The Quality Education Council is meeting today in Olympia. Materials are available here. TVW is broadcasting the meeting live, or watch online here. I’ll be posting updates throughout the day, so be sure to hit ‘refresh’ on your browser.
9:05am-9:20am
Common Core Standards — Alan Burke
>>Dr. Bette Hyde asked about the cultural components of the standards. Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe asked about the fourth year of math. Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn expressed his support for the standards. Rep. Bruce Dammeier said he looks forward to the January report on the Common Core standards and shared his continued concerns for implementation issues.<<
9:20am-9:50am
SMARTER Balanced Consortium — Joe Wilhoft
>>Mary Jean Ryan asked about the other assessment consortium. Mr. Wilhoft said the SMARTER consortium uses adaptive tests and includes diagnostic and formative assessments, while the other does not. Rep. Skip Priest asked why the consortium did not submit an application for the high school end-of-course exam grant, given Washington’s moving to end-of-course exams in math and science. Mr. Wilhoft said the application notice came out too late for the consortium to put together an application. Sen. McAuliffe asked if these assessments will substitute classroom-based assessments. Mr. Wilhoft answered that these assessments would be used in classrooms but would not replace the assessments teachers use more frequently in classrooms. Dr. Hyde asked if assessments for earlier grades will be created.<<
9:50am-10:20am
Student Longitudinal Data System — Pete Tamayo, Deb Came
>>Sen. Curtis King asked why Washington is going beyond the federal requirements. Mr. Tamayo answered that districts have more race/ethnicity categories to select from than included in the federal requirements. Ms. Ryan asked about linking student and teacher data. Mr. Tamayo said the data system will collect student schedules, including the teacher for each course, and other data that will connect students to teachers. Dr. Hyde asked if the P-20 data could be shared across the system, so, for example, early learning providers can see how their students do. Stephen Rushing asked who would be responsible for reporting data at each level.<<
10:20am-10:30am
Kindergarten Assessment — Bonnie Beukema
>>Rep. Marcie Maxwell asked about working with families that do not speak English. Ms. Beukema said materials are available in other languages as well. Sen. King asked if private school providers may participate (they may but none volunteered).<<
10:40am-11:20am
State Reform Plan — Edie Harding, Alan Burke, Jennifer Wallace, Judy Hartmann
PowerPoint available here; handout available here
>>Rep. Priest asked how CORE 24/graduation requirements fit into this proposal and expressed his frustration at the lack of progress (in his mind). Ms. Harding answered that feedback from the QEC will help the Steering Committee move forward on the State Reform Plan goals. Rep. Dammeier pushed back on the changing of academic standards, and expressed his dissatisfaction with Washington’s mediocre education system. Dr. Hyde highlighted the need to better align the goals and strategies of the plan. Sen. McAuliffe talked about the need to move forward on the plan the “Washington way.” Sen. Eric Oemig said some of the goals seemed to be pulled out of a hat, and would like to see language that is more targeted. Ms. Ryan said she would like to see goals with stronger wording and strong strategies to support those goals. Funding made it’s way into the conversation. Rep. Dammeier made the point that this conversation is not about money, it’s about improving the system.
Ms. Ryan brought up that Washington’s current high school graduation requirements are lower than many other states’. Sen. King advocated for including more life skills into our education system, and said he doesn’t think we’ll ever get 100 percent of students to post-secondary programs.<<
11:20am-11:55am
Graduation Requirement Revisions — Edie Harding
>>Sen. Oemig asked if there is any way to know what percent of students who attended high school in districts that only offer the opportunity for 19 credits are eligible to apply to college. Adie Simmons commented that many of the students she works with express frustration over the lack of alignment between K-12 exit requirements and post-secondary entrance requirements.
Sen. Oemig asked if the SBE would be making a recommendation on what 24 credits not whether 24 credits. Ms. Harding seemed to indicate the former. Rep. Priest said his understanding is that the language from ESHB 2261 was that all students would have the opportunity to earn 24 credits, and that opportunity should be funded by the state. Ms. Harding answered that the SBE is wrestling with the issue of whether to require 24 credits for graduation, versus offering the opportunity to earn 24 credits. Dr. Hyde expressed concern over not requiring 24 credits. Sen. King advocated for giving students more options, rather than prescribing all 24 credits, since some students do not have interest in attending college. Rep. Dammeier said his legislative intent with ESHB 2261 was to require 24 credits for graduation from high school.
Ms. Ryan shared that the SBE is considering competency-based credits, where students can take an assessment to earn credits (e.g. bilingual students earning world language credit for the non-English language). The SBE is also looking at cross-crediting, allowing students to meet two subject requirements with one credit (e.g. journalism counts as CTE and English). Supt. Dorn brought up credit retrieval issues.<<
12:50pm-1:20pm
K-12 Instructional Programs for English Language Learners — Annie Pennucci
>>Concerns from members that studies are of other states’ programs, and not Washington’s program.<<
1:20pm-2pm
Update on Transitional Bilingual Program Work Group — Isabel Munoz-Colon
>>Concerns from members about possible federal rule changes and/or court decisions, causing changes and added expenses to Washington’s program.<<
2:15pm-3:10pm
State Reform Plan, redux
>>Pushback from members on number of goals and perceived weakness; most would prefer fewer, stronger, more directive goals. Members debated the merit of centering the reform plan on STEM, and apparently decided to do just that.<<
