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Rothstein: Why teacher quality can't be only centerpiece of reform
Richard Rothstein is a research associate at the Economic Policy Institute, a non-profit created in 1986 to broaden the discussion about economic policy to include the interests of low- and middle-income workers. This appeared on the institute's website. It is long, but worth the time.
By Richard Rothstein
Joel Klein, chancellor of the New York City public school system, and Michelle Rhee, who resigned October 13 as Washington, D.C. chancellor, published a "manifesto" in The Washington Post claiming that the difficulty of removing incompetent teachers "has left our school districts impotent and, worse, has robbed millions of children of a real future." The solution, they say, is to end the "glacial process for removing an incompetent teacher" and give superintendents like themselves the authority to pay higher salaries to teachers whose students do well academically. Otherwise, children will remain "stuck in failing schools" across the country.
Klein, Rhee, and the 14 other school superintendents who co-signed their statement base this call on a claim that, "as President Obama has emphasized, the single most important factor determining whether students succeed in school is not the color of their skin or their ZIP code or even their parents' income — it is the quality of their teacher." [Note: After this was written, Philadelphia Superintendent Arlene Ackerman said she had not approved the manifesto and issued her own statement.]
It is true that the president has sometimes said something like this. But in his more careful moments, he properly insists that teacher quality is not the most important factor determining student success; it is the most important in-school factor. Indeed, Mr. Obama has gone further, saying, "I always have to remind people that the biggest ingredient in school performance is the teacher. That's the biggest ingredient within a school. But the single biggest ingredient is the parent."
There is a world of difference between claiming, as the Klein-Rhee statement does, that the single biggest factor in student success is teacher quality and claiming, as Barack Obama does in his more careful moments, that the single biggest school factor is teacher quality. Decades of social science research have demonstrated that differences in the quality of schools can explain about one-third of the variation in student achievement. But the other two-thirds is attributable to non-school factors.
When the president says that the single most important factor is parents, he does not mean the parents' zip code or income or skin color, as though zip codes or income or skin color themselves influence a child's achievement. Joel Klein and Michelle Rhee's caricature of the research in this way prevents a careful consideration of policies that could truly raise the achievement of America's children.
What President Obama means is that if a child's parents are poorly educated themselves and don't read frequently to their young children, or don't use complex language in speaking to their children, or are under such great economic stress that they can't provide a stable and secure home environment or proper preventive health care to their children, or are in poor health themselves and can't properly nurture their children, or are unable to travel with their children or take them to museums and zoos and expose them to other cultural experiences that stimulate the motivation to learn, or indeed live in a zip code where there are no educated adult role models and where other adults can't share in the supervision of neighborhood youth, then children of such parents will be impeded in their ability to take advantage of teaching, no matter how high quality that teaching may be.
President Obama put it this way: "It's not just making sure your kids are doing their homework, it's also instilling a thirst for knowledge and excellence....And the community can help the parents. Listen, I love basketball. But the smartest kid in the school...should be getting as much attention as the basketball star. That's a change that we've got to initiate in our community."
Of course, there are exceptions. Just as not all children flourish with high-quality teachers, not all children fail to flourish just because their parents can't help with homework or because they live in communities where athletes are the most prominent role models. Under any set of circumstances, there will be a distribution of outcomes — that's human nature.
And on average, disadvantaged children who have high-quality teachers will do better than similar children whose teachers are less adequate. But good teachers alone, for most children, cannot fully compensate for the disadvantages many children bring to school. As we noted, differences in the quality of in-school experiences can explain about one-third of the differences in achievement.
Even the president's more careful statement — that teacher quality is the most important in-school factor — is actually without solid foundation in research. It is true that some studies have found that variation in teacher quality has more of an influence on test scores than do the size of classes or average district-wide per pupil spending. In other words, you are better off having a good teacher in a larger class than a poor teacher in a smaller class. But that's it.
It is on this thin reed that Joel Klein and Michelle Rhee are mounting a campaign to make improving teacher quality, and removing teachers whose students' test scores are lower, the centerpiece of national efforts to improve the life chances of disadvantaged students.
There are plausibly many other in-school factors, not quantified in research, that could have as much if not more of an influence on student test scores than teacher quality.
Take the quality of school leadership. Would an inspired school principal get better student achievement from a corps of average-quality teachers than a mediocre principal could get from high-quality teachers? Studies of organizations would suggest the answer is yes, but there have been no such studies of school leadership.
Take the quality of the curriculum. Would average teachers given a well-designed curriculum get better achievement from their students than would high-quality teachers with a poor curriculum? A very few research studies in this field suggest the answer might be yes as well.
Or take another in-school factor, teacher collaboration. Even when elementary school students sit in a single classroom for most of the day, several teachers influence their achievement. Teachers can meet to compare lesson plans that worked well and those that didn't. Teachers in lower grades can successfully align their instruction with what will be most helpful for learning in the next grade. Teachers of the arts can reinforce the writing curriculum, and vice-versa. Will average-quality teachers who work well together as a team with the common purpose of raising student achievement get better results than higher-quality teachers working in isolation?
Plausibly, the answer is yes. Will promising to pay individual teachers more if their students get higher test scores than the students of another teacher reduce the incentives for teachers to collaborate? Again, a plausible answer is yes.
Of course, schools should try to recruit better-quality teachers and should remove those who are ineffective. After all, the quality of teachers is an important part of the one-third share of the achievement gap that can be traced to the quality of schools. But before making teacher quality the focus of a national campaign, school systems will have to develop better ways of identifying good and bad teachers.
Using students' test scores as the chief marker of teacher quality is terribly dangerous, for a variety of reasons: it encourages a narrowing of the curriculum because only test scores in one or two subjects (math and reading) can be used for this purpose, and teachers who will be evaluated mainly by these test scores will have incentives to minimize attention to other subjects; it creates pressure to "teach to the test," that is, emphasizing topics likely to appear on our existing low-quality standardized tests rather than other equally important but untested topics; and it is likely to misidentify teachers — labeling many good teachers as poor and many poor teachers as good — because test scores can be influenced by so many other factors besides good teaching.
The necessary task of identifying good teachers and removing those who are inadequate requires more than student test score data. It requires a holistic approach, in which qualified experts observe teachers' lessons, evaluate the quality of their instruction, and examine a wide range of their students' work and how teachers respond to it. This requires a bigger investment of qualified supervisory time than most schools are prepared to make. Using student test scores as a shortcut will do great harm to American education.
Making teacher quality the only centerpiece of a reform campaign distracts our attention from other equally and perhaps more important school areas needing improvement, areas such as leadership, curriculum, and practices of collaboration, mentioned above. Blaming teachers is easy. These other areas are more difficult to improve.
But most important, making teacher quality the focus distracts us from the biggest threat to student achievement in the current age: our unprecedented economic catastrophe and its effect on parents and their children's ability to gain from higher-quality schools.
Consider the implications of this catastrophe for our aspirations to close the black–white achievement gap. The national unemployment rate remains close to an unacceptably high 10%.
But 15% of all black children now have an unemployed parent compared to 8.5% of white children. If we also include children whose parents have become so discouraged that they have given up looking for work, and children whose parents are working part-time because they can't find full-time work, we find that 37% of black children have an unemployed or underemployed parent compared to 23% of white children. Over half of all black children have a parent who has either been unemployed or underemployed during the past year. Thirty-six percent of black children now live in poverty.
The consequences of this social disaster for schools are apparent, and include:
Greater geographic disruption: Families become more mobile because they can no longer afford to keep up with rent or mortgage payments. They are in overcrowded housing; they often have to double up with relatives in apartments that were already too small. Children have no quiet place to study or do homework. They switch schools more often, fall behind in the curriculum, and lose the connection with teachers who know them well enough to adapt instruction to their individual strengths and weaknesses. Inner-city schools themselves are thrown into turmoil because classes must frequently be reconstituted as enrollment rises and falls with family mobility. Even the highest-quality teachers cannot fully insulate their students from the effects of this disruption.
Greater hunger and malnutrition: When more parents lose employment, their income plummets and food insecurity grows. More children come to school hungry and/or inadequately nourished and are less able to focus on schoolwork. Attentive teachers realize that one of the best predictors of how their students will perform is what they had for breakfast, if anything at all.
Greater stress: Families where parents are unemployed are under greater psychological stress. Such parents, no matter how well-intentioned, often become more arbitrary in their discipline and less supportive of their children. Children from families in such stress are more likely to act out in school and are less able to progress academically. The ability to comfort and support such students may be a more important indicator of a teacher's quality than her students' test scores, which may still be lower than the scores of students coming from stable and secure homes.
Poorer health: Families where parents lose employment are also more likely to lose health insurance. Their children are less likely to get routine and preventive health care and more likely to miss school days because of illness. They are less likely to get symptomatic treatment for illnesses like asthma, the most common cause of chronic school absenteeism. Children with asthma, even when they attend school, are more likely to come to school irritable, having been up at night with breathing difficulty.
All these consequences of unacceptably high unemployment rates for disadvantaged parents contribute to depressing student achievement for their children. It is obtuse to expect to narrow the achievement gap in such circumstances. It is fanciful for national policy makers to pick this moment to raise their expectations for academic achievement from children of families in such stress and to single out teacher quality as the culprit most deserving of their public attention.
It would inappropriately undermine the credibility of public education if, in such an economic climate, educators were blamed for their failure to raise student achievement of disadvantaged children. Indeed, educators should get great credit if they prevent the achievement of disadvantaged children from falling further during this economic crisis.
Meanwhile, our political system is paralyzed, unable to take meaningful steps to reduce unemployment. Corporate profits are healthy, but an unjustified fear of short-term deficits prevents public spending from putting low-income parents back to work. Joel Klein, Michelle Rhee, and the other superintendents who signed their manifesto are influential in states whose national and state leaders contribute to this paralysis. These school leaders should raise their voices in protest against economic policies that doom children to failure.
Of course, the superintendents should continue attempts to improve teacher quality. They should work on developing ways to identify better and worse teachers without relying heavily on the corrupting influence of high-stakes test scores.
In addition to teacher quality, they should pay attention to school leadership, curriculum improvement, and school organization. They should consider what initiatives they can take, either themselves or in partnership with other community organizations, to improve children's opportunities to come to school in good health and with enriched experiences in early childhood and out-of-school time.{xii}
But they will have to embed all of this work in an insistence on broader efforts of economic and social reform if they hope their school improvements to make any difference.
Otherwise, their manifesto might appear to be more an example of scapegoating teachers than a reflection of serious commitment to the futures of our children.
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Valerie Strauss
| October 17, 2010; 9:17 AM ET
Categories: School turnarounds/reform, Teacher assessment, Teachers | Tags: achievement gap, joel klein, manifesto, michelle rhee, poverty, richard rothstein, school manifesto, school reform, teacher quality
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Thank you Mr. Rothstein, for providing an Obama quote that clarifies the importance of parents in their children's education. I will add it to my collection.
You should know that it's not just in his "more careful moments" that Obama shows that he understands the parameters of teachers' influence. Unfortunately the writers of the Manifesto didn't follow the basic rules of using verbatim quotes and instead misrepresented the President's meaning by cutting off key words. Obama's full quote was the following:
"The whole premise of Race to the Top is that teachers are the single most important factor in a child's education FROM THE MOMENT THEY STEP INTO THE CLASSROOM."[caps added]
http://m.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/07/29/president-obama-education-status-quo-morally-inexcusable July 29th 2010
So, even though the President did not mention parents, he does limit teachers' importance to the classroom.
The President has made similar statements, such as:
"We know that from the moment students enter a school, the most important factor in their success is not the color of their skin or the income of their parents—it is the teacher standing at the front of the classroom."
March 2010 http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/blueprint/publication_pg2.html
Again, while Obama doesn't explicitly mention the role of parents, if you read carefully and analytically, you will catch and comprehend the limiting words, "the moment students enter a school."
Then in the quote you provided, Obama makes it crystal clear that the parent is most important factor:
"I always have to remind people that the biggest ingredient in school performance is the teacher. That's the biggest ingredient within a school. But the single biggest ingredient is the parent."
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-arnold-missouri-town-hall April 29th 2009
I wish he always spoke that clearly, because as long as he doesn't, he can easily be misunderstood and unscrupulous education "leaders" will continue to distort his meaning.
Meanwhile, I think the Manifesto signers need to apologize for misleading their readers in a way that would qualify them for an F on a high-school term paper.
Also, I think the President should demand an apology and denounce the Manifesto signers for misrepresenting his words and thoughts to the American people.
Posted by: efavorite | October 17, 2010 11:30 AM | Report abuse
We are never going to live in a perfect America. The issues of class, race (a synonym for zip code in DC), and income distribution are too large and too longstanding to be solved any time soon. In the interim, we must ensure that our children are well-educated, whether their parents read to them at night or not. In my mind, education remains the greatest lever in lifting generations of poor kids above the circumstances of their birth. As a teacher, it is my job to do all I can with the "one-third" impact that I have in my hands, while others work on the two-thirds outside my reach. If we all work to maximize the things we can control, perhaps more minds will be saved. For my take on teaching in DCPS, please visit my blog at teachermandc.com.
Posted by: dcproud1 | October 17, 2010 12:19 PM | Report abuse
Thank you Mr. Rothstein! A knowledgeable, thorough and and easily-understood statement on the core/majority issues in K-12 education....
Two of your points I'd like to reference:
The comment on the importance of quality principals - I taught under 12 different principals and directors during my career, and the difference in the knowledge, experience and leadership quality of these individuals was ALWAYS evident. A staff's ability to feel cohesive, willing to go the extra mile when the going gets tough (and it's getting tougher)to feel supported and recognized, to be inspired on occasion......principals do the hiring, set in-house policies, handle a great deal politically, work incredible numbers of hours...they don't necessarily need to be charismatic, either - one of the best principals I worked for was quiet, stood 4'10", and ran a very innovative, challenging and supportive program for many at-risk children.
