New Google Chrome Extension Gives New Start Page Option

Google Chrome is my browser of choice. Today, I learned of a new Google Extension that allows you to alter the start page that you see when you open a new page in your browser. This new background gives you some more options on customizing the Start Page in your Chrome Browser. You can download the extension here.

New Chrome Start Page Using Chrome Extension

You can also change the background of that Start Page too. See Below.

Chrome Start Page with Custom Background

Using Value Added Assessments for Teacher Evaluations Seriously Flawed

The Washington Post article this morning entitled "Study: Error Rates High When Student Test Scores Used to Evaluate Teachers" should cause policymakers to pause in their push to tie teacher evaluations to test scores. The actual study entitled "Error Rates in Measuring Teacher and School Performance Based on Student Test Score Gains" published by the US Department of Education's National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance can be downloaded here for those who want to see the actual study. While trying to sort through all of the statistics, one thing is clear, there is enough room for error for a teacher to be improperly dismissed from a job based on test scores. In the hands of a careless and not-very-conscientious school administrator, teachers could be fired or be kept from receiving tenure unfairly.

One point the study makes clear is this:

"Our results strongly support the notion that policymakers must carefully consider system error rates in designing and implementing teacher performance measurement systems that are based on value-added models."

As states have rushed to satisfy Secretary Arne Duncan to qualify for the Race to the Top funding, I doubt very much "careful consideration" has occurred. While some states like Colorado have given themselves time to develop such a performance evaluation system, I fear that others will try to find a way to cobble together a system using existing testing instruments and teacher evaluation systems. The problem with such cobbling, you end up with a product that might satisfy the letter of the law or some state board policy, but the product itself is simply inferior at best and downright hurtful to education at its worst. Policymakers from Secretary Duncan down to the state levels need to understand that when it comes to using testing, in any shape or form, for measuring teacher performance, there is no room for cobbling. Fairness must rule the day.

The study also warns that it is important for policymakers to consider error rates when using value-added estimates for making decisions regarding tenure and hiring-firing decisions.

"Consideration of error rates is especially important when evaluating whether and how to use value-added assessments for making high-stakes decisions regarding teachers (such as tenure and firing decisions.)"

As states push into this uncharted territory of using test scores to assess teacher performance, it is important that educators keep a watchful eye on the teacher performance evaluation systems developed by their own states. They need to understand how those instruments are used in evaluations and know their limitations. Even though the study goes on to say that "teacher value-added estimates in a given year are fairly strong predictors of subsequent-year academic outcomes in teacher's classes," I'm not sure anyone would want to be dismissed or not receive tenure on "fairly strong evidence." That threshold for evaluation is too weak. The study goes on to talk about the importance of "mitigating these error effects" if value-added assessments are used in teacher evaluations. It is the mitigation measures that state policymakers create that are most worrisome.

As an administrator and education advocate, my problems with the whole idea of using test scores in any way to evaluate teachers is the question of fairness. I do not want the job of deciding the future employment of a teacher based on "fairly strong evidence." There is too much danger of being unfair. People who write policy for administrators to implement do not see the effects of that policy firsthand, unless they leave their offices and venture to the front-lines of implementation. My fear is that in the rush to satisfy politicians like Secretary Arne Duncan, we implement a system that has unfairness built in, or it gives unscrupulous administrators the means to be unfair.

This is simply another example of how our current US Department of Education under Secretary Arne Duncan is pushing a reform measure that looks good on paper, and perhaps looks good from the eyes of non-educator, but in implementation it may cause downright harm to our Great American Education System.

Arne Duncan’s Quiet Revolution: The Duncanization of the Great American School System

Secretary Duncan’s speech today before the National Press Club was predictable almost to the point of being a cliché. One thing you can say about him is he is consistent to the point of never saying anything new. Some even argue that his revelation of the Race to the Top finalists was so predictable that their announcement was anti-climatic. Duncan’s speech today was right on his usual message: 1) Charter schools are the way to go, 2) Teachers need to be evaluated and rewarded using test scores, 3) Every child deserves an effective teacher in his or her classroom, and 4) Close down low performing schools. Hardly anyone would disagree with his statement that every child deserves an effective teacher, but we do disagree with him about how to get there.

About the only unique thing he said today was something about the Obama administration’s “modest” role in this quiet revolution. That is an almost laughable statement. There is nothing modest about what this administration has done in the name of education reform. They have shoved their reform ideas down the throats of every single state. Never mind there is absolutely no research basis for any of this reform agenda. Many have said it: the US Department of Education is guilty of dangling money in front of states who, due to economic conditions, are almost insolvent. These states will do anything to get their hands on that money, even adopting reform measures pushed by Secretary Duncan and his Department of Education. I would hardly describe that as a modest role in what he is calling a “Quiet Revolution.” It’s more akin to pulling the trigger or setting off the dynamite charge.

