Remember a few days ago when I said my boyfriend Dave should have his own blog? Well, he's not blogging yet, but he is writing for a website. Scroll down on this page to see him featured as a new reviewer for The Agro, an underground metal website. What cracks me up about the grim photo of him is that I took that photo, in our hallway; he cropped out the floral border and the myriad cats circling around his feet. I guess those wouldn't have looked "metal" enough. I'm happy for him; it's nice to know that his ability to write an engaging and cogent review of a Polish Death Metal CD won't be going to waste.
As for today, I'm swamped, so I'm going to put up a few quick links. If I haven't sent a reply to your email, I apologize; I've been lax about email and it piled up while I was sick. I hope to get the inbox cleared out this weekend.
Remember the discussion a few days back about the possible link between Phys Ed and test score? A new study has linked heavier kids with lower-income homes - and lower test scores. Even if BMI is a useful predictor for test scores, that doesn't necessarily mean that a PE program would be helpful in raising mean test scores at the school level; one expert suggests that changes must be made within the family, not at school.
An Alabama school system has proposed tranferring kids within local apartments to schools outside their communities, the better to reduce the population of "transient" students in some schools. A ruckus has already begun about the bad public image of the "apartment people" and whether it's unfair to move these kids around.
More wiggle room in NCLB; schools will now be able to average student test participation rates over a three-year period, instead of being held responsible for testing 95% of kids every year. Kids who miss tests because of medical emergencies and "other problems" are also off the hook.
Southern University, which is the nation's largest historically black university, is facing a scandal. It was revealed yesterday that 541 past and current students paid a worker in the registrar's office to alter their grades, and this has been going on for nine year. Chancellor Edward R. Jackson is threatening to revoke the degrees of guilty graduates and expel those involved who are still enrolled. The LA Times is calling it the "Cash-for-Grades" scandal.
Finally, millions of dollars are at stake in an Orange County (CA) school district because the board members have taken a stand against a state anti-discrimination law. State education officials could withhold millions of dollars in funding as a sanction against the Westminster School District; the three board members are citing their Christianity as a reason to oppose a law that "immorally allows students and teachers to define their own gender and promotes alternative lifestyles". Zero Intelligence has more.
With that, ya'll have a great weekend!
Posted by kswygert at April 2, 2004 10:01 AM