Seattle Schools Community Forum:
National Ed News Knocks at our Door
Seattle Schools Community Forum
National Ed News Knocks at our Door
Here are some stories from around the country that will have more and more bearing on what we are doing in Washington State.From Ed Week, a top 12 list of stories from the past year. The majority of them are about Common Core as the fight goes on. Linked to Common Core (and you see this in story after story elsewhere) is student data privacy. I also note the presence of a story on grading schoo
Seattle Schools in the News
From SPS Communications:Seattle Public Schools will be asking staff, students, families for feedback on schools through an annual phone and email survey. Questions will include topics such as effective communication and school safety. The District will email or call all families the week of Jan. 13 and do a second round the week of Jan. 20. The calls and e-mails will be in the home-language spoke
Friday Open Thread
Over at the Times, they had an end-of-the year wrap-up for their "Education Lab" adventure with the Gates Foundation. They ask the question, "What else would you like to see Education Lab tackle in the coming year?"How about truthfulness about your venture?You would think a joint venture with OSPI accessing and using SPS student data to write stories would be a major story for
JAN 02
Ed News Roundup
Locally (and, of sorts, public education news) comes the announcement that 37th district Senator Adam Kline will not be running to retain his seat. Naturally, when a senator retires, the obvious replacement often comes from whoever are the representatives in that district (see Jamie Pedersen for Ed Murray). I am hoping that Rep. Eric Pettigrew runs so that all the ed reform nonsense he has pushed
Washington State Charter School Applicant Forums
Charter School Applicant Forums (via the very helpful Charter Commission staff) ApplicantDateTimeLocationPioneer SchoolJanuary 65:15-6:15pmSpokane Public School Administration Building, 200 N Bernard Spokane, WA 99201Yakima AcademyJanuary 85:30-6:30pmPerry Technical Institute, 2011 W. Washington Ave. Yakima, WA 98903Sunnyside Charter AcademyJanuary 86:30-7:30pmEvergreen Leadership AcademyJanuary
DEC 31 2013
Public Education News Wrap-Up (and what YOU, yes you, can do in 2014)
A great piece from @The Chalk Face by John Kuhn who covers both the year in review AND what to do in 2014. His queries for 2014:Will the education reformers rebound from their numerous defeats this year? They still have the money, they still own the media and the US Department of Education, and they have fresh NAEP and PISA scores that “prove” whatever they want them to prove. (Tennessee and DC s
Washington State Charter School Updates
More news rolls in for updating charter schools in Washington State.First, three Charter Commissioners have expiring terms and are up for re-appointment (apparently all three want to stay). Commissioners Chris Martin, Margit McGuire and Kevin Jacka have expiring terms. It's early to say who should stay and who should go but so far these three seem capable. Margit McGuire is the most thoughtful o
Goodbye to 2013 - Hello to 2014!
Pop quizzes!Pew Research Center - News IQ QuizSlate's News Quiz.Nice idea for the new year - a Good Times Jar project. A good way to keep track of what matters to your family and showing gratitude for the good things (big and small) in your lives. Even little victories count.Start this January with an empty jar. Throughout the year write the good things that happened to you on little pieces of pa
DEC 30 2013
Washington State Charter Applicants - No Conversions
I've been pacing myself to go through all the charter school applications. At about 566 pages each, it's a long slog.But I can confirm that I see none of them - submitted to the Charter Commission - that are applying to be conversion schools. What is somewhat troubling is that one of them - Pioneer School which currently exists as a private school - didn't even seem to understand the question.
Patt Sutton - A Champion for Public Education in Seattle
The West Seattle Herald has a very good obituary of Patt Sutton who served two-terms as president of the Seattle School Board. That's a very little bit of what this woman did for Seattle Public education (as well as being the mother of 12 children and working for Boeing.) She also:Upon learning there was no kindergarten due to a double levy loss, Patt volunteered for the school levy campaign in
DEC 29 2013
End of the Year Stories about Students
Out of Florida via Ed Week:A new Florida bill would ensure that the state's high school students have a little more time to catch up on their sleep. Filed by state Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Republican, the bill would make it impossible for any Florida high schools to begin the school day before 8 a.m. starting with the 2014-2015 school year, reports the Tampa Tribune.A recent Education Week story highlig
Ed Reform and NY State
New York State, and in particular, NYC, is a great place to consider what has happened and what changes may be coming for ed reform. Call it the ghost of ed reform today, the future and, of course, the past. NYC - the ghost of ed reform in the futureNaturally, all the change in how NYC will based on new mayor-elect, Bill de Blasio. Here's a selection of what he pledged during the campaign from