As you may have noticed, LEV has become a little obsessed with Halloween over the last couple of weeks. And given the really gory details of the Governor’s  state budget proposal yesterday, it seems our greatest fears for Washington’s children are coming to life before our eyes.

We’ve shown you a budget fright fest for the peeple. And we are asking you to send a Halloween card to Congress to urge them to protect early learning funding in the federal budget (It is pretty spooky when the majority of early learning funding in Washington comes from the feds and it is under threat by Congress at the same time the Governor is proposing making some pretty drastic cuts to the little the state does contribute to the pot.)

But enough of the Trick or Trick with our children’s futures. I heard about something recently that was a Treat or Treat for parents and kids. And I thought you might enjoy it.

Have you ever heard of the Switch Witch? One of my colleagues recently told me about this new Halloween tradition that is a scream of a good time. And in my unscientific study so far, everyone who I have shared it with LOVES the idea, especially those under age 7.

After a fabulous night of trick-or-treating, you come home with a bag overflowing with candy and a child or children who are bound to be hyped up for days or even weeks. (A few friends of mine have also moaned about getting into long, drawn-out tantrum battles with their young children over the fate of the candy). But instead of hyped up, tantrum-prone kids, you can introduce them to Mathilda, the Switch Witch.

You see  The Switch Witch and the Tooth Fairy are cousins. And they each have a great love in life. The Tooth Fairy loves to collect teeth. And her best friend and cousin Mathilda loves Halloween Candy. She loves candy way more than any little boy or girl and because she is magical she can never get a cavity. That means she can eat as much as she wants. But to get as much as she wants she has to trade for it. So on Halloween night, after they come home from gathering all their treats, little boys and girls take a couple of pieces of candy for themselves and then they hang their bag of candy on the outside of their bedroom doors. During the night, Mathilda the Switch Witch comes and switches out the bag of candy for a toy. The bigger the haul of candy she gets the bigger the toy she leaves.

*It is really important that you hang the candy on the outside of the door because witches can’t enter kids’ bedrooms. Only fairies can. So even though Mathilda is a good witch, she has to abide by the rules. (this was a rule insisted upon by my niece Roslyn who loved the idea but wanted to be sure that the witch did not come into her room).

Now the Switch Witch is a “real” thing. But I made up most of the stuff above when I first told the story to my niece and nephews earlier this week. My internet searches for the “Switch Witch” revealed very little about it and almost no cannon to draw from (there is not even a Wikipedia entry!). So feel free to make up your own, take from mine, or take from this one cute background story I did find on a random blog. You could even make the Witch steal candy without leaving a toy but that is just plain mean and I advise against it.

So if you are a parent who struggles with all the sugar involved in Halloween, or like another friend of mine, have a child who can’t eat a lot of the candy that is given out – the Switch Witch can be a win-win solution for both you and your children.

This might be the only win-win thing LEV will be able to offer Washington’s families for a while. At least the Switch Witch leaves a toy in exchange for things she takes from us. I have strong feeling there won’t be any toys for us at the end of this long budget nightmare.

Happy Halloween.

This week started in Dallas with the Association of Community College Trustees looking for answers to student achievement. It was a meeting at once inspiring and overwhelming. Here were hundreds of volunteers committed to the education system that has done more to uplift and sustain the middle class than anyone ever acknowledges. They’re struggling with the thorny issues around student achievement and their responsibility in improving student outcomes and degree attainment. And it’s clear that while the President wants to “double the number” of students getting degrees or certificates, there’s no national playbook for how to get there.

Waiving the (NCLB) White Flag: Yesterday was the deadline for states to let the Department of Ed know they intend to file for waivers of requirements under the No Child Left Behind act. Including the District of Columbia and U.S. territories, 41 “states” pinged Ed’s bow indicating their intent to seek NCLB relief. The waiver seekers also gave Ed the time frames under which they would apply, November 14^th, the first deadline or mid-February. Washington was one of the those sending intent to apply in mid-February of next year. While states have a lot of latitude in what they can seek to waive – including the requirement to provide tutors to students in schools that fail to meet their goals for two or more years – they must have adopted college and career ready standards and assessments. Notice I didn’t say the “common core” standards and assessments – signed on to by 44 states and the District. It’s not required. In lieu, the state’s higher education system can certify that the state assessments are rigorous enough that passing them equals college ready. Washington is participating in the common core – which is a good thing since no one in higher ed could say with a straight face that our state assessments mean a heck of a lot when it comes to college readiness.

