text:
4LAKids: Sunday 30•Sept•2012
• SB 1458: "…IF AN APPROPRIATION FOR THIS PURPOSE IS MADE…"
• SB 1292 - NEW LAW ON ADMINISTRATOR EVALUATION
• FIVE-YEAR-OLDS PUT TO THE TEST AS KINDERGARTEN EXAMS GAIN STEAM
• CAREER TECHNICAL EDUCATION SHOULD PLAY BIGGER ROLE IN TRAINING TOMORROW'S U.S. WORKFORCE
• OUR CHILDREN, OUR FUTURE: What will California schoolchildren, your school district and YOUR School get when the initiative passes?
• Follow 4 LAKids on Twitter - or get instant updates via text message by texting
If you read the inside pages of the newspaper (or beyond the first few screens of your iPad) you find the really big news. Not the superficial reports about this pop star or that politician, not the earth shattering revelation that experience counts (and should be rewarded) in refereeing football games …but the truly earth shattering. (Don't worry about Eyewitness News, this wasn't there!)
Last spring there were huge undersea earthquakes in the Indian Ocean – the largest strike-slip temblors ever recorded. It was not your usual friction between tectonic plates; it was new tectonic plates a-forming. [http://cbsn.ws/RqZffj | http://bit.ly/SayWNb]
The advent of new tectonic plates is Real Change - an event that makes the dawn of man, the discovery of fire and the inevitable global warming a blip on the EKG of time. ("Be careful, Og! …or you'll burn the whole place down!")
In various translations Heraclitus of Ephesus said: "There is nothing permanent except change. / Change is the only constant. / Change alone is unchanging."
At one time the Republican Party was the liberal voice in American politics and Democrats the voice of the status quo. Before that the Democrats were firebrand radicals from the West. (Where is a good Whig when you need one?)
Of late I fear both the party of the first part and the party of the second part in our two party system have partied a little too hearty.
They're bloody squiffed; take away their car keys!
Neither represents a voice of sanity or clarity …or of parents or teachers or students in the world of public education.
Two open-and-shut-cases in point: VOUCHERS GAIN FOOTHOLD AMONG STATE, LOCAL DEMOCRATS meets RIFT EMERGES IN GOP ON COMMON CORE http://bit.ly/SniyDj.
It's the money that does the talking.
With the school year and the election cycle in full progress the largess is rolling in or out. School districts and charter schools who say they like the brand and flavor of ®eform are getting extra scoops from the Feds – [see: U.S. GRANT (The 17th President?) FUNDS $20,000 TEACHER BONUSES AT 'HIGH-NEED' L.A. SCHOOLS / L.A. UNIFIED AND CHARTER GROUPS WIN FEDERAL TEACHER EVALUATION GRANTS / LAUSD, CHARTERS WIN $98 MILLION IN FEDERAL GRANTS TO BOOST TEACHER, ADMINISTRATOR (PERFORMANCE BASED) PAY] ...even as the governor and lege in California (the parties of the third and fourth parts) come to a different conclusion. Maybe all this measurement, accountability and evaluating isn't such a good idea? Maybe we aren't measuring /accounting-for/evaluating the right things? [see SB 1458 "…IF AN APPROPRIATION FOR THIS PURPOSE IS MADE…" and SB 1292 - NEW LAW ON ADMINISTRATOR EVALUATION]
The teachers union (party of the sixth part) and the courts (party of the seventh part) are still to be heard from in L.A.. A strike from UTLA – emboldened from Chicago – is a very real possibility; the court in Doe v. Deasy has a deadline for action fast approaching. [see TALKS CONTINUE ON TEACHER EVALUATIONS: UTLA remains opposed to tying evaluations to individual AGT/VAM ratings - http://bit.ly/SrBsNd].
And what happened to the party of the fifth fart you ask? I am holding it in reserve …we may need to Plea the Fifth …or crack that puppy and pour an adult beverage from it!
…and while the hard stuff may get better with time – apparently school breakfast doesn't. [see: EXPIRED FOOD PRODUCTS BEING SERVED BY WALMART FOUNDATION FUNDED LAUSD BREAKFAST IN THE CLASSROOM http://t.co/0I8ij3qS]
> LAST WEEK NBC News had their annual EDUCATION NATION SUMMIT – which in the past has skewed towards ®eform, Inc. 4LAKids didn't watch, but here's the link: http://bit.ly/P49bND
> ALSO LAST WEEK The PBS News Hour ran their AMERICAN GRADUATE series. smf/4LAKids watched most of it – and it's good stuff. Here's the kink: http://to.pbs.org/Qf63Lw
The Los Angeles Magazine profile of John Deasy: THE TAKEOVER ARTIST + more: By Ed Leibowitz, Los Angeles Magazine (Sept 2011)
SB 1458: "…IF AN APPROPRIATION FOR THIS PURPOSE IS MADE…"
Themes in the News by UCLA IDEA Week of Sept. 24-28, 2012 | http://bit.ly/PfA3EI
09-28-2012 :: On Wednesday, Gov. Brown signed Senate Bill 1458, which loosens the stranglehold standardized tests have had on school accountability measures. Authored by Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, SB1458 was a second (and successful) attempt at revamping the Academic Performance Index, or API. A similar bill was vetoed by Brown a year ago (SI&A Cabinet Report, EdSource Today, Los Angeles Times).
A California school's API was based off a 1,000-point scale that measured student performance on standardized tests, primarily in math and English Language Arts. The new law will limit standardized test results to no more than 60 percent of a high school's API score. (Test scores will account for at least 60% of the API score for elementary and middle schools.) The remainder will be made up of student attendance, graduation rates, and other measures to gauge student readiness for college and career.
Calling it the "most significant education reform bill of the decade," Steinberg said "teaching to the test has become more than a worn cliché because 100 percent of the API relied on bubble tests scores in limited subject areas. But life is not a bubble test and that system has failed our kids."
Indeed, the legislation responds to urgent calls for a broader curriculum that combines rigorous academic preparation with civics education and the so-called "21st century skills" of innovation and critical thinking. Earlier this year, an IDEA report found that a diverse cross-section of California civic and educational leaders believe that California schools do not focus sufficient attention on valued knowledge and skills, and many blamed a high-stakes testing culture for narrowing the curriculum.
Further, the legislation opens the door for more people to be involved in deciding what to hold schools accountable for—and thereby, what schools should teach. The State Board of Education will have to determine in public what sort of outcomes are included in the remaining 40 percent of the API assessment. Alongside outcomes related to college and career readiness, the Board should also incorporate measures of civic preparation. Ideally assessment will call for students to demonstrate the capacity to identify and collectively address shared problems—skills that will serve them well in higher education, the workplace, and community life.
Discussions about what to include in a revamped API should also explore how to incorporate information about conditions for learning alongside data about student outcomes. It is important for the public to understand the essential relationship between opportunities to learn and student achievement (broadly defined). The legislature would do well this coming year to reconsider previous unsuccessful efforts to create indices reporting on learning conditions at each California public school. Supt. Tom Torlakson's California Education Opportunity Index and Sen. Curren Price's creativity index are two interesting starting points for this deliberation.
Perhaps the most important part of Steinberg's new legislation could be a sentence buried deep within the bill:
To complement the API, the Superintendent, with the approval of the state board, may develop and implement a program of school quality review that features locally convened panels to visit schools, observe teachers, interview pupils, and examine pupil work, if an appropriation for this purpose is made in the annual Budget Act.
These panels would have the ability to examine the quality of educational conditions as well as how these conditions shape parent engagement, successful teacher-student relationships, application of learning in real-world settings, high graduation rates, as well as student-learning as measured by standardized tests. Such information could be used by local educators to improve practices and alter structures. Equally important, the panels would help us understand whether the state is providing sufficient learning opportunities across all of its schools to meet its lofty goals.
Text of the law:SB-1458 School accountability: Academic Performance Index: graduation rates. (as chaptered)
SB 1292 - NEW LAW ON ADMINISTRATOR EVALUATION
From the AALA Update Week of October 1, 2012 | http://bit.ly/Qayv17
28 Sept 2012 :: On Friday, September 21, 2012, with little fanfare, Governor Brown signed SB 1292 which addresses principal evaluations. Senator Carol Liu (D-Pasadena), a former teacher, authored the bill with strong collaboration and support from ACSA. It was introduced in February 2012, and has quietly made its way through the legislative process obtaining almost unanimous support. The key reason for its smooth passage is that SB 1292 is voluntary—districts are not bound to use the provisions and they retain the power to define the key elements of an evaluation.
The California Legislative Counsel's Digest summary of the provisions of the bill is as follows:
This bill would authorize a school district to evaluate a principal annually for the principal's first and second year of employment as a new principal and authorize additional evaluations, as specified. The bill would authorize the governing board of a school district to identify who will conduct the evaluation of each school principal. The bill would authorize the criteria for school principal evaluations to be based upon the California Professional Standards for Educational Leaders and to include evidence of, among other things, pupil academic growth, effective and comprehensive teacher evaluations, culturally responsive instructional strategies, the ability to analyze quality instructional strategies and provide effective feedback, and effective school management.
Senator Liu, when speaking before the California Association of Urban School Administrators (CAUSA) in Los Angeles last May, focused on this bill. At that time, AALA President Dr. Judith Perez and AALA members provided her key feedback while SB 1292 was still in its formative stage, assisting in the recrafting of the measure. The bill also draws heavily from the recommendations of State Superintendent Tom Torlakson's Educator Excellence Task Force found in its report, Greatness by Design (www.cde.ca.gov/eo/in/documents/greatnessfinal.pdf), which has an entire section devoted to administrator evaluation and has many similarities to the MOU that AALA crafted with the District regarding the same topic.
The difference between SB 1292 and AALA's MOU with LAUSD is that the ACSA sponsored bill is based on the six California Professional Standards for Educational Leaders (CPSELs), while LAUSD is basing its evaluation tenets on its internally developed School Leadership Framework. The CPSELs currently are the bases on which administrators are trained in credential programs and include: (1) a vision of learning for all students; (2) a school culture focused on an effective instructional program; (3) an effective learning environment; (4) collaboration with families and community; (5) ethical leadership and professional growth; and (6) operating within a larger political, social, economic, legal and cultural context.
Like the MOU, the bill does include utilizing growth in student learning as part of an evaluation, but did not limit itself to CST and AGT data. It also recommends a menu of many measures: standardized tests, district assessments, Advanced Placement and college entrance tests and performance assessments, such as portfolios.
While this bill remains voluntary, ACSA and Senator Liu both wanted it to be mandatory; however, they were convinced that it would not win the necessary support with that provision. Both Senator Liu and Senator Alan Lowenthal, Senate Education Committee Chair, are on record as predicting that the law will eventually be amended to become a district mandate.
TEXT OF THE LAW: SB 1292, Liu. School employees: principals: evaluation. (as chaptered)
FIVE-YEAR-OLDS PUT TO THE TEST AS KINDERGARTEN EXAMS GAIN STEAM
By Stephanie Simon, Reuters•com | http://reut.rs/QuOZ5T
Tue Sep 25, 2012 7:11am EDT :: (Reuters) - With school in full swing across the United States, the littlest students are getting used to the blocks table and the dress-up corner - and that staple of American public education, the standardized test.
A national push to make public schools more rigorous and hold teachers more accountable has led to a vast expansion of testing in kindergarten. And more exams are on the way, including a test meant to determine whether 5-year-olds are on track to succeed in college and career.
Paul Weeks, a vice president at test developer ACT Inc., says he knows that particular assessment sounds a bit nutty, especially since many kindergarteners aspire to careers as superheroes. "What skills do you need for that, right? Flying is good. X-ray vision?" he said, laughing.
But ACT will soon roll out college- and career-readiness exams for kids age 8 through 18 and Weeks said developing similar tests for younger ages is "high on our agenda." Asking kids to predict the ending of a story or to suggest a different ending, for instance, can identify the critical thinking skills that employers prize, he said.
"There are skills that we've identified as essential for college and career success, and you can back them down in a grade-appropriate manner," Weeks said. "Even in the early grades, you can find students who may be at risk."
At least 25 states now mandate at least one formal assessment during kindergarten. Many local school districts require their own tests as well, starting just a few weeks into the academic year.
The proliferation of exams for five-year-olds has sparked a fierce debate that echoes a broader national divide over how much standardized testing is appropriate in public schools.
Advocates say it's vital to test early and often because too many kids fall irretrievably behind in their first years of schooling. The most recent national exams for fourth graders found just 34 percent proficient in reading and 40 percent proficient in math.
Opponents counter that testing puts undue stress on 5- and 6-year-olds and cuts into the time they should be spending playing, singing and learning social skills. They also contend that most tests for kindergarteners are unreliable because the children have short attention spans and often find it difficult to demonstrate skills on demand.
'WE SHOULD KNOW BETTER'
Formal tests give a narrow picture of a child's ability, said Samuel Meisels, president of the Erikson Institute, a graduate school in Chicago focused on child development. He urges teachers instead to assess young children by observing them over time, recording skills and deficits and comparing those to benchmarks.
But Meisels fears such observational tests won't seem objective or precise enough in today's data-driven world; he says he too often sees them pushed aside in favor of more formal assessments.
"I am worried, yes," he said. "We should know better."
Kari Knutson, a veteran kindergarten teacher in Minnesota, has seen the shifting attitude toward testing play out in her classroom.
During her first two decades of teaching, Knutson rarely, if ever, gave formal tests; kindergarten was about learning through play, music, art and physical activity.
These days, though, her district mandates a long list of assessments.
Knutson started the year by quizzing each of her 23 students on the alphabet and phonics, through a 111-question oral exam. Last week, she brought the kids to the computer lab for another literacy test. Each kindergartener wore headphones and listened to questions while a menu of possible answers flashed on the screen. They were supposed to respond by clicking on the correct answer, though not all could maneuver the mouse and some gave up in frustration, Knutson said.
This week, it's on to math - and a seven-page, pencil-and-paper test. "It's supposed to show them what they'll be learning in first grade," Knutson said. "Like they really care."
In her view, the kids are far too young to tackle formal exams, especially in their first weeks of what is for many their first school experience. "Half of them are crying because they miss mom and dad. When you tell them to line up, they don't even know what a line is," Knutson said.
Despite her frustration, Knutson acknowledges the tests have some advantages. The results help shape her lesson plans, she said, as she can quickly group kids by ability. Now and then, the exams reveal hidden strengths or unexpected weaknesses in her students.
Plus, when scores rise, both she and her students feel a genuine pride. "At the end of the year, it's like 'Wow, we really improved.' It's cool because you can see it," Knutson said.
Testing young children is not a new concept. In the 1980s, many states assessed children to determine whether they were ready to enter kindergarten or first grade. Experts in child development denounced the practice as unfair and unreliable and it faded out.
In recent years, however, the federal law known as No Child Left Behind has put pressure on schools to raise scores on the standardized reading and math tests given to students starting around age 8. Schools that post poor scores are labeled failing; principals and teachers can lose their jobs.
With the stakes so high, many administrators have decided to start testing in the earlier grades, to give kids practice and to identify students who need help.
The Obama administration accelerated the trend in 2011 with a $500 million competitive grant to bolster early childhood education. States that pledged to assess all kindergarteners earned extra points on their applications.
After all, taxpayers are investing more than $500 billion a year in public education and "we need to know how children are progressing," said Jacqueline Jones, a deputy assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Education. "There has to be some accountability," she said.
The administration's grant guidelines encouraged states to develop holistic assessments that measure the 5-year-olds' social, emotional and physical development as well as their cognitive skills. About a dozen states, including Georgia and Maryland, have developed such broad assessments, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Others states, though, focus more narrowly on reading and math skills; some are even beginning to evaluate kindergarten teachers in part on how well their students do on those exams.
The format of kindergarten assessment varies widely.
The Iowa Test of Basic Skills, which is used by schools across the United States, runs more than an hour as a teacher reads dozens of questions aloud and kindergarteners mark their response on a multiple-choice answer sheet. A typical question asks kids to pick the picture that illustrates the word 'sharp' from choices including a piggy bank, a glove and a pair of scissors.
On the other end of the spectrum, the Brigance kindergarten screen is set up as a game that students play one-on-one with a teacher, who may ask them to stand on one foot for 10 seconds, to count to 30, or to copy complex shapes like a diamond. The test takes 10 to 15 minutes and costs about $4 per child.
In addition to these comprehensive tests, curriculum writers are now incorporating multiple shorter exams into kindergarten lesson plans.
Consider the 68-page manual recently published by New York City education officials to guide kindergarten teachers through a math unit aligned to the new Common Core academic standards rolling out nationally. The unit, meant to introduce 5-year-olds to algebraic thinking, includes three short pencil-and-paper exams, culminating with a test that asks students to calculate all the ways they could divide six books between two shelves.
Some parents welcome all the tests as an indication that their kids are truly being challenged. If their children spend too much time finger-painting or playing at the sand table, "parents will say, 'This isn't academic enough,'" said Peggy Campbell-Rush, a longtime kindergarten teacher in New Jersey.
But other parents want kindergarten to be the way they remember it, as a time of relaxed exploration.
Dao Tran, a mother in New York City, said her heart sank when she learned that her neighborhood school emphasized standardized testing even in kindergarten. She scoured the city to find an alternative for her daughter. The public school she chose requires a 45-minute commute each way, but Tran says it's worth it.
The kids there, she said, "seemed happy, and that seemed like the most important thing."
(Reporting By Stephanie Simon in Denver; Editing by Jonathan Weber and Claudia Parsons)
CAREER TECHNICAL EDUCATION SHOULD PLAY BIGGER ROLE IN TRAINING TOMORROW'S U.S. WORKFORCE
By Tom Chorneau, SI&A Cabinet Report | http://bit.ly/SPMQhT
Tuesday, September 25, 2012 :: The U.S. economy currently supports 29 million jobs that provide a middle class salary and require only some postsecondary education– a healthy block of employment that will not fade away even with global market demands for a better trained work force in the coming decade, a new report from Georgetown University concludes.
Researchers said that career technical education programs could be the vehicle for preparing those workers by using a variety of pathways from employer-based training and apprenticeships to industry-based certifications and associate's degrees.
"The United States faces an enormous task in preparing tomorrow's workforce that will have dramatic implications for the nation's future prosperity and ability to compete internationally in the world economy," said the authors from Georgetown's Center on Education and the Work Place, and Civic Enterprises, a non-profit think tank based in Washington D.C.
"In an environment where budgets are tight, we believe that expanding (career technical education) will mean reallocating resources toward programs that have proven effective at enhancing the productivity and efficiency of the system," the authors said.
Noting that economic changes have made some post-secondary education critical – the research team said that not all workers will need a four-year college degree.
In 1973, nearly three out of four jobs required only a high school education or less. But, by 2020, two out of three jobs will require some post-secondary education or training.
To plan for this need, the author said, the federal government should invest dollars "allocated toward CTE in programs of study that align secondary and post-secondary curriculum, reduce duplication and remediation, allow for dual-enrollment and create opportunities for students to learn and earn."
Second, they said, the federal government should create a "Learning & Earning Exchange" — an information system that links high school and post-secondary transcript information about courses taken and grades with employer wage records.
"Such a system would allow all to see how successful various programs are at producing job-ready graduates," the report said. "As a result, students would make more informed choices about what to study; educators would serve their students better; and employers would have greater success in finding the skilled workers necessary to satisfy their needs."
The full report: CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION: Five Ways That Pay Along the Way to the B.A. (Georgetown University/Sept 2012)
TALKS CONTINUE ON TEACHER EVALUATIONS: UTLA remains opposed to tying evaluations to individual AGT/VAM ratings.:... http://bit.ly/UZ1Vnr
di•chot•o•my: VOUCHERS GAIN FOOTHOLD AMONG STATE, LOCAL DEMOCRATS meets RIFT EMERGES IN GOP ON COMMON CORE | EdWeek | http://bit.ly/SniyDj
U P D A T E D - EXPIRED FOOD PRODUCTS BEING SERVED BY WALMART FOUNDATION FUNDED LAUSD BREAKFAST IN THE CLASSROOM: "So long as th... http://bit.ly/TRWhV0
DR. BRUCE HARRIS, NEW COMMUNITY COLLEGES CHANCELLOR, HAS STRONG SUPPORT, TOUGH JOB: Kathryn Baron | EDSOURCE Tod... http://bit.ly/QmpJvt
STATE REPORTED INFLATED RATE OF TEACHERS LACKING CREDENTIALS: When the benchmark is bad, all the data is bad: Jo... http://bit.ly/SKEpK4
"Won't Back Down": IT'S JUST A MOVIE …AND NOT A VERY GOOD ONE AT THAT! (3 stories): As school reform, 'Won't Ba... http://bit.ly/Qa0bDa
U.S. GRANT (The 17th President?) FUNDS $20,000 TEACHER BONUSES AT 'HIGH-NEED' L.A. SCHOOLS: By Tami Abdollah - P... http://bit.ly/Pf6frZ
L.A. UNIFIED AND CHARTER GROUPS WIN FEDERAL TEACHER EVALUATION GRANTS: by Howard Blume | LA Times/LA Now | http:... http://bit.ly/TODXMk
LAUSD, CHARTERS WIN $98 MILLION IN FEDERAL GRANTS TO BOOST TEACHER, ADMINISTRATOR (PERFORMANCE BASED) PAY: By Ba... http://bit.ly/TOCN3C
GOV. BROWN SIGNS LAW LIMITING ROLE OF STUDENT TESTS IN API SCORES – Signs 19 Ed ills, Vetoes 5: SB 1458 broadens... http://bit.ly/Q9H8sW
WHAT CALIFORNIA'S SCHOOLS CAN LEARN FROM CHICAGO'S: By Steven Greenhut , Bloomberg News | http://bloom.bg/QjSitn ... http://bit.ly/V5M1pX
I'm not going to blog Meghan Daum's column from todays LAT - someone might take it seriously ...but you should read it! http://lat.ms/S3170h
PTA SUES FOR-PROFIT RIVAL PTO TODAY: By MICHAEL TARM – Associated Press from The Huffington Post | http://huff.t... http://bit.ly/Q4pVRr
VALLEY PTA RALLY AT BEEMAN PARK FOR PROP 38 THIS AFTERNOON: Local activists were instrumental in collecting peti... http://bit.ly/Q4pUgo
Congress, rushing to recess: 'TEACH FOR AMERICA' TEACHERS WITH FIVE WEEKS OF TRAINING, ARE "HIGHLY QUALIFIED": C... http://bit.ly/Q0ELsc
Video: 8:34 WITH DR. D - TIME TO GET SCHOOLED: 5 A+ Moments From My Conversation With LAUSD'S John Deasy: Posted... http://bit.ly/Q0EJR5
The Los Angeles Magazine profile of John Deasy: THE TAKEOVER ARTIST + more: By Ed Leibowitz, Los Angeles Magazin... http://bit.ly/P4YDIj
SCHWARZENEGGER WOULD RATHER INVEST IN PRIVATE EDUCATION: Opinion by Francesca Bessey, Columnist | Neon Tommy - t... http://bit.ly/Q5PEYf
A YouTube Moment: THE FIRST YES ON PROP 38 TELEVISION COMMERCIAL: from California State PTA Why wait to see it... http://bit.ly/OXcNvb
Save the Date: LAUSD DISTRICT 2 CANDIDATE FORUM - Wednesday Oct 17th - 6pm: …and list me as confirmed! from th... http://bit.ly/OWjNII
Fading dreams: CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY COLLEGES STAGGERING DURING HARD TIMES: Demand is up but funding is down for ... http://bit.ly/UvFExp
LAUSD SCHOOL BOARD MEETINGS @ Beaudry
Budget, Facilities and Audit Committee
Tues. October 2, 2012
Start:. 10:00 am
Regular Board Meeting (Williams Sufficiency Hearing)
Start: 4:00 pm
• If you are registered, VOTE LIKE THE FUTURE DEPENDS ON IT. THEY DO!.
Scott Folsom is a parent leader in LAUSD and is Parent/Volunteer of the Year for 2010-11 for Los Angeles County. • He is Past President of Los Angeles Tenth District PTSA and represented PTA on the LAUSD Construction Bond Citizen's Oversight Committee for ten years. He is a Health Commissioner, Legislation Team member and a member of the Board of Managers of the California State PTA. He serves on numerous school district advisory and policy committees and has served as a PTA officer and governance council member at three LAUSD schools. He is the recipient of the UTLA/AFT 2009 "WHO" Gold Award for his support of education and public schools - an honor he hopes to someday deserve. • In this forum his opinions are his own and your opinions and feedback are invited. Quoted and/or cited content copyright © the original author and/or publisher. All other material copyright © 4LAKids.
Labels: California Budget, California Education, Charter schools, Dropout and grad rates, John Deasy, LA TIMES, LAUSD, PTA, Scott Folsom, Teacher Assessment and Accountabilty, Value Added
Not much.
• ARE WE ASKING TOO MUCH FROM OUR TEACHERS?
• REJECTING TEST SCORES AS A CORE VALUE
• BROKE IS BROKE
• iPads for all?: WHY 21st CENTURY EDUCATION IS NOT JUST ABOUT TECHNOLOGY
