Tuesday Open Thread
Update: I note the article in the Times today (1/7) about the deputy superintendent in Tacoma, Josh Garcia. Mr. Garcia has now received a second national award (in as many years) for his leadership. Tacoma schools has a "whole child" measuring system.
Their graduation rate has gone from 55 to 78 percent in four years. Apparently Garcia says that it is important to write goals for students, not adults.
So this idea that there was no one else to pick in our region for superintendent might have been wrong (and again, I knew of another great pick). The Board did what they wanted to do but they cannot say that they HAD to do a national search. We have a lot of good people right in our own backyard and should have considered ALL of them for the best fit for our district.
end of update.
Really good article from Knute Berger on Seattle process and he uses the appointment of Superintendent Nyland as an example. He gets one thing right:
Just a decision that Nyland was good enough, so let’s move on.
The school board is now on the hook for the choice, which was not a unanimous decision. There’s no question here about who’s accountable.
I love that "good enough" and I guess if you, as a Board, are looking for a caretaker (albeit an expensive one), then they did do "good enough" with Nyland.
But yes, the Board is now truly accountable.
What's on your mind?
Their graduation rate has gone from 55 to 78 percent in four years. Apparently Garcia says that it is important to write goals for students, not adults.
So this idea that there was no one else to pick in our region for superintendent might have been wrong (and again, I knew of another great pick). The Board did what they wanted to do but they cannot say that they HAD to do a national search. We have a lot of good people right in our own backyard and should have considered ALL of them for the best fit for our district.
end of update.
Really good article from Knute Berger on Seattle process and he uses the appointment of Superintendent Nyland as an example. He gets one thing right:
Just a decision that Nyland was good enough, so let’s move on.
The school board is now on the hook for the choice, which was not a unanimous decision. There’s no question here about who’s accountable.
I love that "good enough" and I guess if you, as a Board, are looking for a caretaker (albeit an expensive one), then they did do "good enough" with Nyland.
But yes, the Board is now truly accountable.
What's on your mind?
Comments
Schmitz Park is getting 3 more portables. I believe that number puts us to 21 now. (may be off by 1 or 2). The school already has more kids than the new building is being built for. Adding 3 portables means the new building will be way oversubscribed when it opens. Where will the portables go on the new site?
Pathfinder is getting 1 and WS Elem is getting 2.
http://westseattleblog.com/2015/01/west-seattle-schools-six-more-portables-on-the-way/
reader47
According to the lawsuit, "FWPS disproportionately refers African-American children to special education programs without adequately addressing whether their disability and/or medical needs prevent the children from attending general education classes or prevents them from completing general education schoolwork."
The suit claims Lawrence and Katherine Williams' 5-year-old son was treated improperly by being placed into a special education classroom at Lake Grove Elementary. Ernest Saadig Morris, a civil rights attorney hired by the family, says the couple wanted the child to remain in a general education classroom.
"They pushed their child into special education because they believe it's because of race -- he's a black child with a disability," said Morris.
Morris says the child's disability does not affect his ability to learn in a general education classroom.
"Upon (the district) discovering the child had a disability he was placed and excluded into a special education setting and his mother had a problem with that and was very vocal about having that problem," said Morris.
But when Katherine Williams continued to take her concerns about the class change to teachers, administrators and the district, the suit says FWPS sent the police to deliver a criminal trespass notice to Williams that banned her from district-owned properties for one year.
"They resisted her First Amendment rights because they were tired of her. They only do that to certain parents," said Morris.
Federal Way Public Schools would not comment on the case, but did say when a letter of trespass is issued it's not taken lightly.
The family pulled the child from Lake Grove Elementary and are now home schooling. Morris says they don't want other families to face the same circumstances.
"We're going to pursue this vigorously," said Morris.
He say parents should not have to face a police officer when they're advocating for their child's education.
Just Saying
Sharon Peaslee and the majority of the board had a meeting on Thanksgiving eve (!) and attempted to push this initiative through during the holiday weekend when no one was paying attention. This is an absolute slap in the face to members of the public.
While I agree that there would never be a unanimous community decision, and stability is important, the board had the obligation to listen to the public. The public can bring issues of importance to the board. The fact remains, the majority of the board were willing to exclude the voices of the principals (!), SEA and PTSA. Thousands and thousands of individuals.
There was a last minute attempt to at a principal survey. Basically a CYA situation, and all principals did not have input.
For the record: Patu and Peters voted NO and I don't believe they approved of the process.
"Coordinates the development, secure administration, and scoring of new common summative assessments developed in currently untested subjects and grade levels in order to widen the domain of teachers for whom student growth is measured for evaluation."
