Crosscut articles of the past 10 days with the most clicks.
Crosscut articles of the past 10 days with the most reader comments.
Crosscut blog posts of the past 10 days with the most clicks.
Posted Fri, Nov 6, 6 a.m.
A parent’s critical analysis of budget reporting has helped the Seattle school board consider administrative costs in analyzing where to make cuts next year.
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Posted Tue, Oct 13, 6 a.m.
Better yet, Seattle's next mayor should make sure all high school students spend a year working. It's the best thing he can do to prepare them for adulthood ... and boost graduation rates too.
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Posted Wed, Oct 7, 6:55 a.m.
It's also back to reopening five schools closed a few years ago, with a cost of $45 million. The district releases its detailed maps and makes the case that predictability for families will outweigh some of the tradeoffs in desegregation and flexibility.
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Posted Mon, Oct 5, 6 a.m.
Out, finally, go all those arcane rules deriving from desegregation efforts. Now, the School Board hopes to adopt a new plan, assigning students largely to neighborhood schools, with far fewer "escape valves." The real challenge remains improving quality of all schools.
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Posted Wed, Sep 9, 6 a.m.
There are federal mandates and some stimulus funds, but not nearly enough to keep up with this heartbreaking problem.
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Posted Wed, Jun 24, 4 a.m.
It's time to put some teeth into one of education's over-used buzzwords. What's needed are proper testing and real consequences for failure.
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Posted Tue, Jun 23, 6 a.m.
Cooper Elementary, a West Seattle school rich in history, shifted its mission last week, with scant mention of Frank Cooper, one of the most influential figures in Seattle history. Here's his story.
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Posted Wed, May 20, 10:55 a.m.
A sobering download of data from The Education Trust makes clear that Washington schools are mired in mediocrity, and the WASL is not helping matters
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Posted Mon, May 11, 6 a.m.
This one, modeled on a Canadian survey, is a mash-up of lots of WASL data. The question is whether the complicated system tells us much we don't already know about where the good (and troubled) schools are.
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Posted Mon, Apr 13, 6 a.m.
Let's see. WASL math testing is going away. So you don't need to take the test this week? Wrong. Except maybe not wrong. Stumped yet?
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Posted Fri, Jan 9, 6 a.m.
The plan may affect nearly 10 percent of the district's schoolchildren. This is wise?
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Posted Mon, Jan 5, 6 a.m.
The savings are small, and the closures seem arbitrary, but still the sense of panic over a budget gap is driving the plan.
READ MORE 14 COMMENTS
Posted Wed, Nov 26, 10:17 a.m.
It puts school closures ahead of much more important policy decisions, and it is a poor way to solve budget problems.
READ MORE 15 COMMENTS
Posted Mon, Jul 7, midnight
It's really quite simple: A lot of knowledge is a dangerous thing.
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Posted Mon, Jun 2, 2 p.m.
The impetus for desegregation came from commendable civil rights-era reform attempts, but school busing to achieve ethnically diverse classrooms has largely failed. Understanding desegregation's history may shed light on what we can do right in the future.
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Posted Fri, May 23, 4 p.m.
Also: Whom to blame for gas prices, kudos for the schools supe, Sound Transit's latest audit, and polygamy's free pass.
READ MORE 31 COMMENTS
Posted Fri, May 9, 11 p.m.
Photo story: Drag racing today is a AAA-sanctioned activity for high school students — on a track, without alcohol, and with plenty of supervision. But high-priced fuel takes a toll.
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Posted Tue, Apr 29, 5 a.m.
A journalist comes of age with Bruce Chapman, watching him launch Seattle's Discovery Institute and the intelligent design movement.
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Posted Fri, Nov 9, midnight
Riding in on overreaction to a financial crisis, these reformers were so wrapped up in their various political agendas that they lost sight of the basics of educating kids. They paid a price in this week's election.
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Posted Sat, Oct 27, midnight
Seattle is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to renovate schools – and they need renovating. But the resulting extravagance seems out of scale given the basic challenges today of simply educating kids.
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Posted Wed, Sep 30, 11:19 p.m.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan is dangling some big grants to states that permit charter schools. Washington doesn't, and it has beat back earlier efforts to allow them, led by Jim Spady.
