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There's a petition going to direct the Department of Education and Congress to remove annual standardized testing mandates of NCLB and RttT.  It needs 97,350 signatures and needs to get to 100,000 to get attention from the White House.  (Update: I had this backwards previously.) Meanwhile the Today show on NBC has a Facebook poll going on about testing: Do you think standardized tests are the best way for kids to learn? Tell us why or why not in the comments below. We’ll tackle the debate on air tomorrow! It's running about 4,000K+no to 32 yes.

Update: well, this is interesting.  So SPS is not going to field test any students in grades 3-10.  The only schools that were participating were Ballard and Roosevelt.  Ballard has bowed out for 11th grade and that leaves Roosevelt testing some 11th grades in the math test.  It's a bit confusing because we here at the blog know - from reading newsletters at Hale - that Hale wanted their students to take this test but maybe Hale was trying to test the waters (pun intended) .  So we have just one high school field-testing the Smarter Balance math test. End of update. It's a busy education news day but this is important news. The testing consortium for Common Core assessments that Washington State belongs to -Smarter Balance - announced today that they need a one-week delay for the field test. The testing window was to start on Tuesday, the 18th. I have not found out yet how many Seattle schools were participating (I only knew of Hale and Ballard) but the ...

As the nation gets into its standardized testing season, the number of parents, in districts throughout the nation, that are opting their children out is growing.  In a story from Chalkbeat Colorado , one mom was very clear on her wishes for her daughter.  When the school ignored them - placing her daughter in an office with adults who were talking to her about the test and refusing to allow that child back in class AFTER testing was done - well, you watch the video. It's funny because a letter sent out to superintendents that had a series of "misconceptions" seemed to also have its own problems. Angela Engel, a former Colorado teacher is became an author and parent activist said this: Parents are sick and tired of the commercialization of our child’s education,” Engel said, explaining just one of the many arguments of parents who want to opt-out their students. “They are not for profit. The policies around high-stakes testing is making a lot of money for the test...

From the Washington Post: The U.S. Department of Education is allowing California to bypass federal requirements by giving standardized tests in math and reading to millions of public school students this spring without publicly reporting results or using them to hold schools or teachers accountable. This is for this year only. Duncan had been threatening to hold on to up to $3.5B in federal funding (shades of Washington State) : But in a letter sent to California officials Friday, Assistant Education Secretary Deborah Delisle wrote that her department has approved the state’s plan. “I hope you find this flexibility helpful,” she wrote. Well that's big of them.

One fascinating thing I learned at the Network for Public Education conference in Austin was that Washington State is one of the luckier states in terms of ed reform.  Being behind (or slow to go) the ed reform curve has many benefits. For example, did you know that there is large (and growing) opt-out of testing movement nationwide?  Indeed there is and I met many parents at the conference who said they were. I have said that when my sons were in school that if was not a year they were required to take the WASL, we opted them out.  They are both (nearly) college graduates.   Here's the Facebook page for I Refuse!, a national opt-out movement.   Here's the movement in NY state with their resources.  Here's a round-up of stories from Ed Week on the subject. From the New Yorker, a very good article on testing.  Last spring’s state tests were an entirely different experience, for children and for teachers. Teachers invigilating the e...

More opt-outs of testing, this time at a school in Chicago where 300 parents have opted their children out.  In an article from Catalyst Chicago , one superintendent sent a letter to parents telling them why they shouldn't opt their children out.  One interesting note - they use the MAP test for screening AL but they have a much lower threshold than SPS. The letter also for the first time makes clear that the NWEA/MAP will be used to determine who can sit for the selective enrollment test, but it sets the bar low. The current policy limits the selective test to those students who ranked in the 50th percentile or above on the nationally normed section of the ISAT. Now, according to the letter, students scoring above the 24 th percentile on the NWEA/MAP will be eligible to test for selective enrollment high schools. Sharkey said the new standard is low because district officials are concerned about a lot of students doing poorly. “These new Common Core assessmen...

 Update: here's what's happening in the white-hot capital of ed reform pushback - Chicago - around testing.  Chicago is just one of many cities in many states caught in this muddle between existing state tests and the coming Common Core assessments.  Why take both?  Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett sent a letter to parents on Wednesday telling them why they should not have their child opt-out of the ISAT and the NWEA/MAP tests, the second time in less than two months she has issued such a letter. In a swift counter-move, parent groups that oppose high-stakes testing said the letters indicate that CPS leaders are worried about a growing resistance to standardized tests, with some parents saying their children spend too much class time on too many tests, with serious consequences tied to their outcome. For the first time, the level of participation in the NWEA/MAP is part of the district's rating system for schools, with schools penalized if participation falls be...

