Blog entries

Predatory Learning

Eddie Westerman — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 14:36:22 +0100

Former WEA staff member and SEA Executive Director Steve Pulkkinen shared a comprehensive and compelling piece (written by community organizer and author Michael Gecan) which recently appeared in the “Boston Review”. This is a worthwhile read which asks us to take a look at why we are reforming education and whether we are reforming education for the right reasons.

Common Core coming

Eddie Westerman — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 17:42:13 +0100

As Common Core State Standards are barreling toward our students, here are a few articles for your perusal:

Authors Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifu have an opinion piece is the June 8 New York Times. They point out that, “It is the uniformity of the exams and the skills ostensibly linked to them that appeal to the Core’s supporters, like Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Bill and Melinda Gates.”

A teacher shares her opinion about the unintended but very serious consequences these tRead More...

Tumwater educator speaks out

Eddie Westerman — Wed, 29 May 2013 15:09:51 +0100

While our country makes a huge transition in the way we pay for and receive health care, we need to be mindful about those whose very existence depends on highly specialized care. High school teacher Francie Harville is mom to a six-year-old daughter.

"As a public school employee, I urge you to oppose Senate Bill 5905. As a parent of a child with a highly specialized and unique health condition, I demand it.

“I have worked for 20 years as a teacher, and since the birth of my cRead More...

All details helpful

Eddie Westerman — Tue, 28 May 2013 18:09:27 +0100

Check out what FunnyMonkey blog contributor Bill Fitzgerald writes about Oregon’s adoption of Common Core. “If you miss the background, you miss the story,” Fitzerald says, “and then everyone is misinformed.”

Legitimacy of testing a farce

Eddie Westerman — Mon, 20 May 2013 15:31:17 +0100

Read this story to learn more about the big business behind assessing and over assessing students. See what what man experienced in the "essay scoring sweatshop" where he worked in St. Paul.

Schools or oil companies?

Eddie Westerman — Wed, 08 May 2013 16:52:31 +0100

Click here to remind yourself that we are not alone. Progressive groups such as Fuse get it. Watch this spoof on the AT&T ads then share.

Charbonneau rocks RA

Eddie Westerman — Fri, 03 May 2013 17:02:01 +0100

“What do I teach?” National Teacher of the Year, Zillah High School teacher, and Zillah EA Co-President Jeff Charbonneau said to RA delegates in Bellevue last week, “It depends who is asking.” His speech could easily be a TED talk. Watch here.

New "Rhee-port" about cheating

Eddie Westerman — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 21:01:58 +0100

Click here for a "Time" magazine cover worth pondering.

Gap growing wider

Eddie Westerman — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 20:57:08 +0100

Income inequality continues to widen the achievement gap between the rich and the poor. Sadly, the trend is that this gap is growing wider every day.

Sharing your story

Eddie Westerman — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 20:42:59 +0100

What are reporters saying to one another about class size? If you check out the "Educated Reporter" blog, you’ll read Linda Perstein’s piece which encourages her colleagues to, “do some shoe-leather reporting comparing classrooms and give qualitative examples. Did a teacher whose classes got bigger stop assigning essays when she felt like she had too many to grade?

To what degree do teachers attribute differences in classroom climate to the number of students versus the other myriaRead More...

"My profession no longer exists"

Eddie Westerman — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 14:07:32 +0100

Forty-year veteran Gerald J. Conti recently resigned as a social studies and history high school teacher in New York. In his letter, he says, “My profession is being demeaned by a pervasive atmosphere of distrust, dictating that teachers cannot be permitted to develop and administer their own quizzes and tests (now titled as generic “assessments”) or grade their own students’ examinations."

"The development of plans, choice of lessons and the materials to be employed are increasinglRead More...

Charter larder stocking up

Eddie Westerman — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 14:23:18 +0100

Those of a certain age wish Walton was associated with someone saying, “Goodnight Elizabeth,” but instead when we hear that name, it is associated with privatizing our public schools. Former League of Education Voter big wig Lisa MacFarland just received a $10,000 grant as (are you ready for this?) an “Education Reformer to Watch.”

The Waltons are watching her and funding her so she can fund charter schools. She currently runs a political action committee supported, mostly, by hedgRead More...

Revolution but not parents

Eddie Westerman — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 17:01:23 +0100

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Gary Cohn wrote a very good story about Parent Revolution. While the group pretends to be a grassroots parent advocacy group, look a little deeper and see that this “populist” movement is funded by the Walton Family Foundation, “one of the nation’s largest and most strident anti-union organization,” according to Cohn.

Who else funds the group? Round up the usual suspects – Bill and Melinda Gates, the Broad Foundation (look at their ties to Seattle’Read More...

Lone Star State fights back

Eddie Westerman — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 13:49:24 +0100

Who knew we’d have to look to Texas to see teachers and parents and other community members leading a counter-attack on standardized testing? A former “reformer,” Education Commissioner Robert Scott told a crowd in February that he turned in his “reformer card because, "They are selling two ideas and two ideas only: No. 1, your schools are failing, and No. 2, if you give us billions of dollars, we can convince you [of] the first thing we just told you."

Eight hundred eightRead More...

Will "Core" offer more?

Eddie Westerman — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 17:55:00 +0100

Up next from our US Department of Education? Common Core State Standards. Look for the next generation of high stakes tests, scheduled to be doled out in the 2014-2015 school year. They are not living up to what Arne Duncan is trying to convince you they are. Read more about what isn’t happening around these tests.

Michelle's malarkey

Eddie Westerman — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 17:01:19 +0100

Tacoma Education Association member John Prosser recently wrote an essay in response to Michelle Rhee’s March 6 OpEd in the Seattle Times. In the end of his essay, Prosser says, “I find her approach to this issue lacking in sound logic, compassion, thoughtfulness, and honesty.” Diane Ravitch calls Prosser’s essay brilliant and shares his thinking on her own blog.

Barefoot Schoolboys and Pi

Eddie Westerman — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 16:55:03 +0100

Most middle school math students know March 14 is Pi Day. Many celebrate by memorizing a lot of numbers and eating a little pie. March 14 is also the anniversary of the Barefoot Schoolboy Act of 1895 – the beginning of school equalization.

We became a state in 1889 and the preamble of Article IX in our State Constitution declares, “It is the paramount duty of the state to make ample provision for the education of all children residing in its borders, without distinction or preferencRead More...

Protecting students

Eddie Westerman — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 14:31:40 +0100

While lawmakers recently signed a bill in South Dakota green lighting arming educators with guns, citizens in Denver are going a different route. Denver Public Schools have signed off on an agreement with Denver police limiting the role of the School Resource Officer (police) and spells out offenses that are to be handled by educators and those that require action by SROs.

Let the bidding begin

Eddie Westerman — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 14:10:03 +0100

WEA educators are asked to donate, attend, volunteer and, often, create items to sell at school auctions all over the state. Money raised at these auctions is used to backfill dollars lost.

Many point out these auctions are unfair since schools in neighborhoods that can raise a lot of money end up with many more “enrichment” dollars that are used in myriad ways. Auctions are organized and run by parent volunteers in the schools. Read what happened at one Seattle school when an itemRead More...

SD bill will arm teachers

Eddie Westerman — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 20:10:48 +0100

South Dakota’s governor signed a bill today to allow school districts to arm teachers and other education employees with guns. Though school board members, administrators and teachers opposed the bill as it went through committee hearings last month, those in favor of the bill prevailed. Teachers won’t be forced to carry guns – only people who “volunteer.”