MOREPosted Mon, Dec 15, 11 a.m. 2008
An African-American poet stirs up a Seattle private school by using a word that is "antithetical to Lakeside’s spirit."
MOREPosted Wed, Nov 12, 12:07 p.m. 2008
The goals are great, as are the resources. But the new focus risks perpetuating some problems with testing and misses a chance to do more with poor kids in early grades.
MOREPosted Fri, Nov 7, 10:58 a.m. 2008
Don't just tweak the tests, advises this former Seattle School Board member. The new state schools chief should shift dramatically to a more content-based tests.
MOREPosted Thu, Sep 25, 4 a.m. 2008
The other night, a woman announced to the dinner table that she'd been into her branch of Washington Mutual and that everything seemed normal. It was as if she'd taken a stroll outside the gates of Baghdad's Green Zone and hadn't heard gunfire. That constitutes the good news, I suppose, for the Seattle-based bank which is in so much trouble. Unlike some other banks, WaMu is still kicking and apparent calm, instead of panic, in its bank lobbies is about all it can ask.
MOREPosted Wed, Aug 27, 2 p.m. 2008
So. What did you think about Hillary Clinton last night? Most opinion writers in the media say the former first lady's speech at the Democratic National Convention was one of her finest moments. As Seattle Post-Intelligencer columnist Joel Connelly put it, the speech "erased the bad blood of a lengthy nomination battle ... and raised the party's blood for the fall campaign." Eli Sanders at the Stranger said she was "magnanimous," also calling it her "best, most selfless moment." I'm not sure I buy it. But I'll leave it up to you. Discuss. ...
MOREPosted Mon, Aug 18, 2:26 p.m. 2008
Today is "Top-Two" Primary's Eve, and as usual, the pundits have circled and speculated about tomorrow's big turnout. But we'll get to that in a second. First, Oregon congressional candidate Mike Erickson has a lesson for us titled What not to do when going on a "humanitarian trip" to Cuba. In 2004, Erickson said he visited a Cuban "medical center, met with doctors, and attended a presentation on the plight of the disabled." But according to a recent story in The Oregonian, the medical center Erickson said he visited does not exist. The story goes on to say that Erickson and some friends spent nearly $1,698 each for the weeklong Cuban vacation, which conveniently coincided with the Habanos Festival, an annual celebration of Cuban cigars. ...
MOREPosted Wed, Aug 13, 2 p.m. 2008
Angie Vogt at Red County Washington has posted an exclusive one-on-one interview with Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi. However, don't expect attacks like those seen in Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire's interview with the Stranger last week – this one is fairly vanilla. From the start, Rossi channels the Obama-patented change mantra, saying "this election is not about me, it's not about Christine Gregoire; it's about changing the culture and direction of state government for a generation." It may be a sign Rossi is looking to court more independent voters like this. Or that he's sticking to the high road for now. His campaign, however, isn't so sure he'll be ahead after Tuesday's primary election. But they aren't worried. ...
MOREPosted Tue, Aug 5, noon 2008
Washington state pollster Stuart Elway unveiled his latest poll — and it's a doozy. Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire is crushing GOP challenger Dino Rossi by 16 points. A SurveyUSA poll taken last week, however, showed Gregoire only up 49 percent to 46 percent – a pretty big discrepancy. Either way, voters will get a chance to refine their choices in coming months, as the two gubernatorial candidates agreed yesterday to debate at least three times before the Nov. 4 general election. So far, the debates would be in Seattle, Yakima, and Spokane. ...
MOREPosted Sun, Aug 3, 8:38 p.m. 2008
Two huge legal principles clashed in last week's Washington Supreme Court decision holding that the privacy rights of teachers trump public disclosure in cases where allegations of sexual misconduct were unsubstantiated. The case, Bellevue John Does 1-11 v. Bellevue Sch. Dist. No. 405, resulted in a 6-3 split on the court.
Behind the scenes, playing no role in the legal ruling but surely on the minds of the nine justices, are two developments of recent years that have changed both the playing field (literally) and the stakes in public disclosure.
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