Balta1701

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Apr 29, 2011 -> 05:42 PM) Bow before my dominance of The Democrat Thread with pointless internet arguments! (it's been slow at work) Check the thread post count b****.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Apr 29, 2011 -> 04:15 PM) Well, that depends on the grade level, but I'd say it's anywhere from 25 for elementary to 80-100 for middle school and HS. I'd figure a couple move every year, sometimes kids get sick, then you throw out a full year because of disruptions due to extreme weather events like has happened in Tennessee this year, etc.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 29, 2011 -> 04:15 PM) Trends can be measured in miniuta. It is done 24/7 in trading. With an enormous amount of data compared to what you're trying to compile with here.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 29, 2011 -> 04:08 PM) That is pretty steep for a first offense. This is not a first suspension for ozzie guillen.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 29, 2011 -> 04:06 PM) You don't need 10 years to find out that kind of stuff. Trends emerge right away. You can tell very quickly if the initial returns are worse than peers, when all of the variables are put into consideration. The math isn't that complex at all. These kind of algorithms are located on every single trading firms website with way more variables included. Hell the climate change math is a million times more complex than what I am talking about, yet we have to take that as gospel. Anyways, that brings me back to my preferred option, which is in house administrators making these decisions, and then everyone b****es about how teachers can get fired for "nothing". Its either that or keeping it as impossible as possible to fire teachers, which is what the whole point of fighting progress in evaluations is about anyway. As I just demonstrated, no they don't. The other thing that your trading firms and climate sensors have is data. A good teacher in a good school system gives you 20 data points a year. Then you move them around the next year and you get some splitting up of students, and so you wind up with 5-10 students from 1 class moving into other classes. Or, you have a program like the one I was in, where the same group of students stayed togehter for 4 years or so. You just don't get enough students to do the calculation you want to do here and have the results be meaningful.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Apr 29, 2011 -> 04:02 PM) Who gets to man the magic 8 ball while he's out? Cora, almost certainly

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 29, 2011 -> 02:35 PM) So we should have a three man rotation? You know, if Jake ever comes back, Phil keeps pitching like this, and Edwin keeps pitching like this...I think you do kinda lean to taking Jackson out of the rotation and trying him in the pen. That's a whole lot of If's, but we're already doing the "Where would he play" with Peavy anyway.

Oh come on man, first of all, no one is waiting 10 years to build up that kind of data set for every teacher. Teachers wouldn't stay in the position if they were going to get fired for not having been good enough 10 years ago. Secondly, that math problem is very ill posed. You've got 20 data points per year, each one jumbled up, with the additional factor of students taking classes from 5-10 different teachers once they get to middle school. Throw in additional factors like geographic trends, that math is very difficult to discern anything from.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 29, 2011 -> 02:48 PM) Talbot seems more like a journeyman type, at least from our exposure to him in an Indians' uni. Why? He's seemed to me like a steal out of a pitching-stacked organization that didn't rank him highly enough.

Try number 2 with actual data. Regardless of the type of school, income level, race of the student, etc., there is a general trend. Performance on standardized test scores for the average student are essentially flat through 8th grade, at which point, for every class of student, there is a very large dropoff. Now, it's worth noting that there are differences between groups, obviously, but the trend is overall the same. Having a great teacher in 1st grade, 3rd grade, 5th grade, whatever, doesn't produce marginal increases in average performance across a district. The districts performance stays roughly constant until 8th grade until scores go over a cliff. In other words, if you had the best teachers in the wordl in 5th, 6th, and 7th grade, the effect might be to avoid going over the cliff in 8th grade, rather than seeing any improvement in 5th-7th grade. Here is that data for Milwaukee (MPS = Milwaukee Public Schools). This was available this week because the governor of Wisconsin decided he didn't want to publish this data any more since the data didn't show that charter schools were a priori better than public schools.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 29, 2011 -> 03:43 PM) How they improve while they are in your classroom is absolutely fair. You clearly missed the point of that argument.

