Seattle Schools Community Forum

From the Eastlake Ave. Blog, concern over by TOPS from neighbors about a new development that says it is just 5 units but: "...neighbors note that it will actually have 39 individual units grouped around common kitchens on each floor (a basement and four other floors, with one kitchen on each floor). The neighbors also question locating such a project, which they fear will have transient occupants, just two doors from the TOPS@Seward School and two houses away from a daycare center."   There are also concerns around parking (which really is difficult around TOPS).  DPD seems to think it about the size rather than the number of units and that it part of the Residential Urban Village (under the Comprehensive Plan).   I've heard of this kind of "apartment" which is basically a small room with a bathroom (smaller than a studio).  I'm sure it fills a need but it seems like the City should take into account how many people could potentially live there...

Here are the highlights from the April 25th Curriculum and Instruction Committee meeting.  (I'm just behind, sorry.  I also don't have the agenda with me so I'm flying by the seat of my notes.)

Note: I pulled this out of one thread because I thought it important for parents to see and let their views be known to someone in SPS in a position to do something about it.  Thank you to Maureen from TOPS for this info. If anyone thinks their 8th grader is prepared to skip 9th grade Physical Science (Seattle Girls' School? TOPS? Others?), please email the High School PTSA and Science Director, Elaine Woo (ewoo@seattleschools.org), and let them know right now. You can also email me at maureen at germani dot org so we can coordinate. TOPS grads cover 100% of the 9-12 Physical Science standards and at least 75% of the 9-12 Life Sciences standards. Their teacher is certified K-12. There has never been a reason (or a way?) to make sure they get HS credit for what they cover but I spoke with Elaine Woo yesterday about the possibility of piloting a HS level Physical Science class at TOPS (not that I have to authority to do anything about it). It makes more sense to allow...

As requested, an open thread to talk about any and all high school curriculum issues. I can start off by saying I do not understand this opt-out testing for Physical Science that is only for Ballard students.  Why?  Also, one of our Ballard High science teacher readers, India Carlson, told DeBell at his last community meeting that the test created is extremely difficult (so it would seem that few Ballard kids would pass it anyway). Other suggested topics: science math language arts electives foreign language oc-ed uneven teaching quality (I found this more apparent in high school than any other level; this was at both Roosevelt and Hale.) counselors

Monday, March 28th Board Committee Meeting - Curriculum and Instruction Agenda topics:  science adoption delay, AP Science and Social Studies, high school social studies adoption committee, middle school language arts adoption committee, K-5 General music adoption commitee, promotion/retention policies, homework policies Tuesday, March 29th   Superintendent Chat from 8-9 am at the Central library downtown (10th Floor) The Source Informational Night for Latino Families - Campana Quetzal will be hosting this event at 6:30 p.m. in the RBHS library.  Families will learn to use the Source and how to create an e-mail account.  The workshops will be in Spanish.   Superintendent coffee with members of the East African community from 6:30-8:00 p.m. - there is no location given for this; I'll try to find out where.   There is also another diversity speaker lecture.  This one is Brian C. Johnson about framing diversity through modern film....

From the New York Times: an op-ed about asking students what THEY want in a high school .  The author, Susan Engel, followed a group of 8 high school students as they " designed and ran their own school within a school. "  Interesting reading.  Here's a connecting lesson plan .  A couple of thoughtful parts: An Independence Project student who had once considered dropping out of school found he couldn’t bear to stop focusing on his current history question but didn’t want to miss out on exploring a new one. When he asked the group if it would be O.K. to pursue both, another student answered, “Yeah, I think that’s what they call learning.”  The students in the Independent Project are remarkable but not because they are exceptionally motivated or unusually talented. They are remarkable because they demonstrate the kinds of learning and personal growth that are possible when teenagers feel ownership of their high school experience, when they learn thin...

