Watchman's Soap Box

This is very scary my friends

"Obama chose Arne Duncan for a reason, and part of that reason is the experimentation that Duncan has done in Chicago and his real attention to data and outcomes," said Elliot Weinbaum, assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Education. "Duncan's willing to try new things and see if they work, hopefully keep the ones that do, and drop the ones that don't. I expect that experimentation to continue on a national scale."

Oh there is that HOPE thing we need to believe in, sorry forgot to take the green pill today.

Officials are also offering some students cash for good grades and seeking proposals for boarding schools. In addition, Duncan backed a plan to start a gay-friendly high school.

Good God now they are giving kids our money to do what they should do. My parents use to give me a nickel for an A. Why should I pay for some else’s kid to do the same?

At the National Teachers Academy, another Chicago school, Erin Koehler Smith did a better job teaching fourth-graders to estimate centimeters and meters with help from a mentor.

Estimate? Sound like a guess to me.

Teachers, worried about the safety of neighborhood parks, agreed to work an extra 20 minutes each day to ensure that the children have recess and to maximize class time.

Okay lost on this one. Working overtime to give kids recess maximizes class size how?

Entire staffs get bonuses when state test scores rise. Slightly more than 50 percent of students passed the latest state reading exam, but the trend is up. The gains meant about a $1,000 bonus for most teachers, about $250 for janitors, and $625 for the principal.

I think I am going to become a janitor, hell get a bonus for doing your job.