It looks there will be new assessments coming. Does anyone know more about this plan? It specifically mentions 1st and 2nd grade summative assessments, but then again, it also says it's for 2013-14...
HIMSmom
Let's add this to the list of things the district believes are more valuable than retaining teachers in our schools.
- reality check
With special guest: Educator Dr. Wayne Au.
Opting Out of Standardized Tests: A Meeting in Seattle
How did we all survive without 9 or 12 hours worth standardized tests taken ON A KEY BOARD when we were in 2nd grade? How is it that any of us know anything at all??
WASTE NOT
All hires should be in the classroom for the remainder of the year and staff at headquarters should be made to do without....not the KIDS!
Inside a Chinese Test-Prep Factory
"China’s national college-entrance examination, known as the gaokao.....[in preparation a] peach farmer’s son in half-laced high-tops, Yang had spent the previous three years, weekends included, stumbling to his first class at 6:20 in the morning and returning to his room only after the end of his last class at 10:50 at night.....Nothing consumes the lives of Chinese families more than the ever-looming prospect of the gaokao. The exam — there are two versions, one focused on science, the other on humanities — is the modern incarnation of the imperial keju, generally regarded as the world’s first standardized test....the pressure to start memorizing and regurgitating facts weighs on Chinese students from the moment they enter elementary school......Perhaps nobody on campus is more motivated — and exhausted — than Maotanchang’s 500 teachers, whose jobs hinge on their students’ success. Base salaries for teachers are two to three times as high as China’s normal public-school wages, and bonuses can easily double their incomes. For each student who gets into a first-tier university, the six-member teacher teams (a head teacher and five subject teachers) share a $500 reward. “They make good money,” Yang told me, “but they face even worse pressure than we do.”
The head teachers’ schedules are so grueling — 17-hour days monitoring classes of 100 to 170 students — that the school has decreed that only young, single men can fill the job. The competition to hang onto these spots is intense. Charts posted on the walls of the faculty room rank classes by cumulative test scores from week to week. Teachers whose classes finish in last place at year’s end can expect to be fired."
The members of this committee are: Tim Bagshaw, Sally Clark, Sally Bagshaw and Jean Godden.
The committee plans on reviewing and possibly voting on:Making technical corrections to the Election Campaign Contributions Code, amending Sections 2.04.010, 2.04.150, 2.04.155, 2.04.180, 2.04.265, 2.04.270, 2.04.290, and 2.04.340.
BRIEFING, DISCUSSION, AND POSSIBLE VOTE (5 minutes, to 9:45 a.m.)
Presenter: Wayne Barnett, Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission
3. C.B. 118300 (PDF Version)
Related to reports of campaign contributions from continuing political committees; amending Seattle Municipal Code Sections 2.04.230 and 2.04.155.
It should be noted that all of these individuals are running for election and district elections has just made their campaigns a bit more difficult.
I think that testing data can be incredibly useful -- but I think that students are spending too much time on tests that aren't very useful right now. Here's what I would like to see: the state tests students every other year at most with tests that take no longer than 8 hours to administer. Since it takes months for these tests to be graded, the district would also test students once a year between 3rd and 10th grade. These tests would be short (3 hours for middle school, shorter for elementary), multiple-choice scantron tests that could be quickly graded at JSCEE using Scantron machines available for $300 on Ebay. The tests would also be written by teachers from SPS. This data would be available within a matter of weeks and returned to the students' principals and teachers and used to diagnose weaknesses in teaching, curriculum, organization, etc.
All this standardized testing reminds me of a passage from Michael Lewis's book Liar's Poker, where a very well-paid fellow Wall Street broker told Lewis, "I'd kill my son before I'd ever let him work here."
I send my kids to school for social interaction and learning, despite mountains of evidence showing they'd probably score better on standardized tests if I home schooled them. Thing is, I'm trying to raise kids, not economically powerful robots.
When we fall into the ditches of class warfare, North End vs. South End, and who wants to be who's sugar daddy, we all fall prey to the sociopaths who see our children as their piles of clay to mold as they wish. Cure cancer? Why do that when programming violent video games pays twice as much?
Yeah, yeah. Off topic? Whatever. If we can't see where this is all going, we are voluntarily blinding ourselves for the sake of our own supposed economic security. But at what cost? Where China is the new model of doing things right? Economically? Politically? Socially? Ethically? Morally?
Standardized tests score one thing and one thing only, exceedingly well: Conformity. And we have quite enough of that already.