"Teachers of the arts can reinforce the writing curriculum, and vice-versa."
Some of the most dynamic, productive and innovative teaching I was involved in was due to team-teaching and inter-related arts programing. To wit:
An Art teacher paired with an English
teacher to help students produce work
that utilized both imagery and words.
Ex: after studying selected poems with
the English teacher, students would
create an illustrated manuscript
through a lesson taught by the
Art teacher.
A Science teacher paired with an Art
teacher to study aerodynamics and then
produce a series of kites that utilized
both historic designs (Japanese kites,
for instance) and sound aerodynamic
Instances such as those I have cited will be discouraged with the narrowing of the curriculum and the diminishing of the teaching spirit.
Posted by: PLMichaelsArtist-at-Large | October 17, 2010 12:46 PM | Report abuse
I'd like to echo the last commenter on the importance of principals. A strong principal is one that has a vision for their school and is able to get the staff on board with sharing that vision. The staff then shares a common purpose in which they work collaboratively on how to best meet the needs of all of their students. Even better is when the school system leader (superintendent, chancellor, CEO) also has a vision that is shared by the school based administrators. It sometimes takes a little time to impart this, but ultimately it is worth the extra time. Reforms enacted under such leadership are more likely to be lasting, continuing after the leader has moved on by the instructional staff who has been charged with implementing those reforms.
Sadly, this is where the most visible of the Manifesto signers failed.
Posted by: musiclady | October 17, 2010 1:16 PM | Report abuse
Demanding apologies from signers of the manifesto is a waste of time. They won't. No one will, and the president won't demand what they do.
We are not in some ideological fight in the Cold War. Get focused on getting things done, rather than assertions of Who Shot John.
Work on keeping the unionistas honest, efavorite.
Posted by: axolotl | October 17, 2010 2:32 PM | Report abuse
The United States posts and provides a free and equitable education to ALL children--including our special needs children. Many other countries either hide or ignore their special children. Those children cannot make the same gains as high iq or normal IQ children-regardless of race, income, etc. Those teachers work very hard to meet the individual needs of their students. Merit pay or pay based on achievement would be totally unfair to those teachers. Most teachers are teachers because they want to make a difference-not for money. Students today must overcome hunger, lack of sleep, drug abuse, physical abuse and neglect to achieve anything. Society has made life difficult for many students. This carries over to the classrooms where more and more is demanded of our students. Teachers can teach and great teachers teach, but unless students can learn and pay attention, nothing is remembered. Everything is blamed on teachers. Teachers cannot fix everything! Teachers today are not just teachers. They are social workers, nutritionists, behaviorists, nurses, surrogate parent, seamstresses, and therapists.
Posted by: spedteacher103 | October 17, 2010 5:08 PM | Report abuse
The United States posts and provides a free and equitable education to ALL children--including our special needs children. Many other countries either hide or ignore their special children. Those children cannot make the same gains as high iq or normal IQ children-regardless of race, income, etc. Those teachers work very hard to meet the individual needs of their students. Merit pay or pay based on achievement would be totally unfair to those teachers. Most teachers are teachers because they want to make a difference-not for money. Students today must overcome hunger, lack of sleep, drug abuse, physical abuse and neglect to achieve anything. Society has made life difficult for many students. This carries over to the classrooms where more and more is demanded of our students. Teachers can teach and great teachers teach, but unless students can learn and pay attention, nothing is remembered. Everything is blamed on teachers. Teachers cannot fix everything! Teachers today are not just teachers. They are social workers, nutritionists, behaviorists, nurses, surrogate parent, seamstresses, and therapists.
Posted by: spedteacher103 | October 17, 2010 5:09 PM | Report abuse
Where is the "accountability" for...
/> the CIA and other corrupt
govt. & Wall Street-affiliated players
being involved with international drug smuggling
& distribution for decades (!)
-- deliberately inundating
communities & specific neighborhoods with heroin,
cocaine, meth, pills (MDMA/ecstacy), etc.
It is a documented fact that the CIA
& corrupt elements of the U.S. govt.
& freemasons have been involved in large-scale
heroin distribution operations and also
involved in the deliberately induced
crack cocaine epidemic targeting black neighborhoods (for the purposes of social undermining & political-economic control).
Where is the "accountability" for...
/> The 'entertainment' industry
flooding our youth with heinously toxic
& cognitively poisonous VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES
and GANGSTER-THUG GLORIFYING music/videos
that promote
crime, substance abuse, disgusting conduct,
mistreatment & violence against women,
anti-educational achievement,
anti-positive values, anti-professional careers,
anti-healthy, responsible behaviors !
Where is the "accountability" for
self-proclaimed edu-profiteer BILL GATES & MICROSOFT
in producing, promoting VIOLENT, PATHOLOGICAL
VIDEO GAMES, including first-person shooter games,
such as HALO !!!??? --
which, unfortunately, too many of our country's
children, our country's students
heinously waste too much time messing
around with, messing themselves up with --
instead of healthfully, smartly & beneficially using that time
productive experiences, studying, exploring/learning, participating in sports, teamwork, creative arts + music,
outdoor activities & nature, significant time
with friends & family, or engaging in community service !!!
Where is the accountability for VIACOM
& other media corporations
(eg. instead of the "BET" channel being utilized for positive, inspirational, educational or meaningful programming --
it has mostly
broadcast the worst sociopathic, demeaning,
undermining junk -- promoting
gangsterism & exploiting our vulnerable youth
with pernicious mind-killing crap.
Where is the "accountability" for Wall Street
& elite financiers,
such as MERRILL LYNCH and OPPENHEIMER,
previously the MAIN INVESTORS & SHAREHOLDERS
owning majority stock in the company
that produced the 'GRAND THEFT AUTO' video game
as its main product !!!
Also, what about the corporate soda-pop
& junk food pushers targeting children ?!
The reality is that ethical, caring, and dedicated
public school teachers have been the
'good samaritans' courageously
teaching with tremendous effort daily
to educate & constructively help chidren --
to transcend, overcome hardship,
to cultivate wellbeing & achievement --
despite the grotesque obstacles
& destruction foisted on us by
irresponsible, unscrupulous, rapacious and
duplicitous corporate execs. & financial elites,
corrupt oligarchs, such as Goldman Sachs et. al.
who've caused millions of chidren & families to be homeless.
Posted by: honestpolicy | October 17, 2010 5:53 PM | Report abuse
L.A. Unified Teachers have been horribly maligned by the L.A. Times' rash publishing of Value Added Measure ratings based on end of the year test scores. One of our fellow teachers was so traumatized by his unfair ranking that he committed suicide. He was considered a wonderful teacher by students, peers and administrators. L.A. Times took it upon themselves to identify so called good and bad teachers based on high stake test scores alone. It is heartening to hear Mr. Rothstein clearly state that this type of sorting teachers into good and bad by using these test scores alone is dangerous. Many hard working, dedicated and generous teachers were kicked in the gut with that misguided report.
Posted by: DoGoodAnyway | October 17, 2010 6:21 PM | Report abuse
This is a wonderful article, and really takes into account the serious problems children face.
In addition, sometimes children are sexually or physically abused, or have parents who are drug users or alcoholics. This affects children's school progress enormously.
Posted by: jlp19 | October 17, 2010 6:28 PM | Report abuse
The LA Times was on a witchhunt. And they got a victim.
Posted by: jlp19 | October 17, 2010 6:30 PM | Report abuse
Thank you, Valerie Strauss, for inviting intelligent, INFORMED people to set the record straight. It is an unbelievable thing to work in this profession, in this place, at this time. Highly effective as I am.
Posted by: wakeupfolks99 | October 17, 2010 6:47 PM | Report abuse
I have a master's degree (2009) in curriculum design and instruction. How qualified do I have to be? I teach in a school who's student body is over 90% african-Amercan and poor. Our school is "at risk at failing" under NLCB standards. When will students and parents be held accountable?
Posted by: orpheus39120 | October 17, 2010 8:52 PM | Report abuse
Both Rhee and Henderson are nothing more than "headhunters" (The New Teacher Project founded by Rhee) who sold bodies(teachers) to school districts. All good headhunters talk/adopt the buzz words language of their markets. Usually, talking the language reflects superficial knowledge of an industry, at best. Don't mistake Rhee's and Henderson's headhunting sales pitches for substantive ability to manage and lead school districts. . Neither one is qualified to do so.
Posted by: why231 | October 17, 2010 9:28 PM | Report abuse
orpheus39120--what is your role as a teacher? what are you responsible for in the classroom?
Posted by: axolotl | October 17, 2010 9:30 PM | Report abuse
Teachers struggle with students' challenges daily. This past week alone I had 2 distressing interludes with young people that all but brought me to tears as they bared their souls from the pain and danger they suffer daily.
Yet there was nothing directly I could do for either of them.
Teachers work very hard to ensure children leave them knowing more, doing more, and thinking better than when they arrived. We CANNOT fix their family dysfunction, crime in their neighborhoods, or financial stress. We CAN educate them to cope better and overcome those challenges, but lots of other folks must roll up their sleeves to help solve the problems students bring with them to schools.
Teachers need to confront other entities, parents included, to do their part. Many people criticize charter schools for having the very type of parental involvement folks want in regular public schools. Don't blame charter schools; direct your concern to the parents of these students who never show up for any school event, don't show up for parent conferences, and converse with their children like angry sailors. Indeed these parents may be under mountains of pressure to survive, but again teachers aren't credentialed to solve that.
I don't need a Mayor to run schools: I want a mayor to keep the streets safe and clean, the libraries open, stocked, and staffed, and the parks & rec centers clean, safe, stocked and staffed. Make the neighborhoods/cities hospitable to businesses so that adults and young adults can support themselves through meaningful employment, developing skills they can exploit to grow and prosper.
Churches must be more aggressive in shepherding/supporting young people through their turbulent times, especially involving their relationships and sexual intimacy. We've been teaching health/sex ed. in schools for decades, and all I've seen is MORE AND MORE young people having children out of wedlock before they are adults.
Teachers can handle the classroom; everyone else needs to help fix everything else.
Posted by: pdexiii | October 17, 2010 10:07 PM | Report abuse
Serious, authentic education reform is not what currently passes for "reform." What seems to be in vogue – championed by editors at The Post, by the soon-departing Michelle Rhee, by Bill Gates and U.S. Chamber of Commerce – is a business model approach to education improvement, characterized by more standardized testing, charter schools, and merit pay for teachers.
The overall effect of this approach – like that of supply-side economic policies on the nation's finances – has been disastrous. Charter schools are more often worse than regular pubic schools, and rarely better. Merit pay doesn't work. And an increased emphasis on standardized tests – meant to be used diagnostically – as high-stakes measures of "quality" has dumbed down education and reduced greatly the likelihood of meaningful, sustained change.
Public schools were created to fulfill the democratic ideal of promoting the general welfare (see, Constitution, U.S.). And, as Jefferson described it, the well-being of a democratic society depends on a well-educated citizenry.
Rothstein is right that real school reform does not take place only in the schools.
As he wrote in "Class and the Classroom:"
"Twenty years ago, Betty Hart and Todd Risley, two researchers from the University of Kansas, visited families from different social classes to monitor the conversations between parents and toddlers. Hart and Risley found that, on average, professional parents spoke more than 2,000 words per hour to their children, working-class parents spoke about 1,300, and welfare mothers spoke about 600. So by age 3, the children of professionals had vocabularies that were nearly 50 percent greater than those of working-class children and twice as large as those of welfare children."
"Deficits like these cannot be made up by schools alone, no matter how high the teachers' expectations. For all children to achieve the same goals, the less advantaged would have to enter school with verbal fluency that is similar to the fluency of middle-class children."
"The Kansas researchers also tracked how often parents verbally encouraged children's behavior and how often they reprimanded their children. Toddlers of professionals got an average of six encouragements per reprimand. Working-class children had two. For welfare children, the ratio was reversed -- an average of one encouragement for two reprimands. Children whose initiative was encouraged from a very early age are more likely, on average, to take responsibility for their own learning."
Authentic education reform in a democratic society recognizes a basic truth. That truth is that the closer our nation moves toward realizing its core, foundational values the closer it gets to achieving high-quality education for all, and the better it gets at maintaining a government "of the people, by the people and for the people."
As Aristotle put it more than two thousand years ago, "the care of each part is inseparable from the care of the whole."
Posted by: mcrockett1 | October 18, 2010 9:05 AM | Report abuse
Most of this discussion sounds like teacher quality is an immutable personal characteristic, like height. Teachers, like anyone else, do better work if they're well supported intellectually and socially, with ongoing, relevant, and respectful coaching, collaboration, and other learning opportunities, a workload that is not crushing, and appreciation. Calls for "accountability" assume that teachers are willfully not teaching as well as they could. This is crazy. I'm for firing the truly bad ones (my kids had a few and I was frustrated at how hard they were to get rid of) but most people who go into teaching are smart and caring. If we can't give them a positive and supportive ongoing educational experience, how can we expect them to do that for their students? Many do -- public schools are full of stars and heroes. Most aren't stars or heroes -- but most would do better if we did better by them. (From a former teacher)
Posted by: jeantepper | October 18, 2010 7:37 PM | Report abuse
Finally - an article that describes the truth about education! I am a National Board Certified Teacher. I have taught music at various grade levels for 22 years in 12 schools in 5 different states (my husband is in the military so we move a lot) and can attest to the facts that parents and school administrators greatly contribute to the success or failure of students in any school, and that the arts really do enhance learning in other subjects.
However, one additional point is consistently overlooked - the FACILITIES! Take a walk through an inner-city school and pay attention to how it looks, smells, and feels. Throughout my career I have worked in schools where the rat traps in classrooms needed to be emptied almost every morning, windows were broken and not repaired for months, poor lighting and ventilation created a difficult learning and teaching environment, cockroaches ran through the cafeteria on a regular basis, termites crawling through the walls were ignored, teachers would have to position the trash cans in their rooms and hallways to catch the water leaking from the ceilings every time it rained, carpeting was so frayed that students tripped while walking across the floor, drab paint was peeling off of the walls, and bookshelves were falling apart. Out of all of my schools, only 3 have had adequate rooms for teaching music. In all of the others I had to teach in the students' classrooms, the gym, or the cafeteria.
In my current "under-performing, low-income, inner-city" school, the musical instruments are very old and falling apart and there is no budget for repairs. I often pay for the repairs out of my own pocket (I just spent over $200 on instrument cases to replace the ones that were moldy and falling apart so that the students could take their instruments home to practice). The school cannot replace the instruments because the budget is earmarked solely for the subjects that are tested. In spite of all of this the students are learning high-quality music and will put on several excellent performances this school year.
In my music classes students are developing skills in teamwork, self-discipline, commitment, self-confidence, hand-eye coordination, and an appreciation of world history and culture - plus many other skills too numerous to mention.
Most importantly, they are learning and developing a skill that they will be able to continue to enjoy for the rest of their lives - playing a musical instrument!
As a teacher I beg anyone who wants to comment on education to spend a day in a "low-performing" school before pointing any fingers - if you are really brave and have the time to apply, get a job as a substitute teacher for the day. Sit at the desks. Eat in the cafeteria. Talk to a few of the children and the teachers about their views of education and their wants and needs. I guarantee it will be an eye-opening experience.
Posted by: musicteacher | October 19, 2010 7:49 PM | Report abuse
The comments to this entry are closed.


