Seattle Schools Community Forum

As we are coming to a close of our long national nightmare that is the 2016 Presidential election, here's some thoughts from Peter Greene at the Curmudgucation blog tries to explain what Bellwether Education Partners, a reliably reformy right-tilted thinky tank, believes the next president should do in public education policy.

KUOW has a story on the spending in the state superintendent race and spending for Erin Jones' campaign is ahead of Chris Reykdal. One of the largest independent expenditures in Washington state elections this year has come in the race for schools chief: the education reform organization Stand for Children's PAC has bought $164,887 worth of mailers for the Erin Jones campaign for Superintendent of Public Instruction. The PAC spent another $12,809 yesterday on last-minute robocalls for Jones's campaign.

It's not often you see public education and entertainment cross (but see John Oliver and charter schools) but now we have a trifecta of Donald Trump, Colin Kapenick of the San Francisco '49s and public education .  (For those out of the loop, Kaepernick did not stand for the national anthem in the last two preseason games he was in.  He said he was because the song is racist (and read that third verse - I honestly never did before this) and the nation does not have freedom for all. In wades Donald Trump.  He addressed the American Legion Convention this morning and said  would be "promoting American pride and patriotism in America's schools." How? Via ABC News:

It's not entirely surprising to see this slippage happening in the ed reform world; indeed, with the deep and moneyed pockets they have, it's almost a surprise. But my theory is that they tend to believe that they 1) know all the answers and so 2) they exist in an echo chamber.  As I read my Twitter feed daily, I'm astonished at the same 10 subjects, rehashed and repackaged over and over. All of what I want to discuss in this thread will be leading to another thread on what the new "story" is for ed reform and it comes around "equity." Here's the latest news on this front.

I actually had not meant to sit down and write this one but I had so many articles piling up on this subject, it seemed the right time.  To be clear (as I am certain that 99% of adults in the U.S. would agree), all is not well with public education.  There are many reasons for that.  Now, if you just looked at white and many Asian students, the U.S. is doing as well as most top-level countries. But the U.S. is a very heterogeneous country that tests all public school students.   We are also a country that seemingly is accepting that nearly 25% of our children live in poverty.  Anyone who thinks that a good teacher is going to overcome institutional racism, poverty and inconsistent/low funding is wrong.  Also, when I speak of education reform in the U.S., I mean corporate ed reform.  I'm not saying change isn't needed; I'm saying what is being pushed is not really working and, at the end of the day, seems to be serving to allow some people to make...

N.J. school gave students the wrong PARCC test Students in the gifted program knew they do well in math but thought this test was way too easy. That's because the algebra test they were supposed to take wasn't what they got.  Among the other tidbits of info from this story. Christiana said he doesn't think it's fair to the students that they wasted an afternoon on the wrong test. "Now they are told their test was nonsense and they have to take another one," Christiana said. "I am frustrated, and they are not giving us any answers." Less than a week earlier, students were locked out of PARCC testing because of an error by an employee at Pearson, the company that provides the exams. Teachers are instructed not to look at student's computer screens during PARCC testing, even if a student has a question, said Matthew Stagliano, a spokesman for the New Jersey Education Association, the state's largest teachers union. So the kids can tell s...

But this time next year, we will have a new president and if it's not a Democrat, a Republican would probably flip the table on the Department of Education.  It would be hard to know how far-reaching a Republican president would go in revamping public education but you'd notice the change.  But Republicans love charters and vouchers and, naturally, the wealthy. So in the Who's Who of billionaires who care and non-educators who think they know it all, let's add two more names. 

I have many public ed stories that have piled up on my computer so here goes.   (There won't be any charter school stories because there are so many of those, I'll be giving them a separate thread.  The news is not good.)

There have been a number of hugely important ed reform stories from around the country in the last couple of weeks.  But naturally, my focus was on the strike and the charter law ruling. Update: some good national stories about the Seattle strike: Washington Post The surprising things Seattle teachers won for students by striking   NY Educator   What Seattle had that we don't end of update Here's what has been happening in Florida and California. Two big stories out of Florida; one is about the Gates Foundation leaving one district holding the financial bag on a huge project, the other is about Florida superintendents' letter of no confidence in their state testing.

From Diane Ravitch: Rick Hess directs education studies at the conservative, free-market American Enterprise Institute. We often disagree but I am often impressed that he doesn’t follow “the party line” of free-marketeers. This article is a good example of Hess demonstrating his sharp intellect and his willingness to stray from the right-wing corral. I absolutely echo Ravtich's comments.  Hess may be a right-wing thinker but he's an honest one.  He is willing to call out BS on BOTH sides.  He is also willing to say it like it is which probably makes a lot of people on the right wring their hands. His piece is long but worthy reading.  In a nutshell:

From Florida, a state where ed reform is almost completely out of control, two stories. The first is a continuing issue of Florida's insistence on testing all students, even the most severely disabled.

It's hard to say what is going on but Rep. Sharon Tomiko Santos appears to be taking a sharp turn to the ed reform side.  The newest evidence comes from the Seattle Education blog: Washington State Representative Santos was a primary sponsor for yet another nonsensical bill, House Bill 1121.  From the Washington State School Directors Association (WSSDA) Watch List ,  is the following description of the bill: Directs  the partnership to work with OSPI to  integrate financial ed into common core and career and college standards. Directs districts to offer a course students can take at school or home (meaning online) . Districts are encouraged to grant credit. Allows the partnership to seek federal and private funds (guess who from).