WSDWG
assessments are terrible, so we've had to create additional assessments to gauge student progress on the CC standards. We NEED common assessments.
I have to hope this hire is a step in the right direction.
TS
Thank you for shaing your insights as a teacher. As a teacher, your opinion is based on knowledge and experience that I as a parent don't have -- please always pipe in; your contribution and those of your colleagues are vital to keep the conversation grounded in practical reality!
Having said that, in this case, the situation of testing very young children, I, as a parent, am okay with a report card for my 6 or 8 or 10 year old bring subjective. I expect it to be. I believe in teachers' judgment and therefore value their opinion about my children's academic performance and learning behaviors. I really don't need to compared elementary school child's report card to one from a child attending a school 5, 10, or 20 miles away. I am not concerned with 'grade inflation' in 3rd grade. I don't think it is a systemic problem for primary school. Indeed, it is enough that there are OSPI standardized tests from 3rd grade on in reading and math. That for me is enough. More than enough.
Other parents may be clamouring for more standardized tests for our young children; but I haven't heard that. I speak only as one parent.
I believe the teaching profession is just that: a profession. And, I am confident in teachers' trainning and professionalism to do right by our children. (which is why I am so deeply offended by the Teach For America: teaching is not for dilettantes!! It requires special training and apprenticeships and a real desire demonstrated through a comittment to be a teacher in the first place!). And look, if/when there is a teacher who is struggling, that is what your colleagues and principal are for (to support, mentor, and remediate -- but some weak apples do not, in my mind, justify the need for more standardized tests for younger children.)
Humble parent
Accurate assessments are absolutely required to determine if we are serving the struggling students.The well-off don't like testing mainly because it shows the incredible advantage that wealth gives students.
equity, equity, equity
The schools must make up for the monetary division of our society and get all kids up to an equal level so they may compete fairly with each other.
Charles
Half Full
Charles said, "The well-off don't like testing mainly because it shows the incredible advantage that wealth gives students." Objections I've heard focus more on the lost learning time and the lack of useful information that the test results provide. If a student is below standard, but you don't know what specific problems were missed, how do you target interventions? What learning is displaced when time is spent on test prep?
2cents
"Coordinates the development, secure administration, and scoring of new common summative assessments developed in currently untested subjects and grade levels in order to widen the domain of teachers for whom student growth is measured for evaluation."
The NEW administrative position is to support testing of presently untested subjects and widen the domain of teachers for whom student growth measurement.
As per usual, this does not tell us what the district is up to. Are we looking at social studies, pre-k or what?
Does the city ever fill the Family and Education Committee with NEW individuals? Was it the Family and Education Committee that gave the ok for present levy funding to support charter schools...even though the law states differently?
It sounds as though they want to have teacher evaluation data for teachers of subjects other than LA and math. PE, foreign language, art, science, social studies...??
"Those who rail at "class warfare" are ALWAYS those who desire to protect their privilege."
That's a heck of a broad statement - anything to back that up or is everyone who, for example, belongs to the ACLU just trying to "protect their privilege."
Remember Nicole Van Voorhis? She was brought on board under Gates/A4E's Strategic Plan to coordinate the whole "performance management" distraction. She's remained as, variously: Planning and Reporting Coordinator; Project Manager, Data and Assessment; Data Systems & Community Partnership Manager; and Performance Management "Consultant". Like Nathan Fitzpatrick HR who was also former TFA - they got a well-paid administrative job and burrowed in like ticks. And we all know how well HR and Data/Assessments have been going over the last five years.
Pig Trough
Teachers don't need common summative assessments to identify struggling students. The tests HIMSmom describes will be used to evaluate teachers - not to help children.
I am against testing when the time and money spent on testing could be used to provide a more valuable educational benefit to students.
You are directing the blame in the wrong direction. We are all aware that poverty puts children at a disadvantage. (We don't need to spend more time and money on testing to prove that.) Education is not a competition for knowledge and skills and the fact that some children are not affected by poverty does not affect other children's ability to learn.
Correcting economic inequity is not the mission of public schools. Society as a whole has a responsibility to identify the causes of poverty and to create policies that eradicate or remediate those causes. Standardized testing isn't going to be the answer.
- frugal teacher
I think we need to trust our educators in these situations. If TS and his/her colleagues feel these assessment would be helpful, then I don't want to get in the way. Its just like teaching math or reading, I have strong, and completely foundation-less opinions about how math should be taught to my student. I sent my kids to public school so that people who had opinions based on training and experience would teach them reading and math,
Greener Pastures
My friend said schools were circulating petitions of protest in his defense but some teachers were afraid to sign.