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Photo by Rick Edwards. All Rights Reserved. The Madison Square Gardeners made noise together for the first time in a year and a half last week. We were working in Bushwick's brand new Room 17 Studios with Adam Lasus producing and Joe Rogers assisting. If you're a fan of the Madison Square Gardeners, you're going to love this record...it's right up your alley.
I also started work the next day on a new solo recording. It's a full length..picking up where "Filth" left off and taking it even further and crazier...very excited about it.
A couple new shows have been posted...SXSW gigs are continuing to roll in, so keep an eye out! In the mean time, may your time be not so mean. Hope to see you all in Texas in March.
Love, ALT


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Robert Half International Inc. provides specialized staffing and risk consulting services through divisions, such as Accountemps, Robert Half Finance & Accounting, OfficeTeam, Robert Half Technology, Robert Half Management Resources, Robert Half Legal, The Creative Group and Protiviti. The Company, through its Accountemps, Robert Half Finance & Accounting, and Robert Half Management Resources divisions, is a specialized provider of temporary, full-time and project professionals in the fields of accounting and finance. OfficeTeam specializes in temporary administrative support personnel. Robert Half Technology provides information technology professionals. Robert Half Legal provides temporary, project and full-time staffing of attorneys and specialized support personnel within law firms and corporate legal departments. The Creative Group provides project staffing in the advertising, marketing and Web design fields. Protiviti is a global business consulting and internal audit firm.
(Source: 10-K)


