That's something that a teacher can't teach | Blogging Bayport ...

That?s something that a teacher can?t?teach

Remember Garfield High I referenced a few posts ago under ?how much does historic restoration of a high school cost?? ? Well some more interesting things have been going on there when it comes to actual education at that High School and in Seattle in general. ? Earlier this week after months of boycotting the high stakes standardized testing unique to that school district the district caved. ? The tests called MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) had been used to evaluate teachers even though the test itself was not designed to do so.

It took a petition and nearly all of the teachers at ?Seattle high schools to refuse to administer the test to their students to get the school district to back down on its position. ? I?m sure that most of the complaints about the MAP tests are the same that you would hear from all teachers about the assorted standardized tests floating out there that are largely useless except to be used as an arbitrary measure for people who haven?t stepped foot into an actual classroom in forever to complain about how ?good? or ?bad? a particular school is without an actual reference point to the quality of the teaching or the educational value of the curriculum.

Anyhow, the efforts of the teachers and the community members resulted in the Seattle School District deciding that the MAP would no longer be?mandatory for high school graduation?and it would be up to the school leadership to decide whether or not to administer the test.

Since I?m on the subject of education in general, the Alameda Magazine has in its latest issue probably my favorite feature ever ?in the Alameda Magazine. ? Every year they have profiles of graduating Alameda students who are doing amazing things as high schoolers. ? This year?s crop is no exception to the impressive Alameda students that have been featured in this series. ? ?For example check out Emani Pollard from Encinal High School, yes she is daughter of Clay Pollard who ran for School Board in 2010. ? While I strongly disagree with Clay Pollard?s politics, his daughter is?breathtakingly well rounded and, well, impressive. ? ?And check out from ASTI Andy Lau (two AA degrees! ?job! volunteers! ) and Leon Liang (AA! College teaching aide! Tutors college students! Revising college lab manual! Elementary school volunteer!). ? I love the kids in these profiles, it really always leaves me in a better mood.

Every year I read this I grow more and more impressed by little Alameda Science and Technology?Institute (ASTI)?located at the College of Alameda. ? It?s a magnet Alameda Unified School District high school and the big selling point is that if the student is diligent enough, that student can graduate high school with an Associates of Arts (AA) degree from the Peralta College family depending on the subject selected. ? While the limitations of ASTI is that there are no Advanced Placement classes, the only real reward of AP classes is the ability to transfer those credits to college credits and the fact that they pad your GPA by an extra 1.0 resulting in the seriously strange looking 4.83 GPAs that kids these days can earn. ? ?ASTI kids can exit with AA degrees which shows colleges that they are able to handle college level coursework and might be an even bigger leg up for college admissions.

Anyway, when the comments around here bitching about the schools always get me down, I always think of these profiles and while most of these kids are just about as motivated as students as you?ll ever get, it is thanks to Alameda schools that cultivated and provided them with (some) of the opportunities that they had to excel.

Source: http://laurendo.wordpress.com/2013/05/22/thats-something-that-a-teacher-cant-teach/

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