I <3 My Commenters

It took me a long time to figure out that <3 is supposed to be a heart. I'm old.

Al left a great comment to my posting about the best schools in the EFF school report card, talking about the APP program in Seattle. He also runs a blog on the program that I'll certainly be following, here.

Also check out that same comment thread to see Piper Scott calling the post "sophomoric treacle." It's nice to have all sides of the argument represented, right?

Read more here, if any.

Next Out of the Gate With a Hearty, "Democrats? F Those Guys!", it's the Washington State Labor Council

This article and the accompanying comments from the Seattle PI are fascinating because of what they say about the last legislative session and where the state could go in the future. Also check out the source documents from the Washington State Labor Council; their report card is highly interesting reading.

The education angle? Where the WSLC is going sounds quite similar to where the Washington Education Association is starting to tread via New Business Item K from the last Rep Assembly, which is an overhaul of how we look at politics after the spanking education took in the last session. I'm unsure as to what the long-term impact will be, but what you've got is a core constituency making some noise that they've not made before, and that could be fun to watch.

Update: Publicola here; Horse's Ass here.

Read more here, if any.

The EFF School Report Card: Who Are the Winners?

Previously we've taken an overall look at the EFF school report card, along with the schools that it identified as being the very worst (or, in their words, the losers) in the state. Today I thought it might be fun to take a look at the winners--is there anything that we can learn from them?

For the school year 2007-2008 there were 15 schools that tied with a perfect 10 in the EFF rankings. Of those, 6 have had a perfect 10 in each of the last 5 years. Who are these high achievers?

1) Medina Elementary, Medina, King County. You know who lives in Medina? Bill Gates. Go to their census page and you can read lots of fun information, like how the average family income is well above $100,000, the largest number of families make $200,000+, there wasn't a single "Female Householder, No Husband Present" to be found in the whole town, and 99% of the residents aged 25+ are high school graduates.

I'm going to hazard a guess, but I'm thinking Medina may have it a little bit better that some other places in the state.

2) Lowell Elementary, Seattle, King County. From their website:

Lowell Elementary School is home to two of the Seattle Public School District's all-city-draw programs, the Accelerated Progress Program (APP) and education for Low Incidence Special Education students.

Accelerated Progress Program. I wonder what that is?

APP is a program of accelerated instruction in Seattle Public Schools, generally two years above grade level. It serves intellectually advanced students who meet eligibility criteria and whose learning needs are not fully met in conventional classrooms.

Ah. Take the brightest kids in the state's biggest city, put them all together, and see how they do on the WASL. It's not by chance that this is a succesful school.

3) Libby Center, Spokane, Spokane County. Of the 6 schools that earned a perfect 10 Libby Center has the highest percentage of kids from low-income families: 23.1%. That's a success story, absolutely. The secret to the success?

Tessera is a one day per week program at Libby Center for highly capable students in grades 3 - 6 who represent the top 3% of their norm group. Students are selected on the basis of academic, intellectual, and creative ability.

Yeah, but that's a one-day-a-week thing. Those kids probably take the WASL at their home schools. Where do Libby's WASL scores come from?

The Spokane Public Schools elementary and middle school Odyssey Program is a full day, every day gifted magnet program at Libby Center for fifth through eighth grade students.

Magnet programs: great for gifted kids. Alas, not replicable.

4) Island Park Elementary, Mercer Island, King County: Remarkably, all three of the elementary schools on Mercer Island scored a perfect 10 on the EFF rankings for the 2007-2008 school year. There were 15 schools to get 10.0, and three of them are from the same school district. Why could that be?

• Could it be the median family income of about $147,000?
  
• Or that about 30% of the households bring in $200,000+?
  
• Or the median home value of $880,000, which compares well to the national average of $182,000?
  
• Or that about 75% of the residents have a Bachelor's degree or higher?

