March 2012
2 posts
“Daisey’s downfall is the sadder and more infuriating because it was so...”
– James Fallows on This American Life’s retraction of Mr. Daisey Goes to the Apple Factory.
Unanswered Questions re. the IDEA Allan Extended...
Dr. Carstarphen and Board of Trustees:
I’m confident AISD’s decision to extend to Friday, March 9th the deadline for parents to opt-out of the IDEA Allan in-district charter will result in a better understanding of how IDEA differs from Govalle, Ortega, and Martin, and therefore lead to more informed decisions by affected parents and children.
In addition to the extension, AISD has...
February 2012
5 posts
School Choice Requires Good Choices: It's All...
Dr. Carstarphen, Trustees, good evening.
My name is Luke Muszkiewicz, Eastside resident, and father of a Metz Elementary 3rd grader.
First, thank you for extending the deadline for parents to opt-out of IDEA Allan. I’m confident it will result in a better understanding of how IDEA differs from Govalle, Ortega, and Martin, and therefore lead to more informed decisions by affected parents and...
“In her own research, Dweck has shown that these mindsets have important...”
– Wired: Why Do Some People Learn Faster?
Please Delay IDEA Allan Opt-Out Deadline
Dr. Carstarphen, Mr. Sanchez, and Board of Trustees:
I am writing to you on behalf of the parents and guardians of children within the Eastside Memorial Vertical Team who will enter grades K, 1, 2, and 6 at IDEA Allan unless they opt-out by February 24th.
You have mailed a letter informing these families of the new in-district charter school at the Allan campus, but it’s come to my...
“Elementary principal Tim McMahon spends his noon hours during the week handing...”
– Warren principal gets top award from state peers
January 2012
6 posts
AISD’s IDEA: What's the Plan for Martin Middle...
To the AISD Board of Trustees:
My name is Luke Muszkiewicz, an Eastside resident and father of a Metz Elementary 3rd grader.
With your decision to replace Allan and eventually Eastside Memorial with IDEA in-district charter schools, I’m here to speak on behalf of parents who are struggling to understand what this momentous change means for their neighborhood and their children.
If IDEA is...
“One of the real dilemmas we have in our country and around the world is that...”
– Interview of Bill Clinton by Charles P. Pierce and Mark Warren Bill Clinton: Someone We Can All Agree On
Please Clarify IDEA Opt-Out Procedure
Dr. Carstarphen, Board of Trustees, and Mr. Sanchez:
I realize you’re scheduled to discuss allocating bond funds this evening, but I would ask that you take a few minutes to explain how parents of children assigned to attend IDEA Public Schools next fall can opt-out and instead attend a different Austin Independent School District school.
Specifically, how do parents of children set to...
Opposing IDEA in AISD: What's Next?
We lost. And by lost I mean that not only did the Austin Independent School District Board of Trustees vote to partner with IDEA to replace Allan Elementary and Eastside Memorial High School with IDEA charter schools, but that all the testimony, all the letters, and all the phone calls didn’t seem to garner even a meaningful response from the Board (or District), much less a “no”...
AISD Hid Response to Concerns Over IDEA's...
Nearly three weeks after the Austin Independent School District Board of Trustees voted to approve their partnership with IDEA to create two in-district charter schools, chief performance officer Bill Caritj released his favorable assessment of IDEA’s student performance data in response to Ed Fuller’s overwhelmingly negative analysis published in mid-November.
Before we get too deep...
December 2011
3 posts
IDEA Charters Not Just Another Choice
To the AISD Board of Trustees:
I agree with President Williams that the matter of partnering with IDEA to create two in-district charter schools is a philosophical issue. Above all, I hope we can expect a vigorous debate this evening that transcends sweeping condemnations of mediocrity and procedural mishaps and instead focuses on the nature and future of charter schools, the strengths and...
AISD's IDEA: Unanswered Questions
To the AISD Board of Trustees:
I have serious concerns with the proposal to partner with IDEA putting charter schools into East Austin. I’m no expert, but in listening and reading I still have three questions that deserve honest discussion before you move forward.
First, what’s wrong, and what’s right, in our Eastside schools? Inadequate yearly progress is a metric, not a reason. Coming from Lee...
September 2011
4 posts
2 tags
“Live your life. Live your life. Live your...
“The high cost to self-employed workers and small businesses of the private,...”
– Excerpted from Chart of the day: America’s surprisingly tiny small-business sector covering John Schmitt’s study claiming that the United States has the “the smallest small-business sector among wealthy countries.” I’ve often argued that a single-payer health care system...
