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On the drive home today, I tuned in to the local talk radio station because the host was interviewing a TON of local and state political candidates and I wanted to learn more about their individual positions.?

The interviews were incredibly interesting --- especially when they turned to education simply because the host seemed to ask every candidate how they felt about merit pay for teachers.?

Considering how important the issue has become in conversations about the future of education, I decided to whip up a list of three things that I wish every parent and politician knew about merit pay.

Here they are:

Experts in fields BEYOND education are convinced that merit pay plans WON'T improve schools.

The simple truth about merit-based compensation plans is that they are ONLY effective in fields that require "rudimentary cognitive skills."?

In fact, research has shown that compensation plans that tie pay to performance may actually have a NEGATIVE impact in knowledge-driven fields like education.

Need proof??

Then check out this RSA Animate video sharing the ideas of Daniel Pink -- a one-time supporter of merit pay plans in education whose personal opinion changed after studying nearly every independent research report on the impact of incentives on human motivation.?

Or this bit detailing the thinking of Chip and Dan Heath, who argue that our constant attempts to design a better carrot result in a tendency to focus on ONE variable -- which might successfully drive change in simple fields, but are destined to fail in work that is complex and dependent on multiple variables.

?

Most merit pay plans are generally built around high-stakes standardized tests that almost NEVER actually measure anything we REALLY want our students to know and be able to do.

In almost every conversation that I have with stakeholders about the skills that students need in order to succeed in tomorrow's workplace, people -- including employers in almost every field -- argue that kids need to be able to communicate, to collaborate, and to solve problems creatively.?

Sounds about right, doesn't it??

If YOUR child left school having mastered those three skills, you'd be happy and they'd be successful no matter what profession -- or personal passion -- they decided to pursue.

Here's the thing:? Today's high stakes standardized end-of-grade exams -- which are almost ALWAYS used as the basis for deciding which teachers deserve merit pay bonuses -- don't measure ANY of those skills.? Instead, they measure nothing more than a student's ability to remember and regurgitate facts.

Which means that the merit pay plans that wonks like to tout as silver bullets for motivating lazy teachers end up simultaneously stripping classrooms of the kinds of higher-order skills that we claim to care about.?

Need proof?? Then look at what years of teaching in a tested classroom did to my instruction.

?

If you want to incentivize something, incentivize collaboration.

Something incredibly powerful is happening in my professional life this year:? I'm working on a learning team with two young teachers who are literally changing the way that I teach.? Both are skilled at developing hands-on, inquiry-based science experiences for kids.

That's an area of REAL weakness for me even if I AM certified to teach middle school science!

What's cool, though, is I'm having JUST as a significant impact on my colleagues.?

I bring a bunch of nonfiction reading experience to our collective planning table -- I have spent the better part of my career in language arts classrooms, after all -- and that's helping my peers, who AREN'T trained reading teachers.

That means collaboration is paying off for ALL of the kids on our hallway.?

My students are benefiting from the inquiry-based strengths of my peers and their students are benefiting from my experience as a reading teacher.?

That's beautiful, right?

But here's the thing:? That collaboration will DIE in a merit-based workplace.

Think about it:? Would YOU share your best practices with struggling colleagues if you knew that there was a limited pot of money that was going to be given to a small handful of teachers that produced the best scores??

HECK NO.? You'd let THEM -- and more importantly, the KIDS in their classrooms -- fail miserably because it would give YOU a better chance of cashing in.

Which is why the report on redesigning professional compensation for educators that I wrote with 18 accomplished teachers a few years ago recommends incentivizing collaboration INSTEAD of individual performance.

If we believe that SOME teachers have discovered the best strategies for teaching essential knowledge and skills to our kids, why wouldn't we design incentive systems that encourage SHARING rather than COMPETITION between peers?

?

I get it, y'all.? There ARE real problems in our educational system that need to be addressed.? Change IS necessary. The uncomfortable truth that we've been all-too-willing to overlook is that our current approach to schooling just ain't working for a TON of our students.

But as a teacher AND a taxpayer, I cringe whenever I hear someone argue on behalf of merit pay programs simply because they WON'T improve schools.?

Instead, they're just another #edpolicy disaster that the kids in our classrooms will end up paying for.

?


Source: http://teacherleaders.typepad.com/the_tempered_radical/2012/10/meritpay-edpolicy-performancepay.html

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Switched On: Android's tablet troubles

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

DNP Switched On Android's Tablet Troubles

If Google had to pick a device category in which it wanted Android to dominate, it would certainly be mobile phones for many reasons. Indeed, the original band of Android backers was dubbed the Open Handset Alliance. However, a strong position in tablets would not only have helped to round out the Android ecosystem, it would also have created a beachhead from which to take on Microsoft prior to the launch of its tablet strategy.

Alas for Google, sales of Android tablets have been lackluster and several PC-centric licensees -- including Acer, Dell, Lenovo, Sony, Toshiba and even Android standard-bearer Samsung -- are hoping to improve their standing in the tablet market with imminent products based on Windows.

