The Congress is about to begin the process of revisiting and revising the landmark Bush administration education legislation that is called "No Child Left Behind." It was a lofty attempt to address a critical need. It attached money to the equation so that states and school districts took it seriously. It forced systems of public education everywhere to face the disparity between the performance of students from various racial, economic, and linguistic classes. It denied the educators on the front line the crutch of blaming someone else for the end result of their teaching.
And it relied way too heavily upon the results of a hodge podge of one-shot annual statewide assessments for it's determination of progress.
The results are a mixed bag. On the one hand it has been claimed that various states dummied down their assessments and switched contractors in an effort to gain more favorable results. With millions of dollars at stake and a critter as large and diverse and an education system, the time frame to achieve results was simply too short and compelled the powers that be to seek out short cuts. That gaps still exist. That schools are still broken. That reading and writing and arithmetic have brought an end to science and social studies and the arts and physical education.
Yet, that's not true everywhere. In spite of the faults, positive changes have occurred; both an improvement in the quality of education and a conscience effort to address and erase the disparities between groups of students. And other subjects have not been ravaged uniformly. Schools are improving.
So what would I do?
1) Be patient. We didn't get to be both so amazing and so pathetic at teaching children (ALL children) overnight, and we won't all become amazing over-night either.
2) Be up front with every educator and system that this is a serious business, and everyone must be willing to do business differently.
3) Focus on A) school systems, B) schools, and C) teachers/administrators that are successful. Develop a list of universally transferable Best Practices that can be uniformly taught, implemented, and monitored. Teachers want to be successful. The war cry from the classrooms is "Just tell me what to do!" This is what we need to do. It also needs to be done in conjunction with a research model that discriminates between what works best and what doesn't. It needs to be open to new ideas and strategies. It needs to be simple and flexible so that teachers retain a sense of the "art" of educating and the freedom to improvise and extend. There needs to be a balance between the craft and the magic of teaching.
4) Tie education funding to the implementation of these strategies.
5) Appoint a Staff Development Teacher for every building to be the person responsible for instructing and supporting implementation of these strategies with the staff. They would have 3 years to demonstrate improvement, and 5 years to attain a rate of improvement within a confidence ban of the national average as judged by schools of their size and FARM % (Free And Reduced Lunch), with categories determined by enrollment in the 500 student increment (and a plus or minus 90 student range).
6) Proceed with an advisory committee from every state. This would be a group of 16 individuals comprised of 2 local school board members, 1 superintendent, 3 administrators (1 H, 1M, 1E), 3 high school teachers, 3 middle school teachers, 3 elementary school teachers, and 1 kindergarten/pre-kindergarten teacher. These individuals would by design mimic the gender and ethnic percentages of the state. Each member would have to represent a different school system, unless there were fewer the 16 school systems in the state, and then they would have to represent a different school. The largest, median, and smallest school system (or largest, median, smallest school) would be required to be represented on the advisory committee.
7) Prior to implementation of the reform, I would host a council which would include all of the members of the state advisory committees, as well as, each state's Chief of Education, and 4 members of each state's school board chosen by their mimicry of the state's gender and ethnic percentages, but to include the president of the state board. This event would not only include a key note address, but other presentations designed to layout the process and define the expectations of the reforms across the board. It would also include break-out sessions presented by school systems, schools, teachers and administrators who were identified as practicing the best strategies. Everything would be available online in real time, and archived for future reference and to be used in Staff Development activities.
8) Beginning within a week of the start of the reforms, I would visit with each advisory committee in there home state at a rate of 1 per week. The event would be scheduled in the morning. It would be held at a central location with a passive audience invited to observe. It would be recorded and archived with a snippet of presentation and a summary by me provided online. The summary would present both the Plus & Delta of the event, but exclude anything that any member of the advisory committee indicated was off the record. Everything would be archived, somethings would potentially not be presented in the interest of and need for candor (and like court, the gallery of observers could be excused like a jury in the event that a committee required anonymity in the process.) BUT THE GOAL here would be frequent, open, honest communication and relevant feedback on the process. It would be the PUBLIC in public education presentation.
9) Accountability would include a quarterly report on the activities, expenses, and statistics around both the implementation and improvement in student progress. Categories in the report would cover all aspects of the reform and remain consistent to allow for tracking of results.
10) What would this cost?