 Think your student has a specific "learning style?"  This thoughtful NY Times op-ed gathers a variety of voices on this issue.   Is learning style the same as a learning disability?  How much weight can/should teachers give this issue?  Students do have preferences when it comes to receiving information visually or verbally, said Mark A. McDaniel, a psychology professor at Washington University and a co-author of the book “ Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning .”  And, said Harold Pashler, a psychology professor at the University of California, San Diego, and one of Dr. McDaniel’s co-authors on the study, no compelling evidence for teaching to students’ learning styles has emerged in the years since: “There’s one or two somewhat oddball studies,” he said, “but there’s a number of new negative findings that are more substantial.”

Great op-ed from the NY Times on how basic (and fairly inexpensive) things can make the difference for low-income kids of all ages.   When people ask me, "What would you do?" these are the kinds of things shown to work that I support. - While they were graduate students at Harvard, two young professors designed and tested a program to help students stick to their college plans. Benjamin L. Castleman, now at the University of Virginia, and Lindsay C. Page, at the University of Pittsburgh, set up a system of automatic, personalized text messages that reminded high school students about their college deadlines. The texts included links to required forms and live counselors. -The same researchers also tested a texting program to keep students from dropping out of college. The problem is important because the graduation rate of low-income college students is dismally low; two-thirds leave without a degree. Community college students received texts reminding them t...

The Legislature doesn't like what the voters want. Really? From The Olympian : Legislature Might Send I-1351 Back to Voters. So wait, does this work for ANY unfunded initiative?  Because we could talk about others like I-1240. Also, how much would this repeal election cost taxpayers? A couple of choices for the Legislature: Read more here: http://www.theolympian.com/2015/02/13/3576397_legislature-might-send-initiative.html?fb_action_ids=10153069460173166&rh=1#storylink=cpy

I think we know the answer - it's still civil rights protections for all citizens of our country but especially for those whose rights appear to be violated every single day. (Note: this is a very long thread but I think worthwhile for the discussion.) I will say right upfront - the only thing standing between us and the bad guys?  Cops.  These are people who go out every day not knowing if they will come home at night because of the job they have chosen.  It is a horrible, difficult job.  Everyone is always happy to see firefighters but police?  Not so much.  No one likes to be told what to do.  But with that kind of danger also comes responsibility.  That responsibility is to be true to the goal "to protect and serve."  We can't have police officers having different standards of interaction for one community versus another.  We can't have police officers escalating conflict rather than deescalating it.  Most of all, we c...

Yawn.  Yet ANOTHER Times push for takeover of Seattle Public Schools.  I have said this elsewhere but I'll say it again: I believe there are forces, both within and without, trying to create a situation to take over the district. I believe there are some people in SPS who are either working with outsiders or working to drag their feet on some issues so the district will look worse. Back to the Times op-ed. I always find it interesting that people at the top of the food chain think that they will be able to force top-down edicts.  It's not going to work but it will be a very interesting exercise to see who lines up where.  Who stands up for local, elected control of our district by people elected to oversee the district (and nothing else).  The Seattle Times has its stable of ready mouthpieces for its public education view.  Honestly, Google and see how many times LEV's Chris Korsmo has had an op-ed.  Charters Lisa Macfarlane.  TFA's Chris Ei...

So says, Jack Schneider, an assistant professor of education at the College of the Holy Cross, who studies public education history.  This from Vox . It's funny because this morning as I listened to the City Council briefing with the Superintendent, there was a thread from Jean Godden to Sally Bagshaw to Kshama Sawant about girls and math and science education. Then Sally Clark chimed in saying that she hadn't really followed math and science in school but now she goes in and sees what's being offered and wishes she could go to school now. I can't tell you how many times over the years that I thought the same exact thing.  I had good teachers when I went to school but there was nowhere near the effort to be culturally competent, help all students (no matter their challenge) and this outreach to girls (and that "you go, girl" attitude).  I have to agree with several of Professor Schneider's major premises like "People think schools are in decli...

Hard to believe at this late date that this is news but the company Land's End is producing - by popular demand- shirts for girls that are science-themed. Still on the clothing theme, there's a new campaign by a group, Too Small To Fail, to impress upon parents to teach their pre-school children news words by talking to them more .  How?  The cute kid-sized shirts list conversation topics that parents can use when chatting with their children. The campaign is designed to address the so-called "word gap" that exists between children from low-income families and those from more affluent families. According to research, affluent children have heard 30 million more words by age 3 than children from low-income families . "One of the things that families told us is that they know they should be talking, reading and singing," Susan True of the Bay Area Council, an organization that collaborated on the campaign with Too Small To Fail, said in a promot...

(I'm hoping this will be a multi-part thread about public education in this country, where we are, where we are going and what should/could change.) I come to this thread thinking of two different things that really have nothing (but really everything) to do with public education. One is a song by the late Waylon Jennings (a great country/western singer) called Luckenbach, Texas.  In it, he is singing to his wife how all material things in the world are not making them happier and are, in fact, holding them back. Maybe it's time we got back to the basics (of love). Two is the monolog in the Charlie Brown Christmas special where Charlie, at his wit's end organizing the church play, cries out, " Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?"   and Linus says, 'Sure, Charlie Brown, I can tell you what Christmas is all about." He steps forward and calmly recites from the story of the birth of Jesus. So what does this have to do wit...