Seattle Schools Community Forum

Poll results on public education including Common Core from two sources.

Via NYC Parents blog: Parent leaders throughout the nation thank President Obama for recognizing the importance of class size in his weekly address, and for releasing a report that shows how the elimination of 60,000 teaching positions since 2009 is not only unprecedented in US postwar history, but has led to class size increases that are severely damaging the quality of our public schools. Leonie Haimson, Executive Director of Class Size Matters, said: “The  President’s speech  yesterday and the new White House report,  Investing in our Future , make it crystal clear that the class size increases across the nation represent a crisis that is severely undermining our children’s opportunity to learn.  As the White House report makes clear, class size reduction has been strongly linked to higher achievement, higher levels of engagement, and higher rates of attending college.  Yet here in New York City, our youngest students are suffering from the largest clas...

Update: It's not just Obama but also Patty Murray wants your education thoughts especially around No Child Left Behind. From the White House blog , Melody Barnes, one of the President's senior advisors on education policy, is soliciting opinions from parents, teachers and students on what works and what needs to change. From the blog: You can add your voice to the conversation by answering one or all of the following questions at WhiteHouse.gov/Advise : Parents: Responsibility for our children’s education and future begins in our homes and communities. What are some of the most effective ways you're taking responsibility at a personal and local level for your child’s education? Teachers: President Obama has set a goal of having the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020. How are you preparing your students for college and career? What’s working and what challenges do you face? Students: In order to compete for the jobs of the 21s...

Update: So what did the President say about education? I was really pleased with how he started. He started with parents and what happens at home like telling kids to turn off the tv/computer and do their homework. Because, yes, it starts at home. He moved onto teachers but wasn't too hard on them. He talked about the need to support teachers (big standing ovation) and exit poor performers. For a split second, I thought he was going to talk about TFA but no, he asked students who want to help/serve their country, to consider teaching. He talked about RTTT and how it spurred states to create innovative plans. What was really startling (but maybe I missed this somewhere) was him saying RTTT would "replace" NCLB. Last, it was interesting because he didn't directly reference the failed Dream Act but stated that students who are the children of illegal immigrants who wanted to go onto college should be encouraged as well as those legal students who get exited from...