Ahead of our LCFBA18 showcase at Oval Space, east London, on 6 June, we will be shining the light on some of this season’s star graduates from design, media and […]
When I boarded the plane in the cold, dreary northeast the song “Here comes the sun” entered my mind more than a couple times. I was headed to Panama for the official unveiling of a top secret new initiative, conceived by Grammy award winning jazz pianist Danilo Perez, to be housed at Berklee and on the low-low until Wednesday, January 13!
watched an excited Herbie Hancock talk about one of the elements of this upcoming announcement, and seen “El Maestro” Perez and Grammy winning bassist John Patitucci play together on a stage inside Frank Gehry’s first building in Latin America, the BioMuseo, a 21st century natural history museum.
Whewwwwww! And the festival hasn’t even started yet, but standing in this abstract structure with multi-colored lights emitted from the unfinished roof, listening to the sound of sticks striking bamboo in tribe-like harmony, the adventure has already begun and I feel transported.
No tenga miedo a participar ( transl: Don’t be afraid to join me with comments! English, Spanish, or any other ) Come along on this journey through music, culture, and meaning, as I give more hints about the new vision from Berklee and Danilo Perez. Not to mention all the happenings at the festival.
We're now in day 5 of the Chicago teachers' strike. I found these quotes from the CTU attorney, Robert Bloch, interesting:
CTU Attorney Robert Bloch said Thursday the CTU finally felt on Wednesday that it was getting through to CPS negotiators on their concerns about the new teacher evaluation system.
"The system they are using to evaluate people is based on an extremely complicated, esoteric formula to measure student growth -- so complicated I think everybody on the CPS team will admit they don't understand it," Bloch said. "Experts developed it but not educators."
Gosh, and golly. Educators didn't develop indoor plumbing, air conditioning, and the internet, too--does that mean schools shouldn't use them either? More productively, I think an analogy to school buildings is useful here: When you're designing a new school building, you want to seriously take into account teachers' perspective on how the space should be laid out and used, what features need to be in classrooms, and so forth. But when it comes to, say, ensuring the correct structural support for the roof, you don't want teachers making those decisions. You want an architect or an engineer. You want an expert. Similarly, in designing the overall shape of teacher evaluation systems, teacher input (from all perspectives, not just the union) should play a critical role. But when you're designing the infrastructure to support that system, particularly the value-added measures, you want an expert. Unless, of course, you want the roof to fall in.
In addition, the complicated algorithms used to determine student growth -- called "value-added" -- are being debated nationwide.
"The problem is, how do you hold teachers accountable for improvement when so many things that are used to evaluate them are outside their control or very complicated?'' Bloch said.
"The science behind the student growth aspects of testing is untested and uncertain, and you're going to risk a teacher's career based on some guy in a back room writing algorithms or students who are not tested in the subject you're teaching?
"There's a lot of unknowns. People's careers should not be decided by factors people don't really understand."
Let's unpack this a bit: Bloch's arguing that value-added measures of student learning shouldn't be used for teacher accountability because they're too mathematically complicated, and specifically because teachers shouldn't be held accountable using something they can't understand. Well, let's stipulate that the math beyond the measures is complicated. It would certainly be possible to hold teachers accountable for student learning using very simple and transparent measures--like the percentage of a teacher's students achieving proficiency. But I'm guessing most teachers wouldn't like that, and would rightly argue that such measures are unfair because they fail to take into account the variety of other factors--demographics, prior performance, etc.--that affect student learning. The complexity of value-added models is exactly the result of trying to take these factors into account. As with any complex issue, you have to make trade offs, in this case, between transparency or simplicity and fairness or accuracy. Unless of course, one doesn't think teachers should be held responsible for student learning at all......
That said, I do think reformers who advocate new teacher evaluation systems ought to take more seriously the fact that the new value-added and growth measures are difficult to understand and often not entirely transparent. Too often proponents of new teacher evaluations tend to talk as if value-added or growth measures are a sort of magical black box that, if you put the right data in, will spit out the truth about teachers' effectiveness in the classroom. But it's more complicated than that. As Mr. Weasley said, "Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain." We shouldn't be asking teachers to place their trust in a magical black box without being transparent about how this all works and the real limitations of the measures.
Ah, retirement. With all the planning people go through to make sure their money won’t run out after they exit the work force, one important detail still seems hazy to many of them: health insurance. A small but revealing study of 377 U.S. baby boomers (those born from 1946 to 1964) shows there’s much confusion about Medicare, the federal health program for people 65 and older and the disabled.
Access to coverage figures prominently in retirement timing decisions, but only 36% of boomers surveyed by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners correctly identified 65 as the age at which people become eligible for Medicare. Some erroneously lumped it together with the possible eligibility ages for Social Security or financial withdrawals from IRAs: 21% thought Medicare started at age 62 while 6% said it started at age 59 1/2. Twenty-eight percent admitted they were unsure of the right age to enroll.
What’s more, two thirds said they were not very or not at all familiar with options such as Medicare Part B, Medicare Advantage plans, Medicare prescription drug coverage (known as Part D), and Medicare supplement insurance known as Medigap.
