Tuesday Open Thread
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| Scratch art by Ava Code-Williams |
In a battle of the titans, the state boys basketball title went to Garfield who beat Rainier Beach High School, 64-51 last weekend. Congrats to Garfield and a good effort by all. (RBHS had beat Garfield for the Metro title but Garfield turned the tables on them in the state finals.)
SPS was also awarded a 2014 Gold Star by Governor Inslee for getting students signed up for the College Bound Scholarship program. SPS signed up 100% of eligible 8th graders.
Yesterday was the Curriculum and Instruction Committee meeting. I wasn't able to go but I know that Director Peters was going to try to get the SBAC issue on the agenda (as she was told to do at the Board meeting). I don't know if she was successful.
I note that League of Education Voters (and other groups like the faux Our Schools group) are heavily pushing pre-K. This is fine except that LEV was one of the plaintiffs on McCleary which is about K-12. Anyone watching public education in this state can see that there is now this movement to include pre-K AND higher ed in McCleary.
I do believe in the continuum of pre-k to higher ed but I also believe that since it is K-12 that is the state's primary job (and the state constitution), that the follow-thru needs to be there first.
What's on your mind?
Comments
I agree, Melissa.
Schools are holding budget meetings and supports, at our school, will be taken from homeless children.
Lots of joy within the House in Olympia over prek, though.
I look forward to "watching" the C&I agenda.
March 16th
6-7:45 PM
Douglas-Truth Library
2300 E. Yesler Way
Seattle, WA 98122
genuinely curious
waiting&watching
I have to disagree with your contention that it's "passive aggressive for teachers to hate on [Common Core testing] but rely on parents to carry the protest water." Parents face zero repercussions for opting their children out of testing - while teachers in many buildings (it depends on the admin team) will put their evaluation scores* at risk by refusing to do something that is considered a core job function. And the anti-CC-testing movement will never get off the ground if its only members are teachers.
Leaving aside those practical considerations for a moment, I would also argue that you, as a parent, have the responsibility to fight for the educational needs of children. You can't pin that responsibility on someone else.
-Parent&Teacher
*What part of a teacher's evaluation is tied to administering testing, you ask? Criterion 8, which requires teachers to show "professionalism" and gives an "unsatisfactory" rating to teachers who "willfully rejects
school district regulations."
See:
http://tpep-wa.org/wp-content/uploads/Danielson-at-a-glance.pdf
http://tpep-wa.org/wp-content/uploads/Danielson-Rubrics-by-criteria-ca.pdf
Curious.
But National PTA cannot love this stuff enough (and get roundly called out here:http://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/2015/03/pta-believes-in-unicorns.html
I believe the head of SEA may have spoken out in support of Peters/Patu's amendment at the last Board meeting. (That's my recollection from listening to it.)
What I did was ask my students' teachers a couple weeks ago off the record around what they think about the test in general and for my students in particular. The teachers were more than happy to share.
I guess I wasn't really surprised at the answer I got which is that they hate the time the tests take from class, they're worried about how they will impact many students and they don't put much stock in the results. I also strongly got the we have to tow the line message from them. That really bothers me. I want teachers to be able to speak their mind and as a parent I can make my mind up from there.
Thanks for covering this on the blog.
SavvyVoter
Are other schools going to be using laptops for this testing? I wasn't really worried about opting out, but now I am thinking about it!
Mom of 4
Law Gal
Are the Admin and the Board ready to answer for the results of this test once parents, who might feel a bit duped about the nature of the test, finally get to see them? The mama bears and papa bears might not be very happy.
-mama bear
waiting&watching
I suspect that there aren't enough PCs with mouses at your child's school... at least not enough to test all the kids.
The School Board voted in December to buy more lap tops to support the SBAC. These were recently delivered to schools. There has been very little time for kids to practice on them, because they weren't purchased until December, and, from what I heard, they had to be inventoried and set up by the District before getting to schools.
My kid's elementary school received some of the new laptops. We don't have the space or the resources to set up a self-contained computer lab, so the kids will be doing the tests in the classrooms, using about a 50:50 mix of old lap tops and the new lap tops.
Since the battery life has been so unpredictable with our old lap tops, the school has bought power strips and extension cords, so that at least the lap tops can be plugged in, instead of relying on the laptop batteries.
