Seattle Schools Community Forum

 Update:  some of you may have missed the link below to a video of a kindergarten teacher teaching math via Common Core standards.  I'm putting it in this thread as well. New York State's Education department has a website to promote its work called EngageNY .   @The Chalk Face education blog has a story on Common Core videos that are being used.  I personally found the one in the story - for kindergarteners - to be somewhat disturbing.  There is something so mechanical and detached about the way this teacher is providing the teaching.  I also learned that there's two ways to think/learn about math.  The teacher does not state the name of the first way (as she starts) but she calls the second way, "the math way." Can a teacher or someone who knows about teaching math explain why the students would need to learn to think of math in two different ways? What is interesting as well are the comments to this story.  Is warmth ...

From SPS: Seattle Public Schools (SPS) is accepting applications from SPS families and community members interested in serving on the District’s Math Adoption Committee. The committee will advise SPS on the selection of mathematics instructional materials for kindergarten through Grade 5 students that meet the new Common Core State Standards for mathematics. The goal is to have materials adopted in time for the 2014-15 school year. The committee will be composed of mathematics teachers from Seattle Public Schools, as well as community and family members with experience in mathematics and with a wide range of skills, knowledge, experience, and working style. The goal is to ensure diversity in race/ethnicity, gender, school/student population representation, and perspectives. Applications are due to the Math Adoption coordinator no later than  Oct. 16, 2013 . Those selected as committee members will be notified by email or by telephone during the first week of November. Th...

--> Guest Post by Rick Burke Days are getting longer, the weather is warmer.   The smell of spring is in the air.   But if you inhale deeply down by JSCEE, there’s another smell.   It’s the smell of math.   After years of sideways movement, the stars are aligned for systemic changes to math instruction in Seattle Public Schools. When you look at Seattle kids’ math achievement against other urban districts, Seattle might seem to be doing OK.   As a district-level statistic, we’re not too bad.   But closer inspection of disaggregated data and the view from inside the system prompt a cry for help.   Seattle still has a large number of struggling students and a persistent achievement gap which we can’t shake.   Outside tutoring has become commonplace, with math as the most frequent remediation subject.   However, recent national and state developments have identified common ground and outcome-proven methods which can serve a...