Meanwhile back in the other Washington, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) has introduced a bill to overhaul the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA = NCLB) which has something for everyone to not love. It removes requirements for making Average Yearly Progress (AYP), codifies Race to the Top, directs states to develop college and career ready standards and that’s just the first 150 pages.  The biggest and most troublesome change from NCLB to ESEA JR. is the elimination of federal requirements for student achievement. States will set their own goals. It’s all back to the future up in here. While NCLB was far from perfect, it laid bare the disparities in achievement among ethnic and demographic groups. In other words, states could run but they couldn’t hide from their dismal performance in serving kids of color and low income children. That was the central feature of the law, establishing baselines and raising expectations. Regression politics at their worst.

Money Matters: The past few weeks we’ve spotlighted significant challenges in the state and national budget crisis and the impact on education funding. A report from the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities  shows that 37 states are putting less money into education this school year than last and that 30 are putting less money in this year than they were four years ago. Texas has cut so far to the bone the state is being sued by a group of education stakeholders.  (We have our own lawsuit here in Washington.) Meanwhile, the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges has taken action to allow CC’s and TC’s to declare financial emergencies that allow them to waive some contractual agreements in making staff layoffs.  While most two year colleges rely heavily on part time teachers, one school, Bates, has a different model employing about 90% of their faculty full time.  Making them something of a bellwether – read canary in the coal mine – on staff reductions at our community and technical colleges. For more on the implications of Washington’s budget woes and investments in education, check out our edCored series.

What the ELL?: If you’re looking for reasons to support having federal student achievement goals and reporting on it that is disaggregated by subgroup,  take a quick gander at what’s happening with ELL students in NYC and the federal lawsuit that was just settled in L.A. If you can hide the fact that only 7% of your English Language learners graduate from high school on time and ready for college or work, there are no consequences. And clearly, with results like that, consequences matter.

Local Flavor:

• UW’s Dean of Education, Tom Stritikus writes about the importance of teacher effectiveness to our state’s economy. (Reading the comments makes me long for the day of the printed version of the paper where every idea or opinion wasn’t actually considered equal and deserving of space. Because well, they’re not.)
• Puyallup Schools moves to standards based grading. Sun comes up next morning. Gravity continues to work in the ways we are familiar. Miami Dolphins still stink.
• Bellingham Herald covers the national report on disparities in school discipline. Fordham’s take on the report is worth reading.
• Apparently some states have figured out how to buy their assessments at big box stores while Washington is all upscale.

That’s all she wrote this week, folks. Thanks for checking in.

Hello. My name is Hannah Lidman. You care about education. Prepare to sign this petition: http://wachallenge.org/.

As you may have heard, Washington is applying for – and actually has a real shot at winning – a $60 million Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge grant from the federal government for our statewide early learning system. But….in order make sure we win we need YOU.

See, all these big federal grant applications require letters of support from the community. LEV is doing one from our organization as are many other organizations across state. But the cherry on top of our application sundae is one REALLY BIG letter of support from the public (parents, teachers, kids, early learning professionals, advocates, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, neighbors, you).

So we have partnered with our allies across the state to give you that chance. Go to WAChallenge.org and sign on to tell the Feds that Washington is Up to the Challenge.

“So,” you ask, “what exactly is the Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge?” Well, when the competition was first announced, I did a big blog post about it (which you can read here if you want). The Feds have since come out with revised requirements for the competition, but really, things have changed only slightly.

Here is a very quick wrap-up of the program and why we are in the running:

A couple of months back, Congress announced new funding for Race to the Top. In total, Congress appropriated $700 million, of which a whopping $500 million is set aside specifically for early learning – the Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge (RTTT-ELC). And for those of you who remember Washington’s dismal performance in the previous RTTT, don’t get yourself too down just yet. This is a totally new competition with all new requirements, priorities and selection criteria.

The final guidelines were released in late August and applications are due on October 19th (a maddeningly short time frame for an application of this magnitude). Winners will be announced by the end of the year, and the grants will run through the end of 2015.  The size of the competitive grant amounts depends on the population of low-income children in the state. Washington is eligible for up to $60 million in funding if we win – the range runs from up to $100 million at the high end to a max of $50 million for states with small populations of low-income children.

RTTT-ELC competition is at its core about the systems, coordination and quality of early learning at the state level. According to the summary provided by the Department of Education, the RTTT-ELC is:

A $500 million competitive grant program to support states that commit to improving the quality of their early learning and development programs through five key levers of change:

• Successful State Systems
• High-Quality, Accountable Programs
• Promoting Early Learning and Development Outcomes for Children
• A Great Early Childhood Education Workforce, and
• Measuring Outcomes and Progress

With an overarching goal of:

• Ensuring children enter kindergarten ready to succeed by
• Increasing access to high-quality programs for children with high needs

So how does Washington fare  in relation to the competition’s priorities and selection criteria? Pretty darn well.

