http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/12/04/oh-well-if-the-teachers-unions-are-involved-it-obviously-cant-work Comments On: Oh, Well, If the Teachers Unions Are Involved, It Obviously Can't Work by Goldy en-us Copyright 2013 The Stranger. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, The Stranger readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact The Stranger. webmaster@thestranger.com (The Stranger Webmaster) Tue, 18 Jun 2013 00:00:01 -0700 Tue, 18 Jun 2013 15:15:00 -0700 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss but the counter-argument is the math materials used in SPS

Those materials were chosen by the school board, not teachers. I guess the lesson there is that curriculum decisions shouldn't be left entirely to school boards either.
Posted by seandr]]> Tue, 04 Dec 2012 22:09:50 -0800 The Stranger Posted by CbytheSea]]> Tue, 04 Dec 2012 22:02:16 -0800 The Stranger
Or at least appear to be "reform" while not costing anything?

That is the sum total of what the education reform movement is about, saving money. Not improving education.
Posted by Steven Bradford]]> Tue, 04 Dec 2012 21:02:46 -0800 The Stranger Posted by we will crush the unions.]]> Tue, 04 Dec 2012 16:52:39 -0800 The Stranger
- the Creative Approach school idea had - at first - cut out oversight by the School Board ENTIRELY and the Board agreed to it. Luckily, parents said no to this nonsense, took them to court and yes, the Court agreed that the duly-elected Board did need to oversee these schools.

- the agreement only says parents have a peripheral role but they have NO say over what the school becomes. The Creative Approach can be at ANY school so if your neighborhood school decides on Montessori or any other kind of specialty school (which is now just an option choice in SPS), you are stuck. And, SPS has a neighborhood assignment plan so you are mostly stuck.

It is troubling how little parents are part of this decision-making.

- Only union reps and district staff are on the approval committee (which submits proposals to the Board for their review). No parents, no community group members, no one else gets to make these decisions.

As for "charter lite", anyone who believes that the majority of teachers or principals at most charter schools have control of the academic destiny of the school they work at is just plain wrong. There is no evidence to support that claim.
Posted by westello]]> Tue, 04 Dec 2012 16:10:02 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Pope Peabrain]]> Tue, 04 Dec 2012 14:56:50 -0800 The Stranger
I tutor math at a Seattle public school, and the first thing I have to do is bring in textbooks that are, you know, useful. (And to connect this up to Paul's post about "common core standards" above, the CC math standards are not in fact curriculum standards: they're materials standards. Ugh!)
Posted by Catherwood]]> Tue, 04 Dec 2012 14:49:40 -0800 The Stranger Posted by seandr]]> Tue, 04 Dec 2012 13:51:54 -0800 The Stranger
I don't want to hear a word from either of those companies as to why WA education doesn't provide more innovation or better outcomes. These corporate takers starve, not enrich, our kids' learning. Dicks.
Posted by gator bait]]> Tue, 04 Dec 2012 13:35:33 -0800 The Stranger
They may be necessary to prevent worker exploitation, but they also make employees completely unaccountable to the people they serve, in this case the students and their parents. If this isn't obvious to you, just look at the Police Officer's Guild.

I once went to a conference to exhibit my software, and was forced to carry my equipment from the conference floor back to my car so that a fatass Teamster could wheel it back in on his cart with me walking right beside him for $200. What's worse, the fucker's cart hit a bump, causing my flat screen monitor to fall off and land on the parking lot. Fortunately, it wasn't damaged, or there'd have been a bunch forms for me to fill out, resulting in me getting reimbursed a maximum of 15% of cost or $150, whichever is lower.

Fuck unions.
Posted by seandr]]> Tue, 04 Dec 2012 13:30:50 -0800 The Stranger Posted by tired and true]]> Tue, 04 Dec 2012 13:28:49 -0800 The Stranger Posted by screed]]> Tue, 04 Dec 2012 13:17:30 -0800 The Stranger
Posted by Rotten666]]> Tue, 04 Dec 2012 13:01:23 -0800 The Stranger
My son went to a private Montessori daycare, and then Montessori at a public school.

The only thing broken is funding, and the tax exemptions of the property base (yeah, those billionaires and millionaires) that hollow out the school funding base to subsidize rich peoples' hobbies.
Posted by Will in Seattle]]> Tue, 04 Dec 2012 12:51:05 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Charlie Mas]]> Tue, 04 Dec 2012 12:42:47 -0800 The Stranger
Bingo.


Posted by maverjoe]]> Tue, 04 Dec 2012 12:37:16 -0800 The Stranger