Seattle Schools Community Forum

Here are the toplines.  The district is to have a press conference on Thursday that I hope to attend and the survey with all results will be released then (bold mine). Among the survey results:

Great op-ed from the NY Times on how basic (and fairly inexpensive) things can make the difference for low-income kids of all ages.   When people ask me, "What would you do?" these are the kinds of things shown to work that I support. - While they were graduate students at Harvard, two young professors designed and tested a program to help students stick to their college plans. Benjamin L. Castleman, now at the University of Virginia, and Lindsay C. Page, at the University of Pittsburgh, set up a system of automatic, personalized text messages that reminded high school students about their college deadlines. The texts included links to required forms and live counselors. -The same researchers also tested a texting program to keep students from dropping out of college. The problem is important because the graduation rate of low-income college students is dismally low; two-thirds leave without a degree. Community college students received texts reminding them t...

First up, some good news from SPS Communications: The McClure Middle School boys team won first place in the Team Relay Heat of Erg Ed’s Indoor Rowing Championship. In second place were the Pathfinder K-8 girls, and in third place were the Madrona K-8/Broadview-Thomson K-8 team. Launched in 2010, Erg Ed is a classroom-based indoor rowing education program operating as part of Seattle Public School's physical education curriculum.  In partnership with Seattle Public Schools, Erg Ed is currently provided at 14 middle and K-8 schools across the city.  With more than 800 pledges, Roosevelt High School let it be known loud and clear that they are against texting and driving . And to celebrate this massive turnout for the "Save it Seattle" campaign, Roosevelt welcomed Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson to their campus March 22. The Verizon Wireless "Save It Seattle” contest challenged students at four Seattle high schools to take a pledge against textin...

A couple of good parenting ideas have come across my desk. One is an article from Parent Map on how to get your children to do their homework .  This mom made a "homework hour" for the entire family.  (I assume she got out her bills, etc. to work on while they did schoolwork.) Any thoughts/tips from you about how you handle homework?  Do you feel like your child is getting too much/too little/not effective homework or is it just right? The other story is from a mom's blog - Janel Burley Hofmann about an iPhone contract with her 13-year old son.   It is an 18-point contract full of some good stuff.    What I like is that she is blunt - about how he might use it and consequences to doing some of those things, how she expects him to use it, outcomes if it is lost or damaged, school use, etc.  I do disagree a little with her saying she "owns" it if she gave it as a gift.  (However, if she and her husband are paying for the service - as I...