Seattle public schools chief Maria Goodloe-Johnson gave the PreK-3rd movement a boost Thursday, endorsing a move to a PreK-12 system as the most powerful step education policymakers could take.

“I believe that the single most powerful change we’re going to make…the one that’s going to have the largest and most long lasting impact on our kids…is to switch us from a K-12 system to a PreK-12 system,” Goodloe-Johnson said in draft speaking points that were to be delivered at an event in Seattle Thursday.

The event focused on Seattle’s draft plan to integrate prekindergarten and early elementary grades. Seattle and Washington state have emerged as leaders in the PreK-3rd movement.

Full story here at Birth to Thrive

Who is a patriot? A fair question to ask during the week of our nation’s birthday. What happens if you wear a flag pin on your lapel, and you work to undermine the paramount constitutional duty of our state? How’s that for patriotism?

Our state’s paramount constitutional duty is basic education. Washington’s constitution requires that our state “make ample provision for the education of all children…” But according to King County Superior Court Judge John Erlick, we have undermined that duty. Our Legislature has failed to “fully fund” K-12 education with “stable and dependable” revenues. In terms of actual dollars, we put less money into K-12 education per pupil than Alabama!

Everyone talks a big game about education. The people, in one school district after another, get it. This past February, after Judge Erlick’s ruling, voters overwhelmingly approved school levies across the state. Edmonds, Everett, Lake Stevens, Marysville, Mukilteo,... (more)

School readiness is one of the bigger topics in early learning today. But, it turns out only seven states actually assess students when they start school to get an idea of statewide trends, a new report found.

Still, all 50 states have guidelines on what kids should know when they enter school, the report adds. So, why do assessment tests matter?

The answer is the achievement gap – the academic divide between too many at-risk students and other students – remains a persistent challenge, one that quality early learning programs are trying to narrow and eventually help eliminate.

One study found that the average cognitive scores of our nation’s most affluent children are 60 percent higher than those of our poorest children before they enter kindergarten. Furthermore, low-income children are more likely to attend lower-quality schools, making it unlikely that these gaps can be closed later through schooling alone. (more)

more at Birth to Thrive

Seattle, WA (June 9, 2010) – Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn declared June 6-12, 2010 “Nothing But Nets Week” in the city in support of the U.N. Foundation’s Nothing But Nets—a global, grassroots campaign to end malaria in Africa.  The campaign and its country-wide “Buzz Tour” are hosting a series of events in Seattle to raise awareness about the global goal to end malaria deaths by 2015.  The “Buzz Tour” hit the road as part of the United Against Malaria partnership to leverage the momentum to raise awareness about malaria in the lead up to this year’s World Cup, hosted for the first time in Africa—where 90 percent of malaria deaths occur. 

 Today, Nothing But Nets presented an award of appreciation to students of The Bush School in Seattle for their extraordinary work to help prevent malaria in Africa—a leading killer of children on the continent. The Bush School students have been fundraising for more than three... (more)

Angelica Macatangay’s drive to succeed was inspired like this: She was a smart, 17-year-old high school grad in Guam holding acceptance letters to three top-tier private colleges when the doors to opportunity slammed shut.

With three siblings who had gone to college ahead of her and her parents looking for work in the Unites States, Macatangay graduated alone in Guam knowing the price of college was beyond her means because her parents couldn’t afford to help pay.

First step was to rejoin her family in the US. Her parents landed in Seattle where her next oldest sister was graduating from Seattle University. “When I got out here, there was some animosity within the family,” she said. “I was the only child left and everyone else got to go to school and I was pretty upset about it.”

The sting of that first blow motivates Macatangay still, even as she prepares to graduate with a BA degree from the UW Foster School of Business, a top-level finish in the 2010 National Collegiate... (more)

 From the University of Washington's Foster School of Business. 

SEATTLE -- Small businesses across Washington continue to struggle as a result of the economic downturn regardless of the race/ethnicity of the owners; and their confidence about their prospects over the next year continues to decline, though at a slower rate than between 2008 and 2009.

 Surprisingly, while Washington’s small-business owners do not anticipate substantial new business opportunities to emerge in the next year, 20% of Caucasian-owned businesses and 36% of minority-owned businesses anticipate hiring new employees in the next three months.

