New mutant lice resistant to common treatments in 25 states, including Texas | abc13.com

New mutant lice resistant to common treatments in 25 states, including Texas | abc13.com:

STUDY SHOWS LICE IN AT LEAST 25 STATES NOW RESISTANT TO COMMON TREATMENTS

BOSTON, MA (KTRK) --

New research suggests head lice are getting even harder to kill.

A study conducted by researchers at Southern Illinois University suggests there is a new species of mutant lice that are resistant to most over-the-counter treatments.

"What we found was that 104 out of the 109 lice populations we tested had high levels of gene mutations, which have been linked to resistance to pyrethroids," said Kyong Yoon, Ph.D., who conducted the research.

Pyrethroids are a type of insecticide used in many lice treatments.

Tips to keep lice out of your child's head.

Yoon said he gathered head lice from 30 states for his study, and he discovered lice in 25 of those states, including Texas, had development resistance to treatments such as RID Lice Killing Shampoo and Nix Cream Rinse.

"If you use a chemical over and over, these little creatures will eventually develop resistance," Yoon said. "So we have to think before we use a treatment. The good news is head lice don't carry disease. They're more a nuisance than anything else."

Yoon is presenting his findings this week at the 250th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.New mutant lice resistant to common treatments in 25 states, including Texas | abc13.com:







Mutant lice are probably coming! But first, the hype - CNN.com http://cnn.it/1JiV016

Jersey Jazzman: School "Turnaround": A Fool's Errand

Jersey Jazzman: School "Turnaround": A Fool's Errand:

School "Turnaround": A Fool's Errand

 Bob Braun tells us the Newark Public Schools are plowing ahead with their school "turnaround" plans as part of One Newark, all evidence to the contrary be damned:

The latest round of state-mandated school “reforms” imposed on the children, parents, and employees in the Newark public schools has created a bizarre situation in which virtually the entire staffs of so-called “turnaround” schools will be new and unknown to both neighborhood residents and to each other, many of these new teachers already have signaled their opposition to the changes mandated by the reform, and  faculty will be working two different schedules in the same schools.

That could hardly be a recipe for success. So, maybe it is a deliberate plan for failure.

[...]

The absurd set of circumstances was created when then state-imposed superintendent Cami Anderson announced that nine more schools would be added to the list of so-called “turnaround” schools that would–theoretically–operate on an extended day schedule with a staff of committed volunteers who had bought into the reform.

But it hasn’t turned out that way. Teachers had the right to opt out of the reform although they were warned they would be transferred to other schools, no matter how long they had worked at their home school. Many–if not most–teachers refused and they were transferred.

But here’s the kicker: Many were transferred from their home “turnaround”

- See more at: http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2015/08/school-turnaround-fools-errand.html#sthash.U3R1vdHO.dpuf

Blog Comment Spammers Making Me Nuts

I've been trying to block my comment spammers, but it's getting increasingly hard. I just called one particularly awful abuser -- a small company right here in NJ that apparently hired a hack to do their social media -- and told them I'd consider legal action if they don't knock it off.

I'm turning on comment moderation for a while. And I'm considering migrating over to Wordpress, which will likely cause a big drop in my traffic for a while. But it may be worth it just to stop the spam, and to have some better control over the design of the blog.

I've noticed that most of the commenting about my posts takes place on Facebook or Twitter anyway. That's fine; both seem to have much better control over spammers attaching themselves to my accounts than Blogspot.

For those who write real comments here regularly, thank you - I really do appreciate it.

- See more at: http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2015/08/blog-comment-spammers-making-me-nuts.html#sthash.3j8doQBN.dpuf

BustED Pencils Trending News: NAfMA Wins For ARTS; Ed In China; WISCAPE Vision | BustED Pencils

BustED Pencils Trending News: NAfMA Wins For ARTS; Ed In China; WISCAPE Vision | BustED Pencils:

Trending News: NAfMA Wins For ARTS; Ed In China; WISCAPE Vision 

  

NAfMA gets a win for the Arts.  HUGE step!!

SENATE PASSES ACT THAT THE ARTS ARE CONSIDERED CORE SUBJECTS

http://theodysseyonline.com/unr/senate-passes-act-that-the-arts-are-core-subjects/127337

America style Ed in China. WHAT?????

Made in America: China’s Importing Charter Schools

http://news.yahoo.com/made-america-chinas-importing-charter-schools-191817725.html

Our blogtalkradio show at Michelangelo’s with guests Jason Lee and Noel Radomski from WISCAPE – An amazing group of people -CHECK IT OUT! THEY have A vision!