Look, Mercer Island has a well-deserved reputation as a center of wealth in Washington State, where the high school kids drive nicer cars than their teachers do, where you go when you've made it in life. It's no surprise that Mercer Island has great schools, because Mercer Island is a high-achieving community with money to burn. Thta's why comments like this, from Diana Cieslak of the EFF, drive me absolutely insane:

“The reason we chose to do this is to equip parents with the very best info available,” she said.

“We feel that the ranking system gives them a useful conclusion that allows them to see how their schools are doing compared to others in the state.”

When asked why Mercer Island performed so well in the study, Cieslak suggested that parents should go and find out the answer themselves.

“That is our goal,” she said. “The school will have the answers.”

Absolutely, on its face, ridiculous. It's the myth of replicability that I've talked about before--a school is successful here, so a school can be successful there, too--and Ms. Cieslak pushes that myth to the most ridiculous edge.

5) Challenge, Mountlake Terrace, Snohomish County: If you're a terrible cynic you're probably going, "Feh! I bet it's a magnet program in some well-to-do school district! Feh!"

Sometimes, the cynics are right. Challenge is a special magnet program for gifted kids in the Edmonds School District, admission based on referrals and testing.

6) Cedar Wood Elementary, Bothell, King/Snohomish County: A school that's proud to be mentioned in the EFF's report card, they trumpet their high ranking right off of their home page. Mind you, they don't mention the EFF by name (they call them "an educational research foundation">, nor do they link to the EFF's web page, or to the report itself, but why would I want to read anything into that unless I was being snarky, right?

Anyhow, this looks to be an actual public school, in the Everett School District! I know, right? Weird! Going off of their school report card they have 6.2% of the kids taking free or reduced price lunch, about 15% in special education, and 100% fans of locally connected band Death Cab for Cutie.

Congratulations to Cedar Wood for what they've accomplished.


So, to review: 3 magnet programs, 2 of the richest elementary schools in the state, and Cedar Wood of Bothell.

There's a quote that I thought was Molly Ivins, but Google attributes to Ann Richards, referring to George Bush: "He's a guy who was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple." What the top of the EFF report card is showing us is not a collection of schools that have had to struggle to get their success, but that are maintaining the successes that the kids showed up with in kindergarten.

Another phrase that's been put out is "Cinderella Schools"; those schools that have socio-economic factors lined against them but that are still succeeding, like Pateros. I'm still mining the report to pick those out (personal and confidential to the EFF and Fraser Institute: spreadsheets would be nice), and that will be the next post to come.

Hopefully that's where the value will be, because there hasn't been a whole lot to learn from looking at the extremes.

Read more here, if any.

I Wanted to Get Gay Married, But the WEA Changed Their Mind :-(

The very last item taken up at this year's Representative Assembly was an interesting motion regarding gay marriage/civil unions/the fall of civilization, depending on your viewpoint. It seemed fairly tame to me, an add on to an already existing continuing resolution about civil and human rights:

The Association further supports efforts by its members to reflect upon the hardships and legal uncertainties that occur when these factors are used to deny two individuals the ability to enter into a legally recognized domestic partnership, civil union, or gay marriage.

The Association further supports efforts by its members and society at large to engage in thoughtful and respectful conversations about marriage equality; the beliefs, values, and legal practicalities associated with it; and how it affects many of our memebrs and students and their respective families, loved ones, and friends.

It's not an endorsement of gay marriage, or even civil unions--it's a call to have a "respectful conversation" about the issue, which really shouldn't be that big a deal for a group of educators.

But oh boy, did this one go on for a long while. Very passionate, very articulate speeches on both sides of the issue, including memorable floor time from a member of WEA-Retired talking about her own life partner and the struggles they have regarding health care and travel. There were also conservative and Christian members (yes, there really is diversity of thought in the WEA) who spoke against, and they did it well.