 The source of these findings is the “Washington Minority Small Business Survey,” prepared by the Business and Economic Development Center at the University of Washington Foster School of Business. The report is co-authored by Michael P. Verchot, director of the center, and professor of finance William Bradford who also led the research.

 Conducted in... (more)

One of the more thoughtful education and psychology writers on Twitter is Dr. Laura Kauffman, who has a link today to a fascinating BBC report on why Finland’s more relaxed approach to elementary and secondary school works.

The story explores the general approach of the Finnish school system, which includes teaching both struggling and advanced students in the same class, and how it gets incredible results.

“Children here (at the featured school) do the least number of class hours per week in the developed world and get the best results.” – Finland’s Education Success, BBC, 4/6/10.

These results are found throughout the Finnish school system, according to the BBC.

Students do not start formal school until age seven. (more)

Where will play fit into the effort to rewrite the No Child Left Behind Act?

Proponents argue the increasing focus on testing and curriculum in kindergarten – and the idea this can become part of preschool and pre-kindergarten – actually counters goals of early education. It threatens a student’s chances at long-term success in school and health, according to play-focused advocacy group The Alliance for Childhood.  This argument gained momentum in recent years, but this year’s congressional debate over reforming the key federal law for elementary and secondary education could show how much traction the argument has gained.

Research shows that children who engage in complex forms of socio-dramatic play have greater language skills than nonplayers, better social skills, more empathy, more imagination, and more of the subtle capacity to know what others mean. They are less aggressive and show more self-control and higher levels of thinking.  – “... (more)

Corey Louviere, a Fine Arts teacher and Janet Woodward, a Librarian, both at Garfield High School, have won a $10,000 grant from Qwest to curate an exhibit on the history of the Central Area in Seattle.  Here is a summary of their winning grant proposal:

An ambitious photo exhibit project will engage Louviere and Woodward’s classes in an exploration of the history and culture of Seattle’s Central Area. Garfield High School, built in 1922, is one of manyhistorical landmarks whose providence depicts a long, community narrative they plan to research. Students will document the multi‐cultural topography of the area, where six bus lines converge, and therich diversity of its neighborhoods, commercial and community centers speak to the unique character ofthe area’s people and urban lifestyle.

In a series of field trips, students will photograph specific scenes, take notes and interview residents. Each student will select his or her best image for the exhibit and prepare statements that interpret...

The big project to expand the Seattle Central Community College woodworking school at 23rd & Lane has received all of its land-use approvals and is now set to begin construction. Last month the old wooden buildings on the property were torn down, clearing the way to add 57,000 square feet of new administrative and instructional space to the campus.

The project is fully funded by the state and is now out for construction bids, which are expected back in early February, allowing a construction start date of late March or early April.

Read more. 

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The Eastlake Community Council Board last week sent a letter to the Seattle School District formally proposing a geographic zone for TOPS@Seward School.

The zone would be part of the new school district attendance plan. It will be used as a "tiebreaker" in determining which neighborhood children will be allowed to attend Seward, which as an "option" school draws students from all over Seattle, not just from Eastlake.

The ECC Board voted unanimously for the proposed geographic zone tie-breaker at its Nov. 18 meeting. The zone would cover the area of Eastlake from I-5 west to the houseboats at Lake Union, and north from E. Galer in the south to the Ship Canal in the north (see attached map).

Read more here from Curt Milton at the Eastlake Ave. Blog.

The intersection of 23rd and Cherry is unique in the city of Seattle. With last night's approval of the school district's new student-assignment maps, it's the only place in the city where you can stand and see four different elementary school zones.  (more)

Washington state Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn unveiled proposals Thursday to impose new delays on long-postponed math and science testing requirements for high school graduation.  Although some education advocates disagree strongly, Dorn insisted that a delay would be part of advancing toward higher academic standards and student performance.

Dorn laid out his proposals in a speech at the annual conference of the Washington State School Directors Association, an organization representing members of local school boards across the state.

Dorn said that his plan will be good for students. In remarks released before the speech, Dorn said, “This is the best way to give students the education they deserve. We must maintain our high standards, but we have a rare chance to set the bar at the right level as we implement new learning standards in math and science and move to end-of-course exams.”