• We are currently in the process of redesigning our early learning benchmarks (now called guidelines and stay tuned because a request for public input will come soon).
• We recently moved from the pilot stage to implementation with the WaKIDS kindergarten transition process – with the addition of private funds WaKIDS will serve nearly 25% of kids statewide in the coming school year.
• And while still in its infancy, our state QRIS framework (a rating system for child care that driving quality and supports) is moving beyond pilot stage this year.
• We have a statewide Early Learning Plan.
• The Professional Development Consortium issued its recommendations for our early learning workforce.
• We adopted Core Competencies for both Early Learning Professionals and Child and Youth Development Professionals.
• The Early Learning Advisory Council has some new representation, is revising its role, and was awarded $1.7 million from the Federal State Advisory Council grant
• We have a very active and involved public-private partnership Thrive by Five Washington who along with DEL and OSPI have formed a joint early learning partnership.
• And this is just the tip of the iceberg of the early learning work happening all throughout Washington State at the local and state levels.

If you want a more detailed breakdown of the Challenge details check out what our colleagues over at Ed Week and the First Five Years Fund have put out.

So what are you waiting for? En Garde! Sign the public letter of support at http://www.wachallenge.org/.

The research is crystal clear that high-quality prekindergarten can and does makes a huge impact on the lives of children – both in the short- and long-term. But sometimes, it takes more than a “dusty, old policy brief” filled with numbers and charts to help us really understand the difference it can make. Sometimes,  it takes the voice of those who have lived it and come out the other side.

Over the years, thousands of Washington children and parents have benefited from Head Start and their lives have been changed as a result. Below are two such stories from a mother and daughter for whom Head Start had a major impact.

If you are a graduate of Head Start, please share your experience with us and make sure to also upload it to OurHeadStart.org by September 30th and get entered to win an iPad 2. Even though the OurHeadStart.org folks are only collecting stories from graduates, LEV also wants to hear from you (email us at info@educationvoters.org) if you are a Head Start parent or teacher or if you are a K-3 teacher who has seen the impact of Head Start on children in the K-12 classroom.

Randi’s Story

My name is Randi Omat. I entered Head Start when I was 4 years old. I now go to Franklin Pierce High School and I am in the 10th grade.  I am in honors English, honors biology, AP (Advanced Placement) world history, and in my second year of Spanish. I also play soccer at the high school.  My letter to the Tacoma News Tribune paper on the importance of  Head Start was published and then referenced a couple of weeks later.  As soon as I went into Head Start we started learning numbers and colors. We were taught  to interact with other children and to be responsible for our actions. I formed friendships with some students and have been friends with them for 10 years.

Head Start is a wonderful thing to have and I think that anybody that can go through it should. It’s valuable and has put me where I am today as a person. I want to do Running Start next year, and when I graduate I want to go to the University of Washington and study law. I want to be a lawyer and advocate for children’s rights. Head Start has influenced me to make right decisions and go towards my dream.

~ Randi Omat

Sonja’s Story

My name is Sonja Lennox.  I have had 2 children go through the Head Start program: Randi (16) and Danner (5).  I have done extensive volunteering in the school system, especially in K-3rd.  It is very easy to see which children have gone through an excellent early learning program, and which have not.  It may seem that Head Start children do nothing but play all day.  This is not true,  during this time they are being taught valuable life lessons on communication, sharing, respect, getting along with others, and how to share and take turns.  When a student who has received early learning such as Head Start enters kindergarten they come in with confidence and an attitude ready to learn.  They make significantly greater academic gains and display more positive behaviors.

Research has shown that at-risk children without high quality preschool like Head Start or ECEAP (Washington’s state prekindergarten program) were 70% more likely to commit violent crimes, have lower graduation rates, and higher drug use.  Head Start is also an important resource for parents.  They provide at least one nutritious meal and snack a day.  For some children, this is their only meal.  It also provides well-child check-ups and dental care so they can learn.  This is some thing some children desperately need and might not otherwise receive.

On a more personal level, when Danner entered Head Start he had severe separation anxiety and a speech problem.  On the first day of school he cried almost the whole day.  His teacher took the time to work with him and made him a chart of the day so he would know when he could go home to Mom and Dad.  It took about 10 days before he was able to go into his class and not be upset about being away from us.  If he would have gone into kindergarten with this anxiety he most likely would have been sent to the office or placed in a corner somewhere.  As a result he would be falling behind the other kids before he ever started school.  Head Start also worked with Danner’s speech problem and finally had to place him on an IEP.  This detection at an earlier age has given him the extra help he desperately needs over come his speech problems.

