Kalani Thielen
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The Basics
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Kalani on Patch
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Comments
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On the article District to Address Recent Ranking and Reports
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On the article Thinking of Running for SOM Board of Education?
Kalani Thielen
10:12 pm on Thursday, May 2, 2013
ReplyThis ought to be a very interesting election. Good luck to anyone who puts their name out there.
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On the article Second Grade Class Sings to School Board About Respect
Kalani Thielen
10:55 pm on Wednesday, May 1, 2013
ReplyWow, that's awesome. Great work kids, and Mr. Demel!
I love the "Stone Soup" story as well. I was just referring to a project at work as "stone soup" the other day ...
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On the blog post State Education Aid and Our Schools
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On the article John Westfall-Kwong Appointed to School Board
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On the blog post The greenest lawn in town - for less money
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On the article Meet Mr. T at CHS for a Day
Kalani Thielen
12:05 pm on Thursday, March 14, 2013
ReplyThose are great books. I'm a bit of a fan of Science-fiction myself (especially with a math/CS focus) and I've really enjoyed Greg Egan's work (especially "Permutation City").
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On the blog post Bullying: A Complex Problem with No Simple Solution!
Kalani Thielen
10:39 pm on Sunday, March 3, 2013
ReplyThis post is excellent. I hope that this reasonableness you've demonstrated here, Dr. Jarolmen, spreads to parents and schools. I know that I've overreacted to an erroneous perception of "bullying" in the past, and I've learned to be slower to rush to judgement, and more willing to let kids work out conflicts on their own. Obviously we have to step in when it starts to get out of hand, but it's exactly like you say -- these are often opportunities for our kids to learn something about getting along with other people (just as valuable as struggling through a proof in geometry).
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On the blog post Op-Ed: State Says SOM Schools Misspent $226,467 in Title I Funds
Kalani Thielen
3:17 pm on Saturday, March 2, 2013
ReplyMr. Lee, you should consider running for a seat on the Board of Education.
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On the blog post Is Millburn practicing “soft bigotry of lowered expectations”?
Kalani Thielen
5:15 pm on Friday, March 1, 2013
> Second, even if you assume there are no budget/resource gaps at all across the
> elementary schools (a big fat if), then performance gaps are readily obvious
> based on NJ ASK data. What does it tell you when the performance gaps are wide
> and persistent? Does it not show you a suboptimal allocation because the efficacy
> of the dollars/resources in terms of the desired outcomes is just not there?Not necessarily. There are many potential explanations. Schools aren't all identical machines for converting dollars into test scores.
Kalani Thielen
10:27 am on Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Thank you for giving this presentation, Dr. Crisfield. I appreciated the background on these new school ranking methods and your take on where we are. As well, I agree that while we should always look for areas of improvement, we can afford to do so calmly and rationally without bitter argument (and we should, because that's the surest way to make sound judgments).
I also thought that, after the presentation, it was very encouraging to hear about this robotics competition and lunch selection iPhone app that students have been working on. There are so many opportunities in CS/tech to reinforce basic academic subjects and it's great to hear that kids are engaged in this area.