What happened this week in Olympia?
Posted on 29. Jan, 2010 by Mike.
Here’s a summary of what LEV was up to during “Education Reform Week” in Olympia.
On Monday, the Senate Early Learning & K-12 Education Committee held a public hearing on Gov. Gregoire’s “Race to the Top bill” (Senate Bill 6696). The bill would make changes to help Washington win a Race to the Top grant. George Scarola, legislative director, coordinated testimony among Excellent Schools Now coalition members, and Lisa Macfarlane, co-founder of LEV, testified on the bill:
All this work that the Race to the Top competition is driving across the country has a national context. Our country used to lead the world in college success. We have lost that lead and our US dept of Education has a very explicit goal of restoring that college success leadership by 2020.
And in our Washington, we have a math and science achievement crisis, and achievement gaps that are GROWING.
- Gap in NAEP 8th grade math scores between low-income and non-low income Washington students is growing. It is now 28 points, which is almost 3 years. This gap is the 12th largest in the nation in 2009.
- Also on NAEP 8th grade math, Washington is 1 of 9 states where the White-African American gap is growing, and 1 of 7 states where the White-Hispanic gap is growing.
These sobering realities are a call to action and a reminder that we ALL need to own the performance of our schools and students.
Click here to view her full testimony.
Later in the afternoon, Frank Ordway, Director of Field and Community Partnerships, testified in support of House Bill 2731. The bill, which would make early learning for at-risk children part of basic education, was passed out of House Ways & Means and is one step away from a floor vote.
On Tuesday, Kelly Munn, state field director, helped organize a group of parent activists to testify in Olympia on behalf of kids and schools. In the morning, they testified in support of House Bill 2776, which would begin implementation of the education reform bill passed in 2009.
LEV's legislative director, George Scarola, and Rep. Marcie Maxwell (center) thank parents and education advocates for coming to Olympia.
They also weighed in against House Bill 2915, which would implement Sup. of Public Instruction Randy Dorn’s proposal to delay high school math and science graduation requirements. KOMO news followed parent activist and Issaquah School Board member Chad Magendanz as he met with legislators. Click here to watch the video.
In addition, Heather Cope, policy analyst, testified in opposition to House Bill 2915. Below are her talking points:
- LEV opposes House Bill 2915. We acknowledge that we are not going to hit the current dates for math and science requirements — but what is missing from this bill is a plan.
- Further, lowering the passing bar on exams would be a disservice to the children of our state. Our STEM employers are asking for graduates with more science and math mastery, not less. Math remediation rates at 2- and 4-year colleges range from 30 to 50 percent — lowering the bar would surely increase these rates.
- You all received a letter from the Excellent Schools Now coalition opposing HB 2915. LEV is a member of this coalition, along with many other advocates, including those representing the tech industry.
In the House Higher Education Committee, LEV’s youth organizer, Maggie Wilkens, testified in support of House Bill 1949:
- LEV supports HB 1949 because we we believe it is important to create consistency in how we incorporate student perspective between 2-year and 4-year students and their respective campus policies.
- Regardless of whether or not a student is attending UW or South Seattle Community College, both should have the right to take ownership of their educational experience.
- There is no denying that students provide an incredibly useful perspective to the governing bodies of school campuses, and appointing students to their respective boards is merely staying consistent with the opportunities that are already granted to students at 4-year universities.
On Wednesday morning, LEV Foundation board members Janet Levinger and Yaffa Maritz testified in support of Senate Bill 6759, which will get us on the path to pre-kindergarten in basic education. Frank was also in attendance. Here’s what he had to say about the importance of elevating the state’s commitment to pre-kindergarten:
The education and early childhood care communities have been working on this issue for some time. Research shows that the best way to improve K-12 education and close the achievement gap is quality early childhood education. Students who enter kindergarten with a solid foundation of social skills and learning skills are more likely to succeed in school and contribute to society as adults. PreK education helps children read earlier and develop proficiencies in math and science PreK reduces grade repetition and the number of children placed in special education.
Click here to watch their testimony on TVW.
In the afternoon, members of the Excellent Schools Now coalition (which includes LEV) testified on the Race to the Top legislation (House Bills 3059, 3035, and 3038).