-Sonja Lennox

Head Start is in serious danger of losing more funding from Congress during the negotiations and debates around the next fiscal year budget and the super-committee’s deficit cutting plan. In addition to the importance of data, our policy makers and the public also need to hear from the people whose lives and futures have been changed by Head Start. If you are one of those people, please tell us about it (email us at info@educationvoters.org).

Head Start Alumni that submit their stories will receive a reusable tote bag and be entered for a chance to win a new iPad 2. Our federal partners at the The First Five Years Fund will be judging the most compelling text and video stories through September 30. A winner will be notified on October 15th and will be featured on OurHeadStart.org.

The race is on again! And this time Washington State is serious contender.

A couple of months back, Congress announced new funding for Race to the Top. In total, Congress appropriated $700 million, of which a whopping $500 million is set aside specifically for early learning – the Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC). And for those of you who remember Washington’s dismal performance in the previous RTTT, don’t get yourself too down just yet. This is a  totally new competition with all new requirements, priorities, and selection criteria.

On July 1, the US Departments of Education and Health and Human Services released their draft grant details. According to the feds, the final guidelines are anticipated to be released in mid-August, applications will be due in mid-October (a maddeningly short time frame for an application of this magnitude). Winners will be announced by the end of the year and the grants will run through the end of 2015.  The size of the competitive grant amounts depends on the population of low-income children in the state and Washington is eligible for up to $60 million in funding if we win – the range runs from up to$100 million at the high end to a max of $50 million for state’s with small populations of low-income children.

But before we get into the nitty gritty details, let’s talk about what this thing is and what shot we have. RTT-ELC competition is at its core about the systems, coordination, and quality of early learning at the state level. As DEL director Bette Hyde put it in a recent email to stakeholders:

“We know that Race to the Top is not about implementing a laundry list of services, but rather promoting a cohesive, integrated, and organized system for improving quality and creating lasting outcomes for children.”

Or as our friends at the New America Foundation’s Early Ed Watch have written:

“This is not a funding stream to some new, untested program — this is a pot of money designed to prod states into networking,  leveraging and improving the programs they already have”.

We are still waiting for the final grant guidelines but the draft guidelines show two absolute priorities necessary for a state to win. States must use (1) early learning standards and kindergarten readiness assessments and (2) tiered quality rating and improvement systems (QRIS) to “promote school readiness”. These are the two major areas to garner points on the application. There is one competitive priority that will also be scored: the inclusion of all early learning programs in the state’s QRIS. and Finally, there are two invitational priorities (areas which are not scored but will reflect favorably on the state): (1) sustaining effectiveness in the early grades and (2) private sector support. In addition to the priorities, the feds want applications need to address a number of requirements within four broad selection criteria:

1. Successful State Systems
2. Promoting Early Learning And Development Outcomes
3. High-Quality, Accountable Programs
4. A Great Early Childhood Workforce

So how does Washington fare at first glance  in relation to the draft  priorities and selection criteria? Pretty darn well.

• We are currently in the process of redesigning our early learning benchmarks (now called guidelines and stay tuned because a request for public input will come soon).
• We recently moved from the pilot stage to implementation with the WaKIDS kindergarten transition process – with the addition of private funds WaKIDS will serve nearly 25% of kids statewide in the coming school year.
• And while still in its infancy, our state QRIS framework is moving beyond pilot stage this year.
• We have a statewide Early Learning Plan.
• The Professional Development Consortium issued its recommendations for our early learning workforce.
• We adopted Core Competencies for both Early Learning Professionals and Child and Youth Development Professionals.
• The Early Learning Advisory Council has some new representation, is revising its role, and was awarded $1.7 million from the Federal State Advisory Council grant
• We have a very active and involved public-private partnership Thrive by Five Washington who along with DEL and OSPI have formed a joint early learning partnership.
• And this is just the tip of the iceberg of the early learning work happening all throughout Washington State at the local and state levels.

Clearly, the last two years have been busy ones for early learning planning and piloting in Washington State and now is the time for the funds to put all the thoughtful and comprehensive plans into action.

The Feds requested that states make known their intentions to apply for the grant by the beginning of this week and Washington was one of 36 states (and DC) that threw our hat in the ring. Interestingly, of the four states eligible for the top end of the grant awards only one signaled their interest by the deadline (NY). That does not mean that the other three will not apply but it makes one wonder if there might be more money to go around.

