Informed And Dangerous

The options we have ahead

2008-06-27T05:44:27Z

It's ... what?... almost 1 a.m. and I just stumbled on the DISD board meeting story. It's difficult to read something like this and not wonder where we're going with sanctions.

I'm not against sanctions. Heck, I'm on board. I was the one who thought Johnston needed to be handed over to someone who took the challenges there seriously. But to see this... I just have to think that more state resources need to be going into addressing our issues.

I am not the first, nor the last, to say that we go down a road where we take high schools out of minority communities. How should I feel about that. I read Jonathan Kozol's work, and I acknowledge we have re-segregated our schools. Yet, at the same time, I am torn. I want neighborhood schools to work. What is going to work for our kids?

I wonder how many schools we have in the pipeline for closure. And how many are non-minority. I think I'm afraid to ask TEA.

That little anger problem of mine.

2008-06-25T05:24:59Z

I wanted to start the blog again. But then I got to thinking that everything had to be perfect. And, tricked by that thought, I hadn't started writing again. But now I am.

I was talking to an unnamed lobbyist the other day -- I suppose he must be the wealthiest one among us out in the audience at the various hearings and such, although I haven't asked! -- and we were talking about the School Formerly Known as Johnston. (Symbol High)

You must know, if you know me, how I feel about Johnston High. This is one of my Big Three. By Big Three, I mean those three things that I view most passionately: Johnston; Big C and the Agency; and Other Reporters, either good or bad. If they're bad, I insult the work. If they're good, I am miserable I didn't get there first. And better.

]]> And I was saying to DDA -- that's how I shall refer to him, as DDA -- that I was very mad about Johnston. And for those of you who know me, you know that Johnston is closing, and I want to see AISD's blood on the pavement over this one. And AISD doesn't seem the least bit remorseful yet, despite my rather pointed questions to district administrators.

And DDA said, "Shouldn't reporters be objective?"

Oh. Busted. That hurts.

And he was right. Reporters are objective. But that opens up such an interesting line of discussion, one interesting enough to have me turn off The Princess Bride on Tivo.

No, I don't think reporters are objective. But I do think we are supposed to be fair. I guess, in the age of Meet the Press (RIP, Saint Russert.), we recognize that people can both have opinions and be somewhat objective at the end of the day. And, clearly, after you've covered a subject for 20 years, you end up with opinions. So, yes, I have thoughts on education.

(Just in shorthand here: I don't care which side its on. I want it to be fair, logical and meaningful to the kids in the classroom. Clue: Don't give me a T-STEM academy. I hate silly political rhetoric about how millions of dollars will save a handful of kids.)

I don't want to belabor the Deeper Meaning of My Life too much -- or I would be here for hours! -- but I would make two points about that whole thing:

The second point is more important than the first, but the first is who I am. I went back to my trusty Myers Briggs -- who knows why at this particular moment? - and noticed that I had settled into a pretty firm INTP, rather than some of my other fave categories. (Which is to say I'm no longer a cult leader or leading towards a life in politics.)

So this is what you need to know about me. No matter what we're doing ... or how long the meeting is ... in my head, I'm working out a theory. And I want you to hear that theory. Even though I may not be the most articulate about that theory. And I don't expect you to believe it, exactly, but if you don't believe it, you better bring it on and tell me why not. And if you don't understand me -- or in the case of Some People -- don't respond, I'm going to get Very Very Frustrated. Because, baby, I am so INTP.

And, for Pete's sakes, I'm saving the world. I have... principles.

Clearly, I don't have any idea how I am perceived by others. I had an e-mail the other dasy that said people at the Agency were afraid of me. My passion is perceived as... criticism? Hatred? The signs of an unsettled mind? This seems strange to me. I am a rather retiring type. When I'm not being really really passionate about, yes, the Agency, I'm mild.

I don't know how other reporters operate, actually. I don't think I could do the kind of reporting they do without slicing open a wrist. My gosh, it's so boring to simply report the dialogue without having a clue about what is going on! But then you get into my MSM fixation.