I attended DeBell's (crowded) meeting yesterday.  I'll post about it later but would like to hear from others. Update:   Michael DeBell's meeting had about 13-15 people (at various points).  I like how Michael has people introduce themselves and then he writes down their topic and tries to get to everyone's topic.   There were several teachers and staff as well as Ramona Hattendorf from the Washington State PTSA.

From the SPS website: Committee seeks feedback on recommended high school science instructional materials The High School Science Adoption Committee is seeking feedback from staff, families and community members on the top three choices for high school instructional materials. The materials - 9th grade Physical Science, and 11th and 12th grades Chemistry & Physics -can be reviewed March 7-21 at six locations across the District.    You can also make an appointment to view them in the evening hours by e-mailing Elaine Woo, ewoo@seattleschools.org.

Lesson learned; never just skim through anything you post that you didn't write. That is what I did on the Science thread and I got something very wrong (although it doesn't really change my concerns). I wrote that there were going to be 4 mandatory science courses to be taken for graduation. That is wrong. The SPS graduation requirement is TWO science credits . One of them, by state law, has to be a lab science. The 4 courses that the district says will meet that requirement after the science alignment are physical science, biology, chemistry and physics. The issue still remains that many SPS high schools have other science courses that are popula and valid science courses. These include some from the 10-year program of Biotech at Ballard High School. The idea that all these other science courses (save AP and IB courses) will have to go thru a process to validate them to replace one of the four current possibilities is troubling. It's troubling because if you read ...

Here is the final section of the thread on the high school science curriculum alignment. Again, ALL parents, you may not be here yet but believe me, you will care deeply about this when your child gets to high school. But if you are an elementary parent and you shrug now, then when you get there, no fair asking why science in SPS high schools is so limited. Tell the Board you are worried and want a wide variety of science classes available. (Also, ask the Board to not let the district systematically dismantle the BioTech program at Ballard.) Part Two Currently the district is still proposing that all 9th graders take physical science, 10th graders take biology, and then chemistry and physics or a science elective. These are the issues that schools are facing as result of this proposal: 1) What will happen to students who do not pass the first two classes? Will they simply retake those courses over and over? If so what does this do to upper level science class selection. 2) ...

What the heck is going on with the curriculum alignment in Science? I can't make heads or tails of it. Originally, the science curriculum was supposed to be aligned first along with the math curriculum, but then the alignment of the science curriculum was deferred as the state was revising the science Standards and GLEs. The new state Standards have been set, so the alignment of the science curriculum can now go forward. There is a timetable for the work on the District web site, but it doesn't appear that the District is sticking to the timetable. The members of the high school science materials adoption committee have been named. Other than that, it's unclear if anything else on the timetable has actually been done. During the week of January 24th, Elaine Woo, the District's Science Program Manager, was supposed to send out an invitation to view instructional materials. The public was supposed to be notified that they could review the science instruction...

There was an interesting story in the NY Times last week about a low-performing high school with some extremely high-performing students. As you probably know, Intel sponsors a science competition for high school students that is extremely tough and very competitive. They generally take about 300 students in the competition. There are always the perennial schools like Bronx Science with many candidates but there are also other schools moving up. One is Ossining High School in Ossining, New York. Both Bronx Science and Ossining are in Westchester County in New York but Ossining is a diverse city best known as the home of Sing Sing prison. Out of the 300 students selected, 8 came from Bronx Science and 8 from Ossining. However, none of these students were selected as one of the 40 finalists. Ossining's Intel students are mostly girls (there's one boy). Their research includes: Jessica Brill (Development and Function of Extrathymic T- Cells in Athymic Bone Marrow Trans...

The High School Science Instructional Materials Adoption page has links to surveys for staff, students and community/family members. That they are asking for student input is great so encourage your student to take the survey. The surveys close on Jan. 6th . They are also looking for members of the Science Instructional Materials Adoption Committee. The application period closes on Jan. 6th and you will be notified by January 14th.