Published: Wednesday, April 14, 2010
GUEST COMMENTARY / RACE TO THE TOP
Washington’s education reforms are well on their way
With the recent announcement of federal Race to the Top Phase 1 grant winners, Washington state can confirm what we already know — we are well on our way to effective K-12 public education reform for every student.
President Obama designed the federal Race to the Top (RTTT) grant to reward past accomplishments and encourage future improvements of K-12 schools across the country. Delaware and Tennessee were recently selected as winners of this two-phase competition. In reviewing the reform strengths that secured their RTTT grant win, I felt a strong sense of pride and affirmation — Washington has steadily been making incremental and meaningful steps toward similar education reform for years.
In 2005, the Legislature asked the State Board of Education to collaborate with stakeholders and create a statewide system of accountability to reach the goal of uniform educational excellence across the state. The research is done, we know how to help our lowest performing schools, and RTTT could provide the resources needed to expand our focused assistance and create accountability in every classroom.
Also in 2005, Washington Learns conducted a comprehensive 18-month review of the state’s educational system that set forth a vision and roadmap of how to redesign and reinvest in education for the next decade. One of the critical next steps was a new education funding structure — an effort that came full circle in the last two years when we passed legislation that updated the state’s outdated funding formula.
In 2008, as chair of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) Workgroup I helped review and evaluate the current assessment system. We developed recommendations for how to most accurately assess student learning. This balanced approach should include diagnostic assessments that teachers can use to understand how to best work with individual students. These and other recommendations can help measure success by looking at each student’s overall growth versus achievement on a high-stakes test.
The culmination of our ongoing effort has been the recent passage of a bill I sponsored, Senate Bill 6696. Two weeks ago, Gov. Chris Gregoire signed this comprehensive K-12 education bill into law to solidify the education reforms begun long ago and to position Washington to competitively apply for a Phase 2 RTTT grant. These reforms will help close achievement gaps, allow students to be more competitive in our global society, retain great teachers and leaders in our schools, encourage parent and community involvement, improve math and science achievement, and further innovation by supporting the arts.
Missing from many news articles on the subject is the back story and true success of our education effort. It takes countless hours of meetings, discussions, collaboration and compromise among education stakeholders, business leaders, school districts, state agencies, teachers and unions. Not only is it important to note this is one of the top reasons why Delaware and Tennessee won millions of dollars in RTTT grants, it also shows that Washington listens and is therefore successful in implementing education reforms. By taking small, collaborative steps over the last 30 years, we are building toward big victories.
Long before the RTTT challenge, Washington was working on our own goals of education reform. I am proud to show the federal government our past, current and future efforts and hope they will agree Washington deserves a federal infusion of capital to help make our reforms reality.
Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe, D-Bothell, is chair of the state Senate Early Learning & K-12 Education Committee.
President Obama designed the federal Race to the Top (RTTT) grant to reward past accomplishments and encourage future improvements of K-12 schools across the country. Delaware and Tennessee were recently selected as winners of this two-phase competition. In reviewing the reform strengths that secured their RTTT grant win, I felt a strong sense of pride and affirmation — Washington has steadily been making incremental and meaningful steps toward similar education reform for years.
In 2005, the Legislature asked the State Board of Education to collaborate with stakeholders and create a statewide system of accountability to reach the goal of uniform educational excellence across the state. The research is done, we know how to help our lowest performing schools, and RTTT could provide the resources needed to expand our focused assistance and create accountability in every classroom.
Also in 2005, Washington Learns conducted a comprehensive 18-month review of the state’s educational system that set forth a vision and roadmap of how to redesign and reinvest in education for the next decade. One of the critical next steps was a new education funding structure — an effort that came full circle in the last two years when we passed legislation that updated the state’s outdated funding formula.
In 2008, as chair of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) Workgroup I helped review and evaluate the current assessment system. We developed recommendations for how to most accurately assess student learning. This balanced approach should include diagnostic assessments that teachers can use to understand how to best work with individual students. These and other recommendations can help measure success by looking at each student’s overall growth versus achievement on a high-stakes test.
The culmination of our ongoing effort has been the recent passage of a bill I sponsored, Senate Bill 6696. Two weeks ago, Gov. Chris Gregoire signed this comprehensive K-12 education bill into law to solidify the education reforms begun long ago and to position Washington to competitively apply for a Phase 2 RTTT grant. These reforms will help close achievement gaps, allow students to be more competitive in our global society, retain great teachers and leaders in our schools, encourage parent and community involvement, improve math and science achievement, and further innovation by supporting the arts.
Missing from many news articles on the subject is the back story and true success of our education effort. It takes countless hours of meetings, discussions, collaboration and compromise among education stakeholders, business leaders, school districts, state agencies, teachers and unions. Not only is it important to note this is one of the top reasons why Delaware and Tennessee won millions of dollars in RTTT grants, it also shows that Washington listens and is therefore successful in implementing education reforms. By taking small, collaborative steps over the last 30 years, we are building toward big victories.
Long before the RTTT challenge, Washington was working on our own goals of education reform. I am proud to show the federal government our past, current and future efforts and hope they will agree Washington deserves a federal infusion of capital to help make our reforms reality.
Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe, D-Bothell, is chair of the state Senate Early Learning & K-12 Education Committee.
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