Public schools
Pretending
for dollars

Failing elementary-level teaching strategies are now being injected into Nevada high schools

By Steven Miller
Business Nevada

In the late 1990s, Nevada lawmakers passed what they hailed as major initiatives in education accountability.

It was a new day for state public schools, they said.

Today, as some of those initiatives approach the 10-year mark, ample evidence suggests that, in many respects, actual progress by Nevada students is becoming even less likely.

Boneheaded, rule-obsessed implementation is behind much of the problem. For example, teachers now get dinged if the exact language of the state bureaucracy’s official academic standard is not displayed in the classroom.

Similarly, teachers get assessed negatively if all the books in their classroom are on the shelves in normal fashion, spines showing. State regulations defining a “literacy rich environment” say that at least one of the books must be positioned with its cover facing outward, and expensive flying teams of clipboard-bearing bureaucrats regularly sweep through schools to enforce such rules. The actual spirit and love of learning? For Nevada’s so-called Regional Professional Development Programs (RDPD), there’s no such checkbox.

[continued]

Innovation
Study: Charter schools
doing a better job

Dept of Education Reform
University of Arkansas

The first national study of charter schools comparing apples to apples—that is, test scores at charter schools and regular public schools serving similar student populations— finds charter schools out-performing in both math and reading instruction.

Charter schools are public schools that are exempt from many of the procedural regulations that apply to regular public schools. But assessing the academic performance of charter schools has been difficult, because many charter schools are targeted toward specific populations such as at-risk students, disabled students, and juvenile delinquents.

[more on the study]

Addiction
Nevada may sue tobacco firms if payments are cut

By Valerie Miller
LV Business Press

The State of Nevada is ready to take legal action against a number of big tobacco companies if they hold out on annual settlement payments due in a week and a half, according to the state Attorney General's office.

[continued]

Vegas growth
Luxury condo projects falling by wayside

Waning buyer interest has some developers quickly cashing out

By Tony Illia
LV Business Press

Unlike the Kevin Costner film, "Field of Dreams," if you build a luxury high-rise condominium, the buyers don't necessarily come. Demand for posh vertical living has softened somewhat during the past six months. It has resulted in several valley-wide project cancellations, including such recent casualties as the Hard Rock's $1.4 billion, 1,420-unit Flats, Bungalows, and Residences at Harmon Avenue and Paradise Road, and The Curve's 389 units at Durango Road and the Beltway.

[continued]

Productivity
Bill Gates:
How I work

Not much of a paper chase for Microsoft's chairman, who uses a range of digital tools to do business

By Bill Gates
Chairman & chief software architect, Microsoft
Fortune Magazine

It's pretty incredible to look back 30 years to when Microsoft was starting and realize how work has been transformed. We're finally getting close to what I call the digital workstyle.

If you look at this office, there isn't much paper in it. On my desk I have three screens, synchronized to form a single desktop. I can drag items from one screen to the next. Once you have that large display area, you'll never go back, because it has a direct impact on productivity.

[continued]

Immigration
Arrival of aliens
ousts U.S. workers

By Jerry Seper
The Washington Timesr

An Alabama employment agency that sent 70 laborers and construction workers to job sites in that state in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina says the men were sent home after just two weeks on the job by employers who told them "the Mexicans had arrived" and were willing to work for less.

[continued]

Taxes
Survey: Adults want major tax reform

By Scott A. Hodge and Andrew Chamberlain
Tax Foundation

Support for federal tax reform rose to a new high among adults in 2006. A majority even say they are willing to give up some tax deductions to make the tax system simpler.

Only about one in ten adults are willing to pay additional taxes to eliminate the deficit and balance the budget. A majority report the amount of federal income taxes they have to pay are “too high,” and rate the value they receive from the taxes they pay to the federal government as only fair or poor.

[More on the survey]

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