A federal lawsuit accuses a suburban Philadelphia school district of spying on students at home through school-issued laptop webcams.

I’m trying to envision this. How did it happen that the school issued laptops, someone put software on them that allowed the school to access the camera remotely, let other know it can be done, and nobody say this might not be a good idea? Or maybe even, do we have policies in place to ensure it’s not abused–didn’t they think that some student might hack the system and use it? Or at the very least, will our insurance cover us if we get caught?

A task force on Tuesday recommended requiring students at the University of Texas to complete their bachelor’s degrees in 10 semesters or five years

So do you think that means that the university will start reporting it’s four year (not six year) graduation rate which is 48%? Oh wait, that’s the student’s fault as well, you know, all those top 10 percent graduates who are just enjoying paying for college so much that they won’t graduate and mess up the school’s stats.

“There are tons of really great schools with really smart kids applying for the same jobs,” said Jacob Loewenstein, a junior from Lawrence, N.Y., who is majoring in German. “People intuitively take a G.P.A. to be a representation of your academic ability and act accordingly. The assumption that a recruiter who is screening applications is going to treat a Princeton student differently based on a letter is naïve.”

So why did you apply to Princeton as opposed to some lesser known state school with a reputation for easy A’s? How pathetic! Get real, you applied because of the name. If you applied because of the rigor of the program, you wouldn’t be whining now. Is this the result of the Princeton education? Maybe Princeton should reconsider their admission procedures if this is how their students react in the face of “adversity.”  

But Perry said Texas “reserves the right to decide how we educate our children and not surrender that control to the federal bureaucracy.”

Perry’s objections seem to center on the fact that the grant rules give preference to states that sign on to a push for national curriculum standards. Perry and Scott have been critical of the Common Core Standards Initiative, a state-led effort coordinated by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers with support from the Department of Education. Texas and Alaska are the only two states that have not joined the initiative.

So the grant rules giver “preference” to those who sign on for national standards–why not apply anyway and see what happens? And isn’t “local control” the basis of Texas public education? So why isn’t the state supporting districts (if any) that are implementing such standards on their own?

Are there potential negative consequences of national standards? Of course there are. But national standards or no, Texans, parents, students, and citizens, deserve to know why over 80 percent of students in the more desirable high schools are considered “college ready” but only half of them can meet the minimum SAT/ACT scores required by state colleges to enroll in schools without remediation.

The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal reported that Leach locked sophomore receiver Adam James in a closet because he thought the player was faking a concussion.

I’m really having problems envisioning the scene.  Not the getting the kid into the closet part but what the other adults at the scene were doing. Did anyone suggest that this might not be the best way to handle the situation or were they all thinking, “damn, I’m going to use this technique once I’m head coach.” Or maybe they were the sergeant in Hogan’s Heroes “I see nothing!” More likely, it was “the idiot did it this time, that’s Craig James’ son, hmmm, maybe I’ll have a shot at his job.” Regardless of which thoughts were actually present at the time, I think this shows that Leach has some serious management issues.

Kerrville Independent School District officially supports the six plaintiff districts in claiming that commissioner Robert Scott is overreaching in his interpretation of a recently enacted law against minimum grades.

Minimum grading policies are the practice of giving failing students at least 50 percent on report cards regardless of whether a student’s cumulative work on individual assignments actually justifies a lower percentage.

Such a policy currently exists at KISD and more than half of all Texas schools. The KISD policy states teachers must record a 50 for any student scoring below that amount during the first five six-week grading periods.

I understand wanting to make sure that kids are able to succeed at school but maybe the point is to put them in classes that are a better match to their abilities?  And I can see this maybe working for a History or English class but what about math or science? How many kids can actually pass the remaining grading periods if they bombed the first one in Algebra? And how is this policy going to help students pass the year end tests that will soon be administered in high schools?

Maybe this is something that only happens at the elementary school level which would make more sense. In any case, I would like some specific examples and numbers. And the fact that none are provided suggests that neither side really has any reason for supporting/opposing the policy.

Class Struggle – How fashion frustrates school improvement

James P. Comer is one of the most successful school improvement experts in the country, but that doesn’t mean he gets much respect. Policy makers often resist his ideas. Take, for example, the Midwestern elementary school that went from 23rd to first in its district by using the School Development Program created by Comer and his Yale colleagues.