Our school building is old, and we have been told that it is at electrical capacity, due to the addition of portables. I am crossing my fingers that there is enough power in the grid to support SBAC testing.
I wasn't able to attend any of the "Technology Vision" meetings, but I am curious if any of the logistics of computer-based testing were discussed?
- North-end Mom
Non-English speaking families do not know their students do not have to take this test.
Further, the use of the word 'refuse' instead of 'not take' in official district English material is culturally loaded. For many of our South End communities, refusal of the government equates to dire personal safety ramifications.
Yo SPS this ain't equity. It's racial discrimination.
Southie
Levy "BTA" is coming up. District is starting up the roadshows now.
BUT, Charles Wright has his fingerprints all over this. He wants $ for tech so that he can support Ed reform. Ed reform hinges on DATA, and loads of standardized tests, and that takes computers and a beefed up tech department and a gaggle of new staff for Mark Teoh.
Not stuff for actual children that teachers need, like, for instance, classrooms, (yes, we are out of those), or turf fields so that kids can play year round (our grass fields get locked off because they are too muddy half the year), or new boilers for classrooms that have no heat...
Don't be fooled. If 100% of this levy is NOT aimed at kids and true priorities, be prepared to consider NO voting. SPS can always bring the levy back on the ballot in 6 months. Without Charles Wright's tech goodies.
WASTE NOT
Can someone do some translation for the families who need the information in a language they can read? If so, can the choice of loaded language be clarified in the process of translation?
ELL is impacted more severely than most since they most likely didn't pass the 10th grade HSPE, had to retake sections of the test (if not all sections)in February and more this month. They missed class time for the retakes, and to take the SBAC takes away from their learning disproportionately. They need the class time MORE and losing more time than native speakers. How can we, as a community, empower these families? (This is a request for a plan, not a complaint.)
-enough4all
Haven't heard any testing schedule for my older kids yet.
NE Seattle Mom of 3
It's completely inconsequential, but it really bothers me.
-Ticked
Excellent points.
I will add that most parents across the district don't have testing regimen plans.
There is no mention of any SBAC testing on the district calendar.
I checked four high schools:
Garfield: SBAC ELA testing
Roosevelt:11th grade testing
Ballard: HSPE makeup and AP exams
Franklin: HSPE makeup and AP exams
Three Middle schools:
Aki: No testing listed
WMS: No testing listed
McClure: No testing listed
Three Elems
Whittier: No testing listed
Beacon Hill: No testing listed (can't say I blame them tho LOL)
Coe - ditto
Point is that w/ the exception of GHS, SBAC is not on any school calendars, so impossible to get on any parents radar.
I do not believe there will be widespread opting out, which will result in widespread technology failures and student test failures across the district. And the district simply has no plan to deal with all these failures.
(oh and laptops, simply precious!)
One thing to remember - Amplify scores are not on the Source. Start asking your teachers about the scores. Maybe they will open up more.
Dear Directors,
The School Board must be prepared to take responsibility for the harm that the flawed Smarter-Balanced assessments will have on our children. Is this how Seattle Schools views equity; labeling our children as failures?
9 in 10 children who utilize special education services will fail the SBAC tests
"The failure rate is projected to be significantly higher for children who utilize special education services, children who aren’t fluent in the English Language and children who face economic and social challenges. The SBAC testing organization’s own report projects that 9 in 10 special education students and English Language Learners will be labeled failures when the tests are completed."
Please use our students' time and funding more wisely so that they may have more academics and less tests. Put more effort and care into providing our students the services they need to overcome that which they struggle with the most. Not tests. For as long as I can remember, there has been no time the Board hasn't given a new test the green light.
"What is unproductive, even immoral, is to promote the notion that we can increase academic achievement without recognizing that the greatest barriers to academic success are poverty, language challenges and a failure to provide the extra or special educational services that individual child need in order to grow and prosper." jonathanpelto.com
The board's refusal to engage with teachers and parents on this issue is unconscionable and against Board Policy 4000. Simply acknowledging that parents may send emails is not what the policy requires. Shutting down debate or discussion before it even starts is even more objectionable. Am I to trust that the board will educate itself on the defects of these tests? Did the Work Session raise these issues? I was there and it did not.
