LEV
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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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!
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Define “effective”? Okay, we will….
Posted on 25. Jan, 2010 by Chris.
Just wondering when the word “effective” became loaded, pejorative or bad. Over at the Save Seattle Schools blog, there’s a conversation going on that started out as a back and forth over a set of values statements for bargaining teacher contracts crafted by a group of advocates – the League included. At some point in the discussion folks get obsessed with “effective teachers,” asserting that this is loaded language of those beast-devils known as reformers. How do you define effective, they ask. I feel like I’m being forced to sit through President Clinton’s tortured defense of his affair with “that woman” – remember him asking for a definition of “is?” - do we seriously not know what effective means? One writer throws out the “H” bomb – Hitler – to define effective, as in he was effective at murdering people. WTH? Effective = Hitler? Whoa. Slow down there, Tiger.
Here’s how Webster’s defines effective; producing a decisive, decided or desired effect. And with this definition in mind are we really going to debate whether we should expect classroom teachers to be effective? Really? If you wanted to argue that we don’t always have the information we need to measure whether teachers are effective, you might have something. Certainly our two-tiered system for evaluation (satisfactory and unsatisfactory) isn’t all that illuminating. Is that a byproduct of the lack of good diagnostics or is the lack of good diagnostics due to the fact that it doesn’t take much to check off a box marked “satisfactory?” Chicken meet egg, egg, chicken.
As long as we continue to debate whether teachers should be effective we don’t have to create ways to actually measure whether effectiveness happens. Or as my four-year-old son says, “Look, a pickle!” as he points to thin air.
Chris Korsmo is the executive director of the League of Education Voters.
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Doing the Right Thing Always Matters
Posted on 18. Jan, 2010 by Chris.
For those of you counting at home – and by my count, from some of the comments, at least a few of you are following along – this legislative session is officially one week old. Not to beat a dead drum, but there’s a lot at stake here, so each week counts and counts big. One big take away this week is the Governor’s intention to introduce an education reform legislation that addresses the state’s shortcomings in the federal “Race to the Top” competition. In previous episodes of my waxing on, some of you have raised questions and downright consternation about whether this is right-headed. Some of you have said that the money isn’t enough to make a difference. Others have had specific policy issues. Why, when we have school districts in financial disarray, would we get “sidetracked” by Race 2TT?
Here’s why; It’s the right thing to do.
I feel you, dissenters, I feel you. But if we are going to get ourselves on the right track with higher student achievement, closing the achievement gap and creating the next generation of leaders we need to put some focus on what works and what doesn’t. Sorry, but with the exception of a few successful districts (and unfortunately, even there, a handful of schools linger behind), we don’t do that. We focus on what we’ve always done; what makes us feel comfortable; what we’re willing to accept. Sorry, kids, but that is no longer acceptable. Going after the Race to the Top solely for the money would be nearly as misguided as standing pat on the status quo.
Specifically, because I know specifics always help, we do almost NOTHING to address chronically underperforming (I get points for not saying “failing” here, don’t I?) schools. The State Board has a plan to address this and the kids who attend these schools need us to implement that plan NOW. Item number two, with the exception of a few districts, we give teachers meaningless feedback about their performance (and we give principals even less feedback). Seriously, when was the last time you were graded “satisfactory” or “unsatisfactory?” Freshman art courses in middle school? In the world where I work, unsatisfactory is French for “go find another job.” Which is not very constructive feedback, I can tell you. We need to stop pretending like everything our schools do needs to be created here. District by district, school by school or even classroom to classroom. Standards, curriculum, testing, even lesson plans are transferable. Good ones allow for some state or local additions, providing a floor from which to work. In the realm of Race to the Top, this would mean adopting the national standards and assessments. There’s plenty more where this came from – I figure this is a good start for the conversation – and I for one, am looking forward to what the Governor puts forward.
Chasing federal money for the money’s sake usually winds up with the state budget going over a cliff. Making the changes we should be making anyway in order to give at least a few districts the chance to do things differently is the right thing. And the time is always right for that.
Chris Korsmo
Executive Director
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Gates Sr: Race To The Top Provides “Unprecedented Opportunity”
Posted on 14. Jan, 2010 by Jen.
In front of a packed room of Washington education leaders, Bill Gates Sr. delivered a keynote speech Thursday calling on officials to dramatically improve our education system and to compete for the federal Race To The Top funds. Below are the highlights of his speech.
