[PLUGGED IN] Blog Watch

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What education insiders are writing online.

[Education Secretary Margaret] Spellings is saying she’d rather have the current NCLB than the [Congressman George] Miller draft. Saber rattling? Maybe. But for those who are most worried about multiple measures and all the rest, it’s going to be a serious consideration.”

THE SITE: This Week In Education
thisweekineducation.com

“[T]he big education picture is precisely the opposite of the big picture presented by the U.S. economy.
In the economy, despite bumps, prosperity improves over time. During boom times, it can seem as if everything works. ... In education, by contrast, the results don’t change and nothing much seems to work. ... So we launch program after program, intervention after intervention, law after law, expenditure after expenditure, innovation after innovation, generally with little or no evidence that it will change the angle of the performance trend line. But we try them anyway.

THE SITE: The Education Gadfly
www.edexcellence.net/foundation/gadfly

“What happens when you depend upon businessmen to make educational decisions, businessmen whose prime motivation in life is the never-ending uptick in corporate quarterly earnings? You end up with a politically and artistically denuded curriculum that’s heavy on science, math, and technology—and short on everything else. ”

THE SITE: Education Policy Blog
educationpolicyblog.blogspot.com

"It’s the oddest thing. When the test is easier, the scores are higher. So when you hear about those remarkable gains, you have to ask yourself, Is it the incredible reform movement or is the test just easy?”

THE SITE: NYC Educator
nyceducator.com
 

Wired Up: Tuned out
Today'Ã?Â?Ã?Â?s digital-media natives, a.k.a. your students, need a school environment that both challenges and channels their tech-savvy brains.

Brain Power
Last month, scientists at the University of Southern Florida unveiled a robotic arm that is controlled by a person's thoughts. The arm is mounted on the side of a wheelchair.

The Interactive Earth
In older versions of Google Earth, users could only view the surface of the planet. Looking at the oceans--which cover two-thirds of Earth's surface--revealed an empty blue space. Over a period of two years, Google software engineers set about filling in those ocean gaps in Google Earth.