Sunday morning
brings the dawn in

Your NY Times pot link is wrong.

Let's turn America into a theocracy! That will solve all our problems! Hooray!!!

It works for me, Banna.

And @2, you're correct . . . but their margin of error was so enormous that it's really anybody's guess how many people were there.

The one about a loudly xenophobic group in Japan is amazing because of this paragraph on page 2:

"Mr. Sakurai says the group is not racist, and rejected the comparison with neo-Nazis. Instead, he said he had modeled his group after another overseas political movement, the Tea Party in the United States. He said he had studied videos of Tea Party protests, and shared with the Tea Party an angry sense that his nation had gone in the wrong direction because it had fallen into the hands of leftist politicians, liberal media as well as foreigners."

heard it was closer to 90,000 in DC

After attending four major rallies/marches on DC, I really doubt Beck attracted 300,000 people. Who put out that figure? Beck?

90,000 - 150,000 sounds more realistic.

RE: Evaluating teachers based on student test scores.

Since the teachers write and grade the tests themselves, that's a pretty lousy idea.

@13 - I'm sure Faux Snews did their usual fake video trick to make it appear that their golden boy got more racists than usual to attend his money-grabbing scheme. The irony is that most of those idiots don't realize he's a converted Mormon.

Also - Economic Policy Institute just released a study on using student test scores as teacher evaluations. Though I doubt the admins in Seattle Public Schools actually read research (don't think the Broad Foundation taught critical thinking skills in its administrative brainwashing school for superintendents), it shows that using student test scores as a value added measure in teacher evaluations is heavily flawed. Although they did find that the student's 5th grade teachers were a good predictor of their 4th grade test scores...
Study can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/26u3q7c

@4 That would be a Utard's dream.... they're not happy with their pseudo-theocracy as it is, despite the fact that the church owns several city blocks in downtown SLC, not to mention the legislature, the tv stations, and the newspaper. The federal gov't intrudes on their god-given right to drive their fucking ATV's every damn place they please, which is why they have to have a rally to "take back Utah's lands". Notice all the fat white men who couldn't make it to Beck's rally in the photos.
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=12191168

Yeah, I always wanted to have a job where my raises weren't related to job performance. Good luck finding one of those in the real world, though. Fucking teachers unions. . . .

Student test scores are not job performance. First of all, student scores are affected by many outside factors - including getting a decent breakfast/meal, having a safe place to sleep at night (even getting sleep!), parent education level, income level, etc. Test scores are more indicative of zip code than anything else. Does that mean the teachers in the richer schools are doing a better job? Hardly.
Job performance is showing up on time, doing the duties outlined in the contract (preparing/teaching lesson, grading, committee participation, etc.) and should be evaluated by the principal.
For those in the business world who claim this is all well and good, think about this: your employees are screened before you hire them. They are supposed to meet a certain skillset, hence the reason you hire them. Students come with no such screening or skillset. They come as they are - sometimes they show up in 4th grade without the ability to read (parents opted for "home-schooling), sometimes they show up in 4th grade reading like a 7th graders. There is no miracle teacher who can take a non-reading student in the 4th grade and get them to read and take a test on grade level by the end of the year. Furthermore, kids are all different ages and develop at different times - yet they are all tested at the same time, whether they are ready for it or not. Should parents be rated poorly because their kid didn't talk at exactly the right time or walk at exactly the right time outlined in all the baby literature?

Everything @20 said is correct...

AND, there's the simple problem that if a teacher's job depends upon student test scores that the teacher him/herself writes and grades, then dishonest teachers who make the tests too easy or give incorrectly elevated grades would actually be promoted above more honest teachers.

If you had to hire someone to write and grade all the tests independent of the teachers, that person would have to sit in on every class of every teacher or else the tests they write may not accurately capture what the students are learning.

Evaluating teachers by using student test scores is a bad idea.

@21,

the tests they're talking about are state standardized tests, not classroom tests. SPS wanted to use the MAP test, which students are required to take but don't count towards any grade or graduation. it's not wise to judge teachers based on a test students don't give a shit about.

Plus it's very easy to skew the results on the MAP test - as on any standardized test. If reading and math are all that is tested, then that is all that will be taught. The more time spent on those two subjects, the higher the scores - to the detriment of social studies, science, art, etc. Look at Texas as a prime example of that. Yet when the NAEP scores come out (a national test that is extremely hard, and randomly administered in various states/districts), there is generally a slight to no increase in the NAEP scores, while most of the state scores show (almost abnormal) improvement. So on test scores, one could make themselves look like a great teacher when all they've done is test prep the whole year. Not really what I'd want for my kid. If I did, I'd just pay Kaplan or Sylvan or one of those rote-learning/test prep organizations.
Massachusetts is one of the few states with pretty rigorous standards, rigorous tests, and scores that correlate with what the NAEP shows as far as upward trends. WA is there too - though not as high. Florida, Texas, the Carolinas, D.C. - places where merit pay and other punitive actions have taken place all show declines or flat results.

In that case, just make all forms of education illegal; people, having been thus enthused with the power of taboo, will go far out of their way to seek education and we will have the most educated society the world has seen thus far.

The current model for evaluating teachers in public school systems is based entirely on seniority. Say what you want about using student's test scores to evaluate teachers; that it's inaccurate, unfair, and prone to abuse; nothing could be worse than simply giving the most money to the teacher that's clung to her job the longest.

That's not really a model of evaluation - that's merely the salary scale, and you'll find that in many places of employment, both private and public, who must employ large numbers of people and set up a coherent system for salary increases and advancement. Teacher evaluations are - or should be - conducted by the principal. In most places it is twice a year, some places once a year. If a principal doesn't do their job and evaluate the teacher, then recommend corrective action if needed and FOLLOW THROUGH, why is that the teacher's fault?
I used to work in the airline industry. We had a yearly eval (which consisted of a 5 minute talk by my boss, who usually asked me how I was, how things were going, and if there were any problems he should be aware of) followed by advancement on the salary scale that was set up by years of employment at various levels. After 5 years, I would get an additional bonus on top of my yearly increase, then after 10 years, I would have gotten a larger "longevity" bonus (it was referred to as a company loyalty bonus). Sounds about like the teacher setup, sans the bonuses, which I'm pretty sure they don't get.

It's really too bad that nobody reads the unregistered dildos' comments, because sometimes they have. Something useful to say.

Not much, though.

@27 If white people don't do it, it's not news.

/justsaying

Way to trot out the Dylan there, troll. Poor oppressed white wing-nuts... They shall overcome (their idiocy) someday.

Ugh. Anonymous Troll should have a massive coronary for soiling Dylan.

@32: You do realize that Dylan himself made it clear that it wasn't a political song, right?
"I didn't mean "The Times They Are a-Changin'" as a statement... It's a feeling." --Bob Dylan

And you can plagiarize the lyrics of as many great musicians as you want, Alleged. None of it makes a difference; this country is tired of the bullshit you recommend.