I expect that the School Board will mount a vigorous discussion and analysis of the efficacy and implementation of SBAC tests, BEFORE inflicting them upon our most vulnerable children. Until then, I will continue to urge parents to opt-out of testing.
On Monday 2 Mar. there was some anti-SBAC thing introduced to the SEA Board of Director meeting - it was ruled out of order? Well - minutes are NOT available, ever, in our phony 'democratic' organization, so, who knows exactly what happened. On Fri., after 2:00 p.m. there came the email from J. Knapp with the agenda for the 5:00 p.m. Mon. 9 Mar. meeting of the SEA, (RA) and the agenda had a very tepid anti-SBAC New Business Item (NBI) attached.
Given there aren't any mechanisms for knowing about these NBI's, other than taking your time to go to SEA headquarters for the BOD agendaless - wandering - meandering meetings, SEA members would have 3 days to discuss this NBI ... well, if they read their email before leaving for the weekend, didn't already have obligations for the weekend, and didn't have jobs to do on Monday!
The Fri. NBI version did not have the phrase "opt-out" in it. It had no mention of the school board proposal by Directors Patu and Peters. It had some stirring whereas-ie thing-ies and a call to write letters to members and have 2 meetings. On Monday at around 10:00 a.m. an updated agenda was sent out & there was a new version of the NBI, and it had reference to the Peters / Patu proposal.
Given how members are kept in the dark and fed poo with respect to what is happening outside their buildings, who knows how the RA voted on Monday the 9th on the NBI. Given how the competing cliques of the SEA are given to incessantly dropping Last! Minute!! Crises!!! on the heads and into the laps of regular ol' working SEA members, the regular 'ol working SEA members tend to be ignorers of the latest poo-storms, and have probably ignored this latest chapter of
IrrelevantResolutions
That is not how the real world operates. Most of us have jobs and need to give advance notice and fit in with other employees vacation requests if we want to use the school breaks for family vacations - how What about booking flights/accomodation? What about scheduling out-of town visitors or family? What if the teenagers what to pick up some work over the break?
How do teachers plan around it - surely most of them have family or other work obligations or way to plan for vacations too?
How on earth can anyone plan when we have to wait until May or June or whatever to find out when the school holidays will be and even if there will be a Feb holiday or not each year (whats up with that changing each year)?
Why does it have to be renegotiated every freaking year (can't they figure out a few years at a time and lock it in)?
Why can't they at least start the process earlier so we can have a calendar out at a reasonable time?
Exasperated
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZgb46Jm4Oo
It's kind of grainy, but interesting to get a glimpse into what kind of challenges students might face when trying to enter answers.
-parent
Opt your kid out if you want, because you have very good reasons. But please don't pretend to waive the pity party flag for students with disabilities because they'll fail.
If all the kids in the opportunity gap opt out of the tests, that will make this district look great. There are very good reasons for kids with disabilities to take this test, including highlighting the continuing failure of this district to educate them.
GL
Also, how's that going to be for kids who DO know what they are doing to be busily attacking the test and other kids are struggling with the technology? Not so good for self-esteem.
Good points all, Southie.
Yes, Waste Not, BTA IV meetings ARE coming up and yes, BTA seems very technology oriented (if you looked at the Work Session presentation). Sorry, that is NOT what BTA is for and I hope the Board pushes back hard.
"Can someone do some translation for the families who need the information in a language they can read?"
Enough for All, yes, "someone" could and that would be the district. It is NOT the job of communities to do the work of the district. Not for the "data" the district so dearly wants.
Ticked, that seems odd because some kids are in the care of a guardian who may or may not be their parent.
A friend explained to me that it is because there is a change in who sends out the mail, I didn't quite understand whether it was outsourced or a consequence of new IT/software.
-Ticked
http://www.tukwilareporter.com/opinion/292720171.html?fb_action_ids=10206023916539637&fb_action_types=og.comments&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=%5B798468756890709%5D&action_type_map=%5B%22og.comments%22%5D&action_ref_map=%5B%5D
1. Yes, teachers have been told in more than one building that they will be written up if they say much about SBAC. I know one that already was.
2. Yes, the Amplify scores are terrible. Whole grades not having more than a few that pass. And they also include written responses that teachers are supposed to grade themselves. I know of no teacher who had bothered.
Please check out the practice tests. Aside from poorly vetted questions, there are some that are just wrong.
