tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post741218682243769880..comments2024-03-28T02:21:17.452-07:00Comments on Seattle Schools Community Forum: What is Teaching Time Really About (and how is it counted)?Melissa Westbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17179994245880629080noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-21000203443695605732014-07-17T21:29:50.531-07:002014-07-17T21:29:50.531-07:00...eviscerated FERPA...
Yes, this is the root of ...<i>...eviscerated FERPA...</i><br /><br />Yes, this is the root of the problem.<br /><br />However, it <i>can</i> be fixed at the local level if the Board has a mind to fix this problem. The data is gathered and exists at a local level (SPS), and most of it is handed out on a local level. Other than data provided to the state/OSPI, our district is not compelled to share <i>anything</i> with outside organizations.<br /><br />The first step that the Board should take, and frankly this should happen <i>immediately</i>, is to ask for a simple audit describing which groups outside SPS have access to <i>any</i> student data whatsoever, and what <i>exactly</i> that data is. Until that information has been gathered and made public there's no way to know how severe the problem is and where potential problems lie.<br /><br />There truly shouldn't be any reason <i>not</i> to do this. If there's any pushback from staff that would be a warning indicator, as in, we don't want the public to know.<br /><br />Melissa, I'm not sure if anyone else is still reading this besides mirmac and myself, but is this worth its own thread? If there's enough interest here among the blog readers, perhaps we can make a concerted effort to reach out to Board members and get their attention on this. We really need to push for a simple audit.dwnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-30706631250560340712014-07-17T20:58:13.328-07:002014-07-17T20:58:13.328-07:00There is a GIANT loophole for web-hosting vendors ...There is a GIANT loophole for web-hosting vendors (like ConnectEDU). They provide an "institutional service" so no parental notification is required under the eviscerated FERPA law. Likewise the BERC Group can conduct its annual HS graduation data analysis with your senior's data, while at the same time refining and selling its proprietary software to districts on teacher evals or whatever is the "next big thing" (as my daughter likes to say).mirmac1https://www.blogger.com/profile/10183460709639638172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-23627445324891572172014-07-17T00:32:15.622-07:002014-07-17T00:32:15.622-07:00Jan said: Whether this program does all I wish it ...Jan said: <i>Whether this program does all I wish it could is another matter. But to me this is one of the holy grails of teaching.</i><br /><br />I know I'm pulling one tiny quote out of your post, but I really want to respond, and it seemed as appropriate as anything.<br /><br />Yes, this <i>might possibly</i> be one of the holy grails of teaching <i>if it did all this analysis locally, on-site, <b>not</b> by reporting the information back to a central organization</i><br /><br />Mirmac and Melissa (and me, and a few others) have been harping on this for some time, and I'm surprised how few people "get it". In many cases, this kind of data may not feel personal in the same way that a social security number is personal, but when enough data is gathered about individual students (or anyone, for that matter), it becomes problematic in that it can be used in ways that people don't consider or frankly don't understand.<br /><br />It's not just the kids' answers, but real-time response rates, tendencies, the way you hold or move a tablet or twitch your finger, when and how often you sign in from home, <i>where</i> you sign in from home. All these things are personal data, and the big data analytic folks love, love, love to analyze this kind of data to look for patterns in the chaos. They don't care about the "why"s, only that patterns exist and can predict future behavior.<br /><br />There may indeed be some benefits that allow more individualized learning, but is it worth having our kids analyzed in ways that most people can't even understand? This is not paranoia, it's the reality of commercial interests for the most part. Insurance companies, potential employers, they are all data hungry, and the data brokers that gather this kind of information have no qualms getting it from tech education companies. And in many cases they get fully-identified data for individual kids. ConnectEdu was just one such example. Where is that data going to land?<br /><br />Leadership on this issue is going to need to come from the Board. There's no other way to get it under control. At the very least, a policy needs to be written that guarantees parents are to be notified IN ADVANCE when any data about or from their student being sent to ANY company outside the district, and parents <i>must</i> be given the choice of opting out without any negative repercussions to their child.<br /><br />When these systems can be built so that <i>ONLY</i> the district manages, owns and controls the data, then perhaps great things can come of that. Until then, we need to put our collective foot down.