Tis the season: most read posts

This seems to be the season in which these sorts of blog posts go up, so, for those who might be interested in a bit of a glimpse behind the curtain, I offer the following from my Google Analytics information

• The top "post," far and away, representing half of the traffic this blog got last year, is the front page. There clearly are many of you out there who simply have the page bookmarked (or on autofill) and come by from time to time to see what's new. I try to be faithful to these sorts of readers; you've no doubt noticed that my posting in some ways mirrors the school calendar, in that it slows down in the summer, picks up during the school year, with a bit of a slowdown over school breaks, but I try not to leave you staring at the same top post for too many days without something new appearing. Thanks for coming by!
• The most read post on its own merits was the post simply congratulating Jeff Mulqueen on his new position as superintendent of the Pentucket Regional School District. Not surprising, as it represented a change in leadership for two districts (and many of those readers were coming in from the North Shore).
• Next most read was the post linking to the video of the Boston School Committee meeting in which the retiring principal of Marshall Elementary, Teresa Harvey-Jackson, called out the committee and the administration for their lack of support for the school, which the administration has now made a charter school. 
• Third up in the blog list was the Mass Budget and Policy Center presentation last January at the State House on the inadequacy of the foundation formula.
• Fourth for the year (but still getting hits; this is a hot topic) a round-up of links on our incoming Secretary of Education in Massachusetts, Matt Malone. 
• Fifth, notes from last March's Mass Association of School Committees Day on the Hill. In part due to this making the MASC rounds from those who couldn't make it.
• Remember pink slime?  
• We had two kids missing on Vernon Hill last January as well. Thanks to some sharp-eyed neighbors, they were found before it got too late. And please: kids need to know that they can go to grown-ups for help if they're lost.
• Eighth, I posted my notes from the testimony before the Joint Committee on Education last April on the Stand for Children ballot initiative that wasn't, H3883. Unfortunately, of course, much that was horrid about this bill is with us now as our state-mandated teacher evaluation system.
• Superintendent Carol Johnson in Boston had a rough year, but, as this post points out, the one thing that matters on the BPS administration is Mayor Menino's opinion of it. 
• And rounding out the top ten? A post linking to the article on what we in the U.S. keep ignoring about Finland's success. 

A few more notes for those interested:

• Any time school finance in Worcester is being talked about, those posts get plenty of hits.
• Any time we have complications of any kind in the Worcester Public Schools--water being shut off, school being closed due to snow, schools losing heat--people are interested and come here for information. 
• And the School Committee meeting liveblogs are popular on Thursday nights and Friday mornings.

Coming up this year? 

I can promise fewer interruptions in meeting liveblogs, as Mr. O'Connell took over as vice-chair as of yesterday! I'll continue to get our public updates from admin up as soon as I can post them. Clearly, we'll need to keep a close eye on sequestration, FY14 budgeting on all levels, city funding of WPS, the NCLB waivers, implementation of the Common Core standards, the reworking of the WPS curriculum, PARCC testing...and so forth!

Thanks for reading. And happy new year!