Live Television Video of Key Events on 9/11/2001 →
Obama's Job Speech
Good speech, President Obama. Especially the part having nothing to do with policy where you ask us all to simply do better, to work for an America deserving of our legacy. Because despite the rhetoric, politicians don’t create jobs, invent, or teach. We do. But most of us benefit from leadership, and for that I thank you. Technically speaking, I’m all for cutting employer-paid payroll...
May 2011
1 post
“What’s high school for?
Perhaps we could endeavor to teach our future...”
– Seth Godin’s What’s high school for?
April 2011
12 posts
“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us...”
– Ira Glass (via nefffy)
“In other words, when we think we’re reasoning, we may instead be...”
– Excerpted from Chris Mooney’s The Science of Why We Don’t Believe Science
“It’s sad, but it’s also … great, really. Imagine if...”
– Excerpted from Linda Holmes’ The Sad, Beautiful Fact That We’re All Going To Miss Almost Everything
“Even deeper, for children, math looms large; there’s something about doing well...”
– Excerpted from David Bornstein’s A Better Way to Teach Math
“It will take independent-minded educators to use Jump and see if its results can...”
– Excerpted from David Bornstein’s A Better Way to Teach Math
“‘But you know, all presidents done something good. Well, most of them....”
– Excerpted from Matt Volz’s World’s oldest man dies in Montana at 114
“What puzzles me is why there isn’t more indignation. The Tea Party is the...”
– Excerpted from Roger Ebert’s The One-Percenters
officialbeastieboys:
Make Some Noise This...
“One surprise was the number of popular self-help books in the collection, and...”
– Excerpted from Inside David Foster Wallace’s Private Self-Help Library by Maria Bustillos
a-comp-radio: One Month and 34 Songs Later →
a-comp-radio:
It’s been exactly one month since we launched a-comp-radio.com!
Thank you for listening, and thank you for your encouraging words of support.
Our goal here isn’t to create an online radio station for everyone, but rather to make something that a handful of people might really, really love. To…
March 2011
3 posts
“He compares capturing the sounds of speech to what it’s like when standing on...”
– Re. poet Lauren Graham in “From poverty to poetry” by Marga Lincoln
September 2010
2 posts
“If bin Laden did not foresee all this, then he quickly came to understand it. In...”
– Excerpted from Ted Koppel’s Nine years after 9/11, let’s stop fulfilling bin Laden’s goals
“If you believe housing resembles a luxury good, then you’ll end up thinking...”
– Excerpted from David Leonhardt’s The Bears and the State of Housing.
August 2010
1 post
“For the first half of the 20th century, he said, expectations followed the...”
– Excerpted from David Streitfeld’s Housing Fades as a Means to Build Wealth, Analysts Say
June 2010
2 posts
“I quite agree that much of the book will seem coarse, rude, bad-tempered,...”
– Excerpted from Edward Abbey’s, Desert Solitaire.
“Researchers say there is an evolutionary rationale for the pressure this barrage...”
– Excerpted from Matt Richtel’s Hooked on Gadgets, and Paying a Price.
May 2010
1 post
“‘We have learned something important since the days that I served in...”
– http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/18/nyregion/18blumenthal.html
December 2009
2 posts
“10 Commandments of the Intrapreneur:
1. Come to work each day willing to be...”
– Excerpted from Ben Casnocha’s “The Intrapreneur’s 10 Commandments” at http://ben.casnocha.com/2009/11/the-intrapreneurs-10-commandments.html
“Truth is a difficult thing. Just a few centuries ago, the smartest humans alive...”
– Excerpted from Luke Muehlhauser’s “On Seeking Truth” at http://commonsenseatheism.com/?p=3173 via http://ben.casnocha.com/2009/12/quotes-of-the-day.html
November 2009
2 posts
“WSJ: How does the notion of aging and death affect the work you do? Has it...”
– Excerpted from John Jurgensen’s “Hollywood’s Favorite Cowboy” at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704576204574529703577274572.html
October 2009
22 posts
tylerknott:
“The Wolves(Act I & II)” a Bon...
“8. Start with Something Minimal
Lots of founders mentioned how important it...”
– Excerpted from Paul Graham’s “What Startups Are Really Like” at http://paulgraham.com/really.html
fred-wilson:
Whole Lotta Love (Led Zep cover) -...
“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve...”
– Excerpted from Steve Jobs’ Stanford Commencement address at http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html