Seattle Schools Community Forum

Let us presume that Spectrum is dead. Nevermind if you think that's a good thing or a bad thing. Our views on that topic simply don't matter. What does matter, however, are students working beyond Standards in need of an appropriate academic opportunity. So let's hear the ideas for how to provide an appropriate academic opportunity for students working beyond Standards if ability grouping is off the menu. A number of solutions have been proposed over the years: differentiated instruction, project-based learning, individualized instruction on computers, MTSS, parallel curricula, and grade skipping - just to name a few. Which of these work and can be reliably implemented? Let's hear your answers. The only answers that are not allowed are ability grouping and doing nothing. The District and the majority of the schools - for whatever reason - are opposed to ability grouping so don't suggest that. Please don't pretend that the general education classroom reli...

ST Reader alerted me to a story in the Times about Seattle Schools doing a pilot for a new company run by a UW professor, Zoran Popovic who directs the Center for Game Science at UW.  He founded a non-profit called Enlearn with money from (who else) the Gates Foundation.  But the Times notes: Enlearn is developing a commercial application for the interactive technology aimed at the global K-12 market. Of course.  It's supposed to a personalized learning/differentiation service for students wherein the students play the "games" on tablets, data goes to the teacher: "...providing a moment-by-moment progress report on how each student is faring and whether the class as a whole is ready to move on or needs a better explanation."  "The platform, in real time, provides the key misunderstandings and misconceptions for every individual student, which directly informs the teacher about what to do next at that instant," Popovic said. In other word,...

A thread was requested about ALOs (Advanced Learning Opportunities, the third tier of the Advanced Learning program) and differentiated teaching .   Differentiated teaching is a teacher knowing his/her students' strengths, challenges and readiness and being able to adjust teaching to the different levels in the classroom.  (This doesn't necessarily mean teaching to every single student's level but rather knowing that there are different abilities in the classroom and trying to meet those needs.)