Seattle Schools Community Forum

 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...

From the Times' Danny Westneat , his take on some parents in Mill Creek and Snohomish who have decided  their children will not be taking the state test .  About 70 parents are participating and for one school, that includes 25% of students.  From his column: They'll be in another room, doing art or science projects.   Parents have the right to opt their kids out of the tests. There's no punishment, though the kids get a zero. Handfuls have opted out over the years, often at alternative schools. A few years back a Seattle science teacher refused to give the test, saying it was harmful to students.   But state officials say parents have never pulled their kids on this large a scale. "We're kind of shocked at the size of it," said Nathan Olson, spokesman for the state superintendent of public instruction. "No Child Left Behind is still the law of the land."

A very funny video from a blog called What It's Like on the Inside (from a Washington State teacher and no I don't know who it is). The video is a little long but really it has to be: it's trying to explain state testing. Thanks to Dorothy for the link.

Before going over what was discussed line-for-line, I wanted to throw out some items that popped out to me as ah ha! or oddities or questions. One thing to point out off the bat - and please help me out if you know for certain - is that on the sheet entitled "SPS 2011-12 (Gap) Estimate Summary" (bundled in a group of documents) was a total list of losses from the state. It STILL has Highly Capable as eliminated. I thought that got put back by both the House and Senate. They budget in about $1.16M to reopen Rainier View, Viewlands and McDonald/QA. I had forgotten that basically McDonald and QA will have TWO opening costs because they are first in Lincoln and then go to their own buildings this fall. Interestingly, I hear that Broadview-Thompson could handle Viewlands for another year so maybe the district could consider waiting one more year and save that money. STEM update - $100k. Look for that to be on-going. STEM came along at a time when the district really di...