States Ranked: Smartest to Dumbest

[McNamara, Laura A]

Along the lines of 'doing' something about this - has anyone attempted
to develop a model of any of NM school systems? Or any school system,
for that matter (I already know the answer to the NM version of this
question, I think).  I just finished reading the Agar et al piece on the
Redfish website about the ABM they developed to explore illicit drug
diffusion as a consumer product problem, rather than an epidemiological
problem - nice work, guys.  It's a great piece and I'll be citing you in
a paper I'm writing about ethnography and M&S.  

Anyway, perhaps an ethnographically-based model of some aspect of
organizational culture in NM schools might be similarly revealing.  This
certainly qualifies as a wicked problem, in more ways than one.  

If I were contributing to understanding the problem, maybe I'd feel less
cynical about the future of our otherwise wonderful state.

Laura



-----Original Message-----
From: [hidden email] [mailto:[hidden email]] On
Behalf Of Raymond Parks
Sent: Tuesday, October 11, 2005 12:47 PM
To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] States Ranked: Smartest to Dumbest

McNamara, Laura A wrote:
> Well, when California recruited Amy in 1999, she'd had enough and she
> left - for a $50K starting salary and a signing bonus.  When the
> students and parents at SFHS found out that Amy was leaving, they
> started writing letters to the school begging them to keep her. The
> school's response?  They offered her 17K to start.  Amy considered it
> - until she found out that her district had just created a $70K/year
> position for a director of diversity in the SF public schools.

   This is one of the perceived, if not real, problems with NM
education.  Our per capita spending is lower than average, but it
doesn't seem low enough to be the cause of the infrastructure types of
problems Laura mentions.  However, we seem to have a propensity for
highly-paid administrative positions while the teachers and facilities
suffer.  There are frequent scandals in which some administrator
embezzles money from a school district.  Overall, the management of
education in NM seems lacking.  One would expect that voters would
replace school boards that support this type of thing, yet they don't.

   The problem isn't only with K-12 schools.  At one time since I've
been living here, the President of the UNM Board of Regents was a lawyer
whose firm had gone bankrupt.  Not, in my mind, a good qualification for
that responsible a post.

   BTW, one of the ways in which NM leads the nation has not been
mentioned - per capita government employees.  We have more government
(Fed, state, local) employees per capita than any other state (that may
have changed but I'm sure that we're still right near the top).  IMHO,
government employment in NM is a disguised form of welfare.  Oh, we're
also right up there in taxes paid per capita, presumably to pay for all
the government employees.

   I've lived here since 1987 and I wouldn't live anywhere else, but I
realize the warts.  My feeling is that New Mexico government has
inherited from both the Patron system and the Texas good-ole-boy network
and combines the worst of both.

   Another interesting aspect that became evident soon after I moved
here was government-by-lawsuit.  Back in the late '80s, early '90s, the
Supremes decided that states can't tax federal pensions.  Every other
state that was a party to that court case or affected by it agreed to
refund any taxes charged on fed pensions and changed their law.  New
Mexico did stop taxing federal pensions, but the Revenooer's directed
everyone who wanted refunds to join a class action lawsuit run by a
lawyer in Las Vegas.  It might have been coincidence that said lawyer
had family connections to various state officials and legislators and
had a languishing practice.

--
Ray Parks                   rcparks at sandia.gov
IDART Project Lead          Voice:505-844-4024
IORTA Department            Fax:[phone]
http://www.sandia.gov/idart Pager:800-690-5288


============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9:30a-11:30 at ad hoc locations Lecture schedule,
archives, unsubscribe, etc.:
http://www.friam.org

[Douglas Roberts-2]

My wife teaches special ed at Los Alamos High school. If you want to start
looking at ways to fix what's broken about the US (not just the New Mexico)
school system, you should corner a teacher some time and ask them about the
"No Child Left Behind" program, and how it has effected the educational
system.

The educational system in the entire United States is badly broken, and
until that is addressed, any attempts to improve the New Mexico part of the
process will be like putting a bandaid on a severed arm.

Sure, NM ranks low in education but, the US educational system is a
checklist-oriented, process-bound bean-counting bureaucratic nightmare. You
won't be able to fix what is wrong in New Mexico until you fix the source of
the problem. It reminds me of LANL, in many ways. The solution there, of
course, is to fire who is in charge and to give somebody who can do a better
job the position.

