It's an idea that I've been playing with for a bit now, and a conversation I had at lunch today helped to spur it along even farther: what would the possible governor/SPI matchups mean for the future of education in Washington State?
There's a great post up at the News Tribune right now comparing the differences between Terry Bergeson and Randy Dorn based on a debate that happened today. You can get the education platforms for Rossi and Gregoire off of their respective websites.
(An aside: Rossi's is much more fully developed. C'mon, Chris)
So let's dream about the future, shall we?
Scenario 1: The incumbents both win. What changes? Very little. The work of the Basic Education Finance Task Force is finished and promptly ignored, much like Washington Learns. Some version of the WASL remains in place, because there's no way in hell that Terry can back away from that test now. The biggest name in education in Washington State turns out not to be either Gregoire or Bergeson, but rather Rep. Dave Quall and Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe, because the legislature has already shown an alarming disregard for our Superintendent and I see no reason why that would change. In that environment your committee heads become that much more important. This isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Results: A WASL, but a different WASL. We keep on keepin' on.
Scenario 2: Same Governor, New OSPI. Fun one to consider. Gregoire has come out in support of the WASL in past years, though that support has become noticably more tepid (especially towards math) as the test becomes a bigger and bigger target for the public. Randy Dorn has come out pretty strongly against the WASL and for ditching the entire system:
For over a decade, OSPI has clung to the test it created--the WASL--which is currently a bureaucratic, exorbitant waste of taxpayer dollars providing no useful information to teachers, students or parents. I will overhaul the assessment system to make it cost effective, less wasteful of precious class time, and capable of providing timely results that aid effective instruction and provide a national comparison of our students' performance. The new system will focus first on improving student learning and the money saved will be put back into the classrooms where it belongs.Remember that piece about saving money, because it's a Dino plank as well.
A Dorn administration would give Gregoire cover. Don't like the system? Give our new OSPI time to fix it. Hate the WASL? Randy's working on that, too. Randy has some other views (notably merit pay) that would put him at odds with teachers, and it could create an odd dichotomy between the Governor, the WEA, and the OSPI.
In short: the pace of change slows as Dorn tries to shape OSPI in his own image. Governor Gregoire gets more cover. Eventually a new testing system has a chance to grow out of the relationship, but not immediately.
Scenario 3: New Governor, Same OSPI. Pick one to be Felix and the other to be Oscar:
Bergeson: "We've changed the culture of learning in our state and we're on a journey that's not over," she said. "It's well worth the time it's taken to do it." (1)Vs.
The first step in improving our education system is to replace the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) with a new test that has clear standards and a proven track record of success. (2)I have a very, very hard time seeing how the two of them could work together. Bergeson has been pounding the podium for more school funding; Dino refuses to raise taxes. Bergeson would accept changing the periphery of the test; Dino proposes throwing the whole thing out entirely. In a Rossi administration you'd suppose that many of the categorical programs that contribute to the bloat of OSPI could be at risk, and that's not change Terry can believe in.
Rossi points out correctly that ditching the WASL could have the potential to save tens of millions of dollars, money which could be re-invested into the system, but he has his own designs on that money that don't match up with Terry's. Further, if you believe that Dino's transportation plan would siphon money out of the general fund and hurt education spending by making the pie smaller, then Terry's slice also gets smaller by default.
Results: dysfunction junction.
Scenario 4: New OSPI, New Governor. The hardest to predict. Randy and Dino seem to be the most compatible when it comes to the nuts-and-bolts of how to change the testing system. Randy's made some noise about merit pay, which dovetails nicely with Dino.
With a $2.7 billion dollar deficit revenue shortfall staring us in the face, though, ideas are going to be hard to fund. Would this dynamic duo be able to get anything accomplished?
Results: Division of Yalta.
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It's going to be an interesting November.
Crossposted from I Thought a Think.
Posted by TeacherRyan at September 25, 2008 09:58 PM | Email ThisJust to be clear; I am not against testing and standards; I am against the useless WASL which is based on silly standards that have proven to be useless to our students. Students that have had 10 years of WASL curriculum need remedial classes in college more than ever before.
Posted by: Agent99 on September 26, 2008 04:30 PMBergeson is hell-bent on 'peer teaching' (this is where students teach other students) and 'discovery curriculum'(where students are given little instruction and must teach themselves). This is why there is so much group assignments and game playing in the classrooms.
If some one has 12 years on the job and has actually made things worse, then it is time to go!
