This post is from from my other blog here

To be clear (probably need to do this once a year), this blog isn't simply about criticism, destructionism, "nay-saying" or general negativism. This blog is an attempt to get some additional public discourse into the Web 2.0 sphere, regarding the topic of Loudoun Schools and Education (both public and private). It's an open request to all parents, teachers, administrators and any other interested party to check in and discuss, politely and frankly, what's on their mind. It's about seeking answers, seeking collaboration on sensitive issues, offering anonymity to those concerned about it.

It's also very much about answers, solutions, and new ideas, from a grassroots, parent and consumer level. Yes, consumer, because we pay a heck of a lot of money for educational services, public and private, and at least deserve accountability for our dollar. Being a blog, however, means that what's on "our" mind is usually the source of most topics. (When we say "our", that also refers to the fact that this is a collective blog, multiple authors and contributors.) Our topics deal mainly with things we directly experience, hear, see or are involved in from an educational perspective (and we're extremely involved, on a daily basis, in many ways that are for the most part known only to our children, family, friends, teachers, business partners, customers and blog readers).

We'd love to participate in other viewpoints and address topics others have, - but there just isn't anything out there on the blogosphere (outside of John Stevens), LCPS websites don't appear to allow online commenting for others to see, like blogs (where's Government 2.0 in Loudoun County?), LoudounExtra's education contributions and Jay Mathews reprints are too infrequent (though letters to him are usually quite introspective and well thought-out), emails to supervisors and school board members aren't shared with the public (I suppose they could be FOIA'd), emails around the community mom and dad email lists are too cumbersome and aren't really very "democratic", and broader Internet discussion forums are either not well known enough or simply not "local" enough.

What would be productive and useful, would be if those who do post either positive or negative comments, or send emails full of constructive or destructive criticism (that's why this blog is moderated), or who have strongly opinionated thoughts and ideas, would also get these out into the Web 2.0 fray of blog, wiki, and BBS-enabled discourse. Have your own say, start a blog, do your own thing - we just need more people online discussing this, and this blog could and should be only one of hundreds on the topic - especially a topic that costs nearly a Four Billion dollars to Fairfax and Loudoun County taxpayers, many hundreds of millions more to those electing private educational services, and many billions more in consumer goods and services focused on educating ourselves and our children.

We guarantee good, inbound "link-love" to anyone who starts another great blog or BB on these topics!

This post is from from my other blog here

Modern Loudoun Moms Magazine has published its second major edition, plus a relaunch of its website.

More details here....

This post is from from my other blog here

Do you have a Mom-oriented website or blog? Trying to make some extra money through Google's adsense, affiliate marketing or link campaigns? Here's something we can help each other with - a "Vertical Advertising Network".

This kind of network is a bunch of websites and/or blogs that are related by something in common - a common theme, common material, groups, authors or locations. Large advertisers don't typically have the enthusiasm for negotiating advertising rates individually with many small sites, and therefore tend to miss a large "niche" segment of consumers who very well may be interested in their products. When these niche sites all band together and offer their collective website traffic to an advertiser, everyone benefits, the advertiser is able to make a single "buy", and individual website owners get better ads (therefore more likely to be clicked on, and earning some residuals).

We've started a vertical network like this, leveraging a service called "Adroll". We've started an "advertising community" called "Work at Home Moms" leveraging this service - find out more about it, join up for free, and put your website traffic to better use! Just click on the Adroll box over on the right side of our blog page - the one that says "We're Related".

This post is from from my other blog here

Here's an example of shortcuts taken to achieve "reported" school progress against county-wide goals, while disenfranchising and disrespecting (though perhaps unintentionally) those who really wanted to help, and would have truly been able to help...

LCPS elementary school "SIP"s (School Improvement Plans), which are produced by all schools across the county, record the progress and activities of the school with respect to meeting LCPS goals - goals such as "demonstrating grade-level reading proficiency by the end of first grade" and "demonstrating readiness for continuing education". The goals are useful (though quite uninspiring, in relation to Fairfax's goals - but that's a topic for a different day) measures against which activities can be planned and outcomes measured.

To help achieve the goals, "Steering Committee Teams" are assembled each year "to include representation from the diverse community" representing a particular school in this example..."we value and appreciate the time, energy and talent of each of our steering committee members", reads the school's report. The members, names published in the report, include teachers and typically about 1 to 3 student parents per committee team.

Sounds like a recipe for success and community collaboration - teachers, parents and the school administration working together.

Except a key ingredient was missing, namely the parents, and we saw this coming a mile away.

For this particular school (name withheld to protect the embarrassed), out of the total number of parents (received feedback from 11 of 11) prominently thanked in the report for contributing to the committee team's success and therefore the success of the school in achieving its objectives:

0 - knew their names would be published
0 - knew the report would be published
0 - knew what the school's "vision" was, or where it was published to read
2 - participated in a single meeting, out of all the committee meetings
0 - were invited to a meeting, or sent any materials, with more than 24 hours notice
2 - had any input received or leveraged by the committee, as far as they can tell

When asked of the parents "why didn't you actually participate in the meetings?", the answers were basically:

- "I was never invited to a meeting"
- "I was given less than 24 hours notice to attend a meeting that began at 7am in the morning"
- When I asked about the status of the committee and the meetings, I was told “Don’t worry, we’ve already taken care of it”
- "Every meeting that was scheduled was cancelled and never rescheduled".

