A recent study of Florida students found that students taking higher level courses are more likely to graduate and more likely to succeed in college. The researchers note that these rigorous courses make the biggest difference for students from disadvantaged or high-poverty schools. They also found slightly higher graduation rates from Hispanic, African American and poor students who took more rigorous courses.

Importantly, the research shows that more rigorous coursework can have positive effects across all subjects. The researchers found that taking any higher level courses, whether in math, English, science, social studies or a foreign language, increased the likelihood of attending a four-year college by seven to nine percent and a two-year college by two to four percent. It also translated into raising student’s college GPA and the number of credits they earned.

Read more about the study here.

Yesterday, Gov. Chris Gregoire proposed $1.7 billion in cuts to state government, while suggesting a temporary sales tax increase to prevent some of the more severe reductions, which include shortening the school year. We wrote that cutting education is the wrong solution for our ailing economy. The Legislature will tackle the budget deficit in a special session beginning on Nov. 28th.

We know that all of these numbers can be difficult to visualize, so our policy team created these budget charts from the governor’s proposal.

You can also view them as higher-quality images: Early Learning | K-12 | Higher Ed

The Excellent Schools Now coalition (of which we are a member) has released a new vision for our state A+ Washington: A Way Forward for All Students. The vision focuses on bringing the input of a wide range of stakeholders to provide solutions for the challenges that face our education system today. This effort is more valuable than ever, as our state faces a deep recession with more difficult economic times looming. As we note, now is the time to focus on improving education and eliminating opportunity gaps. We know that these investments will yield a skilled, knowledgeable workforce and can help create the jobs that we need to boost our economy.

A+ Washington proposes five strategies to achieve the results we need to create a workforce ready for success:

1. Expand access to high-quality pre-kindergarten through 3^rd grade education
2. Provide all students with access to excellent teachers and leaders
3. Position the state’s students for career and college readiness
4. Implement flexible and transformative approaches to K-12 education
5. Develop effective data and accountability systems

The coalition will measure the success of these strategies by tracking specific outcomes. The outcomes include eliminating the opportunity gap between all groups of students and making sure all students enter kindergarten prepared for success. Additionally, because we are focused on students’ futures, outcomes like graduating from high school career and college ready, making sure students are internationally competitive in math and science, and increasing the number of students who achieve post-secondary degrees, like living wage certificates, associate’s degrees, industry certificates, and bachelor’s degrees are important.

A+ Washington came together after a lot of hard work with stakeholders all across education. This is a living document, where the best thinking and balanced feedback from all stakeholders can be continually incorporated.

Read the full, PDF version of the plan here.

Today Governor Gregoire released her “draft” supplemental budget and proposed that the state make major cuts to schools, colleges and universities for the fifth year in a row. The Governor proposes cutting $378 million in state support for schools and $174 million from colleges and universities.

Cutting education jobs is the wrong solution for our ailing economy. This will only make the problem worse.

Already, thousands of good jobs go unfilled because we aren’t educating enough skilled workers. Larger class sizes, fewer courses, and ever-increasing tuition hikes will hurt our students’ chances to contribute to the economy for decades to come.

The Governor’s draft budget proposes increasing class sizes by two students in grades 4-12, and eliminating programs that help struggling students and programs that prepare students for college.

We as citizens must confront deep structural issues that are contributing to today’s economic problems and will slow Washington’s recovery. Our state relies too much on sales taxes. We voters pass conflicting ballot measures that require legislators to fund education, on the one hand, and then I-1053, which prevents lawmakers from fixing our broken tax code, on the other.

We’ll be paying attention and waiting for Gov. Gregoire’s Nov. 17^th proposal. In the meantime, you can learn more about what education cuts would mean to our kids and our state’s future by checking out our edCored series.

SkillUp Washington, an organization dedicated to expanding access to gainful employment to low income adults, will be hosting a community forum on establishing strategies for helping more adult students receive college credit. The forum, which will take place November 3^rd at South Seattle Community College, will discuss issues such as ensuring more adults have access to college courses and comparing Washington state’s policy on “prior learning” with other parts of the country. Amy Sherman, the Associate Vice President for Policy and Strategic Alliances at the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL), will also present research showing the positive correlation between prior learning and certificate/program completion. In addition to Sherman’s presentation, there will be two panel discussions that will include students, community leaders, and state policymakers Rep. Phyllis Gutierrez Kenney and Sen. Derek Kilmer.

