Seattle Schools Community Forum

It appears that the Washington State legislature NOT voting to change the teacher evaluation law doesn't entirely mean the issue is done.  Apparently Duncan is still mulling options and talking to Washington State officials.  Superintendent Randy Dorn is still willing to talk but apparently doesn't think the waiver will be granted.  We'll probably hear something by next week. I received an odd press release this week from the Association of Washington School Principals announcing that South Shore PK-8 principal, Keisha Scarlett , has been named Washington State 2014 Middle Level Principal of the Year.   This is great; Principal Scarlett is a good, effective principal who works very hard. What's odd is that a couple of things were left out/mis-written in the press release. First is that the school is in partnership with SPS, the New School Foundation and the City of Seattle.  Uh, the New School Foundation merged with League of Education Voters and took t...

Update: well, this is interesting.  So SPS is not going to field test any students in grades 3-10.  The only schools that were participating were Ballard and Roosevelt.  Ballard has bowed out for 11th grade and that leaves Roosevelt testing some 11th grades in the math test.  It's a bit confusing because we here at the blog know - from reading newsletters at Hale - that Hale wanted their students to take this test but maybe Hale was trying to test the waters (pun intended) .  So we have just one high school field-testing the Smarter Balance math test. End of update. It's a busy education news day but this is important news. The testing consortium for Common Core assessments that Washington State belongs to -Smarter Balance - announced today that they need a one-week delay for the field test. The testing window was to start on Tuesday, the 18th. I have not found out yet how many Seattle schools were participating (I only knew of Hale and Ballard) but the ...

The story even throws in a nod to efforts here in Seattle.  (Update on SPS and this issue to come.) The takeaway? “Even schools with limited resources can make this one policy change with what appears to be benefits for their students,” Dr. Miller said. And who is getting the most traction?  A civic-minded (and tired) Missouri teen named Jilly Dos Santos. 

Well, that teacher evaluation law change - the one Arne Duncan was using as something of a blackmail stick - went down with a whimper, not a bang.  I attribute this to a couple of things.  One, there seemed to be confusion about what the money was for and how much any district actually used (and therefore might lose).  Two, Duncan had not given any guarantee for the waiver if the law got changed.  That made changing it suspect. Three, as my own state senator, Jamie Pedersen wrote to me: I hope that the federal government will appreciate that we have done significant work in this area and give our system time to bear fruit, rather than denying us the waiver and triggering the unfortunate consequences. This speaks to the idea that Washington State HAS been ahead in a teacher evaluation law and could the DOE give it a chance?   Four, the WEA put on a forceful show in Olympia to point out that linking test scores to teacher performance doesn't hav...

The Florida legislature will be considering a bill to meet grad requirements for high school students by substituting computer science for ...PE.  Yes, that makes sense with childhood obesity.  The rates of childhood obesity have leveled off but this doesn't seem to make sense.  I would think allowing anyone in a sport to not take PE but high school PE is a way to teach kids about the importance of regular exercise or new sports.  Want something to do with the kids as the weather gets better?  This woman has walked nearly every park in Seattle (there are 425 official ones).  This story from My Northwest. Community Meeting with Director Martin-Morris tomorrow from 11 am to 12:30 pm at Montlake Branch Library. What's on your mind?

As the nation gets into its standardized testing season, the number of parents, in districts throughout the nation, that are opting their children out is growing.  In a story from Chalkbeat Colorado , one mom was very clear on her wishes for her daughter.  When the school ignored them - placing her daughter in an office with adults who were talking to her about the test and refusing to allow that child back in class AFTER testing was done - well, you watch the video. It's funny because a letter sent out to superintendents that had a series of "misconceptions" seemed to also have its own problems. Angela Engel, a former Colorado teacher is became an author and parent activist said this: Parents are sick and tired of the commercialization of our child’s education,” Engel said, explaining just one of the many arguments of parents who want to opt-out their students. “They are not for profit. The policies around high-stakes testing is making a lot of money for the test...

 I will be writing a thread about what I learned at the Work Session on data privacy yesterday.  Some is good, some not-so-good (with Director Carr asking the best questions).  But I can say that SPS has NOT done enough.  From Education Week : As part of a potentially explosive lawsuit making its way through federal court, giant online-services provider Google has acknowledged scanning the contents of millions of email messages sent and received by student users of the company’s Apps for Education tool suite for schools.  In the suit, the Mountain View, Calif.-based company also faces accusations from plaintiffs that it went further, crossing a “creepy line” by using information gleaned from the scans to build “surreptitious” profiles of Apps for Education users that could be used for such purposes as targeted advertising.  Gmail is a key feature of Google Apps for Education, which has 30 million users worldwide and is provided by the c...