All - were a bit disturbed that their names are associated with collaborative activities that actually never happened, and would've really appreciated a sincere and professional effort by the school Principal to actually have them participate.

Was this collaboration more effective at your school?

Collaboration needs to go both ways - yes, parents need to show up at school board meetings, and, when parents actually do volunteer and show up to provide strategic help at their schools, their talents and time should be respectfully leveraged.

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We received an email today from the backers of a new website "Teach Math Right - Stop "Investigating" in PWCS". (Dulles South Online covers western Prince William county, as well as western Fairfax County and Loudoun County).

Simply reading through the site will provide all the information you need to understand the situation and call to action (including a Prince William Citizen's Petition). And this following on the heels of similar activity in Loudoun (which seems to have fizzled).

This "investigations" nonsense is equally damaging to the Loudoun students...how many times has your 1st, 2nd or 3rd-grader come home with simple addition homework, where the instructions add "use a calculator if necessary"? You can see the strategy in action in one of our local elementary school "School Improvement Plans" - the Math Action Strategies are pretty uninspiring - for example "identifying math vocabulary students need to learn at each grade level" and "using manipulatives to explain concepts". (Evidently a calculator a "manipulative".)

How about learning multiplication tables and long division?

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Some good ideas are rolling over at Too Conservative regarding school budget help...here's another, start using advertising to raise additional revenue. This idea's got traction in government context at the city level already with mass transit, and many towns across the country are beginning to do it...i.e. soliciting advertisers for school property venues (like gymnasiums), school buses, textbooks and internet properties. Thousands of parents and the general public interact, intentionally or not, with school system property every day - providing, therefore, many opportunities for hungry advertisters seeking more vertical markets. Heck, just include Adsense banners across the LCPS site (these can be managed closely); might raise a few thousand here and there (from parents!). Furthermore, advertiser intake could be moderated to specifically support Loudoun businesses, helping ensure local economic benefit for not only the schools, but also for local businesses.

So long as a rigorous policy is created for accepting and moderating advertising, with public comment (for example no advertising associated with junk food), there's little reason why the school system needs to hold out and deny itself revenue that's symbiotic with the larger economic context.

This, by the way, is an example of the underlying tenets governing the practice of "Information Technology Investment Management", where every investment in an enterprise's IT systems, people and processes is scrutinized to (1) understand whether it can be reused or leveraged elsewhere in the organization, and (2) to understand if other enterprise investments may already be able to provide the outcomes needed. Across the Loudoun County government, this kind of "cross-domain" investment management, i.e. an advertising program in the school system supporting the interests (for example) of the Department of Economic Development, is a real opportunity waiting to be exploited.

This post is from from my other blog here

Web 2.0 Safety is a very difficult concept to absorb, especially with respect to the very difficult to understand and read events surrounding Megan Meier's suicide after her Myspace crowd and supposed "friend" got out of hand.

This post is from from my other blog here

This morning's WAPO article about Megan Meier's suicide after a "web of deceit" developed around a cruel Myspace prank is very tough to read. The story ruefully ushers in the next phase of Internet Safety risks that parents and their children must be aware of and prepared for, Web 2.0 Safety.

While Megan's parents seemed to have done most of the right things, like monitoring her online activity, proctoring her Myspace account, doing their best to manage her school and friends environment - an intruder slipped through and wreaked first virtual, then mental and physical havoc. Being safe while using the Internet, i.e. Internet Safety, meant making sure strangers couldn't and wouldn't take advantage of, harm or otherwise intrude on one's physical and personal life. This was about protecting the identity of you and your children from strangers seeking to harm you, on or offline.

Now the danger is in the rapid growth of collective intent to harm, accelerated by easy Web 2.0 multimedia postings, generated from among one's own and extend online social media group. Basically, your child's in danger from the collective and perhaps unintentional explosion of social anger and resentment, generated from within their own peer group. This isn't unlike "ganging-up" happening on the playground, but it's much more quick to develop, much more intense in the faceless vitriole, and can extend quickly to other networks of "trusted individuals" leading to a very widespread and influential "online gang".

How do you stop it? Practiced Internet Safety techniques are just one tool; much more important now are (1) direct Parental involvement in knowing and understanding exactly whom you child is corresponding with, by name, and (2) rapid reaction from an Internet-saavy parent in the physical world, i.e. as soon as signs of online "gang-up" activity develop, moving into full disaster management and protection mode.

Megan's parent's only clear mistake was not shutting off access to her new online friend "Jason", whom they (or Megan) had never actually physically met.

Know each of your child's friends by name and sight, and those are the only ones with whom correspondence should be enabled online - if social media participation is allowed at all for middle schoolers.