2012 NBA Playoffs Opening Round: Grizzlies-Clippers Q&A
The No. 4 Memphis Grizzlies and No. 5 Los Angeles Clippers are set to begin what has now become a five-game series. Whichever team is the first to win three more games, earns the right to advance to the second round. The victor will meet the winner of the Spurs-Jazz match-up.
In Game 1, the Clippers fell behind by as many as 27 points, but managed to mount a historic comeback victory. In the second contest of the series, Chris Paul came ready to score, but the Clippers’ collective effort was lacking, to say the least. The Grizzlies grabbed 16 offensive rebounds (four times as many offensive rebounds as the Clippers were able to record), while their road opponents committed 20 turnovers. Read more >>
2012 NBA Playoffs Opening Round: Spurs-Jazz Q&A
The top-seeded San Antonio Spurs cruised to two easy victories over the Utah Jazz this week.
Tim Duncan is now 36 years old, and Manu Ginobili is still not 100 percent, but the Spurs’ impressive depth has caused problems for the Jazz. Point guard Tony Parker has also played spectacular basketball.
To recap the first two games and look forward to the rest of the series, Clint Peterson and Michael De Leon have joined us for a discussion. Peterson writes for a number of websites, including Hardwood Paroxysm and The Utah Jazz Blog, while De Leon is the founder of Project Spurs. Read more >>
LAUSD’s Academic Growth Over Time
When one searches “Aloria Magee” on Google, the second result is an LA Times page showing Magee’s “Los Angeles Teacher Ratings.”
The page says nothing about Magee’s teaching style, nor her intense passion for the profession. But two large graphs appear, showing Magee’s “Math effectiveness” and “English effectiveness.”
Magee’s Math and English scores are both listed as below average, but a funny thing happens when the reader clicks on “See how this teacher would change under different statistical formulas.” Suddenly, Magee’s English score jumps to well above average when Model 1 is employed (one of four models shown on the graph).
Virtually no one except the LA Times wanted these scores released, including the superintendent, teachers, the teacher’s union and countless other stakeholders in education. Not only would it be a potential embarrassment to teachers and the district, but there was no guarantee that the scores would be reliable.
The Los Angeles Unified School District is now using a different, but similar type of model. AGT is a type of value-added model that aims to measure a teachers’ effectiveness, while controlling for various factors, such as socio-economic factors and starting student ability, factors that could otherwise compromise the results.
Although the initiative is still in its pilot phase, slightly more than half of the district’s teachers currently receive their scores every year, according to LAUSD’s Director of Performance Management, Noah Bookman.
The district is working with the University of Wisconsin, to develop their measures for AGT. The school received a $2 million grant to help the district craft a formula for teacher effectiveness.
“Academic Growth Over Time is a measure of how a teacher or a school contributes to student outcomes,” explained Bookman. “Different how from how we usually measure student outcomes, which is we measure how kids do against a specific standard like the percent of students who are proficient, Academic Growth Over Time allows us to compare teachers or schools to another in terms of how they do in taking students from Point A to Point B.” Read more >>
2012 NBA Playoffs Opening Round: Lakers-Nuggets Q&A
The Lakers seem to be playing at ease despite the absence of World Peace (pun intended). Reserve small forwards Matt Barnes and Devin Ebanks have filled in nicely for the suspended MWP, and of course, the Lakers are dominating inside thanks to their twin towers, Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol. Game 2, however, was considerably closer than Game 1. Does Denver have any fight left?
Rey Moralde and Bryan Douglass were kind enough to fit us into their busy schedules. Moralde covers all-things-Lakers at The No Look Pass, while Douglass serves as the content manager at the social networking website Wayin.
Aaron Fischman: It’s no surprise that Andrew Bynum has been dominant inside through the first two games. As the Nuggets return home, what, if anything, can they do to mitigate his inside dominance? Read more >>
2012 NBA Playoffs Opening Round: Thunder-Mavericks Q&A
The Oklahoma City Thunder lead the defending champion Dallas Mavericks two games to none, but the series is much closer than that count may indicate. OKC’s two wins have come by a combined four points, and who will win the series is far from certain.
NenaMarie G and Jessica Lantz were gracious enough to join us to discuss this riveting series. NenaMarie G covers the Mavericks on her website, while Lantz has been “Thundering-up” all season long at Free Lantz Sports.
Aaron Fischman: Although the Thunder lead the series 2-0, each game has gone down to the final possession. What will it take for the Mavericks to finally get over the hump as they return home? Read more >>