And we're back to the whole... "I don't mean any harm but I just have to say this..."

Just know: I left a TV job in Dallas. In a Top 10 market. Not because I couldn't handle the stress. I think I could. But because the kind of news they don't was just so ... specious... that I spent every day fighting depression and acid reflux. So if I can't fight the good fight... without hurting anyone, I hope.. then it's just not worth the effort.

Okay, so here's the second point. I need to have more faith in other people. I feel blessed when what I do changes the way the topic or situation is viewed by other people. If I can improve the decision-making of others -- even if they land somewhere where I am not -- then I have done what I want to set out to do. I have accomplished my goal.

And, no, I don't think I could stand by while someone was being burned alive during a war. They used that example on a press site -- could you maintain your objectively to report terrible death and destruction in front of your yes? -- The answer is, "Not very well."

And the other day, I was told that people actually had heard my message about Johnston. It had actually triggered some thoughts, and it might lead to some action. So I thought, "Yeah, dummy. That's the point. Why be mad when the point is to show others the facts?"

How can I be effective if I'm mad? If I really trust the democratic process (small "D"), then I'm going to trust that what I write may lead to something. I hope. Sometimes it's hard to let go, in my INTP state, but to step back and see the process working. It's the most amazing thing.

Forgot To Drink The Kool Aid

2008-03-09T23:04:00Z

The ultra top-secret TSTA staff blog, Gravity and Waggery, has been revealed to me, and I must say I have to agree with the latest post on Speaker of the House Craddick.

As Richard writes in his post the subject of Junior Tuesday:

TSTA endorsed candidates who support Tom Craddick and candidates who don't because our endorsements were based on the candidates' votes on education issues. I wrote this in response to the question I seemed to be getting most often from just about everyone who is answering the political pundits' favorite question about Texas House races: Was Tom Craddick the reason candidates won or lost on election night?

I see something different - something probably far too simple for the political pundits and professional class of political operatives - that Tom Craddick was essentially irrelevant on election night.

I had the same thoughts. Are we crazy? naive? As far as I could tell, long-time incumbents had the advantage last Tuesday, and as Richard explains, those who didn't usually had a problem: Haggerty faced a lack of Democratic crossover. Macias lost by about the same edge he won last time. Latham's seat flipped again against a popular mayor.

And, of course, Van Arsdale lives in Sen. Dan Patrick's district, and woe be to anyone who crosses a Senator who is a conservative talk show host who owns his own radio station. That's a bloc vote out there.

As for me, I remember the video street survey that the Star-Telegram did, passing around pictures of David Dewhurst, Rick Perry and Tom Craddick. Did anyone on the street know them? Nope. They might know their money, of course, but most did not know them.

And Pat Hardy? Dodged a bullet, I think. I don't know that Pat would say that. I guess I would quote my own story, but you have to pay to read me. Here is the Star-Telegram's story. Almost 100,000 votes in that race. In the Republican primary. Those numbers are comparable to the 2000 Republican primary, which was GWB's first run at president.

TSB Gets a Makeover This Fall

2008-03-09T21:24:29Z

Katie Ford is the new editor of Texas School Business.

I'm looking forward to seeing what she can do. Katie was my section editor at the Austin Business Journal in part of my past. She's been TSB's managing editor since 2005.

I'm not into the fairy tale-sugar gumdrop-dollop of sweetness sort of press Texas School Business has become and probably has been for the last 54 years. I mean, this is a publication managed by the best "happy news" types of the TSPRA.

Then again, I do like to try out the questions on Cy-Fair's "Are you smarter than a Cy-Fair third grader?" So far, I've done pretty well on the questions.

]]> Actually, Cy-Fair is a pretty good example of what I mean about ISD PR. CFISD has won all sorts of awards at TSPRA; yet the only news on the press release page is event news. David Anthony is one of the most insightful superintendents I know, but you wouldn't know from this press release list any of the issues that the Cy-Fair school district faces.

