Seattle Schools Community Forum

Poll results on public education including Common Core from two sources.

Here are some stories from around the country that will have more and more bearing on what we are doing in Washington State. From Ed Week, a top 12 list of stories from the past year.  The majority of them are about Common Core as the fight goes on.  Linked to Common Core (and you see this in story after story elsewhere) is student data privacy.  I also note the presence of a story on grading schools A-F which I predict will show up in this session of the Legislature. Here's one from Bill Moyers about the "Snowden Effect" or we could just call it the canary in the coal mine.  For some reason the media chooses to listen to established (or paid for by, establishment) groups.  There are a lot of people out there, including this blog, going into the dark corners looking around.  That we only have a flashlight and not a spotlight doesn't mean we are wrong.   These days, the establishment media all too often adopts an indifferent attitude tow...

 Update:  City Hall will be open to the public tomorrow from 10 am to 2 pm.  They will have performances (acrobats, dance crew) as well as food trucks and adoptable dogs/cats.  You can tour the Mayor's office as well as the City Council offices.  It's a fun activity for kids and you get a little face time with the Mayor and City Council members. The Times has a couple of interesting headlines.  One is a feature story about Governor Inslee stating that while he likes the concept of "grading" schools, he thinks it needs further study.  Apparently the Republicans had been counting on his early comments of support for the concept as support for their bill.  I talked to the Governor's office weeks ago and they very clearly told me he did NOT support Senate Bill 5328 and, in fact, were not happy that some media outlets were linking that support to the bill. I am pretty happy at his up-front stance because I don't believe a one-letter grade represen...

The Times continues its ed reform push and, as we have previously reported, they continue to do it both editorially and in their reporting.  The latest example is in an article about a "poll" for the A-F grading for schools bill currently in the Legislature.  (It passed in the Senate but hasn't gotten a committee vote yet in the House.) (Sorry, I can't link the story because of the Times' paywall.) The story does not say who commissioned the poll or who took the poll until the fifth paragraph.  That is very odd and would seem to indicate that the Times was more interested in pushing the results than what the poll was about and who created it. The article only states how many people took the poll (402) but not how many questions were on it nor what the questions were.  We all know what a push poll looks like and I suspect this was one of them.  It appears there was a question on the A-F bill which came out 66% for and 29% against (but what the other 5% ...

The nonsense that is SB 5328 - the bill for letter grades for schools - passed the Senate.  Please, please let your House representatives know that you do not support this. On the face of it, why?  If this is so important, why not grade ALL public institutions, starting with the Legislature and the elected officials there?  Even Stand says that " schools are already being graded by the Achievement Index" so exactly why do we need this?  In fact, the Achievement Index would be what the grade is based on.  I note that the Index does not account for Special Education and ELL students within a school which could weigh on a ranking. I spoke to Superintendent Dorn's office and he does not support it.  Why?  Because OSPI was charged with an adjustment to the Achievement Index anyway by the Legislature (I believe for rollout this fall).   While you're at it, let the Governor know your feelings as well.  What is interesting is that while the G...

First up, there are community townhalls tomorrow for legislative districts.  Go weigh in and talk to your legislators about education issues in our state.  I'm going to mine in the 43rd. What education bills are still alive in the Legislature (from the Times): Grading schools: The Senate has advanced a measure to assign A-F grades to schools based on factors including improvement of student test scores. Supporters say parents could get a clear sign of how a school is doing. Opponents insist it would be punitive and often unfair. (SB 5328) Third-grade reading: The Senate has advanced a measure to require third-graders with inadequate reading skills to repeat a grade, attend summer school or otherwise improve their reading before enrolling in fourth grade. The measure also would authorize K-3 teacher training to help improve students’ reading. (SB 5237) Dream Act: House Democrats and Republicans approved a measure that makes young illegal immigrants eligibl...

Over at the Times there's this article reporting that Republicans in the State Senate are sponsoring a bill to assign a letter grade - A-F - to every public school based on outcomes from standardized testing and "other measures." High schools also would be graded by graduation rate, SAT scores and AP course participation. Details: Schools that earn “A” grades would be eligible for teacher bonuses and get more control over the money the state allocates to them. The bill is sponsored by Senate education Chairman Steve Litzow, R-Mercer Island. I'll have to go over this bill to get more details but, as we all know, SPS does have a scorecard for every school with a host of measures. The kicker (and the number one objection voiced in the Comments section): Charter schools and alternative schools would be exempted from the grading, unless they opt in. And why is that?  I thought these were "public" schools and yet they don't have their result...