Seattle Schools Community Forum

Update: here are the minutes from that Work Session; in some ways more fleshed out than mine but I don't see all the things I have reported.  (They also attribute something to Director Pinkham that I do not believe he said and I will ask him about it at tomorrow night's Board meeting.) This section will cover only the Advanced Learning Work Session on Feb. 8th because this thread turned out to be quite lengthy. I'll cover the UW Equity Summit on Gifted Education, Feb. 9-10 in a final part to this series. Advanced Learning Work Session All the Board members were there except for Director Blanford.  (As an aside, I see that Blanford seems to be missing more meetings or coming in very late.  Not sure why but a trend.)

Friday memos , the gift that keeps on giving.

Nothing particularly earth-shattering or even noteworthy in the last couple of Friday Memos. But what there is worth mentioning is mentioned below:

Update 2: to include items from BEX Oversight Committee meeting on Friday.) (Updated to include analysis of the Board meeting on Wednesday.) Monday, Oct. 10th Curriculum and Instruction Committee meeting from 4:40-6:30 pm in the Board conference room.  Agenda

The Board will conduct a work session on Advanced Learning this evening. Here is the PowerPoint . The presentation doesn't address the community's primary concern: Is advanced learning a fiction?

The Seattle Schools Assessment Steering Committee was assembled in spring of 2016 as part of the 2015-2018 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between Seattle Schools and the Seattle Education Association Certificated Non-Supervisory Employees. This is a Steering Committee composed entirely of District employees. Their meetings are not public. The committee delivered this recommendations report in June, 2016. Among the recommendations are For the District to give school a lot more support around the state proficiency tests To use the Smarter Balanced interim assessment this year and look for another interim assessment to use next year For the District to provide training on the use of interim assessments To replace the MAP as part of Advanced Learning eligibility and for primary students To purchase Pulse Learn K-2 as a formative assessment for K-2 students For the District to provide professional development with the new assessments For the District to provide guida...

The Board is contemplating revisions for Policy 2163, Supports & Interventions . Concurrent with those changes, the Superintendent will adopt a new procedure as well. Before he does, I want to be sure to memorialize some elements of the current Superintendent Procedure which are sure to go away.

I met with Wyeth Jessee last week (it was arranged thru Communications so there was a Communications person in the room who was not part of the conversation.)  He was the former head of Special Education and now, thru a realignment,  has a new role.

The Curriculum and Instruction Policy Committee has a lot on their plate last month. Among the items for discussion: Changes in the Program Evaluation policy 2090 Changes in the Supports and Interventions policy 2163 Changes in the Superintendent's Procedures for Highly Capable Services & Advanced Learning Programs Nearly all of these changes are deeply flawed.

The recent $1.5 Billion prize in the PowerBall lottery made a lot of news. A lot of people who don't normally buy lottery tickets bought some for that drawing. I didn't because, as my brother succinctly told me, buying a ticket does not significantly improve your odds of winning. Needless to say, I didn't win the big prize. I didn't think about what I would do with the money if I won. That's what you buy when you buy a lottery ticket, right? You buy the license to dream. I didn't buy a ticket so I didn't have license to think about how I would spend the money and I certainly didn't presume that I would win and start spending the money before the drawing. That would be crazy, right? Yet that's what Seattle Public Schools does on a regular basis. They draw up all of these initiatives - Targeted Universalism is the latest one - which, I suppose, are all very high-minded and well-intentioned, but are predicated on one or more fantasies.

This week the Board will hold a Work Session on SMART Goal #2 – MTSS-B. (The district has now created an MTSS-A and MTSS-B. “A” is about “success in academics” and “B” is for “attitudes, beliefs and belonging.” They wait until pages 13-14 to define MTSS overall.) This is such a large issue that I’ll write two parts to this thread. One, what this Work Session going to be discussing and two, the theory behind these ideas. The work session is three hours long for two topics (the other is the Board self-evaluation.) But it would appear the bulk of the Work Session is for the first topic. The Powerpoint is quite long and, sadly, is so chockfull of ed jargon on race and equity that you can’t quite make out what will truly be happening. And that’s a pity because this is work that is needed. Missing – and shockingly so – is what lessons this district has learned from past efforts. One is the African-American Academy which was created for African-American children in the district, with pla...

MTSS - Multi Tiered Systems of Support - is a fancy way of describing this practice: Try the standard curriculum with the kids. It will work for most of them. Check to make sure. It won't work for some, so, just for them, try something else that's more their speed. Check to see if that works. If that doesn't work then try something more. Check to see if that works. So why is Seattle Public Schools having such a hard time implementing it?

