Seattle Schools Community Forum

Break out those crayons/colored pencils/markers this weekend and work on your Color of Money McCleary coloring sheet.  It's a great way to get the attention of legislators (see previous thread for sheet.) Want to give input on what happens to the Roosevelt Reservoir (just down the street from Roosevelt High)?  There's a survey out about that.   Some of us in the neighborhood think best use might be a new elementary school while others think playfields would serve more people and there's even one person who wants a ice skating rink. Yet another petition - via NEA - on high stakes testing - if that's your concern, sign it.

In the "wait, what?!" category comes this story from the Washington Post's Answer Sheet - School puts nearly 100 kindergartners in one class in a teaching experiment.   The first sentence in the article says "no, it's not a headline from The Onion."  This is being tried at the lowest-performing school in Detroit.  There are three teachers in the class. Incidentally, the lead teacher is 30 years old, another teacher is in her second year and the third is in her first year. It's from a story in the Detroit Free Press .  It sounds like it works (somewhat) but I honestly do not believe it is what is best for children. The AP is reporting that Washington state is the only state denied renewal of its NCLB waiver that seems unlikely to get their waiver back (the other three states seem to be doing what Arne Duncan wants).   Randy Dorn, the WA state superintendent said this: