Monday, April 22, 2002

NYTimes: Towards a national plan for computer recycling. It's important to make manufacturers responsible for this, so that the true cost of technology becomes more apparant. On a related note, don't forget that recycle comes after reduce (do you really need to upgrade now?) and reuse (you can buy or sell a PIII 500MHz desktop for around US$300 on eBay). 6:39:57 PM     NYTimes: E-Books: An Idea Whose Time Hasn't Come. Real books don't need power, don't crash, travel well, blah blah blah. Where e-books may be useful is to read older texts that are out of copyright or no longer available, like those published by Project Gutenberg, or for ephemeral, time-sensitive data (e.g. using Palms to read news). But when e-books compete against real books, it's no contest. 6:32:44 PM     Measuring what matters. In the northwest, "residents consume, on average, their body weight in natural resources each day." 4:12:15 PM     Happy Earth Day! 9:30:44 AM     Today is the day Washington state students begin taking the WASL: our state's standardized test for 4th, 7th, and 10th graders. There is an interesting dip in past performance for 7th graders, particularly around reading, that suggests that the "standard" established via the test needs to be refined; otherwise, it's hard to argue why over 60% of 4th and 10th grade students pass the test, but only 40% of 7th graders pass. It's important to remember that these standards are often set in a somewhat arbitrary way, and that simply raising expectations isn't a viable strategy for educational reform. Expectations must be attainable, and significant support structures need to be in place to help students, teachers, and parents to achieve these standards. EdWeek reports on some successes with raised standards, where these supports have been put into place. 9:29:22 AM

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