On Thursday, George testified on Senate Bills 6760 and 6761, which contain the Quality Education Council’s recommendations to begin implementation of education reform legislation passed last year. At the 1:30 PM House Education Appropriations Committee, Kelly brought several parent advocates to testify in support of implementing Quality Education Council recommendations (House Bill 2776) to implement education reform.
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If you were hiding under a rock last night, you missed two great things.
Posted on 28. Jan, 2010 by Maggie.
Over a hundred young people gathered to watch the State of the Union at Olympia in a Can. Later, Maggie (left) participated in a panel discussion about higher education.
1) Obama stated his commitment to making community colleges across the country more affordable
2) the Bus held Olympia in a Can (part 1 of 3)!
The first three weeks of the legislative session have been a whirlwind of topics: the budget, pre-kindergarten, the budget, race to the top, umm the budget, new revenue sources, and did I mention that people are concerned about Washington’s budget? Not so much a ‘whirlwind of topics’ … maybe more of a black hole, actually.
Amidst the furor over our 2.6 billion dollar deficit, Washington students must know one thing. State need-grants and work study money for two and four year students are on the chopping block.
This was the hot topic last night at Grey Gallery and Lounge, where over 100 young people convened with the Bus, LEV, WSA, and UAW Local 4121 to hear and discuss how this session will affect campuses across Washington.
A few, key facts:
Washington State has over 83,000 college students receiving some form of need-based grant or work study money.
83,000 is more than a sold out Seahawks game at Qwest Field and roughly 2/3rds of all students across the state!
Cutting the state-need grant would entirely eliminate funding for 12,300 students and reduce (by more than half) the awards for 57,000 other students.
Nobody likes the idea of students taking out private loans to pay for their education-except the banks.
Check out Washington Student Association’s calendar for days of action in February and stay posted to League of Education Voters’ student Facebook page for updates on how young people can stay involved in this year’s legislative session.
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Not Just Tea Leaves
Posted on 28. Jan, 2010 by Chris.
For those out there who think Race to the Top is just a one-off, one-year, unfunded mandate, I invite scrutiny of the following excerpt of last night’s State of the Union Address:
“This year, we have broken through the stalemate on the right and left by launching a national competition to improve our schools….When we renew the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, we will work with Congress to expand these reforms to all fifty states.”
You can watch and read the whole thing here.
Reform is here to stay - not just any reform, but the changes put forward through Race to the Top competition. Rather than stand pat on the status quo and decry difficult change, we need to get busy. If we don’t make the changes necessary to improve student achievement and close the achievement gap - changes we should make anyway - we may find ourselves on the losing end of this race.
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LEV board members testify in support of early learning
Posted on 27. Jan, 2010 by Mike.
This morning, the Senate Early Learning & K-12 Education Committee held a public hearing on Senate Bill 6759. The bill would begin work to include early learning in basic education. Doing so would elevate Washington’s commitment to the preparation of young children for kindergarten. Studies show that children who show up ready for kindergarten are more successful in school and life.
Bonnie Beukema, deputy director, helped organize a group of early learning advocates to submit testimony on the legislation.
LEV Foundation Board member Yaffa Maritz testified that:
As a researcher, I understand the critical importance of the early years to cognitive development. Dr. Pat Kuhl’s research from the University of Washington Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences on language development proves that kids from diverse backgrounds come to school with huge differences in the richness of their vocabulary. These are significant differences - more than million words. These differences put at-risk children at a great disadvantage right from the start.
Since we can’t very easily change home environment, we can at least as a civil society offer equal opportunities as early as possible for kids to help close the inequality gap.
Ensuring that every child in need attends quality preK would help close the inequality gap and help ensure children arrive to kindergarten ready to succeed.
Click here for Yaffa’s full testimony.
Janet Levinger, who serves on the boards of United Way of King County, Social Venture Partners, the League of Education Voters, Child Care Resources, and the Bellevue Schools Foundation, said:
Research from prominent economists has shows that for every dollar invested in high quality PreK saves taxpayers up to $7 later. Not only are there savings from remedial and juvenile justice programs, but over the long-term, these kids are more likely to graduate from high school, gain stable employment, and contribute positively to our community.
Protecting PreK investments would ensure that the program could not be cut and that all eligible children would be served.
