Seattle Schools Community Forum

I'm leaving out opting out and charter schools stories; they need threads of their own. Over in Pasco (FL), they are so desperate for teachers they have a $1,000 training program to become one for their schools.  I was not aware of this program. The Professional Development Program that helps train people without education degrees to become teachers costs $1,000. However, candidates do not have to pay the money up front. Instead, they can have that money deducted from a series of paychecks and pay it over time. Remember how crummy American kids are at math ?  Not the elite students who are growing in power and numbers.  From The Atlantic (and you should check out the photographs of the kids in this article:

From contributor, Ann Donovan: While the teacher negotiations are at the forefront of our minds, another school year is upon us and academic concerns are also important. Several readers have requested this new thread about the Seattle District's mathematics adoption this school year and this thread should allow for a free discussion of the issues.  Some of the themes that have been coming up recently include:

After three long days, the National Spelling Bee ended in...a tie...for the second year in a row.  The judges ran out of words on their list.   In a fun twist, both contestants have last names that might be a challenge to spell - Gokul Venkatachalam and Vanya Shivashankar.  Vanya correctly spelled the word "scherenschnitte" and Gokul correctly spelled the word "nunatak."  The story from CNN is great and the recoiling of one contestant who lost from his mother's sympathetic kiss is priceless (we've all been there if you have boys).  Show the kids the story from CNN - many great moments. Work Party at Hamilton Middle School on Sunday, May 31st from 10 am-noon.

UW's Computer Science and Engineering Department had kicked off a Washington State Algebra Challenge on April 21 with an end date of April 26th.  However, due to feedback from schools about state testing, they have extended the project.  Our schools sent the message, and we got it loud and clear! April and May are busy times for testing, so why not give everyone more time to participate in the challenge?  Today, we’re pleased to announce an extension to our end date – sign up and start the Challenge as early as April 27 (next week!), and go at your own pace until June 5, 2015 , when we close up our leaderboards for the 2014-15 school year. With our new date, we’ll be adjusting our goals and shaking things up a bit. With even more time, we can’t wait to see what the students of Washington state can accomplish together. The Center for Game Science at the University of Washington focuses on solving hard problems facing humanity today in a game based enviro...

From SPS Communications: Want to learn more about Seattle Public Schools’ new elementary math program? We have scheduled a “Parent University” at five locations around the district on Thursday, Oct. 9, just for families who want to know more about Math in Focus.  Trainers will share the framework for the Singapore approach to math, the basis for the Math in Focus program. They also will provide strategies families may use at home to support students in their learning. “Parent University” runs from 6:30 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 9 , at the following schools: Eckstein Middle School Auditorium Washington Middle School Lunchroom West Seattle High School Auditorium Whitman Middle School Auditorium Van Asselt Elementary School Auditorium

From Professor Mass' weather blog: "After lots of complaints and the evident failure of Everyday Math, the Seattle School District began a selection process for a replacement, managed by a Math Adoption Committee.  After some deliberation and limited input from the community, they have narrowed the field to three books: Math in Focus - The Singapore Approach  pub. Houghton-Mifflin enVision Math    pub. Pearson Education Go Math!    pub. Houghton-Mifflin Math in Focus is clearly the best of the lot.  enVision Math is far better than Everyday Math, but a step down.  Go Math is the weakest.  Here are a few comments on these books.

From SPS Communications : Elementary math instructional materials - We want your feedback! The elementary math adoption committee work has reached a critical stage. In looking to partner with parents and community to find the best possible math program for Seattle Public School students for the 2014-15 school year and beyond, the committee invites you to give us your thoughts and opinions. The committee is excited to have three possible math programs as viable candidates. Click here for more information, or below for translated fliers. One of the original candidates, My Math has been removed from consideration. While the math committee prefers community members review the materials in person, we know that’s not always an option. You can review materials online starting April 1. Visit http://bit.ly/MathAdoption2014 •  Amharic •  Chinese •  English •  Oromo •  Somali •  Tagalog •  Tigrigna •  Vietnamese Click here for th...

