Seattle Public Schools
Growing Excellence
Posted on 02. Sep, 2009 by Maggie.
Saturday September 19th the Seattle Alliance of Black School Educators (SABSE) will be hosting a conference at the John Stanford Center for Excellence. Topics will address how to close the achievement gap, with special focus on knowing your child’s performance, your child’s changing graduation requirements, how to prepare your student for college, and how to help measure your school and student’s results.
It will feature keynote speaker Erin Jones, as well as a discussion panel with LEV staff Chris Korsmo, Kelly Munn, Maggie Wilkens and others.
To register, visit the SABSE website or email Ina Howell at ighowell@seattleschools.org.
Hope you can attend!
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“Our teachers, our voice”
Posted on 15. May, 2009 by admin.
Um, wow.
Bonnie and I just got back from a student rally at Franklin High School, and it was awesome and inspiring and empowering.
Clayton, a Franklin senior, speaks to the crowd
More than 100 students gathered to protest teacher layoffs during their lunch period. Organized by passionate seniors Sunny Nguyen and Clayton Ruthruff, the students chanted “our teachers, our voice” in support of teachers who recently received layoff notices. Students are frustrated with the layoff policies weighing years in the classroom over demonstrated performance.
Clayton, who came running at the bell with megaphone in hand, opened the rally with, “We want quality teachers, not teachers who have been here longer.” He encouraged students the channel their anger into positive change. Sunny followed, encouraging attendance at the next Seattle School Board meeting. They then pulled Bonnie up, who offered additional words of encouragement.
Sunny asks other students to sign petition cards.
The rally ended with students filling out petition cards against the “last hired, first fired” layoff policy and voting for the top school issue. Students overwhelmingly identified “termination of our teachers” as the most pressing issue facing Franklin.
We weren’t the only over-18s in the crowd. A small group of parents and educators joined the students in supporting quality teachers.
No matter how many events like this I attend, I am always inspired — especially when students are acting as their own advocates. So often we speak on behalf of students. It’s nice to hear things straight from the horse’s mouth, as it were.
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Video from Seattle School Board meeting last night…
Posted on 12. Feb, 2009 by admin.
Last night, Seattle School Board voted on a resolution to support basic education reform bills (HB 1410/SB 5444). It passed unianimously with one abstention.
Parents lined up to testify. Jennifer Hill, parent of a 4th grade Coe Elementary student, gave a compelling testimony. She let us capture the highlights… video below.
This idea is spreading! So far Spokane, Issaquah, Bellevue, Northshore, Bremerton, and now Seattle School Boards have passed resolutions to support basic education reform.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42VkjiEDLsQ]
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Sup. Goodloe-Johnson celebrates her one year anniversary
Posted on 09. Jul, 2008 by admin.
Posted by Bonnie
My morning ritual always involves two things: tea and NPR. This morning I was drinking my tea, listening to NPR and heard a great piece on Sup. Maria Goodloe-Johnson celebrating her one year anniversary in Seattle (including quotes from our very own, Lisa Macfarlane). She has been praised by advocates and policy makers alike who use words like focused, courageous, and decisive. Her strategic plan is bold in its honesty – revealing that only 17 percent of high school graduates took the credits necessary to be considered for entrance at a four-year college – and goals — to increase the 17 percent figure to 40 percent by 2012. One year in, Sup. Goodloe-Johnson says that the district has had little accountability to its 45,000 students and she plans on changing that.
But, the rubber is now beginning to meet the road and unfortunately the road is a bumpy one. A tight budget, shortages in math and science teachers, and persistent declining enrollment all pose serious challenges to the path ahead. Lisa Macfarlane states, “Where the rubber is going to meet the road is how we are going to measure progress against those goals [outlined in the strategic plan]. It’s great to say that we are going to have a quality teacher in every classroom, but how are we going to measure that and how are we going to do if we are not meeting those benchmarks?”
We look forward to rolling up our sleeves in Seattle and across Washington State – and hope you’ll join in.
There’s also a great interview with Sup. Goodloe-Johnson in the Seattle P-I.
The Seattle Public Schools strategic plan can be viewed here.
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Schools Doing Great Things
Posted on 30. May, 2008 by admin.
Posted by Molly
Sometimes I feel like I spend all of my time thinking about the problems in our education system — kids falling through the cracks of a broken system, teachers struggling to effectively teach a class of nearly 30 students, and school districts making tough budget cuts while navigating the levy/bond gauntlet. Reform often seems daunting, intimidating, overwhelming, and at times impossible. However, there are teachers, schools and organizations doing amazing things for our kids. I want to highlight just a few that I have had the opportunity to see firsthand.
The New School is a Seattle public school that receives supplemental funding through a private foundation. With the additional funds, the New School is able to provide a comprehensive curriculum to its students, with a strong emphasis on quality programs and excellent and enthusiastic staff. During my visit, I was amazed to see kindergarteners counting by tens to 100 and second graders making graphs to illustrate data. It was inspiring to see these students rising to the challenge of high standards in such a supportive learning community.
Located in the heart of Capitol Hill, Meany is dealing with the typical problems that most urban schools in our country face — large populations of free and reduced-price lunch, ELL, and special needs students. However, the teachers, staff and students of Meany are working hard and doing some really great things. Due to private financial support from the Nesholm Foundation, Meany has recently undertaken the challenge of integrating the arts into the curriculum and the evidence is apparent when you walk into the building. Poems, self-portraits and drawings line the hallways and the students’ pride is palpable. I was lucky enough to be there on a day when students were sharing poems from their poetry portfolios. Some of the themes of the poems were very mature; it was clear that a lot of these students are grappling with some very serious issues in their lives. I was touched by the strength, wisdom and empowerment of the students as they were sharing. This was just one day in one classroom, but it was clear that the students of Meany are flourishing.
The New School and Meany Middle School are combining quality programs, high standards and excellent staff that lead to higher student achievement. Progress does not come without costs however. Private foundation grants provide critical additional funding to allow for smart, strategic investments in programs that work. I was lucky enough to see progress at work in the classroom. With statewide per-student spending lagging far behind (43rd in the nation currently), clearly there is an urgent need to increase smart investments across Washington.
I encourage everyone to look to these great schools and programs for inspiration.