"As a parent, you have no choice but to have faith in your childs school, administrators and especially, their teachers. Bad things are suppose to happen outside of the school and our children should be safely protected while being educated and cared for by those given authority by our school district. The failure of our school districts policies, the failure of school administrators to identify signs that are common 'red flags' were ignored and for that, our children and our families have paid a tremendous price."
- From the Victim Impact Statement of Darlene, mother of A.M. victim, State of CA v. Paul Chapel, Case: PAO71543 (September 20, 2012 | http://bit.ly/P4cdwR)
It's not a lot that parents ask.
• We ask hat our children be kept safe and healthy and out of harm's way while they are at school.
• We insist that parents have a right to be informed of what's going on with our children whether it's good or bad – no matter our socioeconomic status, level of education or what language we speak at home. No dirty little secrets.
• And we ask that no more parents who are first names on the page have to make Victim Impact Statements on behalf of children who are initials in the court record. The innocence protected on Sept 20th was long gone.
The warning signs were there at Telfair, in letters twenty feet high on one of those digital billboards. Red flags enough for Red Square, Tiananmen and Pyongyang. Darlene's son (and all 13 of Chapel's victims this time) - were in the third grade. Third graders are nine years old.
We are not looking for a witch hunt – or for pre-judicial punishment or for people to blame. We also don't want posturing politicians wrapping themselves in indignant outrage and making a show of their public overreaction. We want folks to do their jobs before the bad stuff happens so the bad stuff doesn't happen .
But ultimately it is an awful lot we ask: Never again.
The New York Times opinion piece following asks if we are asking too much from our teachers.
Obviously if we expect teachers to solve the ills of society we are.
If we are asking this of the teachers' unions or boards of education or the legislature – of or congress or billionaire philanthropist/plutocrats …if we expect resolutions or contracts or court settlements or charter schools or bond issues or magical-realism-legislation to solve the ills of society – we are asking the wrong people the wrong questions.
Society as a whole – We the People – need to ask+answer …and then do the hard work. But public education is where we must begin.
more smf: CONSTITUTION DAY 2012/ENDEAVOUR'S LAST FLIGHT
ARE WE ASKING TOO MUCH FROM OUR TEACHERS?
Op-Ed in the New York Times By Alex Kotlowitz | http://nyti.ms/UG2Sj1
Sunday, September 16, 2012 :: THE CHICAGO TEACHERS' STRIKE, which appears to be winding down, may be seminal, but for reasons that are not necessarily apparent. It came as a surprise. In July, the city had agreed to hire more teachers to accommodate a longer school day. Last Sunday, the city agreed to a substantial pay raise. The following day, teachers walked off their jobs for the first time since 1987. The union's president, Karen Lewis, complained at a news conference about the lack of air-conditioning in schools and the new teacher evaluation system, which seemed rather flimsy reasons for some 26,000 teachers to abandon their posts.
Not only was the public confused, but so were the union's members. One teacher told me last week that if you asked 30 of his colleagues why they were striking, you'd get 30 different answers. Their explanations varied: the teachers wanted respect, they opposed school reform, they feared the privatization of education (in the form of charter schools), they wanted to teach Mayor Rahm Emanuel a lesson. But I believe something else has been going on here, something much more profound.
"Reform of teacher tenure," Paul Tough writes in a new book, "How Children Succeed," has become "the central policy tool in our national effort to improve the lives of poor children." Are we expecting too much of our teachers? Schools are clearly a critical piece — no, the critical piece — in any anti-poverty strategy, but they can't go it alone. Nor can we do school reform on the cheap. In the absence of any bold effort to alleviate the pressures of poverty, in the absence of any bold investment in educating our children, is it fair to ask that the schools — and by default, the teachers — bear sole responsibility for closing the economic divide? This is a question asked not only in Chicago, but in virtually every urban school district around the country.
For the past few weeks, I've been spending time at Harper High, a neighborhood school in Englewood that started classes in mid-August. Over the past year, the school lost eight current and former students to violence; 19 others were wounded by gunfire. The school itself, though, is a safe haven. It's as dedicated a group of administrators and faculty members as I've seen anywhere. They've transformed the school into a place where kids want to be. And yet each day I spend there I witness one heartbreaking scene after another. A girl who yells at one of the school's social workers, "This is no way to live," and then breaks down in tears. Because of problems at home, she's had to move in with a friend's family and there's not enough food to go around. A young man, having witnessed a murder in his neighborhood over the summer, has retreated into a shell. Just within the last month, another girl has gotten into two altercations; the school is naturally asking, what's going on at home?
The stories are all too familiar, and yet somehow we've come to believe that with really good teachers and longer school days and rigorous testing we can transform children's lives. We've imagined teachers as lazy, excuse-making quasi-professionals — or, alternately, as lifesavers. But the truth, of course, is more complicated. Quality schools and quality teaching clearly can make a difference in children's lives, sometimes a huge difference, but we too often attempt to impute to teachers impossible powers. (After more than 15 years of reform in Chicago, the dropout rate has been markedly reduced but is still an astonishing 40 percent.)
Consider that in Chicago, many elementary schools have a social worker just one or two days a week (they're shared among schools) in communities where children face myriad pressures and stresses. Class sizes in kindergarten through third grade hover around 25, even though the Tennessee STAR study, conducted in the 1980s and renowned in education circles, found that small classes of about 15 during those early years can make a big difference for students' long-term outcomes. In Chicago, slots in after-school programs for 6- to 12-year-olds have been reduced by 23 percent since 2005, according to Illinois Action for Children, an advocacy organization. Earlier this year, the city shuttered half its mental health clinics. A promising mentoring program, Becoming a Man, which was found by a University of Chicago study to have reduced violence and increased graduation rates among its participants, is oversubscribed. Forty-five schools want its services, but it has only enough money to work in 15. Last year, at an Aspen Institute conference, the education historian Diane Ravitch was asked her wish list to improve schools. At the top of her list: universal prenatal care — which, of course, has nothing to do with the classroom. Or so it would seem.
Of course, Ms. Ravitch wanted to make a point. As we slash services in deeply impoverished communities and reduce school budgets, how can we expect that good teachers alone can improve the lives of poor children? Poverty, of course, can't be an excuse for lousy teaching. But neither can excellent teaching alone be a solution to poverty.
It's been too easy to see this dispute as one between two hotheaded personalities — Mr. Emanuel and Ms. Lewis, or as a play for respect. Rather, as I spoke with teachers on the picket lines last week, it became clear that it was about something much more fundamental, and something worth our attention: top-notch teaching can't by itself become our nation's answer to a poverty rate that, as we learned the other day, remains stubbornly high: one of every five children in America live below the poverty level.
In Chicago, 87 percent of public school students come from low-income families — and as if to underscore the precarious nature of their lives, on the first day of the strike, the city announced locations where students could continue to receive free breakfast and lunch. We need to demand the highest performances from our teachers while we also grapple with the forces that bear down on the lives of their students, from families that have collapsed under the stress of unemployment to neighborhoods that have deteriorated because of violence and disinvestment. And we can do that both inside and outside the schools — but teachers can't do it alone.
- Alex Kotlowitz is a journalist, an author and a producer of the documentary "The Interrupters."
REJECTING TEST SCORES AS A CORE VALUE
THE CHICAGO TEACHERS STRIKE REFLECTED THE NATIONWIDE DIVIDE OVER 'MARKET REFORMS,' SHORTHAND FOR THE ACCOUNTABILITY METRICS THAT TIE TEACHERS' SALARIES AND JOBS TO HOW WELL THEIR STUDENTS PERFORM.
By Sandy Banks, LA Times | http://lat.ms/NIlSMd
September 21, 2012, 5:12 p.m. :: It wasn't about money. It was about respect.
That's what Chicago teachers union president Karen Lewis kept reminding the public during the seven-day teachers strike that had parents scrambling and kept 350,000 children out of class.
But there was way more than respect at stake in the dispute. It was a clash between an impatient mayor and a demoralized teaching corps over competing visions of public schools — one side focused on job protection, the other on accountability.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel got the longer school day he wanted and a new process to evaluate teachers, tied to students' test scores. The union got a better benefits package and more protection for laid-off teachers.
And we got a look at the fallout from a philosophical divide that is roiling school districts nationwide.
"There's a reason teachers all over the country were following this," said Joshua Pechthalt, president of the California Federation of Teachers, which represents 135 union locals. "If you're a teacher in the classroom, you feel the pressure of these 'market reforms' coming down."
Technology has made it easier to divine effective teaching by tracking student performance over time on standardized exams. But teachers bristle at the notion that the alchemy of instruction can be reduced to a score — particularly one that might get them fired.
"Teachers in Chicago were willing to draw a line in the sand," Pechthalt said. "That points the way for the rest of us."
Market reforms. In public school lingo, that's shorthand for the sort of accountability metrics that tie teachers' salaries and jobs to how well their students perform.
Supporters say that's a way to reward successful teachers and raise the fortunes of failing schools. Detractors say it scapegoats teachers and fails to accommodate societal ills that classroom lessons can't transcend.
And both sides hew to their perspective with missionary zeal.
In Los Angeles Unified, Supt. John Deasy contends the school system has the right to design a performance review system that relies on student scores without union approval.
The union has pledged to resist. "Any evaluation system that purports to reduce the complexity of teaching to a score (as if our work could be rated the way the Health Department rates restaurant cleanliness) is a step toward deprofessionalization," union president Warren Fletcher wrote in a letter to members last month.
But the market forces pushing schools to change are getting stronger. And teachers can't outrun them.
They are cascading down from the top, through the federal "Race to the Top" initiative, which is dangling billions of dollars in grants before states that use the academic growth of students to help gauge the effectiveness of teachers.
And they are bubbling up from the bottom, as families unhappy with inflexible, struggling district-run schools vote with their feet and move to public non-union charters.
State funding follows the child. Mass defections can lead to budget cuts, which lead to teacher layoffs, which give the district and union even more to fight about:
If market forces trim teaching staffs, is seniority really the best way to decide who winds up in the unemployment line?
The Chicago strike has upped the ante. Now it ought to spark a dialogue:
How do we find a way to measure good teaching, reward it, spread it through the ranks?
Teachers I spoke with this week say that is their goal, as well. But the insistence on test-score-driven assessments feels like a witch hunt to them.
"It's a move to marginalize the teacher in the whole education process," said Wayne Johnson, who was president of United Teachers Los Angeles when the union won big raises and clout on campus with a nine-day strike in 1989.
A lot has changed since then. "Now teachers unions seem to be in the cross hairs," he said.
I understand why teachers feel threatened by the prospect of number-crunchers weighing in on what they do in classrooms.
Too often, for too long, in Los Angeles, we've haven't given teachers enough opportunities or credit. Successful schools are considered the handiwork of strong principals, not teachers. Failing campuses are punished by wholesale transfers or handed off to charter programs.
So it's no wonder that teachers aren't buying the line, "We're only here to help you."
But when we can't even agree to explore what makes a teacher effective, all that union talk about "differentiated support for teachers at varying points in their careers" sounds like so much prattle to the public.
It's time for district leaders to listen — and for teachers to talk about something more than how hard it is to teach urban kids, with their academic shortcomings and chaotic lives.