Did the school district leaders celebrate and recommend the program far and wide? No. They appear to have been disturbed by the results. They accused the school of cheating and insisted on a re-test, with local newspapers suggesting scandal. The students did even better the second time, but that did not win Comer’s team any plaudits. The superintendent removed the principal who had done so well with their methods and installed a new staff not trained to use them, bringing the scores back down to where the district leadership apparently thought they should be.

Yeah, the public education system does so much more to ensure a quality education. This isn’t about education, this about brainwashing our children and who gets to do it.

Are there children out there who would do better in public school than being homeschooled? Of course, depending on the public school and the randomly assigned teachers. But I would bet that there is an even larger percentage of children in public school who would be better served by homeschooling.

Tell you what, fix the system for the kids that are already there and then talk to me about regulation.

No charges will be brought against New Braunfels Middle School Principal John Burks for allegedly threatening to kill a group of science teachers if their students’ standardized test scores failed to improve, although all four teachers at the meeting told police investigators Burks made the statement.

Now imagine if some student at the school had said something along the same lines in a writing assignment. We would be hearing about zero tolerance all over the place. The student would be out of the regular classroom so fast it would make your head spin.

The sad part about this is that I bet if a mere, ordinary teacher were to have made some similar statement, he or she would be treated more like the student rather than the principle.

Texas Board of Education quashes dissenting report on rejected math book | Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas News on Yahoo! | The Dallas Morning News

“This is about the credibility of this board, and I will challenge anyone here who tries to challenge my credibility,” said Rick Agosto, a Democrat from San Antonio who had abstained in the November vote over whether to reject the math book.

If he didn’t vote, how could this be about his “credibility?” If he had bothered to vote for approving the textbook to begin with (which meets all state requirements) this wouldn’t be an issue at all, now would it? What’s the deal, he’s afraid the board wouldn’t elect him as an officer again? Does he really believe that the board has the right to reject textbooks based on personal beliefs even if they meet all state requirements? No wonder he’s worried about his credibility.

Company gets kindergartners’ Social Security numbers, data | Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | Latest News

The new database for kindergarten test scores also includes sections for children’s names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, gender, school identification numbers and parents’ names and addresses, educators say.

For some odd reason, some people are disturbed by this.

Company gets kindergartners’ Social Security numbers, data | Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | Latest News

“As adults you don’t even put your Social Security card in your wallet,” said Mr. Lukert, an officer with the Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association. “And yet here we are required to give that information out. It doesn’t make sense.”

Basically, TEA is telling everyone to just “trust us.”

Company gets kindergartners’ Social Security numbers, data | Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | Latest News

“It’s quite amazing the security that OZ has in place for this information,” said Susan Landry, director of the UT group, known as the State Center for Early Childhood Development. “You are overemphasizing the Social Security number.”

So the Social Security number isn’t that big of a deal? Then why use it all?

Company gets kindergartners’ Social Security numbers, data | Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | Latest News

Pearson Educational Measurement officials, who develop or administer standardized tests in Texas and 22 other states, say they use ID numbers to link students to their test data.

“I don’t think in the testing side of it that we ever encounter Social Security numbers,” said David Hakensen, vice president of public relations.

I suspect that parents aren’t required to provide Social Security numbers unless maybe they’re receiving some sort of direct federal aid such as free lunch. I could be totally wrong here.

However, I went to my local school district website to see what documents would be needed to enroll my child and it said:

Back To School : Northside Independent School District – San Antonio, TX 78238

Child’s Social Security Number (if available)

Furthermore, the TEA PEIMS Data Standards makes it sound like Social Security numbers aren’t required either.

PEIMS Data Standards

Identification – the information necessary to identify the person. This information is Social Security number or state-approved alternative student ID and student name. It is requested for all students.

Notice, it says “requested.” So how many schools request the information and parents provide it assuming that it’s required?

While part of the issue is trust, another part is “why do you need the data?” Do they need it because they want to link it to other data that is based on social security data? Or do they want it just because it will be easier than generating their own id system? And if they can’t tell us, what does that do to the trust factor?

Technorati Tags: Texas Education, Social Security Numbers, TEA, Texas Education Agency, OZ Systems, State Center for Early Childhood Development, Susan Landry