Ed Reform - Who Are These People? Part One
A reader asked a simple question - who are the ed reformers? That's a more complicated question than it seems. But let's break it down by who's who nationally, at the state level and in our city. Let me just say that there are education bloggers out there who have done the lion's share of work to compile this information so credit goes to them. The real top gun is, of course, the Gates Foundation
Seattle Times and OSPI Sign Deal for SPS Student Data
I learned of this yesterday but was waiting. KUOW has done a good job showing the issues around student data privacy.To note: - To be clear, SPS did NOT know this was happening and was not asked. - No data has been released as of today.- OSPI said the data it planned to give the Times is not available through a public records request. From the KUOW story:KUOW obtained a copy of the two-year agree
Seattle School Board Operations Committee - Could Be Interesting
The agenda for the Board's Operations Committee meeting was finally posted yesterday and now, updated today. I'm hoping to see the new Board members there as this is the last committee meeting for the year and a good way to get up-to-speed. What will they be talking about?a contract modification for a company called Brainbox Consulting.* 2014-2015 Transportation Service Standards. This could be
he Times and Their Charter School Push
The Times continues its march towards becoming less of a newspaper and more of an mouthpiece for ed reform.Folks, I have personally heard from a number of Times' editors/writers who continue to claim that there is a solid wall between editorial and reporting. That may be true in some areas but that is not true for education reporting especially on ed reform. What do they do?- they lean the report
What Mayor Bloomberg Had To Say
I had posted a link to a 5-part series at the New York Times that followed a young girl and her homeless family living in NYC. It is devastating reading.Mayor Bloomberg weighed in. Now, he has the biggest city in the country to run and I absolutely don't expect everything to work well particularly for the poor if only because that's not the way of the world. But a certain level of sanitation an
12-18-13 Seattle Schools Community Forum
Seattle Schools Community Forum: Washington State and Transparency in Public Records/MeetingsFrom Representative Gerry Pollet:I will be prime sponsor in House of AG Bob Ferguson's open government agenda bill (HB 2121).We've spent the past year collaborating and refining the bill to require that public officials take an on-line training to learn their obligations to the public to meet in open publi