Yes, children do better when their parents value education or speak English; when they don't have to navigate gang territory or worry about being bullied on campus; when they don't have to skip school to baby-sit or drop out to get a job; when they're not hungry or sleepy or angry or scared or so far behind that they simply tune out in class.
Those are things that make it tough for teachers in the classroom. But there are good schools in this district where disadvantaged children still manage to excel. And testing and evaluation — of students and teachers — are a big part of what makes those schools work well.
Reams of research tell us that a good teacher is the single most important factor in whether a child does well in school.
Old-school bargaining has to adapt to reflect respect not just for teachers, but for the potential of students.
And we have to recognize that, because teachers are so important, it ought to be non-negotiable that every child deserves a good one.
A subversive @ the barricades: CHICAGO SCHOOLS: DEMOCRACY DENIED LAS ESCUELAS DE CHICAGO: UNA DEMOCRACIA DENEGADA
BROKE IS BROKE
Themes in the News by UCLA IDEA, Week of Sept. 17-21, 2012 | http://bit.ly/UoaAv3
09-21-2012 :: A Google search for the expression "broke is broke" turns up 31,000 hits. Broadly speaking, and without presuming a fair item analysis, that phrase describes many California schools. Set aside the analyses, ideology, flow charts, blame and disquisitions on the economy—some school districts are just plain out of money. What don't Californians understand about "broke"?
Earlier this year, the California Department of Education warned that one in three public school students—roughly 2 million—goes to school in a financially strapped district. It would only be a matter of time before the districts could not meet their financial obligations—pay their bills and salaries—or educate their students.
That time has arrived for Inglewood Unified School District. On Friday, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill to loan the nearly bankrupt district $55 million and install a state-appointed administrator to handle all future decision-making. Inglewood Unified has become the ninth district in California's history to lose its local autonomy. The five-member elected board will now serve in an advisory capacity (Daily Breeze, KPCC, Wave Newspapers).
State Sen. Roderick Wright, D-Inglewood, said of this turn of events: "This loan will close a painful chapter in the Inglewood Unified School District's recent history and allow staff to get back to the business of educating the next generation of community leaders" (Los Angeles Times).
Wright drafted the bill after Inglewood's attempts to balance its budget included layoffs, furloughs and, most recently, two days before the bill was signed, a 15-percent pay cut for employees, which the unions are fighting in court (KPCC).
A mix of revenue shortfalls, fiscal mismanagement and broad public awareness of deficient learning opportunities in Inglewood Unified have pushed the district to this point. When parents could find or afford alternatives to their children attending district schools, they grabbed those chances. Many turned to charter schools that have opened in recent years, leaving the local neighborhood schools with less state funding for remaining students. While it may be possible for a district system to adjust to falling enrollment over a period of years, in the short run, reduced revenue cannot cover costs fixed by ongoing salary agreements and service contracts.
Charters still only serve a minority of Inglewood's students, but they now enroll enough students to tip the fiscal balance, and that helps to put the public system in jeopardy. Declining enrollment is not new to the 12,000-student district. "The district has struggled for years and people didn't talk about it," said Inglewood community member Kokayi Jitahidi. "Now we have to start from the ground up, come together—even with the limited resources—and rebuild a district that can actually be sustainable and successful" (Wave Newspaper).
Districts everywhere, but especially in urban neighborhoods with large populations of students of color and low-income families, are faced with the pressure of losing students to charter expansion. Charters are publically funded schools, but they often have budget options that are not available to schools in the public system. For example, it is well documented that some charters discourage enrollment of high-cost students, like those in special education, and they may have greater access to revenue sources from non-profit foundations.
Charters are not responsible for school district insolvency—they are neither the cause of nor the solution to a much greater school-funding mess. It's likely that by decently funding public schools, charters would not have quite the same appeal as an escape route from the public system, and the experimentation and innovation originally envisioned as the purpose for charters would be more widespread. That is, a better-resourced and more vibrant public system would free up charters to be a more powerful force for creativity and improvement.
Public schools need adequate, predictable, fair and rational public funding for the long term. And they need passage of the November tax initiative for the short term. Californians can engage themselves with discussions of privatization, charterization, de-unionization and value-added accountability, but their first job is to pay the bills for public education.
iPads for all?: WHY 21st CENTURY EDUCATION IS NOT JUST ABOUT TECHNOLOGY
By Seth Rosenblatt, Ed Source Today | http://bit.ly/RI0gfG
September 20th, 2012 :: Our district, like many others, has been having lots of conversations about "21st Century Education" and what it means for us. There are many books and articles written on the subject, but I think the big picture tends to get lost in the discussion, particularly at the local level. When one speaks of "21st Century Learning," many people just assume it means adding iPads or other technology into the classroom. It's much more than that, and actually speaks to a complete rethinking of the very structure of schooling.
These conversations sometimes generate controversy as well. I've witnessed educators (and school board members) instinctively go on the defensive because any talk about changing public schools appears to be an attack on what they have committed their life to and reminds them of the continual onslaught of attacks from "reformers" who often oversimplify problems and/or know very little about how public education works. So although I am a staunch defender of public education (and so many of our hard-working teachers, administrators, and other staff who do amazing work every day), I can also realize we have inherited a system that no longer applies to our current era. 21st Century Education, viewed very broadly, is critical because it is based upon a permanent change in the context of teaching and learning.
For 19th century public schools, there was a very logical reason why they were designed the way they were – there were few alternatives in how one could organize students, teachers, facilities, and resources in an orderly way. But today, almost all of those former constraints no longer exist. What has changed? Here's just a sample:
A networked infrastructure: All human enterprises are connected by series of information networks that allow both the creation of content and the sharing of content at unprecedented levels. Also, the "social construct" has changed the way we create and nurture relationships among individuals as well as share information.
The flattening world: Traditional barriers among countries – both literal and conceptual – have broken down. Information travels freely and near instantaneously to all corners of the globe, and citizens around the world can participate in the political process like never before.
Digital (& diverse) generation: Children today were born into a world where digital access to information was the norm. For these "Millennials," it is not considered "technology," but rather the normal way of interacting with the world.
Facts are free: How do you educate children in a world where the sum of human knowledge is available instantaneously, for free, at their fingertips? Adults and children alike just "Google it" when they want to discover the population of a country or learn about some world event. The real challenge has shifted to understanding, analyzing, and using information.
The primacy of mobile computing: The tremendous advancement in information technology has allowed us to hold a device in our hand as powerful as most computers, allowing it to be a primary information resource for most citizens. We have been freed up from "place" as a requirement for learning and sharing.
So although technology advancements catalyzed the above changes, just adding more technology into a 19th century classroom doesn't make it a 21st century learning experience. We must understand the implications of our new context, including (a) the impact on both the content of our curriculum and the process of teaching and learning, (b) the design of the physical environment both inside and outside of "school," (c) the human resource model to best leverage talent, and (d) the structure of the school day, school year, and the "categorization" of children. If we ignore these trends or their implications, we risk making public schooling less and less relevant for our children.
If we were to start over and design a public school system from scratch, would we have physical structures that have a single hallway with a series of equally sized "classrooms" with a single teacher assigned to single room and a few dozen students? Would we use time, rather than achievement, as the constant in our formula? Would we be likely to let all kids out for the summer to tend the fields? Or would we leverage all of the worldwide resources available to us to enhance learning? Would not the roles of our "educators" be much more varied? We must rethink all of the former "walls" that no longer exist.
Of course this is easier said than done. It's hard to actually start over. Some schools, including both traditional and charter schools, are experimenting with some of these changes, but the real question is how do we create the policy and economic infrastructure to allow school districts to design an educational experience that will serve children growing up in the modern era? In many ways this task is daunting because the implications are so far-reaching. This task will certainly take time, but public education's transformation appears inevitable. The question is how to best approach it and create a rational and effective transformation. Public school advocates can recognize that many of our schools are doing amazing things with the resources and structure they have inherited, but also admit that we must open everything up to potential change.
- Seth Rosenblatt is the president of the Governing Board of the San Carlos School District, currently in his second term. He also serves as the president of the San Mateo County School Boards Association and sits on the Executive Committee of the Joint Venture Silicon Valley Sustainable Schools Task Force. He has two children in San Carlos public schools. He writes frequently on issues in public education, in regional and national publications as well as on his own blog. In his business career, Seth has more than 20 years of experience in media and technology, including executive positions in both start-up companies and large enterprises. Seth currently operates his own consulting firm for technology companies focused on strategy, marketing, and business development. Seth holds a B.A. in Economics from Dartmouth College and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
PURSUING MODERN AND IMPACTFUL PUBLIC POLICY TO RETHINK CALIFORNIA'S K-12 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE 21ST CENTURY a white paper by Seth Rosenblatt
ARE WE ASKING TOO MUCH FROM OUR TEACHERS?: Op-Ed in the New York Times By Alex Kotlowitz | http://nyti.ms/UG2Sj1 ... http://bit.ly/SlU8zf
3 LAUSD EDUCATORS AMONG LOS ANGELES COUNTY TEACHERS OF THE YEAR: Top School Teachers Selected for 2012-13: SOURC... http://bit.ly/PNeKg2
BACKERS SAY BILLS SIGNED BY BROWN WILL REDUCE SCHOOL SUSPENSIONS: Advocates aiming to reform school discipline p... http://bit.ly/ShuHia
FORMER MIRAMONTE STUDENT ALLEGEDLY BEATEN AT NEW SCHOOL: -- Howard Blume, LA Times/LA Now | http://lat.ms/NIkLMB ... http://bit.ly/OOFBWz
STATE ALLOCATION BOARD CHANGES RULES ON APPLYING FOR SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION BOND MATCH OVER DISTRICT OBJECTIONS: ….... http://bit.ly/VnvZXK
SKEPTICAL UNIONS POSE CHALLENGE TO DISTRICT'S RACE TO THE TOP: By John Fensterwald | Ed Source Today | http://bi... http://bit.ly/UAUJMK
What if the political extortion fails? CALFORNIA SCHOOL CUT WARNING LOOKS REAL: By Dan Walters, Sacramento Be... http://bit.ly/RI6q55
CONSTITUTION DAY 2012/ENDEAVOUR'S LAST FLIGHT: smf for 4LAKidsNews Friday 21 September 2012 :: My friend Sophi... http://bit.ly/Tf4i67
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REGULATORS URGED TO CRACK DOWN ON DONATIONS TO BOND MEASURES: Leading bond underwriters gave $1.8 million over t... http://bit.ly/UlhkOL
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Ravitch: CHICAGO TEACHER STRIKE ENDS: by Diane Ravitch | Diane Ravitch's blog
http://bit.ly/Sa8DWL
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COMMUNITY COLLEGES NAME ACTING CHANCELLOR: -- Carla Rivera | LA Times/LA Now | http://lat.ms/R2fRKf September 1... http://bit.ly/UgNfzK
DEASY PRESENTS A VISION TO GET TABLETS INTO THE HANDS OF EVERY LAUSD STUDENT: by Galatzan Gazette Staff | http:/... http://bit.ly/UqB81A
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Labels: California Budget, California Education, Charter schools, John Deasy, LA TIMES, LACCD, LAUSD, Miramonte, PTA, School Library, Scott Folsom, Teacher Assessment and Accountabilty, Value Added
Progress by any means
From overlooking to oversight
Houston, we've found the problem