First vote, too close to call. Then there was a rising vote, where people stand--again, too close to call. The doors to the hall were closed for yet another rising vote, again too close to call. Then each council voted individually and turned in their results to the chair, WEA President Mary Lindquist, at which point the motion was declared "Passed" by about a 30 point margin. Given that there were about 700 people in the hall at the time, that's close.

But wait, there's more! After RA let out they went back over the results, and one council's votes had been transposed. Turns out, the motion failed after all. I expect we'll see it again at the 2010 RA.

It's been expressed before that the WEA, and unions in general, really shouldn't get involved in issues like this--after all, the line of reasoning goes, what does something like civil unions have to do with education? The always-erudite Dr. Pezz expressed it better than I in a post from RA. I'm sensitive to that line of thought, especially when it relates to the PAC (as Dr. Pezz points out); the struggle that I have is that I think of the families that are in this situation, and how things are harder on them than need be.

Why yes, I am a liberal. How'd you tell? ;-)

All that said, my speaking request related to the motion didn't come up before debate was closed. I had a motion of my own: to table the main motion. That would have closed off debate and given Mary the power to close the RA, making no one happy, but sometimes when no one is happy you know you've accomplished something.

Later on, I'll tell you how I voted. A fun summer project might be to check out the list of continuing resolutions on the WEA website; it's a neat document with 1000 different stories behind it.

Do you think unions have a role in these kinds of societal discussions?

Read more here, if any.

Senator Eric Oemig: Small School Districts are PARASITES!

Last week the annual WASA/AWSP Conference was here in Spokane, and since I'm still an intern member I headed down to learn some more, check out the exhibits, and see what was shaking.

In the afternoon there was a legislative town hall meeting about education, which was both an unexpected surprise and right up my alley. From the Senate came Curtis King, K-12 Education chair Rosemary McAuliffe, and vice-chair Eric Oemig. The House was represented by their education chair, Dave Quall, and committee member Tim Probst.

The first 20 minute or so were nothing special. Rep. Quall gave shout-outs to some friends in the audience, Senator McAuliffe talked about.....stuff. I struggle with the good Senator sometimes, but such is life.

It's about 23 minutes in that things got interesting, when a question came from the audience about levy equalization (LEA) and how important it is for small school districts. Senator King (who is out of the Yakima area, mind you, so he knows his small schools), offers that he's glad that bill died, while Rep. Probst says that saving LEA was almost "an accident" of the legislative process and talks about the importance of skills centers and career education.

Then there's Senator Oemig:

"I want to take a stab at this LEA question, too, just because I'm a money numbers guy, I'm a fiscal conservative. And there's a lot of energy around that issue. And I was just talking to my school board, and they were talking about how this is so important, levy equalization. Not because they receive any--they don't. This subsidy goes out to smaller districts. And the problem that I see is that we see large districts that are subsidizing small districts advocating for that equity.

"But we're not seeing a symbiotic relationship. It's actually kind of parasitic."

"I don't hear small districts saying hey, raise those levies in those larger districts where they're able to collect the money. We've got to figure out how to solve the funding of education and get revenue where it can be gotten."

"I think we've got to equalize, then, that money statewide. And there's nobody that I've met in the legislature that doesn't think levy equalization is important. But we have to understand the dual role that we see with levies in the districts that are raising them--we have to let them raise those, and we have to equalize them."

"I really want you to think about that after this--that's something that I want you to take away from here."

Being in the room I can tell you his comments caused quite a bit of tut-tutting; the first speaker after him pointed out that levy equalization isn't about big and small, it's about rich and poor--that's why Spokane and Evergreen of Vancouver, two of the largest districts in the state, are also two power-consumers of LEA dollars.

The heart of Senator Oemig's strawman argument, though, is that small school districts aren't advocating hard enough for large school districts, and that's an argument that sort of beggars imagination. The reason people on my side of the state were so against HB1776 was because of the cut to levy equalization--it had nothing at all to do with the fact that it also would have raised the levy lid for affluent school districts. If they get more money, good for them--just leave my damn budget alone.

