Utterly Meaningless » 2011 » May
  • QOTD

    Filed on May 17, 2011 at 6:51 pm under by dcobranchi

    From CNN:

    “I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail,” [Stephen Hawking] said in an interview published Sunday in Britain’s Guardian newspaper. “There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.”

    I CALL “BULLSHIT!”

    Filed on May 15, 2011 at 10:49 am under by dcobranchi

    There is no requirement in NCLB that a kid whose family moves to another state (or begins homeschooling) must notify their old school.

    In an effort to keep better tabs on students, parents of children who will not be returning next school year are required to provide verification to the Forsyth County school system.

    This could include students whose families are moving to another district or out of state, or are opting for a private school or home schooling.

    The requirement is part of the No Child Left Behind Act and the newly updated state department of education withdrawal rule.

    AND SPEAKING OF ANCIENT BLOG POSTS

    Filed on May 11, 2011 at 11:20 pm under by dcobranchi

    I recall some of the earliest predicting that NCLB was going to result in every school in the country being labeled “failing.” Tom Toch, in this profile of one of the players in NCLB’s reauthorization, notes that we’re almost there:

    [T]he Administration also wants to measure how much schools increase student learning over a year, rather than only how many students meet state standards. And they want to target reforms at the weakest schools, rather than at any school where even one group of students in a single grade underperforms in a single tested subject, a provision of NCLB that the Administration says will result in 80%
    of the nation’s public schools being “labeled as failing” this summer.

    That was not a bug in the original law, but a feature. But the law is up for reauthorization, and it looks like, perhaps, the law will be a little more flexible this time around. Toch’s profile is worth a read..

    MISSED IT BY THAT MUCH

    Filed on at 9:44 pm under by dcobranchi

    9 years and 2 days ago.

    NON-ZERO INTELLIGENCE

    Filed on at 9:40 pm under by dcobranchi

    The NC General Assembly may actually scrap some of the stupid zero tolerance laws this year. Hooray!

    CUE LAWSUIT THREAT

    Filed on May 8, 2011 at 4:28 pm under by dcobranchi

    Action!