Well, there is an inherent price to adding days for say training to a school's calendar. So I would not do that. I would mandate that school systems uniformly provide 6 days of staff release time to in school training, and these would be done on Mondays or Fridays throughout the year, giving students long weekends.
The Staff Development Teachers would be the biggest single expense. Based on 100,650 public schools, and a median teacher income of $45,000 (+ 12% for inflation in choosing more experienced teachers) the cost of this aspect of the plan would be about: $5.04 Billion. And assuming that I would have the same Federal Department of Education budget at the present incumbent, I would easily assume the remaining cost.
I know, it's a lot of money. But it's money focused on a strategy with public accountability and review built in. As to comparing it to how money is made and spent in the United States, here is another benchmark:
Exxon/Mobil Oil made 19.3 Billion in profits in the first 3 months of 2010. I could do my reform for a year with a fourth of that! Exxon/Mobil could use, say 6 months of their profits to fund my education reform in the United States for the next 6 years. 6 months of one multinational's PROFITS, could transform the lives of 48,755,772 students. Could employ over 100,000 individuals, could turn our economic morass around. ... Where are our values?
In conclusion, what will it take for this nation to deal simply, honestly and effectively with the need to upgrade our public education system? Anyone else have any ideas?
I know what it is when I see it.
Spring is officially here and so are the birds. I awoke this morning to the sight of a a blue jay, cyanocitta cristata, and a male northern cardinal, cardinalis cardinalis, sharing the branches of my still naked yoshino cherry. The jay would flit to the ground in search of insects and then back up into the tree.
When the cardinal grew tired of it,--and not seeing what it was he was looking for from that vantage--he flew into the higher branches of a nearby maple affording me an even better look at his magnificent scarlet plumage. For the past 16 years (as long as I lived here) a pair of cardinals has kept residence in the neighborhood. They nest in the thick prickly foliage of one of the towering american holly bushes/trees, with it's hypodermically spiked leaves and tightly twisted and stubby branches, it's an ingeniously safe place to raise a family.
And while very welcome visitors to my yard, neither of these birds is unusual. 
Now that round one is history, here's the list of up-set underdogs:
"Apples," c. 1925
And one of my favorite included influenced artists is Marsden Hartley. There was a retrospective of his works at the Phillip's Collection in Washington, D.C. in the summer of 2003, 
"Peaches In A White Bowl," 1910
Dear *******,
As I write this, a battle is waging in the halls of the Capitol Building. Insurance companies are doing everything in their power to prevent reform and protect their profits. 
Jamie Cullum is a British singer who's more often than not associated with the genre of jazz, but he's also very pop-centric. And this CD really expresses that aspect of his talent. A great listen.
I love March Madness. I love it because it's all about chance, and luck, and skill, and timing shaken up and tossed out. I fill in my brackets, play the odds and wait to see what's going to happen!
There is a new retrospective at MOMA in New York City of the performance artist Marina Abramovic. A snippet from the New York Times states, "For more than a generation, nudity, pain, grueling endurance tests and even bloodletting have been elements of a certain strain of performance art, one Ms. Abramovic helped pioneer. But they have never come together in New York quite as boldly or publicly as they have since the opening this week of the Modern’s new show." Which is an interesting overview of the artist's raison d'etre. And while some might find the content salacious, controversial, or even obscene, I have a whole other question: Is it relevant?
The power of performance art is it's cutting relevancy. It's ability to toss out an idea that demands attention and challenge our present paradigm. But what happens when these things are re-presented in a retrospective and slide into the land of quaint?
It's kind of the real discussion that I think would be the most interesting thing to come out of this exhibition.
Well, they did it again!
The earth continues to groan and shake at a rarely enthusiastic pace. I've been watching this sort of thing for about 20 years now, and I honestly can't remember a more seismically active 34 days. For whatever reason the fragile shell upon which all life depends is shifting much more than in the recent past.
Peter Graves (Arnes) R.I.P. I grew up with Mission Impossible and grew to appreciate your dead pan comedy on the "Airplane" movies. May your eternity be as generous to others as your life.
The Congress is about to begin the process of revisiting and revising the landmark Bush administration education legislation that is called "No Child Left Behind." It was a lofty attempt to address a critical need. It attached money to the equation so that states and school districts took it seriously. It forced systems of public education everywhere to face the disparity between the performance of students from various racial, economic, and linguistic classes. It denied the educators on the front line the crutch of blaming someone else for the end result of their teaching.
