Charter Bashing ... by mentioning the truth?

hmmmm.

The whole idea of a charter school is that you take off the blinders and the restrictions and let them thrive.  Giving them freedom from "Big Government" and all those repressive regulations, as the thinking goes, means that they can succeed in educating all students much better than the public schools.  The proof usually includes whichever KIPP school is doing well that year (ignoring those that are embroiled in a lawsuit, not making sufficient progress, etc.) and, of course, New Orleans which was liberated by Katrina. (or something like that.)

Then you read:

One of the most exhaustive studies of charter performance, from Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes, found 37 percent of charter schools “deliver learning results that are significantly worse than their students would have realized had they remained in traditional public schools.” About half produced similar outcomes to public schools, with just 17 percent outperforming public schools (Extra!, 8/09).

If all charter schools have the advantage of running free, why aren't all of them out-performing public schools? If they can choose their students, skim off and keep the best performers and eliminate the troublemakers, teach in any way they choose, shouldn't the standard be "If a charter school doesn't beat the public school, it will be immediately closed?" 

Psychologists say NO to Learning Styles

I'll have to read the rest of this NYTimes article carefully, but this paragraph stood out:

Take the notion that children have specific learning styles, that some are “visual learners” and others are auditory; some are “left-brain” students, others “right-brain.” In a recent review of the relevant research, published in the journal Psychological Science in the Public Interest, a team of psychologists found almost zero support for such ideas. “The contrast between the enormous popularity of the learning-styles approach within education and the lack of credible evidence for its utility is, in our opinion, striking and disturbing,” the researchers concluded.

Hallelujah. Striking and disturbing, indeed.

Incentives ... part two - Free applications

For some reason, the Geniuses of Indiana thought free college applications was going to work.

A laudable goal: get more kids to apply for college. Misguided idea: make it free for one week only. So what happened? TONS of applications. Some were legitimate, many were incomplete (it's free so who cares?), many were done as a class project with no intention of actually applying (it's free so let's get some practice at the expense of the college office).

"but some colleges say last year's initiative was misguided and caused problems." Only some?

"Any time you start up a new program, you are going to have unintended consequences," said Elizabeth Crouch, spokeswoman for Learn More Indiana, an Indiana Higher Education Commission partner. "We have had many, many conversations with the schools, and we've gotten good input about how to move forward."

By not ever doing this again? Don't you love how the little weasel pushed the idea that this was growing pains, not merely stupid? Purdue gets 10,000 admissions @$50 from Indiana kids alone. That $50 pays for the attention, visits, tours, replies, brochures, advertising, etc. Why on earth would the college voluntarily give that up and increase their workload by four or fives times with a bunch of crap applications? This is a lot like the problem with teacher applications through SchoolSpring.com -- you get hundreds of chaff for a few kernels of wheat -- it's free and easy so why not click the button?

But the high school liked it so it was good, right? It "opened doors for students." "I saw students who would have never dreamed of applying to college fill out applications, and follow up," he said.

"Total self-serving, misguided BS," I said.

Re-posted here in case the link is archived.

Idiocy in Denver

SO the State of Colorado wants to tax Amazon.com and the anti-taxers are screaming.
"... a recent study on "Amazon laws" concluded online companies would have to deal with more than 8,000 different tax computations should every state join Colorado's effort. Amazon would be nuts not to fight."

Oh, please.

What really needs to happen is a federal law that states that online merchants need to collect tax based on the destination of the package rather than on the location of the sender's warehouse.

Argue about paying taxes. I get that. Argue that taxing the local warehouse will induce Amazon to move the warehouse to a tax-free state. I get that, too. But if you argue that Amazon couldn't figure out how to do it, you're talking out the wrong end of your body. It's just silly.

Amazon is entirely run by computers. Orders are taken over the web without a single human intervening. The warehouse is run by computers that tell every worker exactly what to put in what size box and then slap a label on it. They figure out the shipping details for millions of people, millions of destinations, and millions of shipments a year. They send out email tracking details, feedback emails, follow-up emails, and a host of other automated stuff.

There are at least a dozen shipping options and at least six payment options. Each person has one (or many) different address options. Amazon must deal automatically with customs to every one of the 200-odd countries they ship to, monetary conversions for all those, multiple websites (one for each major country). You purchase details are kept meticulously and all of those records are used to build recommendations and to track your online movement.

They must deal with thousands of publishers and suppliers, each with different options, deals, and profit percentages. They have thousands of "Used and New" resellers, with all of their charges and costs, all getting 60% to 85% of their money (the rest is Amazon's cut) - and those deals change all the time.

And you're trying to claim that they can't figure out how to charge me 6% tax and send it to Vermont?

I'm actually required to pay taxes on all purchases that I bring into Vermont from tax-free locations - the snowblower I buy in NH, etc. There's a place for it on my tax form. (Or car registration - they charge the 6% to register it.) If I go to a gunshow or any convention and buy something, it doesn't matter where I live or where the vendor lives, I have to pay local sales tax. Is that destroying civilization? No. Somehow the guy manages to get a local vendor's license and tax number.

I don't like taxes and I love tax-free Amazon. I would love to do without taxes.

Just don't claim that Amazon is somehow incapable of a simple** programming task.

** Simple compared to what they do for everything else.

Article below, if it gets deleted or archived.
http://www.denverpost.com/harsanyi/ci_14658950

Merry Christmas - my present to you

I hated Secret Santa at school. It's hardly any better at work. I can never seem to get the right balance in the group. Someone always is disappointed, someone invariably gives a too-expensive gift while someone else forgets or just doesn't bother. Tensions run high when it should be a good time. Then, you have the difficulty of getting a present for someone you don't know well. Everyone has trouble with this. The "funny" gift is received with a whince or a stone faced, "Thanks" and winds up in the trash can later.

