Inside Four Walls: Texas not part of America?

Yesterday in one of my math classes a student asked why we can't use a calculator on the standards test. Here is the conversation that took place;

Me: I don't know, it's just the way they want it. 

Student: that sucks 

Me: yeah, but did you know in Texas they are allowed to use a calculator on the entire test. 

Student: what? how come? 

Me: Beats me, just the way they do it there. 

Student: so they get to use it on the CSTs? 

Me: well it's not called the CSTs there because you know that means CALIFORNIA Standards Test. They call theirs the TAKS, which is probably like Texas Assessment... 

Student: So wait, Texas isn't part of America?(laughter from the entire class) 

Me: ummmm no it still is.

Good times, not a bad way to end the week right?

The Last Laugh: CFL Bulbs don't last as long as predicted

Compact Florescent Light bulbs (CFL) don't last as long as originally expected. When they first came out they were supposed to last 9.4 years and now studies have shown that is closer to 6.3 years...more than a 33% difference, nice.

Well at least CA didn't jump the gun and force people to use something that isn't as good as we first believed it to be;

California's utilities are spending $548 million over seven years to subsidize consumer purchases of compact fluorescent lamps. But the benefits are turning out to be less than expected.

One reason is that bulbs have gotten so cheap that Californians buy more than they need and sock them away for future use. Another reason is that the bulbs are burning out faster than expected.

hmmm...that sounds like my dad. He has so many freakin CFL bulbs it's actually quiet funny. And he looks for them when they are on sale for $1 and buys about $20 worth.

Well at least we are saving money...

As a result of these and other adjustments, energy savings attributed to PG&E were pegged at 451.6 million kilowatt hours by regulators, or 73% less than the 1.7 billion kilowatt hours projected by PG&E for the 2006-2008 program.

For the 2006-2008 program, utilities said they achieved energy savings from all their energy efficiency programs that were 151% of the goal set by regulators. But the commission's staff, armed with exhaustive studies, said utilities saved only 62% of the goal amount, hurt by the bulbs.

Nevertheless, anxious to move on to the current 2010-2012 program, the commission last month gave the utilities $68 million of rewards, on top of $143.7 million of incentive pay previously awarded. PG&E pocketed $104 million total.

So let me get this straight, even though PG&E hit only 62% of its goal, they still received $104 million? No wonder CA is broke.

The Last Laugh: CA overstates "Stimulus Jobs"

If CA were a student in my class, the other students would call CA a kiss ass. Because that's what CA is. The state is always trying to find a way to look good to the Obama administration and liberals. Whether it is global warming, illegal aliens, or the positives of stimulus money, CA is always first in line to say "look at us"

So imagine the nice laugh I got when I read this yesterday;

In a sampling of five state agencies, the California State Auditor found that two overstated the number of jobs by 617 positions.

For example, the Water Resources Control Board did not follow guidelines and triple-counted the number of jobs created with the money. It ended up overstating the number of jobs by 71.

Triple counted??? Are you serious? I might see a double count mistake, but triple come on, you are just trying to look good now. I don't think I have any students that would make a mistake like that.

Stimulus jobs are temporary labor. That's it. CA is trying to stick its chest out and look good because we are putting the speed line from the great cities of Borden and Corcoran.

Thoughts Without Words: Time to Watch CA Fall

Well for the first time since the 30's all 9 state offices are controlled by one party, the Democrats. They also have control of the Legislature and passed the simple majority budget proposition. So in effect, the Democrats don't have to involve the Republicans at all, not that they did much to begin with, but they did have to compromise at times. Now it is free reign.

It will be interesting to see how much worse this state gets in the next few years. I read an article on the Huffington Post that talked about how CA could show the way for progressives on how to run a state. And all I could think was, really? Dems have had control of the Legislature for years and our spending is out of control, we have higher taxes than most states, and we have too many social entitlement programs. We passed a prop that will increase all energy bills across the board and probably effect our gas prices too.

CA is going down the drain fast. Hopefully the rest of the country will take note and learn what not to do.

Thoughts Without Words: CA is full of idiots

I don't know how else to say it. I am watching the election results and the country is pretty much saying no to Democrats and Obama, but in California? Democrats are still winning left and right. Certain propositions which should be win (Prop. 23) are losing and some that should be defeated (simple majority for budget) are winning. What is wrong with this state?

We are re-electing a Senator who has done nothing for this state. In her 3 terms what has Boxer done for us? We are the democrats biggest supporters, yet this state gets nothing. Obama laughed at us when we asked for federal dollars to balance the budget. Or Race to the Top...what a joke. And yet the people keep re-electing the democrats into office.

This has always been a backwards state and tonight it showed it again.

The Last Laugh: CA loses again...

Yesterday the feds announced the second round winners of Race to the Top and CA lost again. This is hilarious to me because we sold ourselves out when we adopted the new national standards back in August. And when the discussion came up educators were saying the new national standards weren't as rigorous as CA's. Heck even CA said, we don't need to adapt them, ours are just fine by themselves."

So now we lose again and what about those great standards we have to adopt now? Does anyone realize how much money it is going to cost to buy books that are aligned to the new standards? We just bought new books 3 years ago to have them aligned to CA standards. It is going to cost millions of dollars per district, that they don't have!

California looks pathetic. Here we are this huge state that if we were a nation, would be the 8th richest in the world. But you wouldn't know it because we are billions in debt and can't come up with a budget. We do so much to impress Washington to get their approval, the climate bill, the new standards, green jobs...and for what? Obama is laughing at us. Heck, CA put him in the Whitehouse and he won't even look at us. Great job CA!

Thoughts Without Words: CA adapts common core standards

Super-duper.

I can't say I am sure how this will affect us, but I do know that the whole 8th graders enrolled in Algebra 1 isn't going to be pretty. I teach Algebra B (second half of Algebra 1) and I have seniors that can't add fractions, factor, graph, or any other basic math. Worst part...I come from a school that has an API over 880, unheard of in CA high schools.

How are the poor performing schools going to do now? I like this quote from Ontario-Montclair's assistant superintendent Jill Hammond;

"If you give the teachers the foundational knowledge, and the district does a good job of building it, then the students are going to be more than ready with this challenge," said Jill Hammond, OMSD assistant superintendent of learning support services.

I like how there is so much emphasis on teachers being the key. Once again where is the focus on the students and the parents. Remember we only see these kids 55 minutes a day. I doubt the common standards will do anything new...what a waste.

The Last Laugh: "Blue States" = worse economic trouble

I can't take credit for this story. I found it on Darren's blog, Right on the Left Coast (which is a daily stop for me). In a nutshell, Forbes reports that states that have a more liberal/democratic lean to them are in worse shape than those that are neutral or have a conservative lean ("red state").

I would enjoy this story even more if not for that fact I live in CA. We are such a backwards state it's not even funny.

The problem is that no major news media will pick up on this story and put 2 and 2 together.