text:
Q: Change unicode text emoji color using python with pandas style Context: I'm trying to show this emoji as a triangle point up (like this one ), but in green.
Let's say we're trying to apply a formatting style to a table to display it as HTML as such:
arrays = [
    ["bar", "bar", "baz", "baz", "foo", "foo", "qux", "qux"],
    ["one", "two", "one", "two", "one", "two", "one", "two"],
]

tuples = list(zip(*arrays))

index = pd.MultiIndex.from_tuples(tuples, names=[None, "Index"])

df = pd.DataFrame(np.random.randn(-3, 8), index=["A", "B", "C"], columns=index)

df.style
   .format(
        lambda x :" {:.0%}".format(x) if x > 0 else " {:.0%}".format(x) if "{:.0%}".format(x) == '0%' else " {:.0%}".format(x))

df.style.set_table_styles(styles).to_html()

How can I make it so that the  triangle up is shown in HTML as green?
Essentially the desired output would be a triangle pointing up but green instead of red (I don't know why this hasn't been submitted yet to unicode to add it). Any ideias to how I can do this in python using pandas style?
Thanks!
I've seen this SO post: Color for Unicode Emoji
But not sure how we could achieve that with the style formatting in python.
I believe we could do this:
td_props = [
  ('font-size', '16px'),
  ('font-weight', 'bold'),
  ('text-align', 'center'),
  ('width','95vw'),
  ('white-space','nowrap'),
  ('border','1px solid #353148'),

]

styles = [
    dict(selector="td", props=td_props),
]

    df.style
       .format(
            lambda x :" {:.0%}".format(x) if x > 0 else " {:.0%}".format(x) if "{:.0%}".format(x) == '0%' else " {:.0%}".format(x)
       .set_table_styles(styles))

But I'm not sure how we could inject css into the formatter

A: You can try something like this (it will change the font color as well, however if anyone knows how to change the color of just the emoji feel free to post as well):
df.style
  .format(lambda x :" {:.0%}".format(x) if x > 0 else " {:.0%}".format(x) if "{:.0%}".format(x) == '0%' else " {:.0%}".format(x))
  .applymap(lambda v: 'color:transparent; text-shadow: 0 0 0 limegreen;;' if (v > 0 ) else None).to_html()

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
<?php

namespace Hifone\Providers;

use Exception;
use Hifone\Config\Repository;
use Hifone\Models\Setting as SettingModel;
use Illuminate\Support\ServiceProvider;

