In a lot of states, it's as a single parent - even if you are a lesbian and had the child together using an anonymous donor. You can set up directive in case you die, but they are not guaranteed to be followed. The second parent has to have all kind of documentation just to make medical decisions or pick the child up from school. In my state (Ohio), you can adopt jointly, but not if the kid is already biologically one of yours (step-parent adoption). It's messed up. Because the state bans adoption by a non-married couples and also bans gay marriage, it's highly unfair. Single parents are lower down on the adoption ladder also. It could be worse, but gays really can't adopt children like straight people can in many states.

The problem with standardized testing as a benchmark, is multi-fold. Firstly, how do you establish a baseline, if like you said, they would be scored based on aptitude. If you use previous scores, then your rating against how the school did previously. If you use an IQ test, it doesn't matter because that doesn't take into account the students environment. Secondly, you can't make a test standardized across the US. We are too diverse. What is relevant in nowheresville kansas is not the same as NYC. Some kids have never seen snow and there are questions on their standardized test about snow. Thirdly, teaching to the test is not teaching the curriculum. The best way to do well on an unknown test, is to know generally what questions they are going to ask and to try and get those answers. You learn how they ask the questions and model that. This is not authentic assessment or engaged learning. It's just bad.

I have this plan. It's a great value because you get roaming as well as free nights and weekends, unlike the prepaid plans. You can also sign up for free wifi calling, so you can't get unlimited minutes if you have decent internet where you make the bulk of your calls. It works quite well. Better than the Virgin Mobile plan I was on.

I have no fear of flying. I wouldn't even if they completely took out any sort of security theater. It's like taking the bus. I just think if you're wasting millions of dollars, the fake-out should be better. It should APPEAR that they are doing something. Like many of the other government agencies. I have given up all hope they will actually disband it and make things easier for us all. I just want them to apear to be working and to stop harassing people.

I just keep naively hoping that at some point they will try to at least make it seem like they are actually trying. Is that really too much to ask? Yes. Well darn...

Go back to the old scanners. Try again in a few years with better tech if you actually create some. Actually test the tech out next time, preferably with open field testing. Geeks can break most anything and it's best to see how they can BEFORE you implement the "important terrorist stopping scanner".

Actually that isn't a good idea. It seems good on paper until you realize one concept:

Poor Kids: Go to a private school their voucher 100% covers. That's all their parents can afford.

Middle Class Kid: Go to a private school their voucher 75% covers. They want their children to get a good education, so they chip in a bit extra.

Rich Kid: Go to a private school their voucher

It's a way to legally segregate schools by socio-economic status. Not cool.

It's not. I can't vouch for Linux, but it works well on both Mac and PC. There are even phone apps available on Android, IOS and Blackberry.

This is actually my field. Basically, it all comes down to teacher training. There are many very valuable ways to use iPads or netbooks in a classroom. Interactive instruction IS more effective than the traditional lecture model. Teachers just need to learn how to design interactive instruction. An iPad should never be used as a note-taking device in an elementary school classroom. It can be used to access the internet for webquests and interactive project making. There are a lot of great apps that teach a large number of spelling or math skills. There are more for younger children that deal in shapes and colors. These can be used at home and are fun, that is one of the areas where an iPad shines. A lot of the time homework is just a way to grade how good of parents a child has. If a great piece of interactive instruction has been designed, then students won't need help on it. I am trained to design such things (there really is a lot to it), but teachers only get one course in how to use technology and older teachers likely had none. It takes a lot of time and teachers don't have have the time or knowledge to do it themselves. They will get the funding to get iPads, but no money to buy useful apps. There would be great learning taking place with these devices, if the infrastructure was in place. It isn't. You have to have the hardware, the software, the training AND the time to make it work. It is rare to see of of those things come together.

The Finch Robot was developed by CMU to teach programming using robots for a reasonable price. You can use Java, Python, C++, Visual Basic, Processing, and Scala. They have student oriented IDEs that you can download or you can use whatever one you'd like and are familiar with. The robot has a number of sensors including light, temperature, and obstacle sensors. It has accelerometers, motors, a buzzer, a color beak LED and a pen mount for drawing capability. It comes in at $99, so just under budget. It has a large software focus as I don't think you can really take it apart. You can do quite a lot with it in any case. I'd recommend it as it's really designed to teach programming in a fun way and it's a great deal if you aren't in the market for the fancier (and very expensive) robotics kits. http://www.finchrobot.com/