3-22-14 Wait What? All Week

Wait What?:

  Wait What? All Week

Election Year: Incumbent or challenger – You MUST READ this column

In a stunning piece written by pro-public education advocate and CT Newsjunkie columnist Sarah Darer Littman, Connecticut’s elected officials and anyone considering running for office are provided with a MUST READ substantive, educational and powerful piece entitled, “Politicians Underestimate Common Core Opposition at Their Peril (by Sarah Darer Littman). While parents, teachers and public school

8 by jonpelto / 3h 

Charter Company: We’re from the Bronx, NY and we are here to help

When it comes to Governor Malloy, his Commissioner of Education Stefan Pryor and the corporate education reform industry, perhaps the most absurd, inappropriate, insulting, and anti-local control privatization scheme is playing itself out in Stamford, Connecticut. Fellow pro-public education advocate columnist Wendy Lecker lays out the facts about Bronx Charter School for Excellence effort to open

14 by jonpelto / 4h 

MAR 19

Investigation needed into Malloy administration’s handling of Clark Elementary School Fiasco

Last October Governor Malloy’s Commissioner of Education, Stefan Pryor, and his corporate education reform industry allies teamed up with Hartford’s outgoing superintendent of schools, Christina Kishimoto, to hand Hartford’s Clark Elementary School over to Achievement First, Inc., the large charter school management company that was co-founded by Stefan Pryor. See Wait, What? articles? Breaking Ne

20 by jonpelto / 2d 

MAR 18

The Malloy Administration’s Big Lie: Parents Can’t Opt Out.

Governor Malloy’s Commissioner of Education, Stefan Pryor and his band of corporate education industry reforms continue their crusade to persuade Connecticut parents that they don’t have the right to opt out their children from the Common Core Smarter Balanced Assessment Field Test. Pryor claims that federal and state laws trump parental rights. He is lying… […]The post The Malloy Administration’s

34 by jonpelto / 3d 

MAR 17

Pryor: Enough! Read the statute and back off the lie that students must take the common core test

March 17, 2014 Commissioner Pryor, The charade has gone on way to long. Connecticut General Statute 10-14n is clear and concise.  It reads, “For purposes of this section, a state-wide mastery examination is defined as an examination which measures whether or not a student has mastered essential grade-level skills in reading, language arts and mathematics. […]The post Pryor: Enough! Read the statut

56 by jonpelto / 4d 

Testimony on the Common Core Bill at last week’s hearing

Despite the best efforts of the Malloy administration and Democratic leaders in the General Assembly, the Education Committee conducted a hearing on legislation impacting the he Common Core on March 12, 2014. Connecticut residents provided and submitted incredibly powerful testimony.  Here are just a few of the best examples.  More will be posted in coming […]The post Testimony on the Common Core

5 by jonpelto / 5d 

All I Really Need to Know about Corporate Education Reform (and why we should fight it) I Learned in Kindergarten – by Dr. Yohuru Williams

Dr. Yohuru Williams is a professor of history at Fairfield University and a Badass Teacher Activist.  Diane Ravitch recently featured Dr. William’s piece on her blog. Here is the full piece;  Sometimes the simplest explanations are the best ones. Robert Fulghum’s hugely popular All IReally Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten offers the basis for a […]The post All I Really Need to Know about Cor

61 by jonpelto / 5d 

MAR 16

Teachers just never know (By Roger Conway)

Valued Reader Roger Conway weighs in with a great letter, For all the words spoken and written about education “reform” and all the bloviating about teacher benchmarks and evaluations, very little is said about what and how teachers feel. And part of the reason for this is that teachers keep their most important feelings about what […]The post Teachers just never know (By Roger Conway) appeared fi

46 by jonpelto / 6d 

The list of towns (Part 2) misleading parents on the Common Core Test grows…

As Connecticut superintendents work overtime in their effort to implement Education Commissioner Stefan Pryor’s directives, many local school administrators are sending out letters that try to highlight the “silver lining” of having students take the Common Core Smarter Balanced Field Test. For example, administrators in Granby wrote, This is an exciting opportunity for our school.  […]The post Th

48 by jonpelto / 6d 

MAR 15

Another reader speaks truth to power about the Common Core SBAC Test

Wait, What? has the greatest readers.  Here is another great comment to  today’s blog. The Memo from Commissioner Pryor’s office is a minor classic of doublespeak in the service of damage control. Just look at the opening: “We wish to convey a time sensitive update with you…” Yes, that is one way to put it; […]The post Another reader speaks truth to power about the Common Core SBAC Test appeared f

25 by jonpelto / 6d 

More testing, less learning

So many comments on Wait, What? posts deserve to be their own post. In fact, more often than not, the most interesting information and observations can be found in the comment section. Here a reader confronts the mindlessness of the decision, that in the name of ensuring that students are college ready, the Malloy administration […]The post More testing, less learning appeared first on Wait What?.

