Tagged: education

Finland’s public education system consistently ranks among the top in the world in terms of achievement and efficiency. Professor Pasi Sahlberg’s presentation talks about what the United States can learn from Finland, where education policies focus more on professional development rather than standardized tests, and pedagogy above technology. Sahlberg spoke at the University of Washington’s Kane Hall on November 14, 2012.

The Seattle School District announced Wednesday that teachers may be suspended for 10 days without pay if they fail to give students the Measures of Academic Progress test. Following the announcement, teachers rallied outside district headquarters to demand that the district stop using the MAP test.

Clarification: This story has been changed to clarify School Board President Kay Smith-Blum’s thoughts on educational delivery models, including one advocated by the charter school company Rocketship Education.

In 1991, a small group of local CEOs sat down with Seattle Public Schools officials to ask how the CEOs could help the struggling district. "At that time Seattle Public Schools weren’t even wired – I mean, wired for telephones, in some cases. It was really sort of a Dark Ages problem," said Sue Tupper, the first executive director of the Seattle Alliance for Education.

Increases in tuition and investment shortfalls have left Washington state's Guaranteed Education Tuition (GET) program with a nearly 20 percent funding gap. Senate Majority Leader Rodney Tom says it's time for the state to get out of the prepaid tuition business. Tom says that if everyone now enrolled in the program wanted their money right now, the program would be short $631 million. The State Actuary puts the chances of GET not being able to meet its obligations at about one percent. Should Washington state end the GET program? We take a closer look.