Yesterday, Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn proposed yet another delay in math and science high school graduation requirements until 2015 and 2017 respectively. The proposal received tepid support at the state school director’s conference where our state’s school chief delivered a major policy speech.
The League of Education Voters strongly opposes another delay in math and science graduation requirements. It is the wrong proposal at the wrong time.
Send an e-mail to Superintendent Dorn and tell him that we have had enough delay with math and science.
We are not going to boost the educational attainment levels for our young people by sidestepping our math and science achievement problem. Delay is not a plan. We have tried the delay strategy before and it did not work for kids. Three years ago, we delayed math graduation requirements and look what happened-math achievement is down.
We can all agree that we have a very serious problem with math and science achievement and that we need to be fair to kids.
Superintendent Dorn thinks that having students, who are graduating from high school less than four years from now, demonstrate proficiency in math and science is “punishing” them. We think that if there’s a crime here, it is continuing the practice of sending high school graduates out into the world of work or college unprepared.
We want our high school graduates to be college and career ready.
We want our kids to be qualified for the great jobs that our knowledge- and technology driven-economy is creating.
Retreating from the expectation that, by 2013, high school graduates have demonstrated proficiency in math and science is unacceptable.
- Today, more than half our students entering community college need to take remedial math courses-classes for which they receive no college credit.
- Math and science literacy are 21st century skills that everyone needs whether they are going into an apprenticeship or certificate program, a community college, or a four-year university.
- At the very time when we are trying to Race to the Top to win federal education dollars, Dorn’s proposal would sink us to the bottom. It is time for our state education leaders to make a serious plan to boost math and science achievement. We should be doing exactly that with our Race to the Top application.
Delay is not a credible strategy. Our children’s success and our state’s competitiveness depend on our ability to increase math and science achievement levels now.
Superintendent Dorn’s math and science proposal is just that-a proposal for this next legislative session.
It’s time to roll up our sleeves and do the right thing for our children.
We’re not the only ones to disagree. Read what others are saying and then add your own voice to the comments below.
Dorn’s plan is exactly the wrong approach for tough economic times.
Settling for less from Washington’s students means settling for a lesser future for the state. Our collective well-being depends on high school graduates whose diplomas mean something, on students who are ready to compete in the world. Math and science are increasingly important factors in that equation.
Low-income and minority students are most harmed by Dorn’s preference for the easy road. These students don’t need low expectations, they need the equalizing effects of a sound, rigorous education.
We understand that the teachers’ union is frustrated over a lack of adequate funding, including recent cuts forced by the recession. Earnest leaders are working on the funding puzzle, but it isn’t going to be solved this year or next. That cannot become an excuse for letting our kids fall behind.
On the contrary, students deserve a renewed commitment on the part of all adults involved. The rest of the world will move ahead, with or without them.
To our Education Leaders at the State level and in Seattle:
With my third-grade and seventh-grade sons’ education, our family’s approach is first to set high standards, and then, do everything we can to help them succeed. Washington State’s education leaders are to be commended for all that they have recently done to improve our schools. Thanks to your leadership, we have adopted stronger math standards, we have new legislation to redefine basic education, and we have made it a priority to protect education funding and identify additional sources of funding.
But we can’t afford to take the heat off school improvements now, and this is particularly important in the area of math and science education. Randy Dorn proposes to delay math proficiency requirements for graduation until 2015. This is not acceptable. I urge OSPI to rethink this issue and I ask that State legislators block any further delays in math and science requirements.
It has taken many years and a lot of hard work by many people to get the ball rolling. But Washington is finally moving in the right direction with much-needed education improvements and a commitment to implementing changes in a timely fashion. Strong new math standards were adopted last year, and exams to measure student performance relative to these standards will be available in 2011. The current timeline gives students and teachers until 2013, two more years after tests are available, before requiring a passing math score for graduation from high school. This schedule, which Mr. Dorn is questioning, already allows schools and students plenty of time.
Everyone with children understands that time is a most precious commodity. Our children literally grow up right before our eyes. They turn into adults before we even know it. The two additional years that Mr. Dorn’s proposal asks for do not make productive use of that time at all. For every year of delay, about 85,000 children in our state will finish their senior year in high school, whether we and our schools have given them the best education we possibly can, or whether instead, we have dithered away the time.
We all understand that the outcomes for math in our schools currently are not acceptable. More than half of our students entering community college need to take remedial math courses – classes for which they receive no college credit. Math and science literacy are 21st century skills that every young person needs whether they are going into an apprenticeship or certificate program, a community college, or a four-year university. With competition for good workers now coming from across the globe, math and science education has even become an economic development concern for our State. As Washington State tries to figure out how to fund the newly redefined basic education system, we won’t be able to convince potential funders, whether they are Race to the Top administrators or our State’s own taxpayers, that their money will be well spent, without thoughtful plans and demonstrated progress.
Whether or not a two-tiered set of standards for math and science is the right way to go to help boost student achievement, OSPI and school districts already have all the time they need to figure this question out, without adding two more years of delay. We know that deadlines often drive needed improvement, and I believe they will help our schools hurry to do a better job of teaching math.
Please keep our education standards high and don’t delay putting them into effect. Thank you for your work on behalf of our children.
I am with David Horsey and Mr. Dorn. There is a lot of delusion going on in the minds of those criticizing Mr. Dorn.
Check the PI
at
http://blog.seattlepi.com/davidhorsey/archives/185842.asp