In February, we wrote, here, about one of Bellevue School District’sLilia Kol finest teachers, . Though her excellence needs no confirmation (at least for US!!!), we’ve recently found that Mrs. Kol won a Teacher Recognition Award in the 2009 Presidential Scholars Program. She was nominated by former student and 2009 Presidential Scholar, Brian Reiser, as the person most influential to his education.

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The following comes from my favorite kid counselor, Margit Crane. If you’ve been thinking about counseling, she is THE person to see: Read the rest of this entry »

So, it’s not directly Bellevue School District (bsd405) related but, this blog is called Bellevue School District PARENT… and I’m a proud one…
Check out my boy at his Northwest Guitars recital….

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Every year, about this time, I am asked “What is the best way to help my kid get a good score on the SAT?” If your child is already a junior or senior, the unequivocal answer is “Get her into the Tutoring Club for our Prep class!”. If your child is younger, then the answer is much more complicated but also presents more opportunity. Following are some of the techniques that are most useful:

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Interesting article in the Times with direct repercussions for every student in Bellevue School District. Apparently, new Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn’s plan to replace the WASL to make it shorter, easier to score and more “diagnostic” is controversial (don’t you wish that something, anything in education could just make sense and be simple?).

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Recently we’ve been asked many questions about the DIBELS test that Bellevue School District has adopted. The majority of the questions are parents looking for answers as to why their kids tested so much lower than the parents expected or than the children are comfortably reading at home. Any time a new test is introduced, it takes some time to adjust expectations and interpretations. Seemingly, this is such a time. After doing some research – talking to some teachers, reading up about the format and objectives of the test and listening to opponents of the test – reasonable explanations for the discrepancies seem to exist, in many circumstances, and parents need to know that DIBELS is simply one voice, not THE only voice.

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