Washington State PTA Legislative Survey
Via Survey Monkey, the WSPTA is looking for input on these issues. Of course, considering they got rid of the legislative lobbyist post, we'll have to see if they are any more effective without a point person in Olympia. Survey closes on September 30, 2013.
Do You Need to be a Parent to be a Good Teacher?
That's a simplistic question - clearly - but part of the discussion of this column at Slate by Sara Mosle.You'll recall that I wrote a thread about an article in the NY Times about the movement of younger teachers in and out of of the classroom, particularly TFA teachers.So Ms. Mosle, a former TFAer (20 years ago), gives an interesting perspective (bold mine):The Times article, however, neglects a
YESTERDAY
Bill Watterson and Some Thoughts for Your Kids
Unfortunately, Blogger is not letting me size this new comic from Calvin and Hobbes creator, Bill Watterson. But check this link and show your kids. They may try to test our kids into some square peg but that doesn't mean they will succeed.
Advanced Learning - Why Bother?
I mean, seriously, why does this district bother? To explain, it was noted by several readers that the testing schedule for Advanced Learning programs is NOT in the school calendar. And, by law, they have to supply public notice (at least for APP). You'd think the calendar, going to every single family in the district, would be the ideal place. You'd think the first-day packets, going to every si
Mayor's Arts Awards
From the City of Seattle:Mayor McGinn will present free Mayor’s Arts Awards ceremony Friday, August 30 at 4 p.m.SEATTLE — The 2013 Mayor’s Arts Awards ceremony will take place this Friday, August 30 at 4 p.m. at the North Fountain Lawn of Seattle Center. The honorees include two individuals and four organizations, and represent categories ranging from promoting arts as a means of social change to
Friday Open Thread
Want to see something pretty unpleasant? Here's one charter school and their answer to how to encourage kids to get to college.From The Guardian: are American universities turning away from "classic" books?Last year, 309 colleges made such assignments. It's a great tradition, but something curious has happened since my days as a college student. Only eight schools assigned anything published bef
AUG 29
My Meeting with Michael Tolley and Shauna Heath
Back at the beginning of the summer, when I was being a real nudge, I was invited to a half-hour meeting with Michael Tolley and Shauna Heath scheduled for today. We had that meeting this morning and it consisted entirely of my questions and their answers. They were gracious and relatively candid. Half an hour isn't much time and I wanted to cover a few topics in great depth.The first thing I aske
Education News
Some interesting legal rulings have come across my desk.One is from Ed Week that 529 Plan Savings can be used to pay for college courses taken in high school. As long as students are getting college-level credit and are enrolled as students at a college, there is no age requirement about when families can start using savings from their 529 plans, according to Joseph Hurley, founder of Savingforco
Nickelsville to move near Washington Middle School?
Update: I have looked into this - still waiting for district response - but I learned from a Times reporter that the site will have 35 people living there, 24-hour security and a fence.End of update. The West Seattle Blog is reporting that the Nickelsville homeless camp will be moving to a site at 20th and Jackson which is near Washington Middle School at 21st and Jackson.I'll ask the district ab
Executive Committee Meeting Wrap-up
I attended the Executive Committee meeting last week.The minutes from the previous meeting on June 12th were somewhat telling. They reflect some discussion of the new Seattle Teacher Residency program. Michael Tolley noted that it had been assigned to the Audit and Finance Committee and not the Curriculum and Instruction Committee. That's interesting because I would think training teachers woul
Marni Campbell Leaving Seattle Schools
Marni Campbell, Executive Director for the NW, is leaving to become the Executive Director of Instruction and Innovation in Highline School District for Susan Enfield. (Oddly, the notice of her hiring just calls her "Executive Director of Schools" which sounds like a far larger post than for just a region. Probably an oversight.) I don't see this as a big loss for SPS as it seemed that she was
AUG 28
SEA Rally at Eckstein Middle School
From the SEA rally outside of Eckstein Middle School this afternoon. It was about 60 teachers and kids. Spoke with SEA head, Jonathan Knapp, who had no new information but said their issues were a "package deal" and "doable." He also said the teachers could strike but they also could just go to work on September 4th under their old contract and continue negotiations. I spoke with a couple of tea
District Drops One of Contract Sticking Points
Publicola talked with Clover Codd and is reporting that the district has backed off on the issue of eliminating the weekly paid hour of collaborative planning for teachers. Codd told PubliCola this morning: "We actually withdrew that proposal. The hour of collaboration time pay. We’re leaving that in the contract. And they still get the 2.6 percent compensation for that."Re: teacher pay, She adde
Washington State Charter Applications
The Washington State Charter Commission has released the application form/information for applying to be a charter school. I am mostly happy because there are items in there that I believe are of great importance and I applaud the Commission for listening and including them in. My hope was that no school community or district gets caught by surprise by any charter coming into their district (or
Odds and Ends
Good wrap-up of the current teacher contract negotiations by Josh Feit over at Publicola. I got a little more clarity on the issue of elementary school teachers and the added unpaid half-hour of work.Calling one sticking point "a longer day for less pay," Knapp said teachers objected to a district proposal to contractually increase the length of the school day for elementary school teachers from
Charter Schools and Positive Discipline
Here is a story, from the New York Daily News, about the discipline practices at a group of charter schools in New York that are operated by Success Academy. The Success Academy schools have extraordinarily high suspension rates and extraordinarily high test scores.This would appear to provide evidence that suspensions improve education rather than worsen it. That's contrary to the story told by L
AUG 27
Seattle Schools: Not Open for Business September 4th?
The district sent out this e-mail to families:The Seattle Education Association (SEA), which represents teachers, rejected the district’s latest contract proposal. They plan to meet again on September 3 to vote on whatever the proposal is at that time. With the start of school on September 4, we are encouraging families to develop back=up plans should Seattle Public Schools not open on time. We re
Ed Murray and Seattle Public Education
I had a good interview with Senator Ed Murray recently who will be in the General Election against current mayor, Mike McGinn. We sat down in his campaign offices to talk.I asked him about what he believes the role of the Mayor is vis a vis Seattle public education.He said that he believes it has changed from what it was traditionally as something of a cheerleader position to a more visible one.
Again, President Obama, Can We PLEASE have a New Education Secretary?
From Huffington Post, news that Secretary Duncan wants this to be the last year for alternative tests for special ed students. He wants them ALL to take the general assessments. This, of course, is all around the NCLB legislation (which is practically on life-support anyway). A subsequent 2003 regulation allowed states to use "alternate achievement standards" for up to 1 percent of students with
Pinehurst: Up in the Air
From the Superintendent to Pinehurst families:Seattle Public Schools is considering the possibility of closing Pinehurst K-8 School after the 2013-14 school year. No decision has been made at this time. The schedule of events shown below has been created in order to determine whether the school is to be closed. The Superintendent will make a final recommendation to the School Board, which will mak
Tuesday Open Thread
Contract talks march on. Diane Ravitch endorses Sue Peters for School Board.Addicted to your computer (or is your child)? Here's an article from the NY Times with a couple of book suggestions.Speaking of algebra, I came across this website recently - The Algebra Project. What's on your mind?