In briefing sessions for education groups, Dorn’s office had said he would call for an indefinite delay... (more)

The Seattle School Board will vote on new attendance zones for city schools at their meeting at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday at school district headquarters, .

There don't appear to have been changes in the map for TOPS@Seward, Eastlake's local school, since it was released in early October. Students in Eastlake fall within the attendance zone map for Montlake Elementary. See our previous post for more information on the attendance map.

Still to come will be a school board decision on the geographic zone for Seward. Geographic zones are a new category of "tiebreaker" used to determine which children can attend options schools like Seward. The Eastlake Community Council has proposed a geographic zone that would include everything from I-5 west to the houseboats and from E. Galer in the south to the Ship Canal bridge in the north.

Read more here from Curt Milton at the Eastlake Avenue Blog.

Read more here on the new student assignment plan from the Seattle School District. Or read here for a link to maps... (more)

Kay Smith-Blum and Betty Patu lead by substantial margins in the election night returns for the Seattle School Board.

Smith-Blum captured 64 percent of the vote to 35 percent for her opponent Mary Bass, in the race for the District 5 seat on the school board, a margin of more than 20,000 votes.  Betty Patu, in the race for District 7, held a more than 26,000 vote, 68 percent margin over Wilson Chin.  Michael DeBell was unopposed in District 4.

The results were as reported Wednesday morning on the King County Elections website.  More results are due to be released at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.

For the latest on the school board race in Seattle, check here.

An original hip-hop tribute to the school was performed by a group of recent Summit alumni. The rest of the evening combined poetry, songs, dances, a martial-arts demonstration and a lot of reminiscences from staffers and students past and present.

Some alumni were introduced with the title “Summiteer,” denoting they had spent their entire school years there, from kindergarten through graduation. No other public school in the state offered that experience; now, none will. The new Addams School, opening in the building this fall, will be a neighborhood school for kindergarten through eighth grade.

Students in Viola Spencer’s Swing Group displayed original choreography at “One Last Glimpse.” Many Summit grads have gone on to professional careers in the arts. Many others have gone into teaching careers.

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Members of Roy Alexander’s “core class” performed a theatrical reading titled “Summit, the Dream That Won't Go Away.” In Scene 1, children bored by traditional rote-based schooling decide there must be a better way to learn. In Scene 2, kids on a nature field trip proclaim how much fun it can be to learn about their world the Summit way. In the last scene, an uncaring School Board orders Summit's demise; the kids, dispersed into regular schools, again face the numbing boredom of standard educational procedure.

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In previous years, the Summit talent show was titled “Glimpses.” This final edition was rechristened “One Last Glimpse,” and it included faculty and alumni performances as well as acts by current students. It opened with Tom Rawson leading past and present faculty members in a rousing rendition of “A Chat With Your Mother,” folk duo Lou and Peter Berryman’s song lamenting young people who speak with “F-word this and F-word that.”

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At some schools’ cafeterias, you might expect a mural of the school’s monogram or a mascot character. Summit’s lunchroom bears a group portrait of Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, Che Guevara and the comparatively nonpolitical John Lennon.

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Some of Summit’s last students listened to the steel drum band on the second-floor balcony, before everyone was led into the school’s auditorium for the talent show. Despite its sometime reputation as a “hippie school” (to quote an item in the Stranger’s “Slog” blog from December), Summit’s student body was more than 50 percent nonwhite. ‘ ’ “ ” * –

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Summit was an oddity within the Seattle School District on at least three levels.

It was one of four citywide magnet schools, which students from any neighborhood could attend (though, with its location deep within the city’s northeastern quadrant, bus rides could get quite long).

It was the only school in the district to teach every grade level in one building, with one administrative staff.

And, perhaps most significant, it was devoted to both experiential learning (rooted in students’ experiences rather than in rote instruction) and to teaching progressive ideals.

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There were plenty of hugs, a few tears and, among the adults, more than a little open griping about Seattle Public Schools’ decision to shut down the program. Summit was known for its exceptionally close-knit parent community, which spent years fighting to keep the school open.

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The day began with receptions for alumni from each of the school’s decades of existence. It continued with a big meet ’n’ greet, welcoming anyone who’d ever been involved with the school. They were led into the building by Summit's steel drum band, one of several arts programs duplicated nowhere else in the school district.

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