At any rate, Secretary Duncan’s offer of billions has caused a “sudden, radical change” but that change has occurred not because everyone really believes the agenda he is pushing will work. Those changes have happened because they were bought. Change purchased with money is absent conviction, and Secretary Duncan and the Obama administration have failed miserably in getting educators to believe their version of change. President Obama’s campaign slogan, “Change We Can Believe In” sounds so hollow now that our Great American Education System is still being “Duncanized.”  Instead of pretending that all is well and using his podium to make inane speeches, Secretary Duncan needs to get the education establishment to believe in his version of change, not those just chasing him around, hoping some dimes and nickels fall from his pockets.

In the spirit of Secretary Duncan’s speech, I could not help but share this campaign video that includes the song a not so subtle reminder of that campaign slogan, “Change We Can Believe In.”

Technorati Tags: Arne Duncan,Race to the Top,Obama Administration,education reform

Provisional Nature of Digital Text and What That Means for Writing

I have been reading Nicholas Carr’s latest book The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains. In chapter six of this book, Carr speaks about how the Internet has changed both the face of publishing, and the act of writing itself. In one interesting part of the chapter he writes:

“The provisional nature of digital text also promises to influence writing styles. A printed book is a finished object. Once inked onto the page, its words become indelible. The finality of the act of publishing has long instilled in the best and most conscientious writers and editors a desire, even an anxiety, to perfect the works they produce---to write with an eye and an ear toward eternity. Electronic text is impermanent. In the digital marketplace, publication becomes an ongoing process rather than a discrete event, and revision can go on indefinitely. Even after an e-book is downloaded into a networked device, it can be easily and automatically updated---just as software programs routinely are today.”

Carr goes on to point out that this “provisional nature of digital text” means that writers approach the act of writing much differently than in the past. Writers in the digital world are more willing to accept less perfection in their craft and will also not feel the pressure of what he calls “artistic rigor”  as they compose their writing. It seems that Carr bemoans the fact that writing is losing its flair and polish as it has gone digital. Because electronic text is impermanent, writers do not devote the same care to their work because they know it can be easily updated and corrected.

There is truth in what Carr says. As I write this blog each day, there are times when I feel as if I have crafted every word. Sometimes, I actually complete a draft and save it locally so that I can review it later before uploading it. There are certainly other times I write a post and quickly proofread it, then post it, without really critically looking at the value of what I post. But does the nature of this digital medium call for well-crafted writing or does it beg for a large volume of writing? Is there anyone who truly values craftsmanship in blog writing? Or, are they skimming for information so quickly that it is impossible to appreciate quality writing when it is read?

Nonetheless, I do appreciate one aspect of this digital text that Carr did not mention. Blogging gives writers the opportunity to experiment with text and authentic audiences that the old world of publishing could not provide. The provisional nature of digital text means I can experiment with writing as a craft in ways that was impossible with the old publishing model, and get real feedback from others on whether what I have said works or not. Sure, it may mean that I just add to the enormous babble of voices, but it also means that I have a natural place to try out ideas, to experiment with styles of writing, and explore topics to see if others are interested. That’s the wonder of the provisional nature of digital text!

Here is Carr outlining some of the other ideas in this book. I hope to share more later.

Technorati Tags: Internet,brain,thought,technology

Reflections on Diane Ravitch and the Obama Administration’s Inflexible Reform Stance

I just reviewed Diane Ravitch’s interview from a show called City Talk from CUNY. The message she started with her book The Life and Death of the Great American School System continues unabated. The Obama administration has continued the same destructive policies toward public education that were present under the Bush administration’s No Child Left Behind. President Obama has refused to listen to the logic and reasoning of educators, and he has chosen instead to listen to economists  and the “Billionaire Boys Club” who want to privatize public education. He has even placed individuals from the New Schools Venture Fund in key positions in the US Department of Education. These individuals have let it be known that they see charters and education privatization as the way public schools should go.

One analogy during her interview that I thought was interesting was when she referred to the impossible deadline set under NCLB 1.0 of having every child proficient by 2014. She likened that deadline like telling every city it must be crime-free by 2014, and if they weren’t crime-free, then policemen were going to be fired. That amply shows the ridiculous nature of the entire NCLB Act, and the foolishness of Race to the Top.

