Friday Open Thread
Community meeting with Director Burke on Saturday at Fremont Library from 3:30-5:30 pm.
Oh look, the district is having yet another Advanced Learning Taskforce. My advice? Don't bother. The charge is hugely overarching and they are going to take a year for the work. Complete nonsense.
I was on one of these taskforces (along with Charlie). They only allowed us to discuss HCC when the original charge had been HCC, Spectrum and ALOs. The district ignored most of what we put forth and it was a complete waste of my time. I can only imagine now - when HCC has somehow become such a flash point - who will sign up for the work. I think I can say right now that district staff will shape the membership to suit the outcomes they want.
Of note from the Trend, the newsletter of the UW College of Engineering newsletter; they will be doubling the number of computer science degrees from 300-600.
Also, UW's Direct to College (DTC) freshman admission process expects to have over 700 students in their cohort.
Prior to arriving on campus, sutdents will be paired with an engineering adviser and peer mentor to help guide them through their first year.
As well, attendance at their Engineering Discovery Days in April saw them hosting over 10,000 elementary, middle and high school students on campus.
Heads up for the Washington Women in the Trades Job Fair at Seattle Center on May 11th.
Exhibitors include apprenticeship programs, governmental agencies, colleges, vocational training and corporations. Among many others, past participants have included King County, Gary Merlino Construction Company, Inc., the Boeing Company, and the Seattle Fire Department. Training programs include apprenticeships with the Sprinkler Fitters, Carpenters, Laborers, Operating Engineers, Pipefitters and Electricians. There were over 80 exhibitors in 2017.They encourage schools to send students and have some bus transportation dollars for that effort.
Some of the exhibits are outdoors. There's the inimitable Seattle City Light climbing pole, Seattle DOT's shovel test and King County Facilities' build project. Each provides a hands-on dynamic experience while learning about opportunities in the construction trades.
From Ed.gov, the Civil Rights Data Collection report, wide-ranging education access and equity data collected from our nation's public schools. It's a huge amount of information if you like a deep dive.
The CRDC includes data about:
- Enrollment Demographics
- Preschool
- Math & Science Courses
- Advanced Placement
- SAT & ACT
- Discipline
- School Expenditures
- Teacher Experience
- Math and science classes taught by certified teachers
- Enrollment in Algebra I in Grade 7 and Geometry in Grade 8
- Offenses
- Pre-K discipline
- Days missed due to suspensions
- Transfers to alternate schools
Comments
EdVoter
High school teachers are supposed to teach no more than 30 per class or 150 per day. If a schedule is, for instance a 4x4 (eight periods, alternating 1-4, 5-8 days) then a teacher would likely be given six sections (classes) out of eight, but that would likely put them at 180 students, which the union would not support. Nor should they.
So staffing considerations must be put to rest before scheduling considerations are finalized. The union contract is expected to be completed by late August. A strike is a possibility.
Other options under consideration are credit-bearing advisory (same issue as above, if teacher is expected to provide curriculum, structure, or what have you) or zero-periods, before 1st, to make, in effect, a seven-period day. A teacher might then teach zero-five, and their school day would end a period earlier than others. But this only addresses capacity, overcrowding, not FTE.
asdf
My understanding is that schools are approaching this in different ways.
The contract negotiations, though, will determine future plans regarding how to meet the 32 credit mandate (which is SPS's, not the state's, which just requires students to have 24.)
Here's a 1995 (very long) Atlantic article on the history of ETS and the SAT test:
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1995/09/the-great-sorting/376451/
This quote was really eye opening: About two thirds of the college students who took the test, in those days of minimally selective admissions, scored at or above the cutting score of 70 and so were deferred from the draft. In 1951 there was no interest, inside or outside ETS, in what would today be the main question about the test results -- score differences between ethnic groups -- and no women took the test. To ETS executives what leaped out from the results was the substantial regional differences in the pass rates: 73 percent of college students in New England made a 70 or above, but only 42 percent in the Deep South did. The other main finding was that education majors scored far below students in every other field of study.
There are probably lots of things that IQ isn't related to.
