Friday Open Thread
Coming threads:
- Some in Congress are trying to rewrite the legislation that brought us NCLB. And it's a dozy and it's started a real fight (just like Common Core).
- Interesting event put on by the Alliance yesterday at a school board conference here in Seattle. Much was said that was surprising given the Board infighting. (Also, look for that to continue in the Times soon. I wonder how that could be if they all agreed, just recently, to support each other. I think there's the fine hand of Michael DeBell at work - again.)
- also the Inside Man series on CNN with Morgan Spurlock is featuring the MAP boycott this Sunday, the 21st, at 7 pm.
What's on your mind?
- Some in Congress are trying to rewrite the legislation that brought us NCLB. And it's a dozy and it's started a real fight (just like Common Core).
- Interesting event put on by the Alliance yesterday at a school board conference here in Seattle. Much was said that was surprising given the Board infighting. (Also, look for that to continue in the Times soon. I wonder how that could be if they all agreed, just recently, to support each other. I think there's the fine hand of Michael DeBell at work - again.)
- also the Inside Man series on CNN with Morgan Spurlock is featuring the MAP boycott this Sunday, the 21st, at 7 pm.
What's on your mind?
Comments
However, the recent grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to the Solutions Journalism Network is not reported on the website. This grant was mentioned recently in the Seattle Times as the Seattle Times was a recipient to report on solutions to educational issues in the Seattle area.
Mr. Bornstein did not answer my question about how much the grant was or what the project entailed. This was his response:
"We will be working with the paper to help them develop a series that looks at a broad array of creative responses to problems in education in Seattle and elsewhere. Our focus is on assisting them with the craft of solutions journalism and the development of this solutions-oriented series; they retain final editorial control. You will have to judge the results for yourself when the stories come out. We believe that it will be a series with journalistic integrity, not a PR job for the foundation; we are fully aware that foundation funding for journalism comes with a lot of scrutiny -- and we welcome your attention."
Mr. Bornstein further states that the grant will be reported on the website soon and that he currently is in Seattle ironing out the details of the grant.
I am underwhelmed. The Seattle Times has a decidedly slanted stance when it comes to education, particularly when it comes to reporting facts about education reform.
But I am going to argue that there is another equally strong leg to the case that is just as wrong, and that is the "Stand your ground" law which makes it legal to shoot someone if you are afraid of them.
The Stand Your Ground law in Florida was developed by gun manufacturers, gun shops and the money and lobbying power of the NRA. It passed both houses and was signed into law by Jeb Bush in 2005. At that point the law was turned into "model legislation" by ALEC (The American Legislative Exchange Council)and shared with legislators across the United States so that now 22 states have virtually the same law on the books.
This is the same process ALEC uses to push for laws that require voter ID, lower taxes, weaken environmental regulations, weaken unions and privatize prisons and schools.
You may or may not be surprised that ALEC currently has a 501(c)3 status as a public charity despite its extensive lobbying. This status is being challenged by Common Cause and other groups, but thus far, there is no change in status.
Notably in Florida a group of STUDENTS is protesting the Stand Your Ground Law and met with Governor Rick Scott overnight. Scott defended his position to not amend the Stand Your Ground" law, and instead issued a proclamation today for a "statewide day of prayer for unity."
HP
Washington is sort of in a gray zone when it comes down to this question. It has a justifiable homicide law which does not deal with the question of whether a person has to retreat or have nowhere to retreat to, before firing a gun in so-called self defense. The difference between our law and the Stand Your Ground laws is that those laws specifically state there is no duty to retreat when there is a perceived threat. Even so, I have seen Washington's law listed as a Stand Your Ground law by some websites.
It is either a blessing or a curse to be this old and have had this much experience and history in our Seattle Public Schools. The students made it all worthwhile though.
This said, I need to correct some misunderstandings and comments regarding the academic achievement of African American students at the now closed African American Academy.
In reality, as measured by standardized test scores, African American students at the African American Academy did well. African American Academy students from single parent homes, or who received free or reduced lunch services, scored significantly higher than African American students with the same demographic characteristics at other Seattle Public Schools. My husband, who often served as temporary principal at the AAA, frequently tracked student achievement scores at the Academy and compared them with achievement scores at other Seattle Public Schools.
I've probably told you all before how much I love Alfie Kohn but in his education book he talks about a Kohn-esque classroom (e.g. student-centered, democratic, intrinsically motivation, etc) helping behavior and learning even for a class of THE MOST disillusioned, disruptive students.
Not that I think I know the solution, but ed reform strikes me as giving poor/minority kids what white people think they need, rather than what they really need, and not stopping to think or listen when it doesn't really work. I'm SO bored with the talking points recently recycled by Liv Finne. It's time to try something different. Something kinder & gentler please...
Rant over. What do I know.
Mary, thanks for the clarification. I had read conflicting information.
HP
How many schools did you include? Enough to really have a robust, city-wide regression line?
This makes me want to scream! Do you know how many times I heard "AAA just isn't working, the kids are NOT doing better" prior to it being closed? I'd always wondered about this exact thing, i.e. FRL vs. any meaningful benchmarks, but never saw it collated.
Do you still have those documents? Some of the data might still be around. It might be kicking a dead horse, but hard data like that is valuable.
Guest: Focus on reforms that work in Seattle teacher contract
“its hard to not just respond to loud voices,” she says. “But when we set goals, we have to keep our eye on the ball.”
Doesn't sound like Estey will be at all responsive to community,
Voting Peters.
Here is what Charlie Staadecker had to say in relation to education. Glad this guy doesn't have a chance:Charlie Staadecker said the city should hold back funding from the schools if certain benchmarks aren’t passed in areas such as third grade reading, eighth graders passing algebra and graduation and drop-out rates.
Murray is interested in looking at board governance. Very concerning.
I am relieved that finally this fact is being discussed. If the AAA data is compared to data of other option K-8s that were not under the no-child-left-behind-standards you will find that AAA was performing better than most of those schools. It was the only one targeted and closed. They all had performance problems, especially in the 6-8 portions of the schools. AAA was targeted with the federal standards due to the ratio of free and reduced lunch students. Middle class schools were not disrupted since those schools did not have a high enough number of free and reduced lunch students to be held to the rules under the federal guidelines. The fact that areas of poverty and revitalization could be so easily disrupted with little chance to make their case was atrocious. Again and again low income students are constant targets of experiments with little consideration that they and their neighborhoods need room and opportunities to build stable good accessible neighborhood and option schools like everyone else. These neighborhoods and students deserve better. During many meetings many have dismissively nodded politely as I explained that AAA's performance was as good, if not better than the most of the other K-8s in the district at the time. I believe the stewards of AAA were as willing as any other school to make any necessary changes with little support from the District. The recognition of the facts would have made for better discussions with them.