LEV is watching the developments closely and we are serving on the state application advisory team. Watch out for more news and action alerts from us as the grant is formally released, the application is written, and the decisions are announced. This is a huge opportunity for early learning in Washington State and we will need each and every one of you to support writing the best, most winningest application.

President Obama visited turnaround school Miami Central High last week. In the course of two years, Miami Central High went from an F school to a C school. Miami Central received a $784,000 federal grant to get rid of the school’s principal and half of its staff members, which contributed to the school’s significant improvement. Miami Central also held Saturday school for students who needed additional assistance in subjects like math and science.

Here are excerpts of his speech:

Right now, there are about 2,000 high schools in America -– about 12 percent of the total number of high schools in America –- that produce nearly half of the young people who drop out of school. You’ve got 2,000 schools — about half the dropouts come out of those 2,000 schools. And we know these schools are often found in rural areas or in big cities like Miami. Many of these schools have lots of Haitian Americans and African Americans, Latino and other minority students.

Now, turning around these schools isn’t easy. A lot of people used to argue, well, all they need is more money. But money is not alone going to do the job. We also have to reform how things are done. It isn’t easy to turn around an expectation of failure and make that into an expectation of excellence. In fact, it’s one of the hardest things you can do. And there is always plenty of naysayers out there who will say it’s not even possible. Who say that turning around a failing school means just throwing good money after bad. Who say too many of these schools are beyond repair. Who say we ought to give up on those schools and focus on places that have more breaks and have a little more going for them.

Here’s what I say. I say I am not willing to give up on any child in America. I say I’m not willing to give up on any school in America. I do not accept failure here in America. I believe the status quo is unacceptable; it is time to change it. And it’s time we came together — just like Jeb and I are doing today -– coming from different parties but we come together not as Democrats or Republicans, as Americans –- to lift up all of our schools — and to prepare students like you for a 21st century economy. To give every child in America a chance to make the most of their God-given potential.

Now, the good news is we know what works. We can see it in schools and communities across the country every day. We see it in a place like Bruce Randolph School in Denver. This was rated one of the worst schools in Colorado three years ago but last May graduated 97 percent of its seniors. And by the way, most of them are the first in their family to go to college.

We can see it in Mastery Charter School in Philadelphia, where four times as many students are proficient in math, and violence is down 80 percent compared to just a few years ago.

And of course, we can see it right here at Miami Central. A little more than a decade ago, when the state exams started, Miami Central scored a D in each of its first five years. Then it scored an F in each of the five years after that. Halls were literally littered with garbage. One of the buildings here was called the Fish Bowl because it was always flooded. In one survey, only a third of all students said they felt safe at school. Think about that — only a third.

Today, Mrs. Turner, all the outstanding students here, all the students here, you’ve put those days behind you. You’ve put those days behind you. I mean, I know that — I know you still face challenges. I know you still face challenges; things aren’t perfect. But over the past five years, you started to excel academically. Performance has skyrocketed by more than 60 percent in math, about 40 percent in writing. Graduation rates went from 36 percent — now they’re at 63 percent. And I expect them to be at 100 percent.

You are proving the naysayers wrong –- you are proving that progress is possible. It’s possible because of your principal; it’s possible because of all the great teachers that are going above and beyond for their students, including the Teach for America Corps members who are here today. We’re proud of them. To all of the teachers here, I hope you will stay with the Miami Central family as long as you can –- because this community has already benefited so much from your teaching and your mentorship and your dedication.

Every year, Valentine’s Day rolls around and many of us panic for an authentic, non-cheesy way to tell the ones we love just that…that we love them. That we care about whether they are happy and healthy. And that they matter. That we are glad they are in our lives.

Have you ever wanted to tell your community the same thing – maybe give a shout out to all the hard-working parents in your neighborhood or to all the cute little kiddos driving their fire engine shopping carts around Safeway? 

Well, here you go. Our dear friends, the madcap activists at MomsRising.org, have given us all a way to send a “love” note  to the parents and kids across Washington State and the nation – by sending a Valentine to Congress.

Federal funding for important early childhood programs is in serious jeopardy as the stimulus funds begin to dry up. Over 1,000 Washington kids are at risk of losing Head Start and Early Head Start and thousands of working parents could lose the critical support for child care that keeps them working.

If we love our communities and want to keep them healthy and strong, we need to stand up and tell Congress (with love) that our kids need quality early learning and our parents need to keep working.

Here is what is going to happen: MomsRising is going to collect all the Valentines to Congress sent between now and Valentine’s Day and then they’ll personally print and deliver your valentine along with thousands of others in the other Washington.

