Seattle Schools Community Forum

From the agenda for the Board meeting on Wednesday night, three items of major interest.

 A truly compelling article from two researchers on what is happening with closing the opportunity gap. (bold mine) The enormous gap in academic performance between high- and low-income children has begun to narrow. Children entering kindergarten today are more equally prepared than they were in the late 1990s . From 1998 to 2010, the school readiness gap narrowed by 10 percent in math and 16 percent in reading. The gaps that remain are still vast. But even this modest improvement represents a sharp reversal of the trend over the preceding decades. It’s worth noting that the gap in school readiness narrowed because of relatively rapid improvements in the skills of low-income children, not because the skills of children from high-income families declined. 

Good News Mark Perry , the long-time principal at Nova High School, was honored by the Alliance for Education's Thomas B. Foster Award for Excellence as a distinguished principal.  Perry will receive a $50,000 cash grant for his school.  He has been principal at Nova for 16 years.

This story was on KUOW today. "Perhaps the greatest challenge we face in addressing the opportunity gap is the persistent disparities in our public schools," said Murray, in an statement promoting the event. schools," said Murray, in an statement promoting the event. "This is not just the responsibility of the Seattle school district. This is clever way for the Mayor to get the City more involved but really he should have said: "Perhaps the greatest challenge we face in addressing the opportunity gap is the persistent disparities in our city.." Because that is equally true AND his turf.

The presentation for this Work Session finally came up and I took a gander at it. I would say this is possibly one of the most important Work Sessions of the school year and certainly will be a test for the new Board.   District Scoreboard I'll let you peruse this at your leisure but it's certainly a mixed bag.  You can say that compared to state numbers, the district is doing much better with green (for plus side improvement) everywhere on page 2. One down note is that for climate/satisfaction surveys of students, families and teachers, most of the numbers are down especially the family engagement survey.

I want to be sure that everyone has seen this. It's important. CLOSING OPPORTUNITY GAPS An Action Plan for Accelerating Achievement for African American Males and Other Students of Color In this document, the District commits to some very specific benchmarks: Every student will achieve proficiency in Reading and Mathematics by end of Grade 2. Every student will have a personal learning plan and an advocate/mentor to keep him on track to high school graduation and successful post-secondary transition. Every student will meet standards of performance in Reading, Writing, Mathematics, and Science at the end of key transition grades. Every student will receive fair and equitable treatment regarding discipline and access to rigorous instructional programs. Every student will graduate from high school prepared for success in college or career. Whenever I see commitments of this kind from the School District, I always want to ask "What if it doesn't go like that?...

In the interest of fairness, here's the link to the district's page on the strike.   Commendations To address questions about the start of school, the strike and contract negotiations, the district has established a message line. Questions left at 206-252-0207 will be added to the FAQ on this section of the website. However, there are some points which both sides continue to work toward agreement, including teacher and professional salary. Below is a brief summary of the top issues in the negotiation. Read the negotiation proposals and counter proposals on the Negotiation Proposals webpage.

Here's what he said in his speech about public education: As mayor, I will make education at every level the foundation of the city’s work. We need to move from being an educated city to becoming an education city. As Mayor, I will use every possible tool in my toolbox to make sure that our education system is delivering the education and skills that our kids need and our economy demands. I’ll work with the council on bold ideas like universal pre-school and use the Road Map Project’s “Cradle to Career” indicators and milestones to push for better leadership and resources for education.  We can no longer close our eyes to the sad fact that we are failing too many kids—this is not an achievement gap, because these kids have it in them to succeed. It is an opportunity gap, because we have not done what we need to do to lift kids up and give them what they need. We as a city cannot move forward economically while leaving so many of our own kids behind – that kind of...

So goes today's headline in the NY Times.  Although the United States no longer leads the world in educational attainment, record numbers of young Americans are completing high school, going to college and finishing college, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of newly available census data.  The share of high school graduates in that age group, along with the share of those with some college, have also reached record levels. This year, 90 percent were high school graduates, up from 78 percent in 1971. And 63 percent have completed some college work, up from 34 percent in 1971.   Okay, do we have an educational crisis in this country?  Yes and no. We certainly are continuing to graduate students from our K-12 system in continuing to rise numbers.  More of them are going to college. But there are two issues for each level of public education. For K-12, it is the children who are dropping out or struggling mightily.  Tha...

A heartfelt guest post from The Washington Post's Answer Sheet written by Brock Cohen about the REAL issue that holds back schools in closing the achievement gap.  This was written by Brock Cohen, a teacher and student advocate in the Los Angeles Unified School District who contends that we can no longer afford to trivialize the critical role that poverty plays in a child’s learning experiences – and that true school reform begins with social justice. Brock’s students were recently featured in an NPR piece that charts some of his students’ daily struggles as they pursue their education. He starts off with hearts and flowers from NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Michelle Rhee, Arne Duncan and even the President.  That's all good and well but charters and TFA are just distractions.  What had grown increasingly clear to me was that my students’ academic struggles did not simply stem from inaction, ineffective parenting, drug use, or neglect. While these elements were usual...

For the second time in a week, I have been dazzled by some great writing on education.  The Times has an op-ed by SPS high school teacher, Dan Magill, in response to the op-ed  by Brad Smith (whose piece was about needed ed reform).  He very plainly sets out the challenge and the goal: I would like to reframe the reality. There aren't two sides. There are four corners. And in the middle hangs the goal: a sober-minded, analytical, skilled population that seizes opportunities by the gray matter. Waiting in corner one, the students — a word I'll define shortly. Warming up in corner two, the good teachers. The bad teachers don't get a corner, partly because there aren't very many of them. Corner three features the employers — people who just want dependable, qualified employees. And in corner four, we have the reform crowd — ones who influence educational policy regardless of their qualifications for doing so. These are the "meddlers." I call t...