Wednesday Open Thread
Summer time and the living is easy - why did someone write that? I'm busier than ever and this got away from me again.
What's on your mind?
What's on your mind?
Tuesday Open Thread
The speaker list is up for the Board meeting tomorrow; not as packed as I thought with just four people on the waitlist. The majority of the speakers are speaking on high school boundaries (with several wanting to talk about Ballard High). There are only three of us speaking about the Green Dot resolution asking the City to not grant the zoning departures that Green Dot has requested. It's me, long-time watchdog, Chris Jackins, and the head of the Washington State Charter Schools Association, Patrick D'Amelio. (I knew Mr. D'Amelio when he headed the Alliance for Education and Big Brothers and Big Sisters; he's a stand-up guy.)
Comments
For the story, I'm hoping to talk with parents and teachers at the following schools: Jane Addams, Sacajawea, Greenwood, McClure, TOPS, Alki, Pathfinder, Gatewood, Arbor Heights, Ingraham, McGilvra, Leschi and
The story is kind of complicated, so I will spare you the details here, but please contact me directly if you are a parent/teacher at one of these schools, or know somebody who is.
Thanks a lot,
Brian M. Rosenthal
Staff reporter, The Seattle Times
brosenthal@seattletimes.com
(206) 464-3195
Sorrel
http://www.k12.wa.us/resources/pubdocs/StateTesting.pdf
parent
we need to wait until schedules have been put together, and make sure that teachers have the least amount of time possible to figure out what the test results mean and what they can do about the results.
and teachers need union leaders who fall all over themselves compromising to the lie that VAM is valid.
ScienceBeatsDinnerWithBillToadies
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/priorities-football-education
It takes this long to score the MSP, verify the scores, and get the score reports out to schools. The tests could be scored immediately if the test were simply all multiple choice items, but the state wants a richer, more valid test. Therefore, the MSP includes a majority of short answer and extended response items, which take longer to score.
Also, the state administers the MSP late in the year to ensure that as much instruction as possible can occur before testing on that year's content. Again, this pushes the scoring out.
Aside from the elimination of statewide standardized testing (which is unlikely to happen in the foreseeable future) or making the test all MC items, this is the fastest scores can be returned. Besides, large-scale summative assessments are not designed to provide data on instructional interventions for individual students. They can be useful for evaluating the effectiveness of instuctional programs, but only after multipile years of administration. So, getting the scores back sooner would not substantially affect their usefulness.
--- someone who knows
Ravitch says: Rhee is wrong and misinformed
Volunteer to tutor a child. Make a difference in her life.
Thanks,
Newel
Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2012 1:12 PM
Subject: Teaching & Learning Leadership Appointment
The following is a message from Bob Boesche, Interim Deputy Superintendent
Dear Seattle Public Schools staff and community,
I am writing today to tell you that Wendy London, who was serving as Interim Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning, made the difficult decision to resign from her position. I want to thank her for her leadership and for balancing both the interim role and her duties as Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction – two very demanding positions. We all wish her well.
For the next two weeks, Kimberly Kinzer, our Manager of Early Learning, will serve as Interim Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning. I want to thank Kimberly for stepping into this position until Aug. 24 while we prepare for a national search to fill this leadership role in Teaching and Learning.
Also during the next two weeks we will create a more sustainable interim leadership plan. It’s our goal to have a smooth start to the 2012-13 school year, while also spending time recruiting top talent for this position. We will give you an update in two weeks on our longer term plan. We hope to permanently fill this position in the fall.
Sincerely,
Bob Boesché
Interim Deputy Superintendent
Seattle Public Schools
Please tell the building level administrators (principals and assistant principals) that they are allowed now to stop using harassment, bullying and predatory tactics to force out all of the District's senior teachers.
This practice began when MGJ told principals that their continued employment with the District was contingent on "fast-tracking out the dead wood".
Over the last three years this practice has been largely carried out by principals with little or no teaching experience. A raft of public information documents has been released that demonstrate that several of the principals have never trained as teachers and have no teaching or classroom experience. They possess neither the skills nor knowledge to be "instructional leaders".
A large percentage of teachers who have been forced out or are currently on probation are those who have successfully worked with the District's most challenged students. We believe we have been easy targets for the District's "exit" strategies as the parents of our students typically have severe economic, language and social obstacles to overcome in order to advocate for their students and those students' teachers.
We have been easy prey for the Rhee and Reform inspired hive mind that nationally has subjected over 30% of experienced teachers to administrative bullying.
The policies and procedures set in motion by Goodloe-Johnson and never amended by Enfield have made principals into "leaders" that we are sure they never wanted to be. School communities have been ripped apart by the actions taken by principals that demean and traumatize teachers to the extent that they are no longer able to be effective teachers and must leave their classroom. We all teach in fear that we will be the next teacher to be targeted.
As I mentioned at the outset of this post-principals currently do not have a method or means to back track on the course of career ending damage they instituted.
We the "Teachers' Defense Committee" are organized to fight the District on several legal fronts.That process is already underway.
Please don't allow this battle to continue. All we want is the harassment to stop and be allowed to be the effective and caring teachers that we have been-most of us during a successful career spanning over two decades- without the distraction of constant scrutiny and interference.
Please give the the principals a way out.
Please suspend or end all current probation processes.
Please allow the capable and well intended Paul Apostle some breathing room from all of the numerous and overwhelming "settlement" proceeding that have gone on at a rate never seen in District history.
I believe that just a few kindly spoken words or a brief written communication from you or Superintendent Banda would be all that is necessary to stop the madness that has nearly destroyed building staff over the last ugly three years.
Respectfully,
Salander
I don't know how many people work grading the tests or what hours they work. I assume some poor teacher is not spending the entire summer grading 500,000 answers to the same question. Of course, it could be done in time, if it were a priority to have enough people working on it.
It seems to me that the MSP could provide one useful piece of information on a student's placement in the new year's classes, along with the prior teacher's recommendation, beginning of the year tests, and maybe the MAP tests, if only the MSP were graded in time.
I did not intend to defend, merely explain. If I came off as defensive, I did not mean to. My apologies.
And, yes, you are correct. More scorers could be hired and the size of the scoring facilities increased in order to decrease the time between administration and score release, but this would add substantial costs to the assessment. Hand-scoring is one of the most costly aspects to the assessment program.
Also, nearly every state in the nation administers their statewide assessment in the spring. Therefore, all of these tests need to be scored in the late spring and summer. I'm frankly not sure all of the testing companies could find enough scorers to get the turnaround I think you'd like to have.
Let me say, it's not a lack of priority that causes delays to getting the scores. It's the issues I've previously noted --- short answer/extended response items that need a person to score, the timing of the adminstration (late spring), and cost. I think everyone involved would like to turn the scores around sooner.
--- someone who knows
Remember, unlike MAP, MSP is very carefully designed to assess only the current grade level benchmarks. So by its design, MSP isn't a great tool as far as advanced placement (skipping ahead), which is predominantly a math thing. It might be a good tool to help with placement for kids that are struggling and should either repeat a class or get extra support.
CT
Parent
Rainier Beach High PTSA to be honored at White House
I had assumed these were timed tests - no movies until test time was over, but he said you get as much time as you needed on MSP.
Anyone out there know the real story?
The tests are untimed. Students, within reason, get as much time as they need to complete the test.
--- someone who knows
swk is right about the time allowed, and I'll chime in with one more tidbit. Usually, the kids that take the longest are the ones that do better, and it's a good idea to let kids know this in advance so they're not tempted to do things like quit early. It's unfortunate that the teacher had a movie running. Not exactly encouraging for the kids to continue working on their test.