Thing #6

I am enjoying Google reader. There is a lot of information that comes through the reader, but being able to scan the headlines and have them marked as read makes it very easy to choose the ones you want to read. I also like that I have chosen the pages I want and Google readers pulls all of the information together for me. It makes getting the news very easy.

I read an article in the New York Times about a low performing school in Los Angeles that was taken over by a charter. The charter had spent $15 million to restructure the school. The school has seen improvement in state testing after just a short time. The concern is the amount of money that was spent to restructure the school. The school had an enrollment of 3200 students. The charter created academies that divided the school into smaller populations. They have to have more staff and better resources to meet the needs to the students. Of course this is going to cost more money. How is it that money needed for things like war can always be found? But when we need to spend money on students in underprivileged areas people question if that is the right thing to do. All students deserve to have the best education they can get, not just the students who are fortunate enough to reside in high income areas. I will wager that the school in Los Angeles will continue to see improvements. And as the school improves, so will the neighborhood that feeds to school. Good things happening at the school will transfer to home!