Despite the great strides that technology has made in terms of pushing information out to parents -- podcasts, broadcasts and e-mail updates -- school district PR is still a passive reactive animal. I'm a bit biased, but I tend to think you have to give the media something to work with, whether it's video or HISD efforts to use PR to address issues.

It's as if school district PR departments don't trust parents to understand education.

Okay, I'll get back to the subject. So, given how school PR is expected to work, it's no wonder that Texas School Business has failed to find its voice, either as a general education publication or one specifically targeted to business and finance.

We'll see. Katie says the magazine's transformation should be complete by this fall.

NCLB 2.0: The Fix Is In. Or Not.

2008-03-09T01:34:54Z

Dallas Alliance AFT held a press conference on Friday morning to discuss the union's dissatisfaction with the way House Bill 1 reconstitutes schools.

Of course, a lot of blame was thrown around: the kids who don't care; the parents who don't get involved; the Legislature that won't fix it; and Craddick Craddick Craddick.

Craddick is a way, I think of saying that the current Republican administration has one thought: Public schools are bad, and the only way to fix them is vouchers.

And I guess I could stp right there. If I only say those two things, you'd figure I'm about to write one more rehash about how No Child Left Behind is bad. Or good.

Aimee Bolender describes the sanctions under HB 1 as "backdoor vouchers." It's just one more way to strip schools from the public school system without guaranteeing solutions.

]]> That's not what I'm thinking about. I'm thinking about being a teacher, about the fact you go into the classroom every day with the knowledge you have of your subject, but you may not be teaching that subject in a way that reaches your students. So you change your approach, or you try a new experience or you reach down and try to pull something out of your students.

Most of the time it works. Sometimes it doesn't. You don't have the answer for that one student who simply doesn't grasp what you're trying to teach him.

I think this is one of the failures of NCLB. We've created a law. It's worked with a certain number of students. But there are still so many children out there who do not benefit from the current accountability system. Still, Secretary Spellings attempts to cram the subject down our throats -- that this system in this particular form has made a difference and does work.

And if there a problem, Urban School, it's your fault. You didn't try hard enough.

Now I'm not going to give teachers or schools a cop out here. I'm not satisfied with throwing up our hands and giving up. But doesn't it seem odd to you that even though the gap is narrowing, we're still a graduation rate that is somewhere around 65 percent? If this worked so well, if we reached so many kids, wouldn't we be graduating more of them, and wouldn't more of them be prepared for post-secondary education.

So why aren't these Republican business types a little bit more like teachers? Why don't they look for fresh solutions or something different or a new method or actual change? If they believe in data, why aren't they using it to shape education policy?

I sit in The Council meetings, and I hear that we really don't have good research on what turns around high school dropouts. If that's the case, why don't we devote more of our time and research and effort to finding those answers? If we really believe that every child should achieve, would we stop at anything to find those answers, apply that research, devote our money and time and effort to do everything possible to graduate those students?

For instance, if we really and truly believe teacher quality made a difference, wouldn't we be devoting a whole bunch of resources to professional development? Wouldn't we be fixated on teacher preparation? Would we be sitting in the State Board of Educator Certification, arguing about how little training we need to require in alternative certification programs?

Sometimes I wonder if we don't do it because we really don't think it can be done. And if we really thought it could be done, we'd be doing it. And that applies just as much to the top of the food chain as it does to the individual teacher in the classroom.

Proof We Need Post-Secondary Readiness

2008-03-07T16:11:08Z

Report: 6 Out Of 10 Americans Cannot Locate Payless Shoes On A Mall Map 

WASHINGTON--"No schoolchild should be allowed to grow up ignorant of the varied chain stores around him," said Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings.

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It's 4 a.m. and the Phone Rings....

2008-03-05T10:39:05Z

Actually, the phone is not ringing. It's closer to 5 a.m., and I just walked into the house after spending the evening at the television station, posting election stuff.

