Tuesday Open Thread
No meetings this week for SPS nor any director community meetings.
However, the All-City Band Jam is happening in West Seattle. From the West Seattle blog:
However, the All-City Band Jam is happening in West Seattle. From the West Seattle blog:
Please join us on Friday, July 29th at the Southwest Athletic Complex (2801 SW Thistle) for Band Jam. This has become an annual event showcasing several bands that perform in the Seafair Torchlight Parade. Band Jam gives people the opportunity to see the bands perform in a concert setting on the football field.
This is a non-competitive event sponsored by the Seattle Schools All-City Band.From Social Equality Educators:
Doors will open at 5:30 pm, with music starting at 6:30 pm. Admission is free. Come hungry! Concession stands will be open on site with the proceeds benefiting Seattle Schools All-City Band. We hope to see you there.
Rally in solidarity with teachers and education activist in Oaxaca, Mexico who have been killed, jailed, repressed for opposing corporate education reform!While some newspaper support Superintendent Randy Dorn's lawsuit, the Everett Herald does not.
When: Wednesday, July 27th, 4:00—6:00pm
Where: Rally at the Mexican Consulate in Seattle: 2132 3rd Ave, Seattle, WA 98121
Facebook page with details: https://www.facebook.com/events/205365026531530/
The Supreme Court has scheduled a hearing for Sept. 7, asking lawmakers to defend their plan to develop a plan to satisfy the McCleary decision. Dorn should withdraw his lawsuit and take the advice of his attorney general and allow that process to proceed.Did you see First Lady Michelle Obama's speech last night? Because it was aimed at how we support the children of our country. It was fantastic and uplifting.
"And as my daughters prepare to set out into the world, I want a leader who is worthy of that truth, a leader who is worthy of my girls' promise and all our kids' promise, a leader who will be guided every day by the love and hope and impossibly big dreams that we all have for our children."Does taking AP courses in high school prepare you for college-level work? Maybe not. From The Atlantic:
The pair looked at thousands of high-school and college transcripts using the National Educational Longitudinal Study, a nationally representative survey of about 25,000 students that began in 1988.What's on your mind?
They found that, when they controlled for things like race, gender, socioeconomic background, and standardized-test scores, the courses that students took in high school had very little impact on college grades.
The authors argue that while their research might sound dire, in reality, it might present an opportunity to bring more creativity and innovation to high-school instruction. Maybe a focus on non-cognitive skills, teamwork, or technical education would better prepare kids for college than a focus on mastering content they’ll soon forget, they posit. That shouldn’t mean eliminating all content, they clarify, but it should ease concerns that scaling back on drilling content to test new pedagogies will hurt kids.
Comments
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2016/07/26/18789464.php
$4.625 Trillion, The Global Privatization Of Education And Who Is Behind It?
https://youtu.be/FfpL-BB26UE
Frank Adamson Ph.D. is with the Stanford Graduate School Of Education/Stanford Center For Opportunity Police in Education (SCOPE) where he is a Senior Policy and Research Analyst. At this meeting he reports on the global privatization of education and who is behind it.
-McClureWatcher
AP classes in the high school were added later, as a means of helping students pass the exams. The college board recommends material that should be covered in these classes, but AP teachers can teach whatever they think is most important. Some do a good job of teaching the content, some do a good job of teaching college readiness skills, some do not. In most cases the goal is still mainly exam preparation.
Some colleges use AP exam scores in their admissions decisions. Some people think of AP classes as a "program" for "gifted" students, which they are not designed to be, although particular teachers may choose to teach them that way. Some people think of AP classes as a "college preparatory program", which they are not, although such a program could be designed to include them. These are all uses that lie outside the primary purpose of AP.
Kelly
Jami Lund on Dorn's Lawsuit:
"Only the outgoing SPI who doesn't need to heed the political pressure is in a position to call out the elephant in the room: union negotiators are swiping money from children's materials, facilities and services for *their* priority of adult pay in violation of RCW 28A.400.200. Anyone close to the funding system knows there is a hole in the funding bucket as long as finite levy funds are drained to just make payroll. Return to the ban on local bargaining of wage and salary."
been there
Even the language the College Board uses to describe these courses is suspect, making the kind of grandiose, slick, salesman-pitchy type claims that should raise anyone’s alert radar, e.g.: “When admissions officers see “AP” on your transcript, they know that what you experienced in a particular class has prepared you well for the challenges of college,” “AP courses help you transform the subjects you’re enthusiastic about into a fulfilling future,” and “AP can transform what once seemed unattainable into something within reach” (https://apstudent.collegeboard.org/exploreap/the-rewards). I mean, yikes! It’s even possible to hear something sneakily “corporate” about this language, as if learning = material profit.
I’d take a talented, passionate teacher teaching the material in the way he or she chooses over an AP course any day of the week. I really do wish that high schools and colleges alike would reduce their reliance on these courses as a mark of fitness for college. The current mania for taking as many AP classes as possible has led to misery and stress for too many students – and worse, some very real tragedies. At the very least, I think every principal needs to step in at every single high school in the U.S. and put a cap on the number of AP classes a student is allowed to take. The colleges themselves should also stop harping on these classes as an important factor in their admissions, in the same way that so many have now decided to go SAT/ACT-optional. The AP craze has gone way out of control and is doing very real damage to young people’s lives. The only people who seem to be profiting are those distant, mysterious beings who sit at the College Board.
(sorry for the rant... :)
-current parent
IB is quite different. Much more emphasis on developing how students think, creativity, wrestling with ideas instead of regurgitating information, proofs instead of calculations, evaluating methods of investigation instead of multiple choice. I think it should be a model for other classes.
-done it
In the current college admissions climate, picking and choosing one's AP classes very carefully, looking for the very best teachers teaching them, and NOT the ones who assign mountains of work in the name of AP, is probably the best way to go. That, and not choosing to do more than a very few, and only in a student's areas of special interest and strength. Never in an area in which a student is already struggling.
However, just the fact that saying this is necessary is a real shame. I agree, IB does seem better - and more writing-intensive, from the sound of it. But I'd still just take a great teacher teaching a class of his or her own design over either AP or IB... I'm just not sure anything standardized is a good thing, in the end. And I really do think that high schools, we parents, and colleges all need to collectively call for an end to the over-use (and abuse) of AP classes in today's high schools.
-current parent
If colleges don't look at test scores or the rigor of classes taken, how will admission decisions be made? GPA is not an objective measure of college readiness. They should be looking at all of these factors - not to weed out students but to provide many ways for a student to demonstrate their skills.
The post by Lynn that included the derogatory reference about a Garfield teacher with a name attached should be deleted.
Hopefully this won't be allowed and (hopefully) the poster will show more respect to the teachers of her child.
FWIW
Pony