Odds and Ends

 There's a sinkhole problem in West Seattle directly on the route that buses to Pathfinder take.  This story from our friends at the West Seattle Blog.

Thought-provoking story this morning on NPR about how Eastern and Western parents view their children and their ability to learn.  (I have often thought that persistence, resilience, and encouragement are more important than what intellectual capacities you are born with.) 

Interesting article from the Huffington Post about who serves special needs children especially those with more severe disabilities. 

The high cost of educating students with special needs is disproportionately falling on traditional public schools as other students increasingly opt for alternatives that aren't always readily open to those requiring special education. 

The issue is particularly acute in districts where enrollment has declined due to demographic changes such as low birth rates and population shifts combined with an influx of charter schools and voucher programs that have siphoned off students.

School district officials say all schools that receive public funds should share the cost of special education.

"It raises an ethical responsibility question," said Eric Gordon, chief executive officer of Cleveland Metropolitan School District. "We welcome our students with special needs, but the most expensive programming is on public districts."

In Florida, they are setting new goals for student performance....based on race.  The story from the Orlando Sentinel.

The new targets approved by the State Board of Education on Tuesday set loftier for Asian and white youngsters and lower ones for black and Hispanic children.

By 2018, 90 percent of Asian students, 88 percent of white students, 81 percent of Hispanic students and 74 percent of black students are to be reading on grade level.

Similar race-based achievement targets sparked controversy in Virginia and Washington, D.C., this summer, with critics calling them a way to legalize low expectations for some students.

Oddly, several of the State Board of Education members, before the vote, asked if this was the right thing to do.  

Florida officials, however, said the targets are not meant to set lower expectations for some kids but to acknowledge current performance and outline a path for improvement. The board approved them after agreeing that an explanation for the race-based numbers be included with the new targets.

So the explanation is that all groups will improve and improvement is what matters.