Continue reading Switched On: Android's tablet troubles

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Switched On: Android's tablet troubles originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Oct 2012 17:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/14/androids-tablet-troubles/

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Tornado in Western Kentucky

LOUISVILLE, Ky-- 2 people have been found dead in their Highlands home, at 1024 Baxter Avenue. The large house sits on the north side of the busy triangular intersection of Baxter, Grinstead, and Winter.

Metro Police spokesman Dwight Mitchell says police were sent to the house about 3:30 Monday afternoon, after friends or relatives called asking for a check on the pair's welfare. Mitchell says when officers got there and were able to get in, they found the remains of a man and a woman. No firm word yet on how long they'd been dead, but Mitchell says it seems to have been for "some time."

While nothing's initially known about how the pair died and the homicide unit is in charge, Mitchell says it's only a "death investigation" that's being conducted.

?

The front of the late couple's home before the bodies are taken away in a Metro ambulance at left

Detectives and uniformed officers go over the discovery of a couple's bodies, outside the Winter Ave. side of 1024 Baxter Avenue

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Source: http://www.talkradio1080.com/cc-common/news/sections/newsarticle.html?feed=283307&article=10495307

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writing and speaking: The Ultimate Website for Car Insurance

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE Cars are very vital nowadays. They help you to go to work, to take your children to school, to do your errands, or simply to go on a weekend day offs with your loved ones. But driving a car to your designated area, no matter how close, can be a dangerous task in today?s hazardous traffic. No matter how careful you are, you can predict the behavior of the million other drivers using the same street you do. Therefore you need to protect you vehicles and the persons behind the wheels, not for your sake only, but also for those dear to your heart with auto insurances.

Car insurance quotes in a simple description are the smart planning in order to protect the unexpected expenses and surprises from unwanted incidents. But as many common people are not familiar with the terms and need assistance to choose the right insurance, Car Insurance Rates provides car insurance?s online resources, completed with advice of purchasing the right vehicles for your needs, information on the types of car insurances, assistance on a person?s claim and much more valuable information before your purchase an insurance. These information are very important so you are not trapped to a high rate insurance with little coverage.

Source: http://tinylittlerantsofdoom.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-ultimate-website-for-car-insurance.html

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Jewish group condemns Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood

JERUSALEM (AP) ? A leading Jewish organization is calling on the White House to cut contacts with Egypt's most powerful political movement, the Muslim Brotherhood, over anti-Semitic remarks attributed to its spiritual guide.

Mohammed Badie said that Jews were spreading "corruption," had slaughtered Muslims and profaned holy sites, according to comments published on the group's website and emailed to reporters. He further called on Muslims to fight Israel, saying Zionists only understood force.

Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi, who was elected this summer in the aftermath of the country's 2011 popular uprising, hails from the Brotherhood.

In a statement Friday, the Simon Wiesenthal center said the U.S. could not pretend to conduct "business as usual" when the group made such statements.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/jewish-group-condemns-egypts-muslim-brotherhood-130904239.html

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Rational approach concerning Immigration Issues - The-Dispatch.com

Ooops- I appolozize for making A typographical error in the subject box- :o

This is a rational approach concerning Immigration, Amnesty and Deportation and how Obama and Romney feel about these issues.

This info has made it easier to understand.

#1-One of the primary concerns behind any immigration policy is the displacement of opportunities for local workers and the secondary economic effects, not least in the drop of average wages and fringe benefits. The influx of a foreign workforce realigns old standards and practices, negates existing leverages and draws new lines across the sand on existing employee-employer relationships. The process is not always instantaneous, but as sure as the sun will rise, it is a certainty.

#2-There is also the issue of immigrant integration into a society. Too few, and they run the risks of being absorbed or repulsed by their host community. Too many, and the host community is open to the risks of being unraveled and reshaped. The United States, for all of its open-arms policy to foreign talents, lack a structured and coherent integration process. Moreover, with no support infrastructure at a local level to assist immigrant integration processes, everything is left to chance, and once again, reactionary. This approach is especially flawed when dealing with a massive, single area influx, which will strain the healthcare, education and other prevailing public and social infrastructure.

#3-Now, this is even before we include illegal immigration into the mix, which will see the aforementioned risks being augmented many times over. With over ten million illegal immigrants in the country (the number varies depending on who you ask, but the error margin is about a million in either direction), accounting for a third of the foreign workforce, the figures are cause for great concern. This is especially true in border towns,
where the lack strategic, legal and enforcement support from the federal and state governments give rise to a siege mentality among the populace there.

#4-The situation is further exacerbated when criminal elements insert themselves into the situation, introducing drugs, human trafficking and cross border violence into the already volatile mix. Words like ?invasion? are being bandied with increasing regularity, and coupled with the constant threat of terrorism, there is a fear that vigilantism by over exuberant members of the border communities might find popular support, especially (and worryingly) from less reputable section of these communities (remember the Minuteman vigilante group and their eventual transformation into common robbers?). Putting all that aside, the deaths of immigrants looking for work in the country alone ought to raise questions about existing U.S. immigration policies, and facilitate the reengineering of these legislations.

