Friday Open Thread
The Times reports on new state standards for Science which sound great (except they left out Computer Science and I think that's a mistake). But the story really misses one huge thing: Common Core which is likely to come out with its own standards. What happens then? Hmm.
No director community meetings for Saturday but there is a candidate debate on Sunday the 6th sponsored by the Rainier Chamber of Commerce and First Thursday at the Ark Lodge Cinemas. The debate includes one between Sue Peters and Suzanne Dale Estey. Space is limited so you need to register. (I note the endorsement of the Times to Dale Estey and Blanchard. Their reasoning on Dale Estey has changed somewhat since their early one. (For parents who HAVE been in the district for longer than say, a couple of years, it's kind of puzzling to have the Times say Dale Estey's work in an SPS school is a reason to elect her.)
Congratulations are in order for President Kay Smith-Blum who was awarded the 2013 Nellie Cashman Business Owner of the Year award. She won the Women Business Owner award.
What's on your mind?
No director community meetings for Saturday but there is a candidate debate on Sunday the 6th sponsored by the Rainier Chamber of Commerce and First Thursday at the Ark Lodge Cinemas. The debate includes one between Sue Peters and Suzanne Dale Estey. Space is limited so you need to register. (I note the endorsement of the Times to Dale Estey and Blanchard. Their reasoning on Dale Estey has changed somewhat since their early one. (For parents who HAVE been in the district for longer than say, a couple of years, it's kind of puzzling to have the Times say Dale Estey's work in an SPS school is a reason to elect her.)
Congratulations are in order for President Kay Smith-Blum who was awarded the 2013 Nellie Cashman Business Owner of the Year award. She won the Women Business Owner award.
What's on your mind?
Comments
From WA DC in the WA Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/shining-a-light-on-dc-test-scores/2013/10/03/5977feea-2c57-11e3-97a3-ff2758228523_story.html
Again transparency was lacking and the public held in the dark about what constituted the cut scores etc.
The biggest variation was not in reading but math. (It was reported that the math scores declined from the originally reported 53% proficient to 45.5% proficient.)
From the article:
"Catania said he was happy the “correct scores” were released. “I believe you fix issues by facing them,” he said. “You don’t change the rules when no one’s looking.”
OSSE also kept key education leaders in the dark. Smith said she knew nothing of Noel’s decision until Catania and The Post’s Emma Brown began investigating. Why was a bureaucrat, just a few weeks in his position, allowed to take such significant action without prior approval from the interim state superintendent or the deputy mayor?"
So what do we know about WA State's Algebra End of Course assessment cut score changes from year to year?
This appears to be a nation wide boondoggle and here comes CCSS Smarter Balanced all computer testing with SBAC headed up by Dr. WASL Joe Wilhoft.
I am also concerned about who is funding Estey, she has some pretty heavy hitters backing her and I can't help wonder if there are favors that will need to be returned if she gets the seat on the board.
I also like that Peters has been through middle school and I believe now has a student in high school, you see a lot over the years!
K-3 is still all unicorns and puppy dogs, for the most part.
To even begin to counterbalance the impact these heavy-hitters have, Peters' supporters need to send along any contribution they can. Here is the link to do so.
Support Sue Peters
HP
Timeline
So what do we know about WA State's Algebra End of Course assessment cut score changes from year to year?
I am not sure what you mean by this? I received my daughter's EOC Algebra results last night at Hale Curriculum night. She did really well though the whole scoring thing was confusing. She was Level 4.
HP
Since EOC scores were mentioned, let's use those as an example.
http://www.k12.wa.us/assessment/StateTesting/TestStatistics.aspx
If you click on the "frequency distribution report" (bottom of page), it will take you to a spreadsheet for 2012. Scrolling to the EOC 1 page, you can see a scale score of 443 (cut score for a 4) was obtained by 71.8% of students. 443 out of a possible 675 points. I will leave it to you to decide if that's "good." A scale score around 500, on the otherhand, was around 95th percentile. Only 50 students statewide achieved a perfect score of 675 (2012 statistics).
-number cruncher
Is it a "real" science? You have me there.
Crownhill, that kind of thing has been driving me crazy and I have tweaked but I will try again.
Concerned, I'm sure the district and/or the Alliance is footing the bill. What value it is to the district, I cannot say.
I'd love to see a thread sometime on split classes (2 or more grades in one classroom) in elementary school. What are parents opinions? Do they work? Are they better, and if so what are the advantages? Or- is the teacher having to cover too much ground and are kids missing some content?
With the capacity crunch and the SEA contract on overages, it seems that SPS is putting more pressure on schools to have split classrooms, and I wonder if it's working.
Seeking feedback
Tina
Our second school had some split grades and my student was in split classes for many years. It worked fine, though sometimes the kid dynamics were harder because developmentally kids were sometimes in different places, so with only half the number of same grade/same gender peers in a classroom, some kids sometimes felt a little lonely; other times it worked great with opportunities to be the older leaders or the younger learners in a split class. Again, math was harder to split, but worked. Also harder to split with required state history year for one grade or other grade specific curriculum requirements.
