Dick Lilly is a former Seattle Times reporter who covered Seattle neighborhoods, City Hall and public schools during 14-years with the paper. From 1999 until his retirement in 2015, he worked for Seat
Interim Seattle Schools Superintendent Susan Enfield's justifications for firing Martin Floe have convinced almost no one. And the district, desperately seeking stability and public confidence after a recent scandal, has been tipped yet again toward instability and public discontent.
Education reformers on a panel at Seattle U generally agreed about K-12 problems and solutions. But can consensus and common sense change a school system?
One flaw is being blinded by average reading scores, masking the students who are falling behind. Another is the regimented, stuffed curriculum, which crowds out time for teaching each child to read by the early elementary years. But reading is not just another subject; it's the fundamental and cruc
Educators, politicians, philanthropists and parents should start with the basic values of family reading time and old-fashioned hard work.
School administrators should end their obsession with average test scores and focus instead on an absolute standard: Can each child actually read?
