The recent overhaul of the server has solved the problems we were having and the site is running well with only a few minor casualties, Microsoft "smart"-quotes in a few places. Other than Microsoft eccentricities, the site is responding quickly and accurately.

Because of the continuing problems with the server’s operating system, there will be a scheduled downtime on Friday and Saturday, 18 and 19 July 2008. During this time, a massive overhaul will be undertaken, which will leave the server with more disk space and a new operating system. This site will be unavailable during that time. More details to follow.

My apologies for our outage last night, which was rather more my fault than the machine's. Rest assured, there was a backup present at all times, but it was not needed and we are running normally now.

A study by the Thomas B Fordham Institute reveals that while the bottom 10% of students are gaining ground in achievement, the top 10% are making minimal gains. The study also shows that this trend is not new to NCLB, but has followed from previous school accountability schemes as well.

Teachers are being forced to spend a majority of their attention on lower-achieving students, against the desire of 86% to provide equal attention to students.

Video discussion and publications of the report are available from the Institute's website (see link above).

I'd like to take a moment to introduce you to the new site.

The admin staff is currently comprised of:
Site Admins: Rikaelus, Quaeritata and Iconoclast
Admins: bentobox, Spastica, spiritj and wound-dresser (temporarily helping out)

Moderator elections will be held soon, so please think about the people you think have the judgment and responsibility to moderate fairly.

This site is capable of handling not only forums, but news, resource pages, downloads, weblinks and much more. Not all of this is active right now, but it will become available as we have more content to fill it.