From SPS: Elementary math instructional materials - We want your feedback! The elementary math adoption committee work has reached a critical stage. In looking to partner with parents and community to find the best possible math program for Seattle Public School students for the 2014-15 school year and beyond, the committee invites you to give us your thoughts and opinions. The committee is excited to have four possible math programs as viable candidates. The committee is excited to have four possible math programs as viable candidates: enVision Go Math! Math in Focus  My Math You can provide direct feedback at one of our display locations. There will be forms prepared for you to fill out at each site, as well as forms online. This is an opportunity to compare the programs and consider what type of program you think would be a good fit for your family and community, and most importantly, for your student. From April 1 through April 25 , please come to one of...

I attended the Math Adoption Committee meeting a week ago.  I stayed about 2 hours (out of a daylong meeting).  I didn't have high hopes at the beginning as the meeting seemed disorganized and slow to start.  The meeting was monitored by staffers Anna Box and Shauna Heath.  They first went over the discussion from the Board-asked-for Work Session that had occurred the day before about the math adoption process.  (More on that in a minute). The next meeting of the Math Adoption Committee is tentatively set for April 25th (I did not hear a reason they were skipping March).  As soon as they announce their final selections, they want public comment. There will be viewing of materials at five schools (one in each region) and one library.  These are Arbor Heights, South Shore K-8, Coe, Northgate and, for the Central region, Douglass-Truth Library. It was noted by staff that they have about $1.5M for this math adoption.  One Committee member said...

Update: wanted to add a link to a Pennsylvania teacher's PD day on Common Core.   Eye-opening reading and you will now know the CC theme " Kids these days" and that an official sponsor of the standards is Office Depot.  Long but detailed and from a teacher's POV (which I think is important to the discussion.) End of update. From reader Kristen King's blog, My Daughter, the Guinea Pig : We’re a very mathy family. We all learned math the way human beings learn things — that is, by making it a fun part of our everyday activities. But this year, my daughter is a guinea pig for the new national experiment that is called the Common Core standards. Her class is using a new curriculum designed specifically for the Common Core, “My Math,” and she hates it. I’m hearing her say, “I don’t like math,” and I’m concerned. She still likes math, really, but only when we mess around with it as a family. Her homework is procrastination and resentment and sometimes te...

 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 ...

...then get down to the John Stanford Center and review the proposed ideas for math. From the district: GIVE US YOUR INPUT! First Phase of Adoption Reviews: Seven new Mathematics programs for Kindergarten through Grade 5 use are on display in the Professional Library on the second floor of the John Stanford Center. These are the textual materials that are being reviewed by our Adoption Committee for potential use by the district in the coming years. You may visit the display of materials any time that the Stanford Center is open between now and January 8, 2014. There are Public Review Forms if you wish to add comments or suggestions for the committee’s consideration. Please use your voice to help us choose new Math materials for our elementary students. THE NEXT SCHEDULED MEETING OF THE K-5 MATH ADOPTION COMMITTEE IS: Thursday, December 19, 2013, 8:30 AM to 3:30 PM in the Professional Library of the John Stanford Center for Educational Excellence. Two things to consider: - o...

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...

Interesting six-part series on math in the NY Times, Me, Myself and Math . Oh those kids! Looks like LA high school students found it quite easy to hack into their new school-issued iPads. One week after students started receiving their iPads, students attending at least three Los Angeles high schools had figured out how to disarm a built-in security lock that was supposed to limit what they could do with the devices. This freed them to use the iPads to surf the Internet, send tweets, socialize on Facebook, stream music through Pandora, and who knows what else besides homework and school assignments.  Student access to social networks and tweets will of course invalidate any of the online exams. All the students had to do to trick the system was to delete their personal profile information and then they were free to use the iPads any way they wanted to.  Last Growth Boundaries meeting at Ballard tonight.  Anyone going?   Update: Stephan Blanf...