/**
 * This is the config service provider class.
 */
class ConfigServiceProvider extends ServiceProvider
{
    /**
     * Boot the service provider.
     *
     * @return void
     */
    public function boot()
    {
        try {
            // Get the default settings.
            $defaultSettings = $this->app->config->get('setting');

            // Get the configured settings.
            $appSettings = $this->app->setting->all();

            // Merge the settings
            $settings = array_merge($defaultSettings, $appSettings);

            $this->app->config->set('setting', $settings);
        } catch (Exception $e) {
            //
        }

        if ($appDomain = $this->app->config->get('setting.app_domain')) {
            $this->app->config->set('app.url', $appDomain);
        }

        if ($appLocale = $this->app->config->get('setting.site_locale')) {
            $this->app->config->set('app.locale', $appLocale);
            $this->app->translator->setLocale($appLocale);
        }

        if ($appTimezone = $this->app->config->get('setting.site_timezone')) {
            $this->app->config->set('cachet.timezone', $appTimezone);
        }
    }

    /**
     * Register the service provider.
     *
     * @return void
     */
    public function register()
    {
        $this->app->singleton('setting', function () {
            return new Repository(new SettingModel());
        });

        $this->app->alias('setting', Repository::class);
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Q: Open a base64 pdf on chrome IOS tab I'm generating a base64 pdf , I just need to show it in another iOS chrome tab. I have the following code for it.
if (navigator.userAgent.includes('CriOS')) {
  var base64PDF = base64ArrayBuffer(response.data);
  var win = window.open();
  win.document.write('<iframe id="myIframe" width="600" height="315" src="data:application/pdf;base64,' + base64PDF + '" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen ></iframe>');
  win.document.write('<script>window.open(window.document.getElementById("myIframe").src) </script>');

} else if (navigator.userAgent.includes('iPad') || navigator.userAgent.includes('iPhone')) {
  var base64PDF = base64ArrayBuffer(response.data);
  window.location.assign('data:application/pdf;base64,' + base64PDF);
}

that code let me show the pdf on an iframe, but when I do that , the window.location.href is the url that generates the pdf, and the url in the tab is about:blank.
So I decided to write a script in the document that executes window.open with the src of the iframe but I get an empty page in another tab.
I'm looking for set in the url of the chrome tab the data:application/pdf;base64,..... that will show to the user the option "Open In" and he will have the options like , send by gmail or mail, etc. Actually I can't do that because the url is about:blank and not a valid PDF base64 link.
I already try somethings like
window.location, window.open, window.location.href, window.location.assign, programmatically create an a tag and click it for change the href, and nothing more happens that open a about:blank tab.
When i try , something like window.location.href = 'data:application/pdf;base64,.....;return false;' , google chrome redirect to a new tab with the url correct, but with the return false; sentence in the last part or the url so that do a wrong pdf.
i dont know why programmatically you cant open that data:application..... but if you create a iframe like i mention at first of this post, and you drag the iframe with your finger pressed to another tab , chrome open the data:application...... in the url of the tab.

A: var divpdf = document.createElement('div');
divpdf.innerHTML = '<object  style="display:none;" id="docuFrame" type="application/pdf" width="1px" height="1px" data="' +
linkSource + '"></object>';
document.lastElementChild.appendChild(divpdf);
var frame = document.getElementById('docuFrame') as HTMLObjectElement;
window.open(frame.data);
frame.remove();
divpdf.remove();


Photo by Thierry Ehrmann via Flickr. Licensed under CC.
Editor's note: this letter consists entirely (well almost entirely, say 98.19%) of authentic Jeff Bezos quotes and tweets.
When the world changes around you and when it changes against you—what used to be a tail wind is now a headwind—you have to lean into that and figure out what to do. Because complaining isn't a strategy. I don't want to be eighty years old and in a quiet moment of reflection, thinking back over my life and cataloging a bunch of major regrets. What's dangerous is to not evolve. That's approaching evil.
Projections for Alexa were very optimistic, and we've far exceeded them. We feel incredibly lucky to have found each other. And she's just getting better. Doing mail and putting final touches on this year's annual shareholder letter. I pay attention to what she likes to wear. Sometimes I say, "What's your such-and-such size?" and she says, "Why?" and I say, "None of your business!" It delights her. We don't see positive surprises of this magnitude very often. When you have something that you know is true, even over the long term, you can afford to put a lot of energy into it.
You don't choose your passions; your passions choose you. Time horizons matter. They matter a lot. I'm not the kind of person where women say, "Oh, look how great he is." I'm kind of goofy. I do the dishes every night: I'm pretty convinced it's the sexiest thing I do. Life's too short to hang out with people who aren't resourceful. I want someone who could get me out of a Third World prison. With Alexa, I won the lottery.
In the end, we are our choices. Most decisions should probably be made with somewhere around 70% of the information you wish you had. I'm taking the less safe path to follow my passion, and I'm proud of that choice. You have to be willing to be misunderstood. It's not an experiment if you know it's going to work.
Work Hard. Have Fun. Make History. Though the labels might be different, we remain a family. If you never want to be criticized, for goodness' sake don't do anything new!


text:
Colin Kaepernick on Why He Refuses to Stand for the National Anthem
Everything you need to know about the San Francisco QB's controversial stance.
By Jack Moore
(Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
Friday night, 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick decided to use his position as a professional athlete to make a political statement about race in America. Before his preseason game against the Green Bay Packers, Kaepernick refused to stand for the national anthem. This, of course, led a huge number of people to freak out about HOW DISRESPECTFUL he is and how HE HAS NO RIGHT to do this. Also, how he now has CHARACTER ISSUES. (All of the all-caps phrases should be read in the voice of the most despicable talk-radio host you can think of.) Now, of course this is rich, considering it was only a few months ago that many of these same people praised Muhammad Ali upon his passing, when Ali's greatest accomplishment was sacrificing prime years of his career to make a political statement he believed in. Well now, after a couple days, we have had Kaepernick's first media session since initially talking about his protest, and it gave a great insight into what he was thinking and hoping to say.
Here are a few highlights from Niners Wire's transcript of Kaepernick's media session:
On whether he'll continue to sit:
KAEPERNICK: Yes. I'll continue to sit. . . I'm going to continue to stand with the people that are being oppressed. To me this is something that has to change. When there's significant change and I feel like that flag represents what it's supposed to represent, this country is representing people the way that it's supposed to, I'll stand.
On what he wants to see changed in our country:
KAEPERNICK: There's a lot of things that need to change. One specifically? Police brutality. There's people being murdered unjustly and not being held accountable. People are being given paid leave for killing people. That's not right. That's not right by anyone's standards.
On whether he feels like he's been oppressed:
KAEPERNICK: There have been situations where I feel like I've been ill-treated, yes. This stand wasn't for me. This stand wasn't because I feel like I'm being put down in any kind of way. This is because I'm seeing things happen to people that don't have a voice, people that don't have a platform to talk and have their voices heard, and effect change. So I'm in the position where I can do that and I'm going to do that for people that can't.
When pressed about whether he's specifically had bad experiences that he feels are race-related:
KAEPERNICK: I've had times where one of my roommates was moving out of the house in college and because we were the only black people in that neighborhood the cops got called and we had guns drawn on us. Came in the house, without knocking, guns drawn on my teammates and roommates. So I have experienced this. People close to me have experienced this. This isn't something that's a one-off case here or a one-off case there. This has become habitual. This has become a habit. So this is something that needs to be addressed.
And on whether or not he thinks he'll get cut over this:
KAEPERNICK: I don't know. But if I do, I know I did what's right. And I can live with that at the end of the day.
You can read the whole transcript over at Niners Wire. It's worth your time.
Related Stories for GQColin KaepernickNFLSan Francisco 49ersGQ SportsSan Francisco 49ersNFL