<br /><br />As Melissa says here: <i>one day, there will be something that you didn't want your child to participate in and it will be too late.</i>dwnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-83189672704152030932014-07-15T22:09:18.925-07:002014-07-15T22:09:18.925-07:00I can only say that you can look away and shrug bu...I can only say that you can look away and shrug but one day, there will be something that you didn't want your child to participate in and it will be too late.<br /><br />Silence can be tacit approval.Melissa Westbrookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17179994245880629080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-70240866956939394882014-07-15T16:03:00.470-07:002014-07-15T16:03:00.470-07:00Exactly! "The problem is the lack of transpar...Exactly! <i>"The problem is the lack of transparency in how this and other projects are brought into classrooms in this district."</i><br /><br />This and the sales person giving out EnVision for free on the other thread are troubling symptoms of district without strong competent leadership.<br /><br />reader47Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-50845386046805594092014-07-15T10:09:26.928-07:002014-07-15T10:09:26.928-07:00The concern is not about the specific goals of thi...The concern is not about the specific goals of this project. It may very well be a great idea. The problem is the lack of transparency in how this and other projects are brought into classrooms in this district.<br /><br />We have no idea who is doing this, when it is being done, what data is collected, or how it is used. This time it sounds pretty benign. But other projects have been brought in silently that were potentially harmful, notably some of the data collection projects being referred to here in other posts.<br /><br />SPS has a systemic and longstanding problem with opaqueness and the lack of information surrounding district affairs. Sometimes it is just due to ineptness, sometimes arrogance, but sometimes it is outright corruption.<br /><br />If I were a board member, I would make it top priority to hire a superintendent who has a proven track record of daylighting organizations with a long history of dysfunction and hidden agendas. Specifically, someone who is strong and patient enough to establish enforce open procedures that follow industry standards in all areas, and willing to get rid of anyone who has a history of intimidation.<br /><br />ObserverAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-8124581414017219212014-07-14T20:45:24.447-07:002014-07-14T20:45:24.447-07:00Reader47, not if you didn't want parents to kn...Reader47, not if you didn't want parents to know how many different items are being piloted - by your children - in SPS. Wouldn't surprise me at all.<br /><br />The "feedback" is whether the teacher can what? Get more done? Help more students? Buy more tablets and software? <br /><br />What you would get is somewhat what you get now - some kids "zooming" thru and others falling behind. I'm not sure the teacher doesn't already know which is which.<br /><br />The other issue - again - is how much of this is going on? Who decides who gets in (must it have the Gates seal of approval)? <br /><br />And, as Mirmac 1 says, who gets the data? And what data is it? Melissa Westbrookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17179994245880629080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-61983112923590268572014-07-14T19:39:57.166-07:002014-07-14T19:39:57.166-07:00The recent crisis with data-collector ConnectEDU p...The recent crisis with data-collector ConnectEDU prompts some of my questions. For example, did SPS say "here Gates guy. Johnny Smith comes from a single parent household at poverty-level. We plugged him into your software and handed you the results. In return we got...bupkus. Next year we're going to expand this experiment to 60 schools and won't let the parents know. Our method of evaluating the success is, oops. The evidence of best practice is, double oops. We've got 4 highly-paid staff beating the bushes for more of these experiments. The board directors know nothing about this because we neglected to tell them. Besides, it part of the Strategic Plan elements 1.1-1.12, 2.1-2.14, and all the others. Don't ask us to do anything else unless you get Bill's buy-off."mirmac1https://www.blogger.com/profile/10183460709639638172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-32670600780516354432014-07-14T18:34:33.795-07:002014-07-14T18:34:33.795-07:00Queen Anne Elementary is an option school, meaning...Queen Anne Elementary is an option school, meaning anyone can apply via choice for a seat, and it's somewhat alternative, in that it is heavily technology oriented/-based. Maybe QAE offers that electronic based experience you think is innovative. <br /><br />However, there is slim pickin's for supporting advanced learners. And, honey I found it incredibly off-putting to walk in to see all these kids in their own little isolation bubble staring at a screen to do their lessons. It felt not exactly very supportive of social or emotional growth, plus, screen time is very deleterious for certain children, such as those ADD ADHD. It's does