Seattle Schools Community Forum

North Carolina is poised to exit from Common Core.  They also passed a student data privacy law earlier this year (and I'll be working to get one passed in the Washington Legislature).  North Carolina was one of the first states to embrace Common Core, now in place in more than 40 states. But support among some conservatives for the standards dissolved in recent months as nation-wide opposition mounted from activists who argued it infringed on state sovereignty. Others complained about age-inappropriate teaching material and more testing. To note, the NC legislature may be picking from CCSS to beef up their own existing ones .  It looks like several states want this ability to "hybrid" standards.  (Under CC, states can only change up to 15% of the standards which seems to be a sticking point for some states.)   What Oklahoma's governor, Mary Fallin, says seems to be ringing true for many states: “Unfortunately, federal overreach has tainted Common C...

Two items of note: Your youth jazz story can become a KCTS film! Do you have a connection to a jazz program, jazz teacher or jazz student, and have an idea for a story you think should be told? The instructors at KCTS’s 9 Media Lab can help you tell it and share it with our viewers. Beginning in March, we will be offering free workshops to individuals interested in learning the fundamentals of video production to create their Jazzed! story. No experience necessary! Professional filmmakers will teach you how to tell your story about young jazz musicians and jazz education in Seattle. Participants will come to the 9 Media Lab and learn storytelling skills as well as how to shoot, produce and edit video. Final films may be shared with the community on KCTS9.org and considered for broadcast. The program is free of charge, but space is limited so sign up now! For more information and to register click here . Do you know someone who might be interested? Please feel free to forward thi...

I actually have a backlog of education news stories but these two from today rose to the top.  One story is about teacher evaluations and the other is about a high-profit "education summit" going on this week in Arizona. From Ed Week : The NEA has filed a lawsuit on behalf of several teachers in Florida against that state's education department, saying that the teacher evaluation formula being used violates their constitutional rights.  They seek an injunction against the state law for teacher evalutions and three districts' policies.  “ The state approved formula for measuring student growth on [the state standardized tests] is being stretched far beyond the limited purposes for which it was designed,” the suit argues. The law requires all teachers to be judged in part on the progress of their students. This growth formula was developed for teachers in those subjects in which the state administers standardized tests: grades 4-8 in math and 4-10 in reading. But b...

Quite the astonishing report on KUOW about MAP.  Banda sounds a bit tougher: “They chose this way to express themselves and the message is heard loud and clear,” Banda said. “But I’m going to hold firm to the fact that they have obligations and responsibilities. And the expectation is these two assessments will be given." What was astonishing was the response from John Cronin who directs research at the NEA which makes MAP. He says it's a mystery to him why an entire school of teachers would vote to boycott the test. Laughing, Cronin said, "You know, it’s not even something I can speculate on. It’s interesting to us, but not being Seattleites ourselves, I really can’t say that I know what’s motivating them.” It's a very odd thing that he thinks this is funny but it's also a good way to marginalize the teachers' concerns.   What's on your mind?