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Barbara Naughton was born into a world ripped apart by war, a conflict that had already taken the life of her father and all of her brothers and sisters.
Naughton's mother, a Pole, gave birth to her at a German work camp at the end of World War II. Somehow the mother and infant survived the chaos of the conflict. As refugees, they eventually came to the United States, alone except for each other.
Raised in Sioux Falls, S.D., Naughton married, raised a family of her own, became a registered nurse and settled in Brooklyn Park. For years, she helped to manage a dementia unit in a nursing home. All her life, she sympathized with refugees and immigrants and others in need.
"When she was born, she saw the world at its worst," said her son, Chad Naughton. "Her whole life was demonstrating people at their best."
Barbara Naughton died Feb. 4 in a memory care facility in St. Paul at age 74 after being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.
Her parents, Bernard and Dora Wolczynska, had two sons and two daughters in Poland before Barbara was born. But the family was devastated after World War II broke out in 1939 and Poland was invaded by Germany and the Soviet Union.
Barbara Naughton
The family's two sons, ages 7 and 9, were killed by a bomb, according to a 1981 Sioux Falls Argus Leader story about Dora. The two older daughters also died during the war, one after being put to work digging ditches and becoming ill. The father also became ill and died after being put to work in a factory by Germans.
The pregnant Dora was sent to Germany to milk cows. That's where Barbara was born on Feb. 11, 1945.
According to Chad Naughton, as the war was ending, Dora and her newborn child were trapped in a house that had been bombed. Dora was too weak to call for help. But the baby's persistent cries alerted rescuers to dig them out of the rubble.
After the war, the mother and daughter came to the United States, arriving in New Orleans. With the help of Lutheran Social Service, they were eventually settled in Sioux Falls, Chad Naughton said.
Dora cooked for the priests at the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Sioux Falls, and Barbara studied to become a nurse.
Later, she met and married Daniel Naughton, who was a civil engineer. They started a family and had six children, including one with special needs. They lived for a while in New Mexico, where Barbara volunteered at health clinics on a Navajo reservation, and in Omaha, where she worked at a nursing home.
They moved to the Twin Cities, where Barbara would work for about 20 years caring for people in the memory care unit of the St. Therese senior care center in New Hope.
"She just had a remarkable capacity for taking care of everything and caring for people," Chad Naughton said.
He said his mother loved peace and solitude. She never forgot what it was like to be an outsider, having to start a new life in a new country.
"When her mom passed away, she said she felt alone in this world," Naughton said.
In lieu of flowers or memorials, her obituary advised mourners to "do something meaningful and kind on behalf of immigrants."
Naughton is survived by sons David and Chad of Minneapolis and Christopher of St. Paul; daughters Lisa Naughton and Sarah Jones of Minneapolis and Amy Moore; and seven grandchildren.
Services have been held.
Richard Chin is a feature reporter with the Star Tribune in Minneapolis. He has been a longtime Twin Cities-based journalist who has covered crime, courts, transportation, outdoor recreation and human interest stories.
richard.chin@startribune.com 612-673-1775 rrchin
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text:
November 24, 2021 Cheap Study Abroad Destinations
Best Accredited Electrical Engineering Schools in Virginia | 2022
As an engineering student, what you are studying is not more important than where you wish to study it. That's why if your passion deals with electrics and electronics, you must consider the accredited electrical engineering schools in Virginia.
Electrical engineering is more concerned with power generation, storage, and transmission. Electrical engineering focuses on devices and devices that consume electricity, as well as power applications that are used in signal processing or control systems.
Anyone who works in electrical engineering and electronics needs research and analytical minds in addition to creativity. It is also valuable to be detailed and educated in math and computers.
Who is an Electrical Engineer?
Electrical engineers study electronics, electromagnetism, and the application of electricity. The products they develop are used in medical technology, game systems, mobile phones, robots, cars, green technologies, and navigation systems and only slightly touch the list.
Almost everything that makes up modern civilization is connected to electrical engineering. These engineers work in laboratories, offices, and industries. They develop systems for power generation, transmission, and distribution.
In addition to the topics mentioned above (which only briefly touch the scope), this expertise includes circuit breakers (solar, wind, geothermal), design of power supply systems, and architectural planning. Electrical engineering is behind the development of every electronic thing within your reach.
Electrical engineers focus on the design, components, and processes of computer systems. They involve research or management using specialized, practical knowledge and dealing with public, private, and academic sectors.
They are dedicated to further training, learning at the workplace, leadership, and the application of new techniques to new situations.
The sciences of physics and mathematics are fundamental to this profession, but the technical focus is only a fraction of this work.
About Engineering in Virginia
The specific areas of expertise for engineering graduates and students include environmental protection, aerospace engineering, alternative energy solutions, and possible developments with patent law.
Engineers are considered modern analytical thinkers of the world who offer solutions to many of the logistical obstacles we face as a society or an independent nation.
For these reasons, engineers with the appropriate qualifications in training are likely to find a suitable company or niche that matches their lifestyle and career expectations. Virginia's specific engineering and science professionals have employed over 46,000 graduates, with an expected increase of 1.74 percent by 2018.
Electrical engineering is a popular major, and Virginia is the 16th most popular state for students studying this major. 639 of the 31,993 electrical engineering degrees acquired last year were awarded by schools in Virginia.
With so many options, finding the best choice can be difficult. This year's ranking of the best electrical engineering colleges in Virginia analyzed 7 colleges and universities that offer a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering.
How long does it take to study at Electrical Engineering Schools in Virginia?
The completed Bachelor of Engineering usually lasts 4 or 5 years, depending on the university and the chosen subject. You earn 120 credits if you take courses such as electronic circuits, communication systems, and digital logic design.
Postgraduate studies can help you improve your education and take on additional engineering tasks. A Master's degree requires 30 credits, which you may be able to complete in two years. To get a doctorate, you need to write and defend a thesis. Generally, this process takes between five and seven years.
How much do Electrical Engineers earn in Virginia?
The amount that electrical engineers earn is increasing in Virginia. The average salary for electrical engineers in 2006 was $65,230 a year. In 2010 the average salary was $73,885 a year.
Electrical engineers in Virginia average more than their colleagues in related jobs.
The average cost of tuition in Virginia is $13,900. However, since there are so many schools in the state, you are likely to find a nearby school that fits your budget.
What to consider when Choosing Electrical Engineering Schools in Virginia
Your choice of electrical engineering school is important. Important measures of a high-quality EE program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school, we recommend taking into account some of the following factors:
The Overall quality
The overall quality of a school is important to ensure quality education, not just how well it does in a particular major. To take this into account, we consider the overall ranking of the best colleges of a college, which deals with a collection of various factors such as graduation, educational resources, student body caliber, and income after graduation for the entire school.
Average Result after graduation
College electrical engineering graduates on this list tend to earn more after college than college graduates. The youngest graduates of electrical engineering from a college in Virginia with a bachelor's degree earned an average of $65,180 in 2017-2018.
Most 4-year programs for electronics or electrical engineering prepare students for work as electronics or electrical engineers. These links provide more insight into what is involved in such career paths.
Steps to become an electrical engineer
Most engineering jobs require a license of some kind, although electrical engineering may have different requirements depending on the state. A license is usually required to work with local state or federal agencies. To obtain a license, the electrical engineer must meet the following requirements according to the BLS.
Execute an electrical engineering program accredited by ABET
Pass the FE (Fundamentals of Engineering) test
Have sufficient work experience in this area
Pass the Professional Engineering (PE) test.
What is the job outlook for Electrical Engineers in Virginia?
According to the United States Department of Labor Statistics (BLS), electronics engineers, with the exception of those who worked on computers, had average earnings of $110,210 in 2019 (www.bls.gov). Electrical engineers received an average wage of $103,480 that same year.
The BLS reported that the demand for electrical engineers is expected to increase by five percent between 2018 and 2028, while employment growth in the electrical engineering sector is unlikely to change, or not at all. Both numbers represent an above-average slow increase in employment opportunities.
Best Accredited Electrical Engineering Schools in Virginia
Here are the Best Accredited Electrical Engineering Schools in Virginia available for you to apply to
Washington and Lee is a high-level private institution in Lexington, Virginia that combines the rigorous investigation and critical thinking of a liberal arts curriculum with nationally recognized undergraduate engineering, business and journalism programs, and a law graduate school.
W&L is the ninth oldest college in America and the historic campus is located in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley. Engineering majors at W&L have the special opportunity to study the principles and applications of engineering in a liberal arts environment.
Our engineering students develop the ability to think critically and ethically, communicate clearly, apply technical principles appropriately, and successfully design solutions to real-world problems as they prepare for post-graduate opportunities.
Tuition Fee: $21,918
Acceptance Rate: 21%.
University of Virginia – Main Campus, Charlottesville, VA
The University of Virginia – Main Campus is one of the best electrical engineering schools in the United States. The University of Virginia is a very large public school in the suburbs of Charlottesville.
For those interested in something more advanced, the University of Virginia also offers two different degrees in electrical engineering, the most popular of which is a doctoral degree (research/scholarship).
Hampton University, Hampton, Virginia
Hampton University's electrical engineering program provides students with a state-of-the-art, academically enriched environment in which to acquire the knowledge required for entry-level positions as professional engineers and/or graduate schools.
In addition to technical training, our graduates are ready to promote the ability to solve problems creatively and dynamically and to promote the desire to contribute to the culture and society in which they live.
The electrical engineering program trains problem solvers with a high degree of technical competence and social responsibility. In addition, all students have developed the skills and acquired the basic knowledge required for a successful degree or for entry-level positions as electrical engineers.
The Virginia Military Institute (VMI) is the oldest government-sponsored military college in the country. It was founded in Lexington, Virginia in 1839 and is located at the southern end of the Shenandoah Valley.
The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering trains cadets in a rigorous academic environment that promotes the development of analytical and communication skills that are used to design hardware and software components and systems for electrical and computer engineering.
The school believes in finding a balance between a solid foundation of fundamental principles and practical experience to produce graduates who are prepared for lifelong learning, have professional engineering practices, and are able to make a significant contribution to their profession and society afford to.
Liberty University, Lynchburg, VA
Liberty University is located in the small town of Lynchburg and is a private, non-profit school with a very large student population.
In keeping with the vision of the founder, Dr. Jerry Falwell, Liberty University develops Christ-centered men and women with the values, knowledge, and skills that are essential to influencing the world.
Through its residential and online programs, services, facilities, and collaborations, the university trains men and women who make important contributions to their jobs and communities, follow their chosen vocations as a call to glorify God and fulfill the Great Mission.
The major courses in electrical engineering at Liberty University generate a profit surge of approximately $ 2,020 above the average income of electrical engineering graduates.
Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA[M1]
Virginia Tech is one of your top options if you want to study electrical engineering. Virginia Tech is located in the city of Blacksburg and is a public school with a relatively large student population.
For those interested in something more advanced, Virginia Tech also offers two different advanced degrees in electrical engineering, the most popular of which is a master's degree. Graduates of the EE program earn an average of $67,100 early in their careers.
The engineering studies started at the JMU in autumn 2008. The Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) covers the traditional engineering disciplines and includes courses in natural sciences, mathematics, economics, technology management, engineering design, and interpersonal communication skills.
The program's focus on sustainability offers a way to develop sustainable societies in which people's quality of life is improved with minimal impact on finite resources and the environment.
The JMU engineering program comprises the traditional technical sub-disciplines. The Department of Engineering offers a single bachelor's degree in engineering rather than building separate degree programs in each engineering sub-discipline.
George Mason University, Fairfax, VA
It's hard to beat George Mason University if you want to study electrical engineering. GMU is a very large public school in a large suburb of Fairfax.
For those interested in something more advanced, GMU also offers 3 different higher degrees in electrical engineering, the most popular of which is a master's degree. Upon graduation, EE students typically earn around $63,100 in the first five years of their careers.
Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA
It's hard to beat Virginia Commonwealth University if you want to study electrical engineering. The VCU is located in the medium-sized city of Richmond and is a public university with a very large student population.
Students who complete the EE program earn an average of $64,400 in the first few years of their careers.
Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA
Old Dominion is a fairly large public school in the city of Norfolk. Students who complete the EE program earn around $ 64,100 for their early careers.
Old Dominion is an above-average public university in Norfolk, Virginia. It is a large institution with an enrolment of 15,003 students.
Virginia State University's College of Engineering and Technology aims to provide a stimulating learning environment that combines teaching and laboratory experience to prepare students for the global workforce based on advances in science, technology, technology, and math is under constant demand and rapid change.
The college offers undergraduate programs that prepare students to become professionals who adapt to social change, learn for life, and understand the economic impact of innovation.
The College of Engineering and Technology hosts motivated people who are interested in understanding and improving the world around them.
Electrical engineering and electronics provide technical preparation with a focus on laboratory and problem-solving skills that help prepare for employment in all areas of electronics.
Electrical Engineering Schools in Virginia – FAQs
How many electrical engineers are there in the US?
There are currently an estimated 188,300 electrical engineers in the United States. The electrical engineer job market is expected to grow by 8.6% between 2016 and 2026.
Is electrical engineering in demand?
Overall employment of electrical and electronics engineers is projected to grow 2 percent from 2018 to 2028, slower than the average for all occupations. … The need to upgrade the nation's power grids will also create demand for electrical engineering services.
Is Electrical Engineering a good career?
There are also career opportunities in Europe for electrical engineers. Electrical engineering job opportunities are steadily rising in the India and United state. Electrical engineering is a desirable career pursuit if you value job diversity, security, and a decent salary.
Pursuing studies in electrical engineering can be a challenging yet exciting experience for you especially if you wish to study in the United States. Virginia is one of those study destinations in the US where you are sure to receive a quality and accredited electrical engineering education.
So, take advantage of this information and explore the accredited electrical engineering schools in Virginia
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Fermentation in oak barrels. Wine harvest with selective picking after desiccation.
Maturing: Maturing in oak barrels for 11 months.
Aging potential: Can be laid down for 10 years while keeping its fruity aromas.
Aromas of honey, ripened exotic fruits, slightly woody with spicey notes, candied peel while keeping its freshness.
Good match with foie gras, smoked fish, blue cheese, extra matured Beaufort, spicy cuisine (indian chinese) and bitter chocolate cake. To serve at 10‐14° C.
• Classé Réussite Exceptionnelle par la RVF.


