Month: September 2010

Will More Testing Produce Better Schools?

Will More Testing Produce Better Schools?

By David GreenwaldSeptember 4, 201015 comments
schoolscat.pngA number of recent studies show that testing students is not a good way to evaluate the performance of their teachers.  According to an article in the New York Times earlier this week, an increasing number of school districts are adopting a system known as “value-added” modeling in order to compare one teacher to another and increase teacher accountability.

The article says that the system will calculate “the value teachers add to their students’ achievement, based on changes in test scores from year to year, and how the students perform compared with others in their grade.”

Two Years Later, Topete Case As Confounding As Ever

Two Years Later, Topete Case As Confounding As Ever

By David GreenwaldSeptember 2, 20106 comments
Yolo-Count-Court-Room-150Over two years ago, Marco Topete allegedly shot and killed Yolo County Sheriff’s Deputy Anthony Diaz.  The evidence in support of that is strong and compelling.  Yet from day one, the case has been fumbled all over the field.

On June 18, 2008, Mr. Topete was to be arraigned on charges that included the first-degree murder of a Yolo County Sheriff’s Deputy.  The media and public, including Mr. Topete’s family, were locked out of that hearing.  Deputy Diaz had himself been a bailiff in these courts, and evidence suggests that on the arraignment day other courtrooms recessed early, allowing their bailiff-deputies to go and fill up spaces at the arraignment.

Council Meets Tuesday, but Does Not Make Decision on Interim City Manager

Council Meets Tuesday, but Does Not Make Decision on Interim City Manager

By David GreenwaldSeptember 1, 201014 comments

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The City Council of Davis met behind closed doors on Tuesday night but made no decision to be reported.  The meeting was posted as “public employee appointment,” “interim city manager/ city manager.”  The council seems to feels no rush to make the appointment.  The city manager last week made a surprise announcement that he was taking a job with Solano County.

His final day working for the city will be September 24th and he starts work for Solano County on September 27.  He has pomised to help with the transition.  The council has a couple of weeks more to determine who they should appoint as interim city manager.

A Brief Look At Seven Months of Monitoring Yolo County Courts

A Brief Look At Seven Months of Monitoring Yolo County Courts

By David GreenwaldSeptember 1, 201035 comments

Yolo-Count-Court-Room-600

On January 20, we launched the Yolo Judicial Watch project as a focused effort to monitor and track cases that go through the Yolo County Judicial system.  The idea was to report to the public on what happens in an area of our government that they often have limited access to.  We do not have TV in our local courtrooms.  We do not have regular news coverage either.

Often, all the public has to go on is the first-hand coverage of a few high-profile cases and the press releases from the DA’s office that are biased and often run verbatim in the local newspapers and local media.