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Liberty News
New students enjoy Welcome Week
|Student Leadership members help move new students into residence halls on Wednesday. Every student at Liberty has five student leaders on their hall: two Resident Assistants, two Spiritual Life Directors and a Prayer Leader.
As students continue to arrive at Liberty University for the start of the fall semester, several activities have been planned to help them connect with each other and have fun before classes begin Monday.
Fall Welcome Week activities include a campus-wide scavenger hunt, indoor and outdoor movie nights, a late skate event at the LaHaye Ice Center, a tubing trip with the James River Float Co., bingo in the Tilley Student Center, lunchtime karaoke in the Reber-Thomas Dining Hall and the Chancellor's Cookout at Williams Stadium.
"The Student Activities Office loves to provide events during Welcome Week to give students a chance to get to know one another, to meet new friends, and for returning students to reconnect," said Chris Misiano, Liberty's Director of Campus Recreation.
Liberty is welcoming more than 12,500 residential students this fall, of which 4,100 are new students. More than 7,100 students are living on campus.
New students were greeted by members of Liberty's Student Leadership, who helped them move into campus housing on Tuesday. The Student Activities Office also helped at move-in and provided free pizza.
|Students participated in karaoke lunches in Reber-Thomas Dining Hall during Welcome Week.
"My RAs and the student leadership were very friendly and helpful in every way – they helped me move in, they answered any questions I had, they would walk with me if I needed to get somewhere and didn't know where to go," said Pretoria Lester, a freshman from Danville, Va. "I could come to them for anything."
"I didn't have to pick up one thing," said freshman Kayleigh Lanning of Roanoke, Va. "Everyone just came out and said hi to me and I've been hanging out with all of them. I was kind of expecting it (the hospitality), but not as much."
Returning students will be moving in Friday and throughout the weekend.
On Wednesday afternoon, 94 local businesses were represented at the Community Welcome Fair at the Vines Center, an annual event hosted by Liberty's Career Center to introduce new and transfer students and their families to all the community has to offer.
"It definitely helps you see what's out there, and you can get deals to save money," said incoming freshman Brandon Pogue from New York. "There were lots of chances to win free food and stuff for your room. As a new student, I thought it was really helpful."
|Students get ready for a campus-wide scavenger hunt held Wednesday night.
Participating businesses ranged from restaurants to cell phone service providers, banks and counseling services.
"We like to promote the community," said Jessica Nelson, a representative for Old Mill Townhomes. "When people come to this booth I don't just tell them about our townhomes, but I kind of help them get their bearings with the community." Referring to the other businesses there, she said she uses many of their services personally, "so I can say to the students, 'These people are really great to do business with.'"
Next weekend, Liberty's traditional Block Party will give Liberty departments and student-led clubs a chance to meet new students. The outdoor event is open to the entire student body and will feature carnival games, food, fireworks and well-known musicians Mute Math, Dave Barnes and Andy Davis.
- View the Welcome Week schedule here.


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Melbourne zoo animals have received special treats this Christmas with wrapped festive food presents in their enclosures.
The gifts included fruits, nuts and chickens as the zoo's Sumatran tigers, western lowland gorillas, Sumatran orangutans and meerkats busily tore into their gifts on Sunday.
Sibling rivalry got the best of the tigers with brother Aceh hogging all the presents, Melbourne zoo spokeswoman Judith Henke said.
"Dominant brother Aceh took both of the presents - each one contained a small chicken. Brother Hutan chose to sit in the bamboo instead," she told AAP.
The orangutans enjoyed parcels of fruits and nuts, while the gorillas sat in a sociable family group enjoying cherries and strawberries in addition to their usual vegetarian treats.
Baby Meerkats were puzzled by the wrappings and parcels, but followed their mother and soon got stuck into their Christmas treats.


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|Biosequences .. Software .. Molbio soft .. Network News .. FTP
[NOTE from D.K. - I am passing this message and the next one from Dr. Benson on to the Arabidopsis community at the request of Dr. Dilworth at NSF.] Course Announcement: Schedule for 1993 Cold Spring Harbor Course "Essential Computational Genomics for Biologists". 03 - 12 November, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Organizer: Tom Marr, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Funded by the National Center for Human Genome Research (NIH/NCHGR). The course is intended for molecular biologists who have modest skills in the use of computers, but who have need to use computers to solve problems associated with their research. There are limited funds available to help defray the cost of attending the course. Applications and information may be obtained from: Meetings Office, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 1 Bungtown Road, Cold Spring Harbor, NY 11724-2213, Phone (516)367-8346, Fax (516)367-8845. Evenings are reserved for students working on computers, using a variety of computer programs that demonstrate the application of techniques learned in the daily sessions. This year's course will include the following topics in roughly this order: Day 1: (03 Nov) Dan Davison - Unix and biological resources on the INTERNET (various data servers) Day 2: (04 Nov) Nat Goodman - database technologies - relational, object oriented, etc. (morning) Michael Cinkosky - Relational Databases and SQL (afternoon) Day 3: (05 Nov) Ken Fasman - the Genome Database (morning) Elbert Branscomb - an integrated relational database to support genome mapping and analysis (afternoon) Day 4: (06 Nov) Tom Marr, Elbert Branscomb, Bill Chang - Physical mapping of genomes (morning) Phil Green - Basic Statistics and Probability (afternoon) Day 5: (07 Nov) Phil Green - Basic Statistics, continued (morning) Phil Green - The Worm sequencing project: Gene finding (afternoon) - Day 6: (08 Nov) Steve Lincoln - Genetic Linkage, MapMaker/QTL (morning/afternoon) Day 7: (09 Nov) Bill Pearson - Protein Evolution (morning) Stephen Altschul - statistical theory of sequence searching (afternoon) Day 8: (10 Nov) Bill Pearson - sequence analysis, FASTA, Smith-Waterman (morning) Greg Schuler - MACAW/BLAST and other NCBI tools (afternoon) Day 9: (11 Nov) Randy Smith - PIMA, PAUP, sequence clustering (morning/afternoon) Day 10: (12 Nov) course critique and finish


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ALAMEDA — The Raiders began their final practice Friday in preparation for the Jacksonville Jaguars, and a likely emphasis once the media was excused was being expedient in the huddle.
It was an issue on a few occasions against Indianapolis, particularly after long runs by quarterback Terrelle Pryor. Twice the Raiders had to burn time outs rather than take a delay of game penalty.
"It wasn't something that was a problem for us during the preseason," offensive coordinator Greg Olson said Thursday. "It was (his) first time for us, live on the road, starting in this system. He executed well in practice, there were a few glitches in the game, so we're trying to get those cleaned up this week."
Pryor conceded getting in and out of the huddle on plays after he ran the ball were a problem. The Raiders had two delay of game penalties and twice had to call time outs after Pryor ran the ball.
"It gets tiring. I had 13 runs and a couple of them were pretty long, and on top of that I'm tying to lose guys and find players downfield to throw the ball," Pryor said. "So you just get winded and I've got to keep getting better at that.
"I think I'm just so psyched up in in the game and in the moment, and I'm huffing and puffing and trying to get the way out. I've got to get better at that, and we will be better at that this week. I can promise that."
Tackle Menelik Watson, who reportedly underwent arthroscopic knee surgery (the Raiders will not confirm) will also be out.
Strong safety Tyvon Branch and place kicker Sebastian Janikowski were both at practice.
For more on the Raiders, visit the Inside the Oakland Raiders blog at ibabuzz.com/oaklandraiders. Follow Jerry McDonald on Twitter at twitter.com/Jerrymcd.