Yet, that's not true everywhere. In spite of the faults, positive changes have occurred; both an improvement in the quality of education and a conscience effort to address and erase the disparities between groups of students. And other subjects have not been ravaged uniformly. Schools are improving.
5) Appoint a Staff Development Teacher for every building to be the person responsible for instructing and supporting implementation of these strategies with the staff. They would have 3 years to demonstrate improvement, and 5 years to attain a rate of improvement within a confidence ban of the national average as judged by schools of their size and FARM % (Free And Reduced Lunch), with categories determined by enrollment in the 500 student increment (and a plus or minus 90 student range).
The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. has a set of four paintings by nineteenth century Hudson River School artist Thomas Cole entitled "The Voyage of Life". The works are an allegory of the four stages of human life: childhood, youth, manhood, and old age. The paintings follow a voyager who travels in a boat on a river through the mid-1800s American wilderness. 
An image of spring from about a week ago. The day before the deer ate them! If I lived in Silver Creek, Montana or Mankato, Michigan; I'd have no reason to complain about the deer. But I live in Takoma Park, Maryland on the cusp of the nation's capital squished between the University of Maryland campus and Silver Spring, Maryland. The deer do not belong here...especially when the homeless go hungry. It's time to take a resource and meet a need. And leave the crocus alone!
How many people read the most popular English language blog today? I don't know, either. I don't even know who's blog that would be. 
Okay, I have to admit that I'm bearly paying any attention to this one. SO, this first term Democratic Representative from an up-state Republican leaning New York district whom I sent 20 bucks to has now resigned because he grabbed someone's balls, but NOT in a sexual way....
Gecko Turner is a Latino who raps against a sultry, jazzy curtain. On a busy day at work, he's all this guy needs to feel groovy, baby. Just groovy...and it's priceless.
FRANCE
MALAYSIA
NORWAY
TANZANIA
URAGUAY
Julie London reached her peek of success in the 1950's. Her voice is not the powerhouse of say an Ella Fitzgerald, nor does it have the enigmatic qualities of a Billie Holiday. The beauty is in the subtle sultry intimacy. And the songs on "Around Midnight" allowed her to express this most magnificently. A forgotten treasure, and a lucky find.
I read this article tonight about Bengal Tigers in the New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/weekinreview/07marsh.html and it's opening question is chilling to me: "Could this Chinese Year of the Tiger be the last one with actual tigers still afoot in the world’s wild?"
"Shank" is a film from the United Kingdom. It's the story of Cal and his journey from gang banger to out gay man. It's a little more violent than the normal movie I go in for, and it turned out to be a whole lot more interesting a story than I initially expected. The creators treat their characters with respect and though they find a way to resolve the main storyline (that avoid cliché), they leave others wide open. And even the characters you're most inclined to hate, you also feel sorry for. Time well spent, talent worth watching out for.
Not a new CD, but a lovely mix of music from a singer who begs to be sung along with. Tengo gusto de él mucho.
Lego's at it again. This time in cahoots with the film "Prince of Persia" which is supposed to come out this summer. While all the world awaits the new and buffed up Jake Gyllenhall, I know some of us are also looking forward to his little plastic counterpart! Damn you, Lego! Hellbent you are to keep me poor.
I love science. I really do. It brings to bare the essential logic of the universe and challenges our human tendency to be superstitious. And I'm not bad mouthing superstition. It is a time honored way for people to keep their sanity in the midst of things that we don't understand. The key is to just keep drilling down until we reach a level of understanding. 
Is this like, don't drop the soap when you shower in prison? I. e. "Things You Wish Your Mother Had Told You"!
The Supreme Court's Chief Justice John Roberts has today rejected a request from opponents of gay marriage to put on hold a new law that allows same-sex couples to wed in Washington, D.C. And so we are minutes away from the District of Columbia issuing marriage licenses for any two people who what to assume the rights and responsibilities of marriage. My God, how hard is this to get behind? Has Pat Robertson...er, I mean God, sent a hurricane to destroy Iowa? Has an earthquake leveled Massachusetts? And cloud of locust or frogs descended upon Connecticut? Honestly, when will this nation grow up and act like rational adults instead of superstitious hoodlums who arrogantly find there personhood in their need to defend an omnipotent creator's reputation as if God was an absentee parent and we a planet of latch-key children? 
