Seattle Schools Community Forum

It is becoming very clear that both Democrats and Republicans are going to have public education as a major talking point in the 2016 Presidential election.  This is good and bad.  Good because those voters who are paying attention will be able to clearly see who values what and, hopefully, why. It's bad because it may fracture one or both parties. It may make or break candidates (see Chris Christie who is his own worst enemy).   Both parties embrace "ed reform," just not in the same ways.  Interestingly, they both embrace new pre-school efforts, both at the federal and state levels.   First up, the Republicans.  Republicans seemingly don't know what to do with themselves.  There is furious backpedaling all over the place (see Governor Fallin in Oklahoma who was for but now against Common Core).  The conservatives have two major problems. 1) the Tea Party.  Like that mosquito in the night that just buzzes in your ear, the...

From Diane Ravitch's blog via the group, FairTest : Today’s technical problems, which disrupted computerized testing in many Florida districts, are far from unusual. Many other states have experienced similar failures, according to the National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest), which monitors standardized exams across the country. Earlier this month, the statewide testing systems in Kansas and Oklahoma both crashed. Last year, technical problems disrupted computerized exams in Indiana, Kentucky, Minnesota, Ohio and Oklahoma. In the recent past, new, automated testing programs collapsed in Oregon and Wyoming, requiring administration of replacement, pencil-and-paper versions. After root cause investigations, both Wyoming and Oklahoma levied multi-million dollar fines against Pearson, the same testing vendor Florida uses. Wyoming labeled the company in “complete default of the contract” and replaced it. Oklahoma let its contract with Pearson ...