text:
Q: Grails cascade delete In my Grails domain I have a 1:1 relationship between Artist and MusicianDetails
class Artist {

    static hasOne = [musicianDetails: MusicianDetails]

    static constraints = {
        musicianDetails(nullable: true, unique: true)
    }
}

class MusicianDetails {
    static belongsTo = [artist: Artist]
}

I want deletes of Artist to cascade to the associated MusicianDetails. However, I get a foreign key contraint violation when I delete an Artist with:
Artist.executeUpdate("delete Artist a where a.id = ?", [artistId])

The error message is:
Class
    com.mysql.jdbc.exceptions.jdbc4.MySQLIntegrityConstraintViolationException
Message
    Cannot delete or update a parent row: a foreign key constraint fails
    (`festival2`.`musician_details`, CONSTRAINT `FKA0E6B2145ACE528E`
    FOREIGN KEY (`artist_id`) REFERENCES `artist` (`id`))

What is the correct way to defined a 1:1 relationship between Artist and MusicianDetails such that deletes of the former cascade to the latter?

A: The cascading works if I delete the artist using
artist.get(artistId)?.delete()

instead of
Artist.executeUpdate("delete Artist a where a.id = ?", [artistId])

A: You need a belongsTo in MusicianDetails. Not sure but you might also need to cascade all-delete-orphan.
Anyways it seems as if Musician Details can be an embedded class of Artist, so that it is mapped to one database table.
http://bartling.blogspot.com/2009/04/embedded-domain-components-in-grails.html?m=1
Another thing is, that it is better to do Artist.get(artistId).delete() instead of executing a HQL query. This makes code less prone to errors, more understandable and you can always change GORM to another implementation if you want to get rid of Hibernate for any reason.


text:
David Nalbandian (1 de Janeiro de 1982, Córdoba) é um ex-tenista profissional argentino, descendente de armênios e italianos, assim como seu colega de profissão, o ex-tenista norte-americano André Agassi.

Nalbandian iniciou sua carreira profissional no ano 2000 e seu melhor ranking em simples na ATP foi a 3ª colocação por um período de 19 semanas em 2006.

David Nalbandian foi o primeiro argentino a disputar a final do Grand Slam de Wimbledon. Mas perdeu o título para o australiano Lleyton Hewitt pelas parciais de 6–1, 6–3 e 6–2.

O  maior feito da sua carreira foi ganhar a Tennis Masters Cup de Xangai em 2005 onde bateu na final o suíço Roger Federer, então n.º 1 do ranking da ATP, por 6-7(4) 6-7(11) 6-2 6-3 e 7-6(3).

No ano de 2007 venceu o Masters 1000 de Madrid frente ao suíço Roger Federer e o Masters 1000 de Paris frente ao espanhol Rafael Nadal. Em 2006 foi vice-campeão da Copa Davis, defendendo a Argentina na derrota para a Rússia. Retirou-se das quadras em outubro de 2013.

Grand Slam finais

Simples: 1 (1 vice)

ATP finals

Simples: 1 (1 título)

Masters 1000 finais

Simples: 6 (2 títulos, 4 vices)

Confrontos vs Tenistas Top 10
Tenistas que foram  N. 1 estão em destaque.

  Roger Federer 8–11
  Richard Gasquet 7–0
  Nikolay Davydenko 7–5
  Robin Söderling 6–1
  Tommy Robredo 6–3
  Rainer Schüttler 6–4
  Tim Henman 5–1
  Fernando González 5–3
  David Ferrer 5–9
  Mario Ančić 4–0
  Arnaud Clément 4–0
  Tomáš Berdych 4–1
  Nicolás Almagro 4–2
  Marin Čilić 4–2
  Juan Carlos Ferrero 4–3
  Carlos Moyá 4–3
  Ivan Ljubičić 4–5
  Nicolás Massú 3–1
  Juan Mónaco 3–1
  Juan Martín del Potro 3–1
  Félix Mantilla 3–2
  Lleyton Hewitt 3–3
  Marat Safin 3–6
  Stanislas Wawrinka 3–6
  Jonas Björkman 2–0
  Albert Costa 2–0
  Karol Kučera 2–0
  Sébastien Grosjean 2–1
  John Isner 2–1
  Mark Philippoussis 2–1
  Gilles Simon 2–1
  Paradorn Srichaphan 2–1
  Radek Štěpánek 2–1
  Guillermo Cañas 2–2
  Guillermo Coria 2–2
  Thomas Johansson 2–2
  Mikhail Youzhny 2–2
  Marcos Baghdatis 2–3
  Janko Tipsarević 2–3
  Andy Roddick 2–4
  Andy Murray 2–5
  Rafael Nadal 2–5
  Gustavo Kuerten 1–0
  Todd Martin 1–0
  Marc Rosset 1–0
  Wayne Ferreira 1–1
  Nicolas Kiefer 1–1
  Jürgen Melzer 1–1
  Jiří Novák 1–1
  Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 1–1
  Gaël Monfils 1–3
  Novak Djokovic 1–4
  Andre Agassi 0–1
  Gastón Gaudio 0–1
  James Blake 0–2
  Mardy Fish 0–2
  Yevgeny Kafelnikov 0–2
  Fernando Verdasco 0–3
  Tommy Haas 0–5

Desempenho em Grand Slams

Ligações externas

Tenistas da Argentina
Tenistas olímpicos da Argentina
Tenistas nos Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2008
Tenistas nos Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2012
Argentinos de ascendência italiana

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Autrey Joseph Maroun – Major General, United States Army
Retired Army Major General Autrey Joseph Maroun, who led American troops into battle against German soldiers at Fort d'Illange, Thionville, France, during World War II, died Monday at his Pebble Beach home. He was 91.
General Maroun was the battalion commander for the 2nd Battalion 378th Infantry, 95th Infantry Division on November 11, 1944, when he was the first American officer to open Thionville to freedom. It was also the unit's first combat experience, lasting until November 15, 1944. General Maroun and the troops were forced to cross a flooded river at daybreak against German-occupied fortresses bristling with mortars and machine gun nests, according to a 1994 Herald article.
General Maroun was born April 19, 1914, in Shreveport, Louisiana. He graduated from Gulf Coast Academy in 1929 and attended Tulane University for two years before receiving a congressional appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point. He graduated from West Point in 1935.
In 1946, General Maroun was assigned as executive officer to the chief of counsel for War Crimes in Nurnberg, Germany.
During the Korean War, General Maroun served as commander of the 35th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, later becoming the first G3 of the IX Corps. He then commanded the 5th Infantry Division (Mechanized) at Fort Carson, Colorado, from 1964 to 1966. Among his other high-level assignments, he was chief military planning officer with the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization in Bangkok, Thailand.
He ended his military career as special assistant to the comptroller of the Army, which included testifying in Manpower and Budget Hearings before the House and Senate Appropriations Committee in 1972.
He retired in 1992 and moved to Pebble Beach. He was active with the Monterey Peninsula Country Club and Church of the Wayfarer, serving on various committees.
His decorations include the Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star, Bronze Star Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Legion of Merit with Oak Leaf Cluster, Order of Nassau with Swords from the Queen of the Netherlands, and Medal for Meritorious Service from Republic of the Philippines.
In September 1994, Thionville honored General Maroun as its Citizen of Honor for the 50th anniversary of the city's liberation, flying him overseas for the celebration.
He is survived by his wife, Francis; stepsons, Michael Lally of New Cumberland, Pa., Bill Lally of Carmel and Robert Lally of Sigonella, Italy; brother, Michael Maroun of Shreveport, La.; and several stepgrandchildren.
His first wife, Amy, and brother, Lawrence, preceded him in death.
Funeral services will be at 2:30 p.m. Thursday at Church of the Wayfarer, Carmel. Inurnment with full military honors will be held at Arlington National Cemetery in October.
Memorial donations may be made to Army Emergency Relief, Building 4260, Presidio of Monterey, Monterey CA 93944 or the American Red Cross. The Paul Mortuary handled arrangements.
John William Maloney – Captain, United States Marine Corps
Charles Henry Muir – Major General, United States Army