June 17 Board Meeting
Lynne Cohee
The item re curriculum alignment introduced at the June 3 school board meeting (RFP 04948, Consulting Services for College Readiness Diagnosis) is on the agenda for approval at the board meeting tomorrow night. Here is a link to the agenda: http://www.seattleschools.org/area/board/08-09agendas/061709agenda/061709agenda.pdf. If you click on Action Item #2 you can see the action report, and at the end of the action report you can click on the actual RFP (which was not attached when this item was introduced at the June 3 board meeting). The RFP sets out a schedule with work beginning on 6/18/09 and with LA curriculum alignment completed by August 2009. On the agenda for the board meeting is also approval of the new Student Assignment Plan, which is the board’s primary focus right now.
Next Monday the 22nd the Curriculum and Instruction Committee meets. Per Harium Martin-Morris, at this meeting they will “talk about the design of the goal and guiding principles around curriculum and text adoption”. Next Wednesday 6/24 is a board work session, which previously was supposed to deal only with the Student Assignment Plan boundaries. It’s now on the calendar as dealing with the SAP AND curriculum alignment.
I’m writing board members to urge them to postpone taking action on the RFP until after the board has done the work of setting forth how curriculum alignment should be conducted. The board also needs to get the district to address the issue of earned autonomy. Approving the RFP will give the board little control over the process, at least with regard to LA alignment.
John Bito
meeting: I'm going to the B52s concert!
I thought I'd share the note I sent to Mr. Martin-Morris in case others
would like to borrow from it. Of course, I'm not an authority on the
subject nor how to address members of the board - just passing it along
in case it provides inspiration to others who won't be making it to the
board meeting. (I sent a similar note to Ms. Carr since I live in her
district.)
Best Regards,
John
=====
Subject: Disapprove RFP 04948, Consulting Services for College Readiness
Diagnosis
To: harium.mar...@seattleschools.org
Dear Mr. Martin-Morris,
I'm writing as a parent of two graduates of Roosevelt HS which you
represent to ask that you stop Seattle Public Schools from issuing the
proposed contract that was developed under the misleading title
"Consulting Services for College Readiness Diagnosis". I'm sure that
you've already heard that the working group that developed the proposal
was not adequately inclusive or public in its process.
My younger daughter graduated Roosevelt HS last week, and I'm glad to
have the opportunity to thank you for the address you made to the
students. My older daughter has been very successful at Sarah Lawrence
College and is preparing for her senior year. The faculty and curriculum
at Roosevelt were instrumental in preparing both girls for 4-year
colleges. Therefore, I am very concerned that the project proposed by
RFP 04948 is starting from the premise that the district should
determine detailed curricula. Most of the electives my two daughters
were able to select were highly positive in shaping their high school
experience and were exceedingly good preparation for engaging in a
quality liberal arts college.
Please assure that the district works to provide resources, goals and
assessments to high schools and teachers rather than dictating the
content and structure of all the courses.
GlennH
one.
I fear that the (also legitimately) contentious Student Assignment
Plan will overshadow the innocently-named RFP, and make for a rubber-
stamp in permanent ink, legitimizing a bastardized process and
rendering this google group's work moot.
Thank you for the link and timely information.
Here's hoping that Earned Autonomy can make a comeback...
- glenn
On Jun 16, 10:28 am, "Lynne Cohee" <lynneco...@comcast.net> wrote:
> The item re curriculum alignment introduced at the June 3 school board
> meeting (RFP 04948, Consulting Services for College Readiness Diagnosis) is
> on the agenda for approval at the board meeting tomorrow night. Here is a