 More on what works in math and science from this NY Times article , Guesses and Hype Give Way to Data in Study of Education.   Want to be data-driven?  Use real research. But now, a little-known office in the Education Department is starting to get some real data, using a method that has transformed medicine: the randomized clinical trial, in which groups of subjects are randomly assigned to get either an experimental therapy, the standard therapy, a placebo or nothing.  The findings could be transformative, researchers say. For example, one conclusion from the new research is that the choice of instructional materials — textbooks, curriculum guides, homework, quizzes — can affect achievement as profoundly as teachers themselves; a poor choice of materials is at least as bad as a terrible teacher, and a good choice can help offset a bad teacher’s deficiencies.   So far, the office — the Institute of Education Sciences — has supp...

 Update on this story with numbers from Rainier Beach High School: RB had the highest increase in reading scores for high schools in the district (17%). 22% increase in Science and 8-10% increase in Math  End of update From SPS Communications (bold mine): Seattle Public School students again made significant academic gains during the 2012-2013 school year, Superintendent José Banda announced today. The preliminary scores released by the Washington Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) show Seattle students outperforming the state average in multiple subjects. [1] In 2013, Seattle students met or exceeded standard on the state exams at a higher rate than the previous year (2012) in 19 of 21 exams taken. Seattle also exceeded the 2013 statewide average in 19 of 21 exams, remaining slightly behind in only 10th grade reading and writing. The district widened its lead over statewide averages in 18 exams reflecting a trend in recen...

I don't do this often but because I saw this huge number of hits with a fairly large number of comments on one post, I wanted to put this out there. This week's Tuesday Open Thread has been one of the most read and commented posts we have had in a long time.  The number of hits is so hit as to preclude it being the same 20 people coming back, again and again. The post is mostly a math discussion about readiness, equity, resources and implementation for an idea at one middle school to drop the entire 8th grade into algebra. There was a comment or two that were not worthy (and one got deleted for that reason) but everyone seems to be trying to flesh out what this means to drop an entire grade of students into an advanced math class (and mind you, without much notice to either students or parents).  I appreciate the idea of "having faith" in the teachers, the principal and, most of all, the kids, to embrace this idea and get it right.  But again, like many things ha...

Linh-Co said...I know this was posted before by Melissa, but we still need lots of signatures to make the middle school math adoption happen next year. So far we only have 153 signatures we were hoping for at least 1000. Cliff Mass has helped us out by writing a blog, MJ McDermott made a YouTube video on CMP, and Bruce Ramsey wrote an awesome editorial about dumping bad math. Now we just need parents to sign the petition and forward to as many friends and families. My daughter got over 45 signatures from juniors and seniors at Ingraham. Thanks! Petition. (I will point out that I do not support Common Core standards but I agree with the premise here; it is unfair to test kids (and evaluate teachers) if they are not using materials that align with the testing.)

From the Seattle Math Coalition: FYI,  the district has changed their math adoption plan based on budget concerns.   The proposed K-8 adoption which was supposed to be in classrooms in Fall of 2014 is now only a K-5 adoption, with 6-8 to be delayed for another year!   This files in the face of common sense:   1)  CMP2 is a train wreck for families without stellar teachers or family/tutor support   2)  Despite a goal of a 7-year adoption cycle, the CMP2 materials are already at year 7.  They are a year older than EDM, yet the district feels more pressure to replace EDM.   3)  Citing poverty, $1.5M is budgetwd for K-5 adoption, however $2M additional is budgeted for Common Core training.  Will they train with old books and then replace them a year later?    4)  The big elephant in the room:  In 2014-15 academic year, state assessments will be based on Common Core.  If Seattle ...

 From SPS Communications: Earlier this month, Seattle Public Schools sought applicants for a newly formed Native American Advisory Committee.  A number of applicants have been received but SPS encourages more to apply. The extended deadline is Monday, April 22. The initial committee term is April 2013 to June 2015. Nomination forms are available here  and can be mailed to: P.O. Box 34164 Mailstop 32156 Seattle, WA, 98124 Nominations can also be emailed to naeac@seattleschools.org . From KPLU: Seattle Public Schools wants to add a half-hour to the school day for elementary students by as early as the next school year. But the district must first align a number of variables, including funding and union support.