Feds are getting hotter, we need to catch up and now!

The news that Washington is ineligible for competitive grant dollars for education is a blow on many levels, but none more so than the realization that we have a once in a generation opportunity that we simply cannot miss.

With last legislative session’s Education Reform bill, HB 2261, we set the stage for reform but are just now touching down on the realities of ‘what’s next.’ Education advocates, teachers and everyone from Governor Chris Gregoire, Superintendent Randy Dorn, top education leaders in the Legislature like Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe, Fred Jarrett, Eric Oemig, Speaker Frank Chopp, Reps. Dave Quall, Pat Sullivan, Larry Seaquist, Ross Hunter, Kathy Haige, Skip Priest, to my freshman colleague Marcie Maxwell and others are all working to think about the next public policy steps to build on HB 2261.

Yet, somehow, we all generally know and accept what the high level strategic issues are that our state faces.

In my view, a general list of ‘real deal’ issues that we need to tackle include these categories and much more: Data (student, teacher); Principals (authority and accountability); Performance measurement (systems, models); Teacher mentoring; Differential pay scales and systems. These are not comprehensive or extensive by any stretch, just a potential list of some possible next step that are aligned with some of the national Obama guidelines, thinking, ideas, concepts.

Some potential ideas with the help of legislative staff:

1. Establish pre-K to college and career data systems that track progress and promote continuous improvement. Developing a student-teacher-school-linked data system that tracks students over time will lead to better public policy development, which ultimately leads to greater student achievement. The data system should also include an individual teacher identifier, an element that links students to teachers who taught them the course for which there is a test score, the teacher’s evaluation score, and a linkage to both school and district data.

Great principals lead to great learning

2. Implement a high quality teacher mentoring and a teacher residency program for all teachers who have the initial teaching license. Washington must ensure the residency is undertaken in an effective school, and provide for intense assistance for new teachers to create an array of effective classroom management and instructional skills. Teachers should be required to earn a professional license to exit the residency program. Specify a period after professional license for earning tenure and the evidence needed to earn tenure.

Data is easy technically--but that's not the problem

3. Promotion of strong principal leadership through a high accountability and high authority. School building principals must have control over the most important two elements that lead to greater student achievement: the school building budget and school personnel. How resources are spent and who is teaching our students are without question the most critical elements for student success, yet today’s building principals have control over only about 5% of their building budget, and often even less control over who is standing in front of the classroom teaching students. There is no other model in American culture where this would be allowed.

4. Adoption of effective interventions and support for low performing schools. Districts and schools need powerful education improvement strategies that work in the lowest-performing schools, including a variety of effective school models and service providers. While Washington State law does not allow creation of charter schools, there are attributes of charter schools that can be adopted and integrated into current school models. These attributes include, but are not limited to School choice and schools that focus on specific disciplines, and adoption of a school calendar that aligns with research and best practices

5. Promote a strong pool of high quality teachers. There are two strategic pipelines for teacher talent – the traditional undergraduate program and programs after individuals earn a bachelors degree . To achieve this adequate supply we must modify our licensing requirements to enable individuals, who already have earned their bachelors degree, to enter teaching through some new route to the initial license such as Teach For America or a university based master of arts in teaching degree or residency program, among others.

Nothing beats a great teacher to change your life!

6. Conduct a higher education Alignment Assessment to determine the degree to which current state programs, policies and requirements all reinforce the state’s view of instruction, from accrediting teacher training institutions and organizations, to licensure requirements, to residency/induction/mentoring, to ongoing professional development, to compensation and career progression. Once completed this assessment will inform future investments and policy decisions related to teacher preparation programs.

7. Create state incentives for altering the salary schedule to provide for pay increases based on skill and knowledge (different tiers of the licensure system), incentives for teachers in subject shortages (mathematics, science, special education, ELL), incentives for teachers and principals to work in high need schools, and both individual and school-based bonus programs based on improvement in student performance (utilizing a variety of measurements).

Of course, these are just some working ideas that need a lot of discussion and analysis and perspective from teachers and others. But we need to figure out the next generation of Education Reform in Washington together, and we need to do it now. The dog days of summer is the best of times to reflect upon how to get real work done next year in Olympia.

Obama has opened the door to the deepest discussion of education in a generation. We can’t watch from the sidelines. It’s show time!