Seattle Schools Community Forum

There is an Audit and Finance Committee meeting today at 4:30 p.m.  Wish I could attend but I have an event.  Here's the agenda which has some interesting items: - adoption of the 2014-2015 budget book .  This might be interesting since the pick of MIF for K-5 Math adoption.  Of course, until a contract is executed, no one truly knows how much MIF will cost the district.  They had, according to their presentation at the last Board meeting, been willing to spend about $3.6M on enVision.  MIF is more expensive but, as has been pointed out, many of the items that staff pointed to as costs can be mitigated one way or another. - a loan from the Capital Eligible Program (CEP) to pay for the renovations at TT Minor for the Seattle World School .  They don't give a figure for this loan.  - one of my perennial favors is on the agenda - JSCEE Bonds annual update .  It's amazing how that building is the gift that keeps on taking from this distri...

The National Council on Teacher Quality , an Education Reform propaganda engine, has reviewed the recent two-year contract between Seattle Public Schools and the Seattle Education Association, the teachers' union. The review by the NCTQ compares the final contract language to the Seattle Public Schools’ Bargaining Platform and - inexplicably- the Our Schools Coalition’s platform as if the Our Schools Coalition had any kind of standing or qualifications. Inexplicable, that is, until we discover that the Our Schools Coalition commissioned the review . So when the question is "How closely does the contract align with OUR goals?", then things that are aligned with the OSC goals appear to be good and variances appear to be bad, without any determination of whether the OSC goals are good or bad. This subtlety was either lost on Lynne Varner or intentionally omitted from her editorial about the review. You can read it for yourself. Lines like this: " The six pages ...

Back in 2010, Charlie wrote a thread on this ed reform group and a report they had written about the Seattle teachers contract. NCTQ - National Council on Teacher Quality - has now come out with another report, NCTQ Teacher Prep Review, and this one is about teacher preparation programs.   I haven't read all of it (it's 112 pages).  Their premise is that the overwhelming majority of teacher prep programs aren't worth it to their students.  What's interesting is not that they say the programs' content is bad but .. .that a vast majority of teacher preparation programs do not give aspiring teachers adequate return on their investment of time and tuition dollars. I may be splitting hairs but I'm not sure return on investment is the same as low-quality. They also complain that most of the programs don't prepare teachers to teach Common Core.  For crying out loud, it's just barely coming online and hello! there is no "content", only the s...

I'm reprinting what Charlie has state (and is true) and, that staff could have, but not clearly delineate to the Board (especially during KSB questioning about hiring). "The District staff said, on several occasions, that the Teach for America corps members will only be in the Phase III hiring pool. They won't be in Phase I or Phase II. No. They won't. But not because of the contract and not because the District won't allow them into the Phase I and Phase II pool, but because there won't be a Phase I or a Phase II hiring period at any of the schools where they want to teach. One of the elements of the District's Performance Management System dictates that Level 1 and Level 2 schools - those which are under-performing - will go straight to Phase III hiring. Let's remember that Teach for America corps members are only interested in working in low-income communities, which are the schools south of I-90 and the schools in the far north. These are...

The National Council on Teacher Quality, an Ed Reform organization posing as a think tank, has issued another report on Seattle. This one explores the proposals discussed in the negotiations over the teachers' contract. I have reviewed their report and found it to be a mixed bag. I agree with the District and the NCTQ regarding teacher assignment. I, too, would like to see principals have more authority to determine who works in their schools. I support the District proposal to eliminate super-seniority privileges and the forced placement of any teacher in any school. I also support mutual consent hiring for all teachers regardless of the reason a teacher is transferring schools or when the position is being filled. Under such a system, excessed teachers would be able to remain in the displaced pool for a limited amount of time while they search for a new position: 12 months for teachers on a continuing contract; 6 months for teachers on a provisional contract. After this period, ...

Update: Want some real insight into better teachers (and helping teachers with that effort)? Read this from the New York Times Magazine, Building a Better Teacher . Several readers here have suggested it and I echo it. Long but great. There are issues to be considered like how we educate our teachers (how we turn regular folks into teachers), the innate ability to teach, incentives etc. I just finally got around to looking over the Alliance for Education survey called "Teaching Quality Community Survey" . What were they thinking? (Sorry to be a little late to this party but I was out of town last week.) I'm not going to even provide a link. I answered every question "don't know" so I could read through the whole thing. Just from a survey standpoint, it's a mess. There are multiple values in questions starting with the very first one. It's about (1) redesigning the salary schedule AND (2) eliminating coursework incentives AND (3) ...

[Update: There is also a SAP Boundaries meeting tonight at McClure Middle School , 1915 1st Avenue West from 6:30-8:30 p.m.] Tonight there is a candidate forum with mayoral, City Council, City Attorney and School Board Candidates. Eckstein Middle School 3003 NE 75th Street 7-9:00 p.m. 7:00 – 8:00 City Council, City Attorney, Mayoral Candidates — Moderated, timed, questions and brief answers, 2.5 – 3.00 minute closing statements. 8:00 – 9:00 City of Seattle School Board Candidates — Moderated, timed, questions and brief answers. Answers to written questions from the audience. Clearly, a longer time for School Board Candidates so it should be interesting to see what they might get asked since the new boundaries for the SAP have come out. Also, on Wednesday, the 14th, the National Council on Teacher Quality is issuing a report titled, "Human Capital in SPS: Rethinking How to Attract, Develop, and Retain Teachers." I was invited to come to the media portion of this...

I haven't looked at this but it was in the Seattle Council PTSA news. Enrollment counts up to September 22. Other News: Best Practices for Inclusive Schools Conference hosted by Seattle Special Ed PTSA. Saturday, Oct. 17 in the John Stanford Center Auditorium. Info on Seattle Spec Ed PTSA: http://www.seattlespecialedptsa.org / Key Ingredients for Successful Students September’s Child Advocate magazine is now online. Please share the link: http://www.wastatepta.org/resources/child_advocate/index.html The state PTSA has a Legislative Assembly in early October. Here are the topics up for discussion. So what are the next steps are for basic ed funding? Teacher compensation? Get background info, learn how to advocate, and help determine state PTA priorities. Up for vote: Fund education first; increase funding for highly capable; allow weighted GPA. Proposed issues: http://www.wastatepta.org/advocacy/headlines/Issues_2009_Leg_Assembly_proposed_platform.pdf Also of interes...