Seattle Schools Community Forum

Via Director Harris: Concord International Elementary School’s Parent Teacher Association (PTA) is hosting an informational meeting on testing and student assessment of learning . Dr Wayne Au, an expert in educational equity, high stakes testing, and educational policy studies will be presenting. The event is scheduled for Tuesday, October 18 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the South Park Neighborhood Center (8201 10th Ave S). For more information, please contact the Concord PTA president, Robin Schwartz at robinschwartz@hotmail.com

I'm a bit late with this but this week marks UW's Computer Science and Engineering Department is having several events.  UW CSE has organized a series of events on campus this week to engage UW students and their friends and family members in the Hour of Code , an annual event organized by Code.org to engage people in computer programming. More than 190,000 Hour of Code events are being held around the world to celebrate Computer Science Education Week . Altogether, we expect more than 400 people from the extended UW family to take part in CSE’s Hour of Code activities throughout the week. It’s not too late to join in! If you can’t make it to an event, try the Hour of Code from wherever you are with one of Code.org’s online tutorials . Even new UW President Ana Mari Cauce has joined in.

As many readers have reported, seven Democratic senators, in the Washington State Legislature, including three from Seattle, voted to move forward a bill (SB 5748)  that would tie student test scores to teacher evaluation.  The vote was 26 yeas to 23 nays.

There is a big push throughout the country for all students (heck, everybody) to learn to code.  Do I know how?  Nope but I think it's a fine idea.  It allows everyone to tweak or invent.  Here's the latest from UW's Department of Computer Science & Engineering . Computer Science Education Week is December 9-15, 2013 but never too soon to start planning. What's an Hour of Code? It's a one-hour introduction to computer science, designed to demystify "code" and show that anyone can learn the basics to be a maker, a creator, an innovator. We'll provide a variety of self-guided tutorials that anybody can do, on a browser, tablet, or smartphone. We'll even have unplugged tutorials for classrooms without computers . No experience needed. Watch this "how to" video for more information. Check out the tutorials in beta . Other CSEdWeek events Computer Science Education Week is observed each year, in recognition of the b...