Seattle Schools Community Forum: Public Education Story Round-Up

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Public Education Story Round-Up:

Public Education Story Round-Up

From NPR Ed via Huffington Post, a very good blog post about the push and pull of What Do We Do About Public Education?

Educators of all races, from various ideologies, and committed to very different school policies are also split over fundamental differences as to how we in a democracy work with each other. The unraveling of the corporate reform coalition is due, in large part, because of the ways they treat people who disagree with them.

A National Press Club panel discussion clarified the positions of today’s three dominant schools of education policy. Shavar Jeffries of the Democrats for Education Reform embodies theneoliberal wing of the corporate reform movement. Andrew Smarick, from Bellwhether Education Partners, displays the new face of their former partners, conservative reformers. The panel also included an open and welcoming face of teacher-led school improvement, Lily Eskelsen Garcia, the president of the National Education Association.

My favorite from this debate?

The NEA’s Eskelsen Garcia best explains how the test-driven, competition-driven reform alliance held together for nearly a generation. In the 1980s, conservatives would demand “Results!” Liberals fought for “Equality.” The contemporary reform movement took the shortcut of demanding “Equal Results!”

In other words, reformers chose to pretend that equal results could be produced on the cheap, without tackling the inequality which defeats so many of the highest-Seattle Schools Community Forum: Public Education Story Round-Up:

Parents, Please Talk to Your Student

5by Melissa Westbrook / 11h

"I think they wanted to scare him straight," Maureen Walgren told the Tribune in story published earlier this week. "Instead, they scared him to death." Left by himself, Corey walked out of the school a few minutes later and headed toward a downtown Naperville parking garage. He climbed to the fifth floor and then committed suicide by plummeting 53 feet to the ground. One of the saddest and most

End of the Year Honors for Seattle Schools Students

by Melissa Westbrook / 11h

Tweets from SPS Communications: 2017 All Metro - Lacrosse - Kai Chamberlain, Tate Gilges and Dain Coddington from Ballard High, Nate Koidahl and Nicky Sweedin from Roosevelt, Charlie MacIntire and Sean McGlyn from Hale, Hank Halfaker from Garfield, and Jay Zhu from Franklin. Boys Soccer - Congrats to Roosevelt's team for winning the state championship! Girls Track and Field - Congrats to Garfield'

Seattle Schools Waitlist Updates

13by Melissa Westbrook / 11h

From SPS Communications, waitlist updates . Although more than 50 percent of the students who participated in the choice process received a placement, many students are still on school waitlists. Typically, staff do not move waitlists that positively or negatively affect staffing at attendance area schools. Due to the $50 million budget shortfall for 2017-18, the district is conducting additional

Network For Public Education's Stand on Charter Schools

by Melissa Westbrook / 14h

NPE Statement on Charter Schools The Network for Public Education believes that public education is the pillar of our democracy . We believe in the common school envisioned by Horace Mann. A common school is a public institution, 

Friday Open Thread

by Melissa Westbrook / 13min

It's near the end of the school year and a time when awards - both in yearbooks and at events come out. Unbelievably, there are grown people - in charge of watching over these awards - that seem to have the worst judgment. There's this one from Texas . A group of teachers are being disciplined after they thought it would be funny to name a student “most likely to become a terrorist.” Lizeth Villan