So get to it! – this will possibly be the easiest (and maybe one of the most important) valentine you’ll ever send.

Love to all.

Today is another national call-in day for early childhood education. Make a “Washington to Washington” call to tell President Obama to prioritize investments in our youngest learners.

We have a new Congress ahead of us, and we must do everything we can to get them started on the right foot for young children and their families. These first few weeks will serve as a critical test of the strength of our community and our allies in the other Washington. As you know, the battles over funding for FY 2011 are still not settled. After several temporary funding measures, Congress will have to act again before March 4, when the last continuing resolution (CR) they passed will expire.

We need you take a moment today, Friday, January 14th, to call the White House at 1-202-456-1111 and urge the administration to protect, sustain, and maintain critical funding for early childhood programs. It’s the new year, time is ticking and we must do everything we can to keep the increases that we won in the Economic Recovery Act for child care, Head Start, and Early Head Start. If this funding is not continued 300,000 children across the country, including many in Washington State, will be eliminated from early learning programs.

Please call 1-202-456-1111 on Friday. In the message you leave, ask them to:

• Protect funding for child care, Head Start, and Early Head Start to help us build a smarter, healthier, and stronger America

• Sustain the $1 billion funding for Head Start/Early Head Start as well as the $1 billion funding for child care during FY 2011, and

• Maintain these levels into FY 2012.

The Los Angeles School Board has named John Deasy as the new superintendent of the country’s 2nd-largest school district.

As the Wall Street Journal points out, he’ll have his work cut out for him: “The Los Angeles school district, the country’s biggest after New York City, has suffered declining enrollment and a 33% dropout rate. Though students have posted modest gains on some national-achievement exams in recent years, their scores are lower than national averages and those posted by other big cities.

“The district, which has more than 670,000 students, also faces a $142 million deficit that could grow to $482 million by the end of the fiscal year if California voters don’t approve a budget proposal to increase sales, income and vehicle taxes.”

And from the Los Angeles Times:

In John Deasy, the Los Angeles Board of Education selected a new superintendent who is seemingly a man of contradictions.

He was raised in a strong union household yet challenges work rules fiercely defended by unions. He supports making it easier to dismiss teachers but also insists that a school system cannot fire its way to success.

He’s going to be accused of being a tool of the Gates Foundation, billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad and L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa — he has associations with them all — but his career also encompasses a quirky independent streak.

The city’s new schools leader, announced Tuesday, is well known in education circles: He’s written and spoken widely, led three school districts in more than 12 years as a superintendent and worked for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He also completed an executive training program funded by Broad.

But nothing he’s done defines exactly how he will run the Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation’s second-largest, which has been hammered by budget cuts, increasing class sizes and layoffs, and which remains beset by low student achievement and community schisms.

Washington’s young kids need one minute of your time to send a message to Congress.

Congress comes back to work today, and if they don’t act — and soon — on renewing early learning funding, thousands of children in our state will not be able to attend the Head Start and child care programs that they depend on. This could compromise their future success in school and in life.

Today is National Early Learning Call-in Day. Please call your member of Congress today and join other parents and education advocates in making calls on behalf of our youngest children.

Here’s how:

1. Call 1-888-460-0813.

2. Ask the operator to connect you to your member of Congress. Look your member up here.

3. Tell your member of Congress’ staff person:

• My name is (name) and I am calling from (city, state) and I am a (parent, teacher, child care provider, concerned citizen, etc.).
• Don’t drop 300,000 children from child care and Head Start. Don’t cut funding for the Child Care and Development Block Grant and Head
• Start and support funding for the Early Learning Challenge Fund.
• We are counting on you here in Washington State. Thank you.

4. Then, ask five friends or co-workers to make a call as well.

We know a great education begins with high-quality early learning — the research is clear. If Congress does not extend this critical funding for early learning, our children, families, schools, and communities will suffer the consequences.

Your one minute phone call will make a difference for Washington’s children and families.

As we continue to read through the pages (and pages) of reviewer comments on Washington’s Race to the Top (R2T), phase 2 application, here’s a look at each state’s scores as percent of points possible, and rank. Ranks in the top 10 in each category and overall are shaded gray, and there’s a trend among R2T phase 2 winners. Washington’s highest rank was 13th, which was in data systems category. Washington scored below average in every other category (only by a few points in the turning around low-performing schools category).

One pattern I’m noticing in the reviewers’ comments is while Washington clearly identified goals, there were not always clear plans on how to reach them.

