Dr. Goodloe-Johnson's Q&A

Here is the Q&A from today's on-line Times' forum with Dr. Goodloe-Johnson. I submitted the question about what she said about SPS at an administrators' conference but it didn't make the cut for questions. (I don't know who vetted the questions.)

I thought she did pretty well except for the alternative schools question. I hate it when people don't directly answer the question put to them, namely, has she read the alternative schools policy and committee report? It's a simple question. I think our alternative schools may be quite different from what she has seen in the past and it may just be she hasn't visited enough of them to see the difference. That said, there's information right there at the headquarters.

Comments

Anonymous said…
This was an interesting format that I don't think worked too well. It was obvious from looking at the date and and time of the 9 questions that were answered that there was definite picking and choosing.

As with her KUOW interview, there was actually very little information about what she is going to do revealed. I wonder what she has seen in SPS that she actually would be willing to say she likes.

I would have loved to have seen the answer to your question, Melissa. I was shocked that a new superintendent would say those things to as very public audience. If employees weren't on the defensive already, they will be now.
Anonymous said…
I think she did just fine. The nature of the format is that it's moderated so people don't swear at her and so the Times can get a decent variety of questions. I think it was pretty well balanced. They didn't answer my question either, but I bet they had a lot.
Charlie Mas said…
I thought she was more forthcoming than she was on KUOW. Also warmer and more precise. I think she's more comfortable with written words.
Eric B said…
Can someone explain to me what she might mean by the statement "I do believe that students in alternative schools should be taught the expected curriculum, although the methods of that teaching can differ."
How is curriculum different the method of teaching? I don't think she means the same outcomes, since curriculum goes far beyond the strict outcomes. Thanks.
Anonymous said…
I think she means that children in alternative schools should follow the EALR's that every other school follows. In other words, they should have to teach the same subject matter. However, they have some autonomy as to how they teach the materials. For instance, one alternative school, AEII, is an experiential learning school. They cover the same subject matter that a traditional school covers, however they use an expierential or hands on, inquiry based approach when teaching the material. They may learn about bacteria by going on a field trip to a stream and collecting samples, while a traditional school may learn about bacteria in school via a text book or lab experiment. An alternative school may teach writing by having their kids write an opera, and then perform their opera, where a traditional school teaches writing by having a student do a book report. These are just a couple of examples.
Anonymous said…
Just to clarify, I didn't mean that traditional schools teach writing only in the form of book reports. I meant that a book report is one of the more traditional approaches to teach writing, and thus is more widely used in a traditional setting. Of course traditional schools use many different tools to teach writing.
Jet City mom said…
what I have found is that the "alternative" schools are less experiential than the "traditional" schools.

For example- in my daughters alternative middle school, there were few field trips and fewer that were related to curriculum ( but widely varied by teacher- she didn't have a teacher that utilized outside the classroom instruction)

However, in her traditional high school, she went on a very hands on marine science overnight field trip,translated recipes in her language class and made a meal,and found that the traditional high school teachers were much more accessible and available for help and support outside the regular school day, than in her "family" oriented alternative school.

I think G-J is on the right track when she says that all schools should be expecting and supporting students to perform at the highest level- site based management- is very very good when it works, but when it doesn't, the kids suffer.

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