Teach Effectively!

Marvin Garbis, a U.S. District Court Judge, received a request from the Maryland Department of Education that it be allowed to have state-appointed administrators oversee the special education programs in Baltimore. Earlier the MD state department proposed a take-over of the local education agency (LEA). Representatives of the LEA claim that the state does not provide adequate funds for special education services.

The case originally came about because students with disabilities were not receiving mandated services. However, it is resolved, I hope someone is paying attention to the need for research-based services and not allowing the funds to be frittered away on some of the nonesense that is typical of education.

• A story in the Baltimore Sun
• The most recent Washington Post story.
• An earlier story from WBAL (also picked up by MSNBC).

This is a story about how not to use the Internet. I found a story about reading on a Web site, but it is a partial copy of a story on another Web site.

A source identified as The Reading Program Tutorial & Resource Page includes an article about selecting a reading program. The source appears to be relatively new (dates on posts are recent because a javascript code inserts the current date on each page rather than the date of the posting) and some of the other content appears to be scraped from newsgroups. There are two links for “archived reading posts,” one of which points to a couple of other articles. Some of the content appears to be scraped from Yahoo’s news service and other similar sources. A search for content on the site shows that there are 20-some pages…at least 20-some titles for pages. However, each page includes the same content; only the file names have been changed.

Here’s the bad part: The “article” about reading is an incomplete lift from an article on the Access Center’s site. Here’s a link to the Access Center’s page:

  http://www.k8accesscenter.org/training_resources/readprograms.asp

(It’s better to go to the original, as it includes the references and additional links to some good sources. The ripped-off article omits these.)

The author of the site—I didn’t find an “about me” on the site—must either be unaware of common-law copyright or under the impression that no one will notice the posting of other people’s works. In this case, these folks probably don’t want anyone to know who they are. They’re publishing this site simply to make money.

How do I know? Well, I don’t know for sure that they’re only in it for the $$, but it’s a good bet. The site is running Google ads (see Google AdSense) right at the top of the page.

Link for the stolen article on The Reading Program Tutorial & Resource Page, in case one wants to compare it to the original. If you go to this site, please don’t click on any Google ads. Don’t let these people make money this way. (I’m not opposed to Google Ads, just their unscrupulous use.)

Ebonics may be back on the stage. In an article called “Who needs that pesky English language anyway?” on LAVoice.org, Lee Watters criticizes an effort to provide materials using ebonics. He wrote, “In a stunning and inexplicable move, the San Bernardino School District has launched a pilot program in two schools that uses the slanguage of Ebonics in the classroom.” Mr. Watters has little patience with the effort and, especially the comments of a professor championing the effort.

I don’t know what to say. My father was active in the civil rights movement. He spent time in jail for it. But that battle was about fighting for equality that should never have been in question. About giving all Americans the same basic rights to level the playing field. But San Bernardino’s special brand of idiocy does exactly the opposite of opening doors.

To me, the call for use of ebonics appears to be yet another example of people seeking some simple, nearly magical solution for education problems. Those who seek such solutions are likely to be disappointed. Our students—both those with and without disabilities—need their teachers and schools to use those educational practices and approaches that have been documented to provide benefits.

Link to Mr. Watters’ story, which includes a link to a newspaper article on the effort.

From our Department of Close Isn’t Good Enough: According to the Taipei Times,

A trader at Fubon Securities on Monday erroneously placed a bid of nearly NT$8 billion on behalf of Merrill Lynch International for a basket of about 280 stocks. Merrill Lynch International had asked Fubon Securities to place an order for NT$80 million.

We teachers should maybe think twice before we say, “Oh, that’s close” when a student gives a clearly wrong answer. After all, what’s an order of magnitude or two among friends, anyway?

Link.