We've solved that problem up here in the frozen north. Here is my present to everyone who needs a better way to get happy, have fun and give a gift to coworkers. It also works great when you have some folks who are less well off than others. You make a $15 limit. Since you are not buying for a specific person, this is MUCH easier.

Everyone buys a single gift for "themselves". Couples bring two. Surreptitiously, everyone places their wrapped gift in the middle of the circle.  The goal is to disassociate the giver from the gift.

Fortified with an appropriate libation, it's time for ...

A Yankee Swap

Numbered cards are picked from a basket to decide order of play. The players then arrange themselves in order around the circle. The Number cards should be kept visible near the player since they will be part of the game later.  You can use these or make your own.

In order, each chooses a gift from the pile.

Then, in order, each unwraps the gift. This gives everyone a first chance to see them and think about which they want to "play" for.

Three of the playing cards are dealt to each person. (These are seen on the next page.) The remainder are placed in a pile in the center.

In numerical order, players place a card face-up in the middle of the circle and picks up a replacement from the pile of extra tickets. The instructions on the face-up card are followed.

Swap cards, do-nothing cards and pass cards are played in turn.
Protection cards and EndGame cards are played at any time, in turn or out-of-turn.

Options:

• We had a couple gifts that were double-wrapped so people played for them "blind." You may want to add a "unwrap any presents" card to the group below.
• Some Yankee swaps say the swapping should happen once and BEFORE the gifts are opened. We felt that this made the whole exercise boring – how do you know if you want it if you don't know what it is?
• Additional tickets available by answering trivia instead of having a pick-up pile in the center. This can be difficult if someone gets too many tickets and others have none.
• All tickets can be dealt out at the beginning. I like it better when you play a card and get a replacement. It feels more like a game.
• The "Swap with a birthday in January" cards were included because we happened to have a bunch of January birthdays in the group.

Fire up your word processor, make a table with cellspacing and borders or use these to the right:

PLAYING CARDS: (x2 indicates the number of copies of this card.)

The Swap Cards:
These cards are person-to-person swaps. Some are specific (person to the right or left) while others allow a choice on the card-holder's part (e.g., swap with an odd number – the choice is in which odd number of course)

• Swap with Birthday not in January
• Swap with Birthday in January
• Swap with anyone wearing sneakers
• Swap with anyone wearing socks without shoes
• Swap with a prime number (x2)
• Swap with a composite number (x2)
• Swap with an odd number(x2)
• Swap with an even number (x2)
• Swap with anyone older than you (x2)
• Swap with anyone younger than you (x2)
• Swap with the person 2 to the right (x2)
• Swap with the person to your right (x2)
• Swap with the person to your left (x2)
• Swap with the person 2 to the left (x2)

The Do-nothing Cards:
These cards keep the status quo ante. Play them to keep everything as it is.

• Keep-sake ! swap with no one (x3)
• This card was intentionally left blank. (x3)

The Passing Cards:
Everyone in the circle passes to the right or left.

• All Pass - everyone pass to the left (x2)
• All Pass - everyone pass to the right (x2)

The Protection Cards:
Unlike the other cards, which are played in turn, Protection cards are played out-of-turn when the holder wishes to undo or alter a swap or pass.

• Safe! use this card to block someone from swapping with you. (x4) "Safe!" is played to block a swap that another player has called on you. The other player loses the swap and cannot choose another swap.
• Skip me! any pass, left or right, skips over you. (x2) "Skip Me!" is played in response to another player's pass card. The pass "skips" to the next person around the circle.
• Chocolate! temporarily leave the game to get chocolate.(x2) The Chocolate card allows the player to withdraw from the game and therefore not be subject to any swaps or passes. Return at any time. This game is supposed to be fun so the time of return is left up to the player.
• Not So Fast ! This card will undo the last swap. Use at any time. (x2) "Not so Fast!" is played at any time to stop any swap or pass, whether it affects the holder personally or not. Typically, this is thrown when the player realizes that someone has become attached to a particular present and is forced to exchange. A player can even play a card in turn and then immediately follow it with "Not So Fast!" to undo it.

EndGame Cards:

• Stop! (x4) These can be played at any time, in-turn or out-of-turn. When the four "Stop!" cards have been played, the game is over. Use these cards to end the game when the presents are "right" and further play would result in hurt feelings. Additionally, the last "Stop!" card can be played in such a way as to block an undesired card. For example, if the card being played is "Pass Left" then the final "Stop!" card can instantly end the game before the pass takes place or it can be held until just afterwards.

Please, enjoy the holidays. Have a Merry Christmas. Have a Happy Hannukah. Have a Happy New Year in 2010, 1432, the Year of the Tiger or a belated Rosh Hashanah 5771.

Lip-dub procedure.

Alexander Russo is curious how an extended shot lip-dub video might be made:

"One school [Shorecrest] made a video with kids lip-synching an Outkast song and challenged a rival school. Kids at the latter institution [Shorewood] not only produced a Hall & Oates lip-dub video but also did the song & video backwards." 
It's not quite the opening shot to Boogie Nights or the long single shot in the middle of Atonment, but there are some seriously complicated logistics here. I wonder if anyone's done a "how to" on pulling these things off.

Here's my thought:
1) play the song over the intercom system or speaker system.
2) walk a set path with a steady-cam. record students.
3) dub the same track to the video in premier or other editing software.