I don't know if you were tracking results. On Debate Night, I spent a lot of time being obnoxious on Jenny's blog. Tonight was a lot more serious. I had a lot more races. I had candidates to call. I really hadn't been by the station to set anything up with them.

Above: Clinton and Obama talk about the fact I didn't get any sleep on Tuesday night. In this picture, Barack is suggesting I get a real big raise. Hillary is more concerned with national defense.

But how could you see Barack Obama drawing crowds in the thousands to Town Lake and Reunion Arena and every other venue in the state and still see him lose the state?

The simple answer that I was told was that Hispanics showed up and African-Americans did not. I haven't seen the numbers out of the races to confirm that. Although we wondered aloud in the newsroom tonight, Candra and I, how you can get the stars any more aligned to motivate African-Americans. You've got an eloquent African-American man with a populist message and a huge following and plenty of publicity... and you don't go vote?

I have to say, from the beginning, I've always thought that we had a farce of a campaign down here in Texas. I had conversations with a number of Dem operatives here ...

While all the local media were salivating over the huge rallies and thousands of people, I was thinking that these two candidates just didn't act serious enough. Now, I'm going to have a counter view on this theory of mine, but my theory was that we had the candidates here, but they just weren't saying much about Texas.

They talked... but never in specifics. They reached out to me, but not with a great deal of creativity. They sent surrogates and actors, but they didn't seem ready to dig into any real thought about the particulars of what is going on in Texas.

I guess I thought this was best illustrated by a luncheon I attended hosted by Obama. He sent a surrogate -- an economist -- to talk Obama talk. And so the first question out of the shoot is from a local Realtor. He wants to know what Obama's plan was for Texas on the foreclosure market, and specifically the fact that while the rest of the country is going bust, Austin is still generating a housing market.

So while Hillary is proposing a freeze on loans, and Obama is talking about a big bailout pool aimed at those in trouble, there is nothing in either plan that addresses an Austin. And I guess it just struck me that this economist -- and I hate to generalize him to be the entire campaign -- just wasn't prepared for variables like Texas.

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There are a couple of theories I heard on this one: Harold Cook, for instance, said no one planned for this contingency and no one really should. Six months ago, people stood before a table, they looked at the money they had and they decided a strategy. Look at Giuliani ... You know his Florida strategy didn't work. Look at all the early states that Obama picked up because Hillary spent no money, then you had a pretty good idea of her strategy.

And Obama's populist form of fund-raising worked well for him. Hillary hit hard and early with the help of big-money donors. But those donors eventually dry up. Obama, on the other hand, had many many many individuals. So he had an almost unlimited amount of funding.

So you come into Texas Obama a bit more flush and with the help of MoveOn.org, and Hillary scrambling to try to get precinct captains in place across the state.

For me, it was terribly frustrating. I looked for issues... I didn't see much. Kelly Fero has a name for it: the Potemkin Village. The candidates give every appearance of caring, but they're really sending surrogates. They hold their rallies, but it's not especially important how many people show up. You end up sending Bill to a lot of places.

I think Hillary all but put this strategy on the table this morning when she left Dallas. Some of the media thought she backed off of winning both primaries. What I think she did was confirm her bottom line on strategy as it had been all along: Every viable candidate has to win Ohio. I just have to split Texas.

And look how well it worked out for Hillary, at least at this point in time. I found the results really stunning, and I can't wait to look at some of the sub-areas of the state.

What I found less ingenious in tonight's discussion was the fact that Hillary used her "I won and thank you" e-mail to solicit money. That went over about as well with me as the "It's 3 a.m. and the phone rings..." ad went over with independents.

There's just something about Hillary that grates, that seems supercilious.

It's 3 a.m. and the Phone Rings....

2008-03-04T23:42:18Z

Here is Salon's take on the Clinton ad.

On the other hand, my reaction would be, "Was it an iPhone?"