Click here for Janet’s full testimony.
And, Emma Margraf submitted a copy of her testimony to the committee. As a new foster parent, she has a unique perspective on the importance of early learning.
If all at-risk children were guaranteed quality preK, my foster daughter would be leaps and bounds ahead of where she is right now. There would be no waiting lists. Parents and caregivers would not need to struggle to find quality. The State would save a lot of money. And, guess what? At-risk children would be much further ahead - where they deserve to be.
There are 19,000 other children in foster care in Washington State with stories like hers, and they need us to support them with real education FROM THE START in order to become productive citizens. Without our hard work right now, they won’t have the foundation to be the people they want to be.
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Emma Margraf testimony in support of early learning in basic education
Posted on 27. Jan, 2010 by Mike.
Good morning. For the record, my name is Emma Margraf and I am a new foster parent to a 14 year old here in Olympia.
I am here in support of SB 6759 and applaud you for your leadership on this issue. The time for action is now - all kids, especially children at-risk, need quality preK.
I know without a doubt there is no time to waste to reform the education system - and that should begin with quality preK for at-risk children.
This belief has become clear to me as I see my 8th grader suffering everyday to catch up and develop the social, emotional and cognitive skills she so desperately needs. My foster daughter suffered a plight not known to many children. For all intense and purposes, she had no foundation for learning from birth to five and she suffers the consequences every day. She was one of the at-risk children who fell through the cracks of the system until it was almost too late.
Right now, we still have time - but the clock is ticking each day. In three short years, she’ll be out on her own in a job market that demands that she has a skillset — a fact that won’t disappear because she was so deeply neglected for so long. And so I am working doubletime to get her the skills she’ll need in the face of a system that puts change off until next week, next year, or the next meeting. What am I doing? I am building the foundation for learning that should have happened from birth to five. I’m teaching her basic social skills. How to talk to peers. How to sit still. I’m giving her a sense of attachment so she can develop trust. I am teaching her basic numeracy skills - including the order of the months and days. We have a lot of work ahead of us - but we’re both charging ahead despite the challenge and high cost to me personally and the system.
If all at-risk children were guaranteed quality preK, my foster daughter would be leaps and bounds ahead of where she is right now. There would be no waiting lists. Parents and caregivers would not need to struggle to find quality. The State would save a lot of money. And, guess what? At-risk children would be much further ahead - where they deserve to be.
There are 19,000 other children in foster care in Washington State with stories like hers, and they need us to support them with real education FROM THE START in order to become productive citizens. Without our hard work right now, they won’t have the foundation to be the people they want to be.
Thank you.
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Janet Levinger testimony in support of early learning in basic education
Posted on 27. Jan, 2010 by Mike.
Senate Early Learning and K-12 Committee
Wednesday, January 27th, 8 am
Senate Hearing Rm 1, Cherberg Building
Public hearing on SB 6759
Good afternoon. For the record, my name is Janet Levinger. I am here today as a community volunteer and child advocate. I currently serve on the boards of United Way of King County, Social Venture Partners, the League of Education Voters, Child Care Resources, and the Bellevue Schools Foundation. I am also on the advancement and communications committees of Thrive by Five Washington.
I am here today to speak in support of SB 6759 and applaud Sen. Kauffman’s leadership on an issue that is critically important to me personally.
Ever since I joined to Child Care Resources board - 13 years ago this month - my husband and I have focused our philanthropy and volunteer time on improving outcomes for all children by ensuring they have a strong state in life. Here’s why:
Imagine yourself as a 5-year-old. It’s your first day at school. You have a new lunch box and a new backpack and you’re all excited. But when you get to school, you have a hard time. You have trouble sitting still to listen to a story. You fight with other kids over a toy. You get in trouble with the teacher because you can’t wait until the end of circle time to play with the blocks. Other kids laugh at you when you don’t know how to write your name and have trouble holding onto a pencil. By the end of the week, the teacher now that you are one of the kids who is not ready for school and she can guess that you are one of the kids who will not graduate from high school.
Imagine yourself as a 5-year old - and you are already projected to fail.
My husband and I invest in quality early education because it shows that it makes a huge difference for kids.
