Tuesday Open Thread
The January 9th SpEd PTSA general membership meeting is POSTPONED due to
the unavailability of multiple board members having to meet family
obligations.
Stay tuned for a rescheduled meeting date. Thank you for your understanding!
Editorial from the News Tribune on Governor Inslee's plans for CTE (Career and Technical Education) for students.
New Mexico is the latest state to turn its back on the PARCC test for Common Core curriculum. The new governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham, said this (via the Washington Post):
Will teachers strike in the nation's second-largest school district - Los Angeles Unified SD? We'll know by Thursday.
New Facebook group - Save Science in Seattle Schools.
Physical Activity Fair
Sat, March 23, 2019
3:30 PM – 6:30 PM
Eckstein Middle School
The application deadline is March 1 each year and scholarships are awarded by April 30.
The district's new CAO, Dr. Diane DeBacker, started on Monday.
Washington Middle School students and staff are mourning the death of Jeannette Jones, who had a nearly 50-year career in SPS. From the Seattle Times:
When she died last month at 72, hundreds took to social media and shared their stories of Mrs. Jones, a proud graduate of Garfield High School, a lover of the color purple and a dedicated educator of Seattle’s Central District preteens.
After Mrs. Jones retired from Seattle Public Schools in 2016, Edwards helped her mother clean out her office at Washington Middle. She snapped a picture of the message Mrs. Jones had written on the whiteboard just outside her door.
It said, “While I’m gone, make good decisions.”
Words to live by. What's on your mind?
Editorial from the News Tribune on Governor Inslee's plans for CTE (Career and Technical Education) for students.
New Mexico is the latest state to turn its back on the PARCC test for Common Core curriculum. The new governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham, said this (via the Washington Post):
“High-stakes tests like PARCC do our schools a disservice, and we are about empowering our school system. Including those who will be most empowered by a better assessment in the process will help us build something better from the ground up, as opposed to a test mandated from on high.”
The PARCC consortium once had 26 member states, but after numerous defections, only a handful are left.More states are making the decision to develop their own test. I did not support either the PARCC nor the SBAC but I also don't like the idea of 50 different tests.
Grisham’s move was the second hit that PARCC sustained this week: The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled Monday that the state could not use PARCC as a requirement for graduation from high school graduation.
Will teachers strike in the nation's second-largest school district - Los Angeles Unified SD? We'll know by Thursday.
New Facebook group - Save Science in Seattle Schools.
Physical Activity Fair
Sat, March 23, 2019
3:30 PM – 6:30 PM
Eckstein Middle School
A FREE event that provides an opportunity for the community to come together and support the inclusive physical activity engagement of students and families from Seattle Public Schools. Representatives from various community organizations will be present and activity stations will be universal for participation of all abilities. Students can sign up for spring/summer camps and enjoy a couple hours of FUN participation in physical activity.Washington State PTA has scholarships available. Your student must be at a school with a PTA (I don't make the rules but on an upnote, it rules out charter schools).
ALL students and families of Seattle Public Schools. All grade levels. This is a fully inclusive event for students with and without disabilities.
The application deadline is March 1 each year and scholarships are awarded by April 30.
The district's new CAO, Dr. Diane DeBacker, started on Monday.
Washington Middle School students and staff are mourning the death of Jeannette Jones, who had a nearly 50-year career in SPS. From the Seattle Times:
When she died last month at 72, hundreds took to social media and shared their stories of Mrs. Jones, a proud graduate of Garfield High School, a lover of the color purple and a dedicated educator of Seattle’s Central District preteens.
After Mrs. Jones retired from Seattle Public Schools in 2016, Edwards helped her mother clean out her office at Washington Middle. She snapped a picture of the message Mrs. Jones had written on the whiteboard just outside her door.
It said, “While I’m gone, make good decisions.”
Words to live by. What's on your mind?
Comments
Leaky data
fb is really hard to troll if you do it with only permitted users. that said it doesn't flow well for advocacy and interaction and takes a ton of time to follow.
anyone know how the mtss for adv learning committee is coming (you might know it as altf3)? kari hanson won't stop without feathering her resume with that dung policy. anything to make it easier to put butts in seats - even if it decimates students education - is imo the de facto overarching policy of the sps.
no caps
1)Equity is a stated priority of the district. Why is the district pushing to return to a school-funding approach that creates inequity, especially for less wealthy districts?
2) How much of the levy is for basic education; the state's responsibility, How much is for extras?
3) The state will fund special education this year. Won't that help solve district problems?
