Tuesday Open Thread

Time again for the Gumshoe Walk in the Greenwood neighborhood.  What's that?

Now Gumshoe refers to the FUNdraising detective walk held every summer in Seattle's Phinney Ridge and Greenwood neighborhoods. Since the event began in 2006, it has raised over $43,000 for local non-profits. This year, all Gumshoe proceeds will be shared by the Greenwood Senior Center, Greenwood Elementary School PTA and Phinney Ridge Lutheran Church Food Bank.

This event runs from August 5-14th.

 Great story from NPR (via KPLU) about a one-on-one effort to save students in academic trouble. 

Unlike most programs that select high-scoring, promising young people, Thread chooses those who are most at risk: high school freshmen from Baltimore public schools who are struggling at school and who lack stability at home. The average GPA is 0.15. 

Those students are given five volunteers chosen from the community. Together they become a Thread Family. 

"So how does it work? The five volunteers act as a team. For example, one drives to the student's house to pick her up for school. A few hours later, another goes to the school to see if she's still there. If she's not, another volunteer goes back to the house to drive her back to school. 

Since 2004, Thread has worked with hundreds of students. So far, 92 percent have graduated from high school and 80 percent gone on to complete some form of higher education. 

I'd love to see this program get started here.

The Republican National Convention starts next week in Cleveland.  Here's the draft platform that includes education.  The Republicans have lumped many issues under one heading, Families, Great Schools and Safe Neighborhoods, and are asking supporters to pick the top three.  

• College Affordability and Student Debt
  
• Higher Education
  
• K-12 Education
  
• Poverty and Economic Mobility
  
• Public Safety and Criminal Justice Reform
  
• School Choice
  
• Substance Abuse

My response is "huh?"

On the opposite side is an op-ed from Arthur Camins, Director, Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education, Stevens Institute of Technology, The K-12 Education Speech We Need from Democrats. 

Almost all parents want the same thing for their children — an education that will prepare them well for life, work and citizenship. They want classrooms in which their children are known and valued. They want a well-rounded education that engages their children to stimulate and expand their interests, critical thinking, and imagination. They want well-prepared teachers who continue to grow in expertise, just like other professionals. They want high-quality neighborhood schools that remain open. They want a say in the governance of schools in their communities.

This is a shared dream that cuts across the racial, religious, socio-economic and geographic differences that too often divide us. The past several decades have moved us away from, not toward this dream. It is time for move forward again. Here is what we need to do.

In a fairly provocative op-ed, conservative George Will, takes the discussion around public education to the role of families.

Enter Coleman, and the colleagues he directed, to puncture complacency with the dagger of evidence — data from more than 3,000 schools and 600,000 primary and secondary school students. His report vindicated the axiom that social science cannot tell us what to do, it can tell us the results of what we are doing. He found that the best predictor of a school’s outcomes is the quality of the children’s families. And students’ achievements are influenced by the social capital (habits, mores, educational ambitions) their classmates bring to school.

I will probably reference this op-ed in a separate thread about the reshaping of public education that I see happened (ed reformers have apparently regrouped.)  

What's on your mind?