Kids in quality programs enter kindergarten with a solid foundation of social skills and learning skills. They are less likely to repeat a grade, to be placed in special education, to commit a crime, or to become pregnant as a teen.
My husband and I invest in quality early education because it is a good investment for our community.
Research from prominent economists has shows that for every dollar invested in high quality PreK saves taxpayers up to $7 later. Not only are there savings from remedial and juvenile justice programs, but over the long-term, these kids are more likely to graduate from high school, gain stable employment, and contribute positively to our community.
Protecting PreK investments would ensure that the program could not be cut and that all eligible children would be served.
I grew up in Iowa and when I was 10-years old, my family moved to a new house. We were one of the first in a new development. My mother planted all sorts of trees - but they were scrawny twigs when she put them in no bigger than I was. I asked her what she was doing and she told me she was planting trees so we would have shade from the sun, apples to pick in the summer, and privacy from our neighbors. I remember looking around from our prairie hilltop and noticing that we did not have any neighbors and I thought she was crazy. But of course she was right. Over time, the small plants she carefully watered and pruned sheltered us from the sun, gave us fruit, and offered us privacy from the neighbors who did move in.
I know it’s hard to think 5, 12, or 20 years ahead. But I hope you will be like my mother and have the foresight to know that caring for our children now will bring many benefits in the future. Imagine that 5-year old - we can offer her a hopeful future instead of failure.
Including a program of early learning in Basic Education will guarantee that our limited resources are focused where they can make the most difference in the life of every child, and to our community.
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Yaffa Maritz testimony in support of early learning in basic education
Posted on 27. Jan, 2010 by Mike.
Senate Early Learning and K-12 Committee
Wednesday, January 27th, 8 am
Senate Hearing Rm 1, Cherberg Building
Public hearing on SB 6759
Good morning. For the record, my name is Yaffa Maritz. I am here today as a psychotherapist, a mother of 3 children, co-founder of Listening Mothers and Reflective Parenting Programs,, a board member of the League of Education Voters., I am on the Advisory Board of the Infant Mental Health program at UW and Thrive by 5. I was also reappointed by the governor for a second term to server on CCF (The Council for Children and Families).
I am here today to speak in support of SB 6759. I commend Sen. Kauffman and Sen. Oemig for taking a leadership role on this issue and urge you to move forward to develop a continuum of quality preK programs, especially for at-risk children.
I have two points I’d like to share with you today.
First as a psychotherapist, I understand how critical the early years are to social emotional growth. My true passion is engaging with families of young kids. This passion led me to co-found the Listening Mothers program 15 years ago, whereby I work with mothers to foster healthy attachment with their babies.
We know beyond all doubt that kids who are emotionally secure are more resilient and therefore more successful. We also know that emotional security is a byproduct of healthy relationships.
Children who grow up in chaotic home environment with multiple stresses, where parents are at their wits end most of the time, often do not have someone emotionally available to make meaning out of their behavior and therefore become insecure and do not learn a very important skill: Self Regulation and Modulation. Without leaning to calm their emotions, these kids will not be able to have impulse control, pay attention in classroom, be resilient under stress, or follow directions therefore will lack all the important skills needed to succeed at school. In an experiment in a lab, 5 and 6 years old were put in a tempting situations, a plate of marshmallow was set in front of them and they were instructed not to touch it while the experimenter went out of the room.
Those kids who were able to control themselves at age 5 were shown to do better on the the subsequent standardize tests at 4th grade and 7 grade even on the SAT!
The earlier these kids will be in a formal school setting, i.e. preK, the better. The predictable and enriching class environment and the emotional availability of the teachers will enhance their potential to succeed.
Second, as a researcher, I understand the critical importance of the early years to cognitive development. Dr. Pat Kuhl’s research from the University of Washington Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences on language development proves that kids from diverse backgrounds come to school with huge differences in the richness of their vocabulary. These are significant differences - more than million words. These differences put at-risk children at a great disadvantage right from the start.
Since we can’t very easily change home environment, we can at least as a civil society offer equal opportunities as early as possible for kids to help close the inequality gap.
Ensuring that every child in need attends quality preK would help close the inequality gap and help ensure children arrive to kindergarten ready to succeed.
I urge you to take action today by passing SB 6759 in this committee.