Yesterday the U.S. Department of Education annouced the 10 winners of the second round of Race to the Top (R2T), along with all applicants’ scores. Today the scores breakdown and reviewers comments were released (Washington’s are here and here). We will continue to pour over the pages of information, but here’s some initial takeaways:

• There is a good deal of variance between reviewers. Washington earned overall scores ranging from 251 to 342, earning a final score of 290.6.
• Washington lost the most points in the Great Teachers and Leaders section (79), followed by State Success Factors (51.6) and General (43.2).

Here’s a table of the scoring, including points possible in each section, Washington’s averaged score and the score given by each reviewer.

The U.S. Department of Education has announced the 49 winning applications for the Investing in Innovation (i3) program. The only winner from Washington State was the Bellevue School District, who submitted an application titled “Re-imagining Career and College Readiness: STEM, Rigor, and Equity in a Comprehensive High School.” The application sought $4.1 million dollars over five years. Even so, Bellevue SD must secure a private-sector match of 20 percent before actually receiving the federal funds.

Bellevue’s application focuses on three things:

1. Design and enactment of problem-based curricula in both AP and non-AP courses, using problem-based learning (PBL) as a framework to support student growth in key cognitive strategies and academic behavior
2. Implementation of a series of specific supports for under-served students, focusing on increased mathematics literacy
3. Professional development to help teachers implement and evaluate new problem-based curricula

The list of all 49 winners is here.

Lost in the flurry over Race to the Top on Monday was the announcement of additional  School Improvement Grant (SIG) awards. And hey, what do you know, Washington actually got something — $17 million to help turn around our lowest-performing schools (see our application here). Not quite as large as Race to the Top ($3.5 billion compared to $4 billion), the SIG program is significant all the same [what's a half a billion difference anyway?].

We in Washington have been counting on these funds to help us implement the accountability system developedby the State Board of Education. Schools identified as “persistently low performing” per federal criteria in the nin districts selected by the state are eligible for funds to implement one of four turnaround models (turnaround, restart, closure and transformation). In fact, the enactment of the accountability section of SB 6696 (commonly referred to as the Race to the Top legislation) was largely dependent on the state securing a SIG award.

The nine selected districts in Washington:

• Seattle
• Tacoma
• Marysville
• Yakima
• Wellpinit
• Sunnyside
• Highline
• Grandview
• Longview

No word yet on which specific schools in each district will receive funds.

Unless you completely ignore education news, you know Delaware and Tennessee are the winners of the first round of Race to the Top (R2T) grants. The national blogs (see here and here) are aflutter dissecting the winners and losers, trying to figure out what really separates the two. I’m not one to duplicate, however, it is worth looking at how Washington State might fare when we apply in round 2. My initial reaction, “it’s going to be tough.” A few things that stick out:

1) Delaware and Tennessee both have 100 percent district participation, and nearly universal union support. While Washington can certainly get there, we have a few more people to get on board. Delaware is considerably smaller than Washington, and it’s student population is no exception (126,801 compared to Washington’s 1,040,750). Tennessee is closer in size to Washington, with an enrollment of 930,525, although it has about half as many districts.

2) Delaware and Tennessee are members of various assessment consortia. While Washington is part of the Achieve consortium, we are not widely using its assessments. In contrast, Delaware and Tennessee are each members of four consortia.

3) Both Delaware (466) and Tennessee (1,300 annually) have produced more teachers – proportionate to size – through alternate pathways than Washington (650). This will probably cost us a few points.

4) Delaware and Tennessee have more developed evaluation systems. Even with the passage of SB 6696, Washington still has a lot of work to do to create a meaningful evaluation system for teachers and principals. The Secretary Duncan has indicated he would prefer R2T grants fund established efforts before being used to kick start pilots.

Dare I ask, what stands out to you all?

The 2009 scores for the 4th and 8th grade Reading portion of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (aka NAEP, the nation’s report card) were released today. Overall, Washington students performed relatively well compared to their peers. Our 4th graders fell within the national average, and our 8th graders scored slightly higher.

Even so, the proficiency rates among subgroups highlight our achievement gap. Below are the percent of students in each subgroup that scored at or above proficient (i.e. grade level) in Grade 4 and 8:

We’ve got a 28 percentage point spread between White and African-American 8th graders — this is a problem. And the trend is similarly reflected on state assessments. I, for one, am troubled.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn released the names of 47 schools identified as “persistently lowest-performing schools” as identified by federal guidelines. The identified schools will be eligible for additional Title I funds and must choose one of four intervention models to receive the funds.

