Seattle Schools Community Forum

I have been noticing there is this new meme out there - grown-up bullying.  Do I think it exists? Sure but not in this new expansive definition of one person expressing unhappiness over another person's professional actions and having it called bullying. I find this especially troubling when it comes to public servants/elected officials.  It's almost a way to deflect any kind of questioning that taxpayers may raise.  In New York state, an anonymous person/group has created a Wall of Shame for administrators who oppose opt-outs of students in their districts/states.  (And there's another ill-used word - shame.)

Update: some common sense from one of my favorite education writers, Jersey Jazzman, and his "The PARCC Silly Season. end of update It's just hard to know where to start. First, the new thought from ed reformers is that parents just don't understand what they are doing when they opt their children out.  Thanks for patronizing them as if they are not thinking adults.  There are also new pro-testing groups springing up and many of them are funded by the Gates Foundation.  It's the same thing, over and over, with the Foundation. Create faux parent groups, data use groups and even media groups. 

Monday (fun day), April 18th (fed tax day) My property tax postcard said that 47% of our taxes were local and I'd bet that is mostly SPS levies as well as the Families and Ed levy plus the pre-k levy.  Good for Seattle voters but again, I wonder how long voters can keep this up at every single election. Tuesday, April 19th Audit&Finance Committee meeting , from 4:30-6:30 pm at JSCEE.  Agenda  Of interest to me is the Data Privacy Policy that will not be presented by Carmen Rahm, our Tech lead staffer but by Clover Codd, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources.  Given that, I assume it is about adult data privacy issues, not student ones.  Staff is also giving more "informational" purchase updates to the Board for items that don't exceed the $250K vote to the Board. This is a good thing to see. From the minutes in a discussion about effects of catastrophic events on school buildings and the district's coverage: Washington School Risk Manag...

Some interesting and important issues being discussed this week. Monday, April 4th Curriculum and Instruction meeting , 4:30-6:30 pm, JSCEE. Agenda Highlights (partial) -  Resolution to Consider Alternative Summative Assessments and Reaffirm Student Opt-Out Rights (Burke)  Brave and ground-breaking resolution (see page 16): Under Resolution No, 2014/15-33 on Use of Smarter Balanced Assessment , The Board of Directors of Seattle Public Schools: -  Asked Congress to support the Elementary and Secondary Education Act -  Supported the State Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn’s efforts to suspend the use of the Smarter Balanced 2015 assessment scores for any consequential judgment or purpose such as federal school evaluations (Adequate Yearly Progress)   - Called upon the Washington Legislature to reconsider high stakes graduation requirements until we may ensure assessment scores are interpreted and applied appropriately. - Calle...

Opt Out Bus Spring Tour   (Starting at Garfield HS,  Thursday March 31 st , 2:20 pm ) As the spring high-stakes ,  common core tests begin, the Opt Out B us will be touring Seattle schools to provide families with information on their rights to opt out of standardized testing.  

Update 2: Useful chart from Ed Week on how each state does its testing. end of update  Update: Education Week is reporting that only 21 states are continuing on with Common Core tests (SBAC or PARCC.) end of update From Soup for Teachers' Facebook page; Did you know that students in our district who opt out of standardized tests receive a zero rather than a more statistically accurate null score? Please join me in asking our board to make the change to a null score to increase the statistical accuracy of test scores in our district.

An elementary school principal in Brooklyn apparently went overboard in her zeal to prevent students from opting out . After finding a fifth-grader handing out opt-out fliers at her Williamsburg elementary school this week, a principal confiscated the materials, pulled the student into her office and then hastily convened a meeting for students, parents told DNAinfo New York. Principal Sereida Rodriguez-Guerra of P.S. 84 chastised the fifth-grader, sending the student into tears, before telling an auditorium full of third- through fifth-graders, “You’ve got to get this opt-out stuff out of your head,” according to multiple parents of students pulled into the impromptu tirade against refusing to take next month's state English and math tests. Rodriguez-Guerra went on to lecture the students about the controversial opt-out movement, telling them not to believe what their parents tell them and that the state exams given to third- to-eighth-graders were good for them...

 Update: a Huffington Post column from the Vice-President for Advocacy for National PTA is not getting much support.  Read those comments; rank and file PTA does not seem to like National telling them what to do. It's getting to be testing time and BOY, are there a slew of states and groups and people worried that the opt-out movement will continue to grow. First, for great information on opting out, United Opt Out is a national group. There are two interesting developments on this front.

A couple of items to consider. Update 2: SPS teacher (and parent and activist) Jesse Hagopian's essay on why he is opting his 1st grader out of MAP testing.

