satriela

I would be surprised if they accepted 2 year olds

the intersection is picking up new business

we just recently completed CD's for a new 24hour dinner where Alfredo's was located

3-6-9 chinese food is THE BEST. And they deliver. If you eat inside, its white linen service for a cheeseburger price. Everytime we go we wonder why its not packed.

We agree that high stakes testing is one thing that lowers the bar and is easily fixed. However, I am not hopeful that this easy fix alone will result in students being better prepared for college level work. Too may other factors conspire to keep that from being a reality. Complex situations require multi-pronged solutions and that to solve them we must heed Mencken's warning, "There is always an easy solution to every human problem that is simple, neat, and wrong."

So what are you saying? If many different things can't be fixed at once, we should leave the whole thing alone? I think the public education system needs an entire overhaul, but barring that, I see nothing wrong with doing something quite easy and quantifiable quickly--like taking out high stakes testing quickly--while in the process of making some of the other changes that need to be made (like stricter standards for teachers and curricula).

While I agree that high stakes tests are a contributing factor to students not being prepared for the rigors of college level work, they aren't the sole factor. NCLB was not passed until 2002. When I first began teaching in the UC System in the early 1990s, California did not have high stakes testing and even then many students weren't well prepared for college level work. The reasons for students not being prepared are complex. There is no doubt that a singular focus on test scores, particularly if teachers feel compelled to teach to the test, is problematic, but to my way of thinking that isn't the only reason students entering college aren't prepared to do college level work.

I agree that the reasons are complex; I just think high stakes testing is one thing that lowers the bar and is easily fixed.

I've been an academic for more than 2 decades who currently teaches in the University of

California system and agree that many students are not prepared to handle college/university level work. But believe me it's not just the students who have attended urban schools. Many students even those who have attended schools that have good reputations are not prepared for the rigors of college work. While many of these students do possess the "basic skills" of literacy, they aren't the "basic skills" needed for success at the university. Too many students aren't able to read difficult texts critically, write coherent, analytical papers, synthesize, summarize, or back up their opinions with strong arguments.

You can blame high stakes testing for that. I work in an HISD school that feeds directly to Lee and what proponents of high stakes testing either don't realize or don't care about is that kids have to be taught how to take a multiple choice test. It is not something inherently learned in any academic area. Sure, great teaching will lead to at least okay test scores, but great test scores come from teaching the test...and great money comes from great test scores...

Just my two cents.

I heard that toll roads usually never get "untolled" that is, even after they are supposed to become free, they stay toll roads.

I've never posted here (I'm a lurker) but I just want to say that I don't mind the kids hanging out at all. I've lived in Montrose (On Dunlavy) for some years now and I hope the street funk doesn't go away. Clean and sanitized is not how I want my neighborhood. I actually enjoy the live entertainment at the intersection of Montrose and Westheimer and occasionally I fill my car up at that gas station (Valero?) just because I never know what I'm gonna see. Runaway kids will always go SOMEPLACE. Why not the Montrose? 30 years from now when all Montrose has is McMansions there won't be any runaway kids to worry about, anyway.