Who Is This Man And Does He Know Gail Lowe?

2008-03-04T22:41:58Z

Jason over at Mental Floss just posted a post in honor of National Grammar Day, which I think could only make the conservative faction of our SBOE happy. In fact, I'm pretty sure there are a number of SBOE members who would like to see every day be Grammar Day.

So, uh, a shout out to those guys!

Incentive Pay For the Masses

2008-03-04T21:41:37Z

I just got a note from Alexander about a shout out to my blog, and I have to say I panicked. I was trying to grab some lunch before I go down to the television station to start blogging about the election... and I haven't put content up in ... hours.

That doesn't mean that I don't have anything to say. On the contrary, it has been meetings practically every day, from Spellings on Friday to The Council on Monday. And we have SBEC on Friday, where it appears they're going to argue whether we need standards at all for teacher training.

Because, of course, teaching is not a skill; it's just a gift like, say, a Yalie in your classroom for two years as a generous public gift or Obama's oratory abilities as he exhorts us to get to the caucuses on Tuesday night. (What is the plural of caucuses? Cauci?)

But let me talk about the teacher incentive pay article in EdWeek. I don't want to miss that one because it is our study that is referenced in the story.
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Let me dash off a couple of quick poorly formed thoughts here, and I hope I don't sound completely ignorant to those of you who are more familiar with this area.

First, I think I initially was very resistant to this study. We've got a bunch of researchers out of Vanderbilt who are quoting a bunch of incentive-friendly research and then reviewing our program. It just didn't seem extremely balanced to me. I mean, it is called National Center for Performance Incentives, right? We do know their bias.

And, second, I couldn't quite figure out what this study said. I found the executive summary to be so vague that I was uncertain exactly where we were going with this.

And ... there is a third... I was at the NCSL Ed Finance Conference with Allan Odden only a week before this study was released, and I thought a lot of what he said made sense to me. And it is the kind of program, if I understood it correctly, that works in Denver.

The differences are between an incentive pay model and a compensation model. The Vanderbilt study dismisses the compensation model, which is based more heavily on experience, skills and training. The business community says experience-based models -- say, like the Texas teacher salary schedule -- do not reflect how businesses operate. But as one teacher group rep pointed out to me, "Uh, no. That's exactly how most of us are paid in the real world, based on experience."

So, I suppose this Utopian pay model is not intended to be what actually IS in the Real World (say, how I was reviewed and reward in my last TV job) but what we HOPE the world should be. And, I suppose, based on your particular circumstances and the kids in your class, you could have a great big Utopia or a rather paltry Utopia. Just depends.

The point is we never really had the full discussion of which model we should choose. Yes, the teacher groups said there needed to be sufficient pay before we considered incentive pay, (Shout out to TSTA.) but we never discussed it this way, as a choice. Which model makes sense? How can it be structured in a way that performs? What reinforces our values?

I had a long e-mail conversation with Odden and scraped myself off the ceiling. The bottom line is that there were choices that could have been offered on the front-end of this program that weren't. So should I be unhappy that Vanderbilt did this study... Vanderbilt, which has chosen to buy into the model that we are using? Or unhappy that we seem to charge into one choice over the other without fully weighing the benefits of each?

Those are general thoughts. These are specific conclusions that I think many of us who follow Texas policy would understand from the global side of this report:

This report measures TEEG. This program was hastily funded and poorly implemented. Schools had, maybe, three weeks to come up with a program. To think we're getting a thoughtful product would be a bit naive and undersells the possibilities for incentive pay.

Also, in the same vein, administration and rule-making on this program should have been key. In my mind, TEA should have "picked off" the highest-ranking person off the Denver program, offered him/her an obscene amount of money, brought him/her to Texas to run what is touted as the incentive program in the nation and let that person do the job.
Instead, we hired a novice think tank person with no contract experience. Bad idea.