--Lorna
My child's score was still high, albeit 9 points lower than last spring, but it's bothering me on principle.
Any reaction to this? I'm curious what others think. Am I wrong to be bothered by this?
-SPS mom
Seattle NW Parent
However, the regular teacher went on maternity leave halfway through the year, and the sub we got was okay but inexperienced and maybe a little beyond his comfort level, and the split class made it just that much harder for him.
-Asked Questions
http://climatechangeforfamilies.com/2013/09/18/2-academies-in-seattle-october-26th/
Anyone know how we can find out what the scores were? I know the high school kids got theirs this week.
thanks
Curious
http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/Main-Menu/Public-education/Eight-characteristics-of-effective-school-boards
1. Effective school boards commit to a vision of high expectations for student achievement and quality instruction and define clear goals toward that vision.
3. Effective school boards are accountability driven, spending less time on operational issues and more time focused on policies to improve student achievement. -
5. Effective school boards are data savvy: they embrace and monitor data, even when the information is negative, and use it to drive continuous improvement.
check the link for the other 5.
Question to all who've been at this a lot longer than I have: Which candidates are going to help this board be more effective?
Eden
"Question to all who've been at this a lot longer than I have: Which candidates are going to help this board be more effective?"
SUE PETERS in District 4. No question about that.
SPS mom
please tell me more.
Specifically, how have any of the candidates demonstrated leadership of any/all of those characteristics?
Thanks,
Eden
-Asked Questions
One, our Board does a lot of this (and has gotten beaten over the head by the Alliance and others to the point where they have completed stepped back from their accountability authority).
Two, I think it is difficult to say, for certain, who can/will follow all these.
If you believe these are the most important items in a school board member, you might write the candidates and ask. I have not seen any of them say endorse these outloud or on their websites.
I think what you CAN see from the candidates is their backgrounds. Have they worked in collaboration with others on teams? Have they shown actual leadership? Do they know the district? Is what they advocate for aligning with these objectives?
I could go on but after the ballots drop, I'll write more.
Her quote: As Dr. Libros has said, a high volume of repeated emails expressing a particular point of view slows the process of reviewing comments; our goal is to be sure that all viewpoints are considered, rather than to tally opinions. So, if you know that your views are in agreement with others already expressed, refraining from commenting will speed up our process of assessing your viewpoints.
I strongly disagree with this advice. I think both SPS administration and the Board needs to hear from everyone about these issues. Otherwise a loud minority sounds just the same as a quiet majority, and it's easy for the district to make whatever decisions they want (often based on mysterious or flawed logic) since there will always be opinions on both sides of any issue. This doesn't mean "mob rules" is okay, where the 70% majority can tell the 30% minority to go to hell (Wedgwood Spectrum comes to mind), but it really is important to know whether there are 7 angry parents bitching about a relatively small problem, or 400 parents with a widespread cause for concern.
As just one example, I think there is some momentum around changing Wilson Pacific from elementary and middle to middle and high, particularly to get needed high school seat online earlier. There are certainly pluses and minuses to both plans, but if those affected are 80% in favor of this it's a lot different than if only 20% are in favor. None of us know what the real #s are, nor are we ever likely to without a public survey. Even if the district publishes results of their feedback (which happens sometimes), it's not realistic data if they're discouraging duplicate feedback.
Thoughts?
If there are workings behind the scenes from vocal parents, and I don't know what messages are going out, all I can do is submit individual feedback.
with DW
Sue Peters has been endorsed by Seattle Education Association.
Peters will be able to work with the current school board.
A central theme in Estey's campaign is board "dysfunction" and Estey is the savior that will bring everyone together.
It is against board policy to speak negatively about staff or colleagues in public. Considering Estey has used her campaign to bash her potential colleagues, repeatedly, it is counter-intuitive that Estey will have the ability to work in a collaborative fashion.
Common sense, please.
http://www.rainierchamber.com/Default.aspx?pageId=21012&eventId=765874&EventViewMode=EventDetails
SPS mom
We've already seen what Matt Griffin will do to support his choice. BTW, he was the most outspoken millionaire in support of Teach for America in our city of well-trained, committed teachers.
Great to see you!
Are we to believe that Estey is unaware that Steve Ballmer and the CFO of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation contributed to her campaign?
Sure, Estey likes data, but she also likes tracking personal student information and student discipline records.
If you're looking for transparency, you better look beyond Estey.
For those concerned about student data privacy, there is a HUGE front page story in the NYT today on the subject.
FWIW, I do think SPS needs to think long term about its own standards on data sharing, which it does right now. An opt-out option seems a simple solution, but I also don't want the district to offer that promise, but not be able to manage its technology and operations in such a way that the promise becomes a source of broken promises and liability.
The best place to start is a community discussion coupled with technology assessment.
Federal law on this issue does not do much to protect families who want data privacy, so this would need to be a question of our own community's standards and resources.
EdVoter
Not turning back on this one.
Stay tuned.