Sound interesting? Be sure to come out to South Seattle Community College on Thursday, November 3^rd and hear some ways Washington state can increase the number of adults with a college education and ultimately, more job skills.

What: SkillUp Washington Community Forum
When: Thursday, November 3^rd, 9am-12pm
Where: South Seattle Community College
More details and registration information can be found here.

Our senior advisor, George Scarola, recently took his testimony to the Higher Education Coordinating Board. He talks about what the board needs to keep an eye on to keep higher education strong in Washington State.

Watch him in action below! Once you’re inspired, remember that you can give your own perspective to the House Higher Ed Committee on Wednesday, October 12, between 11a.m. and 5p.m. at Seattle University’s Pigott Hall Auditorium.

Now is the time to tell your legislators what you think about the state of higher education in Washington. The House Higher Education Committee is hosting a Chautauqua to hear a broad range of voices, from students to staff, to parents and advocates, with a focus on student completion. The committee wants your input on what will help students successfully earn the certificates and degrees they are pursuing. A panel of presenters from tech and manufacturing industries will discuss what they see the role of higher education is in their fields. The public discussion will be moderated by Enrique Cerna of KCTS Television. Plus, for your efforts, you’ll get a free lunch.

The event is Wednesday, October 12 from 11a.m. to 5p.m. at Seattle University’s Pigot Hall Auditorium.

Don’t know what a “Chautauqua” is? We had to look it up too! At its most basic, it’s a meeting of the community to learn together. The name comes from Chautauqua, NY, where folks from the late 19th and early 20th centuries would gather in the summer months to hear talks, be entertained and learn from one another. See? The Higher Education Committee is teaching us things already!

If you were a tree, would you be one of those really annoying trees that dropped nuts that attracted squirrels who dug up the bulbs in my yard? Oh. Goodness. Where was I?

Show Me the Money: With a looming $2 billion shortfall, state legislators are gearing up for a post-Thanksgiving special session sure to make dried turkey and crazy uncle Larry look like an oasis. The governor has asked agency chiefs to send her their initial thoughts about where they could find between 5-10% in their budgets. State schools chief, Randy Dorn, took a pass on the assignment. Submitting budget cuts “would be a violation of my constitutional responsibilities and inconsistent with my oath of office,” he said in a letter to Governor Gregoire. Dorn opposed cuts to education last session and sees the distinct possibility of a train wreck for the education budget in the special session. The governor has said that cuts to education are not off the table. Meanwhile, the two men vying to replace Gregoire answered questions about how to resolve the budget crisis this way; don’t cut education, punt, don’t answer the question, it’s complicated.  It’s not so complicated that a couple of activists can’t start a website devoted to the Washington education budget, though.

College Completion Elusive: This past week, President Obama urged high school kids in Washington, DC to climb the mountain to college. “I want all of you to set a goal to continue your education after you graduate,” he implored. It got a little weird when he said “And if that means college for you…” IF? Seriously? “… just getting into college isn’t enough. You also have to graduate.”  Maybe the POTUS hedged because he’d received an advance copy of the new Complete College America report. College completion rates in this country are about as anemic as the Kansas City Chiefs’ offense. Take Texas. Please. For every 100 kids who enroll in college, 79 will start out in community college and of those a whopping two will graduate on time. Even with extra time, only seven will complete. Think Washington is kicking some Texas booty? According to the report none of the students entering community college, attending part time finished on time. And only two did so with extended time.  Four year schools don’t do much better.(Of the 100 students enrolled in public two and four year schools, 43 start out in 4-year schools. Of the four who were part time, only one graduated) The lesson here is part time college generally means a slow train to nowhere. One could surmise that part time students are those most likely to need to work – low income, middle class and those without a lot of financial support for college going. Take a look at this new report on how admissions officers find the right “fit” for their schools and you might see an even bigger problem on the horizon.  Among the findings, the top priority for admissions directors is recruiting more students who can pay more.

Folks in San Francisco are tackling these issues head on, initiating a Kindergarten to College (K2C) campaign where every kindergartner is automatically enrolled in a college savings program seeded with $50.00. A pretty bold – and positive – step forward for the next generation of global citizens.

