Latest News and Comment from Education

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

UPDATE: Seattle Schools Community Forum: More MAP Boycott Support

Seattle Schools Community Forum: More MAP Boycott Support:


More MAP Boycott Support

Via Diane Ravitch's blog:

Australian teachers chime in.
- I haven't seen the letter but Ingraham teachers have apparently notified the Superintendent of their support for the boycott.
High school students in Oregon are organizing their own opt-out.

“We need more community based schools and better relationships between students, teachers, parents, and administrators. Schools should not be being evaluated based on student’s standardized test scores, but rather a 360 portfolio evaluation which includes feedback from people who are directly involved with the school. A test score cannot give someone the same insight to a school as a discussion with students, teachers, and parents can.” says Lincoln Senior Alexia Garcia. “The ideal solution would be to eliminate high stakes standardized testing and replace it with a more comprehensive evaluation system developed 


Program Placement annual report due

That's right. I'm not going to let this go.

The annual program placement report is due in January, which means that the superintendent has to deliver it either today or tomorrow or its late.

The report is required by Board Policy 2200, Equitable Access to Programs & Services. The policy reads:

The relevant factors considered and the basis for each change shall be documented in writing and kept on file. On a quarterly basis the Superintendent or designee shall provide an update to the School Board on decisions made during the previous quarter and a preview of upcoming decisions, if known. These quarterly updates should be provided to the School Board in April, July and October.


The fourth quarterly update shall be an annual report that provides detail about all the decisions 

Assessment Task Force Members Sought

From the district:

Seattle Public Schools Superintendent José Banda is seeking parents and community members who are interested in serving on the Task Force on Assessments and Measuring Progress.

The task force will be composed of between 20 and 25 members that include central office staff, school leaders, teachers, parents and community representatives.

The task force will be charged with reviewing District assessment programs and making recommendations for next year and beyond. It will carefully review the MAP assessment, and also hear from subject matter experts on key topics, such as future Common Core standards aligned assessments, and the new statewide evaluation system for teachers. The task force is scheduled to meet 4-6 p.m., Thursdays on the following dates:

• Feb. 7
• Feb.  21
• March 7
• March 21
• April 4
• April 11
• April 25
• May 2

If you are the parent of a child in Seattle Public Schools or a community member interested in participating on the Superintendent’s task force, please submit a brief letter (1-2 pages) that explains your interest in participating.

Please verify in the letter your availability to attend all task force meetings and provide any relevant information about your background or experience that would make you a strong candidate. If a parent, please also indicate the grade level(s) of and school(s) attended by your children.

For additional information, please see the announcement. All letters of interest must be submitted by noon, Monday, Feb. 4. 

Please submit your letter to the following email address: emanderson@seattleschools.org with the subject line: ASSESSMENT TASK FORCE


Agenda and Documents for Interim Plan Vote Thursday

Agenda.

The agenda includes Public Testimony.  I made the list but so did three people speaking about Stevens.  The directors had discussed how to make this as wide-ranging a group as possible but I'm thinking really did nothing to make that so.

I find the updates confusing.  What I think I am reading is that staff wants no changes but mitigation efforts (some of which, as I predicted, they would likely be doing no matter what the vote).

They do have a caveat that if the staff recs are changed, an update will come by the end of the day today (Wednesday the 30th).

Fiscal Analysis.  I find this a bit hard to read but they present Director Carr's amendment - to create JA Middle School next school year - in two forms.  One is co-location until 2016 or co-locate one year and then JA K-8