Barbara Knaggs has said this recently, and so did Odden at the conference: Technical support is key the success of these programs. I remember highlighting, in my notes, Odden's comment that he couldn't conceive of a program without proper technical assistance. And I find it inconceivable, too. Schools, and even districts, don't know the pitfalls on this thing. It's only with expert assistance that things work... and our biggest districts are taking a year to two years to implement their full incentive programs.

The ability to create incentive pay ought to be a consideration during the overhaul of the state's accountability system. Since we seems so hot to do it. This is simply one of the arguments about making our state accountabilty system and NCLB what I call more three-dimensional (addressing systemic issues) than its current two dimensions (addressing student test scores as the be all and end all of accountability). And, of course, we need to start looking at the ways to encourage teachers to take on tougher classrooms through both incentive pay and support. (Shout out to Ed Trust.)

Getting any conclusions off preliminary data -- other than the most basic administrative feedback -- is ridiculous. Can you come to a conclusion that teachers stayed because of incentive pay? I think HISD is saying "yes," but I've yet to see that study. Maybe you can define that factors. Other factors? I think it takes a number of solid years.

Texas has two incentive programs. One, called TEEG, is often referred to as the Kress model, in honor of Sandy Kress. It is incentive pay programs created at the school level and, supposedly, based upon student data, although it was inconclusive that a teacher's performance could be measured by our particular type of test.

A second incentive program, called DATE, was rolled out this year. This program encourages a broader range of considerations for incentive pay. It also requires Central Office training and support. I think even teacher groups admit the need for administrator support is key to make incentive pay work, especially when that incentive pay is a year in the making.

Despite everything I just told you about TEEG and DATE, a lobbyist told the state's superintendents that it would be TEEG and not DATE that would be renewed. This had both the superintendents and teachers wondering what's up.

Ed Talk From Obama In Beaumont

2008-03-04T00:28:19Z

Finally, here are the most specifics -- and the most compelling speech -- I've seen from Obama on education. Education just never seemed to hit the radar in this campaign. In fact, the only mail I've gotten in my mailbox from Hillary has dealt with health care. In sentences, not paragraphs. What was I supposed to get out of that?

Look how Obama carries that audience. It's mesmerizing. What superintendent wouldn't love to get a reception like this from parents? You feel like you could follow this guy off a cliff. And, whoa, the man gets that Bill Cosby lick in there, too.

I know other blogs have pointed out Obama thinks NCLB narrows the curriculum... but you don't hear Obama saying he wants to repeal the Act. I'm not sure how pre-testing would work, but I do think the time for formative/diagnostic assessment has come... That is, if we can ever get the classroom technology revolution to sync with the accountability revolution.

Let's Play A Game.

2008-03-03T08:08:02Z

I have to say I am developing quite a girl crush on Edwonkette. Don't tell the State Board of Education members. We might have to edit some textbooks.

Look at this entry she just posted on private funding. How does she do it? How does she possibly know just how crazy the Gates money in Texas makes me? Does she know I sit around at 2 a.m., just listening to exhausting and pointless Council presentations (still not) online weeks later, and wonder why we're spending hundreds of thousands in Bill Gates' (private) money to produce these Comparison of Strategic Plans.doc and competing gap analyses solely for political reasons?

Could it be... be still my beating heart... that other states are having some of the same thoughts we do that it just might not be a good idea to let Gates run rampant in our public schools just because they wrote us a big fat check for a bunch of boutique programs that cripple schools by re-segregating kids.. and have no concrete plan in place for how to validate or replicate the success of these campuses? Could it be that some of us might be having a few questions about this beauteous bonanza?

And just when I'm completely amazed with Eduwonkette's insight, she pulls out a spreadsheet. That really is a girl after my own heart.

I.love.her. I'm not ashamed of it.

Actually, just for the record, I want to say to Dr. McLeroy that I am not in love with Eduwonkette. I was sitting here trying to think what ELAR literary device I used (Irony? I don't know. Alanis Morrissette got me all confused on that one.), but it escapes me.