Surviving the Republican assault on the University of Wisconsin.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/bustedpencils/2015/07/30/surviving-the-republican-assault-on-the-university-of-wisconsin

Get BustED Pencils Trending News to come right to your in-box!

Enter your email under “SUBSCRIBE” on our Home or Trending News page atbustedpencils.com 

BustED Pencils Trending News: NAfMA Wins For ARTS; Ed In China; WISCAPE Vision | BustED Pencils:

State School Takeovers Steal Democracy, Ignore Poverty | janresseger

State School Takeovers Steal Democracy, Ignore Poverty | janresseger:

State School Takeovers Steal Democracy, Ignore Poverty

The takeover of the public schools in New Orleans followed a natural catastrophe, the destruction of the city by Hurricane Katrina and the failure of the levies.  The mass charterization of the city’s schools is said by its proponents to have improved education for the children who have returned, but the takeover remains controversial. What is less controversial is the impact of the imposition of the Recovery School District on democratic ownership and governance.  I will always remember the words of a New Orleans mother who cried out at a national meeting, “They stole our public schools and they stole our democracy all while we were out of town.”

Politicians are rather cavalier about state school takeovers and the imposition of “achievement school districts” and “recovery school districts” when the families served by the schools are poor.  While New Jersey‘s governor Chris Christie would be unlikely to dismiss the role of the local school board in Montclair or Princeton, he didn’t hesitate to disdain the citizens of Newark when he proclaimed on television, “And I don’t care about the community criticism.  We run the schools in Newark, not them.”

Tennessee‘s Achievement School District, created to seize the lowest-scoring 5 percent of that state’s schools, has been managing schools in Nashville and Memphis for some years without stunning success, despite the rhetoric on its website that says the state takeover is designed to “bust barriers” and “catapult” the low scoring schools “straight into the top 25 percent.”  Chris Barbic ran the Tennessee Achievement School District from May 2011 until late July, when he resigned after test scores had hardly risen and none of the schools reached the top 25 percent.

And in Michigan, Governor Rick Snyder issued an executive order in mid-March to transfer the state body that has been overseeing the state takeover of low-scoring schools from the Department of Education to the Department of Technology, Management and Budget, a department directly under Snyder’s control.  His executive order declared, “Despite not State School Takeovers Steal Democracy, Ignore Poverty | janresseger:

Malloy administration gives towns the Common Core SBAC test results but not the public - Wait What?

Malloy administration gives towns the Common Core SBAC test results but not the public - Wait What?:

Malloy administration gives towns the Common Core SBAC test results but not the public

Action violates Connecticut’s Freedom of Information Act.

This morning Governor Dannel Malloy’s Commissioner of Education, Diana Wentzell, held the state’s annual back-to-school meeting for Connecticut superintendents at Al Prince Vo-Tech High School in Hartford.

Considering his anti-public education agenda, it was not surprising that Malloy was a no-show at the meeting.  Instead, Lt. Governor Nancy Wyman attended the meeting, despite the fact that both Malloy and Wyman are attending a joint event at 10am in nearby Middletown.

State Department of Education staff informed school superintendents that starting today they could access their district’s 2015 SBAC test results via the State Department of Education’s website, but they could not share the information since the results were “embargoed.”

Embargoed?

Superintendents were warned that the state will not be making the test results public until the week of August 31^st, 2015.

Local school officials were told that they were not allowed to inform parents, teachers, their local Board of Education or the public about the SBAC results are released by the state.

In a companion memo provided to superintendents, the State Department of Education wrote;

“It is critical that districts do not make embargoed results public before the embargo is lifted.  Releasing results (including discussing with the press or sharing results at Board of Education meetings) prior to the lift of the 

Malloy administration gives towns the Common Core SBAC test results but not the public - Wait What?:

CURMUDGUCATION: Hunger Strike in Chicago

CURMUDGUCATION: Hunger Strike in Chicago:
Hunger Strike in Chicago

http://www.reclaimourschools.org/

Education reformsters have a selective deafness problem when it comes to not-white, not-wealthy citizens, and that is on display again in Chicago, where community activists are staging a hunger strike this week in an attempt to get Chicago Public Schools to actually pay attention to them.

