State Board of Ed Wants Your Thoughts

The State Board of Education is holding a board meeting July 7-9 in Seattle. Please join board members for an open discussion July 8 at the Rainier Community Center on important topics such as strategies for closing the achievement gap, standards, and assessment. Please note that the regular meeting will be held at the Museum of Flight.

Rainier Community Center, Seattle, WA

4600 38th Ave S
Seattle, WA 98118


From 6:30-8:00 pm   

Might want to come and give them a cheerful earful on Common Core and SBAC.

From the Times:

The forum is part of the board’s regular meeting, which begins today at the Museum of Flight.

The three-day agenda includes a review of of experiences districts had giving the new Smarter Balanced state math and reading tests this spring on July 9 from 10-11:30 a.m. The meetings on July 8 and July 9 both have times scheduled for public comment.

Comments

Watching said…
The State Board of Education will meet on August 5th to determine graduation score.

https://washingtonsbe.wordpress.com/2015/07/06/smarter-balanced-assessments-and-graduation-requirements/

I see Eric Anderson will be at the meeting and I'm glad the board recently signed a resolution regarding the issue of Common Core, SBAC etc. I hope the SBE gets the resolution.

I don't put a lot of faith into our SBE. Seems like the same old faces from city government, failed school board members and those that further Gate's agenda.
Anonymous said…
Here are the members of the
Washington State Board of Education

-- Dan Dempsey
Anonymous said…
My feed back. OSPI is for the birds. Check out these ridiculous "letters from principal" regarding SBAC. Do they think we're all dufusses? Now they're not even correct. With states dropping common core, the number that are worshipping at the trough of the "consortium" has got to be lower.

STop the Insanity
Anonymous said…
STop the Insanity,

Thanks for the link to those OSPI composed letters for the principal to sign.

Gotta love that first warning letter.

Definition of ensure => "make certain that (something) shall occur or be the case."

From the letter:
. These K–12 learning standards are designed to ensure students are college- and career-ready when they graduate from high school. The learning standards establish clear, consistent guidelines for what every student should know and be able to do in ELA and math, and emphasize critical thinking, problem solving, and effective communication skills.

The idea that learning standards can ensure is preposterous.
Only a complete fool would believe that all students are college and career ready (code for can pass SBAC testing) upon high school graduation unless of course very few students graduate.

Apparently our legislators who continue to fund this nonsense believe this OSPI ed lingo baloney.

-- Dan Dempsey
Anonymous said…
WOW .. How bad can it get at OSPI?

Try the 10 slide PowerPoint titled: Engage New York - evidence based claims

You can find it HERE under What's New! Additional Resources.

There is NO evidence and there are NO claims.

-- Dan Dempsey
Anonymous said…
It has been my experience that the State Board really doesn't want to hear from anyone outside of their small circle of ed deformers. They would prefer to get through their agenda as quickly as possible.

CT
Charlie Mas said…
I guess it would be an interesting change of pace to be ignored in person instead of by email.
Watching said…
I agree with Charlie....:) Peter Maier has ignored us in the past and he will continue to do so. We've just added the city's new czar Ms. Muñoz-Colón. She was the city's spokesperson when they held-back Family and Education dollars from Sand Point Elementary due to a principal change. She is on record as defending the city's desire not to fund counselors etc.

More on Munoz-Colon: She is the K-12 Investments Manager for the City of Seattle’s Department of Education and Early Learning, where she also co-chairs the English Language Learner working group for the South King County Road Map Project. She has worked at the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction as the Director of Financial Policy and Research, where she was lead staff to the Quality Educational Council.

The Washington State House and Senate will meet on July 8th to discuss education and transportation impasses.

Anonymous said…
Oh yeah... Peter Maier the greatest Ball Player of them all.

In four years on the SPS Board never once did he vote against a SB Action Report proposal.

Clearly Ed Murray's kind of guy.

The city has a backup plan for additional classrooms if the school district doesn't participate, Murray said, addition that he expect the School Board to play ball.

---

So true Charlie:
Ignore writings, letters, and in person ... modern oligarchy governing in action.

-- Dan Dempsey
Anonymous said…
BALLOT QUESTION IN WORKS FOR 2016 TO "END COMMON CORE"
........By Michael Norton STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE
STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, JULY 8, 2015....

As state education officials consider switching to a new exam that syncs up with national Common Core standards, activists and legislators are launching a ballot campaign with the goal of restoring the state's education standards from 2010.
Donna Colorio, a Worcester School Committee member from 2011 to 2013 and founder of Common Core Forum, will chair the End Common Core Massachusetts ballot question, the group announced Wednesday.

The ballot effort comes as the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education considers whether to switch from the MCAS exam to the PARCC exam. The board at Gov. Charlie Baker's request recently held a series of public hearings to gather feedback before deciding. Both Baker and his education secretary, James Peyser, have expressed reservations in the past about the Common Core standards.

"Massachusetts is at an educational crossroads. In 2007, Massachusetts became the highest-achieving state in the country because of the academic quality of our state standards, the state tests based on them (MCAS), and the state's teacher licensing regulations and tests," Sandra Stotsky, former senior associate commissioner at the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, said in a statement. "With the implementation of Common Core's standards after their adoption by in 2010, we have started to decline in reading achievement. We need to stop the federal push for mediocre standards for all."

Under former Gov. Deval Patrick, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education in December 2010 unanimously signed off on efforts to incorporate the Common Core national standards into the state's public education curricula. At the time, Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester said, "My sense of talking to folks around the state ... is overall a lot of excitement, a lot of energy around the step forward these new standards represent." In a memo on the standards, Chester called them "strong, comprehensive, and rigorous, reflecting the best thinking of educators in Massachusetts as well as nationally."

According to the ballot group, Rep. Donald Berthiaume (R-Spencer) and Sen. Ryan Fattman (R-Webster) are supporting the ballot effort.

In a statement, Berthiaume says he finds it "next to impossible" to help his fifth grade son with math. "As my son's frustration with Common Core math continues, his desire to excel in math declines. As a parent with exceptional mathematical aptitude, I believe this CC math needs to go to way of the dinosaur," Berthiaume said.

Fattman told the News Service he hoped the initiative petition campaign would spur a statewide debate about education standards. He said that while he was campaigning in 2014, he was repeatedly approached by parents, school committee members and school administrators with concerns about the Common Core standards, including the new costs associated with implementation efforts.

Passage of the ballot question, he said, would bring Massachusetts back to pre-2010 standards that he credited for helping Massachusetts secure the nation's highest ranking for student achievement.

While the current Board of Education is trying to decide whether to move ahead with the PARCC exam, Fattman said there needs to be a "broader conversation" across the state about education standards and funding, including paying for technology infrastructure in schools.

"I learned there are a lot of people out there, this isn't really on their radar," he said.
END

-- Dan Dempsey

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