Seattle Schools Community Forum:
Seattle Schools Community Forum
Yoo Hoo, Seattle Times and OSPI - See You in the New Year
I called and left a message for two different people at OSPI today to get a comment about OSPI signing an agreement with the Seattle Times for student and teacher data (it was November 13, 2013 to be exact). No one called back.I called and talked to Jim Simon, who is the managing editor at the Times. He's very busy, says that KUOW got it wrong on the personally identifiable student or staff-rela
Seattle Schools and Transportation
Apparently, I did not hear/understand Bob Westgard of SPS Logistics correctly yesterday in my reporting on coming changes in transportation. First, the total number of students that may be impacted is 1,000 with under 300 being students at Option schools. Second, the standardization of times are for ARRIVAL, not bell times. Here's the handouts:Transportation Service Standards 2014-2015Here's the s
Common Core Roundup
Hey, former Governor Mike Huckabee - remember him - says to FOX News recently "Common Core is dead." Well, not so fast, Mike.The Girl Scouts and the American Girl dolls series don't think so. Why? Because:The American Girl dolls, long a fun way for little girls to immerse themselves in play associated with American history and culture, have now met Common Core. A new American Girl do
Friday Open Thread
Seattle Schools running 2 hours late (but being parents, you already know that).I have seen no statement from the Seattle Times or OSPI on their student data sharing agreement to share Seattle students' data. Nothing like a newspaper not reporting the news. Want to let Randy Dorn at OSPI know?Randy I. Dornsuperintendent@k12.wa.us(360) 725-6004 I promise to write a wrap-up of the Operations Com
DEC 19
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
The 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
And We'll Never Be Royals
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
DEC 18
Standardized Public Education
In his recent thread on the outlines of what ed reform is pushing for, Charlie included this in a comment as another facet:Standardized Curriculum - Reformers push the idea of standardized curricula, not only across classrooms within a school, but across schools within a district, across districts within a state, and, with the Common Core, across all states in the country. Standardized Curricula l
Washington State and Transparency in Public Records/Meetings
From 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 public meetings, and ensure that the public has access to public records. Watch the AG's news conf
DEC 17
Tuesday Open Thread
A fairly definitive list of every Christmas movie and tv show made. It would be a hard choice to decide which is the "best" but I'd go with It's a Wonderful Life (for drama), A Christmas Story (comedy) and Die Hard (for action). According to the LA Times, Governor Jerry Brown of California, pushing back against standardized testing, says he is still "haunted" by a final exam
DEC 16
It's about the money
Here is a comment, pulled out as the start of a new thread.My review of the proposals made by Education Reform Organizations shows that all of their efforts, in the end, are either about reducing the costs of education - and therefore keeping a few tax dollars in their pockets - or about directing some of those tax dollars into their friends' pockets. It's all about their money, not the students.
If You Care about K-5 Math in Seattle Public Schools...
...then get down to the John Stanford Center and review the proposed ideas for math.From the district:GIVE US YOUR INPUT! First Phase of Adoption Reviews: Seven new Mathematics programs for Kindergarten through Grade 5 use are on display in the Professional Library on the second floor of the John Stanford Center. These are the textual materials that are being reviewed by our Adoption Committee for
Washington State Charter Schools - To Be Clear on the King County Ruling
First, the Seattle Times continues to try to use smoke and mirrors on their readers on this issue.Their latest editorial's headline says "A charter schools victory at the state Supreme Court." The reality? It was a decision by a King County court (although, yes, it is very likely to head to the Supreme Court). This, like Lynne Varner's statement in her opinion piece that it is the Gates
Seattle Schools This Week
Monday, December 16th Seattle Special Education PTSA Meeting, 7 pm at Rm 2700, School District main offices at 2445 3rd Ave S (3rd and Lander).Tuesday, December 17thAudit&Finance Committee Meeting (Quarterly Audit Meeting) from 4-6 p.m. Agenda.Wednesday, December 18thWork Session: Budget, WSS, and Transportation from 4-7 p.m. AgendaI see some troubling and yet vital info in this presentatio
JAMS Meetings; Past and Present
I know there was a JAMS meeting on December 11th and someone requested a thread to talk about that one.Also, there is another Jane Addams' Middle School "launch/intro" at the JAMS library this Wednesday Dec. 18th at 6:30pm.Meet the wonderful principal, Paula Montgomery, and hear about the exciting work being done. Lots of Q&A, and a tour of JAMS too!
More Diversity for Non-Profits Workshop
From United Way of King County (please forward if you know people who are interesting in learning more):Project LEAD: Why is everybody white? A challenge for more diversity on nonprofit boardsUnited Way of King County is recruiting people of color for the 2014 session of Project LEAD (Leadership, Effectiveness and Diversity) and we need your help to get the word out. The application deadline is We
DEC 14
Real Education Reform
I am an opponent of corporatist, millionaire- and billionaire-backed Education Reform, but I am no supporter of the status quo. I want to see radical change in our public education system, just not the changes that the Gates Foundation, the Broad Foundation, or the WalMart heirs support. I support changes that directly address the failures in the system and are proven effective.So, just to make it
The Times Doubles Down for Charters
Let's review the Times coverage of the Washington charter school law this week.On the charter law court ruling, they manage to confuse readers with two different headlines but settled on one that makes it sound like it was upheld but " questions remain." Then, they only quote the pro-charter side (going to their go-to source, Lisa Macfarlane). They do quote the plaintiffs' lawyer b