits say); and my current favorite, Arne Face (The many strange expressions of the education secretary).

Know of any good micro-blogs focused on education?  Let us know.  Got your own ideas about what would be fun?  Now's your chance to shine. 

Strange strategies and lots of job-changing in today's edition:

Duncan urges greater use of cell phones in classrooms SmartBrief
US schools should do more to incorporate cell phones into classroom learning, says Education Secretary Arne Duncan.

Administration Focuses on Swine Flu Preparedness Washington Post
The all-day gathering in Bethesda will also be led by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, and Homeland Security ...

Chief Accountability Officer for City Schools ResignsNYT
James S. Liebman focused on student testing, achievement measures and report cards for schools.

Portland Public Schools hires new chief academic officer OregonLive
Superintendent Carole Smith today announced that Xavier Botana of Chicago Public Schools has been hired as chief academic ...

MPS to hire more private buses after transit system refuses greater discountsMJS
Milwaukee Public Schools will hire more private buses because the Milwaukee County Transit System has rejected an MPS request for bigger discounts on student bus passes, a school spokeswoman said.

Struggling Schools Turn to Top Grads for Teaching Boost NewsHour
In the latest installment in a series about education reform, John Merrow reports on how public school systems struggling to close the achievement gap are increasingly turning to the Teach for America program for help.