dayman

They were about to pull out lightsabers only Crowley's presence as the dark sith prevented it

This is the most aggressive town hall in history already lol

This plant kills...lol Oh ****...it's on

yes I got the goof and was regoofing...if you will

ah, makes sense

what the hell is MSM... I've seen this on this board a few times a google shows wikipedia saying it's a abbreviation for "men who have sex w/ men"

talking heads unanimously assume Americans do not care about foreign policy...idk if they're right or wrong you be the judge

Honestly Jill Stein must have designed that program b/c I don't think there has been a more powerful tool for her in her "campaign" process.

Didn't see the story. Did he take her on as a wife?

I really don't think you can win a town hall, you can only lose it. So draw with both sides claiming victory is the likely outcome barring Obama or Romney mooning the audience.

Hmmm so they negotiated between 62 and 64 degrees in the room eh? They sue...the committee they both fund if it isn't?

What time does this start?

lol just flipped on TV first thing said on CNN was that Mitt Romney practiced a lot on how to sit on a bar stool, b/c he's Morman and doesn't sit on a lot of bar stools. I hate being forced to rely primarily on CNN as a result of not paying for cable...just terrible (except for my boy Zakaria)

Just took it again and now I side w/ Mao Zedong. Damn

Prediction: Debate ends prematurely with Obama and Romney together physically beating Candy to death on live television for daring to ask a follow up or for more clarification. Morale of the country takes a turn for the better as a result, as the country feel united following the first truly bipartisan act in recent memory.

It still comes down to you just saying that if part of what you look at is test scores, then you aren't looking at other metrics. This isn't true. Near where I live, where many of my friends live, there were a lot of articles about the Gates foundation who sort of commandeered a district to experiment with. They look at scores. They also have extensive teacher performance evaluations that go well beyond what the district would be able to do w/ out the money they brought with them. Really at it's core they are studying teaching, giving real feedback to each teacher and understanding what it is that makes the best ones good and finding ways to share those skills with others. B/c part of their program looks at test scores and draws what conclusions they think are appropriate from them...that does not mean that their program somehow ignore the best practices they identify regardless of the test scores coming from that group (which seems to be the focus of their approach). Also anyone who says this is a product of "democratic/big government" thinking and not just a product of the plan Florida adopted doesn't understand state politics in Florida. There is only 1 party. It isn't the Dems and nobody would be caught dead doing anything that smells of big gov't in Tally. Trying to put this on a party or make this partisan is ... quite partisan and quite wrong.

I hear ya, and I'm not here to vouch for some Florida education plan that I know nothing about besides the article in the first post. But to say that it is off no use to measure proficiency through a test and have a goal to increase those scores ... hard to buy it. Problems with tests and how they are designed aside, they are necessary and they do teach us something. When you have a number in the 30s ... it has told you that you likely have massive failures. So in setting a goal to get that number up, it's merely saying we want that problem to get better. I don't think that simply having a goal of getting a score up means that somehow the plan to better the quality of education is now problematic. The plan for getting 30is% to 70% in 6 years.....no doubt includes more than just "we'll just try hard and see what the scores are like in 2018." Once again I don't know any more specifics than we all do, those stated in the first link which don't discuss it. But I think to assume that b/c you look at test scores on a standardized test means that you are ignoring measurements in teaching performance is not correct. I would assume that there are a number of things in their "plan" which would include some way of evaluating teachers better, not just to fire bad ones but to figure out what is good about good ones and share it to make others better. Obviously attract better teachers. Certain systematic changes in the hiring structure (for instance that less tenured teachers are fired first when budgets are cut, clearly the worst teachers should be fired first...while teachers in the country do not get in the business for money there should be dollar incentives to increasing their teaching craft which is not measured by test scores alone, etc). It's easy to say that measuring test scores is the wrong thing to measure and assuming you measure only one thing everybody would probably agree this day in age. But there is nothing in that article that suggests this is the plan. And while race isn't the best nor most PC way of looking at the socioeconomic issues that plague our system...we do need to acknowledge that achievement gaps between students of different backgrounds are real...I forget the stat but something around half of the dropouts in this country are from under 15% of the schools and there is some consistent early education issues there that most think lead to this...it's not being black I know this...and I haven't been defending this race classification scheme...but there does need to be some classification. And acknowledging this doesn't mean you ignore those student who are at the top and how to improve things for them either...

To raise proficiency from 38% to 74% in 6 years does seem like a high goal and apparently the people who do know about education reform feel that way, and think they know how to meet it. Then no doubt in 6 years, they'll have a plan to analyze and see how it worked and didn't work and a higher baseline to start from and they'll set goals even higher etc...this is not rocket science.

B/c declaring "every child shall be up to the grade" is being "for excellence" and also b/c this discussion is even remotely partisan.

Ok set the goal: By 2018 EVERY KID WILL BE GREAT. Now that's the goal what tangible plan can we adopt to meet it? Hmmm...oh wait there isn't one b/c that's not a real goal it's something stupid we all wish was true. Guess we can't plan for it specifically...but we can try hard! Goal: Every kid by 2018! Tactics: Try real hard! ...this isn't how plan to improve education man. You look at honest data, make plans to address the data, and set attainable goals w/ timeframes.

Actually no you just beat your chest say everyone should be 100% and work real hard. You don't acknowledge real data and analyze it to find where/who is having trouble and then set realistic goals for various tactics. You just beat you chest b/c the goal is 100%. And btw, Democrats are to blame for black people woes from education gaps to illegitimacy. Hard as it is to believe given the state of the education, the solution is setting a goal of 100% and working hard. Or have you not listened to 3rd and his bravado. EDIT: And btw I've acknowledged from the first post I made in here that race probably isn't the best way to analyze the data, but that is what they did. BTW "they" is Florida and there is only 1 party in the state legislature/running government there. And it ain't Dems

You ready/hear what you want to. There is no other way to put it. Stay angry my friend.

Consider this, before the simulus was passed and Tennessee recieved their race to the top grant 91% of their students were reported to be proficient in math. A year later it was 34% and the minority achievement gap had doubled. It was purely a result of stricter standards...they stopped lying to themselves and dumbing down their standards...now they know the truth and that is a very liberating and motivating thing. Now they can look at the real data...acknowledge real differences in different parts of the state and w/ different groups of kids...and start real change. I won't try and tie this in directly w/ the Florida situation but it speaks IMO to the power of being honest...and I think setting realistic goals is the only way to approach the situation after you have been honest with yourself.

Hey, I agree that it would be wise to maybe set it by socioeconomic status or something instead of race. But there is a "caste system" so to speak in public schools...to understand that and make goals based on that isn't bad IMO. You don't want to set the "realistic" goal for all students somewhere near the level an affluent community is already at b/c you want to be doing the best to improve those as well. And 100%...just not going to happen. You should set goals to reach IMO...not just demand "more" at all times b/c then...there is nothing but failure all the time and goals become meaningless. Not to say I don't agree that you set them high, but you set them somewhere reachable. Bills want to win every game. In that sense our goal is 16-0. But in reality when stepping back we want to win 10 or 11 games and make the playoffs b/c we know where we've been and who we are. So that's really the goal. As it applies here...yes you want every kid, but when setting goals...you need to realistic and accept that it isn't going to happen and decide what is tangible and how to get there.

You can "elite" at RB pretty quickly. It's not like most positions. CJ is "elite" If not for FJax he would consensus #1 pick next year in fantasy. As is he'll be on that top tier "elite" picks. And it's not just fantasy...he's up there in actual football