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by Cheryl Clarke
It seems like celebrities are always sporting the hippest designer clothes that would be hard for the average person to get their hands on. But there's no reason why you can't get the celebrity look for less without putting a dent in your wallet.
Skirting Around with Alexa Chung
Just because it's the holiday season doesn't mean your sweater has to be ugly. Pair a beautiful chunky knit with a show-stopping sequin or metallic pencil skirt to look put together in no time. The knit will keep you warm, plus let's face it—it's a winter staple.
And pencil skirts might as well be the new mini, as they can go from office wear to everywhere. The metallic stripe accents on the skirt make the outfit fun and flirty. Pencil skirts have been seen on celebs like Jordana Brewster and Jada Pinkett-Smith thanks to designers like Derek Lam who rocked them on the runways recently. Get this Alexa Chung look for under $80!
Cable-Knit Crew Sweater: $29 at Old Navy – get free returns on all orders for the rest of year
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The Gwen Stefani Grid
If you haven't seen the grid print popping up all over the place recently, then you've had your head buried in wrapping gifts and baking cookies. Now you can get your hands on this rock star look without the celebrity price. The grid pants sit just below the waist and hit right at the ankle.
Add the woolen cape for extra warmth and some city chic edge. Hats are everything right now, and this newsgirl hat will save you from a bad hair day, keep your ears warm and have you on par with the trends. Get the Gwen Stefani look for only $105!
Slim Cropped Grid Pants: $44 at American Apparel – get free shipping on $50+ orders
Mossimo Newsgirl Hat: $12.99 at Target – get 5% off with your RedCard
Leith Town Cape: $48.98 at Nordstrom – get free shipping and free returns on all orders
Kim K. Is Crazy for Camel
This season's go-to neutral is camel, which no longer has to take a backseat to black, white or gray. Celebrities like new mommy Kim Kardashian have been seen in this color all year, but camel has really taken center stage and can be a closet staple in any season.
Nothing looks cozier than a coat in this color like this one in all its lapel glory. Pair it with a form-fitting dress and some showstopper ankle-strap pumps like these stunners for a holiday party look. Get the Kim Kardashian post-baby look for under $200!
Large Lapel Coat: $79.99 at Zara – get free shipping and returns on all orders
Pleat Neck Ponte Dress: $55 at Dorothy Perkins – save up to 50% off sale items
Steve Madden Realove Heels: $55.99 at 6PM – free shipping on all orders and up to 80% off clearance


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{Here is the plan: I'd like to try something new around here, every now and then, just to change things up. We'll call it "pantry goods", and I will occasionally dedicate a post to a certain section of a whole foods focused pantry. If you have any positive comments, questions or things you'd like to see around here, please contribute to the comment section!}
I am familiar with the way I cook and eat, but am aware it's not mainstream. For the next few weeks, we're talking "pantry goods", and this post I'm sharing some notes on sweeteners. Forgive me if I am repeating information you already know, but I'm hoping to level the playing field here. It makes me squimish to write as an authority on this, as I have no formal nutrition degree, but I want to share how these natural sweeteners work in my kitchen, and why I find them better choices than plain white sugar. None of these sweeteners are "diet foods" or "low calorie" but I find them to be less processed than the alternative. There are certainly more than what's listed below, but these are what I find in constant rotation around here.
Organic Natural Cane Sugar: This is the closest relative to "plain white sugar", and is defined as pure evaporated cane juice. It retains any natural occuring nutrients and minerals. Plain white sugar is bleached or refined, and clarified by bone char (why some vegans/vegetarians won't eat it). It is easy to find at any conventional market these days.
Muscavado: I use muscavado in place of brown sugar as an equal exchange. Some resources say you should reduce the moisture content a bit, but I find this to be unnecessary. Its texture is moist, much like refined brown sugar, and you can purchase it in light or dark varieties.The flavor is complex and caramel like, making a great substitute in baking. It retains it's natural minerals, as the molasses has never been drawn out of it in the first place. Standard brown sugar is refined, and then the molasses is added back in to make it brown. You can find muscavado at specialty markets, or buy it here.
Turbinado: You know this most popularly as "Sugar in the Raw", they have it in little packets at Starbucks and restaurants, it is a coarse natural cane sugar. It's made by crushing raw sugar cane and pressing out the juice that has all the vitamins and minerals in it. This juice is then dehydrated in a centrifuge to produce larger crystals. It makes an excellent topping to loaf cakes or cookies because it stays crunchy and adds a nice texture. I also like it in granola or a crumble topping because of this. Turbinado is easy to find at a conventional market.
Sucanat: The consistency of sucanat is pretty unique, it resembles sand and it quite dry in texture. It doesn't work in places you need a smooth sweetness, like whipping cream, as it's texture is too dry. It is produced in a similar way to turbinado, except the juice is heated to a syrup, then hand paddled to dry it out. Because it has all of it's natural molasses, it has a good amount of iron, B6, calcium, and potassium. I've read that it is great for homemade bbq sauce, but I use it mostly for baking. My cookies err on the side of "textured" anyway, typically with oats, chocolate chunks and dried fruit, so it fits in perfectly. You can find it at natural food markets or here.
Date or Maple Sugar: Dehydrated versions of their respective ingredients, these sweeteners are considered "whole foods" as there is nothing added or taken away. The maple, for example, is heated and then stirred to dry, sort of like turbinado. They don't dissolve into liquids without heat, but they can be substituted 1:1 for plain or brown sugars. The tastes resemble date/maple with their deep flavor, so use accordingly. You can find them at natural food markets or here. Ashley's cocoa with maple sugar looks delicious.
Honey: Believe it or not, honey does have a season. In the summer and fall, you are going to get the freshest honey when buying it at a local farmers market. Not to say it goes bad, just an interesting note. Bees are essential for our food system, so if you are able to buy it from a local beekeeper, do it. There is usually someone with honey at a farmers market. Honey's unique composition makes it an immunity builder, helps with allergies, anti-microbial, an antioxidant and a remedy for a number of health ailments. It dissolves easily into liquids with a bit of heat and can be used in baked goods. There is a resource through The Honey Locator to find places near you.
Agave Nectar: There are differing opinions on whether agave is as "unrefined" as it is marketed to be. Because it has a high concentration of fructose, some research doesn't find it so great, and with enough googling, you can look into it yourself, I'm not one for conflict. It is extracted from the agave plant, and comes in light, dark and raw varieties. It is said to be lower on the glycemic idex than regular sugar, so it doesn't spike your blood sugar as quickly. It is slightly sweeter than a dry sugar, and doesn't have a strong flavor making it pretty versatile. Because it dissolves easily into a liquid, I often use it in oatmeal, cocktails, dressings, marinades and what not. Agave is easy to find and they have a great price at Costco/Sam's Club if you use it frequently.
Maple Syrup: REAL maple syrup is from the sap of a sugar maple tree. You can purchase it in Grade A or B, the former being a more gentle flavor and the later having a deeper maple-ness to it. I usually go with B, and both are a good source of manganese and zinc. The good stuff can be fairly pricy and since it lasts so long and I use it often, I buy a big jug to save money. I use it as a sweetener for granola and Heidi's peanut butter cookies are spot on.
Brown Rice Syrup: This sweetener is made from fermented brown rice, and then heated to make a thick syrup. It is a complex sugar, which means it is broken down and absorbed more slowly into the blood stream. I use it in granola bars and rice krispy treats, but have read it's a great sweetener for coffee due to its mild flavor and how well it distributes in liquid with heat. I use it as a sweetener for frozen yogurt in our cookbook and love the gentle flavor it contribute there. You can find is at natural food markets or here.
** Though they all contribute sweetness to a recipe, the dry vs. liquid sweeteners cannot be substituted exactly. As a very general rule, if you want to use a liquid sweetener instead of a dry, you need to scale back the moisture in the recipe back by 1/3 or add 4 Tbsp. of a flour to compensate. If you want to use a dry instead of a liquid sweetener, cup for cup, add 1/3 cup more liquid to the recipe.
Again, all of these notes are based on opinion with some help from Wholesome Sweeteners and SparkPeople.
BAKED APPLES WITH SPICES + NUTS // Makes 4
Adapted from La Tartine Gourmande by Beatrice Peltre
Bea's cookbook, as expected, is quite gorgeous. There are a good amount of dessert recipes along with stunning and creative dishes featuring fresh vegetables. Though not marketed as such, she cooks gluten free, so the recipes call for a few unique flours and such, but they are worth the trip if you don't stock them normally. Sweet stories, thoughtful recipes, the book is a beauty.
I only made a few changes based on the fact that I didn't have vanilla bean or cinnamon sticks on hand, but either way, this is a super easy and tasty dessert.
4 Tbsp. dried cranberries or golden raisins, chopped
4 Tbsp. unsalted pistachios, chopped
4 Tbsp. slivered almonds, chopped
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup apple juice
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract or one vanilla bean
zest of one lemon
4 apples such as pink lady, winesap, liberty
3 Tbsp. coconut oil, melted
2 Tbsp. turbinado sugar
Preheat the oven to 350'.
Combine the dried fruit, pistachios and almonds in a small bowl. Stir in the cinnamon and set aside.
In a saucepan, combine the apple juice, vanilla extract or seeds of the vanilla bean and lemon zest. Bring it to a simmer for 5 minutes for everything to infuse. Turn off the heat and let it cool.
Core the apples and cut about 1/4 of the top off, reserving the tops (I used a melon baller to scoop out a bit of a pocket in the apple core, this is optional).
Put the apples in an ovenproof dish. Divide the nut stuffing between the apples and cover them with their tops.
Pour the infused juice and oil over the apples and sprinkle with the sugar.
Bake for one hour or until the flesh is tender, regularly drizzling with the cooking juice. Remove from the oven and serve warm with the juices and plain yogurt, whipping cream or ice cream on the side.


