Seattle Schools Community Forum: What is the process?

Seattle Schools Community Forum: What is the process?:

What is the process?

If you had an idea and community support for a new school program, what would you do?

The new program placement policy, 2200, for all its inadequacies, does make some things clear. It defines the terms school, program, service, and curricular focus and delineates the authority for each of them. The schools have authority to determine their curricular focus. That's why any school can decide to offer an A.L.O. or not, can choose to have an environmental focus or a STEM focus, or to offer Montessori or language immersion. The superintendent has no authority to interfere with these decisions - they are site-based. The superintendent, in turn, has absolute authority over programs and services like Special Education, ELL, APP and Spectrum. He alone decides whether to create them, close them, expand them, shrink them, or move them. Policy F21.00 makes it clear that the Board can't interfere with his decisions. The Board, in turn, has authority over the creation, relocation, and closure of schools. So it is entirely up to the Board to designate Lincoln as a school separate from Lowell. It requires a Board vote to open a new school at Genesee Hill or to relocate the STEM school now at Boren 

Diane in the Evening 8-4-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all:

The Trouble with Online Courses

This reader shared her experience with online courses: “Several years ago I was required to get an admin certification and one of the courses I had to take was an on-line course. It was dreadful. We were all supposed to be graduate students but the on-line discussions were silly and superficial. I think the instructor could have deepened the discussion but he didn’t. It was one of the biggest was

5 by dianerav / 1h 

Have We Lost Our Sense of Shame?

In reflecting on the sordid Anthony Weiner story, I wrote that civilization depends to some extent on the survival of a sense of shame. Shame makes people regretful of bad behavior and minimizes such behavior. Too much shame might be a bad thing, but none at all leaves us at the mercy of the whims and desires of others. This reader thinks we are losing any sense of shame: “We are witnessing the de

6 by dianerav / 40min 

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 8-4-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Your School Library: A Profit CenterA retired librarian spots a scam: Reference: here is another blog that is relevant to the discussion. “Apple’s iPad Textbooks Cost 5x More Than Print” By Lee Wilson —————————————- Comment: I have watched the dismantling of the public library in my district. The newest “schemes” provide some kind

by mike simpson / 1h 

Why Learn Spelling and Grammar When We have Smartphones? | toteachornototeach

Why Learn Spelling and Grammar When We have Smartphones? | toteachornototeach:

Professor says kids no longer need to learn 
spelling and grammar because of smartphones

by Eric Owens

Several skills that every kid once learned in school are going the way of the dodo in a hurry. Diagramming sentences is practically an extinct art, for example. Cursive handwriting and memorized multiplication tables look to be swiftly headed that way.

Apparently, the next thing that kids will no longer need to learn is spelling and grammar.

Sugata Mitra, a professor of educational technology at Newcastle University in northeast England, announced that traditional language rules are out of fashion, reports the Daily Mail. Kids don’t need to waste time on those things, see. State-of-the-art computers and mobile phones can make the necessary corrections.

pelling and grammar are “a bit unnecessary because they are skills that were very essential maybe 100 years ago but they are not right now,” Mitra said. “Firstly, my phone corrects my spelling so I don’t really need to think about it and, secondly, because I often skip grammar and write in a cryptic way.”

The professor made the anti-spelling proclamation at a time when the British government is rolling out a host of educational standards including one that will require students to take a spelling test involving 200 complex words near the end of grade school.

Another exam for 11-year-olds that tests spelling, grammar and punctuation was launched 

If Only Tony Had Just Deleted His Own Emails | Scathing Purple Musings #Cheats4Change

If Only Tony Had Just Deleted His Own Emails | Scathing Purple Musings:

If Only Tony Had Just Deleted His Own Emails

Posted on August 4, 2013by Bob Sikes

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Florida! - Open Up Your Heart And Let The Sun Shine In - Cheaters Never Win! #Cheats4Change

Here’s a  follow-up story in the Miami Herald from Tom LoBianco, the investigative reporter who broke the Tony Bennett grade change scandal:

INDIANAPOLIS – In algebra, students are required to show the steps taken to come to their answer, in part because teachers need to see whether they grasp the concepts.

Indiana’s former state superintendent Tony Bennett hid his calculations when coming up with the school-grading formula last year, working backward to make the equation fit a predetermined answer: an “A” for Republican donor Christel DeHaan’s charter school. His staff was quietly asked to figure out the rest.

The only reason the grade-changing scandal was unveiled was because it 

Connectedness and Transparency in Leadership | My Island View

Connectedness and Transparency in Leadership | My Island View:

Connectedness and Transparency in Leadership

August 4, 2013 by tomwhitby

I am planning on attending an Edcamp for leadership next week, which has caused me to reflect upon my administrator/teacher experiences of the past. There was once a time in education, not too long ago, that all discussions about education were led and controlled by those who led and controlled the very schools in which education took place. Building, or district administrators could pretty much control the flow of education information based on their personal education philosophies, as well as their exposure to the latest education ideas and methodology available to them. What was relevant and what was status quo? What was progressive education philosophy, and what was fad or trend? We counted on administrators to lead the way in informing us. That was in fact part of why they were hired and held their positions, to direct the educators below them. That was all part of the system.

