Miscellaneous

.:Two quick education articles for review: First, a very appealing idea around teacher pay from (of all places), Alabama. (What if we actually began providing teachers with promotions?) Second, a new study shows our schools our increasingly segregated. (With not nearly enough analysis in my humble opinion on how our schools likely represent the segregation of the communities in which we live.)

.:So I got see Leonard Bernstein's Mass the other night. I must say I found myself squarely in the middle between the two camps of critics on this one. Was it filled with pop pablum, lurching from one idea to another without much regard for cohesion or wholeness? You betcha. But it also had moments of astounding beauty--musically and visually. The Street Singers had most of my favorite moments and I was genuinely surprised at how much I enjoyed the dancing. I'll listen to this again and am glad I had a chance to see it (since it is rarely fully staged) but I'm not sure I need to see it again.

Up next: Faust on Thursday; The Two Gentlemen of Verona a week from Saturday and trying to squeeze in Spring Awakening this weekend.

.:Sorry for the lack of posts lately. Just lazy.

.:Honestly, I haven't taken the time to figure out an opinion on the whole bailout/stimulus package thing. But I must say the chutzpah of the Republicans is a wonder to behold. Now? Now you guys expect us to believe you care about government spending? As if your party has any credibility at all on this issue?

.:The original really is better. I had become so accustomed to seeing the posters and knock-offs of Shepard Fairey's portrait of President Obama that I had no idea how vibrant and powerful the real thing is.

.:An inauguration haiku:

Winter day of hope
As millions watch in wonder
Good speech but not great

Miscellaneous

.: Conor Friedersdorf posted the kind of list I wish I could assemble. It's a collection of some of the best magazine writing of the year. I printed off the articles that were of interest to me and brought them to Indiana for the great Geriatric Christmas. It seems that Conor and I have very similar tastes in reading. (You'll note that his list includes Hanna Rosin's Atlantic piece that I wrote about earlier.) Among my favorites from his list:

• The End by Michael Lewis on, well, the end of Wall Street
• Sebastian Junger's piece on Afghanistan
• Two Weird for The Wire about a troublesome criminal defense
• Hot for Creature about Bigfoot. Yes. That Bigfoot.
  

I got The Dark Side (also on his list) for Christmas (nothing says Happy ChrisKwanziKuh quite like a recap of the War on American Ideals!) and have no doubt it deserves a place on this list.

.: I caught the end of On the Media while driving home today. I always want to like this show more than I actually do. I think the concept of it is great, but I guess I sometimes find the execution to be a bit lacking. The long story at the end of today's program was a good example. Brooke Gladstone explores the upcoming release of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders or DSM which only gets updated every decade or so. The story is really quite interesting and good. Except for two minor quibbles: the first is I have no idea what this has to do with the media. I guess there's some passing conversation about how the press covers psychiatric illnesses and studies, but that's certainly not a major theme of the piece. More troublesome is that Gladstone wraps up a pretty interesting, well balanced, newsy piece with her own editorializing. The last minute of the report is Brooke Gladstone's take on how she thinks we should view the DSM and this latest update. Not cool! Either be a reporter or give an editorial. You can't do both in the same piece . . . especially not on a program that's supposed to be about holding the media accountable.

.: And while we're in public radio mode, it was recently announced that Weekend America is going away. Good riddance. Like Day to Day, Weekend America essentially tried to be yet another All Things Considered/Morning Edition news magazine except "lighter!" "for the weekend!" Bah. Humbug. M/NPR already has two great newsmagazines and frankly that's plenty. Is it too much to ask that they find something else to fill up the hours between them, especially on the weekend?

.: And while we're in bah, humbug mode, my Christmas was fine. I was going to post my three part treatise on why I'm not a merry man for most of December but I didn't get off my lazy butt to make it happen. Besides, the truth was I really wasn't all that miserable. I went to Indiana. I got a good book and a great disc (among other gifts). More importantly I saw my family. So I'll just save my complaints for Christmases future.

Miscellaneous: School Stuff Edition

.: The Strib has been putting out a slew of interesting education articles in the last week or so. This piece explores teacher evaluations at Saint Paul schools that are NCLB-required to restructure. Note as well the boilerplate discussion in the comments section.

.: A significant report on charter schools in the Twin Cities was released just prior to Thanksgiving by the University of Minnesota's Institute on Race and Poverty. Here's the Strib's take and MPR's. (Summary: some work; some don't.) Several interesting data points to look at here, but let me point you to this chart which shows the correlation between reading proficiency and poverty. You might think there's nothing new to see there and, in general you're right. But there is something very important indicated by these data. Look at the data points above the black line. When you see numbers in the 70s and even 80s, that's not random chance. (Same chart for Math results here.) That's effective schools and effective teachers improving the results that they deliver for their students. Many people look at the correlation between poverty and educational performance and assume that there is no possible way to ever expect schools with low-income kids to show improvement. The data clearly show that's not true. Great teachers and great schools can teach students from the most challenging backgrounds. Too many people (including, sadly, some in the schools) don't believe that.

.: How Washington County schools are seeking grants to support their World Cultures Day.

.: Unhappy parents in Eden Prairie.

.: More Michelle Rhee.

.: I want to acknolwedge the fact that I'm not really providing much analysis or insight yet into my posts on school reform. The main reason for this is that I'm still absorbing, still learning. I've got a couple of half-baked opinions already about several things, but I don't have enough experience yet to make the case. So if it seems like I'm just throwing up bland articles to read or non-controversial fluff, I apologize.

Miscellaneous

.: Andrew's coverage of the Prop. 8 protests is pretty cool. Start here and scroll down through photos and comments from about 35 different cities. I didn't protest because I'm lazy and and not a protester. I'm so glad others aren't like me.

.: Michael commented on my Big Three articles and, like many, suggested that Chapter 11 bankruptcy would be a painful but positive reorganization of broken companies. I tend to agree, but do find this piece in the New Republic worth pondering. Given the credit crunch, it's possible the companies wouldn't be able to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy (which allows you to keep doing business and has arguably aided the airline industry for example) but would be forced into Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The kind where you auction off everything. Immediately.

.: One more auto bailout link. Amazing.

.: Barack speaks The Truth! Yes We Can!

.: I love stuff like this. Interesting tidbits about the inner-workings and very foundational elements of our laws and government. It also strikes me that it should be possible to do what's right (confirm the boundaries between two state) and also not screw up people's lives. Draw up some covenants and grandfather property into compliance. Seems like if you've lived in Indiana for 20 years you should continue to live in Indiana even though, technically you don't live in Indiana and when you sell the person who buys your house can deal with the fact that they're not buying a house in Indiana. Jeez, how complicated is that?