“Most people as they approach their retirement years have had their insurance provided through their workplace, so they’re not used to asking the questions they need to ask when moving into Medicare,” NAIC President Sandy Praeger said. “There are a lot of misconceptions about what Medicare does.”
With the leading edge of the boomers only three years away from becoming eligible for Medicare, now is a good time to review the basics.
Unlike employer-based insurance, Medicare provides coverage for the beneficiary only, and not for a spouse who’s younger than 65 or dependents. This caveat can require careful financial planning. A younger spouse may not be able to secure coverage on the individual market, and COBRA that lasts 18 months after job-based group coverage ends can be prohibitively expensive because it requires the individual to pay full freight — 100% of the premium cost plus 2% for administrative fees.
A related question boomers may have is how Medicare fits in with their plan to work later into their lives than their parents’ generation did.
“A lot of people work past the age of 65. They might want to explore whether or not they want to continue with employer-based coverage, which they can do in most cases,” Praeger said. “That may be an alternative, especially if they have a younger spouse.”
A few months before people turn 65, a fairly big government-issued document arrives in their mailboxes, she said. “You’ll get information about Part A, which is automatic, Part B, which is the physician coverage, and then the various supplemental plans” along with Part D, the prescription drug coverage. Part A covers hospitals while Part B is for doctor visits. People who don’t sign up for drug coverage when they’re first eligible end up paying more when they eventually do enroll — unless they have comparable employer coverage at the time they join Medicare. In that case the financial penalty is waived.
Medicare Advantage plans roll the options into one HMO plan, which often boasts lower premiums than traditional Medicare, Praeger said. But there can be tradeoffs. “The federal government contracts with the HMO and it’s the HMO that makes the payment. Medicare tends to be a better payer in terms of getting it paid quickly.” The biggest sticking point may be choice of doctors. Not all physicians accept the HMO plans. For people who don’t want to change doctors, this element can be a dealbreaker, she said.
Even with Medicare coverage, beneficiaries who need health-care services typically face cost-sharing. That’s why some people buy Medigap policies to cover the out of pocket expenses.
Health discount cards can be attractive but confusing as well. Though they may sound like insurance they’re not, and consumers need to ask whether their health-care professionals are included in the company’s list of negotiated discounts, Praeger said. “They should ask for a list of providers up front before they buy the card because we know there have been scams where they haven’t gotten discounts with any providers and the card is meaningless.”
Discount cards can be valuable in defraying the cost of services, particularly those that fall outside Medicare’s coverage, she said. “Dental is not a Medicare-covered benefit, so people might want to look at a dental discount card. But again they need to ask and make sure the dentist they want to go to is listed.”
A high-stakes fishing tournament off Cabo San Lucas in Mexico netted one woman a 774-pound marlin and another a jackpot worth more than $1 million.
Linda Williams landed the biggest fish in Bisbee’s Black and Blue Marlin Tournament, which ended Friday.
It took Williams 102 minutes to reel in the enormous fish. It was brought to the dock only minutes before the tournament ended.
I’m still shaking the last fibers of a cozy vacation hibernation off only to see lots has happened in the women’s hoops world while I was away. We’ll have to wait to discuss the WNBA’s decision to relocate Detroit to Tulsa due to some news released today.
Washington, trying to rebound from a disappointing 8-22 season, was selected to finish last in the Pac-10 coaches and media poll — the latter unveiled this afternoon. Stanford, which won its third straight title last season, was a unanimous selection to win the conference again.
Washington State was selected to finish seventh among media, sixth in the coaches’ poll. It’s the Cougars’ highest ranking since the poll began in 1998-99.
UW coach Tia Jackson already was asked about the ranking, stating, “Somebody had to get picked last, and it just happened to be us.” She firmly believes her Huskies will surprise teams, noting recently that the Huskies are healthy and have 12 returning players.
Jackson’s team should be better than last place, but the conference could be a mess. With stars like G Briann January (Arizona State) and F Ashley Walker (California) gone to the pros, it’s anyone’s game after Stanford. Although my peers voted the Sun Devils and Bears to still finish in the top-3 in their transition period, I believe UCLA and even Oregon State can wiggle in to shake the conference.
The Cardinal is an overwhelming favorite because of C Jayne Appel and G Jeanette Pohlen, who were selected to the preseason All-Pac-10 team. Cal G Alexis Gray-Lawson, Arizona F Ify Ibekwe, and UCLA G Doreena Campbell were also named to the team.
But there are other exciting players to watch this season like the Cougars’ backcourt and the still pending debut of Southern California G Jacki Gemelos, who suffered four knee injuries and is expected to be cleared to play in January 2010. She entered USC as one of the nation’s top recruits in 2006.
The Seattle Times is spicing things up this season, returning to the road for some of Washington’s Pac-10 matchups. I’ll also make stops to see Gonzaga (the state’s best women’s hoops team), WSU, and Seattle University.
The Redhawks are entering their first season under former Arizona coach Joan Bonvicini and in Division-I ball.
It’ll be a busy winter of college hoops sprinkled with WNBA news. It all starts with profiles and previews the opening two weeks of November and the Huskies’ exhibition against Seattle Pacific on Nov. 5.
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