Laugh of the Week Courtesy of DFER
You remember DFER, right? Democrats for Education Reform, a small outlier of Dems who love ed reform. Well, they valiantly trudge on, trying to seem relevant.I'm on their Twitter feed and I noticed an op-ed at their website authored by a young "progressive" Dem, a student at Harvard named Colin Diersing. He was decrying the education view of the winner of the Democrat race for mayor
Thoughts on Homework?
From The Atlantic magazine, one father's account of doing - not for his children but to understand their workload - his daughters' homework for a week. Crazy amount of work.It turns out that there is no correlation between homework and achievement. According to a 2005 study by the Penn State professors Gerald K. LeTendre and David P. Baker, some of the countries that score higher than the U.S. on
Free Day of Music Tomorrow at Benaroya Hall
From the Seattle Symphony:The Seattle Symphony and Music Director Ludovic Morlot invite the public to experience the thrill of live music at Benaroya Hall with a FREE Day of Music on Sunday, September 22, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. More than 35 musical acts representing a wide array of styles — from rock and hip hop to jazz, classical and folk — will appear on multiple stages throughout Benaroya Hall,
One Day Volunteer Opportunity to Help a Kid Get into College
From my friends at 826 Seattle:COLLEGE ENTRANCE ESSAY MARATHONSDo you remember writing your college application essays? The fear? The frustration? The complete distrust of your parents' unsolicited opinions? We here at 826 Seattle are committed to assuaging all of these rather unpleasant feelings by way of our Fourth Annual College Entrance Essay Marathon! We've expanded our offerings this year to
Ravitch versus Rhee; a Solid Comparison of Books and Views
From the New York Review of Books comes a comparison review of Diane Ravitch's new book, Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America's Public Schools and Michelle Rhee's book, Radical: Fighting to Put Students First. (Ravitch's book just came out and is now #1 in sales at Amazon. Ravitch will be speaking this week, Thursday the 26th, at UW's Kane Hall from 7
Program Placement - yes, again
This is going to be yet another rant of mine about program placement. I know that I go on about this, but it continues to be a sore point for me. I imagine that some folks must be really tired of reading about this topic, so I will put everything after the jump.One of the primary directives for program placement is to place the programs close to where the students live. That's written into the pol
YESTERDAY
For (Hopefully) the Last Time - No Name Calling
I feel like a teacher with some 5th graders.What part of "no name-calling allowed at this blog" is not understood?That means no name-calling of:- administrators- teachers- staff- students- schoolsIf you had a bad experience with a teacher or school, you are welcome to tell us about it but you cannot label a person or place with an unsavory name.You can certainly say - as I have - that I
OSPI Interested in Thoughts on Late Starts for High Schools
OSPI is apparently interested in your thoughts on a later start for high schools. I don't believe they have the authority to order this to happen but that they are interested in finding out the depth of interest is a good sign.Weigh in at their Facebook page.
Seattle Schools on Saturday
UPDATE: SPS let me know that this workshop has been cancelled due to lack of participants.From SPS:Seattle Public Schools has teamed with the Washington Association of School Business Officials (WASBO) to bring to you a workshop specifically crafted for booster club members, parent group members, athletic and activity directors, principals and school administrators. The PTSAs and booster clubs th
Seattle Schools News and Updates
From SPS Communications:Symetra and the Seattle Seahawks honored Nathan Hale High School teacher Doug Edelstein as a “Symetra Hero in the Classroom” on Sept. 18, during a classroom presentation. Edelstein is a Social Studies instructor for Grades 10–11. “Doug Edelstein is a remarkable individual and educator, who is celebrating his 20th year as a teacher. He has given his heart and soul to student
SEP 19
Friday Open Thread
Well hello there. Back from hiatus and a big thank you (and good job) to Charlie who kept this thing going quite nicely. I did read from afar a couple of times but true to my word to myself, I did not comment or post. (And by the way, a BIG thank you to all our readers. Our numbers continue to soar and it's quite amazing. I like to think that parents are offering this site up as a place for inf
What is the deal with Spectrum?
Thirteen years ago, when I first became an activist in Seattle Public Schools, there were problems with Spectrum. There were three problems:Qualified students could not gain access to the program because the classes were full.There was lively discussion about the student identification process including issues of under-representation of minority students and students from low-income homes.There we
SEP 18
District Email on Growth Boundaries
Subject: Growth Boundaries: Please provide feedbackDear Seattle Public Schools families:At a School Board work session today, draft attendance area boundaries revisions (Growth Boundaries) for elementary and middle schools will be presented to School Board directors.Student enrollment has increased from 46,000 in 2009-10 to about 51,000 this year, and we project nearly 60,000 students by 2020. We
Growth Boundaries Plan
First, the headlines:The big winner is K-5 at Boren, soon to be K-8 STEM at Boren.The big loser is Pinehurst K-8, soon to be closed and clearly treated with bad faith.APP breaks even, getting everything expected, most of it where expected, some of it in difficult spaces but with an extraordinary accommodation that should prove very beneficial in the long term.There isn't likely to be much fighting
SEP 17
Applications for Advanced Learning due October 3
Eligibility testing begins in October for accelerated learning programsSeattle Public Schools provides opportunities for academically advanced students in grades K-8 to qualify for accelerated learning programs. Additional information and application forms for eligibility testing can be found here. Applications are also be available in school offices and in the lobby of the John Stanford Center,
Want More Horace Mann news?
Here's a link to a blog with more information on the activity around Horace Mann, including Twitter feeds you can follow and a Facebook page you can like.
SEP 16
PowerSchool roll out
The District migrated to a new enterprise software, PowerSchool. When this was pitched to the Board, they were pretty much told that they had no choice. The company that made the software they were using was bought by Pearson and Pearson stopped support of that program. They offered to help districts making the migration to Pearson's software, PowerSchool, but districts would be on their own if th
This Week in Seattle Public Schools
Tuesday, September 17Board Work Session on Growth Boundaries, 4:30-6:30pmNOTE: This will be the first look at the likely plan. Any changes from this plan will only come with great difficultly. No agenda available yet.Standardized Testing in Our Public Schools: A Discussion,Town Hall, 7:30pmWednesday, September 18Regular Legislative Board Meeting, 4:15 - 8:00pmAgendaThursday, September 19Board Oper