19 by jonpelto / 6d 

Common Core Smarter Balanced Assessment Field Test of a Test delayed a week

As teachers and school administrators learned on Friday, the Common Core Smarter Balanced Assessment Field Test isn’t (quite) ready to be given. Years in the making and the consortium behind the absurd Common Core test informed partner states on Friday that things would not be ready to go this coming Monday, as scheduled. The “shocking […]The post Common Core Smarter Balanced Assessment Field Test

100+ by jonpelto / 7d 

3-22-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum Week

Seattle Schools Community Forum:

Seattle Schools Community Forum

Seattle Schools and Opting Out

I'll have to ask SPS just what happens if a student opts out of a school-wide test.  But here is what is happening in other parts of the country (and it's just wrong).From the Washington Post's The Answer Sheet, the policy of "sit and stare."  Districts and schools are allowing students to opt out but only if they sit still for the entire duration of the test.  No reading, no homework, n

1 by Melissa Westbrook / 17h 

Friday Open Thread

Seattle Education blog is having a Meetup.  It's An Opt-Out Workshop with Jesse Hagopian (currently running on the SEE slate- Social Equality Educators - for SEA president).It's Wednesday, March 26th at 6:30 p.m.  RSVP: seattled@icloud.com (you must RSVP to attend as it is being held at a private home.) What's on your mind?

1 by Melissa Westbrook / 23h 

MAR 20

Students First? If You Pay Enough

Michelle Rhee's group, Students First, has been trying to get more "likes" at Facebook.  Or rather, buying more "likes."  From Big Education Ape blog: The most popular country for her Students First group is in Bangladesh?  Well, yes because...Search on Facebook for "We Sell Likes in Bangladesh." You'll see that anyone can buy 1000 likes for about $15 bucks. (Click HE

1 by Melissa Westbrook / 1d 

How to Figure Out Who is a "Skilled" Teacher

Mr. Gates?  Sec'y Duncan? Anyone want to take a stab at this one?  (I do appreciate my readers' sense of humor.)

by Melissa Westbrook / 1d 

Seattle Schools Staff Cuts - Not So Restored

Update:  here is what Superintendent Banda said in a press release on Tuesday:As a result, each school was given a funding amount based on student population, including weighted discretionary dollars, to make budget decisions that best fit the needs of their school. The goal was to provide as much flexibility to schools to meet the needs of their school population. Subsequently, we have heard from

10 by Melissa Westbrook / 1d 

Common Core Math _ One Parent's Thoughts

Common Core math problem of the day (and look how cleverly they worked in showing your work...in words).

300+ by Melissa Westbrook / 1d 

Scenes from Last Night's Board Meeting

Last night's Board meeting saw the honoring of four (!) SPS basketball championship teams.  (My apologies to Garfield's boys basketball team - I managed to flub my photos of them.)Ballard High School Beavers -Special Olympics Unified Basketball TeamCleveland High School Lady Eagles- 3A State ChampsRainier Beach Vikings - 3A State ChampionsThe Superintendent in a demonstration of how much a middle

by Melissa Westbrook / 1d 

MAR 19

Seattle Schools' Transportation Costs - If We Fund Charter Students, What Will That Mean?

I knew when the charter school initiative was being debated that charter schools were not supposed to get as much money for transportation as real public schools.  In fact, one of the main questions in the application was about transport.So now it turns out that in the recently passed Budget bill there was a section to cut down the transportation funding.  (This comes to us via the Washington Poli

by Melissa Westbrook / 2d 

Seattle Schools Parent-Teacher Conferences - What Works?

 From the thread on The Source/Fusion:Also, maybe this is a thread request, and potentially not relevant, but I am thinking about parent teacher conferences and what the expectations should be. What do you learn in P/T conferences, and what would you like to learn? Any hints for making the conference time more effective? Both from the teacher POV and parent POV, what do you want from a parent/teac

by Melissa Westbrook / 2d 

The Gap Between Rhetoric and Action

There are a lot of people in Education who say all of the right things, but then, somehow, go ahead and do all of the wrong things. This continues to astound me. We see it all the time from US Secretary of Education, the Governor, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, Education Reformers, Board Directors, the Superintendent, and the senior staff. No one, however, shows me a bigger gap between

1 by Charlie Mas / 2d 

Wilson-Pacific Meeting

Thought I'd open a thread for anyone who attended that meeting to weigh in.As I posted elsewhere, I am baffled by the use of Wilson-Pacific fields for Lincoln High.Why not Woodland Park?  Or, near me, they are going to lid the reservoir near Roosevelt High.  Why not dedicate one of those fields to Lincoln?I said I think the district is doing the wrong thing on the Genesee Hill Elementary school de

1 by Melissa Westbrook / 2d 

MAR 18

SEA Response to SPS Budget Cut Reversal

1 by Melissa Westbrook / 3d 

KOMO Helicopter Crash; Please Stay Away from Area

Mayor Murray and SPD are asking people to please stay away from the Seattle Center area in the wake of this morning's crash of a KOMO helicopter that killed the two people onboard and seriously injured a driver in a car where the crash occurred.EMP and the Monorail are closed.  It is likely that any school activities that may have been scheduled for that area (like Science Center) are cancelled. 