At the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, by far and away our biggest investment in the United States is education. We believe that public schools are the surest path to a prosperous future for the country as a whole. Our economic future depends on them. Strong public schools also promote some of our country’s most important values, including equality. They are the best way to give every single individual an equal opportunity to make the most of his or her life.
Washington is not currently giving students the opportunities they deserve. For example, the state ranks fourth in the country in technology‐based corporations, but we are 46th in participation in science and engineering graduate programs. Low‐income and minority students are least represented in STEM fields, which means that our schools are perpetuating inequality instead of ending it, which is what they should be doing.
When students don’t do well or drop out of school, a lot of states try to fix the problem by lowering expectations. That is precisely the wrong approach. In Washington State, there are already too many high school graduates without the skills to fill jobs that require less than a two- or four-year college degree. We also know from students who have dropped out of high school that they want rigor and high expectations. If we make school more challenging and more engaging, then we will not only see fewer dropouts – but also a high school diploma that really means something.
Washington State is eligible to compete for its share of the $4.3 billion in federal discretionary Race to the Top funds. This competitive federal stimulus package is designed to drive education reform across the country, and provides an unprecedented opportunity to move meaningful education reform forward in our state.
With the state facing a $2.6 billion budget deficit and you in the legislature looking for ways to balance the budget, this should not be viewed as a budget problem, but one of the largest possible budget solutions.
Washington State cannot afford to miss out on this tremendous opportunity to receive significant new federal funding to ensure every child is ready for college, work, and life.
President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan want Race to the Top money to go to states that are committed to a high quality education for every student.
They have laid out criteria they want states to meet…using quality standards and assessments; supporting great teachers and leaders; using data to link achievement, programs, and practices; and the critical need to turn around low-performing schools.
The Gates Foundation is helping Washington with its application, but I want to make one thing clear. We’re not doing it because we see a huge push for reforms that live up to the spirit of Race to the Top. We don’t. Not yet. We’re doing it because this is our home, and we are still hopeful that Washington State can become a leader in educational innovation.
In that spirit, I urge us not to spend time and energy defending what is currently in place and figuring out creative ways to say the status quo fits the Race to the Top criteria. That would be like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. Instead, I urge us to be bold in our thinking about what needs to change.
Even if money were not on the table, the Race to the Top reforms — setting high expectations for students, getting great teachers and leaders, using data for improvement, and helping struggling schools — are the right steps to ensure every Washington student has the tools needed to succeed after high school.
The combination of the Race to the Top application and legislative support for stronger education policies will help ensure our students receive the resources, effective teachers, and academic rigor they deserve regardless of where they live.
Let’s do this right.
Thank you.
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LEV’s 2010 Legislative Agenda
Posted on 10. Jan, 2010 by Jen.
Despite the budget crisis, it’s essential that we make progress to improve education in the state of Washington. We must hold our lawmakers accountable for the first steps in implementing historic education reform legislation passed last year. We must answer President Obama’s call for broad, systemic change of our nation’s schools by submitting a bold proposal to jumpstart those reforms and secure federal funds. The budget crisis itself requires us to rethink how we use our limited dollars best. More than ever, our goal must be higher expectations, more opportunities and better funding strategies, all leading to better outcomes for children.
ESHB 2261 is the state’s plan for reforming education and K-12 funding. Let’s get to work on the plan and speed up the timelines.
- Kids need change sooner not later
- Charge the Quality Education Council with developing an implementation plan for CORE 24, the new, higher graduation requirements, for adoption by the Legislature in 2011.
- Convene the compensation working group this year.
- Convene the local levies working group this year.
- Include preschool in basic education, starting with the children who need it most.
- Start with children ages 3 and 4 from families with the lowest income or children in foster care. Broaden the program in the future, based on program evaluation and results.
- Allow private-pay families to access the program, provided spaces are available.
- K-12 funding must be more transparent to help taxpayers understand why schools need more adequate funding.
- Convert current state funding formulas into the prototype school funding models.
- Set up the new transportation funding system, and begin phasing in full funding in 2011.
- Phase in full funding for new maintenance and operating formulas, beginning in 2011.
- Expand the Beginning Educator Support Team (induction and mentoring) program in 2011.
Keep our state — and our children — competitive by pursuing federal grants that will help us accelerate reforms and innovate our schools.
- Make the changes necessary to keep Washington State competitive for federal Race to the Top funding.
o Seize the historic opportunity to win $150-250 million to improve our schools and boost student achievement.
o Pass bold legislation this session to ensure we have every tool available to help prepare our kids for college, work and life.
