Seattle Schools Community Forum

Updates:  An op-ed from a Seattle Schools parent in the Yakima Herald Seattle Times on testing all students for advanced programs.  (For some reason only the link to the Yakima Herald works; I can't find a working one at the Times.)She's also a teacher (in Shoreline) but taught at Hamilton.  She gets things wrong and she should know better: What’s equitable about a school district that provides special services for the elite, white, privileged, top 2-3 percent of the children and families it serves? Really? What special curriculum or training or support did your students and you get from being in HCC? What message does this send to students in the district?  That white students are the current and future members of the intelligentsia, while black and brown students are not. No, it sends the message that the district needs to reach out in new and better ways to find students of color who would benefit from the program. More than thirty years later in Sea...

From the Public Insight Network: How would you make science fun for kids?

From our readers, news about great work being done by Seattle students who are interested in space studies. From Eric B: The Ingraham Rocket Club i s one of 12 middle and high schools nationwide accepted into NASA's Student Launch program this year. The program requires students to design and build a rocket to carry a student-designed and built scientific or engineering payload to 5,280 feet. Along the way, their work will be reviewed by NASA in the same way NASA reviews their own projects.  In April, our students will go launch their rocket in Huntsville with staff from the Marshall Space Flight Center.  From McClureWatcher via Geek Wire :

Seattle Audubon Society is currently looking for volunteers for our Finding Urban Nature (FUN) program. FUN introduces 3rd and 4th grade students to the interconnections between producers, consumers, and decomposers in the schoolyard habitat. Volunteers lead small groups of students through hands-on outdoor lessons. Four lessons in the spring and four more in the fall give students a chance to fully explore the schoolyard habitat, proving that nature is around us no matter where we live, work, and play. We serve 12 Seattle Public Schools located throughout Seattle. -The FUN program relies upon 120 volunteers each school year. We currently still need almost 50 volunteers to meet our needs for the spring 2015 program! -Volunteers devote about two hours a week for four weeks in the spring and/or fall. -Volunteers lead a group of 4-6 students through each lesson with the support of the school's FUN Team Leader and classroom teachers. - No previous teaching or science...

The Times reports on new state standards for Science which sound great (except they left out Computer Science and I think that's a mistake).  But the story really misses one huge thing: Common Core which is likely to come out with its own standards.  What happens then?   Hmm. No director community meetings for Saturday but there is a candidate debate on Sunday the 6th sponsored by the Rainier Chamber of Commerce and First Thursday at the Ark Lodge Cinemas.  The debate includes one between Sue Peters and Suzanne Dale Estey.  Space is limited so you need to register.  (I note the endorsement of the Times to Dale Estey and Blanchard.  Their reasoning on Dale Estey has changed somewhat since their early one.  (For parents who HAVE been in the district for longer than say, a couple of years, it's kind of puzzling to have the Times say Dale Estey's work in an SPS school is a reason to elect her.) Congratulations are in order for President Kay Smith...

From the website : The 2013 Seattle Science Festival, an 11-day celebration of the science and technology happening in our community, runs June 6-16, 2013 . It features luminaries from the science world in opening and closing night events, a free Science EXPO Day featuring hands-on activities and special stage programs on Saturday, June 8 at Seattle Center, and a variety of Signature Programs  at venues around the region throughout the Festival.  Today is the Middle School Science Fair for SPS. Looks like lots of great stuff and Saturday, June 8th, Science EXPO Day is FREE (and includes, no kidding, "a bilingual inflatable colon."   Science EXPO Day is filled with fun and educational programs, including over 150 engaging exhibits , an introduction to Geocaching , the 2013 Laser Roadshow , "an Amazing Glimpse into Lasers, Optics, and Photonics!" and a full day of Stage Programming.