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Returns Policy
Warranties, Returns and Exchanges:
If you are not happy for any reason with your (non apparel) purchase from us, simply return it and we will replace, exchange or refund your money (less shipping and handling charges). You may return the merchandise within 30 days of receiving it in its original packaging and condition. Please note: There is a 15% restocking fee on all returns.
We can not replace, exchange or refund any custom made orders. Custom made items may not be canceled once construction has begun. If an item is sharpened or engraved, it is not returnable. Shipping and handling fees are non refundable.
"Our Clothing Guarantee"
Medieval Collectibles fully warrants all of our clothing against any defects in materials or craftsmanship. Please inspect your garments upon arrival. If they do not fit, we will be happy to exchange them for a different size. If they are of poor quality, we will be happy to exchange them for the correct quality. If you wish to return your clothing item(s) for a refund there is a 15% restocking fee.
Please note: We will not accept returned garments that have been worn, washed, damaged or soiled and each will be returned to the customer at the customer's expense. All items must be returned within 14 days of receiving them - shipping and handling charges are non-refundable.
Returns and Exchanges:
* Returning Non apparel items: 30 days from receipt (15% restocking fee)
* Returning Apparel items (Clothing, Costumes, Footwear): 14 days from receipt (15% restocking fee)
* Returning After Due Date: At our discretion we may take items back and issue store credit. Customer is responsible for shipping and handling.
* Exchanging all items: 30 days from receipt. Customer is responsible for shipping and handling.
You must contact us prior to returning any item for an exchange or refund. We will issue you a RAN (Return Authorization Number). Items received without a Return Authorization Number will not be accepted. Any such items may be returned to the customer at the customer's expense.
Items must be returned in the original packaging and condition. The RA Number must be clearly written on the package. Please include a copy of your invoice and an explanation for the reason of the return. After the 30 day return period, Medieval Collectibles reserves the right to accept or deny merchandise returns for store credit.
Medieval Collectibles will not accept any returns that have been damaged by the customer. Any alterations, use, or damage occurring after the item leaves our facilities will void our liability to accept the return of such item. Any such returns will be sent back to the customer at the customer's expense. Personal items such as underwear, drinking cups / chalices, earrings, hats, wigs and wind instruments cannot be returned.


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Can Babaoglu necesitaba un nuevo diseño de impreso o envases y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 8 diseños de 4 diseñadores freelance.
*Complete Training Solution For Competitive Skiers*
We are a complete training solution targeting competitive skiers. We bring together value-adding Video Analysis Tools and easy-to-use Training Management Features.
Video Analysis:
-Slow Motion
-Frame Advance
-Split Screen
-Drawing Tools (Planned)
Training Management:
-Mass Announcements
-Easy Messaging
-Training Logs (Planned)
*A Local Community Portal for Ski Clubs*
SkiClubZ.com makes each ski club run more efficiently. It makes teaching easier and more effective for the coaches, training more interactive and enjoyable for the athletes and most importantly it keeps parents in the know but out of the way.
*A Global Network For Competitive Skiers*
SkiClubZ.com has started bringing members of the skiing community from all across the globe together under one online platform. As it grows, SkiClubZ.com will facilitate effective global communication and collaboration.
*Current Status of Project*
We are currently in Beta and our site is only being used by Ski & Snowboard Club Vail. Our plan is to start marketing and sales to other clubs for the 2010-11 season starting in March '10. In conjunction with this effort
*Particular for the Quarter Cards*
These cards will be included in the gift baskets handed out to the participants of the Alpine Skiing Junior Olympics Qualifier that will be held in Vail, Colorado. The participants will be in their mid to late teens and they fit the general description below.
Competitive skiers worldwide are our target audience. Our target audience is between the ages of 10-35. They live in or close to ski resorts. Their lives revolve around skiing. They are reasonably well-off (competitive skiing is expensive). Most are social networking users (mostly facebook) and are familiar with Social Media sites and trends.
To introduce us to the athletes and entice their interest. We want them to want to learn more about us and go to the website
*Use of Icons*
We just got new icons and we require that you use the appropriate ones in your designs. You are free to play with their colors. Also, we don't have a "global network" icon so you'll need to design one that fits in with the existing icons. Attached you will the psd files for the icons and a few jpgs that highlight different uses.
*Side 1*
Should have the logo (without the beta) and the tag line (The A to Z Training Solution) and the text: "Coming Soon to a Club Near You1". Attach you will find a brainstorm design from us. You don't necessarily have to stick with it.
*Side 2*
This side should highlight that we are: an online video analysis solution, a training management tool, a local community portal and a global network. Attached you will find a brainstorm design from us. You don't necessarily have to stick with it.
Feel free to have the background be blank, a single color, some sort of a gradient or an image.
The cards will be 4" X 6" (10.2cm X 15.2 cm) so your designs need to have those proportions.
*Printing Process*
We will use smartlevels.com. Please follow the instructions in their guide: http://www.smartlevels.com/static/d…print.aspx


text: Bowling is a sport in which players attempt to score points by rolling a bowling ball along a flat surface, usually a wooden or synthetic surface, either into pins or to get close to a target ball. The most common types include ten-pin, nine-pin, candlepin, duckpin, and five-pin bowling, as well as various outdoor variations. 'Bowling Centers' in New Albany offer multi-lane bowling for all ages, support league play and local events. Some of the upscale bowling centers in New Albany also combine bowling with sports bar, bistro and night club elements.