QUOTE (dasox24 @ Apr 29, 2011 -> 01:12 PM) I might see if I can get some tickets for one of the games in Atlanta since it's only a 3 hour drive. You know, that's not the worst idea I've ever heard.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 29, 2011 -> 02:03 PM) Improvement rates would be the biggest way. In general, I think that is a terrible idea to use a standardized test to judge how good of a teacher someone is. I support evaluations being done by in-building administration, just like any other job would be done. Improvement rates is tough also...because studies have shown that the education process really isn't consistent on that either. Fairly often, the results from going through a couple of highly rated teachers won't show up in students for 2-3 years (especially in the middle grades, where most kids have roughly equal success until everyone plummets off a cliff around 8th grade).

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Apr 29, 2011 -> 12:54 PM) I've repeatedly posted links to amicus briefs, quotes from the various States in support of the Concepcions, and a guide from a pro-consumer group explaining mandatory arbitration and what it means. I've been met with "nuh uh" and "well Scalia phrased it this way, so It Must Be So." I know the feeling. But saying "Do the googling!" isn't an adequate response.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Apr 29, 2011 -> 12:46 PM) Just google for "mandatory arbitration" or "forced arbitration" and keep trying to say you can file suit and avoid arbitration with these sorts of agreements. Sir, seriously, do the Googling yourself and find the support if you're the one making an argument.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 29, 2011 -> 11:03 AM) If you give me the five bucks, I will get rid of it for you! I'll do it for $4.50.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Apr 29, 2011 -> 12:44 PM) So you'd agree that minimum wage isn't menial pay? Depends on what your standard is. Can you support a family on it? God no, only way you can pull that off is if the government picks up your health insurance costs and other stuff. If you're comparing it to the complete wreck of a job market that Wall Street left the country with after 2008, well, yeah.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Apr 29, 2011 -> 10:43 AM) This weeks South Park, WTF was that? Excellent relief from being surrounded by tornadoes, that's what.

Someone get D1 a d1mn win.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Apr 29, 2011 -> 11:21 AM) That doesn't really follow. I'm going to open a McDonalds out in the middle of the field where the full day is spent doing manual labor and after 3 weeks you have to pick up and move 50 miles. The issue isn't that Americans won't do the jobs. Its that Americans won't do those jobs for menial pay.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Apr 29, 2011 -> 12:25 PM) Why? The Ravens did the exact same thing and didn't give any good faith picks to Minnesota. I think the Ravens owe the city of Cleveland a few picks too. You know, out of good faith.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 29, 2011 -> 10:26 AM) I was going to mention this if no one else did. That deal torpedo'd their season. Really though, they might, might have gotten to round 2 if they hadn't made that deal, but they weren't getting any farther.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Apr 29, 2011 -> 09:23 AM) It's still only April, if they keep it up for another month or two, I might change my mind. I know they could collapse at any moment...but we've seen Talbot, Masterson, and Carmona all show flashes in the past. That's the talent to be a consistent top 3.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Apr 29, 2011 -> 09:12 AM) I'm not the foremost expert, but from what I understand the Bulls matchup extremely well with Atlanta and have blown them out a few times this year. Even though we matchup better with Orlando since their big trade for Arenas and co., we get the team we wanted here in Atlanta. Atlanta is younger and quicker than Orlando, but they don't have the size that Orlando has. The Pacers got under the Bulls skin by beating up the Bulls. Beating up a team is not Atlanta's game. The closest they have to a guy who can do that is Captain Kirk, and now he's at best hobbled. The Bulls strength is taking a team like Atlanta and using their defense to force Atlanta into poor percentage outside shots. Sometimes they'll make those shots but rarely. This is where Thibs's D really should get to shine.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Apr 29, 2011 -> 09:14 AM) I like their bullpen, but their rotation is no better than 3rd or 4th best in the division. Right now, their starters have the #5 ERA in the AL, while every other team in the Central is at the bottom of the league.