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The Musical Elective of the Month is Crowded House . Those of you who know me well, you know that Crowded House is my all-time favorite band, going on almost 25 years dating back to my high school years. So you're probably asking, "What took you so long to feature them as a Musical Elective?" Well, patience isn't one of my virtues, but I do try to demonstrate it every once in a while. That said, I have featured founding member/lead singer/ songwriter Neil Finn as a solo Musical Elective as well as his son, Liam Finn , and Neil's 7 Worlds Collide collaboration with members of Wilco, Radiohead, Johnny Marr, KT Tunstall and other musical luminaries. So patience is overstated.... The Crowdies, as the band is affectionately known in Australia, just completed a tour of North America and are on their way to South Africa and Down Under. (Yours truly saw them in concert in Milwaukee on September 7.) Their new album, Intriguer , was released in July 2010. PopMatters off

The latest edition of the Education Buzz , hosted by the blog Bellringers (like us, another Washington Post best for 2010 ), is now available. Bellringers is the brainchild of Carol Richtsmeier, a high school teacher and former Dallas Morning News reporter. The next edition is posted on October 13th -- submissions due on October 9. So if you're an education blogger who wants to share your posts with a wider audience, consider submitting to the Education Buzz.

Today the Joyce Foundation is releasing “Teacher Quality: What You Need to Know,” a first-of-its-kind guidebook that shows parents why we need to improve how we recruit, support, evaluate, and reward teachers in order to ensure all students get a great education. The short, easy-to-read guidebook tells the story of two teachers – one who gets the right support to help her kids succeed and the other who tries hard but doesn’t get the help she needs – and includes a pull-out “how to” guide with more information on policies, research, and a “Top 12” list of things parents can do to help. The guidebook is geared toward parents but can be used with many audiences. Visit www.joycefdn.org/teacherquality to download the report, access other resources, and learn more about how you can advocate for change.

A recent report raises a fundamental education policy question that requires more than simply refuting the report's premise. The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) -- a self-proclaimed "free market, limited government" non-profit, which is really just a spout of Republican policy ideas -- recently released its 16th annual Report Card on American Education . First of all, the LAST thing education needs is another report card. But I have to give it to my friends at SmartALECk which has been nothing less than persistent (in the true conservative spirit), having apparently kept this up for 16 years. Second, I note that ALEC's Board of Directors is populated almost entirely by Republican office holders. Third, I note that the report's foreward was written by former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, a Republican. It is no mystery for whom ALEC is shilling. That said, the ALEC Report Card grades states based on two criteria: (1) Education Performance Rank and (2) Edu

This week's foodie feature highlights some choice restaurants from recent travels: Brasserie V - one of the most consistently excellent and unpretentious restaurants in town - Madison, Wisconsin Forbes Mill Steakhouse - power dinner spot if Manresa breaks the bank - Los Gatos, California New Heights - new chef is taking old restaurant to new heights - Washington, DC Phoenix - best dim sum in Chicago? - Chicago, Illinois Publican - taking the gastropub concept to an exalted level - Chicago, Illinois Past Foodie Finds.

The VIVA Project is a new initiative that gives teachers an opportunity to collaborate, share ideas, and inform education policy and reform conversations at the state and national levels. VIVA stands for Voices, Ideas, Vision, Action. The Goal of the VIVA Project is to identify ideas and opinions straight from the classroom, work together to create actionable policies to improve public education for classroom teachers and their students, and deliver them directly to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. Teachers are encouraged to share their ideas in both the national and New York idea mines. Register today! And check out its Facebook page , too. You have until October 10, 2010 to add your voice to the conversation. Other notables initiatives in a similar vein include Teach PLUS , the Teacher Leaders Network and the Hope Street Group's Policy 2.0 . The VIVA Project is a worthy addition to an education reform marketplace that too often ignores and discounts the thoughts and

"Not even this much of one." You'd think that after the recent infamnia the LA TIMES perpetrated against teachers , Arne Duncan, the US Secretary of Education with no background or credentials as an educator, would have had the good sense to either repudiate this clueless act or at least keep his mouth shut about it. Instead, he outdoes himself with the following: U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan last week urged school districts across the country to disclose more data on student achievement and teacher effectiveness, saying too much information that would help teachers and parents is being kept out of public view. The education secretary told an audience in Little Rock, Ark., that schools too often aren't disclosing data on student achievement that could not only help parents measure teachers' effectiveness, but also help teachers get better feedback. Mr. Duncan said his remarks were prompted by a Los Angeles Times series analyzing teacher performance thro

In an effort to spice up this blog a bit, we'll tap into the Optimists' foodie inclinations by periodically featuring some choice restaurants and food-related businesses. This week we feature some frozen favorites: Capogiro Gelato - world-class gelato in the cradle of liberty - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Chocolate Shoppe - satisfies our craving in & around Mad-town - Madison, Wisconsin Michael's Frozen Custard - a twist on ice cream, with eggs + cream & sugar -- Madison, Wisconsin Sebastian Joe's - ice cream can't taste much better than this - Minneapolis, Minnesota Toscanini's - NY Times calls it "the best ice cream in the world" - Cambridge, Massachusetts What and where are some of your favorite?

The Los Angeles Times editorial page gets it mostly right today on the value-added issue ( "Good teachers, good students," September 3, 2010). It says a number of smart things that I agree with, such as: "Test scores are indeed just one indicator of a teacher's performance." "But it's revealing, and disturbing, to read the comments of some teachers who don't seem to care whether their students' scores slide. They argue that they're focused on more important things than the tests measure. That's unpersuasive." "This page has never believed that test scores should count for all of a teacher's evaluation — or even be the most important factor. But they should be a part of it." "Right now, the "value-added" scores The Times has been reporting are more useful for evaluating schools than teachers. Many factors can throw off the data at the classroom level." "That's why we think the Obama

In an effort to spice up this blog a bit, we'll tap into the Optimists' foodie inclinations by periodically featuring some choice restaurants and food-related businesses. This week we feature some favorite West Coast destinations: Xanh Bistro - stellar Vietnamese in Orange County - Fountain Valley, California Swan Oyster Depot - serving oysters for 97 years - San Francisco, California Vij's - some say the best Indian cuisine in North America - Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Clyde Common - part of a bustling foodie scene in PDX - Portland, Oregon Soif Wine Bar - my favorite place to eat in the land of Banana Slugs - Santa Cruz, California Past Foodie Finds .