The SPS administration certainly inspires fear. Things are rotten at the top.
S parent
The top-down macro approach you're defending has never helped as many kids as smaller class sizes and better resources inside a school will do. The class warfare is a distraction perpetuated by the money interests who want to suck money out of our schools and into their own pockets while pretending to do equity. Watch and monitor the Charter operators for a perfect example of what I'm talking about. Watch kids become data and numbers, if not robots.
Nobody's denying the obvious inequities in our schools or society, but testing, testing and more testing is not going to change that. It's Kool-Aid. Don't drink it.
WSDWG
Evening use of light-emitting eReaders negatively affects sleep, circadian timing, and next-morning alertness.
WSDWG
Carr and Wright insisted that the MOU does not indicate that The Alliance will be involved with SEA negotiations. Peaslee stated that the school board was not able to meet with the Alliance.
It is clear that the entire board has NOT seen the draft language for the Alliance Agreement. The information will become available to the board. Of course, the board has already voted on this issue.
The Alliance's MOU states:
" Effective teaching: Supporting evidence-based contract reform and new teacher training and support initiatives"
Time will tell whether or not Carr and Wright lied to the board. Peaslee insisted that the board could not meet with the Alliance. Why not? It doesn't make sense because there are a number of ways this information could have gotten to the board.
McLaren also voted to extend the contract with The Alliance.
Look at how far we've come. We've now granted an extension so that the Alliance and the Times and the zombie Our Schools Coalition can keep pounding the dysfunction, micromanaging board drum. Wright can continue his dual role as Dep Supt (what a farce) and chief lobbyist for the Alliance. Does the board hear people laugh at them behind their backs?
Does she "hold her nose", and, vote for it anyway?
If she herself identified there is a whole lot wrong with the 'relationship' if the Alliance won't even meet because they are holding out for "neutral territory" (WTF?), then, why would she just blindly rubber stamp the whole thing? Why not do the right thing, defer, until such time as the meeting/diligence/negotiations had been completed?
I don't get why she would say (correctly) one thing, then act disregarding her own misgivings and be cowed and do another thing (vote yes).
Not being snarky, I just don't understand.
And, Director Peters rocks. She has intelligence and courage. She is all about being reasonable; when unreasonable things are presented, she is the one who questions and then cannot vote yes if the reasonable questions have no answers.
Someone can enlighten me about Director Carr? She is also very intelligent, but, she does not seem particularly courageous. Is she a make no waves person? Does that explain the difference between what she says and how she votes?
wondering
One minute she's forthright and law-and-order - she'll say amazing things out loud at committee meetings - but then, wag her finger and vote yes anyway.
I don't get it except to say that I believe the majority of the Board is being pressured to truly take control and ignore any outside pressure (note I did not say staff pressure).
It's maddening because she's one of the smartest people up there and I had hoped, for a long time that SHE would be board president. Guess I was wrong.
There is a phrase teachers use when considering what to teach to our children:
"I don't want to get Greenburged."
Sad.
And sometimes these malcontents are great teachers. They can also be terrible colleagues. They are loved by their students but hated by their fellow teachers.
From what my teacher friends tell me who've been around him, this is a fairly accurate description of Jon Greenberg.
--- swk
and that should matter....how? Sounds like backhanded character assassination, and beneath you. I have heard from teachers that the Center School principal is...well, you know.
Common Sense
That may be the debate.
They say that continuing to pursue this punishment comes off as needlessly punitive and will disrupt student learning. They want to move forward.
S parent
"Sometimes a teacher going their own way results in better outcomes for students - I can think of several math teachers that supplant the CMP and Discovering texts to achieve great results. Sometimes a teacher goes their own way and students are left not learning the base level standards for the course. If ideology and personal agenda get in the way of student learning, that's a problem, no matter if a teacher is liked or not."
And I'll second that--especially the last part, which was my child's experience. Then again, if you put a "great" teacher in a new school, working with a new population that has unique needs, and don't provide much of a curriculum, it probably shouldn't have come as a surprise when personal agenda trumps the basics--especially if the teacher is hoping to not stick around at the school.
Should've Supplemented
If you're part of a good school teaching staff, you're part of a collaborative team. Teachers support each other, or do their best to do so. When there is someone on that staff who feels above it all and treats his/her colleagues with disdain, it's toxic (especially if that teacher is popular among the students, but not among his/her peers). And when this disdain extends, which it almost always does, to administration and the district as a whole, it is an untenable situation.
