Seattle Schools Community Forum

Look, I get that most of you don't have the time or inclination to fact-check as Charlie and I do (and we still get it wrong sometimes). But please, please do NOT say something as fact unless you can give actual valid numbers. There was a great discussion going at the thread about Garfield being overcrowded and whether this means the high school APP cohort should be split and where they might go if they had a two-high school cohort or even just shoot them off to their area high school. I think there were some great ideas/analysis (and I hope the district/Board reads it and considers it). However, there were a couple of places where I read things stated as fact (without real numbers backing it up) and assumptions (without explanation of why that assumption could be true). To whit, there was this: "Splitting up APP at the high school level would make many more AP classes available in different high schools." Of course it would be a plus if more high schools had more A...

This article about AP classes appeared in this morning's Times. It's a longish article (for the Times) and has some interesting things to say on both sides. I think there is a both sides to this issue. Maybe sometime they can go more in-depth and talk about AP, IB, Running Start AND the new UW in the High Schools program. From the article: As Bellevue expanded its AP program, it developed a common set of curriculum guidelines, which start in kindergarten. The goal: to prepare all students to take at least one AP or IB class by the time they reach high school. Interesting because Dr. Goodloe-Johnson is laying the groundwork in the same way with curriculum alignment. She is expanding AP and IB programs, and has said she wants every student to take at least one AP course before graduation. Bellevue students were earning about 200 college credits through AP classes when Riley arrived; in 2009, the number reached 5,800. AP and the IB program are a kind of academic brand na...

As first reported by Phyllis Fletcher on KUOW 94.9 FM, two School Board candidates fudged on their degrees both at their websites and in the voters' guide. There was an article in the Times today that had some interesting quotes from both candidates. (Judging from the comments following the Times' article, people are not happy.) From the KUOW report: "The candidates are Betty Patu and Kay Smith-Blum. Patu claimed a bachelor's and a master's degree from Antioch University, Seattle, in the voters' pamphlet and on her Website. But she only has a bachelor's degree. Patu says when she filed for election, she thought she'd have her master's degree within 10 days. She says she had to interview people for her final paper and her interviews fell through. So she missed her June 15 graduation deadline." What Patu said to the Times: "She said she has removed the reference to the degree from her Web site until she finishes the paper. "For goo...