Members of the Bronzeville community have been fighting for Dyett High School since it was marked for phaseout in 2012; CPS cited academic failure. CPS stretched the closing over four years to allow students already enrolled to finish their careers there; that resulted in just twelve seniors being enrolled last year. Supporters of the school say that CPS pressured those remaining students to transfer out; CPS says it was just "gauging interest." Certainly Dyett hasn't enjoyed a great deal of support from CPS-- no infusion of resources or attempt to actually fix the alleged academic shortcomings.

Instead of talking about how to revitalize the school, CPS has been entertaining proposals about what to replace it with, including a proposal from the principal brought in to shut the place down-- that particular proposal has been considered even though it was handed in late. But the school seems marked to be one more victim of the mayor's wholesale slashing of neighborhood schools.

But here's what you need to know about the community activists of Dyett High School-- they have done everything that you're supposed to do in such a situation. They put together a proposal for a school focusing on green and leadership studies, complete with partners and support, that would have allowed the area to keep its last open-enrollment high school. CPS has hemmed and hawed and at one point said, okay, you can keep the school under this plan as long as we still hire someone to run it.

Activist Jitu Brown had some thoughts about that, as reported by Edushyster:

"Why can’t we have public schools? Why do low-income minority students need to have their schools run by private contractors?" As Brown sees it, handing the school to a private operator isn’t much better than closing it. "We want this school to anchor the community for the next 75 years. We’re not interested in a short-term contract that can be broken."

So while CPS has twiddled their thumbs and stalled, the supporters of Dyett have organized and petitioned and called and done what people do when they are ignored-- steadily escalated. They CURMUDGUCATION: Hunger Strike in Chicago:

Campbell Brown's Edusummit AM

Today is Campbell Brown's education summit in New Hampshire, featuring six GOP candidates and some other filler. It's an all-day extravaganza. The live streaming had some trouble hitting its stride, so I missed the opener and the first part of Jeb Bush's turn in the soft, comfy chair (there are no hot seats anywhere at this summit.)

I had no intention of watching, but it's like netflixing a bad comedy series-- you just keep sticking around a little bit longer. So I have no super-coherent observations about the morning with Bush, Fiorina, and Kasich (Jennifer Berkshire is there for Edushyster, so I look forward to her write-up). But there are several things that jump out.

"God-given"

That's the preferred modifier for the talents and abilities of students. This not only lets candidates name-check God, but it also sidesteps any discussion about what effects poverty and environment might have on the talents and abilities that a student brings to school.

Local control is union control

Yeah, this is a new but already-beloved talking point. If you let people have local control, those damn unions will just buy the elections, just like they did in...well, somewhere. The problem with this talking point will be coming up with an actual example of a local school board that is run by the bought-and-paid-for tools of the teachers union.

Cognitive dissonance

Holy smokes but the candidates disagree with themselves. Kasich thinks local control is awesome, but the state takeover of Cleveland and Youngstown is also awesome. This is a sticking point for all three candidates, who love them some local control and decry the evils of top-down federal over-reachy policy-- but you can't privatize and get charters and choice unless you open up the market by shutting down local voters.

Also teachers unions are terrible and awful and a barrier to great things in education, but teachers 

Campbell Brown's Edusummit AM

Teacher Shortage? Or Teacher Pipeline Problem? : NPR Ed : NPR

Teacher Shortage? Or Teacher Pipeline Problem? : NPR Ed : NPR:
Teacher Shortage? Or Teacher Pipeline Problem?

Listen to the Story

Morning Edition

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Ah, back-to-school season in America: That means it's time for the annoyingly aggressive marketing of clothes, and for the annual warnings of a national teacher shortage.

But this year the cyclical problem is more real and less of a media creation. There are serious shortages of teachers in California, Oklahoma, Kentucky and places in between.

A big factor: Far fewer college students are enrolling in teacher training programs, as we reported this spring, exacerbating a long-standing shortage of instructors in special education, science and English as a second language. In California, enrollment in teaching programs is down more than 50 percent over the past five years. Enrollment is down sharply in Texas, North Carolina, New York and elsewhere.

Add to those enrollment numbers the stagnant pay, attrition, retirements, an improving economy and politicized fights over tenure, and you've got the makings of a genuine problem in some regions.

"All of those things together are creating a serious challenge for us," Troy Flint, spokesman for the Oakland Unified School District in California, tells NPR Ed. "The teacher shortage we're facing in Oakland is significantly more dire than in previous years. We just don't have as many teachers in the pipeline."

With the new school year set to begin Aug. 24, Oakland has some 50 classroom vacancies. "The biggest challenge this year has come from the nationwide teacher shortage impacting all education employers, especially California public schools," Antwan Wilson, the district's superintendent, wrote this week in an email to staff and parents.

California has more than 21,000 teaching positions to fill. Districts laid off or eliminated some 80,000 teaching jobs between 2008 and 2012 during the recession. And as the economy rebounds, more young people have more options.

The shortage areas tend to be worse in districts with budget woes, a concentration of high-poverty areas and systems that are experiencing strong population growth.

Take Nevada, for example. In some districts, such as Clark County, which is home to Las Vegas, population growth has meant the district can't build enough schools to meet demand or find enough teachers, especially when you can potentially make more money with tips as a card dealer in a casino.

Pay is clearly an issue, especially in cities with high housing and living costs like those in the Bay Area, one of the nation's costliest regions. The annual starting teacher in Oakland makes a little more than $42,000. The average monthly apartment rent in the area is $2,802, according to Forbes.Teacher Shortage? Or Teacher Pipeline Problem? : NPR Ed : NPR:

Policy Influences Practice But Does Practice Influence Policy? | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Policy Influences Practice But Does Practice Influence Policy? | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

Policy Influences Practice But Does Practice Influence Policy?

The past half-century has seen record-breaking attempts by policymakers to influence how teachers teach. Record-breaking in the sense that again and again (add one more “again”) federal and state policymakers and aggressive philanthropists have pushed higher curriculum standards in math, science, social studies, and reading decade after decade. With No Child Left Behind and its coercive accountability mandates, teaching has surely been influenced, even homogenized (following scripts, test prep, etc.)  in those schools threatened by closure or restructuring.  Now with Common Core standards, the push to standardize math and language arts instruction in K-12 (e.g., close reading for first graders) repeats earlier efforts to reshape classroom lessons. If past efforts are any indicator, then these efforts to homogenize teaching lead paradoxically, to more, not less, variability in lessons. But this increased variation in teaching seldom alerts policymakers and donors in their offices and suites to reassess the policies  they adopt.

The take-aways from this post are first, policies aimed at standardizing classroom practice increase variation in lessons, and, second, teachers are policymakers.

Policies aimed at standardizing classroom practice increase variation in lessons

Consider math standards. An unusual research project in the early 1990s examined California’s major policy effort–a new math curriculum framework– to lift the low floor in both math content and instruction in 1,000 school districts. Policymakers wanted to rid the state of teaching math mechanically and instead have students grasp a deeper understanding of math concepts.  The ambitious policy gave detailed instructional guidance to teachers and new  textbooks and materials aligned to the framework to hundreds of thousands of California teachers. The policy aim was to improve the teaching of math in the state by standardizing new content and ways of teaching students concepts and algorithms through use of manipulatives and other materials.

David K. Cohen and Deborah Ball  led a team of researchers who observed math lessons and interviewed teachers. The research uncovered enormous variation Policy Influences Practice But Does Practice Influence Policy? | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

Newark superintendent Cerf is no show at first board meeting | Bob Braun's Ledger

Newark superintendent Cerf is no show at first board meeting | Bob Braun's Ledger:

Newark superintendent Cerf is no show at first board meeting

Christopher Cerf, Gov. Chris Christie’s latest whimsical choice to run the state’s largest school district, was a no-show Tuesday at his first school board meeting. Although no one on the board explained or even mentioned his absence, this site has learned the often luckless private entrepreneur and sometime public official was having a date with his wife to celebrate their wedding anniversary.



“It was planned,” said Brittany Chord Parmley about her boss’s absence. She is the public relations person for the state-operated Newark school district, brought on earlier this year when Cami Anderson, Cerf’s appointee and predecessor, actually believed she had a long  future with the Newark schools. Parmley previously worked for Michelle Rhee, the disgraced former Washington DC superintendent mother of all school “reformers,” and Arnold Schwartzenegger who is, well, who he was.



Parmley refused to say why Cerf, the Newark superintendent since July 8,  would miss his much anticipated public debut as the latest state overseer of the Newark schools. Board members, however, revealed privately that Cerf had told them he had planned something special to do with his wife on the day he was supposed to introduce himself to the skeptical people of Newark to whom he has, sort of, promised a return to local control in return for a three-year contract worth $250,000 a year–about $100,000 more than he was making as state education commissioner. He had been working for Rupert Murdoch’s Amplify but that company has not done well lately.



The state has run the Newark school district, with varying degrees of failure and ineptitude, for 20 years.



