Seattle Schools Community Forum:
Seattle Schools Community Forum
Seattle School Board Meeting Updates
Shockingly, I neither attended nor watched the School Board meeting. But I did hear about it from other sources so here is some of what went on (plus some input from a careful reading of agenda items on the docket). Apparently it was a love fest for Banda and some tension on the Board. Here's the information I received from the organizing group for later starts where the tension comes in.Later
(Thursday) Open Thread
Going with a Thursday Open Thread due to the holiday tomorrow. From The Atlantic, a somewhat troubling story about a study finding that kids care more about "achievement and happiness" than caring for others and that teachers are aware of this issue. The study is from the Making Caring Common project at Harvard and is called The Children We Mean to Raise: the Real Messages Adults are Se
JUL 01
Common Core and Homework
There have been many stories about parents - famous (like Louis C.K., a certified public school parent in NYC who spoke about Common Core homework NOT in a routine but as a parent) and not-so-famous - and their struggle to help their children with their CC homework, particularly in math.The latest article comes from the NY Times. Some of the comments are off discussing whether CCSS are valid, imp
Tuesday Open Thread
WA State Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn has sent a letter to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan asking that Washington be waived from the NCLB requirement that public schools send out letters about how they are all failing under NCLB (about 96% of schools would have to send out these letters). Naturally, 96% of Washington schools are not failing; it's just the failure of Congress
JUN 30
A Common Core News Roundup
It's a cavalcade of news but most of it, not so good. I have nearly 50 other stories in the hopper. About Pearson, about Gates, about what else states could do without (gasp!) CC. And then there are the mid-term elections and CCSS. Current AnalysisA great essay at Vox, The Republican Debate on Common Core is Over. But the Pew Research Center's recent profile of American political views destro
Great Reading on Ed Reform by a Local Leader
That leader is Trish Millines Dziko who started Technology Access Foundation and is truly a great thinker on how to push the needle forward for students of color using STEM-based curriculum with project-based learning.Trish has written a series on her thoughts about ed reform (she's frustrated) and we think - intentionally - about the work of educating children on a school level. Time to Transform
JUN 28
Seattle School Board Meeting on Wednesday
This meeting could be interesting for a number of reasons.One, it is likely the last one where we will see Superintendent Banda up there on the dais with the Board. (The Sacramento School Board is scheduled to vote July 17th and this Seattle School Board meeting is the last until August 20th.) It may be awkward (to say the least) as the Superintendent is now the lamest of lame ducks. Does the B
Have you written to the Board about a New Superintendent?
Honestly, I think it matters. (I'll tell you why I think that at the end of the thread.)I wrote to them and included some thoughts that Charlie and I had previously printed here especially around the role of the Board and the role of the superintendent.Here's some of what I said (and I'm deliberately vague on the process because it's the Board's call and no one else's):- The district needs someon