Remember, too, that back in April Senator McAuliffe was defending LEA cuts because she felt that the stimulus money coming in was an equitable replacement.

It's going to be a big issue in the coming session. If you're in a district that receives LEA money, start prepping NOW. A parent or a teacher? Start talking to your school board and central office admins about the State School Directors Association Legislative Conference in September. WEA members, talk with your Uniserv leadership and your WEA board members and let them know what you think. Legislative Assembly Days are in Olympia in October, and that'll be a good chance to talk with your Representatives about this issue, or any other.

Man the ramparts, folks. It's needed.

Read more here, if any.

Governor Gregoire Announces All State Government to Move to Mississippi

If going South is good enough for Boeing, then it's good enough for Government, too.

Add this one to the "Why I Worry" list.

Read more here, if any.

The EFF School Report Card: The Worst Schools in the State

(Second in a look at the 2009 Elementary School Report Card from the Evergreen Freedom Foundation. For the first installment, including links to the report, go here.)

The School Report Card sorts out the elementary schools here in Washington from #1 to a four-way tie for #1,127. The Simon Fraser Institute, which carried out the research for the study, says that it identifies the winners and losers, so let's look at the biggest loser schools in Washington State. These are the four that were called out by name in the media.

#1127 Wa He Lut, Olympia, Thurston County. An Indian school in the most basic sense of the word, Wa He Lut isn't a public school at all--it's managed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs for the federal government, and you must be a member of a federally recognized tribe to even attend. Consider, too, that Wa He Lut's low score is based off of one year's scores--they only have WASL results for 2008.

I remember being at an OSPI Summer Institute a couple of years ago where Terry Bergeson talked about the crisis in education surrounding our Native American students statewide, and she was right--less than half graduate from high school. I think it's a problem that needs to be viewed through a different lens than the school reform movement writ large, though.

Here is an example of where I question the methodology of the report--how can Wa Le Hut be called a "loser" school based off of one year's results, when it's not even really a public school at all?

#1127.2: Virgie Robinson Elementary, Pasco, Franklin County: 96.5% low income and 95.8% Hispanic, a fun school where Chicago White Sox jerseys and Ben Davis uniforms are banned because of gang affiliations. Where 75% are in the transitional bilingual program, 1-in-6 are identified special education students, and more than 20% are migrant. It's also 3 times larger than the Pateros School District, which will be important because of something I'll be posting later.

#1127.3: Muckleshoot Tribal School, Auburn, Pierce County: Not really part of the Auburn School District, not really a public school (it's 100% Native American). They're getting a nice new building, which is good for them. They're also at the bottom of the list based on one year's scores-2008-because that's the only year they have scores reported for. My guess is that's because they only have 83 students.

That's right, you 30 or so kids in grades 3 through 5. Mmm-hmm. Tsk, tsk, tsk.

#1127.4: Lummi Tribal School, Bellingham, Whatcom County: The very worst school in the state, says the report. The only school to receive a cumulative 0.0 score for the past five years, which means that in no year, ever, did they score even a fraction of a point in the EFF's system. This article from 2001 seems rather humorous in light of what hasn't happened--academic renaissance--but the humor dies quite quickly when you recognize that this has been an ongoing problem for several generations now.



"But Ryan," I'm hearing someone say, "Ben Chavis. Skooled. It can happen. Soft bigotry, low expectations, et cetera."

And that's fine. What I'm finding ridiculous here is the belief put forward by the report that some how, some way, it's competition that is going to make these schools better.

There are systemic reasons that some schools fail. It's these schools, the outliers, that prove that more than any other. The affirming-the-consequent conceit is to argue that if some schools succeed, then any school can succeed, and since Pateros is doing well, these schools should be too.

But conceit and rankings aren't going to help.

Read more here, if any.