“What are you going to do, complain about a guy who wants a date with his wife on Newark superintendent Cerf is no show at first board meeting | Bob Braun's Ledger:

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: In response to the Katrina model of 'reform'

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: In response to the Katrina model of 'reform':

In response to the Katrina model of 'reform'

 Again, just to be clear and for the record: if the RSD were judged by the same standards used to take control of schools in New Orleans 10 years ago, the RSD would be left with only four schools. -- New Orleans Tribune editorial

A decade has gone by since the disaster that was Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast and in particular the city of New Orleans. Ten years is plenty of time to make an assessment of the so-called "reforms" that were not only imposed on the people of New Orleans, but which became the prototype, the model if you will, for the top-down remake, not only of  urban public education, but of American cities as well. In previous posts, I have called this the white-inizing of the cities, ie. an exodus of 250,00 African-Americans from Chicago in the past decade. But it is so much more than that. 

As the anniversary of Katrina approaches and the 2016 presidential election nears, the forces behind the Katrina reform model are coming out in the open and calling for it's expansion and implementation in cities like Detroit, Chicago, Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: In response to the Katrina model of 'reform':

State schools chief flunks on exit exam - LA Times

State schools chief flunks on exit exam - LA Times:

State schools chief flunks on exit exam

State schools chief Tom Torlakson is bemoaning an unfair situation that threatens the diplomas of thousands of students. He's pledged to do something about it. What the superintendent of public instruction hasn't done is acknowledge his own culpability in creating it in the first place,

At risk are 5,000 students who recently finished their senior years but who have not yet passed the high school exit exam, which is intended to ensure that students don't get diplomas unless they have mastered the rudiments of English and math. Torlakson canceled this summer's test. As a result, these students cannot apply for jobs requiring a diploma; others, who have already been admitted to college, could see those admissions threatened.

SB 172 would solve the short-term problem by retroactively excusing the class of 2015 from the test. But it's a bad bill that threatens the entire future of the exam.

The current exit exam has to go because it's out of step with the new curriculum based on Common Core, Torlakson explains. But whose fault is that? It's not as though everyone didn't know years ago that Common Core was coming. Why wasn't the exit exam updated in tandem with this curriculum change?

The bill calls for a three-year hiatus from the test while a panel studies its future. Not only is that unnecessarily long, but the bill makes no commitments about what happens after that. Under the bill, there might be no requirement at all that high school graduates show mastery of basic skills, which would practically ensure a return to the days of social promotion and meaningless diplomas.

Torlakson's decision to cancel this summer's testing (the test is first given in sophomore year, but those who fail are given many additional chances) puts significant pressure on the Legislature to pass SB 172 swiftly in order to protect the 5,000 students. Was this politically motivated or simple ineptitude? Neither is acceptable.

Rather than rushing to pass SB 172, legislators are wisely amending another education bill, to be considered Thursday, to award these students their diplomas without the exit exam. It's a less-than-perfect solution — three-fourths of summer test-takers typically flunk the test, which means schools will be awarding diplomas to students who lack the requisite skills. But it's probably the only acceptable step right now; this situation isn't the students' fault. Then the Legislature should swiftly kill SB 172 and instead propose a more sensible plan, requiring an updated exit exam that doesn't take years to develop.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and FacebookState schools chief flunks on exit exam - LA Times:

Schools Matter: Why Every Corporate Welfare Kingpin is Pushing ESEA (NCLB 2.0)

Schools Matter: Why Every Corporate Welfare Kingpin is Pushing ESEA (NCLB 2.0):

Why Every Corporate Welfare Kingpin is Pushing ESEA (NCLB 2.0)

While the clueless NEA/AFT/NPE/FairTest drones celebrate the possibility of a decreased federal testing role in the new ESEA, they remain quiet as church mice about the real threat to children, parents, and teachers.  Their misleaders know what's coming, but they are all so heavily vested in the foundation money game that they are reduced to pathetic mumbling about the "small victories" of a reduced federal testing role.  The coming tsunami of cash for charter schools, the return to states rights education policy, and the disappearance of federal oversight are items Ravitch or Cody do not want to talk about--it might endanger their phony victory party.

The Gates-Broad-Walton endgame that ESEA will initiate is a transformation of public education to a system of corporate welfare charter schools that are paid for by taxpayers, operated by grandiose beginners who know nothing, and profited by the tech giants, billionaires, corporate foundations, and venture philanthropists.

These paternalistic predators want all poor and working class children miseducated in the ideology of the No Excuses test prep camps, where they can be schooled to work hard, be hard, and to accept their corporate futures as the only possible fate.