Early and Often: With budget belts tightening and short term “solutions” trumping long term transformation, here’s a tidbit that could go unnoticed. Investments in early learning yield huge gains later; for every dollar invested in early learning in the U.S., we save eleven. In addition, no credible strategy for eliminating the opportunity gap can ignore early learning. Not convinced about the importance of early learning and its connection to brain development?  Be persuaded.  Congress has introduced a number of early learning bills, though right now, it’s not clear any will cross the finish line this session.

Odds and Ends:

• Local school closes (opportunity) achievement gap. People notice.
• NBC holds second annual education forum, Education Nation. I must have missed my invite, because everybody else was there. What’s up with that?
• Secretary Duncan releases guidelines for the NCLB waiver process. Judges, death panels, Russian ice skating pairs! Oh my.
• GOP POTUS candidates take aim at NCLB and federal ed policy. (Romney misses and hits Perry’s hair. Film at eleven.)
• To recertify or not. That is the question in this new-normal for Wisconsin unions.
• The Christian Science Monitor weighs in on the Tacoma strike. The title is rather telling.
• Sesame Street goes all STEM.

That’s all for now newshounds. Say a small prayer that Kyle Orton gets out of Lambeau alive. If you have to ask…. I’ll have to show you my cheesehead. Have a fantastic weekend all!

Washington State revenues will come in $1.4 billion lower than budgeted through next June, according to Arun Raha, Executive Director of the State Economic and Revenue Forecast Council. The shortfall will put the current budget $1.27 billion in the red. Lawmakers are expecting a special session to implement a plan for the budget before January. This comes after last session’s $4.6 billion cuts, which hit higher education and K-12 salaries hard, among other things. According to the Seattle Times, higher education funding is a more vulnerable part of the budget, but notes the resistance to making deeper cuts:

Most of the budget is difficult to cut because of federal strings attached to programs, and state constitutional protection for the bulk of K-12 spending.

…

With a $2 billion shortfall, “if you were to do across-the-board cuts, you’d wind up taking about 30 percent of our higher-ed investment,” said House Ways and Means Chairman Ross Hunter, D-Medina. “I just don’t think we’re going to do that.”

For more, read articles at Publicola, TNT and the Seattle Times

A new study by the U.S. Census based on data from 2006-2008 found that the biggest income gap in the country is not based on gender or race, but on education. The study found that over a forty-year career, the variation in annual earnings between the least educated (or those with an eighth grade education or less) and the most educated (those with a doctorate degree) is $72,000. While gaps in earnings between male and female and whites and other races are significant, none are close to the education earning gap.

Not only does education effect life-time earnings, it has significant bearing on employment rate. The study found that a person with less than a high school diploma was 30 percent less likely to have a full time job than a person with a doctorate.

Read more from the Huffington Post here.

The Washington Higher Education Coordinating Board reported on its blog today that the cost of a unit purchased in Washington’s Guaranteed Education Tuition (GET) program has increased from $117 to $163. The changes to GET, the prepaid college tuition program, will affect units purchased since May 1 and will also affect families opening new accounts in November.

GET units translate into tuition dollars. Each 100 units is equivalent to one year’s tuition in Washington’s most expensive state school (UW or WSU) regardless of how much its cost increases. However, the price of the individual units has tripled in the past ten years.

HECB says of this increase:

In setting the new price, the committee sought to preserve GET affordability for families while maintaining program stability in the face of current and future tuition increases. Earlier this year, the Legislature authorized public colleges and universities to set tuition rates as a way of partially offsetting cuts in state funding for higher education.

Read the full post on the HECBlog.

With budget cuts forcing education institutions to make difficult decisions, UW made the painful choice to accept fewer in-state students this coming year. Accepting out-of-state students means more income for the university, which has been under significant financial pressure since the state’s higher education budget was halved. Some local parents and students are outraged that UW has become a reach school, while others say UW has no choice. The conversation on UW’s choice has been going on since their decision, and we saw rigorous discussion on the issue after an April article in the Seattle Times, Why straight-A’s may not get you into UW.

In the more recent Seattle Magazine article, the debate is opened again, this time asking “Why is this happening?” From the article:

To quote a phrase from a former presidential campaign: It’s the economy, stupid. To shore up deeply slashed funding, the UW has done what some locals are viewing as anathema, upping acceptances for out-of-state-students who pay much more for tuition, cutting the number of locals accepted by 150. In-state students pay $8,700 this year, versus $25,330 for out-of-staters. The result? Instant flashpoint for the public, fed by media reports of Seattle high school valedictorians with perfect 4.0 grade point averages (GPAs) being rejected by the UW. Many may have missed the fine point enunciated by the university: that even more state students would have been rejected if not subsidized by the revenue brought in by the out-of-state or international students
…

“The reduction of 150 state students enrolled got everyone going,” [Philip] Ballinger, [UW director of admissions] says. “The broader issue is that the state cannot pay for higher education. The state has effectively cut half the funding for higher education in less than three years. We have disinvested immensely in it. That’s like eating your seed corn. That’s, in my mind, a famine situation.”

