Monday, June 11, 2012

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Jonah Edelman
Jonah Edelman of Stand for Children bragged last year that “the union cannot strike in Chicago. They will never be able to muster the 75 percent threshold needed to strike.’’ -- Sun-Times, "Sources: CPS teachers authorize strike"
N.Y. high school student
“Everyone in school either has a prescription or has a friend who does.” -- Risky Rise of the Good-Grade Pill
Valerie Strauss
In the ‘you-can’t-make-up-this-stuff’ category, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is spending about $1.1 million to develop a way to physiologically measure how engaged students are by their teachers’ lessons. This involves “galvanic skin response” bracelets that kids would wear so their engagement levels could be measured. -- Washington Post
Diane Ravitch
It’s the New Normal.
Don’t accept it. Don’t avert your eyes. It’s not supposed to be this way. Schools need a stable staff. Schools need continuity. Schools need to be caring and supportive communities. Schools need to be learning organizations, not a place with a turnstile for teachers, administrators and students. Don’t lose your own values. What is happening today is wrong. It is not education reform. It is wrong. It does not benefit children. It does not improve education. It is wrong. -- Diane Ravitch's Blog
Todd Farley
In other words, all this hoopla about a study Tom Vander Ark calls "groundbreaking" is based on a final conclusion saying only that automated essay scoring engines are able to spew out a number that "by and large" might be "similar" to what a bored, over-worked, under-paid, possibly-underqualified, temporarily-employed human scorer skimming through an essay every two minutes might also spew out. I ask you, has there ever been a lower bar? -- "Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics, or What's Really Up With Automated Essay Scoring" 



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