John Krull has agreed to answer some questions about what is happening in terms of technology and software programs planned for Seattle Public Schools.
As Krull states in his letter of application for the position within Seattle Public Schools, “I implemented a blended and personal learning infrastructure for 87 urban schools improving overall student engagement”.
To put that in plain English, “blended and personalized learning” means that a student works in front of a computer the greater part of the day and the teacher is then able to manage over 30 students in a class, theoretically, which is a way to cut cost.
Computers or laptops are programmed with Common Core Standard packaged lessons and its associated testing which becomes an integral part of the software. There is also experimentation with using a Social Emotional Learning (SEL) program that is integrated into the computers to determine a student’s mindset and attitude.
Then there is the concern of student privacy and the culling of personal information that can be provided to third parties with no protections by FERPA.
We raised a red flag on this website when we discovered that John Krull had been hired by Seattle Public Schools after working in Oakland with their public school system and I wrote about it for The Progressive.
Mr. Krull has agreed to answer some questions for us and he will have an opportunity, in a second article, to air his disagreement with what has been written so far on this website.
The following are the ten questions we submitted to John Krull, Chief Information Officer for Seattle Public Schools on April 14th.
1. Why did you decide to move to Seattle after working for two years as Chief Information Officer in the Oakland public school system?
2. Are you familiar with the Homeroom software? Apparently, it has been installed in some Seattle schools as a pilot program. If you are familiar with the program, what do you see as its value? Do you know what the cost is to buy, install and implement the program along with technology upgrades to sustain this program if it is used within the entire SPS school system?
3. Homeroom allows the collection of sensitive behavioral information and there is concern by parents that too much student information is being requested by the software. Do you know who is privy to this information and would it include the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) and Seattle’s Department of Early Learning? Do you know if the information will it be tracked as a student continues through high school?
4. What is the Technology Plan for Seattle Public Schools? Will you be writing a new or revised Technology Plan as you did for Oakland Public Schools?
5. Are you familiar with CASEL? If so, what is your role to be with this program?
6. Do you have a plan for notifying parents of the information that is gathered by software distributed to schools within the Seattle school district including Homeroom?
7. On the Seattle Public Schools’ website it notes that you wrote a paper titled “How Do You Measure Return on Investment of EDtech” and another paper “Creating a Platform for Staff and Student Growth”. There were no links provided to these papers. Please include a link in your response or a pdf that we can post.
8. What are your views on the use of devices such as laptops by young children, particularly between kindergarten and second grade? In Oakland, Clever badges are used by the youngest students to start up their laptops.
9. You state on the Seattle Public Schools website that you have a vision and commitment for an “equitable, supportable, standardized and secure environment to improve teaching and learning.” What are your definitions of “standardized” and “secure”?
10. You tweeted about IMS Global in January of this year. What is your relationship with IMS Global?
Related posts:
How exactly did the Department of Defense end up in my child’s classroom?
McD Happy Meal online schools for all in Seattle with SPS IT Officer John Krull
The US Department of Education’s Digital Promise to advance the ed-tech field and online learning in public schools
Washington State’s Digital Promise School Districts: Creating new markets for personalized learning snake oil
Oops! Study Shows Computer Use in School Doesn’t Help Test Scores
ACT study: Common Core, not ready for prime time
Video: Clinical Child Psychologist: The Common Core Standards are developmentally inappropriate
Common Sense Questions About the Common Core Test
How we got the Common Core Standards: Federal Manipulation Through Race to the Top
Who wrote the Common Core Standards? The Common Core 24
The facts about the Common Core Standards
Submitted by Dora Taylor
Seattle Education 
Reblogged this on Mister Journalism: "Reading, Sharing, Discussing, Learning" and commented:
Ten questions for Seattle Public Schools’ IT Lead John Krull
by seattleducation2010
John Krull has agreed to answer some questions about what is happening in terms of technology and software programs planned for Seattle Public Schools. As Krull states in his letter of application for the position within Seattle Public Schools, “I implemented a blended and personal learning infrastructure for 87 urban schools improving overall student engagement”. […]
Read more of this post https://seattleducation2010.wordpress.com/2017/04/16/ten-questions-for-seattle-public-schools-it-lead-john-krull/
Thank you!!! This is the latest terminology to push technology and end up with the most impersonal teaching-to-the-test in classrooms across the Nation. Thank you for undetstandong and exposing this current alarming trend!