With the new administration, we now have Race to the Top which is NCLB 2.0. Obama’s threat to veto the recent war budget if funds were shifted to save teacher jobs shows just how inflexible this administration is in its beliefs regarding the salvation that test scores can bring. As Diane Ravitch points out in this interview, “Race to the Top is only NCLB with the screws turned tighter with its misguided emphasis on evaluating teachers by test scores.”

This administration and this current US Department of Education cares more about its ideology and blind faith in economists and the Bill Gates of the world than it does for students and the teachers of our great nation. I only hope our Great American School System can survive two more years of this current administration.

Diane Ravitch’s Interview on City Talk

Technorati Tags: Diane Ravitch,school reform,Obama Administration

21st Century Book Review: Clay Shirky’s Cognitive Surplus

I have started this book review several times, and each time I erased it and started over. Clay Shirky’s latest tome about the Internet world and how it is impacting us is one of those books that does not lend itself to an easy description.

Cognitive Surplus is a complicated book on a complicated topic. It does not read with the ease of his last book Here Comes Everybody but it does provide the reader with the same level of food for thought. In this book, Shirky takes his readers through a close examination of a phenomenon he calls the cognitive surplus. This cognitive surplus is basically defined as “the aggregate of the world’s free time that is now made available due to the hyper connectivity of our world today.” With the advent of the Internet generally, and social media specifically, massive numbers of world citizens can pool their free time and intellects to create things that never before existed. Some examples of these creations in Shirky’s book are Wikipedia, which has grown to become one of the most accessed and referred to sites on the World Wide Web. He also provides the example of Ushahidi, which is an open source platform for gathering data via SMS, email or web. Ushahidi then provides that information for the public in graphical form. Below is an example of an Oil Spill Crisis Map created by Ushahidi to track the oil spill.

Oil Spill Map Using Ushahidi

According to Shirky the combination of the free time, connectivity through social media, and a willingness to donate expertise have made platforms like Ushahidi possible. As in the Oil Spill Map above, individuals volunteer to report data that updates the map. The Ushahidi platform allows for reporting of aggregate information to the public. It is the cognitive surplus that makes projects like this possible. Shirky adequately captures the possibilities of this phenomenon when he says:

“The technology will continue to improve, and the population will continue to grow, but the change in direction of more participation has already happened. What matters most now is our imaginations. The opportunity before us, individually and collectively, is enormous; what we do with it will be determined largely by how well we are able to imagine and reward public creativity, participation, and sharing.”

According to Shirky, the possibilities of “deploying the cognitive surplus” can make a lot of good happen.

Here’s a video where Shirky attempts to explain how cognitive surplus will change the world.

This is a probably a book to engage individuals in the possibilities that connectivity in general and social media in particular bring to our society. An engaging and thoughtful read throughout. It is a book that can’t be read quickly.

Technorati Tags: book reviews,technology,Clay shirky

A Power Chrome User’s Top Five Chrome Extensions

Google’s Chrome Browser is my browser of choice. After Internet Explorer became so ponderous and slow-loading, I was looking for another browser. I used Firefox for a while, as well as Opera, but when Google released Chrome, I was won over immediately. Chrome’s tabbed browsing, its thumbnail view page, and its speed won me over as a user. Now there are extensions. Here are my current favorite top 5 Chrome extensions.

Chromed Bird

Chromed Bird is a Twitter client. It offers users all of the features of a regular twitter client. The ability to follow regular timelines and follow lists along with hashtags allows users to follow tweets the same way it is done in clients like Tweetdeck or Seesmic.

Chromed Bird’s Interface

Gmail Notification Button

Another of my favorite Chrome Extensions is the Gmail Notification button. What this extensions does is periodically check your Gmail account and it notifies you when you have Gmail. It places a small number just below the button to indicate the number of unread messages in the inbox. Gmail is opened by simply clicking on the button.
 

Gmail Button in Chrome Browser

Diigo Extension

The Diigo Extension gives users the ability to highlight, bookmark, sticky note or share annotated portions of web pages. This extension makes it extremely easy to access these tools when stumbling across some interesting web material.

Diigo Toolbar Extension

The Evernote Extension

The Evernote extension gives users who have Evernote accounts the ability to clip web pages, add notes to those pages and then place them in notebooks.

 

Evernote Extension Interface

Awesome Screenshot, Capture, and Annotate Extension

This extension allows users to capture screenshots of the contents of a browser then add annotations to that image. Then users have the option of uploading the final image to a URL or saving it. It is a quick and easy way to take screenshots of browser pages.

Awesome Screenshot with Annotations Added

I have tried a number of other Chrome Extensions, but these are so far the ones I find the most useful for my needs. There are countless other extensions available at: https://chrome.google.com/extensions.

Technorati Tags: technology,Google,Chrome,Web Browsers