Posted by: Agent 99 on September 26, 2008 06:34 PM
When you write "Dorn has made some noise about merit pay" I read in the TNT post you link to that Bergeson is far more supportive of this than Dorn.
Dorn even says he'd have the WEA decide who merits merit pay.
To note that both have ties to labor is only technically accurate, Dorn benefitted from the largest ever attack ad campaign in SPI history funded by the SEIU.
The WEA is supporting Dorn.
The WEA opposes Bergeson.
Bergeson did lead the WEA in the past as part of a movement to make the union more student centered. We see how they now repay her for that effort.
Further I've worked closely with Terry Bergeson for almost a year and have discussed a host of education polciy topics with her, but not once has she ever mentioned this peer to peer stuff you seem so worried about. Good new Agent 99: you can relax about that topic.
Further the claim that schools are worse off today than they were 12 years ago is plainly false. SAT scores, ACT scores are all now at the top of the nation. Previously they were in the middle of the national averages.
Posted by: Alex Hays on September 27, 2008 10:56 PMAnother big, big problem with Bergeson is she will not enforce the laws currently on the books dealing with school choice, special education or Title 1/NCLB. If Bergeson were serious about getting schools to improve, she'd excercise OSPI's option to initiate fund withholding from wayward districts.
The duty of any state education agency is to enforce state and federal law, but OSPI, like most state ed agencies, sees itself primarily in an assitive role, albeit one that is in charge of the purse strings to local districts. Given that K-12 education funding makes up about ONE QUARTER of the state's entire budget... this means a very few people (administrators in OSPI) are controlling a whole lot of money -- and you can believe they enjoy being in power and seek to protect the status quo.
We must ask ourselves as taxpayer what we think the likelihood is that one of smaller state agencies in proportion to its funding allocation and spending budget is ripe for mis and malfeasance, and out and out fraud. And -- no other state agency gets the sacred cow reputation that education does, for they enjoy the reputation that to be educators, they must be noble, stalwart individuals to be working for such low pay.
Incredible -- once one realizes that nothing they do is based upon science or peer-reviewed studies -- it is all one giant, ongoing experiment on our kids. The WASL, begun in the early 1990s with Clinton's reauthorization of the ESEA, is Big Ed in Washington's apogee.
What a sorry, sorry state Washington is in with its education woes.
Posted by: School Marm on September 27, 2008 11:00 PMWe spend between $52-72 per student depending on grade in Washington state (and that figure looks to go up as we add science to the mix). We spend an amazing amount of time giving the test and scoring the test. Think of that amount of money being spent throughout the country. It's money that goes to companies creating this stuff and money that never even reaches the classroom.
Assessments are fine but bloated tests in 50 states is not the way to go. Dunning schools that could be passing 94% of their students (like in Conn.) but can't reach NCLB "goals" is crazy.
So it's not just Washington state but the whole country. The ACT and SAT don't take days to give but the WASL does. And the WASL is Terry Bergeson's baby and for that, she needs to go.
Posted by: westello on September 27, 2008 11:29 PMAs a district employee, I've had occasion to scribe for students taking the WASL, so I have intimate knowledge of the last several years' tests. As a parent, I know that an exorbitant amount of time is spent preparing for and "practicing" taking WASL-like tests. The amount of time these exercises take is stunning. If I wasn't there with my own eyes seeing the toll this takes on education, I wouldn't believe it! The testing itself can be spread over weeks, during which time other learning is set aside. No homework, altered schedules, general dischabile (sp). Truly stunning.
It's really time for some common sense to come into play. Let's use some generally-accepted, easily-administered STANDARD test. Quick and easy, and get back to spending time educating our children rather than testing them.
As to peer teaching, yes, it's out there and increasing all the time. There's lots of group discussion and group projects and group seating and group thinking and group grading. I don't like it. Our students don't use many textbooks anymore, either, so it seems there's a general decline in students' abilities to extract information from that type of reading. It's really sad. Parents are SO responsible for supplementing and tutoring if they can afford it to try to fill in the gaps, because all the kids are learning at school is how to take this test!
Posted by: oly parent on September 28, 2008 07:39 AMThere is no need or reason for WA to spend gazillions reinventing the wheel -- a poorly reinvented wheel at that -- when cheaper, more effective and appropriate alternatives already exist.
If we wait for the legislature or the next Great New Hope SPI to fix this problem, we'll be waiting a long, long time.
Posted by: School Marm on September 28, 2008 09:09 AMhttp://soundpolitics.com/archives/011636.html
Guess again. We still linger around 25th in the nation, despite Bergeson's spin.