Prehistoric Americans Traded Chocolate for Turquoise?

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/03/110329-chocolate-turquoise-trade-prehistoric-peoples-archaeology/?source=link_fb20110329chocolatetrading

Talk about a sweet deal—prehistoric peoples of Mesoamerica may have traded chocolate for gems from the U.S. Southwest, a new study suggests.
Traces of a chemical found in cacao—the main ingredient in chocolate—were found in several drinking vessels from various sites in Pueblo Bonito, a complex of sandstone "great houses" in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico.

When standardized test scores soared in D.C., were the gains real?

http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2011-03-28-1Aschooltesting28_CV_N.htm?csp=hf

A USA TODAY investigation into D.C. public schools raises questions about gains in standardized test scores.

South Sound Indian tribes go from humble beginnings to economic powers

http://www.theolympian.com/2011/03/27/1594195/native-comeback-major-employer.html

World Water Day

http://www.worldwaterday.org/

http://storyofstuff.org/bottledwater/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=kbVPnqJ73xQ

http://www.snagfilms.com/films/watch/aquafinito/?utm_source=snagfilms.com&utm_medium=referral

http://www.irc.nl/

http://www.endwaterpoverty.org/

Mother hopes others will opt out of standardized testing

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/03/20/pennsylvania.school.testing/index.html?hpt=T2

A Pennsylvania mother has decided she does not want her two children to take the two-week-long standardized tests given by her state as part of the federal No Child Left Behind law. And she hopes other parents will do the same.

U.S. Urged to Raise Teachers’ Status

An international education study says the United States must improve the way it recruits, trains and pays teachers.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/16/education/16teachers.html?hpw

http://www.mcgraw-hillresearchfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/pisa-intl-competitiveness.pdf

Why Pre-K Education is Worth the Cost

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/early-education-pre-k-worth-funding-reasons-anne-obrien?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=post&utm_content=blog&utm_campaign=Why+Pre-keducationisworththecost

This is definitely worth reading.

What the United States could learn from Finland about education reform.

http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/82329/education-reform-Finland-US?page=0,0

"In comparison to the United States and many other industrialized nations, the Finns have implemented a radically different model of educational reform—based on a balanced curriculum and professionalization, not testing. Not only do Finnish educational authorities provide students with far more recess than their U.S. counterparts—75 minutes a day in Finnish elementary schools versus an average of 27 minutes in the U.S.—but they also mandate lots of arts and crafts, more learning by doing, rigorous standards for teacher certification, higher teacher pay, and attractive working conditions. This is a far cry from the U.S. concentration on testing in reading and math since the enactment of No Child Left Behind in 2002, which has led school districts across the country, according to a survey by the Center on Education Policy, to significantly narrow their curricula."

This is truly psychotic. Leave it to New York.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/07/education/07winerip.html?pagewanted=1&hpw

Grading New York Teachers: When the Formulas Lie

A teacher in Manhattan earns effusive praise from her principal, colleagues and students. But the school system’s formula pan her performance?

Common Curriculum for Public Schools Is Supported by Bipartisan Group

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/07/education/07curriculum.html?hpw

The proposal would go beyond the academic standards in English and mathematics that about 40 states adopted last year, by providing specific guidelines about what should be taught in each grade.