I do not usually have a newspaper in my house. I usually do not read the newspaper. However, on this cold, wet Sunday, I read the newspaper. You see, it was left there by a guest and I am glad they did. I was able to read about Measure 60 in Oregon. Not our state you say, well, it is only one state away from Washington, and not too many away from the others.
Category Archives: Assessment
GRADES: A Necessary Evil?
Fall is a beautiful time…the colorful leaves, the crisp air, and the grueling grading period. Many of you will be sending grades out soon. Have you ever reflected on how you grade? Every year, I find myself closer to the ideal grading situation. There is nothing inherently wrong with grades. However, grades have always been a hot topic in education. What are your thoughts?
Join in the discussion on grades. This post is unique. I have not written a 400 word post, carefully crafted with my opinion. I do have a bias and it is relatively transparent…I suppose the photo for this post is a bit revealing. However, I want to hear what you think; I came to my current philosophy on grades by talking with parents and teachers and adjusting my practices. If we each take from the discussion a new way to impact our teaching, the students will benefit.
Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me…”
Emma Lazarus’ famous words are carved at the base of the Statue of Liberty, one of the greatest – if not THE greatest – symbols of American freedom and the American dream. This is the basis of everything we stand for as a nation – that we will take those who have been disadvantaged and give them opportunity equal to that given to the majority of citizens in this country.
Sadly, NCLB works contrary to this ideal when it allows parents to move their students out of “failing” schools – at the expense of the district – to other schools that are making standard. This might seem like a non sequitor, but it isn’t.
Shared Fishing, Shared Accountability
By Tom
I caught a rainbow trout yesterday. A beautiful animal; sixteen inches of fin, muscle and poor judgment. It was a blast, but when I reflect on this accomplishment (Which I have been doing a lot) I realize that by myself, there would have been no trout. A lot of other people were involved. Obviously, the trout itself played an active, yet unwilling role, but there was also Dave, who was steering the canoe and telling me where to cast. There was my lovely wife, who was watching the kids back at the campground. There was the guy at the fly shop, who told me which gear to use. And the list goes on, all the way to the Fish and Wildlife Department, which manages the river.
So why the fish story?
The Face of 2008
Many years ago, as Washington State set out to determine high school requirements for the graduating class of 2008, one face kept appearing at the forefront for me… Joe.
As an elementary student he struggled, which impacted every aspect of his life. Physically, Joe has hearing/ sight impairments, heart abnormalities, and a cleft palette. In addition, his family fell apart during his middle school years, resulting in his dad becoming imprisoned. Later, high school was marked by the loss of many friends through drugs, dropping out of school, and even death.
In short, Joe is like many of the students that we have in our classrooms. He seemed to struggle each day to make it through. As an advocate for special needs students, I often wondered what his future would look like. Would he be able to read? Write? Would he graduate from high school? Hold a job? All these questions would be answered one morning when Joe proclaimed to me that he was going to pass the state assessments to graduate from high school. AND he was determined to do it without any special accommodations!