But two interesting things that it is related to are the rate at which a child's brain cortex develops and longevity.
https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/cortex-matures-faster-youth-highest-iq
One thing IQ has been shown in a study of more than 65,000 men and women to predict is longevity. In this study, researchers controlled for the socioeconomic status of the children and the differences in mortality remained. And the increased risk of dying earlier from many different causes was not just about low versus high IQ scores. The slight benefit to longevity from higher intelligence seems to increase all the way up the intelligence scale, so that "very smart people live longer than smart people, who live longer than averagely intelligent people, and so on."
https://www.statnews.com/2017/06/28/high-iq-children-longevity-study/
core24
https://www.forbes.com/sites/bentaylor/2014/07/17/why-the-midwest-dominates-the-sat/
Washington comes out looking pretty good on the NAEP (Go, Washington!).
What can I do to help stop this train wreck? Sorry for the overly dramatic language but this feels very important.
Phinney mom
There is room for technology but when it takes over large parts of teaching, beware.
I know that this schedule is not being discussed as a possible option. There is a modified block (7 periods 3 days a week and blocks on 2 days a week) with an advisory. There also is some discussion about doing the 8 period (4 periods one day and the other 4 periods the other day, we teach 3 of the period each day), that is a total non starter.
After having a year of advisory (and doing almost all of them), I do not understand the purpose of advisory. The best advisory period we had all year was when I went off script and share some demographic information about Ingraham and the Ingraham IB program. We had a great discussion and the students (AP Statistics) had some good observations and questions. But the rest of the year has been kind of a lost 25 minutes.
This is not meant to be a shot at the administrators at Ingraham who have been responsible for advisory. I know they have received little guidance and support and have to basically make it up as they were going along.
The bell schedule should be a local issue and each school should do what works best for the school, given some basic parameters like start time and end time.
I am not optimistic that there will be a good ending for this.
lose-lose
The folks at JSCEE who are pushing their various preferred schedule options are pretty obvious about doing so in the way they list pros and cons associated with the various options. I think the 7-period schedule had as a con that it would be harder for kids with executive function issues, whereas the alternating day approach (or, more accurately, some days alternating, some days not) was supposedly going to be easier for those kids. Really? It's easier so stay on top of things when your schedule it chaotic instead of predictable or easy to remember? Somehow I doubt it. And those options where some classes are longer and every other day while others are shorter and daily? Egad.
A 7-class-plus-advisory schedule means even less time in classes. Many teachers have trouble getting through all the material as it is. Either make it 7 classes without advisory, or keep things as they are and provide additional opportunities for credit recovery for those who need them. In addition to summer and before- or after-school classes and online classes, maybe they could get CTE credit for jobs, and get support ($, tutoring, transportation) for taking college classes (which provide more/faster credits).
There has to be a better way.
Core24
Jane
But you are right on what they needed - more tutoring, less advising.
How does a 7- or 8-period day help kids who failed a semester or year of English to make up that credit? They need a full year of it each year, for 4 credits. If they fail English 9 do they then take both English 9 and English 10 in 10th grade? That sounds like a recipe for disaster, to "double up" on their most challenging class. It seems like they'd really need (or benefit from) a summer class.
@ Melissa, the district may have stopped paying for summer school a long time ago, but that doesn't mean they can't restart. There will be tremendous additional costs associated with adding additional periods to the day. Summer school may be cheaper.
Core 24
The current plan to give the same amount of credit for less time in class is dishonest. Kids who fail classes need more time to learn, not more credits on their transcripts.
Fairmount Parent
Write the District and the state!
http://seattleschools.org/cms/One.aspx?portalId=627&pageId=23001913
They also offer .5 CTE credit for summer classes offered at most High Schools.
http://skillscenter.seattleschools.org/cms/One.aspx?portalId=8591&pageId=8963397
HP
Jane
Fairmount Parent
Doesn't OSPI also offer a bunch of online classes for credit retrieval, too?
With summer options, online options (SPS Policy 2024, Procedures 2024SP), and RS options, is lack of credit recovery options really what's preventing some kids from graduating?
core 24
You can do Running Start and block classes. Kids at Hale do both.
HP
Most RS classes are blocked in the mornings 8-12 or evenings starting at 6, allowing for HS classes in the afternoon. A RS student can generally take 5th and 6th period HS classes without worrying about class conflicts, though the early release Weds kind of screwed things up. Bus transportation back and forth can limit options (still irked that SPS didn't create a HS campus at Wilson Pacific, when it's walking distance to North Seattle College).
RS parent
-StepJ
http://westseattleblog.com/2018/05/emergency-response-at-west-seattle-stadium/
The victim died.