This would work very well, as long as the administrator stayed informed, relevant, and was opened to sharing with a faculty open to that direction. This of course was the shiny side of the coin. The other side offered an irrelevant administrator steeped in the past centuries of education and leading the faculty to make no waves in an atmosphere of status quo.

In my career I served under both types of administrators. I thrived under the '

Test: ALEC, Legislation, and the U.S. Constitution | Reclaim Reform

Test: ALEC, Legislation, and the U.S. Constitution | Reclaim Reform:

Test: ALEC, Legislation, and the U.S. Constitution

Posted on August 4, 2013by Ken Previti

Test: ALEC, Legislation, and the U.S. Constitution

 1. Who is authorized by the U.S. Constitution to write legislation?

A) Only elected legislators may write major legislation.
B) ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, and other private, corporate financed groups of multimillionaires, billionaires, hedge fund managers, bank directors, and other American and foreign investors write major legislation.
C) Both a and b.
D) None of the above.

correct answer: D (The Constitution directs that elected representatives and senators are to propose and vote for legislation. Who is to write the bills is not mentioned.) SeeHERE.

2. Who for the past 40 years actually has written major legislation that 

Breaking News: Kevin Welner’s Charter School Dirty Dozen | Cloaking Inequity

Breaking News: Kevin Welner’s Charter School Dirty Dozen | Cloaking Inequity:

Breaking News: Kevin Welner’s Charter School Dirty Dozen

Welcome to the third installment of Cloaking Inequity’s new comic series Breaking News. Today the comic represents Kevin Welner’s “The Dirty Dozen: How Charter Schools Influence Student Enrollment. Dr. Welner is a professor of education policy at the University of Colorado Boulder School of Education and director of the National Education Policy Center. What are the dirty dozen? Welner was inspired to write this analysis after reading 

Florida! - Open Up Your Heart And Let The Sun Shine In - Cheaters Never Win! #Cheats4Change

Cheats For Change #Cheats4Change

Cheats For Change: Cheats For Change#Cheats4Change Cheats For Change#Cheats4Change are committed to putting themselves first through bold, visionary education deform that will increase their donors' profits and prepare themselves for success in politics and careers.Archive  Ask us anything  About This Blog  Submitoccupyedueducation reformeducation policycorporate agendapublic schoolspublic educati

by mike simpson / 29min 

The problem with the Paul Vallas brand of school reform:

The problem with the Paul Vallas brand of school reform

By Valerie Strauss, Published: August 4 at 1:00 pmE-mail the writer

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Paul Vallas

Paul Vallas has long enjoyed a reputation in the education reform world as a school turnaround specialist, even while critics have routinely noted that his “turnarounds” have been less than successful. Most recently he has been running the public schools in Bridgeport, Conn., at least, that is, until a Superior Court judge ordered that he be removed from the job because he hadn’t compliedwith a state law requiring him to take a school leadership program. His supporters appeared to the state Supreme Court, which has agreed to hear the case this fall.

In the following post, veteran educator Larry Cuban looks beyond the Vallas situation in Bridgeport to fundamental issues that his brand of school reform poses.  Cuban was a high school social studies teacher for 14 years, a district superintendent (seven years in Arlington, VA), and professor emeritus of education at Stanford University, where he has taught for more than 20 years. His latest book is “Inside the Black Box of Classroom Practice: Change without Reform in American Education.” This post appeared on hisblog.

By Larry Cuban

Lee Iaccoca, Steve Jobs, and Ann Mulcahy were CEOs who, respectively, resurrected  Chrysler,  Apple, and Xerox from near (or actual) bankruptcy to profitability. They were turnaround heroes–saviors, if you like–to their corporate boards 

Schooling in the Ownership Society: K12 Inc. lags far behind face-to-face schools in Florida

Schooling in the Ownership Society: K12 Inc. lags far behind face-to-face schools in Florida:

K12 Inc. lags far behind face-to-face schools in Florida

The thing about privatization is, there's little or no public accountability. Take for example, K12 Inc., the e-learning company that competes with traditional schools for a piece of the  multi-billion-dollar education pie.

Progress Florida also found that K12 schools are not only lagging behind in performance, but they also have “fewer students qualifying for free-or-reduced-lunch, fewer students with disabilities, fewer ELL students, and fewer minority students.” But K12's poor performance hasn't hurt their bottom line any.  In 2012, K12 Inc. experienced “a 35 percent increase in revenue to more than $700 million, the report found.”