Read the full article here

This week’s round up finds me in Washington, D.C., “the other Washington,” (if you’re a Seattleite), where debt ceilings are made to be broken and brinksmanship has pushed bipartisanship under the bus. The old-school philosophy may be true – that Congress wasn’t broken by money, but by air conditioning. D.C. isn’t as livable in August without it, but the cooler the internal air, the hotter the bluster and the longer Congress lingers.

Anyway, from the land where blinking causes you to break out in a sweat, here now the news:

Pell 1, Congressional Republicans 0: Amid worries of government shut down, Greece-like credit ratings and a solution-less budget dilemma, it might have been easy to miss the fact that Pell Grants were one of the proposed casualties put forward by congressional republicans. Fortunately, Pell survived – actually getting a (temporary?) increase – as did the maximum grant award amounts. Pell is protected until 2013 in this deal, unfortunately, this victory comes at the cost of federally subsidized loans for graduate students. Mixed blessings, to be sure.

Even as we fight to maintain funding for college-goers, proof of the value of college going continues to mount. “The College Payoff” shows that “a college degree is key to economic opportunity.” There are some not so clear cut distinctions about college degrees, showing that the workforce and earnings attainment aren’t some monolith where pay is conferred based on educational attainment alone. Sadly, race and gender still play a significant role in earnings – where are the “biology is not destiny” folks these days, there’s work to be done – and that occupation plays a significant role in earnings. Still, on average, folks who get college degrees earn significantly more than those who don’t over their lifetimes, like double or more. Is money everything? Yes and no, but when you don’t have it, it sure feels like everything.

Two and Two Aren’t Always Two: We all know that what’s in a number depends on what got counted. So, if you’re on a weight loss kick, you might mentally start the count at your highest recent weight. (I’ve been known to eat dessert for two or three weeks before starting a diet. Low hanging fruit and all that.) But when the data really count, shouldn’t you be measuring exactly the same things in exactly the same way so as to compare results? Take high school graduation rates – please – if you measure based on the number of incoming seniors vs. the freshman cohort, you get a much better graduation rate. This summer, all states will begin using a more rigorous measurement so as to get a better feel from Arkansas to Illinois for how states are doing. When states use their own methods, some truths get lost and others amplified. A uniform measure will start to end that myth making – until some creative type figures out how to game the system.

You Say Tomato, I Say Potato: A new GAO report shows that states’ use of the SIG (School Improvement Grant) funds is widely varied. Which comes as a huge shock to almost no one. Some states focused on a few schools, others spread the money around like peanut butter on wheat toast. Some invested in deep transformation, others consulted the Ed Department’s website. With nearly no uniformity in how monies were invested, the results overall are likely to be hard to compare and could actually tank future funds. Note to the Feds: money is a carrot AND a stick. Get what you want out of it.

(BTW, rumor has it that two of our local SIG schools made AYP for the first time in a very long while. Not confirmed yet, but if true marks a very significant positive step forward. Look for this bit of positive news in a future update.)

Buy Local: LEV is bringing a new focus to Schools that Work to our members and interested others. The first of our LEV Live online chats and education sessions will focus on highly-effective public charter schools. You can check it out and join in the conversation. Also for you politically interested types, the LEV political action fund is hosting its first fundraiser of the season on September 1 from  6-8. You can get more information from Jenny at jenny@educationvoters.org.

In addition, the due date for your (primary) ballots is fast approaching. Please, do the right thing.

That’s all she wrote for this week. Be well and thanks for tuning in.

Today, supporters across the country are banding together for Save Pell Day — an online day of action to engage via blogs, Twitter, Facebook and other online tools to raise our voices in opposition to Pell funding cuts. This critical program that enables nearly 10 million students to attend college has a huge target on its back. Want to be part of the action? Go to the Pell Action Center or Facebook to find out how you can help.

In 2009-10 more than 120,000 college students in Washington state received $431,482,089 in Pell grants. We asked one of those students to share why this grant matters to her.