1 by Melissa Westbrook / 3d 

Tuesday Open Thread

A six-year-old calls Hasbro out on its Guess Who game (with 19 men and only 5 women on the game board).  They write back with a silly answer and her mom weighs in. A bipartisan bill has been introduced into the House of Representatives to cut down on high-stakes testing.  In the on-going debate about discipline, zero-tolerance discipline and how to keep a classroom orderly (while NOT suspending ki

by Melissa Westbrook / 3d 

MAR 17

Seattle Schools Backs Off on School Cuts

I have received word of the following:The district is to recind the budget cuts to schools and add $1.8M to the budget to cover these cuts.The union is urging members to still attend the School Board meeting on Wednesday to support later start times.I'll be checking in with both groups tomorrow.Update:  Banda's letter to school staff (which I find wordy and not entirely clear).   But, the upshot i

67 by Melissa Westbrook / 4d 

Wilson-Pacific Building Meeting Tomorrow

I talked to Mr. Sheppard to ask a couple of questions about this meeting.  The notice came out 3-4 weeks ago (and yet, I didn't see it at the district website).  The "ask" from the district is about typical but, as he said, different neighborhoods have varying ideas on what impacts look/feel like.  NOTICE OF MEETING OF THE DEVELOPMENT STANDARDS DEPARTURE ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR WILSON PAC

by Melissa Westbrook / 4d 

"If you know it’s wrong but remain silent, you’re complicit in educational malpractice"

In a very moving and determined move, this Massachusetts parent tells his district what he thinks about ALL high stakes testing. This comes via The Answer Sheet at the Washington Post.Rosa is an assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth who specializes in curriculum and instruction, language policies, Literacy and social studies education. In his letter, he refers to the

2 by Melissa Westbrook / 4d 

Nathan Hale has News You Want to Read

I had reason to check in at the Nathan Hale website and discovered their fine student newspaper, The Sentinel.  Very long (I haven't seen such a long student newspaper since I was in high school) and boy, they pack the news in.  (I note that The Sentinel took first place at a Western Washington University student journalism competition recently.)  From a front-page article, it seems that staff may

50 by Melissa Westbrook / 4d 

MAR 16

The Source/Fusion: Likes, Dislikes, Confusion?

I noted that at the strategic plan community meeting I attended at Hale, several parents said they (and some teachers) have frustrations with using The Source/Fusion.One reader replied:As an SPS teacher I would love to hear what parents like/dislike about the Source & Fusion. Is it limitations in the tool (and if so exactly what aspects)? Is it that teachers don't update the Source? With Fusio

by Melissa Westbrook / 5d 

Seattle Public Schools - The Price of Support is Too High

Action expresses priorities. - GhandiI never worry about action but only inaction. - ChurchhillInaction breeds doubt and fear.  Action breeds confidence and courage.  If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it.  Go out and get busy.  - Dale CarnegieThe time for action is now.  It's never too late to do something. - Antoine de Saint-ExuperyWhat's with all these inspirational qu

3 by Melissa Westbrook / 5d 

Seattle Schools This Week

Monday, March 17thThe wearing o' the Green.  Happy St. Patrick's Day.To note: signups for public testimony for the School Board meeting start at 8 am this morning. Tuesday, March 18thAudit&Finance Meeting from 4:30-6:30 p.m.  AgendaWednesday, March 19thSchool Board meeting starting at 4:15 p.m.  Agenda.I see a LOT of audit update items here that I am unclear about -might be worth attending.Ite

by Melissa Westbrook / 5d 

MAR 15

Washington State Passes 24 Credit Graduation Requirement

I'll let Representative Gerry Pollet - who worked his ass off to make sure this law was fair to Sped students - tell you about it (written on March 12th):Earlier today we did something terrific for our children and schools. We were faced with a punitive Senate bill to require every student to finish 24 credits to graduate from high school even if they were sick or homeless for some period of time,

2 by Melissa Westbrook / 6d hide  //  save

More Things that Make You Go, Hmmm

It appears that the Washington State legislature NOT voting to change the teacher evaluation law doesn't entirely mean the issue is done.  Apparently Duncan is still mulling options and talking to Washington State officials.  Superintendent Randy Dorn is still willing to talk but apparently doesn't think the waiver will be granted. We'll probably hear something by next week.I received an odd press

by Melissa Westbrook / 6d