--Doug

On 10/11/05, McNamara, Laura A <lamcnam at sandia.gov> wrote:

>
> Along the lines of 'doing' something about this - has anyone attempted
> to develop a model of any of NM school systems? Or any school system,
> for that matter (I already know the answer to the NM version of this
> question, I think). I just finished reading the Agar et al piece on the
> Redfish website about the ABM they developed to explore illicit drug
> diffusion as a consumer product problem, rather than an epidemiological
> problem - nice work, guys. It's a great piece and I'll be citing you in
> a paper I'm writing about ethnography and M&S.
>
> Anyway, perhaps an ethnographically-based model of some aspect of
> organizational culture in NM schools might be similarly revealing. This
> certainly qualifies as a wicked problem, in more ways than one.
>
> If I were contributing to understanding the problem, maybe I'd feel less
> cynical about the future of our otherwise wonderful state.
>
> Laura
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Friam-bounces at redfish.com [mailto:Friam-bounces at redfish.com] On
> Behalf Of Raymond Parks
> Sent: Tuesday, October 11, 2005 12:47 PM
> To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] States Ranked: Smartest to Dumbest
>
> McNamara, Laura A wrote:
> > Well, when California recruited Amy in 1999, she'd had enough and she
> > left - for a $50K starting salary and a signing bonus. When the
> > students and parents at SFHS found out that Amy was leaving, they
> > started writing letters to the school begging them to keep her. The
> > school's response? They offered her 17K to start. Amy considered it
> > - until she found out that her district had just created a $70K/year
> > position for a director of diversity in the SF public schools.
>
> This is one of the perceived, if not real, problems with NM
> education. Our per capita spending is lower than average, but it
> doesn't seem low enough to be the cause of the infrastructure types of
> problems Laura mentions. However, we seem to have a propensity for
> highly-paid administrative positions while the teachers and facilities
> suffer. There are frequent scandals in which some administrator
> embezzles money from a school district. Overall, the management of
> education in NM seems lacking. One would expect that voters would
> replace school boards that support this type of thing, yet they don't.
>
> The problem isn't only with K-12 schools. At one time since I've
> been living here, the President of the UNM Board of Regents was a lawyer
> whose firm had gone bankrupt. Not, in my mind, a good qualification for
> that responsible a post.
>
> BTW, one of the ways in which NM leads the nation has not been
> mentioned - per capita government employees. We have more government
> (Fed, state, local) employees per capita than any other state (that may
> have changed but I'm sure that we're still right near the top). IMHO,
> government employment in NM is a disguised form of welfare. Oh, we're
> also right up there in taxes paid per capita, presumably to pay for all
> the government employees.
>
> I've lived here since 1987 and I wouldn't live anywhere else, but I
> realize the warts. My feeling is that New Mexico government has
> inherited from both the Patron system and the Texas good-ole-boy network
> and combines the worst of both.
>
> Another interesting aspect that became evident soon after I moved
> here was government-by-lawsuit. Back in the late '80s, early '90s, the
> Supremes decided that states can't tax federal pensions. Every other
> state that was a party to that court case or affected by it agreed to
> refund any taxes charged on fed pensions and changed their law. New
> Mexico did stop taxing federal pensions, but the Revenooer's directed
> everyone who wanted refunds to join a class action lawsuit run by a
> lawyer in Las Vegas. It might have been coincidence that said lawyer
> had family connections to various state officials and legislators and
> had a languishing practice.
>
> --
> Ray Parks rcparks at sandia.gov
> IDART Project Lead Voice:505-844-4024
> IORTA Department Fax:[phone]
> http://www.sandia.gov/idart Pager:800-690-5288
>
>
> ============================================================
> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
> Meets Fridays 9:30a-11:30 at ad hoc locations Lecture schedule,
> archives, unsubscribe, etc.:
> http://www.friam.org
>
>
>
> ============================================================
> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
> Meets Fridays 9:30a-11:30 at ad hoc locations
> Lecture schedule, archives, unsubscribe, etc.:
> http://www.friam.org
>

--
===============================================================
"Never pick a fight with someone who buys his ink by the
barrel."

- Mark Twain
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[Carl Tollander]

My friend who teaches in the California system (Jr. High Science) refers
to it as "No Teacher Left Standing".

I recall the some of the science teachers in the school decided to hold
a bake sale to get enough money for
a microscope, and they did that, but then their administrators for the
district said the money had to go into
the general fund, as the social studies teachers felt left out.  I think
one of the reforms might be a recognition
by teachers inside schools that some subjects are more
resource-intensive and have different associated pedagogy.

Douglas Roberts wrote:

> My wife teaches special ed at Los Alamos High school.  If you want to
> start looking at ways to fix what's broken about the US (not just the
> New Mexico) school system, you should corner a teacher some time and
> ask them about the "No Child Left Behind" program, and how it has
> effected the educational system.
>
> The educational system in the entire United States is badly broken,
> and until that is addressed, any attempts to improve the New Mexico
> part of the process will be like putting a bandaid on a severed arm.
>
> Sure, NM ranks low in education but, the US educational system is a
> checklist-oriented, process-bound bean-counting bureaucratic
> nightmare. You won't be able to fix what is wrong in New Mexico until
> you fix the source of the problem.  It reminds me of LANL, in many
> ways. The solution there, of course, is to fire who is in charge and
> to give somebody who can do a better job the position.
>
> --Doug
>