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Outdoor Lounge Seating
Outdoor Lounge Seating – This outdoor lounge seating are some great creative new ideas on how you can choose your patio furniture and help with ideas for a fantastic fresh new outdoor lounge seating plan that will suit your budget and lifestyle. Patio furniture can really add a lot of appeal to your patio, but it is important to choose your outdoor furniture carefully to ensure you get the best looking and longest lasting furniture. This applies to furnishing a new patio or redecorating an established one. Whether you're planning a contemporary design or a modern design, the outdoor lounge seating will make the greatest difference.
The outdoor lounge seating are available in different sizes, styles, colors, and designs. They are made from a variety of materials, ranging from metal, plastic to wood. Select the outdoor lounge seating that match the style of your design. Most patio furniture is designed to withstand years of exposure to heat, rain, a little wind, and the sun. However, the harsh ice, snow, and wind that generally arrive during the winter months can dramatically shorten the life of your patio furniture. So be careful about selecting the best patio furniture. Your patio more comfortable with the outdoor lounge seating.
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Although I have been an elementary school principal for almost ten years it didn't occur to me until recently that formal classroom observations and informal walk-throughs of classrooms aren't enough to provide us with a complete picture of what is happening in our schools... we must also be engaging in conversations too!
My Pitfalls
You see, what I have come to understand is that the formal observations and informal walk-throughs have led me to certain pitfalls. Either I am making assumptions that everything is great based on a snapshot; or I am trying to generalize what I watched over a 40 minute period to make broad stroke statements about the whole year; or I am overreacting to something I saw; I start to think that certain teachers only eat snack and pack up. But that is not the reality. That is not the complete picture because observations are not enough.
Not Just Any Talking
I know this sounds like a no brainer and many would argue that they engage in a lot of conversations on a daily basis but, I am not talking about exchanging pleasantries or chatting in passing. I am not even talking about visiting classrooms and watching what is going on for a few minutes and then offering some feedback. Yes, those conversations and exchanges are important but they are not enough. We, as the educational leaders in the space, need to spend more time talking with those around us than just talking in passing or after an observation. In fact, we need to be talking and sharing with intentionality. Observations, pre-observations and post-observation conferences are not enough.
Intentional Conversations
I am referring to setting aside "sacred" time to talk about learning. I am referring to the importance of scheduling time to discuss the instructional practices that are unfolding within our classrooms. I am referring to discussing the readiness levels of our students and what we are doing to best meet their needs. Up until this year it never occurred to me how important it was to set up this time to meet with our teachers and just talk without distractions. Just talk about learning. Just talk about teaching. Just talk about the successes and failures within our schools. Just talk... but with focus and intentionality.
Literacy Check-Ins
At the start of the school year we bought each classroom teacher a set of the new Teacher's College Reading and Writing Units of Study and although we are not officially a TC school, we were offering our teachers PD opportunities with the amazing JoEllen McCarthy. These PD opportunities and new resources have led to a shift in the instructional practices unfolding in our classrooms, which has been impressive but, as we know, any shifts present their own challenges and concerns. So, in an effort to better support our teachers, I scheduled 30 minute "Literacy Check-In Meetings" with each grade level at the end of September just to talk, share and check in to see how the literacy learning was unfolding in our school. I set a timer at the beginning of the meeting, which took place during a common prep time, because I wanted to keep the discussions to 30 minutes and wanted to be respectful of our teachers' valuable time. As we kicked off the meeting, I took on the role of facilitator and recorder and set up a Google Doc for each grade level to track our thoughts. I started the meetings by asking each team how they were doing, what they were trying and how it was going... and then I did less talking and more listening.
The Bottom Line
Well, the flow of conversation and exchange of ideas that ensued during these literacy check-in meetings was awesome to observe and even better to participate in. I learned so much about our students and teachers from these conversations. For example, I learned that what TC suggested takes one day, takes us about 3 or 4 days. I learned that our teachers really know our kids and their readiness levels and that serves as the impetus for every instructional decision. I learned that our teachers do a lot of self-assessing and engage the students in a lot of self-assessment. I learned that student voice matters at Cantiague as we develop lifelong readers and authors. I learned that our teachers are really thoughtful about the work they challenge our students to complete within the reading and writing workshop experiences.
The list can go on and on but the point is, I learned so much from these conversations about what was going on in our school that for the first time ever, I felt like I was getting a more complete picture of what our teachers were doing and why they were making certain choices! It also helped me realize that observations aren't enough... we need to be intentional about our work and as a result, we need to spend time facilitating conversations because talking (and more importantly listening) is not only enlightening but it can help us fill in the picture of what is going on in our buildings and help us best meet the needs of our learners.


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Christopulos named Cox Conserves Hero, scores $60K grant for Appalachian Trail Conservancy Roanoke Times
IIRC the objection was the US forest service not doing its job in reviewing the pipeline and just allowing it.Starchild 10-20-2019, 14:54
The ATC and most environmental groups understand and accepts that infrastructure projects will cross the trail. They always seek to work with the developmentSarcasm the elf 10-20-2019, 14:53
This appears to be a different project (I wasn't aware of it either) This one is run by Doninion and Duke energy, while Mountain Valley was runSarcasm the elf 10-20-2019, 14:47
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So the next three lessons will be based on some of the new upcoming Pokemon characters that you will be seeing in the soon to be new release of Pokemon X & Y. Unfortunately I don't know anything about this Pokemon except the name. So, in light of the new news I will be showing you "how to draw Fennekin", step by step. As I said, I don't know what type of Pokemon this character is, but I can tell you that the new Pokemon are going to be exciting. I know you will love drawing Fennekin because it is new, colorful, and exciting to look at. Peace people be back soon.
DragoArt members upload artwork and drawing tutorials! They are also allowed to leave comments on tutorials, profiles, etc. Many more features, as well; it's way better than just being a boring guest! Register Now!


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Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) Analysis
**The below information is from the 2006-2016 UIS Strategic Plan. For information on the current 2018-2028 Strategic Compass, visit https://www.uis.edu/strategiccompass/ **
This SWOT analysis builds on the Environmental Assessment and on the strategic planning discussions led by President White for the University of Illinois.
The UIS Strategic Planning Committee discussed SWOT specifically at two of its meetings, one in March 2005 and one in October 2005. It discussed strengths and weaknesses relative to our competition and in doing so, first identified who our competitors are. So this analysis begins with a list of competitors identified in the two meetings, in feedback from others at UIS, and in conversations among committee members.
Like the president's list for the University of Illinois, some of the SWOTs here overlap and some are contradictory; yet they form the basis for a thoughtful
discussion about the future of UIS. Selected competitive variables are compared in Appendix B and Appendix C.
Major competitors, on-campus programs:
Illinois State University, Southern Illinois University – Carbondale, Western Illinois University, Southern Illinois University – Edwardsville, Eastern Illinois University, Illinois College, Northern Illinois University, Bradley, and McKendree.
Major competitors, online programs:
University of Phoenix Online, University of Maryland University College, SUNY Learning Network, Arizona Universities Network, UMassOnline, Michigan State,
Penn State World Campus, Stanford, University of Texas System, University of Wisconsin Extension.
UIS Strengths:
- U of I name
- affordable
- location in state capital
- small size
- full-time faculty teach most classes, and there is a strong bond and a high level of interaction between faculty and students
- expertise in teaching non-traditional students
- comprehensiveness, quality, and growth of online education
- accessibility – day, night, online formats
- interdisciplinary and experiential education at both the undergraduate and graduate levels
- Capital Scholars Honors Program as a model of an integrated honors curriculum in a living-learning community
- Faculty service to the university and the larger community.
UIS Weaknesses:
- underfunding in many departments and programs
- lack of financial support for faculty Scholarship
- thin on cultural/racial/ethnic diversity
- declining enrollment from the mid- to late-1990s, followed by uneven patterns of growth
- understaffing at many levels
- inadequate resources for recruitment, retention, advising, and marketing – all the things needed to recruit and retain students
- lack of infrastructure – including physical, financial, and human resources; inadequate capital funds to support all that we want to do
- underdeveloped campus life and facilities
- not enough undergraduate degree programs
UIS Opportunities:
- continuing education for intellectual enrichment and for people of all ages
- online opportunities worldwide
- downtown presence – for classes and a residential center for graduate students/interns
- opportunity to build an undergraduate experience using the best practices from throughout the country
- tap into the health care industry, which is growing in Springfield with two major hospitals, a medical school, and only the second state-created Medical District in Illinois
- more conversations and partnerships with local employers – those in the private, nonprofit, and public sectors – so that our students are more appealing to them
- partner with the University of Illinois in "unlimited university" online initiative
- educational opportunities related to Lincoln and tourism
- international and off-campus study and exchange programs
- becoming a leader in interdisciplinary and integrated learning
Threats to UIS:
- reduced public funding of higher education in Illinois
- risk of losing prominent faculty and staff for genuinely better opportunities at other universities or locally
- growing competition from nearby public universities and small privates in central Illinois


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Tag Archives: outdoors
How to Enjoy the Great Outdoors with Your KidsJune 6th, 2013 | 1 Comment
Did you love camping before kids, but are intimidated to try it now as a family? Ashley shares several tips that her family has learned – they camp extensively with two young children. MOREPosted in Ecological Responsibility, Healthy Living, Keeping Active, Love of Nature Tagged camping, family fun, green living, nature, outdoors, parenting


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Everything about Home Theatre PC's (HTPC), Media Centers like PopCorn Hour, Western Digital. Also other Media Centers and streaming media to XboX 360, PS3, etc.


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Here's Why Facebook is Nixing its LGBTQ Pride Emoji
Facebook users who wanted to show some extra LGBTQ Pride love on the social media platform this month will be a bit bummed out.
Unlike years past, Facebook revealed it will no longer add its popular rainbow flag reaction emoji for Pride Month. A spokesperson for the company confirmed the news to Business Insider and explained why the Pride reaction is gone.
"We are no longer doing custom reactions for major holidays or moments in culture," Lisa Stratton told the newspaper.
Nevertheless, Facebook is still making sure its LGBTQ users can celebrate this month with its Pride filters and stickers. These features will exist throughout the entire year, too.
Business Insider points out some Facebook users noticed a change with holiday-related emojis on Mother's Day earlier this year. Last year, Facebook created a Mother's Day "flower" reaction button but it didn't show up this year.
Learn more by visiting Facebook's official LGBTQ resource page by clicking here.


