Stories from School: Practice meets Policy

An Honors Student is __________________ .

2009-11-11T09:00:00-08:00

By Kristin I teach both honors and standard language arts. For some time now I've been struggling with the concept of what makes an "honors" kid honors? What makes a "regular" kid regular? It's certainly not intelligence. With the exception...

Departmentalization in Elementary School?

2009-11-09T07:00:00-08:00

By Tom Mrs. Rooney was my third grade teacher. We spent all day with her, from September through June. She was tough, smart and observant. She knew me well, and was able to tell my parents about all the wonderful...

What's your standard?

2009-11-08T05:22:00-08:00

Student learning has become a contest. As we look for solutions to the deliberate disengagement of students and ways to help all students achieve, we begin to look at why some aren't, and search even harder for solutions. How could...

Testing "Out"

2009-11-07T05:00:00-08:00

By Mark In the last two weeks, a few things have me thinking about the age old debate over how schools "grade" students. First, in Nevada, there was this discussion about the merits of allowing students in public high schools...

The 10,000 Hour Test

2009-11-05T07:00:00-08:00

by Brian I generally don't like articles that begin by saying something like the Obama administration's Race to the Top will fail. My default position is optimism, and I don't want it to fail. But I read an article like...

What happened to Study Hall?

2009-11-03T17:35:49-08:00

By Mark He's a middle-of-the-bell-curve kind of kid, affable and hard working, but his strongest efforts tend to net him Cs at the very best. He's not into sports, and is always telling me about his truck that he's working...

Teachers Writing a Budget

2009-11-01T17:52:13-08:00

by Luann The results are in from the Policy Summit held a few weeks ago. The top three priorities for most immediate funding, as reflected by the decisions made by teachers at the Symposium were: (drum roll)......................... a new mentoring...

What makes schools work

2009-10-30T16:06:28-07:00

By Mark It's a question I and my teammates get often: "Why don't they do this for all freshmen?" About seven years ago, some administrators with a clear vision saw a need in our building: far too many tenth graders...

English Language Learners Need Support

2009-10-29T10:00:00-07:00

By Guest Blogger Heather Los huesos son importantes. Tienen cuatro funciones: 1. Estructura 2. Protección 3. Movimiento 4. Producir células sanguineas. If the above sentences were as clear as mud to you, then you have experienced for a few seconds...

Guest Blog: Funding Education in Washington

2009-10-28T10:03:51-07:00

By Senator Rosemary McAuliffe and Senator Eric Oemig Redefining the funding formula for Basic Education is the critical catalyst for moving our K-12 educational system into the 21st century. It is our responsibility as Chair and Vice Chair of the...

Three Separate Stories

2009-10-27T07:00:00-07:00

By Tom I love irony. I live for it. In fact, one of my favorite moments was during the end of the year assembly a few years ago, when the principal was giving out awards for Everything You Can Imagine,...

Guest Post Alert

2009-10-27T07:00:00-07:00

We want to alert our readers that we'll soon feature a joint post by Senators Rosemary McAuliffe, 1st District; Chair of Early Learning and K-12 Committee and Senator Eric Oemig, 45th District; Vice Chair of Early Learning and K-12 Committee....

Governor Gregoire Honored by NBPTS

2009-10-26T19:50:55-07:00

News tidbit: Washington's Governor Christine Gregoire has been recognized by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards with a leadership award for her support of educators and NBPTS certification in the state of Washington. Read here for more details. Considering...

Two Out of Three

2009-10-26T07:00:00-07:00

By Tom A recent editorial by Seattle Times columnist Lynne K. Varner caught our attention. She argues for school reform, specifically in the Seattle School District. I like what she says about teacher evaluation, I agree (to a point) with...

Wishes and Horses

2009-10-25T09:00:00-07:00

By Kristin I haven't seen "Mike" in class for four days and the online attendance system shows he's skipping most of his classes, so I phone his mother during my prep period to let her know. Mike and his mom...

Getting it Wrong is Okay

2009-10-24T15:48:35-07:00

By Mark Scientific American recently posted an article with mild criticism of education's current focus on prizing right answers over thinking and learning processes. While we educators know that repetition and practice is one path to learning, this article is...

"Value-added"

2009-10-23T06:38:00-07:00

by Brian My wife owns her own business, a home decor shop, and I think I first heard the phrase "value-added" from her. She talked about finding an article at an estate sale, adding something to it to increase its...

The Reason I Didn't "Fix" Your Child

2009-10-19T17:19:05-07:00

By Mark It was at a intervention meeting, where her child's teachers (including me) and the grade-level counselor had gathered to strategize how better serve her child, that she said to me from across the table: "You didn't do your...

Who's Gifted?

2009-10-18T06:11:00-07:00

By Rena According to the August 2009 Draft of The State of Washington OSPI Committee for Gifted Education, the purpose of gifted programs is to provide all highly capable students, including those at-risk, with differentiated opportunities for learning. Programs shall...

Five Ways to increase Teacher Planning Time

2009-10-17T16:30:00-07:00

By Nancy This past week I witnessed a teacher meltdown during a staff development workshop; after a day of training on a new curriculum, she asked the presenter how she and her teammates were supposed to assimilate all the new...