Seattle Schools Community Forum

For those who don't know, McGilvra is a small (269) thriving elementary in Madison Park. Because of the dedication of their parents and being in a fairly well-to-do area, McGilvra has high test scores and a PTA that raises roughly $260,000 a year. Yes, a year. They fund 3.6 FTE. InJuly of 2000, bought 2 portables for their school to lower class size and to increase the overall capacity of the school. When they bought the portables, they and the district signed an agreement about their use. So what's the problem? It's a dual one. First, under NCLB, students at schools that did not meet AYP were allowed to leave their school for another school in their same area. McGilvra could not get out of this federal regulation and may have had to take in some students (although it seems like it must have been very few). This is not discussed anywhere at the McGilvra website but I know from other research that it was an issue. Second, of course, was the New Student Assignment Pl...

OSPI announced its list of 2010 Washington Achievement Award winners . There are several Seattle schools on the list (a couple notable for being named in two places) but there aren't many. From OSPI: The Washington Achievement Award: Is awarded collaboratively with the State Board of Education (SBE) and based on the Washington Achievement Index. Celebrates schools for overall excellence and special recognition in: language arts, math, science, graduation rate, improvement and closing achievement gaps. Honors schools at an annual ceremony hosted by the SBE and OSPI. OSPI uses statewide assessment data from the past three years to make their selections. OSPI wants to recognize the efforts of schools and their families into making good schools happen. So what SPS schools are on the list? Overall Excellence Bryant* - Concord Int'l* - Coe - Hay* - Loyal Heights* - McGilvra* - Montlake* - Schmitz Park - Mercer* - Blaine K-8 Language Arts Nova Math Loyal Heights - Schmitz Park Sc...

I wrote an article for Crosscut (the on-line e-zine of the Northwest) about the upcoming Families and Education levy . I talked to both people on both sides of the issue, read all the supporting materials and did research on what the levy has done in the past. I wholeheartedly support this levy . It covers so much ground from pre-K thru high school. New to this levy are programs that the district has eliminated like college counseling and summer learning. In addition, it will have a program the district doesn't have but is working in other schools districts - direct interventions for struggling students. Unfortunately these programs will only be available at the high poverty middle and high schools but better it is there then not having it at all. Most of all this levy has oversight, accountability and transparency. For me, those are the ding-ding-ding "we have a winner" words for a levy. I want to know exactly where the money is going. I want to know that on...

Boy, I apologize; I let this fall off my radar. Monday is PTA Focus Day at the State Capitol in Olympia. Here's a link to the WA State webpage with info. There will be a noon rally (with a police escort) to the Capitol steps. Also, here's an e-mail to sent to the Speaker of the House, Frank Chopp, and the Senate Majority Leader, Lisa Brown. (This from Ramona Hattendorf, Government Relations Director, Washington State PTA.) MESSAGE: Dear xxx, Will you help us save our ABCs? Monday is Children's Day at the Capitol. The Parent Teacher Association will be there with our kids rallying on the steps, and we hope you'll take a moment to consider the incredible importance of education to their lives. Our K-12 schools need your support, or we'll lose a generation of learners. (Yes! the cuts are that bad.) We need Basic Education funded. It's paramount. Sincerely, ---- frank.chopp@leg.wa.gov lisa.brown@leg.wa.gov Find your legislators: http://apps....

One of you passed this onto me ages ago and I kept a note about it by my computer. Sorting through stuff, I found the note to myself. It's an entertaining lecture (about 20 minutes) as well as being a thought-provoking one. Give a listen while you're surfing in another window.

From the Seattle Times, a story about a former Olympic rower, Portia McGee, who is helping students in three SPS middle schools learn how to row. It's the first year of the program which is a partnership with the George Pocock Rowing Foundation and the school district. It currently runs in 3 schools - Eckstein, Washington, and Aki Kurose - and is going to expand to 3 more next year with the program at nine middle schools by 2013. Not for me but a state legislator is sponsoring a bill to allow parents to teach drivers ed to their children under 18. This came as a surprise to me because I thought the main reason to take driver's ed is to perhaps receive lower insurance rates. Driver's ed is expensive so I can see why this could make a difference to parents (although the stress and the possible damage to your car are also off-putting). The Times has the details in this story. I think the Alliance for Education has a new look for its blog (I doubt they answer comme...

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 ...