While you are well informed on urban issues and dedicated to intelligent solutions, you are misguided and uninformed on the use of Amplify. It does not dispense with a teacher. It simply puts the supporting curriculum materials online. The interactive materials are good, creative and student centered and help the students be more, not less, in charge of their own learning. It is well documented that in the many districts where Amplify has been piloted that students are positive about Amplify and that it offers opportunities to expand complex science offerings to a more diverse range of learners. Students, with the support of engaged teachers, will continue to design, test, experiment and share their scientific learning with each other while using Amplify. This is a step in the right direction and there is nothing to fear. Save your energy for pedestrian causes.
Institutional memory
Let's take a look at other numbers.
2017:
Allocations for MSOC for career and technical education are specified in the budget. For the 2016-17 school year, the MSOC allocation per student is $1,286.99 per skill center student, and $1,447.40 per career and technical education student. The teachers took these dollars.
$1B McCleary...….Teachers received raises between 10%-20% throughout the state
2019: The state will support expanded health care for teachers The cost $900M
What is wrong with this picture?
Fed Up
nn
K-8: Amplify, HMH - Science Dimensions, TCI Bring Science Alive
https://www.seattleschools.org/cms/One.aspx?portalId=627&pageId=54681522
9-12: Biology, "Carbon Time"; Chemistry, "Stemscopes"; Physics, "PEER"
https://www.seattleschools.org/cms/One.aspx?portalId=627&pageId=60949241
IM, look, it's clear you are some kind of insider. But your sneering,dismissive tone is not welcome here. I have warned you once before and this is the last time. If you can't be civil, you don't need to post here and I will delete any other comment.
Also, I had to laugh at this:
"This is a step in the right direction and there is nothing to fear."
Are you Donald Trump? Because this sounds a lot like him.
Where's Waldo, got something to say? Just say it. I am really getting tired of comments - from all sides - that are unclear and disingenuous.
NN, thanks for that update.
mrs. jones, sadly missed is so true.
thanks girlz, too true.
no caps
I then asked her to explain the two, she couldn't give me a coherent answer. I said, I think a conservative or Republican is one who wants to conserve a tradition and a Democrat or liberal wants to change our traditions liberally to pacify the masses.
It's funny that when it comes to education the roles seem reversed, the liberals want a 1950s style teacher focused experience and the republicans want to progress (in their minds) teaching methodologies using technologies. It seems to me that our current educational system can't keep up with technology and so certain people feel threatened by it. By the way, this happens all the time in business.
It's really a shame that so many first year collage students can't write nor spell and most can't read cursive, but they sure can navigate technologies. How did this happen?
I think the failures are due to a focus on first person narrative compositions in grade school and to me seems like at a minimum that's educational malpractice which unfortunately will require Herculean efforts by students to overcome.
I would guess the fix is somewhere in the middle, like using technology as a tool not a replacement. Demonizing technology in schools won't help anyone.
--Questions
"I would also like to see conversations between administrators, teachers, parents, students and other third parties who work with students concerning changes to accommodations that will allow for this new world of digital education. Things like getting a hard copy of tests while doing the online version, having blank paper and pen or pencil to organize thoughts, hard copies of textbooks for kids who struggle to comprehend online books, more extended time if a student cannot keyboard quickly and accurately, etc. We have to look at the way education is being conducted now and consider how it impacts students with ADHD and other learning differences"
https://ptscoaching.com/2019/01/adhd-and-learning/
As an aside, I did my undergraduate work pre-powerpoint and my graduate work post-powerpoint. Without a doubt I feel I learned more in lectures pre-powerpoint as the pace of lectures was more conducive to taking notes and handwritten note taking was expected. WIth powerpoint lectures not so much. Research has backed up this idea too that the physical act of handwriting notes improves retention. So as we push more and more towards digital learning I think we need to look at what we may be giving up-more active learning, rather than passive learning. https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/note-taking/
NW Parent
"she bashes the president in class daily"
You know this how? Your child? Kids do have a habit of exaggerating how much any given thing does or does not happen in class. Also, what is "bashing?" If it's pointing out the obvious - the national debt has soared under his administration - fine, but if it's "he's the worst president ever", then not. If it's really true, you should be complaining to the principal; it's not acceptable.
"It seems to me that our current educational system can't keep up with technology and so certain people feel threatened by it."
Explain that statement. Do you mean the costs of technology or learning to use it or using it more?
"Demonizing technology in schools won't help anyone."
I have not hear a single word here about demonizing technology. Don't exaggerate; what is being discussed is a technology-based curriculum,Amplify. I'm on the Information Technology Advisory Committee - I'm certainly not against the use of technology but I'm also not going to just cede my rights to speak up about its use.
NW Parent, the NFL has found that if players take notes by hand, they learn the plays better than watching a screen. Hmmm.
Don't students take notes summering text book chapters while studying? I did and it helped. A video can be stopped, started, slowed down, fast forward, transposed with OCR ect.
JS
Fairmount Parent
parent
- RealScience ASAP