Latest News and Comment from Education

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

5-13-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum Week

Seattle Schools Community Forum:







Times Op-Ed On NCLB Waiver by President Peaslee
If you blinked, you might have missed it.The Times does some really weird thinking on how long they allow education opinions/op-eds to stay (1) on their front page of their website and (2) on the Opinion page of their website.  I've seen some stay for just a day, some for a week or more and some, you cannot find even if you search.This one is a bit of a record as it was just there this morning on
Seattle Schools - Newest Enrollment Numbers for North-End Middle Schools
And guess what?  These numbers are different from previous ones.Yes, we all know that forecasting numbers is not an exact science but we all also know how many times SPS has gotten it wrong.  Very wrong. Tell me again why we should put faith (not to mention tax dollars) into these forecasts?And again, why are these numbers kind of weird to begin with?  Most projections are generally round numbers

Tuesday Open Thread
The Seattle International Film Festival Opens this week.  They have some great programming for families in their Films4Families section and FutureWave section for teens (note: some of this section's programming is for mature teens - check out the films before you send them off). Anyone attend a Director community meeting this weekend? What's on your mind?


5-12-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum Week
Seattle Schools Community Forum: WSJ Story on RttT OutcomesThere was a story in the Wall Street Journal on May 3 about Race to the Top grants that casts them in a rather dim light. A number of grant winners did not actually move forward with the promised reforms and a number of the reforms did not actually provide any positive outcomes.Surprise, surprise, surprise.A lot of this might be just the u