Maggie Bollinger-Smith
Green River Community College

A Pell grant gives me so much more than money. A Pell grant gives me the opportunity to make the most out of my life. Education is the key to success, and Pell grants are the key to my education. I may only be 19 years old, but that does not stop me from knowing what is important. And my most important goal in life is to give back to world, to take care of the planet that takes care of the whole human race. Even before college, when I was sitting in my AP Environmental Science class back in high school, I knew that dedicating my life to environmental studies would be the only satisfying pursuit for me.

The fact of the matter is that while I am steadfast in my ambitions, I would not be able to keep up with rising tuition and full-time enrollment in college without Pell grants. I know how extremely fortunate I am to have this opportunity, so I take full advantage it. I am a driven student, eager to learn. I feel no great satisfaction than seeing “100%” written on top of my exams; I am aiming to be the best student I can be. My older brother, a WSU graduate, is my biggest inspiration for following through on this daunting task. He too, worked his way through college with the aid of Pell grants, and now he is a biochemist earning his master’s degree. He wants to use his degrees to find ways of producing vaccinations in plants so that they are more readily available to all people.

I have already begun to pursue my dream of giving back to the world; I am an English tutor for struggling international students at my school, and I am looking into tutoring for math as well. I want to share my knowledge with everyone. More importantly, I want everyone to have an opportunity to follow their own academic endeavors. Think not only of all the students whose lives are bettered by equal academic opportunity, but all the lives that will be touched by a student’s success.

Rashad Norris is the outreach director at Highline Community College. By teaching students how to advocate for themselves, Rashad is closing the education opportunity gap one student at a time. Are we really going to wait until he teaches each and every kid of color how to advocate for themselves to close the opportunity gap? What can the rest of us do?

Return to the What Can I Do? homepage.

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With the job market constantly in flux, more Americans are applying to colleges in hopes that a degree on their resume will give them an added boost in an interview. Those students are also banking on the idea that more education will result in higher wages. And while study after study prove this to be true, some colleges are proving to be riskier for the applicants.

You have all witnessed the daytime commercials for (mostly) online universities that are targeted towards the busy, full-time office professional, or the single mom, or the intrepid 20-something. Schools such as the University of Phoenix or Kaplan University may now be sounding familiar. Colleges such as these are only the Goliath’s out there representing a new breed of higher education: for-profit universities.

Based on the notion that college should be available to everyone who wishes to go to school, for-profit universities began gaining momentum in the 1990’s. The stock market was creating insane profits for the financial and housing sectors during this period. The idea was put forth that it could do the same for education. Danny Weil over at truthout.org wrote a poignant piece detailing the neoliberal history and downright criminal actions taken by many for-profit colleges.

While their marketing teams would like you to believe that they are recruiting a certain demographic, their student populations paint a different picture. Recently, for-profit colleges have come under scrutiny for actively appealing to applicants who must rely heavily on federal aid (FAFSA) and consistently have trouble paying it back to the government. The Washington Post reported on the Government Accountability Office’s findings that 15 for-profit schools were actively encouraging their applicants to lie on their financial aid applications.

The point, however, is not that certain populations are incapable of pursuing a college education or less deserving of one. An argument can be made that those left out of public and private universities are more deserving of a higher education degree. But the idea that the current crop of for-profit colleges is the best option for these students is completely false. They search out high-risk applicants, mire them in debt, and often leave them without a degree. For-profit colleges have sparked an exciting point that more Americans want to pursue a degree and we need to have an outlet for them. But we need to set them up for success, not failure.

Heading into a national holiday weekend celebrating all things freedom, it seems only appropriate to header each section with an homage thereto. You’ll pardon the literary license taken here and there.  And everywhere.

Freedom,  you’ve gotta give for what you take (George Michael, “Freedom 90”): A new report from the College Board reveals an important faultline in our nation’s institutions of higher education (IHE).  One important finding; our colleges and universities haven’t put forth the necessary effort to improve completion rates. A good deal of emphasis needs to be placed on better analysis of internal reporting, consistent focus on intervention with struggling students and making retention a priority. With mounting national focus on completion rates, the hope is that pressure will increase for the IHE’s to improve. One can hope.

Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose (Kris Kristofferson, “Me and Bobby McGee”): We all remember Ronald Reagan’s characterization of low income women as “welfare queens.”  The modern day version of this hyperbolic, demeaning and just gross depiction of the poor comes to us via U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-MT) who waxed eloquently about the plight of today’s low income college students thusly: “You can go to school, collect your Pell Grants, get food stamps, low-income energy assistance, section 8 housing, and all of a sudden we find ourselves subsidizing people that don’t have to graduate from college. And there ought to be some kind of commitment and endgame… “ Oh, there should definitely be an endgame, but it’s not the one Mr. Rehberg is hoping for.  Endgame for me is Mr. Rehberg looking for work sometime after November next year.

Freedom isn’t free (Trey Parker, “Freedom isn’t Free”) And while we’re on vitriol in the Ed-space, you’ll remember that a few weeks back I whined about the spewing taking place in the comments sections of every on-line news source, blog spot, and twitter-ama. The New York Daily News must have heard me, as they liken today’s education debate to the abortion wars. Time contributor, Amanda Ripley said, “”I spent my career writing about everything from abortion to terrorism to prisons, but none of these things compared to education. The nastiest emails I’ve ever gotten have been about education.”  Your intrepid writer spent some fifteen years or more in reproductive rights and would have to agree. Guess what happens when issues devolve to shouting (IN ALL CAPS, NO LESS)? People stop listening.

Tear down the walls, fight for your rights (Soul Descenders, “Freedom isn’t Free”) A new report from the Department of Education shows wide disparities educational opportunities. Nearly half the school districts surveyed do not offer Algebra II – an important course for college eligibility and success – and in 7300 schools representing 2 million kids, calculus was nonexistent.  An interactive tool lets you compare schools – though the schools I looked at didn’t have a lot of outcome data. While the opportunity gap is a growing concern across the country, a few states have had success in tackling it. Florida and Texas have placed a priority on getting low income kids and kids of color into advanced placement courses –  a needed focus on leveling the playing field for college eligibility.

Yeah, you know what I’m talking about (Yngwie Malmsteen, “Freedom isn’t Free”) Lately in Ed Reform, folks want to put all their eggs in the state policy basket. Whether it’s Illinois passing it’s mammoth law last week or Colorado last year or Oregon this week, state policy changes become this sort of golden unicorn set upon the schools to sprinkle “effectiveness” dust. Don’t get me wrong, policy is a good start. It’s necessary. But it’s a heck of a long way from sufficient. Put it this way; remember when your parents would tell you to go clean your room? (Or remember telling your own kids to go clean their room?) That was house policy. How it got done, well, that was implementation.   Here’s what some wonks are saying about Ohio’s budget bill that included education reforms; “The ultimate success of the budget’s education reforms will rely greatly on the implementation by the State Board of Eductation…” See, freedom isn’t free. Passing a law doesn’t make golden unicorns sprinkle dust, and an activist’s job is never done.

Got to get you some of that freedom (Jason Mraz, “Freedom Song”);  A taste of the Ed News from the week –

• The Center for Reinventing Public Education has a new report on urban districts using a “portfolio strategy” for dramatic improvement.
• The Community Center for Education Results got a nice shout out this week – spotlights the emphasis on improving education outcomes for kids living in the south end of King County.
• David Brooks provides observations on Diane Ravitch that make some good sense.
• A local federal turn around school shows some progress – with lots more to go.
• UW raises tuition by 20% – largest hike ever.

That will do it for this holiday weekend. Enjoy!

Today is the last day for 7th and 8th grade students to sign up for the College Bound Scholarship.

Students from low-income families need to fill out this online application pledging to graduate from high school, demonstrate good citizenship, and seek admission to a college or university.

Then the state of Washington will promise to cover tuition and fees at a state college or university.

If you know a 7th or 8th grade student who might qualify, please encourage them to apply today!

The Right Stuff: Speaking of quantum physics, advocates from Illinois share their Big Bang theory on getting huge reform to the finish line. (I love a mixed science metaphor.) Advance Illinois’ Robin Steans and the Joyce Foundation’s Ellen Alberding credit ”progressive leadership in key places, legislative resolve and momentum, and strategic outside pressure.” Will the collaborative nature of the work in Illinois result in strong, consistent implementation of the reforms (which should ultimately result in improved student performance)? That’s the hope.

