Learning Process

More on teacher quality report in LAUSD*

Written on June 21, 2011 – 11:50 am | by Imogen Fahey

The United Way of Los Angeles has a report out this week with some provocative recommendations to improve teacher quality in Los Angeles Unified. (Full report / exec summary)

It’s the result of a study of about 1,500 teachers done by the D.C.-based National Council on Teacher Quality. The LAUSD Board of Education is receiving a presentation on the report this afternoon.

Daily News writer Connie Llanos reports on some of the recommendations, including changes to teacher evaluations, and that tenure not be granted until a teacher has worked with the district for four years, instead of two.

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Tags: Report, Teacher Quality

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Wondering About Question Marks?

Written on June 21, 2011 – 6:57 am | by Matthew Hovell

Today I received a sales message by email that included this sentence in the opening paragraph:

I am contacting you today to see if you might have an interest in marketing your product in China?

That is a statement. Why does it end with a question mark?

A statement should end with a period (full stop)–not a question mark. These examples are all correct:

• Rochelle asked whether you have considered taking a business writing class.
• I wonder whether Cecilia willbe able to meet the visitors from Ottawa.
• The only question she asked was when the registration fee would be due.
• Why he estimated the proposal preparation fees at$12,000 is a mystery.
• The importantquestion is not when to retire–its how to afford it.

If you want to use a question mark, write a question:

• Rochelle asked, “Has Jenconsidered taking a business writing class?”
• I wonder: WillCecilia willbe able to meet the visitors from Ottawa?
• The only question she asked was this: When will theregistration fee be due?
• Why did he estimate the proposal preparation fees at$12,000?

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Regional Committee Seeks Input for U.S. Education Secretary

Written on June 21, 2011 – 5:49 am | by Imogen Fahey

The Central Regional Advisory Committee will assess educational needs in Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming. The committee is inviting state and local education officials, business leaders, parents, and community leaders to participate in online meetings to be held June 13 and June 20.

Representing Missouri on the 11-member committee are Margie Vandeven, assistant commissioner of the Office of Quality Schools at the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, and John Turner, assistant superintendent of the Dallas County School District.

“The upcoming webinars are part of an ongoing effort to assess the needs of states, schools and other education stakeholders,” Vandeven said.  “We definitely need input from people within the central region, and I am hopeful we will have good participation from Missouri.”

The regional advisory committees also will assist the U.S. Departme

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Tags: Education, Education Secretary

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The Real World, Week 2

Written on June 21, 2011 – 2:48 am | by Justin Fraser

I have now completed two weeks of my internship in Washington, D.C. and I can already see the differences in opportunities and the excitement that learning from the experts can bring into a young professional’s life.

Even though I am working currently as an intern at Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), I have been given the freedom to make the most out of this summer. I have been to numerous conferences, interacted with policy experts and had the wonderful opportunity to work with a group of really bright young professionals with whom I share many interests. I also have the unique opportunity to blog for the Russia and Eurasia Program and speak my mind about foreign-policy topics that are intriguing to me. It’s definitely a great step up from writing papers for classes. Here, I interact with experts on the issue, hear their opinions, synthesize a great deal of information and then add my own analysis. I a

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Tags: Week

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Ail to the Chief

Written on June 20, 2011 – 11:49 pm | by Noah Moroney

The dark underside of life tenure for Supreme Court Justices is the difficulty of removing an obviously ailing Justice even after his or her capacity to serve has seriously deteriorated.  However, despite the absence of effective formal removal mechanisms, Chief Justices have sometimes been successful in nudging declining Associate Justices off the bench, as in the cases of Justices Holmes and Douglas.  But what is to be done if it is the Chief who can no longer serve?

That is the question explored in a new paper on SSRN by Chad Oldfather and Todd Peppers.  Although other scholars have grappled with the general problem of disability on the Supreme Court, Oldfather and Peppers identify two reasons why the problem is especially acute when it comes to the Chief.  First, it is much more common for Chief Justices than Associate Justices to serve until the time of death or a major disability.  Only four of the past sixteen Chief Justices have retired while in good health.  (Oldfather and Peppers use the decline and passing of the late William Rehnquist as a case study of the more typical pattern for Chief Justices.)  Second, the Chief is not merely one of nine adjudicators on the Court, but also serves as the administrative head of the entire federal judiciary.  For that reason, the incapacitation of the Chief Justice may do much more damage than the incapacitation of an Associate.

Oldfather and Peppers do not advocate for a particular solution, but they do urge consideration of various potential reforms, such as the imposition of a term limit on the Chief Justice.

Entitled Till Death Do Us Part: Chief Justices and the United States Supreme Court, their paper will be published in the Marquette Law Review.

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Tags: Ail, Ail Chief

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Better Edsels?

Written on June 20, 2011 – 10:51 pm | by Imogen Fahey

Part One

My typical morning. Watch ESPN while kid drinks whole milk, I drink Peets. Kid watches Sesame, I do email. Arrive to school, read my favorite 6 edu-blogs before Veronica tries to turn off my internet connection and coerce me to do actual work.

The blogs are: Eduwonk, Joanne Jacobs, GothamSchools, Function of Time, Flypaper, and Robert Pondiscio.

Roberts a former Business Week writer and former NYC Teaching Fellow. He now works for Core Knowledge Foundation. Also hes a baseball nut who is sad because John Lackey, aka the worst pitcher in baseball, is killing his rotisserie team. Big deal. How do you think actual Red Sox fans feel?

(Hope springs eternal. I once blogged that David Ortiz had become the worst hitter in baseball. And that he would never get better. Oops. That wasnt exactly prescient. Hes good again. Maybe Lackey, too, can turn it around).

Robert wrote a great blog post a few days ago that all No Excuses charter folks should read.

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