Anyway, let's play a game. This diagram charts the rather tangled interconnections among the various think tanks in DC. I think you'll recognize some names here.

I think you know where I'm going with this. What about Texas? I bet, if you put on your thinking caps and send me some hints, I can make a chart like this, too! I'm looking forward to it, as I probably don't know half as much as I think I know until you tell me!

In the meantime, I promise a real cool ed policy story with a bunch of insider baseball tomorrow, along with a Photoshopped movie poster. How much cooler can it get?

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Texas TOY Ceremony

2008-03-02T21:49:35Z

Okay, it's a few months after the fact, and I didn't shoot this myself... I just searched for Texas education videos. And there it was, the Texas TOY Ceremony over at the Sheraton around Thanksgiving of last year.

I actually stopped by this luncheon on my way back from Johnston one Saturday. It was inspiring to see the kindness and enthusiasm and optimism of the teachers. I think this should be required attendance for the entire SBOE and every senior administrator at the agency. And, truth be told, all of us who get a little grouchy when the House Pub Ed hearing lasts more than 4 hours. This is one reason why we do it.

Cheerleading Scandal Immortalized

2008-03-02T15:17:01Z

It appears the McKinney cheerleading scandal will be immortalized in a cable movie.

Two things bummed me out:

First, it's been a whole FIFTEEN YEARS since the Wanda Holloway Channelview scandal. How old does that make me? How old does that make Holly Hunter, for Pete's sake? Has the daughter in question hit menopause yet?

(Although I must say Holly Hunter has aged a lot more gracefully than Priscilla Presley.)

And, second, I couldn't come up with a good spoof off the top of my head, like a movie about a smackdown during an Academic Decathlon Super Quiz or big claymation hand-to-hand combat scene over a yearbook theme or such. It just doesn't have the same ring to it. Bummer.

From Mr Rogers To Gray Rape

2008-03-02T13:56:44Z

Yes, it's just one of those days... From Mr.Rogers to Gray Rape and Teacher-Student Sex.

I'm looking at two particular Broadsheet pieces in Salon.

First is this clip:

I find the comments on this one more interesting than the predictable outraged feminist rant.

Yeah, it's a terrible thing that rape happens and it is rape, but women and men who avoid getting drunk at parties probably don't put themselves in the high-risk category for possible rape or accusations of rape. (And, yeah, it probably should apply to men as well as women.) As one letter writer wrote, it's the same reason most of us learn to park in well-lit garages. You aren't at fault when you get attacked, but you can minimize the risk. Duh.

But the comments on this piece get even more interesting, include some thoughts on how poor communication skills often create misunderstanding between the genders; how certain rape studies have colored our subsequent coverage of the issue; and the different interpretations between men and women looking at the same conclusions.

If you're interested, here's the original Los Angeles Times op-ed piece by Heather McDonald. (As for the crisis hotline situation, I found in college that most of the calls I took were either student depression or some guy with a fetish for feet. No lie.) I don't know if I agree with everything she says, but here is the latest DOJ report on acquaintance rape on college campuses.

Salon's Broadsheet also goes after a report on teacher-boy sex that aired on ABC News this week.That was the topic of criticism on Broadsheet, but here's the ABC News overview story.

(Side note: I have now watched, ripped, uploaded and posted a video. I have the competency of an 8-year-old girl.)

The reporter makes the point I would: Why are we worried about fingerprinting? If we really wanted to address the issue, wouldn't we combine such a massive effort with some type of psychological testing? Another "duh" from me. The possibility that a teacher is going to make a poor decision of such magnitude is not going to be revealed by a fingerprint registry, although I have given credit to TEA for noting that, at least, a registry guarantees a person's criminal record will travel with her from school district to school district... via a centralized DPS database.

Obviously, the difference equated between male and female teachers on this issue could certainly lead me down another rabbit trail. I know it's wrong to say it -- I don't excuse it -- but the younger the victim, the creepier it gets for me.