- Ensure Washington State will be competitive for federal Early Learning Challenge Fund grants.
o Maintain investment in quality rating and improvement system (QRIS) for child care programs to ensure parents are empowered to find the best setting for their child.
o Build a continuum of evidence-based services to support families with infants and toddlers, especially home visitation programs.
During the worst budget shortfall in our state’s history, protect those who depend on the state the most.
- Protect state need and work study grants, the financial assistance that makes college possible for tens of thousands of working families.
- Protect the programs that most directly impact children:
- Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP)
- All-day kindergarten
- Lower class sizes in K-4
- Gifted and talented
- Protect current levy equalization funding that helps schools in less affluent communities.
- Support a balanced budget approach of careful cuts — without devastating human services and health care at a time when more people than ever turn to the state for help — and reasonable revenues.
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Weekly roundup of education news from LEV
Posted on 24. Nov, 2009 by admin.
Education advocates and newspapers quickly weighed in on Superintendent Dorn’s proposal to delay math and science high school graduation requirements last week. LEV has begun to post in-depth analysis on the final Race to the Top guidelines on our blog. We’re also introducing a Question of the Week to encourage discussion on thought-provoking questions about education and public policy.
Question of the Week
In Portland Public Schools, budget cuts could hit home to students and parents. Up to five classroom days could be cut from the school calendar because of furlough days. Recent polling shows that 60 percent of Washington residents don’t believe our state is facing a budget crisis even though higher education and K-12 have been cut by 12 percent.
Should policymakers consider eliminating all-day kindergarten or cutting school days to help balance the budget?
Join the discussion with other parents, educators and advocates:
News from LEV
Superintendent Randy Dorn’s speech to the state school directors
TVW filmed Superintendent Dorn’s speech to the Washington State School Directors’ Association on delaying math and science graduation requirements.
Wrong move, wrong time
In case you missed it, here’s LEV’s reaction to Superintendent Dorn’s proposal to delay high school graduation requirements for math and science.
What’s at risk in the state budget?
Our friends at the Washington State Budget and Policy Center have put together this excellent narrated slide show about the very real impacts of the projected $2.7 billion state budget shortfall.
What are Washington’s chances of winning Race to the Top dollars?
LEV reviews the eligibility requirements for Race to the Top and how Washington stacks up.
Final Race to the Top guidelines released
Each Race to the Top application will be evaluated based on a 500-point scale. Here’s the breakdown for how points will be awarded.
News from the Media
Editorial: State schools chief Randy Dorn blinks on math and science requirements
The Seattle Times is concerned that Dorn’s proposal will harm low-income and minority students the most.
Editorial: Don’t delay reckoning on science, math norms
The Spokesman-Review believes students will rise to the challenge to meet math and science requirements similar to how they responded to reading and writing.
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Tune in tonight to watch the film Paramount Duty
Posted on 16. Nov, 2009 by Mike.
How does Washington’s education system stack up against other states? Does money really matter? Is early learning the key to improving outcomes for students?
See and hear the faces of our public education system as they comment on these questions in the film Paramount Duty, which debuts today and airs through Nov. 22 on the Seattle Channel–Cable 21. The film by director Peter J. Vogt and LEV co-founder and president Nick Hanauer takes a look inside the schools of Washington State to document the challenges facing this generation of teachers, students and administrators.
The film interviews key leaders of a movement to rescue education from apathy and neglect. Tune in to hear Bill Gates Sr., University of Washington President Mark Emmert, and Governor Christine Gregoire address the pressing need for social and financial commitment to our future through educational reform.
You can watch Paramount Duty on the Seattle Channel-Cable 21 on these dates:
Monday, November 16, 2009 8:00 p.m.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009 10:00 a.m.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009 1:00 a.m.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009 2:00 p.m.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009 7:00 p.m.
Thursday, November 19, 2009 6:00 a.m.
Thursday, November 19, 2009 1:00 p.m.
Friday, November 20, 2009 1:00 a.m.
Friday, November 20, 2009 11:00 a.m.
Friday, November 20, 2009 5:00 p.m.
Saturday, November 21, 2009 3:00 a.m.
Saturday, November 21, 2009 11:00 a.m.
Sunday, November 22, 2009 9:00 a.m.
Sunday, November 22, 2009 4:00 p.m.
Sunday, November 22, 2009 11:00 p.m.
