Links for 11/22/10

Mike Antonucci

the U.S. Department of Education was needed, Sen. Ribicoff said, because “If there is one point on which most Americans will agree, it is that the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare is too large and too bureaucratic to effectively or efficiently manage the numerous programs under its jurisdiction.”

That’s fine, except the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare was created in 1953 in order to correct the shortcomings of its predecessor – the Office of Education…

This also was fine, except the Office of Education was placed under the Federal Security Agency because of problems related to its previous association with the Department of the Interior…

when it was first established, in 1867, its sole purpose was to collect and disseminate education statistics. Oddly enough, there were a few people who questioned whether that limited mission might be expanded at a later date…

“If Congress has the right to establish an Educational Bureau here in this city for the purpose of collecting statistics and controlling the schools of the country, then, by the same parity of reason, a fortiori, Congress has the right to establish a bureau to supervise the education of all the children that are to be found in the thirty millions of the population of this country. You will not stop at simply establishing a bureau for the purpose of paying officers to collect and diffuse statistics in reference to education.”

Jay Mathews

Stephens, who teaches Precalculus and Geometry to mostly average kids, thinks his students are the opposite of too stressed. They don’t try very hard and know they will still graduate, so no problem.

“All I can do is beg my students to study. Ultimately, they know they don’t have to and don’t,” said Stephens, who has taught for 20 years. “I would guess fewer than a handful actually studied for their test last week. No joke.”…

Chad Aldeman

value-added is the worst form of teacher evaluation, but it’s better than everything else.

Rebecca Attwood

British students plan to launch a "consumer revolution" against a sector they see as unprepared for the consequences of marketization and high fees. The National Union of Students has demanded that sector-owned quasi-government entities be replaced by tough new regulators with the power to protect students from "collusion" on fee levels and to impose "genuine penalties" for malpractice and maladministration…