Seattle Schools Community Forum

This is great news from Senator Murray's office. (On the downside, she voted yes to John B. King, Jr. to replace Arne Duncan as Secretary of Education.  The upside to that is that Mr. King will probably not be in that position long enough to do more damage. ) From Senator Murray's office: Legislation would jumpstart NSF grants, K-12 outreach programs that increase interest & retention in STEM fields More than 9% of all jobs in Washington state are STEM-related—the highest in the nation             (Washington, D.C.) – Today, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), the top Democrat on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, introduced the Women and Minorities in STEM Booster Act, legislation that would provide support to increase the number of women and minorities entering STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields. This bill would authorize the National Science Foundation...

From Senator Patty Murray's office: TOMORROW - Floor Debate Begins on Sen. Murray’s  Bill to Fix “No Child Left Behind”

As you all may be aware, both sides of Congress are struggling to rewrite NCLB (formally known as ESEA).  It appears that AFT (American Federation of Teachers) is pushing hard with Senator Patty Murray to put in a clause about the right of parents to opt out of standardized testing.   PLEASE give her office a call to let her know you support this inclusion to the revision of the law.  Email   or phone, 866-481-9186 or in Seattle 553-5545 Sample statement: "I wanted to let the Senator know that I support a clause in any revision to NCLB that would include parents' ability to opt their child out of high-stakes testing." From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel comes news that the Walton Foundation , which has made huge "investments" into Milwaukee's public education system, is pulling out.  (Thank you to reader, Dan.)  This article seems to be an op-ed by a professor of law and public policy at Marquette University :aw School, Alan J. Borsuk.  ...

First up, Testing It appears that most people are in agreement - there is too much testing in this country.  (Sorry, except for Arne Duncan.)  Going to the press conference at the Senator Patty Murray event at Madrona certainly made that clear.  Senator Murray says there needs to be work to reduce the "redundant and unnecessary testing" in our schools.  (No, she wouldn't be more specific than that.)  She also said she had heard from many parents and educators that the current testing does not meet the needs of students especially around progress.  She could not have been more clear, "NCLB is broken" and it's "no secret" that it is not working.  She said there was no disagreement about this in Congress.   But she did say a couple of disturbing things.  One, they need "data."  Data is what is going to tell us everything we need to know about student progress.  Two, I asked her about student data privacy being included in any rew...

From SPS Communications: Press Conference Friday: U.S. Senator Patty Murray and Seattle Public Schools Superintendent to discuss “No Child Left Behind” Law   What:             U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Larry Nyland, will discuss the “No Child Left Behind” law tomorrow morning at Madrona K-8 school. Murray will address her ongoing efforts to fix and improve the legislation and Nyland will talk about NCLB challenges from an administrator’s perspective. Murray will read to a 1 st grade class, followed by the press conference. Who:                Senator Patty Murray (D-WA)                         Larry Nyland, Superintendent, Seattle Public Schools   ...

From Dora Taylor over at the Seattle Education blog: The U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee is scheduled to mark-up a bill to reauthorize ESEA (formerly known as No Child Left Behind) next Tuesday, October 18 at 2:30 p.m. ET.   At the markup, critical amendments will be offered by Senators that will have a powerful impact on the future of student access to prepared and effective teachers. Your Senators need to hear from you today!