Seattle Schools Community Forum: Let's Talk SBAC Scores - Part Two

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Let's Talk SBAC Scores - Part Two:

Let's Talk SBAC Scores - Part Two

Let's Talk SBAC Scores - Part Two

I watched Superintendent Randy Dorn's press conference last Monday where he reviewed the state's SBAC scores.

I found his remarks somewhat scattered as if he were trying to remember all his talking points.  (The contrast with his unflappable Deputy Superintendent of K-12 Education, Gil Mendoza,was interesting.)

As I mentioned in Part One of this series on the 2014-2105 SBAC scores for Washington State, the big takeway is that people who support SBAC are very happy (or putting on that happy face) on the announcement of these scores.  (Ready Washington - a coalition group of the OSPI, Stand for Children, Washington STEM, Washington PTA, LEV, DFER etc., a lot of people except for teachers - could not tweet out the results hard enough.)

The scores were in the low-high 50s (but naturally, breakdown differently across different groups).

Highlights from the press conference:


- Dorn tried to explain "how we got here" (meaning creation of Common Core and SBAC).  I personally thought that was a bad move because many people don't like HOW Common Core and SBAC got here.

He tried to be very folksy on this point about how "two groups of people got together" and wondered if it wouldn't make sense if 4th graders in "different places" learned the same things.
He said "it was a great idea that worked really well" but then got politicized.

Wait, what? Weren't the CC standards being created by two groups representing two different groups of elected officials also political?

- He said that the "kids" had far exceeded the field test results which has been in the 20s and 30s and had "far exceeded expectations."  That "far exceeded expectations" was a very repeated phrase.  He said they were "grateful" that the scores were not as bad as the field test scores.

- He said the assessment system is "a check of where kids are" and gives more info to teachers, parents and students as to "where do you line up on the spectrum for college/career readiness." 

 - He said using computers for taking the tests is better because of all the Seattle Schools Community Forum: Let's Talk SBAC Scores - Part Two:

The Source and Schoology

Here's the district's info on the new link to The Source.

The online student gradebook The Source and other student tools will now be one click away.
Beginning Sept. 9, the link to The Source will be replaced with “Student Portal” on the top right side of your school and the district webpages to access The Source and Schoology. See  yellow circle in the image to the left to see where to look for the link.

The Source is used by middle school and high school students, parents, and guardians to see student schedules, assessment scores, attendance, library information, and grades. 

Schoology is new for the 2015-16 year and offers teachers the opportunity to communicate with students, parents and guardians, about day-to-day coursework, such as due dates, assignments, and homework.

Here are some user reviews of Schoology from the website, Graphite:

Pros
From assigning to assessing to collaborating, tons of options to extend classrooms outside of school.  

Any content area teacher can use Schoology to push engagement and learning outside the class.

Overall, this is a great LMS option for either classroom or school-wide use and one which I recommend.
Cons 
There's so much herehttp://saveseattleschools.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-source-and-schoology.html