Latest News and Comment from Education

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Seattle Schools Community Forum: What Does the Superintendent of Public Instruction Do?

Seattle Schools Community Forum: What Does the Superintendent of Public Instruction Do?:


What Does the Superintendent of Public Instruction Do?

According to the OSPI web page, the superintendent of public instruction:
"is the primary agency charged with overseeing K-12 public education in Washington state. Led by State School Superintendent Randy Dorn, OSPI works with the state’s 295 school districts to administer basic education programs and implement education reform on behalf of more than one million public school students."
Yeah. But what does he do?

What tasks are required by the duty to oversee K-12 public education in Washington State?
What basic education programs does the OSPI administer?
What education reform does the OSPI implement?

Honestly, I've been through the list of stuff that the OSPI is supposed to do and I'd say that about half of it looks redundant and useless and the other half looks mechanical. It looks like a bureaucracy that runs itself for little purpose other than to run itself. I doubt that the Superintendent of Public Instruction, Randy Dorn, has much 

How to Control Student Behavior

The wave of stories about bullying since the beginning of the school year in this country shows no signs of stopping. 


One of the latest stories pulls back the curtain on a settlement between the district and the family of a boy who was paralyzed by a punch to the abdomen by a known bully.   (The hit to the abdomen was so severe it caused a blood clot in a major artery to his spine that left him paralyzed.)

The Ramsey Board of Education in New Jersey settled with the family for $4.2M.  The district says the settlement was "the decision" of the insurance company and that they did nothing wrong.

What?

No, the district was told how bad the evidence was against them, was counseled by the insurance company to