It is a beautiful day.

[conuly]

Turns out testing starts next week. I really expect everybody to keep their fingers crossed until they're over. No exceptions!

********

Growth goes to central cities

http://usat.ly/NYiYEZ

The last of the woolly mammoths may have suffered serious birth defects, say scientists

http://bit.ly/1fob7YM

Gunshot victims to be suspended between life and death

OMGWTF???? It's only for a few hours right now, but...!!!!!

http://bit.ly/1hyePPW

Western governments see Russian buildup on Ukraine border

http://reut.rs/1hYTDny

Kentucky bill would prohibit filming of farm operations without owner's consent

http://bit.ly/1guy2pt

Brain Study Suggests Autism Starts Before Birth

http://nbcnews.to/1flA2w5

Off the remote eastern tip of Papua New Guinea a natural phenomenon offers an alarming glimpse into the future of the oceans, as increasing concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere make sea water more acidic.

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26746039

Syria’s Latest Victim: International Law

http://time.com/35697/syrias-latest-victim-international-law/

12 country coalition building a "green wall of Africa"

http://bit.ly/1d2CDJ7

Indiana Becomes First State To Back Out Of Common Core

http://n.pr/1oXpdGN

The SHSAT* is a diagnostic, the canary in the coal mine.

* The test you take in NYC to get into Stuy or one of those other schools.

http://bit.ly/1hZZadJ

Comments

[siderea]

OMGWTF????

!!!!!!!

[conuly]

INORITE?????

[dandelion.livejournal.com]

Something that always gets me when I read the posts about the SHSAT is how much people complain about specific requirements. I went to an equivalent school in the UK (ie, selective based solely on an entrance exam, non-fee paying) and two things strike me:
- Maths topics are taught very, very late in America. People are complaining it's unreasonable for the test to include algebra. It's only unreasonable because of how late people seem to be taught algebra - in the UK, it's on the national curriculum for the equivalent of fifth-graders. When I've explained to Americans what level of calculus I did at school I've been flat-out accused of lying. (This is not just because I went to a very good school - while good schools are more likely to offer the course, other schools can and do teach it.)

- With that said, if it isn't algebra, it'll be something else. Like I said, we all start algebra when we're 11. My school was still overwhelmingly white middle-middle class with very small numbers of minorities and extremely small numbers of poor children. The minorities maybe you could excuse because the area is very white and I'm not sure it was substantially worse than the area's statistics, but regarding poor children - the school was actually situated in the middle of a council estate. (Council estate = social housing provided at very low cost by the local authority). We should have had loads of lower-income students based on who lived next door. Instead, students were bussed in from up to 30 miles away (this is in a densely-populated area with literally dozens of schools between those two points) and the locals went elsewhere.

The tests we took only asked us things based on the maths and English skills everyone was taught up to that point, with our standardised national curriculum. And yet the lower-income kids still failed, or never took the test at all. The local private school provided classes to all its students in how to understand logic questions (endless things like "shoe is to foot as glove is to..." and "spot the hidden word in the sentence 'he spent time at the park'") and practice maths and English questions. My primary school (middle to low-achieving at the time) ran lunchtime sessions when I sat the exam, but I bet they do more than that now. Parents buy practice papers and hire tutors. And so certain groups of kids still fail, even though the test doesn't contain obvious unfairness like when you know that only the best schools in the area teach a topic required to answer the questions. I don't know how to fix that. Just teaching everyone algebra seems like a simple solution in comparison.