On October 9, 2018, the State Superintendent of Schools, Chris Reykdal, issued a Press Release in which he outlined his vision of the future of K-12 education. We would like to dissect his proposals. Click this link to open a web page with the original article: Superintendent Reykdal’s Budget Moves K–12 Education Forward Inclusive and effective learning and teaching. $180 million would increase funding for students with disabilities and provide additional professional learning days for all school staff. Comment: So the increase in spending over the past 5 years, to the tune of additional billions of dollars didn't adequately cover these items? The public has a right to expect … [Read more...]
Republicans and the lost promise of local control in education
I am a conservative. In the past that meant I was a member of the Republican party because I thought they did a better job of supporting conservative principles and policies. When it comes to K-12 education my hope was that Trump would move to get rid of the US Department of Education, Common Core and the SBAC/PARCC testing. The ESSA is just as bad as NCLB (No Child Left Behind). The race to gather data on children and sell that to companies continues unabated. In this article from The Hill (authors are Emmett McGroarty and Jane Robbins) we get a dose of reality.... When the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was enacted in 2015 to replace the hated No Child Left Behind law, the … [Read more...]
Washington State ESSA – Public Comments
The new Washington State Superintendent of Schools asked the public for comments about the proposed ESSA plan. We wanted to know who had commented and what they had to say. So, we submitted a Public Information Request to OSPI and they responded quickly with a document: ESSA draft Consolidated Plan Feedback-1 What will you find? The document is VERY large...21+mb 486 pages of comments from teachers, parents, groups, organizations and "in person" (which are handwritten rather than electronic) Social media comments captured as they were made in response to several different "Ads" OSPI ran We scanned through it and found a wide range of comments. It appears that a number of … [Read more...]
Passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) – $8 Million from the Gates Foundation and the Myth of Local Control
We correspond with different blogs around the United States. Recently we were contacted by Seattle Education about a story they were researching. Specifically they asked if we had ever requested to be part of any of the OSPI working groups but not been chosen or even gotten a response. We told them we have tried including talking directly with Gil Mendoza (Asst. Superintendent at OSPI). We've never even gotten a response for follow up. Why is this important? When you take a look at the members of ESSA Team (http://www.k12.wa.us/ESEA/ESSA/pubdocs/ESSAConsolidatedPlanTeam.pdf) what do you see? Answer: Members of the establishment and special interest groups. No parents or public. Following … [Read more...]
Washington State ESSA – Updated document – November 27, 2016
Outgoing Washington State Superintendent of Schools - Randy Dorn - had his staff pull back their proposed recommendations for revision. The updated document was released a few days ago. There have been several public meetings and there is a Town Hall on Nov 28th via phone where more comments will be taken from the public. We will be participating in the November 28th call and will report back in this blog. In the meantime you may be interested in our thoughts after reading all 52 pages of the newest version of the OSPI document. First, here is the PDF from OSPI with our comments inside. You should see little "bubbles" that you can click to open and read or put your mouse over and … [Read more...]
WHY ESSA IS BAD FOR AMERICA
From an article Education News - author is Henry W. Burke (January 2016) Henry W. Burke testified before the Nebraska State Board of Education on 1.8.16. Mr. Burke began his testimony at 19:50 and ended at 29:30. He started with a short discussion on the Nebraska Standards; and he began his testimony on the ESSA Bill at 21:40. This is the link (URL) to the Video Streaming Archives for the State Board meeting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HEFL-Djlko&feature=youtu.be On December 10, 2015, Obama signed into law the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). What does the public know about the new education law? Why is ESSA bad for America? LEGISLATIVE ACTION ON ESSA … [Read more...]
Washington State ESSA Plan – Submitted Oct 31, 2016 – Randy Dorn
On October 31, 2016, outgoing Washington State Superintendent of Schools, Randy Dorn, chose to issue Washington States choices on the ESSA to the US Department of Education. Given that Mr. Dorn's tenure has been contentious and that his successor will be elected ~1 week after he issued his edict it seems strange to us that he didn't wait and give his replacement the opportunity to weigh in. This of course has been his modus operandi...he does what he wants regardless of what the parents and public might want. Here is the PDF of his submission: essarecommendationsapprovedstatesuptdorn_oct_31_2016 Here is the link to the OSPI website for ESSA: http://k12.wa.us/ESEA/ESSA/default.aspx … [Read more...]
WEA & VEA (Washington Education Association and Vancouver Education Association)
The State Board of Education is making trips to various areas of Washington State. The Board has scheduled a meeting in Vancouver: SBE Community Forum at ESD 112 in Vancouver Please join Board members for an open discussion about important topics such as strategies for closing the achievement gap, standards, and assessment, November 8 at Educational Service District 112, in Vancouver. If a quorum of Board members are present, this will be a public meeting per RCW 42.30.030. Tuesday November 8, 2016 from 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM PST (Public) with sessions on Nov 9th and 10th as well ESD 112, Klickitat/Skamania Room 2500 NE 65th Avenue Vancouver, WA 98661 We got wind of the … [Read more...]
Washington State Superintendent Candidate Positions Comparisons
The ballots are showing up in the mail and people are starting to vote. For those who consider education one of the cornerstones of our future in Washington State you have a choice to make. Two candidates who differ in various ways. Based on their responses to questions we bring you a list of nine (9) questions with the side-by-side responses to each in the candidates own words. No summary from us...just their words. If you don't want to scroll through the page here is the document as a pdf: ospi-candidate-position-summary-comparison-2016 We've set up tables for each of the questions with columns for each candidate. If the finance side of the equation is important to you then here are … [Read more...]
Parents sue when third-grade honors students are not promoted to fourth grade
From The Washington Post - author is Valerie Strauss This belongs in the you-can’t-make-up-this-stuff category: In Florida (you knew it was Florida, didn’t you?), some third-graders — including honor students — are being forced to retake third grade because their parents decided to opt them out of the state’s mandated standardized reading test this past spring. An undetermined number of third-graders who refused to take the Florida Standards Assessment in reading have been barred from moving to fourth grade in some counties. A lawsuit filed by parents against state education officials as well as school boards in seven Florida counties says counties are interpreting the state’s … [Read more...]
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