The December sky is remarkable this year, with the Geminid meteors on the 13th and the lunar eclipse on the 21st. Venus can be seen as the “morning star” in the eastern sky in the hours before sunrise, and is especially bright the first week of December. The Summer Triangle, which we saw straight overhead…
With the lengthening nights, we have the opportunity to find constellations day and night this month. Just before sunrise, in the southwest sky, the constellation Orion, The Hunter, can be seen. It is easy to spot, as it has the three stars in a slightly diagonal line close together making Orion’s belt in the middle.…
Valued-Added Measures (VAMs) are the newest craze in economists’ and politicians’ attempts to create a “scientific” way to measure teacher effectiveness. VAM takes a student’s achievement level upon entering a teacher’s class–as measured by standardized tests–and compares it to the student’s achievement level after a year with that teacher. The difference purports to be that…