Silence is not consent.
What triggered the separation between Mr. English and his employer, Seattle School District?
Is he just the fall guy?
What exactly is the accusation of misconduct about? He's pretty smart, hard to believe he failed to comply with major procedural protocols. What else could get someone axed?
?English
And yes, at the request of leadership, I'm already squandering instructional time to practice typing.
I can't imagine I will learn anything about them that I don't already know from grading their HW and quizzes.
Over the years I have been told directly at every school I've worked in NOT to mention/encourage opting out, whether for MAP, MSP, Amplify, or now SBAC.
And for this topic I don't feel safe to sign my
regular moniker
Sounds like the biggest thing we're getting out of SBAC testing is the realization many of our students have already been overtested via Amplify.
DistrictWatcher
-overtested
-Testing Overload
SPS will never go out of its way to notify parents that their children don't have to test.
Multiple language notification? ROFLMAO.
Surely you understand that the poor kids from English as a Second Language have to fail this test. As well, some of the middle class white kids have to fail too.
There can be no sales of test prep software and materials which is exactly what Amplify is,if they don't fail the test.
There can be no Corp Reform 'solutions' like privitization, charters and vouchers if they don't fail the test.
There can be no reason to market TFA if they don't fail the test.
There can be no way to evaluate teachers if they don't fail the test this year in record numbers. How will politicians chart 'year over year' growth in performance if kids don't start in the test pit of despair?
This is not hyperbole. The creators of the test say that most kids are going to tank it. Tie that to the sales projections for Rupert Murdoch's Amplify, for the Pearson testing behemoth, and for the DFER-type edupreneurs salivating over 'growth potential' for their ideas and you'll get about as outraged as I was during the Goodloe-Johnson Reign of Terror.
DistrictWatcher
House Ed Committee this AM (Tuesday, 3/10/15) - Achievement Index; SBAC
http://www.tvw.org/index.php?option=com_tvwplayer&eventID=2015030095
Discussion regarding high school cut scores in relation to msp, proficiency and college ready begins at minute 26.
SBAC is intended to align state and federal systems.
State Rep. Sharon Tomiko Santos counters and calls federal system "dysfunctional". She chooses her words carefully and discusses federal system of "rewards", but fails short of calling out system of federal "punishments".
Very good article regarding SBAC and concerns regarding SBAC. Great quote:
" It is not about the content of the standards, which would be objectionable even if written by Aristotle and refined by Shakespeare. Rather, the point is that, unless stopped now, the federal government will not stop short of finding in Common Core a pretext for becoming a national school board"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/george-will-immigration-and-common-core-stand-in-jeb-bushs-way/2014/12/26/622035a8-8ba6-11e4-8ff4-fb93129c9c8b_story.html
For the above reasons, I remain deeply concerned about the agenda behind SBAC and Common Core.
-overtested
What right do YOU have to see your child's data?
But understand, your child generated that data for the district. The district owns it and yes, they get to decide when and how much you see.
That so many of you know your child took this test and would like to see the results (and yet can't get a straight answer on it) tells me a lot.
It feels like SPS is using fear-based bullying tactics to discourage opting out.
-- Zero Tolerance Bullying Policy
ticktock
Yes, the cut points may rise over time--but it sounds like that will largely be in response to anticipated increases in scores over time, as kids become more familiar with the test and have more years of experience with the new CCSS. To the extent that any eventual increases in the cut scores required for HS proficiency reflect actual increases in the education attained in our schools, that would be a good thing, right? But in my mind the "levels" associated with SBAC are essentially meaningless, aside from the ability to test out of remedial college classes if you score 3 or higher. Then again, given how hard it apparently will be to score 3+ anyway, most of the kids who do so would likely not be worried about having to take such classes in the first place.
I still have a lot of problems with the test itself and all the test prep--and any test that requires both practice tests AND training tests is a red flag to me--but I don't think the "failure rates" argument is a huge area for concern, in and of itself. There may be disproportionate impact on certain groups, but it's hard to say at this point exactly how the yet-to-be-determined SBE cut points for HS proficiency (TBD in Jul/Aug, after HSPE results are in) will impact the percentage of any subgroup meeting the new requirement. This will be something to watch closely--unless of course we can abandon this test sooner rather than later!