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The grapevine is abuzz with the talk that Ganguly has been dropped.
Very interesting if true
What will they do if Kaif scores in this test too ...and so does Laxman ???
Ganguly to open or to keep wickets
The grapevine is abuzz with the talk that Ganguly has been dropped.
Very interesting if true
What will they do if Kaif scores in this test too ...and so does Laxman ???
Ganguly to open or to keep wickets
]Originally Posted by SJS
hahaha....dont know how to react if that is indeed true .
If he has really been dropped for non-medical reasons , kudos to the selectors(?) for showing some guts. I hope he makes it back just because he is one of my favourite players .
Of course, what I really hope is that he has a side strain which heals in time for the last test .
firstname.lastname@example.com: you know when your dog ate my goldfish bart and you told me i never had a goldfish, then why did i have the bowl bart! why did i have the bowl!!!!
Member of the MSC and the AAAS
Wanna Search ?
Waughney : We are well taken care of here at the Rehab centre.
Oh yes. Everyone has seen this as well as Ganguly jogging a few yards with the physio in the morning to 'test' his fitness. But according to the grapevine, that is all to give him a face saving reasonOriginally Posted by Top_Cat
Gantooly being dropped wouldn't surprise me, he hasn't done much lately. And thats me being nuetral. Me in my Gantooly hating mood is loving this
<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v260/Jarryd/Muralicopy.jpg">
If true I am surprised since Ganguly seemed 'unshakeable'.
If true I am also impressed for its a bold decision but not totally unwarranted.
I would, however, be disappointed if we went through the sham of an injury rather than Ganguly saying he would like to sit out due to lack of runs and Kaif not deserving to be dropped.
All in all very interesting but is it true...well....???
Drop him during an extremely important series? I seriously doubt it.
The only things that support that claim, is htat he wanted the groundsman to shave the pitch or something yesterday, and i assume he did so in person without the effect of a strain, also his recent run of form would be another reason, but seeing as he is captain I would not be able to agree with him being dropped.
There has already been some criticism of Ganguly for mentioning to the press that he had asked the curator to shave off the grass and the curator refused to do his bidding.Originally Posted by shaka
The curator refused, because I believe that Nagpur and the Indian Cricket Board or some other name like that, are politically opposed, they might have believed that Ganguly was acting for them or something like that. As they are opposed, they obviously wouldn't carry out a request from their (apparent) oppositions.
my first reaction when i saw at and Dean Jones asked Dravid "what is wrong with Sourav" and his response was along the lines of "yeaahh...ummm...he's just got a big of...ahhh....a..umm..leg problem....."
I don't think he would have been dropped.
My first theory was he has had a huge dummy spit over the whole pitch incident. Seems a bit childish and 12 year oldish in the professional world of sport but Gangully is the sorta character that would do that i reckon.....
Of course he may be injured, but Dravid didn't seem to certain what his injuries where, and there was absolutely no mention of it up until an hour before the test.
Of course he may have been dropped, and rather than dropping the captain they're taking the soft option and saying hes injured....
but i have a feeling my theory could gain some momentum behind it as the days go by....
well i think its a good chance for Dravid to lead his country against the top yeam in the world, and prove hikself to be agood captain, and oust Ganguly 4eva!
Originally Posted by SupaFreak2005Originally Posted by steds
Look at it this way, if Ganguly wasn't the captain he would've been dropped a while ago. His injury has just made it very easy for the selectors. Ganguly could find it hard to get back into the team based on form.
Yes Absolutely right ... By the way Warne is not GodOriginally Posted by Warne is god
I woud have to agree.Originally Posted by Warne is god
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42 buildings damaged in natural gas explosion
Building inspectors assessing homes and businesses in western Massachusetts' largest city after a natural gas explosion says the blast damaged more than 40 buildings.
Uncut Video: Explosion caught on camera
The Friday evening explosion in Springfield leveled a strip club next to a day care. It injured 18 people, many of them emergency workers. Their injuries aren't life-threatening.
Authorities cordoned off the center of the explosion Saturday. Building inspectors said preliminary findings showed the blast damaged 42 buildings housing 115 residential units. Three buildings were immediately condemned.
"(We're) checking for damage from the structural and broken windows," said Mass. Public Safety Commissioner, Thomas Gatzunis. "Fall hazards, things like that, make sure no one gets hurt."
Authorities said it could be days before they know the exact cause of the blast.
Sheila Doiron, a spokeswoman for Columbia Gas of Massachusetts, said the company will continue to monitor for any potential leaks within several blocks of the blast site. So far, she said, the company hadn't yet found any measurable readings.
"We're not finding anything in a multi-block area of the impact zone that concerns us," she said.
Doiron also said the company did not find in its records any gas odor calls to the area where the strip club was located.
Firefighters, police officers and gas company workers were in the area filled with commercial properties and residences after responding to a gas leak and odor reported about an hour before the explosion.
"It really is a miracle and it's an example of our public safety officials, each and every day, putting themselves in harm's way, taking what could have been considered a very routine call of an odor of gas, but they took the proper precautions," State Fire Marshal Stephen Coan said on Friday. "And thanks to God that they did."
Punta Cana restaurant manager Omar Fermin said the explosion shattered the business' floor-to-ceiling windows and made the area look like an earthquake zone.
"It looks like an earthquake hit," said Fermin, a native of the Dominican Republic. "I've never seen anything like it."
Authorities said the city, which has been rebuilding from damage it sustained in a June 2011 tornado, will move on.
"With everything we've been through in 2011, we're back at it again in 2012," said Kevin Kennedy, Springfield Chief Economic Officer. "We will survive, we will come through, we will coordinate everything we possibly can."


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Available weekend mornings & days, to hit, play matches, or whatever. Let's get connected now before the winter breaks.
Unless you know of a place indoors... (i'm kind of new to the area)
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Replies to This Discussion
Hey Kyle, I'm down to play. Are you available to play during the weekdays as well? The best time for me would be the weekdays after 530 pm. There are courts in West roxbury that are decent. Let me know.
I can do the weekdays too, I just tend to work until about 615-630 so until late summer there's got to be lights.
Hey Kyle, I have access to the BU indoor courts, they are not the greatest surface but you can rally and whatnot. There are four courts, so let me know if you have any interest. There is a $10 guest fee, so I could bring the tennis balls or whatev, maybe split the $10. Looks like there are some predetermined days where it has already been reserved, but as long as I call 24 hours in advance I can get a court. I put the hours below, can't really play Wednesday or Thursday nights, but other than that I am game.
The address is 100 Ashford St.
Mondays 8-11pm
Tuesday-Friday 8-11pm
Saturday and Sunday 2-10pm
Hi Kyle/others in this thread,
I am also new to the area and would be interested in hitting. I am available both weekdays (after 6:30pm) and weekends whenever. I live in Watertown. Wouldn't mind driving a bit to play.
Let me know, thanks.
Guys, I'm down for any tennis! Outdoor on the weekdays are going to be coming soon with the warm weather approaching...I think we can at least exchange info so we can figure out courtimes/locations etc soon. I communicate better on gmail so you can email me at firstname.lastname@example.com. Hope to hear from you guys soon. Nate, lets try to get a court soon. I'm willing to split the cost as well and we can at least hit indoors here until the warm weather picks back up again. Let me know when you want to hit.
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(written from a Production point of view)
Robert Lyle "Rob" Knepper (born 8 July 1959; age 60) is the actor who portrayed Wyatt Miller in the Star Trek: The Next Generation first season episode "Haven". Twelve years later he portrayed Gaul in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Dragon's Teeth".
Knepper, the son of a veterinarian, was born in Fremont, Ohio and raised in Maumee (near Toledo). When he was growing up, his mother worked in the props department for the community theater, and because of her involvement, he became interested in acting. Knepper spent many years working in community theater and high school productions. Later, he studied drama at Northwestern University. He is a resident of Southern California.
Knepper was a regular on the HBO series Carnivàle, which also featured Clancy Brown, John Fleck, and Michael John Anderson.
He appeared as the male protagonist of a segment of the miniseries Red Shoe Diaries, who is pulled over and then seduced by a female police officer played by Denise Crosby. He also appeared in villainous roles in the feature films Hitman (with Timothy Olyphant) and The Transporter 3.
His best-known role is that of the sadistic convict "T-Bag" on the popular drama Prison Break, which featured Wade Williams, Michelle Forbes, John Billingsley, Leon Russom, and Raphael Sbarge. He was also featured in the George Clooney-directed film Good Night and Good Luck which featured Frank Langella, Ray Wise, Glenn Morshower, and J.D. Cullum.
He was a regular cast member on the NBC drama series Heroes (during the fourth season) as Samuel Sullivan, the leader of a carnival of people with superpowers. Fellow season four stars include Zachary Quinto, Cristine Rose, and Kate Vernon.
More recently he made several guest appearances in the second season of Syfy's science fiction series Stargate Universe alongside series star Justin Louis. He also reprised his role as "T-Bag" Bagwell on the 2011 A&E drama Breakout Kings.


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Was Failed Wrestling Writer Freddie Prinze Jr. the WWE Phantom Leaker?
His awards hopes dashed, Mickey Rourke could still change his mind about WrestleMania, showing up to battle Oscar the Barbarian—a 7'2" bald giant in gold bodypaint, whose signature move is the Jean Herscholt Humanitarian Piledriver.
Meanwhile, another prominent, if less lauded, Hollywood star and ardent wrestling fan has become a very different kind of WWE casualty. Finding himself with some free time on his hands ever since Delgo failed to make him the toast of the CGI V.O. artist community, Freddie Prinze Jr. took Vince McMahon up on an offer to join the SmackDown creative team.
Prinze left the post last week, and the rumor was that he was let go for leaking plot spoilers online. Not so, according to this weirdly written report from wrestling trade site 24wrestling.com:
There has been speculation among WWE staffers that Freddie Prinze Jr. was one of the creative writers leaking WWE information. However, the official reason Prinze left WWE because of the demanding schedule, which is one of the main reasons other writers have departed from the company.
We may never truly know whether Prinze's midlife career change was cut short because he released the name of Jeff Hardy's mystery attacker (GIANT SPOILER ALERT: It was Christian!), or because the Scooby Doo 2 - Monsters Unleashed star could never quite hack the rigors of devising intricate storylines for McMahon's chemically enhanced army of face-sitting leotard-warriors. Either way, there's no denying the professional sport has lost one of its great ringwriters. Keep plugging away, Freddie. We need voices like yours on the mats.