It's nice to see that more and more people - especially educators - are rising up to fight back against ed reform that does not work. John Kuhn , is the superintendent of Perrin-Whitt School district in Texas, and gave a rousing speech - back in 2011 - that's a bit of a foretelling of what educators are finally understanding. From the speech: The poorest Americans need equity, but our nation offers them accountability instead. They need bread, but we give them a stone. We address the soft bigotry of low expectations so that we may ignore the hard racism of inequity . Standardized tests are a poor substitute for justice.  So I say to Arne Duncan and President Obama, go ahead and label me. I will march headlong into the teeth of your horrific blame machine and I will teach these kids. You give me my scarlet letter and I will wear it proudly, because I will never cull the children who need education the most so that my precious scores will rise.  I will not race ...

Today is PISA day (no, not the leaning tower although, having lived there, it's great).  That's the day when the results of the international test (the Program of International Student Assessment) are announced.  (It's given every three years to 15-year olds around the globe and where we get our hair-pulling upset over US students versus students in other countries).  The Answer Sheet has the U.S. breakout stats.  Guess where the U.S. ended up?  In the middle. As Diane Ravitch points out, this has been going on since the U.S. started taking this test in the early '60s.  And, since that time, the U.S. has grown into the strongest, most innovative economy in the world. I'm not saying the scores are great; they aren't.  But the hand-wringing is somewhat overwrought. The U.S. actually did better in science than math which isn't something I would have predicted.   I am surprised that the U.S. doesn't do better in reading where we scores abou...

 Updated with Pinehurst news Monday, October 28th Operations Committee meeting from 4-6 p.m.  Agenda .   It includes the policies on weapons prohibition for both students and adults/visitors, data sharing (clarification on opting out procedures) and discussion of the green resolution impact on policies and procedures.  Pegi McEvoy will also report on transportation service standards. SPED PTA meeting at 7pm at JSCEE .  Tracy Libros of Enrollment Planning as well as Sped Director Zakiyyah McWilliams will be there.  Everyone is welcome.   Tuesday, October 29th Performing and Visual Arts College Fair from 7-9 p.m.  List of colleges/programs at this fair.  This is not a district event but sponsored by the National Association for College Admission Counseling. Final Hearing for Pinehurst K-8 from 7-8 p.m. at the Pinehurst building.   Apparently, Thornton Creek principal, John Miner, will be there to speak on the feasibility ...

Remember the uprising in Egypt (that really started in Tunisia) called the Arab Spring? We have just such a movement happening - Education Spring - that is traveling across America and nobody is waiting for Spring.  Exhibit A: the uprising against testing in Buffalo, New York (and I believe the courageous action by the Garfield High staff has triggered this "we can change this" attitude that is spreading).  From the Buffalo News: Reform of high-stakes testing for schoolchildren, a groundswell movement of lawn signs and small-scale protests, became an earthquake Wednesday evening.  The Summit for Smarter Schools, organized by a group called the Partnership for Smarter Schools and hosted by State Sen. Tim Kennedy, D-Buffalo; Assemblyman Sean Ryan, D-B...

As we grapple with the minutia of boundaries and enrollment, here's some higher level thinking on education to challenge you. From Ed Week , "What the Goal of Public Education?" , author Tom Segal offers his and others' ideas: Reform, however, has more to do with the learning experience itself. What should we be teaching? How do we think about accountability? How do we balance standards with the complexities of population diversity? Undoubtedly, technology is typically an offshoot of this dialogue, a tool through which much of this reform can be delivered and administered. But they are not the same thing. Reform is a big fancy buzzword that floats around one particular concept: what are we trying to get out of this educational experience, and how do we adjust the current system to reflect these changes?  In your opinion, what is the current goal of the American Public Education System? and.. What should be the goal of the American Public Education Sys...

You may recall my update on Common Core?   I left out the biggest news which is the looming showdown between California Governor Jerry Brown and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.  The fight is over - what else? - testing .  From EdSource : Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday defended the state’s decision to suspend state standardized tests this year and instead offer students a practice test in the Common Core standards that’s now being developed. And he gave no sign of steering away from a collision with the federal government over this issue. The governor wants to pilot CC assessments for schools that have the necessary equipment.  The issue is that a new California law says this: By requiring that every district capable of administering a computer-based test give students a Common Core field or practice test next spring, the bill will put California out of compliance with the federal No Child Left Behind law.  And that's because California - like m...

From Ed Week , are lawmakers finally connecting the dots between the Gates Foundation and Common Core?   Do tell. In Michigan, here is what representative Tom McMillin had to say two days ago, in response to testimony from Chester Finn, of the Fordham Institute, which can be counted among the architects of test-driven reform. McMillin points out that Chester Finn's colleague at the Fordham Institute, Michael Petrilli, had stated that after Arne Duncan hired four Gates Foundation staffers to high level positions in the Department of Education, "the Gates Foundation's agenda has become the country's agenda in education."  Finn said he disagreed, however he acknowledged that " the Gates Foundation paid for the development of the Common Core standards. There's no disputing that."  McMillin responded: And they also paid $6 million to Fordham (Institute) and then you guys evaluate the Common Core standards and decide if they're a...

From Huffington Post, news that Secretary Duncan wants this to be the last year for alternative tests for special ed students.  He wants them ALL to take the general assessments.  This, of course, is all around the NCLB legislation (which is practically on life-support anyway). 

A couple of interesting contributors to Stephan Blanford' s campaign - former Board member Nancy Waldman (ousted from office in the wake of the Olechefske financial scandal) and former Board member (and Seattle mover and shaker) Don Nielsen.    One oddity, though, is a contribution out of Indianapolis from the Eli Lilly company.  Why Eli Lilly is interested in a Seattle School Board campaign is a mystery. Interesting in keeping up with national education trends ?  Here's a link t o the top ed Twitter feeds.  Who's at the top?  Why it's a tie between Arne Duncan and Diane Ravitch. Americorps gets into the school turnaround action and I think I trust them far more than I would any business. Officials announced in July that $15 million would go to 13 organizations nationwide during the next three years to put more than 650 AmeriCorps members in schools. One of the funded projects that will help rural schools exclusively was Berea College...

Remember that thinking, after the mass killings at an elementary school earlier this year, that we should arm teachers and staff at our schools ?  Well, Kansas passed a law allowing teachers and others to be armed.  Guess what the problem is ? Via TPM: An insurance company based in Iowa has refused to renew coverage for Kansas schools that permit teachers and staff to carry concealed firearms on campus, the Des Moines Register reported  on Sunday. EMC Insurance Cos. made the decision after Kansas enacted a new law to allow the concealed guns on campus. The company told the newspaper the decision was based on financial policy, not politics. The company reportedly covers 85 to 90 percent of Kansas school districts. "We’ve been writing school business for almost 40 years, and one of the underwriting guidelines we follow for schools is that any on-site armed security should be provided by uniformed, qualified law enforcement officers,” Mick Lovell, EMC’s vice ...

So China is now deciding that for public education, the idea that testing is best, is now going out the window.  From The Answer Sheet at the Washington Post: China just began a major education reform effort that is aimed at reducing the importance of standardized testing in determining school quality and including factors such as student engagement, boredom, anxiety, and happiness.  As scholar Yong Zhao notes in the following post, the approach is the opposite of the education reform path in the United States, which in recent years has increased the importance of test scores for accountability purposes. We all know that China was never famous for individual thought or creativity.  But even they seem to realize to create a better educated populace, that testing will not do it.  They realize that using only test scores to send students to higher level schools is a bad idea.  From the Chinese Ministry of Education: “However, due to internal and ext...

I have a two-fold purpose to this thread.  One is to continue to provide food for thought about what your child's generation faces in terms of privacy.  Yes, I know, just as many say "advertising is all around them so who cares if it's in their test materials", I'm sure there are those of you who will shrug.  Whether we like it, think it's just the wave of the future or what, the fact is that things are going to be different for our children.  Two is to ask for help in trying to gather and organize information on privacy issues around testing.  This is needs to have an alarm sounded and loudly.  That I don't hear it coming from the PTA is even more troubling.  (And actually the national PTA loudly supports Common Core which is where the problem comes from.)  What's interesting is that state PTAs are sounding the alarm (I'll have to see if I can find out what Washington state PTA is doing).  In Missouri, parents point out, that in 201...

From Superintendent Banda via SPS Communications (red highlight mine): In February we formed a Task Force on Assessments and Measuring Progress to review our testing policies and explore concerns about the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) assessment. This group, comprised of principal, teacher, student, family and community representatives, met eight times and developed a list of recommendations for the 2013-14 school year. I want to thank this group for their time and efforts. This proved to be an effective and productive opportunity to work together to develop constructive solutions that put students first while addressing the concerns raised by some of our staff. I look forward to ongoing discussions about the use of assessments to support teaching and learning in our district. Based on this Task Force’s feedback, I am making the following decisions regarding the MAP assessment for the 2013-14 school year: ·        ...