bad things to thei behavior. But obviously, that is very dependent on the kind of student you have. For some, it might be a fantastic thing. Call me old fashioned, call me a dinosaur, I want my kids in front of a teacher, teaching them, not an iPad with a TFAer as a consultant to help guide them after their lessons. While society has changed, fundementally, humans have not. Kids learn by sitting around the camp fire with their parents/teachers explaining and showing and having them try it. That's the way it works. Young humans learn from other humans, not from representations of humans electronically. Babies and toddlers can't acquire language by sitting in front of a TV screen. <br /><br />But, to each there own. I support diversity of choices and options, and QAE is a fabulous school and much beloved. Just not for us.<br /><br />-teachers not iPads Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-34884089563830487192014-07-14T18:24:38.095-07:002014-07-14T18:24:38.095-07:00I acknowledge Melissa's questions about -- how...I acknowledge Melissa's questions about -- how much of this goes on, who the gatekeepers are, etc. I am way less concerned (in this case) about whether SSD got compensated for it, etc. -- and am struggling to figure out why I am not on the same page as Melissa and mirmac (I usually am). <br /><br />Here is my initial impression, I guess. This is not time missed for testing. This was actually "learning" time in all classes. It was just slightly different pedagogy -- and the thing I sort of cottoned to is -- this is what the MAP supposedly (fakily -- since it was really about teacher evaluations) was supposedly trying to do -- give real time feed back to teachers. In this case, if I understand the article, it goes even one better -- the program itself figures out why/what the kids are not understanding -- and serves up different problems based on that. Thus, if you have a kid who conceptually hasn't grasped the concept of ratios, presumably they are getting different problems than one who gets the concept -- but who can't do the math because they have trouble with computations expressed as fractions (or who is maybe just rushing through the problems). The devil is obviously in the details, but if you really could design programs so that kids zoom through what they really get, and spend more time honing in on what they don't understand -- it would be incredible. In my heart of hearts, one of the really huge things I deplore in schools is the wasting of kids' time (whether through incessant testing, by making kids who are ahead regularly act as "tutors" or helpers for legging kids, by teaching over kids' heads or beyond their abilities, though stupid and inane art projects and dioramas, by making them draw 48 dots to "show their work" in math, and by forcing kids to learn at times, or in ways that are inappropriate for their development (like forcing all 6 year olds to learn to read -- when some already learnedat 4, and others won't be ready until they are 7) -- it all strikes me as a monumental waste of childrens' childhoods -- of their lives. If you really could design learning materials so that kids face far fewer instances of wasting their time -- it would be a really, really big deal. I am with "name said." I would volunteer my kid for this in a heartbeat.<br /><br />Whether this program does all I wish it could is another matter. But to me this is one of the holy grails of teaching. How to teach 25 or 30 minds (all different in how they learn and what they already know) at one time -- without massive wasting the time of a huge number of them.<br /><br />JanAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-54151188356123402422014-07-14T17:30:53.274-07:002014-07-14T17:30:53.274-07:00Sounds interesting. I would be excited to have my ...Sounds interesting. I would be excited to have my kids test out something like that. A good teacher could plan the experiment into their unit and still ensure that the material got covered traditionally if it was a wash. Too bad Seattle doesn't have any lab schools where interested parents could send their children to learn in constantly evolving environments. Most universities have one. I wonder why UW doesn't. namenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-19134484131918034352014-07-14T16:10:17.219-07:002014-07-14T16:10:17.219-07:00Interesting - there's not 1 hit from the SPS w...Interesting - there's not 1 hit from the SPS website on either EnLearn or Mr. Popovic - you'd think someone at SPS would have written something about it that made it into official channels. <br /><br />reader47Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-37890557818419648012014-07-14T15:04:30.275-07:002014-07-14T15:04:30.275-07:00Who owns the data?
Who has a legitimate education...Who owns the data?<br /><br />Who has a legitimate educational interest? NOT a corporation/"not-for-profit" funded by Gates. Only a teacher.<br /><br />What kind of disclosure was provided to parents so they could okay or opt-out?<br /><br />What has C&I committee heard about this?<br /><br />How much staff time is spent on district/corporation/not-for-profit partnerships? mirmac1https://www.blogger.com/profile/10183460709639638172noreply@blogger.com