I have heard from parents that assessments have started for some elementary students.  But naturally, parents aren't being informed about this. Seattle Opt-Out. Here's a link to the K-8 assessments. Here's a link to the high school assessments. Some schools still use MAP (except in high school)and some will use Amplify.  One parent said she was told that Amplify was being used for "instructional differentiation."  From the Soup for Teachers page via Erin Kinsells Klones: MAP can potentially be administered three times a year: Sept. 21-Oct. 30, Jan 4-29 and May 9-June 10.  WaKIDS can also be administered, in buildings that have all-day state-funded K, Aug. 1-Oct. 29, Oct. 30-Feb. 14 and Feb. 15-July 31.  This information is available on the District website.  Now the tricky part, the part that concerns us greatly: parents may or may not be informed. Crazy, we know, but that is part of the work we're doing. School admin at your buildin...

Cracks in the Common Core push starting to get bigger.  Statement from Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York State (bold mine):

Pretty amazing poll - A majority of Americans think there is too much emphasis on testing AND that test scores alone can't judge a student/teacher/school BUT believe parents should not opt their kids out from testing. They reject Common Core.   They believe "lack of financial support" is the biggest problem for their local school. Americans across the board once again named lack of financial support as the biggest problem facing their local schools — the 10th consecutive year in which that issue has landed at the top of the list.

 Update: well, this is interesting. I wrote to the DOE on this question of what they said publicly.  Here's their statement(note my highlights): Here is what we’ve said publicly on this issue, which would apply to any state where districts or schools fall below 95% participation rate: “It is the responsibility of states to ensure that all students are assessed annually because it gives educators and parents an idea of how the student is doing and ensures that schools are paying attention to traditionally underserved populations like low-income students, students of color, students with disabilities and English language learners. The Department has not had to withhold money - yet - over this requirement because states have either complied or have appropriately addressed the issue with schools or districts that assessed less than 95 percent of students." I wrote to OSPI, asking them whether they had this information about the feds tossing the ball on...

Update: Here's what the BOE had to say about yesterday's meeting and its outcomes. I think BOE head, Ben Rarick, has done a very good job in explaining the Board's thinking. The Board followed through on its equal impact philosophy, adopting a mid-Level 2 score requirement for the English Language Arts (ELA) portion of the Smarter Balanced (SBAC) assessment (scale score: 2548), and f ollowed the same philosophy for the Math End-of-Course exams . The SBAC math score (2595) was set to be commensurate with the ELA requirement. These minimum scores are just a little more than half way up the Level 2 scale; about 60% of the way between Levels 2 and 3.

Update:  there was also a measure that would simply allow parents to opt-out of testing (as opposed to the amendment that did pass that notifies parents whether their state allows opt-outs).  It was defeated, seemingly on the premise that local control over opting out should be left to states.  Both Senators Murray and Cantwell voted no on the measure.  It is legal in Washington State to opt out. End of update. From the Atlanta Journal Constitution about the revamped NCLB/ECAA: The U.S. Senate passed an amendment by Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., to the “Every Child Achieves Act” that aims to inform parents about opting out of standardized testing. Isakson’s amendment, which was passed by a unanimous vote Tuesday, would require any local educational agency that receives federal Title I funds to notify parents of each student attending school that they may request information regarding any state or local policy, procedure, or parental right regarding p...

OSPI has two  job openings of interest. - Special Education, Dispute Resolution Program Supervisor - Privacy and Records Governance Manager Yikes! the Schools First! group (the group that manages the district's levy elections) has "Mayor" Mike McGinn as honorary co-chair.  Wonder if anyone told them about Ed Murray. They have Lauren McGuire as BOTH an honorary co-chair AND a Board member. Both. She's busy. From the Wait, What? blog, Jonathan Pelto reports this: The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium has provided its member states with most of the results from the spring’s Common Core SBAC testing. Unlike Connecticut, where the Malloy administration is apparently keeping the information secret as long as possible, the State of Washington has been updating the public about the results as they came in. As of two weeks ago, Washington State had already received the results for more than 90% of its students.

The Seattle Times is reporting that it was NOT just 11th graders in SPS opting out , early state figures show. 

How does once in elementary, once in middle school and once in high school sound for state testing for federal reports?   Because honestly, the overwhelming majority of teachers can tell how a child is doing in school so why the time, cost and lack of real help for teachers/parents with multiple year testing.  FairTest has this link to send a letter in support of Senator Jon Tester's amendment (yes, that's his name) to limit testing to three times in a student's K-12 academic career.   (This would not preclude district assessments.) Congress is taking up NCLB on July 7th.  From Diane Ravitch, PARCC is Falling Apart with the Departure of Ohio:

From Diane Ravitch: A reader shares this information with us. The state will administer assessments to children in kindergarten but parents have the right to opt out. Will the parents know? If you live in Washington, make sure you inform parents of their right to opt out their children from this unnecessary assessment. Let the children play.