HIMSmom
PS - The references to "failure rates" with grades 3-8 seem silly to me. The levels really don't mean anything. We have levels now with the MSP--do people really tell their kids they "failed" if they score at level 2 on that???
The Gates Foundation must be irritated. They're paying for the classroom and won't get as much data as they'd anticipated.
HIMS mom you must live in a media-free cave. YES, parents and kids themselves see themselves as failing when they scores 2s and 1s. The media refers to that failure too. Do you not see headlines filled with the failure of public schools? The articles are using the high stakes testing as the base point for that moniker.
Perception is reality. The perception of failure is reality. The SBAC and PARCC are poison in that regard.
DistrictWatcher
HIMSmom
You might want to consider the individual(s) that sit on the State Board of Education. What makes them qualified and competent to determine cut scores? Is the individual that works as Chief Deputy Assessor for King County competent to determine cut scores?
What about the former Seattle School Board member that was kicked out of office for failing to oversee district operations? Is he competent to determine cut scores?
Take note: Some of these individuals are closely tied to the Gates Foundation. Do these individuals support agendas that are tied to the Gates Foundation?
Here are the individuals on the State Board of Education.
http://www.sbe.wa.gov/boardmembers.php#.VQDP1pU5Dug
OSPI does the psychometric analysis and submits that analysis and its recommendations to the SBE for adoption. SBE then officially adopts the cut scores or "thresholds" based upon OSPI's analysis and recommendations.
--- swk
--constant churn
Last year, the Senate defeated a similar bill, but several Democrats flip-flopped this year and changed their votes. Without support from the following Democrats, SB 5748 would have failed:
•Annette Cleveland, Vancouver
•Mark Mullet, Issaquah
•Jamie Pedersen, Seattle
•David Frockt, Seattle
•Jeanne Kohl-Welles, Seattle
•Steve Hobbs, Lake Stevens
•Cyrus Habib, Bellevue
Let's watch and see what happens in the House and with Inslee. Shame on Seattle's Pederson, Frockt and Kohl-Welles.
Voting Nay: Senator Angel, Billig, Brown, Chase, Conway, Dansel, Darneille, Fraser, Hargrove, Hasegawa, Hatfield, Jayapal, Keiser, Liias, McAuliffe, McCoy, Nelson, Padden, Pearson, Ranker, Roach, Rolfes, Sheldon
Senators Rosemary McAuliffe, Steve Conway, Maralyn Chase, John McCoy, Christine Rolfes and Sharon Nelson all made passionate floor speeches opposing the bill. Several said SB 5748 is a distraction from what the Senate should actually be doing to help students.
“The solution is properly funding our schools,” said Sen. Sharon Nelson.
The bill to split the district has been in Rules since Feb. 20th. Some say the bill will die in Rules.
What?
Here's hoping it goes to the House to die.
"There can be no sales of test prep software and materials which is exactly what Amplify is,if they don't fail the test.
There can be no Corp Reform 'solutions' like privitization, charters and vouchers if they don't fail the test.
There can be no reason to market TFA if they don't fail the test."
Amen, DistrictWatcher. AMEN!
They will sell us the air that we breathe someday when they can manage to buy enough politicians to vote it into law. And without an eternally vigilant fight by the average folk, they will succeed.
WSDWG
There can be no maintenance of social status quo, if minority kids and disabled kids don't fail the test. So, let's make sure that we give them a test they will fail. We aren't failing them to "make them better", or to provide better education. We're failing them to keep them down, to keep them in their "place". To prove that discrimination was the right thing all along. White people deserve more status and financial advantage, because they do better on our test. Eugenics.
HIMSMom, are you kidding? Are your kids in kindergarten? Teachers tell students all the time to "check the source", and the Fusion pages. Test info is all there. Every state test your kid took is there. And if they failed, it will appear brightly highlighted in red. Failure. Same as a failed grade. Your kid will definitely get the message.
Reader
Amen. They probably cut checks with the "not valid after 6 months". Because they know that SPS' REA will show "dramatic gains" for these children - much like their effusive praise for JSIS and McDonald. I happy that, at least, Eric Anderson recognized that these schools are basically no SpEd, no ELL, and no FRL zones.
This was pointed out quit effectively by Director Peters. Give her an Amen.
I hope the park will be the block in front of RHS.
-StepJ
- North-end Mom