 Update:  Free Admission to Washington State Parks this Saturday!  Beautiful weather, beautiful parks - get out there! West Seattle HS culinary students place 5th in state competition with two students winning scholarships.  Our own Top Chefs in SPS.  Congrats kids! From the "what do you want him to call it" category, comes this story about an Idaho science teacher who was called out by parents for using the word "vagina" during a unit about...the human body and the reproductive system.   I'd love to know what word they think the teacher should have used for this discussion.  “I teach straight out of the textbook, I don’t include anything that the textbook doesn’t mention,” McDaniel remarked. “But I give every student the option not attend this class when I teach on the reproductive system if they don’t feel comfortable with the material.” “It is highly unlikely it would end with his dismissal,” the superintendent mused. “Maybe a letter of repri...

More stories on the hopeful side. From Scholastic , a story about the superintendent of what is considered the "best" public school district in the country.  That would be Mooresville Graded School District, outside of Charlotte, NC.  The article is called 10 Lessons From the Best District in the Country .  From the article: The district undertook a massive “21st Century Digital Conversion” in 2007. Students now frequently work in groups, and they use one of dozens of interactive learning platforms instead of textbooks. Rather than lecturing, teachers act as facilitators, circulating among groups or leading students in interactive lessons. Results of this transformation are off the charts—the graduation rate for African-American students was 95 percent in 2012, up from 67 percent five years earlier. The overall graduation rate is the third highest in the state, and 88 percent of 2012 graduates are attending college, compared with 74 percent in 2007. Mooresville has ac...

Tuesday, March 19th Audit&Finance Committee Mtg (Quarterly Audit) from 4-6 p.m. at JSEE.  Agenda.   Items include: internal audits of transportation, maintenance and Ingraham High School (note: these may be regularly scheduled audits or something else.  I'll check.) Performance audit status risk management ERM (which I believe is Enterprise Risk Management, managing risks and capitalizing on opportunities) Wednesday, March 20th School Board meeting starting at 4:15 p.m.  Agenda.   Note: the student performance is the Salmon Bay Marimba Group.   I love a good marimba band so I may have to go just for that. Items include: approval of a grant from OSPI to boost science teaching for elementary and middle school teachers. Per OSPI, Seattle Public Schools will partner with Renton School District, University of Washington College of Engineering, and the Institute for Systems Biology. The project will focus on professional developmen...

This article from Mental Floss.  Could be interesting for you or your kids (although I'm not thrilled with the explanation of Web Development).  A fun read.  (Note: no, we don't want to "dumb" down science but make it easier for kids to get that basic idea so they get that a ha! moment and want to learn more.)

From the Eastlake Ave. Blog, concern over by TOPS from neighbors about a new development that says it is just 5 units but: "...neighbors note that it will actually have 39 individual units grouped around common kitchens on each floor (a basement and four other floors, with one kitchen on each floor). The neighbors also question locating such a project, which they fear will have transient occupants, just two doors from the TOPS@Seward School and two houses away from a daycare center."   There are also concerns around parking (which really is difficult around TOPS).  DPD seems to think it about the size rather than the number of units and that it part of the Residential Urban Village (under the Comprehensive Plan).   I've heard of this kind of "apartment" which is basically a small room with a bathroom (smaller than a studio).  I'm sure it fills a need but it seems like the City should take into account how many people could potentially live there...

From the NY Times : YouTube and Lenovo, the computer manufacturer, announced on Monday a science contest called SpaceLab for students around the world ages 14 to 18, and it is not quite like any other science contest.  For one, the students, who can enter individually or in teams of up to three, do not actually have to perform any experiments. Instead, they will make videos to pitch ideas for experiments that could be conducted in the zero-gravity environs of the space station.  The two winning entries will be built and flown there, and astronauts will conduct a demonstration that will be broadcast to classrooms via YouTube.  Experiment proposals can cover science questions in biology or physics. Restrictions include no dangerous animals, no explosions and nothing sharp.   A popular vote among YouTube visitors will provide one-quarter of the final score. Also judging the finalists will be a panel of experts including Stephen W. Hawking...

The White House announced that it has received about $118M in commitments from private companies to support public education.   From the AP story:

From the SPS website: Committee seeks feedback on recommended high school science instructional materials The High School Science Adoption Committee is seeking feedback from staff, families and community members on the top three choices for high school instructional materials. The materials - 9th grade Physical Science, and 11th and 12th grades Chemistry & Physics -can be reviewed March 7-21 at six locations across the District.    You can also make an appointment to view them in the evening hours by e-mailing Elaine Woo, ewoo@seattleschools.org.