If the corporate ed giveaway (ESEA) passes, the amount going to charter schools expansion will triple from $250 million to three quarters of a billion dollars each year. As one of the chief corporate stooges recently salivated during a discussion of ESEA,

The federal charter program may end up being the most important federal education intervention. Tripling it from $250M to $750M will probably do more good for low-income kids than nearly every other federal program.

Where are the real advocates for children, public education, and the commons? Schools Matter: Why Every Corporate Welfare Kingpin is Pushing ESEA (NCLB 2.0):

Parents hold hunger strike outside Bronzeville high school | WGN-TV

Parents hold hunger strike outside Bronzeville high school | WGN-TV:

Parents hold hunger strike outside Bronzeville high school

CHICAGO — A group of concerned parents are staging a hunger strike in front of Dyette High School.

The Chicago Board of Education voted to phase out the school after what they call years of poor performance and declining enrollment.

In fact, this past year, only 13 students made up the senior class.

But the district is interested in re-opening Dyett for the 2016-17 school year as an open enrollment neighborhood school with a revamped curriculum and focus.

There are three proposals.

The parents who are part of the hunger strike worked with local and national education experts to come up with one of them: The Global Leadership and Green Technology plan.

The other two include a sports-focused academy and an arts school.

Parents say there was supposed to be a final meeting with the school board this month and then a vote on the 26th.  But they just learned both were tabled.

One protestor, whose lives nearby, says her daughter is going into 8th grade this year and if Dyett isn’t reopened in 2016, her daughter would have to travel 16 miles to the nearest high school.

She is not happy and feels her group’s proposal isn’t being taken seriously.

CPS spokesperson Bill McCaffrey released a statement saying

Chicago Public Schools is carrying out a community driven process to select a new high-quality school for the former Dyett site. Identifying a high-quality education option for the former Dyett site is a priority for the District, and CPS is reviewing school proposals to determine the best open enrollment, neighborhood education option for the site.

Chicago Public Schools says it will hold a public hearing on September 15th at 6 p.m. at CPS headquarters for community members to provide additional input on the three proposals.Parents hold hunger strike outside Bronzeville high school | WGN-TV:

Why Gene Glass is No Longer a Measurement Specialist | VAMboozled!

Why Gene Glass is No Longer a Measurement Specialist | VAMboozled!:

Why Gene Glass is No Longer a Measurement Specialist

One of my mentors – Dr. Gene Glass (formerly at ASU and now at Boulder) wrote a letter earlier this week on his blog, titled “Why I Am No Longer a Measurement Specialist.” This is a must read for all of you following the current policy trends not only surrounding teacher-level accountability, but also high-stakes testing in general.

Gene – one of the most well-established and well-known measurement specialists in and outside of the field of education, world renowned for developing “meta-analysis,” writes:

I was introduced to psychometrics in 1959. I thought it was really neat.By 1960, I was programming a computer on a psychometrics research project funded by the Office of Naval Research. In 1962, I entered graduate school to study educational measurement under the top scholars in the field.

My mentors – both those I spoke with daily and those whose works I read – had served in WWII. Many did research on human factors — measuring aptitudes and talents and matching them to jobs. Assessments showed who were the best candidates to be pilots or navigators or marksmen. We were told that psychometrics had won the war; and of course, we believed it.

The next wars that psychometrics promised it could win were the wars on poverty and ignorance. The man who led the Army Air Corps effort in psychometrics started a private research center. (It exists today, and is a beneficiary of the millions of dollars spent on Common Core testing.) My dissertation won the 1966 prize in Psychometrics awarded by that man’s organization. And I was hired to fill the slot recently vacated by the world’s leading psychometrician at the University of Illinois. Psychometrics was flying high, and so was I.

Psychologists of the 1960s & 1970s were saying that just measuring talent wasn’t enough. Talents had to be matched with the demands of tasks to optimize performance. Measure a learning style, say, and match it to the way a child is taught. If Jimmy is a visual learner, then teach Jimmy in a visual way. Psychometrics promised to help build a better world. But twenty years later, the promises were still unfulfilled. Both talent and tasks were too complex to yield to this simple plan. Instead, psychometricians grew enthralled with mathematical niceties. Testing in schools became a ritual without any real purpose other than picking a few children for special attention.

Around 1980, I served for a time on the committee that made most of the important Why Gene Glass is No Longer a Measurement Specialist | VAMboozled!: