This morning, LEV’s legislative director, George Scarola, testified on Gov. Gregoire’s proposal to create a Department of Education. The new department would house the entire education system from early learning through college and make it accountable to the governor. View George’s testimony on the proposal: Later, LEV’s co-founder Lisa Macfarlane testified on Senate Bill 5522, [...]
We can’t teach them
February 1, 2011 By
Briefing on Seattle Public Schools’ new principal contract
January 26, 2011 By
Members of Seattle Organizers for Community Engagement in Education (Seattle Organizers) received a briefing today about the new tentative agreement between Seattle Public Schools and its principals. Seattle School Board member Steve Sundquist and Howard Pripas, Seattle Public Schools’ Director of Labor and Employee Relations, briefly went over the highlights and major changes of the [...]
Breakfast with trailblazers in education
December 3, 2010 By
We’re excited to co-host a breakfast with leaders in education who are making a difference in the lives of kids. The breakfast will feature Mary Alice Heuschel, who was just named Superintendent of the Year by the Washington Association of School Administrators. Dr. Heuschel, who leads the Renton School District, will talk about real progress [...]
What we measure
December 1, 2010 By
Recent news from Seattle Public Schools about its high school graduates created a stir about the use of certain statistics related to college entry. Data published by the District in 2008, claimed that only 17% of SPS graduates had taken the coursework necessary to get into college. Turns out that the statistic was wrong. It [...]
Power to parents!
November 29, 2010 By
On the day of President Obama’s inauguration, the Parent Revolution was launched to empower parents to change education on behalf of their kids. “I don’t think it’s an overstatement to say it’s the most radical transfer of power to parents in the history of America,” said Ben Austin, executive director of the Parent Revolution. Austin [...]
Report card day in Seattle is a mixed bag
November 9, 2010 By
Standing on Principals
August 27, 2010 By
While the teacher negotiations going on in Seattle are getting a lot of ink, another contract is also under discussion that arguably could have an even deeper impact on student achievement: the principals’ contract. As we’ve written in this blog, building leadership — the principal’s capacity to lead — is hugely important in student learning [...]
A motivated, caring, innovative, knowledgeable, effective teacher in every classroom
August 19, 2010 By
(This blog post is written by Connie Gerlitz, one of LEV’s key activists and longtime education reform leader and activist, in response to the Seattle School Board meeting on Wednesday.) We cannot confuse our love and respect for good teachers with the fact that their efforts are not universally replicated in our classrooms, and our [...]
Partnership for Learning: Measure what matters
August 6, 2010 By
Partnership for Learning released a new report this week making some recommendations on how Washington can better hold its schools accountable for educating our kids. “The current system falls short of the rigorous accountability requirements necessary to ensure that all students are proficient and on track to graduating college and career ready,” the report points [...]