I will close quoting Dr. Jack Shonkoff from the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University: “Do it because it is the right thing to do”
Yaffa Maritz, Mercer Island, WA (41st LD)
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Parent activists in Olympia and on TV
Posted on 27. Jan, 2010 by Mike.
On day two of “Education Reform Week,” Kelly Munn, LEV’s state field director, helped organize a group of parent activists to testify in Olympia on behalf of kids and schools. In the morning, they testified in support of House Bill 2776, which would begin implementation of the education reform bill passed in 2009.
LEV's legislative director, George Scarola, and Rep. Marcie Maxwell (center) thank parents and education advocates for coming to Olympia.
They also weighed in against House Bill 2915, which would implement Sup. of Public Instruction Randy Dorn’s proposal to delay high school math and science graduation requirements. KOMO news followed parent activist and Issaquah School Board member Chad Magendanz as he met with legislators.
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LEV testifies on Race to the Top bill
Posted on 26. Jan, 2010 by Mike.
Yesterday, LEV co-founder Lisa Macfarlane testified on the Race to the Top bill (Senate Bill 6696). Below are the talking points for the testimony she gave at the Senate Early Learning & K-12 Education Committee.
LEV’s Jan. 25, 2010 testimony on SB 6696
Lisa Macfarlane, with the League of Education Voters and Excellent Schools Now Coalition, a group that includes 27 organizations dedicated to meaningful education reform that increases student achievement, closes achievement gaps and prepares students to be college and career ready.
We applaud this legislation. It takes a number of steps in the right direction. We have provided you with an analysis of the strengths of this bill and where the places where it needs to be strengthened. I’d like to quickly highlight four areas where we’d like to see changes:
1. It is critically important for OSPI to develop one set of statewide measures of student growth and insist that school districts use it.
2. Student growth data needs to comprise at least 50% of teacher and principal evaluations.
3. It’s a good thing that the legislation directs OSPI to develop four-tiered evaluation models for teachers and principals. We think it’s important to add language that school districts should be required to use one of the 4 tiered models developed by OSPI or get specific approval to use an alternative one.
4. Lastly, we think it’s critical to provide extra pay for teachers who work in high poverty, high minority, or low-achieving schools, or hard to staff subject areas, –who demonstrate effectiveness in raising performance and closing achievement gaps.
All this work that the Race to the Top competition is driving across the country has a national context. Our country used to lead the world in college success. We have lost that lead and our US dept of Education has a very explicit goal of restoring that college success leadership by 2020.
And in our Washington, we have a math and science achievement crisis, and achievement gaps that are GROWING
- Gap in NAEP 8th grade math scores between low-income and non-low income Washington students is growing. It is now 28 points, which is almost 3 years. This gap is the 12th largest in the nation in 2009.
- Also on NAEP 8th grade math, Washington is 1 of 9 states where the White-African American gap is growing, and 1 of 7 states where the White-Hispanic gap is growing.
These sobering realities are a call to action and a reminder that we ALL need to own the performance of our schools and students.
The anchor in school improvement work is student growth data which is why we are insistent that it be a state responsibility to develop these measures. All of this focus on evaluation is about improving instruction, which is all about supporting teachers in their professional growth.
When we do that– and we realize that funding education is not an expense, it’s an investment — we will close our achievement and opportunity gaps.
Race to the Top and its 4 priority areas are not trial balloons for flavors of the month. This focus on college and career ready standards,
great teachers and leaders, using data to improve instruction, turning around lowest performing schools is right on the money and it’s clearly the priority of the US department of education.
We need to “assure” that we are making progress on these four priorities to get the rest of our fiscal stabilization money.
We expect Race for the Top to be the new frame for the re-authorization of Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
Future Title One School Improvement Grant money requires that districts use one of the four turn-around models specified in the legislation before you.
If we make these legislative changes, and then put together a bold, coherent Race to the Top application, we could win significant new federal money.
Regardless, it’s the work that we need to be doing if we want to accelerate school reform and boost our state’s economic recovery. We are not going to have a strong, vibrant economy if we don’t do a better job of preparing our children for college and careers.
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Where’s the Student Voice?
Posted on 26. Jan, 2010 by Maggie.
it’s here. Check it out, it’s LEV’s blog for students. Its called the Soapbox!