Some good news; a great story about space shuttle Discovery and astronomy students at Ballard High School. This from KING-5 tv. They have an experiment with gorwing e-coli cells in space. Congrats to teacher Eric Muhs. I have tried to say this over and over the last couple of days. We have good things happening in our schools. Please Seattle, don't give up on our schools and our students because of the selfish, unprofessional actions of some of those in leadership.

Lesson learned; never just skim through anything you post that you didn't write. That is what I did on the Science thread and I got something very wrong (although it doesn't really change my concerns). I wrote that there were going to be 4 mandatory science courses to be taken for graduation. That is wrong. The SPS graduation requirement is TWO science credits . One of them, by state law, has to be a lab science. The 4 courses that the district says will meet that requirement after the science alignment are physical science, biology, chemistry and physics. The issue still remains that many SPS high schools have other science courses that are popula and valid science courses. These include some from the 10-year program of Biotech at Ballard High School. The idea that all these other science courses (save AP and IB courses) will have to go thru a process to validate them to replace one of the four current possibilities is troubling. It's troubling because if you read ...

Here is the final section of the thread on the high school science curriculum alignment. Again, ALL parents, you may not be here yet but believe me, you will care deeply about this when your child gets to high school. But if you are an elementary parent and you shrug now, then when you get there, no fair asking why science in SPS high schools is so limited. Tell the Board you are worried and want a wide variety of science classes available. (Also, ask the Board to not let the district systematically dismantle the BioTech program at Ballard.) Part Two Currently the district is still proposing that all 9th graders take physical science, 10th graders take biology, and then chemistry and physics or a science elective. These are the issues that schools are facing as result of this proposal: 1) What will happen to students who do not pass the first two classes? Will they simply retake those courses over and over? If so what does this do to upper level science class selection. 2) ...

What the heck is going on with the curriculum alignment in Science? I can't make heads or tails of it. Originally, the science curriculum was supposed to be aligned first along with the math curriculum, but then the alignment of the science curriculum was deferred as the state was revising the science Standards and GLEs. The new state Standards have been set, so the alignment of the science curriculum can now go forward. There is a timetable for the work on the District web site, but it doesn't appear that the District is sticking to the timetable. The members of the high school science materials adoption committee have been named. Other than that, it's unclear if anything else on the timetable has actually been done. During the week of January 24th, Elaine Woo, the District's Science Program Manager, was supposed to send out an invitation to view instructional materials. The public was supposed to be notified that they could review the science instruction...

Update: The NY Times had an article on the decline of science fair participation. At his State of the Union speech, President Obama said something to the effect of it being just as important who wins the science fair as who wins the Super Bowl. It got a good round of applause. Pondering this, though, I have to wonder. In SPS, it seems like there is a ton of work and effort all towards the goal of academic achievement for our students. But: We have a gifted program that gets spotty attention from the administration and attacked from within/without (people in the program worry about quality and loss of the program, some people outside the program wish it didn't exist). There are individual school programs that compete in academic programs like debate, Latin and robotics but only in competitions outside the district. Schools are spotty on whether they have honor roll in middle and high schools. When my son was at Eckstein, I was told they suspended it because "it hurts k...

An absolutely fantastic story from teacher Craig Parsley at Crosscuts about teaching science with the help of a cranky boiler and a hard-working custodian. Basically: "... how Dave the custodian became an integral part of the science program at Schmitz Park Elementary School in West Seattle." From the article: Though the standards seem to be a moving target these days, with new educational goals this year and possible federal standards coming soon, there are three basic themes teachers can hang their lab coats on: physical science, earth and space science, and life science. While there are multiple and overlapping domains within these themes, we can distill them down into just a few words: energy, rocks, and photosynthesis. He explains the problem in SPS: The are two key themes in Seattle’s science mission statement that limit the methods teachers may use to inspire budding young science minds: “construct” and “investigate.” Essentially, constructivism promulga...