And when that teacher becomes the center of a school controversy, it inevitably divides the school. There will be those among the staff who side with the teacher and there will be those among the staff who, while they may not agree with the actions of the administration, feel no obligation to support a colleague who has ignored and/or dismissed them previously. It always ends badly.
And in these cases, it's not about jealousy/envy. It's about mutual respect and collaboration and these "star" teachers tend to undercut the collaborative nature of a strong teaching staff.
Finally, I'm not saying this is definitely whats going on here. I don't have any details. But from what I've gathered from conversations, there's a side to this larger story that isn't always acknowledged.
--- swk
What is wrong with this district is that it looks petty and stupid for removing iconic teachers from schools. Our son had Greenberg’s class on race years ago and he is the kind of teacher you want in SPS.
SPS should be promoting the Center School as a city wide alternative for families who want a smaller high school with caring teachers. Instead, they pick battles with individuals like Greenberg who was strong enough to fight back.
Charters will come in and take students away from schools like Center if the administration does not nurture them and support their staff and mission.
Greenberg’s class is highly popular and one of the reasons parents send their kids to this school.
S parent
That's great that fellow teachers are supportive, and good for them for writing a letter if they feel certain that this was an instance of "double jeopardy." But their letter isn't really evidence that this is a second punishment for the same offense. They may be interpreting it that way when it's not the case. Or they may have been told that by the teacher, who is presumably the only one allowed to share that information. A teacher facing disciplinary action for inappropriate behavior may be inclined to "spin" the story a bit--especially when there's an easy excuse and a public inclined to believe.
The point is, most of us likely don't have good information on which to assess whether this suspension is right or wrong. We can get worked up all we like, but our positions are clearly based on our own biases.
Half Full
Well said. "Conversations" with people do not comprise evidence. I've seen first-hand many examples of resentment towards popular teachers. But I'm not there so I will give Greenberg and his student/parent supporters the benefit of the doubt. After all, aren't they the reason he's teaching?
I heard from a teacher friend that Jon Greenberg at Center School was suspended without pay for 2 weeks. It must be payback time for him from the administration for winning his job back last year."
Yes, Greenberg was administratively transferred to another school for the 2013 - 2014 school year. Being administratively transferred IS a disciplinary action.
In August 2014 Greenberg won this case a yearlong arbitration process with the District and with it the right to return to Center School given .
He went on unpaid leave for this first semester.
After his win he was then banned from setting foot onto the Center School campus over this first semester, even to prepare for second semester.
So now, a semester AFTER having won his case, he is to get slapped with a two - week suspension?
This is saying: Okay, we disciplined you nearly two years ago, but now that you won your case against us, we find we NEED to discipline you some more.
Is he being punished for winning or for making the District or the Center School principal look bad?
Although I don't know any teachers in the District that use the term "getting Greenberg-ed" as has been mentioned on this blog , I can say that those sentiments are very real.
--ModernSound
Should've Supplemented
Your information matches with mine.
SS
You have every right to request public records. Furthermore, you can contact those involved. Do not ask me because I will not divulge. Then ponder what do I possibly have to gain for making stuff up?
That last one was rhetorical, of course.
I also never suggested that you were making things up in the first place. My only comments were to the fact that there had been no evidence presented that the recent suspension was in fact based on the past actions, and therefore it seemed possible that the new suspension was based on a new incident. Without information, it's hard to make a call. It seems like a lot of people, however, are perfectly willing to just assume one thing or another, in the absence of actual data. Your "your information matches with mine" comment addressed a post that similarly lacked any detail or real sense of insider knowledge as to what's really going on here. It came off instead as "yes, I can confirm that I've heard the same rumor, so it must be true."
I'm not saying--at all--that things aren't exactly as you claim them to be. It may very well be the true that the district has slapped on a second punishment for the same offense. The recent article in the Seattle PI does seem to suggest this to be the case, although the sloppiness of the article raises a bit of suspicion as to the overall accuracy of any of it. However, I don't know you, don't know where you get your facts or hear your rumors, and I hate to see people jumping on the bandwagon just because someone guesses that this must be payback for JG. I assume you agree with me that you'd like to see people on the blog act in the face of good evidence, not hearsay, right?
Oh, and thanks for the reminder that people can always request public records. I'm not particularly interested in the ins and outs of an individual personal personnel matters, although I do hope that JL takes the issue up with SPS via his union if he feels he's receiving a second punishment for the same thing. If that's the case, it certainly doesn't seem right.
SS
Sorry, anon at 10:34, I don't know what you're talking about, and I don't see how it's relevant here anyway. Are you suggesting it is somehow related to Mr. Greenberg's time at HIMS?
SS