It's an interesting week at SPS. Monday, January 25th  Understanding the School Budget - presented by the finance team at SPS.  It's at JSCEE from 6-8 pm.  I hope people go to this event because the district is trying to help further understanding of this important subject.  They’ll share helpful information such as: When the 2016-17 school planning dates occur An overview of the budgeting process How funding is determined and schools are staffed, including understanding information around class sizes and the process for parent involvement Also, Elliott Bay Book Company is having an event about becoming an activist for any topic.  It's at 7 pm. Now in When We Fight, We Win : Twenty-First-Century Social Movements and the Activists That Are Transforming Our World (The New Press), longtime social activist Greg Jobin-Leeds joins forces with AgitArte—a collective of artists and organizers—to capture the stories, philosophies, tactics, and art...

The presentation for this Work Session finally came up and I took a gander at it. I would say this is possibly one of the most important Work Sessions of the school year and certainly will be a test for the new Board.   District Scoreboard I'll let you peruse this at your leisure but it's certainly a mixed bag.  You can say that compared to state numbers, the district is doing much better with green (for plus side improvement) everywhere on page 2. One down note is that for climate/satisfaction surveys of students, families and teachers, most of the numbers are down especially the family engagement survey.

The agenda is up for the Curriculum&Instruction Meeting on Monday at JSCEE from 4:30-6:30 pm. At the bottom of the agenda, there is a note explaining that due to the new website, they can't attach links and so the documentation for the agenda items is contained in the agenda link.  Among the topics:

Let us presume that Spectrum is dead. Nevermind if you think that's a good thing or a bad thing. Our views on that topic simply don't matter. What does matter, however, are students working beyond Standards in need of an appropriate academic opportunity. So let's hear the ideas for how to provide an appropriate academic opportunity for students working beyond Standards if ability grouping is off the menu. A number of solutions have been proposed over the years: differentiated instruction, project-based learning, individualized instruction on computers, MTSS, parallel curricula, and grade skipping - just to name a few. Which of these work and can be reliably implemented? Let's hear your answers. The only answers that are not allowed are ability grouping and doing nothing. The District and the majority of the schools - for whatever reason - are opposed to ability grouping so don't suggest that. Please don't pretend that the general education classroom reli...

The agenda for the October 13 Curriculum and Instruction Policy Committee has been posted and it's a lulu. It includes: A motion to amend Policy 3201, Disciplinary Appeal Council The motion for the annual approval of schools A motion in support of the City's pre-K initiative A draft Policy for advanced learning The annual approval of the Alternative Learning Experience Plan as well as a review of the Alternative Learning Experience policy An update on the Special Education revised C-CAP An update on MTSS An item labeled "Garfield High School Post" An assessment update Something to do with the attendance policy The quarterly report on Equitable Access And something to do with the policy on Research Activity and Test Administration

Recently I learned that Director Marty McLaren had written an op-ed for the Seattle Times about the good things and hard work happening in Seattle Schools. According to McLaren, the Times encouraged her to edit her op-ed and resubmit it (which she did) but then the Times declined to print it. They then published the editorial about SPS and its leadership (and egging on the Mayor and the City Council to try to take control of the Board). I find this quite troubling because frankly, it seems like the Times is hell-bent on doing everything they can to undermine the Board to the point of undermining the entire district.  It is hard to get the message out about the myriad of good things in this district if media only wants to write about the problems and/or bang out the same tired stories about the Board and district leadership. But the Times' loss is our gain.   Here's what Director McLaren has to say. Seattle Public Schools are Thriving August 29, 2014  This week...

Please forgive me, but I'm old, and old people like to natter on about the past. It's just what we do. We like to imagine that our experience has value. We see things and we think "Hey, I've seen this before!" That's bad enough, but then we feel compelled to tell you about it. Back in 2000 Seattle Public Schools was on fire with a revolutionary idea. It was a change in perspective that would reform public education. We were going to become a Standards-Based Learning System. Once implemented, Standards would fix all our woes. It would get all struggling students to learn at grade level. It would support advanced learners without those politically disturbing self-contained programs. It would integrate our students with disabilities and our English Language Learners. Once we became a Standards-based Learning System we would enter a new education paradise. The District headquarters spoke of little else. They did pilot projects with big announcements and then mad...

Seattle Public Schools has re-defined the word "curriculum" no fewer than six times in the past four years. It seems to change with each new Chief Academic Officer, Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning, or Executive Director of Curriculum. It also changes anytime the District needs to weasel or make other people (the Board or members of the public) appear ignorant.