Why Teachers are Wary of Charter Schools

NYC Educator nails it.

If one of the points of the charter movement is to free the schools from onerous regulations, why not do that for *every* school, not just a select few?

Read more here, if any.

The Newest Member of the PEAB for Eastern Washington University....

...is me!

I've been thinking a lot lately about the interplay between the schools of education and the K-12 system writ large, so I'm excited to be a part of this process.

Should be fun!

(What's a PEAB? This is a PEAB.)

Read more here, if any.

The League of "Education" Voters, the Bellevue Teacher's Strike, and School Librarians

Noted a press release put out recently saying that two Bellevue parents have joined the Board of Directors of the League of "Education" Voters.

Noted, too, that the Bellevue School District cut High School Librarians last month in order to save money. The school board says that the principals know best, and that every one of the principals wants to cut library.

Further noted that one of the reasons the L"E"V put forward to support HB2261, the Basic Ed Finance Reform Bill, was that it would protect school libraries. And librarians.

It's pretty obvious that the L"E"V is more interested in the theory of change than they are in the effects of the change. Instead of protesting the library cuts, they almost seem to praise them as "finding savings in creative ways." There's an open letter to all school librarians in the state: The L"E"V is on your side, until the going gets tough.

The final note: Bellevue is either represented by or close to the legislative districts of Representative Ross Hunter and Senator Fred Jarrett, two of the leading voices that guided the final work that came out of the Basic Ed Finance Task Force. The hotbed of ed reform in the state right now, for better or worse, is Bellevue. And the L"E"V won't even stand up for their librarians.

Noted.

Updated 7/8 10:00 PM: I got a message on Facebook from a reader who didn't understand the whole "finding savings in creative ways" criticism from up above; if you follow the link, it now reads "Cutting the basics" instead. Thanks to the miracle of Google's cache, though, you can still see the original, and here's a screen shot to prove it:

I'm glad they've acknowledged that librarians are basic education again. Just wish they had done it the first time.

Read more here, if any.

Thought for the Day

"A human lifespan is less than a thousand months long. You need to make some time to think how to live it." -- AC Graylin, Philosopher

(via)

Read more here, if any.

Squirrels: They're Nuts

It's a few months old, but I still love it:

ANN ARBOR, Mich., April 24 (UPI) -- A Michigan teacher guiding students around the University of Michigan campus was attacked by an irate squirrel when she tried to help one of its young.

The teacher, from Detroit, spotted the squirrels Thursday as she ushered her students through a campus tour, The Ann Arbor News reported Friday. She noticed the young squirrels were not in their nest and a crow was eyeing one that appeared to have been left behind.

The teacher, whose name was not reported, first tried to shoo the crow away from the squirrels and then to draw the mother's attention to the danger. The mother squirrel instead turned on the teacher.

Were this a Michael Bay movie, the teacher would have been killed and eaten by the squirrel. Then the squirrel would explode. Twice.

Read more here, if any.

The Best Weed in Washington State Can Be Found in the Methow Valley

I think that's the only logical conclusion to be had after reading this:

In the foothills of the North Cascades, where the veil between dimensions is said to be thinnest, inhabitants of this world gather once a year to coexist with fairies in theirs.

About 250 people came to the Methow Valley June 26 through 28 from as far away as Europe and Hawaii to participate in the ninth annual Fairy and Human Relations Congress, an outdoor festival in a secluded mountain meadow called Skalitude.

A giant crop circle depicting a pinwheel-shaped sun had been cut into the high grass. An open-air tent pavilion stood at the lower end of the meadow. Farther up, white peace banners fluttered in a circular array.

"The purpose of the congress is to encourage communication and cooperation of the fairy realm," said Michael "Skeeter" Pilarski, the event's founder and organizer.

This was the above-the-fold, page 1 article in the Sunday Spokesman-Review, and I believe that this is what will save old media. Indeed.

Read more here, if any.