The four intervention models are:

1. Turnaround model. Replace the principal, rehire no more than 50 percent of the staff and grant the new principal sufficient operational flexibility (including in staffing, calendars/time and budgeting) to implement fully a comprehensive approach to substantially improve student outcomes.
2. Restart model. Convert the school or close and reopen it under a charter school operator, a charter management organization, or an education management organization that has been selected through a rigorous review process. Washington does not currently authorize charter school operators or charter management organizations. The restart model can only be used through an education management organization.
3. School closure. Close the school and enroll the students who attended that school in other schools in the district that are higher achieving.
4. Transformation model. Replace the principal and take steps to increase teacher and school leader effectiveness; institute comprehensive instructional reforms; increase learning time and create community-oriented schools; and provide operational flexibility and sustained support.

From the U.S. Department of Education’s website, the 16 finalists for phase 1 of Race to the Top were announced this morning. Some may surprise, others may not (Education Week reporters made predictions using a  bracket) — Colorado, Louisiana, Massachusetts and Ohio were considered early front-runners.

The phase 1 finalists are:

•Colorado
•Delaware
•District of Columbia
•Florida
•Georgia
•Illinois
•Kentucky
•Louisiana
•Massachusetts
•New York
•North Carolina
•Ohio
•Pennsylvania
•Rhode Island
•South Carolina
•Tennessee

The 16 finalists will go before a panel in mid-March, and “winners” will be announced in April. Phase 2 applications are due in June (Washington will apply then).

President Obama today shared with the nation’s governors his plan to include college- and career-ready standards in the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (aka No Child Left Behind).

Here are the bulleted policiesObama and his educrew would like to see integrated into ESEA:

• “Require all states to adopt and certify that they have college- and career-ready standards in reading and mathematics, which may include common standards developed by a state-led consortium, as a condition of qualifying for Title I funding.
• Include new funding priorities for states with college- and career-ready standards in place, as they compete for federal funds to improve teaching and learning and upgrade curriculum in reading and math. This priority applies to  the President’s FY2011 budget request for new Effective Teaching and Learning programs in literacy ($450 million) and STEM ($300 million).
• Encourage states, schools districts, and other institutions to better align teacher preparation practices and programs to teaching of college and career-ready standards.  This priority supports the President’s FY2011 budget request for a new Teacher and Leaders Pathways program ($405 million).
• Assist states in implementing assessments aligned with college- and career-ready standards, under a new Assessing Achievement program. The President’s FY2011 budget supports $400 million in state grants under this program.
• Support the expansion of the Race to the Top, beyond funding in the Recovery Act, to dedicate $1.35 billion in awards to states and school districts that have college- and career-ready standards in place as a condition of funding.
• Support professional development for teachers, leaders and other school instructional staff to better align instruction to college and career-ready standards.  This supports the President’s FY2011 budget request for the Effective Teacher and Leaders state grant program ($2.5 billion).”

The big thing to note is the potential linkage of Title I funds to the adoption of college- and career-ready standards. For reference, Washington received $388.1 million in Title I funds in FY 2009(or roughly $776 million a biennium). This gels with previous statements and sentiments shared by the Obama adminstration that Race to the Top components will start to bleed into ESEA.

Bee-tee-dubs, if you hadn’t already heard, the deadline for round 1 Race to the Top applications was yesterday. In the end, 40 states and the District of Columbia applied (Washington State is vying for round 2).

Find the list of applicants here, along with press conference footage and other items from the White House. Also see news coverage in Education Week.

It doesn’t look like the U.S. Department of Education has posted state applications yet. Applications for other ARRA grant programs (e.g. State Fiscal Stabilization Fund) were posted…

The edublogs are aflutter with the news that 36 states have sent letters of intent to apply for round one of Race to the Top to the U.S. Department of Education. This doesn’t preclude other states from applying or require states that sent in letters to apply. The Department of Education asked states to send in letters of intent so the department can plan for the peer review process. No, Washington’s name is not on the list; we already decided to shoot for round two.

[hat tip(s): eduwonk, gothamschools, politics K-12]

The results of the 2009 Mathematics National Assessment of Educational Progress (fondly referred to as NAEP, or the nation’s report card) for grades 4 and 8 were released this morning. As a nation, 4th grade math scores are unchanged from 2007, and 8th grade scores are up slightly. Results in Washington follow that trend, and continue to be above the national average, although Washington is not the leader among the Global Challenge States.

What is less encouraging about our results is the difference in scores between Washington’s low-income and non-low-income students. While we may have smaller gaps than most of the other GCS, we fall into the middle or bottom of the national pack. Negative signs in the tables below indicate low-income students scored lower than their non-low-income peers.