The Kids are Alright: KIPP’s annual report card is out. How are they doing? Mostly, they’re knocking it out of the park. At 8^th grade, more than 90% of KIPP students outperform kids in the local districts. 89% of the kids who finished 8^th grade with KIPP go on to college within five years – within a year after graduating high school. College completion, though, is still a tough nut to crack. While 95% of their kids graduate high school (phenomenal) and 89% go on to college, only 33% complete a four year degree. I say “only” not because it isn’t good – it’s better than the national average (31%) – but because we’ve come to have such high expectations for KIPP that it just doesn’t seem KIPP-like. The folks at KIPP tend to hold themselves to a very high standard and are re-focusing their efforts on college completion. The report is a pretty good, honest reflection of their work. Check it out.

Do the Right Thing: A piece in the Huffingpost by Gaston Caperton and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is a stark reminder of how far we still have to go to get all kids ready for a healthy and exciting future.” Unfortunately, too many young men of color never get their shot at success. Just 26 percent of African-Americans, 18 percent of Hispanic Americans and 24 percent of Native Americans and Pacific Islanders have at least an associate degree.” For a better idea of what that means for students of color over all, check out the College Board’s interactive web page that breaks it down in terms employment, incarceration, even death. Add to this misery the new data showing that the achievement gap between Hispanics and their white peers hasn’t changed in 20 years and you have to ask yourself, when are we going to do this work differently? Better yet, why aren’t we? Which begs a different question about the lawsuit against the Harlem Success Academy. What gives?

And once you peruse this data, you can call up the Central Kitsap Reporter to ask them WTH? “Be smart, don’t go to college,” blares the headline. Really?

Mr. Right: Improving results for chronically underperforming schools has become a bit of a hunt for the holy grail. Federal, state and local models look for the silver bullet, THE solution, that ONE thing. Michigan is approaching the job with a model that empowers principals and teachers – not central offices – to get the job done. It creates a statewide district for the lowest 5% of Michigan’s traditional and charter public schools. Their new Education Achievement System puts the power or authority for change in the hands of the school principals and teachers. Very interesting approach.

That’s it this week. Thanks to everyone who participated in The Seattle Foundation’s GiveBIG effort yesterday. LEV raised more than $36,000 and the effort overall raised more than $3.5 million! Great work everyone.

I know many of you worry about my growing weary of the NFL lockout. You don’t mention it. But I can tell.  Thank you for caring. No, really.  Here now, the news;

Geeked Out: Last night’s speaker series event, “Innovations in Learning” was a huge hit. If you were one of the fortunate few hundred in the room, you couldn’t help but come away inspired by the possibilities of blended learning. We were joined by Shantanu Sinha, President and COO of Khan Academy, John Danner, Co-Founder and CEO of Rocketship Education and Tom Vander Ark, CEO of OpenEd Solutions. The insider look at how technology is transforming student outcomes was a real eye opener. Most of us feel that there isn’t nearly enough utilization of technology in our schools, but we get stuck when we try to insert technology on top of traditional systems – without looking at the opportunities for different ways to utilize teachers and other staff. Rocketship’s elementary school teachers are content specific – teachers don’t teach all subjects. Many schools and classrooms are now supplementing their curricula with Khan Academy lessons – giving kids more flexibility in how they learn math and science. For every parent who’s wondered about the 4,123 pounds of text books in our kids’ backpacks, last night was a breath of fresh air. BTW, anybody else notice the wicked resemblance between Tom Vander Ark and Tony Robbins? Like they were separated at birth.

Hard Wired: The success of integrating Pre-School to elementary grades is getting a deeper look. The impact of high quality early learning that is purposeful in aligning to expectations of kindergarten and beyond can be transformative – particularly for kids coming from low income families and children of color. As Arthur Reynolds, Professor of Social Work at the University of Wisconsin puts it, “When you plan and design a coordinated intervention from pre-school to third grade, those transition experiences…You’re altering all the elements of the educational process that make a difference to kids.” The impact locally is getting noticed by journalists and policy makers.  (HT to Laura Kohn for these sources – and shout out to New School Foundation for their work at South Shore – mentioned in the Hechinger piece.

Source Code: This week Microsoft announced intentions to focus on K-12 improvements. Brad Smith, Chief Legal Counsel announced this week Microsoft’s $25 M contribution to a state wide endowment for college scholarships and discussed interest in K-12 improvements. Governor Gregoire tasked Smith with spearheading a the higher ed task force last year and he is looking to build on that work.

