Seattle Schools Community Forum

Well, well, well. This certainly is a big, important Board meeting coming up this week. On the agenda are action on such long-discussed topics as: High School Math Adoption Revised Student Assignment Policy Transfer of another $1.45 million to the Garfield capital project A technical amendment to the Transportation Service Standards (for introduction and action) Also introduction of high school grading policy reform and the annual Reduction In Force. There are a number of capital projects on the agenda. I believe that a number of them are related to the Capacity Management project. If you're going to this Board meeting, I suggest you pack a snack. It's going to be a long one.

The district has an on-line survey about high school grading policies put forth by the Sterring Committee for High School Reform. (I'm with Charlie; who is on these communities?) All parent, student, community and staff opinions are being sought. The questions revolve around these issues: Change from a 5-point to an 11-point grading system (add + and - to a grade) Eliminate the 2.0 GPA graduation requirement Have athletic eligibility requirements and graduation requirements be consistent: If the District continues to require a 2.0 GPA for graduation, then athletic eligibility will continue to require a 2.0 GPA. If the District eliminates the 2.0 GPA for graduation, then the District will eliminate the 2.0 GPA for athletic eligibility. Allow high school credit for approved 8th-grade work. Implement a weighted grading system for Honors, Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) courses: Honors courses will carry an additional .5 quality point in determining GPA ...

The High School Steering Committee has been meeting for over a year. One sub-committee of the Steering Committee has been discussing changes to the District's grading policy. The High School Steering Committee is a staff committee. There is no one on the committee who does not work for the school district. The School-Family Partnership Plan (on page 15) calls for the Board to: "Develop policies and procedures that require parent and family involvement in district decision-making and advisory committees." But the Board hasn't taken the first step towards enacting this policy, so there was no student family representation on this committee. This committee is about to make a number of recommendations to the Board. These include a shift to an eleven point grade point average system and rules and procedures for awarding high school credit for classes taken in middle school, among other things. The Committee is supposed to be doing their community engagement on the proposal...

Here is a state law, RCW 28A.230.090 , which reads, in part: (4) If requested by the student and his or her family, a student who has completed high school courses before attending high school shall be given high school credit which shall be applied to fulfilling high school graduation requirements if: (a) The course was taken with high school students, if the academic level of the course exceeds the requirements for seventh and eighth grade classes, and the student has successfully passed by completing the same course requirements and examinations as the high school students enrolled in the class; or (b) The academic level of the course exceeds the requirements for seventh and eighth grade classes and the course would qualify for high school credit, because the course is similar or equivalent to a course offered at a high school in the district as determined by the school district board of directors. This is pretty clear. The law says that the credit "shall be given"; it is ...

There's a thread over at the Editorial page at the Times about summertime homework following from a story (linked at the blog) in the Washington Post. The dilemma is the belief that kids lose a lot of learning power during the summer so some schools have reading list assignments or even homework assignments. The flip side is "it's summer, let'em relax". I'd be somewhere in the middle. When my kids were younger, we always participated in the Seattle Library's summer reading program. They got charted for progress, got little prizes and a there was a party at the end. Pretty painless and it kept up their reading. I'm not big on assignments because it feels punitive. However, if your child had a poor grade in math or was struggling with reading, giving them the whole summer off is not going to help. It also brings up the point of whether year-round school makes sense. Is 6 weeks in the summer enough of a break? Would it keep the learning levels h...

I received this information from the League of Education Voters: "The Washington State Board of Education will vote in July to decide if they should raise our state’s high school graduation requirements. It’s important that you send a message to State Board members that you support this change. Join us at the State Board's upcoming community engagement meetings next month: Monday, June 2 4:00-6:00 PM Spokane Community College Littlefoot Conference Room, Student Center (Bldg. 6) 1810 N. Greene Street Spokane, WA 99202 Tuesday, June 3 4:00-6:00 PM Yakima Convention Center 10 North 8th Street Yakima, WA 98901 Wednesday, June 4 4:00-6:00 PM University Heights Center Room 209 (Auditorium) 5031 University Way NE" (I can't attend the Seattle meeting. If anyone does, could you please let us know how the discussion goes.) They also mention a Times' editorial that appeared last week, supporting higher standards to match college entrance requirements. I had read the ed...