Source: http://forum.the-dispatch.com/viewtopic.php?t=3387&p=21462

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Police: Body identified as missing Colorado girl

Police in Westminster, Colo., officially confirmed that a body found Wednesday belongs to missing 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway.

"We recognize there is a predator at large in our community," said Westminster, Colo., Police Chief Lee Birk said on Friday.

The girl had been missing since Oct. 5.

"The commitment of the task force of investigators in this case will not waver," said James Yacone, special agent in charge of the FBI's Denver office. "Our commitment and resolve to seek justice on behalf of Jessica will only grow stronger."

Yacone said that in the past week investigators have searched 500 homes, 1,000 vehicles and received 1,500 tips.

ABC News reported Wednesday that law enforcement sources believed the body found in Arvada, Colo., was Jessica's, based on several factors. Positive identification, however, was delayed until now because the body was badly dismembered and "not intact", police said Thursday.

Jessica's body was found about seven miles from her home in Westminster, Colo. Her backpack and water bottle were recovered from a neighborhood subdivision in Superior, Colo., on Sunday.

Ridgeway's mother, Sarah, told police she last saw her daughter in Westminster Friday morning when Jessica left for school. The fifth-grader never showed up at a nearby park where she was supposed to meet friends for the one-mile walk to her elementary school. It was a route she took every day, but this time she never arrived.

The school called to report Jessica absent, but Sarah Ridgeway told police she was asleep during the day because she works overnights and did not get the call until eight hours later, when she called police.

On Thursday, the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit released a profile of who they think committed the crime.

The suspect is most likely a man, the FBI said. He might have been a "no show" and missed work immediately after the incident and offered a plausible excuse such as illness, death in the family or car trouble.

The individual might express an intense interest in the status of the investigation and pay close attention to the media. But some offenders might quickly turn off media accounts or try to redirect conversations concerning the victims or their families, according to the FBI.

"It could be your boss, it could be your friend and, ultimately, it could be your family member," FBI spokesman David Joly said.

Also Read

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/jessica-ridgeway-body-officially-identified-223205825--abc-news-topstories.html

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saltcellar atrophy: Scuba Diving Essentials To Buy At Online Dive ...

Scuba Diving is a fun, recreational sport that has caught the imagination of adventure sports lovers across the world. The sport requires a number of safety equipment and special gear that helps in enjoying the sport with care and also improves a diver???s experience underwater. The name of the spot is itself derived from the main equipment used for it, ???SCUBA??? meaning ???self-contained underwater breathing apparatus???.

Need of Scuba Dive Gear

This form of sport is practiced and is popular across most adventure sports circuits for its thrill being underwater and the experience of being face-to-face with the natural beauty and the flora and fauna underwater. Since it is an underwater sport, there is also certain safety measures required and some risks-reducing gear that are necessary to enhance a diver???s experience. Moreover, there are various scuba dive accessories that can be used to make the dives even more enjoyable.

Online Dive Store

There are popular online dive stores that offer a wide variety of equipment and essential gear that are absolutely mandatory for this sport and some are required to add on to the whole experience of exploring the beauty underwater world. From the all-important dive cylinders, scuba gear, to accessories such as watches and masks, an online dive store offers all that you need under one roof. One can also make online purchases, prepare a wish list of desired products, browse the store for latest arrivals, dig through the latest schemes and offers and also make online payments and book for products on the site itself.

Some of the popular and essential equipment available at an Online Dive Store include the following:

Cylinders/ Tanks

The cylinder or dive tank should be filled and checked every time you go down to dive. Aluminum tanks are a good choice to be purchased at an online shop.

Diving Suit

A good wet suit and in some cases, a dry suit are absolutely essential to have a good diving experience underwater.

Masks

Good visibility is a must underwater; hence, the masks become essential for divers.

Snorkel

It is again a diving apparatus used to ensure conservation of air in your cylinder/ tank.

Fins

They help in swimming in the waters and also maintain one???s balance.

Booties

These are essential gear items that keep your feet warm in cold water. A must have for colder regions!

BCD

Buoyancy Control Device or simply BCD is required to maintain buoyancy both at the surface as well as underwater.

The aforementioned equipment along with some necessary personal gear such as dive computers, compass, weight, dive watches are just about mandatory for a safe and enjoyable dive.

Diving Locker is a Vancouver-based scuba diving training center offering a wide range of diving adventure, programs and tours to choose from. It also offers a variety of essential equipment for purchase at its online dive store.

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Source: http://www.workoninternet.com/business/reviews/miscellaneous/219160-article.html

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Source: http://tcefabu.posterous.com/scuba-diving-essentials-to-buy-at-online-dive

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Source: http://jamechristensen819.typepad.com/blog/2012/10/scuba-diving-essentials-to-buy-at-online-dive-store-tcefabus.html

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Source: http://saltcellar-atrophy.blogspot.com/2012/10/scuba-diving-essentials-to-buy-at.html

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