Very interesting poster about the costs (and benefits) of a college education. The site it comes from isn’t much. Mainly general information about college funding (obviously, an excuse for making money out of Google adwords listings… but, at least they contracted for this cool poster!!!) As we parents try to figure out how to pay for college for our students, it’s nice to see evidence that our investment makes a economic sense, in addition to the philosophical benefits. I don’t know if there are any statistics currently available on what percentage of students from Bellevue School District go off to college but the percentage seems high. Consider this:

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While I’ve seen some really, really irreverent and hilarious bumper stickers, I’ve never been a big fan of the medium. For me, they are a bit like tattoos, while I might find it witty or beautiful today, I’m never sure that I will want to wave that flag for the lifetime of the tattoo or sticker. (I suppose I could put one on my window where I can scrape it off, but…)

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The first few weeks of middle school may well be the most critical for young Bellevue School District students. The transition from a fixed homeroom to managing a variety of teaching styles and assignments is probably the greatest challenge for incoming sixth-graders. While the schools may do an excellent job of orienting new students to the physical environment—helping new students navigate the hallways to their various classes and familiarizing them with the resources available to them—students are largely left to their own resources when it comes to making sure they know what their assignments are and how to complete them. As a result, the sudden increase in workload and personal responsibility is more than many can handle. Often this results in a rough transition while our kids figure things out, and some students never manage to develop the organizational strategies essential for their academic success. Failure during this critical period potentially signals much more serious difficulties later on.

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The Bellevue High School Wolverines will be heading to Texas to face back to back 5A Division II state champion Katy High School. Texas is known for living and breathing high school football so of course a big crowd is expected to fill the 10,000 seats at Jack Rhodes Memorial Stadium on Saturday.

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Bellevue School District (BSD405.org) has chosen a new Director of Curriculum Sharon (Collins) Kautz (the former Principal at Interlake High School). This is obviously a big hire for any of us that care about the future direction of curriculum in Bellevue School District. I do not know Sharon well enough to be able to categorize this as a win or a loss. It will be interesting to hear your opinions and to see her future performance.

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I’m at a bit of a loss for words (but I’ve never let that stop me before)! I got a memo from my son’s teacher informing parents that Bellevue School District (BSD405.org) would be taping (and screening) President Obama’s upcoming speech on Education, then would allow (or not) it to be disseminated to the kids.

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My friend Margit Crane (the Gifted-Teen Coach) is going to present this interactive talk at the Tutoring Club on August 27th from 7:15 – 8:30. I’ve heard Margit speak and she always is full of PRACTICAL real-world ideas to help us work with our kids. I’m really excited about this talk. We’ll keep it to a small group and have plenty of time for discussion!

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