According the report:

“…Notably only 27.7 percent of K12 Inc. schools make adequate yearly progress—a national metric of measuring student achievement—and this figure is merely half nearly half the rate achieved by public 

Kentucky Fried Future | EduShyster

Kentucky Fried Future | EduShyster:

Kentucky Fried Future

 The jobs of tomorrow are here today—and they suck…

Reader: as a white person, I am required by law to listen to at least 12 hours of National Public Radio per week. (Note: 12 hour minimum does not include on-air fund drives). Which is how I happened to find myself tuned into a recent episode of On Point on the fast food economy and the wave of strikes by fast-food workers. The show, hosted by the mellifluosly chiding (chilliflous?) Tom Ashbrook, featured 34-year old Terrence Wise, a fast-food striker in Kansas City, MO with three children, two jobs and no home, who believes strongly that his profitable employers should “share the wealth.”

A small order of context
But first, a small order of context. As a voracious consumer of both fast food (one shiny thumb up for the new Bacon Habanero Ranch Quarter Pounder!) and all things education 

North Carolina Cuts Teacher Certification Requirements for Charter Schools | Heartlander Magazine

North Carolina Cuts Teacher Certification Requirements for Charter Schools | Heartlander Magazine:

North Carolina Cuts Teacher Certification Requirements for Charter Schools

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory signed legislation that lets charter schools hire more elementary teachers without  teaching certificates. The new law decreases the number of required elementary charter school teachers with teacher certification from 75 percent to 50 percent. That rate was revised several times throughout the legislative process, until a last-minute request by the governor brought the final number from 25 percent to 50 percent for all K-12 charter school teachers (unchanged at the high school level).  

The controversial change stems from the ideas that non-licensed people can make really great teachers, and charter schools are an appropriate place to try out innovative ideas, said bill author and state Sen. Jerry Tillman (R-Randolph). He describes an engineer neighbor who wanted to teach but didn’t want to spend time or 

WATCH: John Merrow Discusses Education Commissioner Tony Bennett’s Resignation | Learning Matters

WATCH: John Merrow Discusses Education Commissioner Tony Bennett’s Resignation | Learning Matters:

WATCH: John Merrow Discusses Education Commissioner Tony Bennett's Resignation 

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Via MSNBC:

As state chief of Indiana schools, Tony Bennett implemented an A-F grading system, giving the schools a letter grade, just like students. But when a GOP donor’s charter school was going to receive a poor grade, Bennett and his staff scrambled to figure out how to improve it. Bennett resigned from his position as Florida Education Commissioner in light of the scandal. Chris Hayes talks with PBS Education Correspondent John Merrow about the fallout.

Jeb’s Education Racket | National Review Online

Jeb’s Education Racket | National Review Online:

Jeb’s Education Racket 
The former Florida governor and his GOP cronies have lowered standards and increased corruption. 

By Michelle Malkin

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Former Florida education commissioner Tony Bennett

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Michelle Malkin 

The resignation of Florida education commissioner Tony Bennett couldn’t have come at a better time. His disgraceful grade-fixing scandal is the perfect symbol of all that’s wrong with the federal education schemes peddled by Bennett and his mentor, former GOP governor Jeb Bush: phony academic standards, crony contracts, and big-government and big-business collusion masquerading as “reform.”
Bennett stepped down Thursday after the Associated Press reported that he had meddled with charter-school accountability ratings in Indiana last fall while serving as that state’s schools superintendent. The beneficiary of his intervention? Big GOP donor and charter-school operator Christel DeHaan, who has forked over nearly $3 million to Republicans (including $130,000 to Bennett).

DeHaan’s Christel House Academy charter school magically went from a “C” rating to an “A” rating despite failing tenth-grade math scores. An abysmal 33 percent of the school’s tenth-grade Algebra I students passed. Note: The school uses the 

8-4-13 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.:

Sunday summer reads.

  Photo: Arthur Goldstein North Carolina cuts teacher certification requirements for charter schools. Does it help to throw money at schools? Yes. If you can’t get it there any other way. Revealing the corporate and business interests in the DePaul basketball arena deal. St. Vincent would not be happy. Even Rahm’s friends at the Sun-Times say, “Hand over that TIF money to the schools.” Spying on

3 by Fred Klonsky / 50min 

Saturday coffee. | Fred Klonsky

Saturday coffee. | Fred Klonsky: Saturday coffee.  Indigenous Chicago cuisine. Yesterday’s humidity is gone and it is a beautiful Saturday morning in Chicago. Half the Brooklyn family contingent is in town, including my grandkids. Yesterday we introduced the grandchildren to indigenous Chicago food: A Chicago hotdog at the Weiner’s Circle on Clark Street. I overlooked their decision to eschew the

by mike simpson / 20h