Circuit Breaker: This guest op-ed by Tom Stritikus, Dean of Education at UW, in Crosscut reads innocuously enough. UW is working to provide alternative certification pathways to teaching, in particular, looking to provide the university backing for the Teach for America (TFA) corps coming to the Puget Sound next fall. A welcome effort in bringing this nationally regarded teaching corps to our ‘hood. But if you read the comments, you’d  realize that Stritikus hates puppies, laughed inappropriately during  “Steel Magnolias” and eats small chicks for breakfast. He is probably a Cincinnati Bengals fan. When historians record the fall of our current civilization, they’ll track back to the painfully personal way that comment threads kept a lot of people with intellectual prowess out of the public realm. (Aren’t you lucky, you didn’t have to wait for the collapse of civilization to get at its underpinnings.)

The Backend:

• What do highly effective principals look for in doing teacher evaluation and effectiveness?’ Expert Noticing.  It’s interesting.
• What’s a college degree worth? More than some think.
• We all know that a high school diploma doesn’t mean you’re ready for college, but the Army?
• How do you bridge the divide between what businesses want and what the workforce is trained for?  The POTUS speaks.
• When is good news not good news? When it’s high school graduation rates.

Walla Walla Community College

On Monday, Microsoft and Boeing announced they will donate a total of $50 million to the new Opportunity Scholarship Program, a public-private scholarship partnership created by the state Legislature under House Bill 2088. The partnership intends to create a billion-dollar endowment by the end of this decade to help low- and middle-income students earn bachelor’s degrees in high-demand fields.

If you are a 7th or 8th grade student, there’s even more help. The College Bound Scholarship will cover tuition and fees at Washington public colleges and universities for students who are on the federal free or reduced-price lunch program. All you have to do is sign a pledge promising to graduate from high school, demonstrate good citizenship, and seek admission to a college or university. But you’ve got to hurry, the deadline is June 30th.

If you know a 7th or 8th grade student who might qualify, please encourage them to fill out this online application.

House and Senate budget leaders announced their bi-partisan budget agreement one day before time runs out on the 30-day special session. The biggest shock was House budget leaders agreeing  to a 1.9% across-the-board salary reduction for teachers and 3% for principals and administrators. The Senate had proposed 3% for all educators while the House had proposed a freeze of the salary schedule for teachers.

Now the question for districts across the state will be how to carry out these cuts, especially if they have  already negotiated multi-year contracts. Some districts will avoid cutting salaries by raiding their fund balances or eliminating programs. Other districts others will have to reopen negotiations which will open the door to unpaid furloughs for teachers and fewer school days for students. Some districts may strike. The League of Education Voters believes the Legislature cannot sidestep the State’s constitutional duty to fund basic education by forcing districts to make the decisions about how to take cuts. Whether a 3% or 1.9% cut, it is a cut to basic education.

This looming issue aside, in most areas of the budget, House and Senate budget negotiators met in the middle, particularly in education.

K-12 Education

Including major cuts to K-3 class size ($136 million) and the continued suspension of 728 ($860 million) and 732 ($260 million), reductions to schools statewide will total more than $1.8 billion. The State will have to defend these cuts before the Supreme Court when oral arguments are heard in McCLeary v. Washington on June 26th.

Here are some examples where the House and the Senate met in the middle:

• K-3 Class Size: $33.6 million for K-3 class size reduction in high-poverty schools – House had originally proposed $25 million and the Senate $64 million.
• Fully Day Kindergarten: $5 million to continue roll-out of FDK beginning with high-poverty schools – The Senate proposal did not include any increase unlike the House which added $6.4 million.
• Alternative Learning Experience (ALE) funding: reduction of $41 million – The House had proposed a $53 million cut to ALE in contrast to the Senate’s smaller reduction of $26 million.

Early Learning and Higher Education

Very little changed in the final budget with regards to early learning, with one notable exception. Funding for the state’s high-quality PreK program (ECEAP) was increased slightly with the addition of some federal funds. WaKIDS received full state funding while regretablly, the proven Career and Wage Ladder for early learning teachers was eliminated.

In Higher Education, the budget carries out the plan to make sharp cuts to four-year institutions and then offsets the reductions  in other ways. The budget gives institutions the authority to raise tuition, increases the financial aid to offset the tuition increases, and requires that institutions further increase financial aid if tuition is raised higher than what was assumed in the budget. Two-year institutions will also see cuts and tuition increases.

LEV 2011-13 Budget Priorities (Click here for a PDF version of our budget chart.)

Click here for a PDF version of our budget chart.