Seattle Schools Community Forum

It is becoming very clear that both Democrats and Republicans are going to have public education as a major talking point in the 2016 Presidential election.  This is good and bad.  Good because those voters who are paying attention will be able to clearly see who values what and, hopefully, why. It's bad because it may fracture one or both parties. It may make or break candidates (see Chris Christie who is his own worst enemy).   Both parties embrace "ed reform," just not in the same ways.  Interestingly, they both embrace new pre-school efforts, both at the federal and state levels.   First up, the Republicans.  Republicans seemingly don't know what to do with themselves.  There is furious backpedaling all over the place (see Governor Fallin in Oklahoma who was for but now against Common Core).  The conservatives have two major problems. 1) the Tea Party.  Like that mosquito in the night that just buzzes in your ear, the...

Would you like to know what Ann Romney thinks about public education in the U.S.?  From an interview in Good Housekeeping via Daily Kos, she asked about the issue closest to her heart: I've been a First Lady of the State. I have seen what happens to people's lives if they don't get a proper education. And we know the answers to that. The charter schools have provided the answers. The teachers' unions are preventing those things from happening, from bringing real change to our educational system. We need to throw out the system. The whole system is flawed?  You really can say that about all the educators and administrators who get up every single day to educate the overwhelming majority of the nation's children?   Or is it just the teachers union?  (Funny how your husband ran a car company and I'll bet he said the same thing about that union as well.) Among her other views: - only people who are "financially secure" should run for office AND aft...

Over at The Stranger Slog, they had a headline, "Mitt Romney Hates Children."  Please, I know he loves children but the issue is, why not go to the Nickelodeon tv special on the election?   Here's what Obama's campaign said: In a release, the network says Mitt Romney declined to participate after numerous attempts . The program will include file sound bites of Romney addressing the subjects. The president's re-election campaign wasted no time in hitting its opponent over not participating. "It's no surprise Romney decided to play hooky. Kids demand details, and I'm sure they want some answers on why Romney could increase their class sizes, eliminate their teacher's jobs, raise taxes on their families and slash funding for Big Bird. Unfortunately for Mitt Romney, 'The dog ate my homework' just doesn't cut it when you're running for President," Obama campaign deputy press secretary Adam Fetcher said in a statemen...

I bookmark many education stories but wait until I have a mass and/or time to post them. First, up worry over teachers labeled " highly qualified" teaching Special Ed students.  This story comes from the Special Ed section at Ed Week. Earlier this year, the Senate merely left the door open to extending a provision that allows teachers still working on their certification to be considered "highly qualified"—a designation created by 2001's No Child Left Behind law. The law says teachers must already be certified to qualify, but Education Department regulations created about the law allowed for teachers in alternative routes to be considered highly qualified, even if they were still working on their certification. For example, people in the classroom as part of the Teach for America training program would fall into this category. The department's regulations on these alternative routes were set to expire, but as my colleague Alyson Klein explains over at ...

We have a presidential election coming up (if you haven't noticed). President Obama is running for the Democratics and the Republicans, well - they'll pick someone, eventually. My biased take is that I hope the Republicans tear each other to shreds and that someone staggers out of the Republican convention, dazed and bleeding. Why? Well, if you care about public education, you'd wonder would happen to public education if any of these candidates are elected President. We know what would happen with Santorum who likes to lecture people on why parents should all be homeschooling. Really? He loves the idea of the "one-room schoolhouse". He says it's "weird" for kids of the same age to all be in the same classroom. Actually, I like Montessori teaching which DOES encourage multi-age learning. But a classroom where all the students are related and taught by a relative (usually their mom) is better than a classroom with trained teachers? An...