Open Thread Friday
From the Republican forum held last night: Mitt Romney thinks Barack Obama doesn't know anything about jobs because he believes Obama never had a job.
Well, Obama was a law professor at the University of Chicago for a decade so I guess we know what Romney thinks of higher ed. And if he thinks teaching constitutional law isn't teaching and teaching isn't a job then you can guess what he probably thinks of teachers.
(But he also said at a rally that corporations are people so he's onboard with the Supreme Court on that one.)
This is the last weekend before the primary. Good luck to all the candidates and get those ballots in!
Well, Obama was a law professor at the University of Chicago for a decade so I guess we know what Romney thinks of higher ed. And if he thinks teaching constitutional law isn't teaching and teaching isn't a job then you can guess what he probably thinks of teachers.
(But he also said at a rally that corporations are people so he's onboard with the Supreme Court on that one.)
This is the last weekend before the primary. Good luck to all the candidates and get those ballots in!
Comments
And you knew this was coming...assessments to match the Common Core Standards.
http://www.k12.wa.us/smarter/
organizations and interested stakeholders are invited to provide feedback on the ELA/literacy content specifications through August 29
Round 1 of Mathematics content specifications will be released Aug 22, with coments due Sept 12.
reader
-CT
Thanks
Ben
grumpy
(I had a feeling that some parents would not want to give out their routing numbers on their checking accounts to the district for Pay for K.)
Do you really think the District is so messed up that they're going to continue charging every month if you've already paid in advance for the year?
Double dipping remittance. Gosh, will need to hire more consultants to count. Oh, the same goes for wheelbarrow full of pennies.
-the new district CCC for economic/job stimulus
I really need to set the record straight here. Someone who posts as Rosie Reader on Save Seattle Schools and Cliff Mass' blog has publicly claimed that I had nothing to do with the rehire of Martin Floe and that I became active on this page only to promote my campaign for School Board Director. So here's the truth, for Rosie Reader and others. I wrote and managed the online petition to rehire M...artin Floe, and I think you're fully aware of that since you very likely gave feedback that I incorporated into the petition. After the peition was signed by 910 people in 3 days I sent it to all School Board members, the Seattle Times and other news outlets. I sent an additional editorial to Seattle Times which they ran. I spent several weeks asking if anyone was planning to run for School Board in District 1, in hopes that someone would. I did all of this before I decided at the very last minute to jump into the School Board race myself because no one else would or could. And if Rosie Reader is on this FB page she knows this all very well. So I have to wonder why she is publicly attempting to discredit me, and I hope she does not continue to do so. It reflects poorly on her.
http://www.nwea.org/common-core-standards
As of June 2011, 45 states (and the District of Columbia) have adopted the Common Core Standards. The holdouts are Texas, Nebraska, Virginia, Montana and Alaska.
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2011/06/common-standards_watch_north_d.html
reader
I am David L. Jones, president ASCD Alaska. I was on a committee for DEED Alaska reviewing the Common Core Standards in Math. I reviewed the Elementary Math portion. The standards were developmentally inappropriate in many areas and completely missing some strands of mathematics. Additionally these standards are not constructed in a manner that a test could be built from what they currently have that would give data that was reliable. The state of Alaska has reviewed their original draft and now what they claim to be their final draft. It is difficult to fathom that anyone working on this test had any elementary teaching background. Alaska again has rejected the Common Core Standards. If what the Common Core Standards is trying to achieve is higher scores on international tests we have lost sight of what should be the goals of public education. [November 23, 2010]
reader
SG
I just had an echeck sent from my bank for the lump sum. They credited me and I haven't had a problem.
Another K parent!
On Aug. 9th the WA State Board of Ed had a special meeting and approved the following:
"Cut scores for the End of Course mathematics exams (algebra 1/Integrated 1 and geometry/Integrated 2) and the Measurements of Student Progress in 5th and 8th grade Science."
(The end of course exams are new this year. My guess would be that too many failed the test, so the passing bar had to be lowered). The results will be announced Aug 31st on the OSPI website.
Originally, I had heard that Hamlin Robinson had a lease agreement with SPS for TTM through 2015. I'd also heard that there was a clause within the contract to allow for early termination w/ (?) notice.
I later heard that there was a state law that allowed school districts to be released from rental agreements (with less notice) if the bldg was needed as a public school.
Most recently I heard facilities claim that SPS would not look at reopening TTM as there is a 15 year lease.
Anyone know the details or how to find them? The conflicting second hand info is driving me nuts.
--TTM neighbor
[Rick] Perry, who won election to his third term as Texas governor last year, trashed the administration’s signature education initiative, Race to the Top, and rejected the administration-backed Common Core State Standards effort (which all but six states, including Texas, have agreed to adopt).
In a letter to Arne Duncan, Perry wrote, “I will not commit Texas taxpayers to unfunded federal obligations or to the adoption of unproven, cost-prohibitive national curriculum standards and tests.... We believe that education policy, curriculum and standards should be determined in Texas, not in Washington D.C.”
from "The Perry-Obama education fight", by Valerie Strauss, 8/14/2011
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/the-perry-obama-education-fight/2011/08/12/gIQAQ65AFJ_blog.html
reader
The truth is there is a clause that allows the district to get out of a rental lease IF the building is to be used for district educational purposes. However, I do believe there is a window of time for which it then becomes more costly for the district to do this.
Meaning, if the school has been closed X years, the district has to do certain things to the building to meet whatever codes are in place and have the City recertify it as for use as a school. I am not certain as to the window of time but it's probably less than 5 years.
WV says "sarky." I am wondering where the "n" went.
Am I right in thinking that it is not possible to access a High School student's past years' grades (and class rank and other info that appears on their report cards) via The Source? (Not even last year's info is available now.)
My kid needs to start filling out college applications and I don't see any way to access all of that information from The Source. It seems sort of ridiculous since that info must be in the system somewhere. Do I really have to request a paper transcript from a counselor?
And Snarky, thanks for the reminder about Hamlin's interested in MLK. You may be on to something as far as HR having received special consideration for TTM. I appreciate HR too- but something feels off about the arrangement there.
Anyone know where I can look for the details on a state law that allows districts to terminate leases if property is needed for educational purposes?
Looking for facts-
--TTM Neighbor
-answer
Seconded. Thank you Sharon, for stepping up to this, it's no small task. Good luck!
You'll probably want to check a few days after your request to make sure they were sent. But once a student applies to a college, most of them have online checklists where they can look to see what the admissions office has already recieved and what is still missing.