Category: Education

Core 24 – Education for the 21st Century

The State Board of Education will consider changes to the required number and distribution of credits required for high school graduation at their meeting tomorrow and Thursday. It is clear to the legislature, and pretty much to everyone who looks at the issue seriously, that it’s almost impossible to be prepared for college with fewer than 24 credits. Since I believe that every child should have the opportunity to go to college if that’s what they want to do it’s clear to me that high schools should be required to offer 24 credits. (This means at least a six period day.)

A bipartisan group of legislators sent a letter to the State Board of Education that expresses our opinion on this. You can read more about the issue at http://www.educationvoters.org/2010/09/10/core-24-23-23-21-19-18-17-16/ and send your comment directly to the State Board. They’ve heard a lot from me on this issue and hearing from you will help.

Budget Thoughts

This email came to me early in the session in 2010 and was incredibly touching. It’s easy to get involved in the details of the budget in a very technical way and forget the human needs we try to address. As a policy geek I’m perhaps more subject to this than other people.

Dear Rep. Hunter,

I just got done listening to the Governor’s speech and I feel for the first time in my life I must write to someone. I hope you are that someone. I am 53 and my daughter is 19. She has just finished her 1st quarter of college at Western Wash. Unversity. I have worked hard all my life. I have rasied my daughter alone. We are fortunate enough to have health insurance thru Basic Health. Now I hear that it is in jeopardy of being shut down. Please do not let this happen. I am to old to be without insurance and I cannot afford any other. They raised our premiums last year so they didn’t have to let people off the plan. I was hoping that we were safe. Please you must try and find a way to save Basic Health without letting people go. They are alot of people that depend on this insurance. Otherwise most of us would have to go to the ER and end up costing the state more money in the long run.

I am also asking that you find the money to contiune with the state need grants for higher education. Without that money my daughter will have to quit school and end up working some dead end job. She worked very hard in High School so she could go to college. She is the first in our family to ever go to college. She goes full time to school and works part time to have extra money for books and anything else she needs. I know that once she finish college she will do something good for this world, but she depends on the state grants for help. Please find some way to keep those also.

Thank you for reading this and I know that this will be a very diffcult session with some hard choices but education and health care to me are the two most important issues.

Thank you,

<Name withheld by Ross>

Customizing education via the Internet

My friend Richard Brodie commented on my labor day post that he thought education could be delivered a lot lot faster and cheaper over the internet. This sparked a debate about the effectiveness of machines over real teachers, the value of daydreaming, etc. Both points of view are incredibly valid. Here’s what we’re looking at on the “using the Internet” front. Daydreaming seems to take care of itself in schools…

Tens of thousands of students in Washington are now attending online high schools, where all the material and the interaction is delivered over the Internet. Al Gore would be proud. These schools are serving many kids for whom a traditional school isn’t the most effective way to get education – people who are remote, have special needs, don’t like the social environment, are being home-schooled, etc.

We’re starting to do analysis of the results, but it looks like we have a big drop-out rate. We also have concerns about students needing special education and not being able to get it from remote districts. I have some concerns about how the financing system works, but all of these are unrelated to the fact that many, many families in Washington are being well-served by these schools.

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Labor Day – Where do we go from here?

The Seattle Times today is filled with stories about the future of the American worker, and how workers of tomorrow will have to have more education and skills than many of today’s workers.

Labor Day 2010: Few jobs for low-skilled workers

There is a certain irony this Labor Day at a time of record unemployment, writes Evelyn Ganzglass. Fixing the problem requires more than creating an environment in which the private sector can create new jobs. Too many of today’s workers lack the skills necessary to compete in the 21st-century

Future jobs: More skills or less pay

Whenever companies start hiring freely again, job-seekers with specialized skills and education will have plenty of good opportunities. Others will face a choice: Take a job with low pay — or none at all. That’s the sobering message American workers face as they mark Labor Day at a time of high unemployment, scant hiring and a widespread loss of job security

I recently finished Richard Florida’s book “The Great Reset” which makes a similar case. You can read a short(er) article on by Florida in March issue of The Atlantic magazine on the same topic. Click here for the article. I recommend the book.

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KJ Does a Crossover Dribble on Ed Reform

Kevin Johnson headshotThe League of Education Voters is sponsoring a speaker series on public education. The first event features Kevin Johnson, former NBA star and currently mayor of Sacramento, talking about ed reform. He’s the chair of a task force of big city mayors appointed by Arne Duncan to improve education in the inner city.

The event is October 7 in Seattle:

Preparing Students for Success
Kevin Johnson
Mayor of Sacramento & Founder of St. HOPE
Thursday, October 7 at 7 p.m.
Mount Zion Baptist Church
1634 19th Ave, Seattle, WA 98122 (map)
Register for this free event

For more info check out the LEV site www.educationvoters.org. Click on the “Speakers Series” tab for details.

Interesting Study on Charter Schools

The US Dept of Education just released a study on charter middle schools that’s worth reading. Click Here for the report.

I’ve supported charter schools in the past as a way to experiment with new ways of building schools, but not as a panacea for all students. Just like regular schools, charter schools vary significantly in their performance. Most large scale studies find that there isn’t a huge difference in overall gains in student achievement between charters and traditional schools. This study of charter middle schools (funded by the federal government) isn’t any different.

The main conclusions:

  • On average, charter middle schools that hold lotteries are neither more nor less successful than traditional public schools in improving student achievement, behavior, and school progress.
  • The impact of charter middle schools on student achievement varies significantly across schools.
  • Study charter schools serving more low income or low achieving students had statistically significant positive effects on math test scores, while charter schools serving more advantaged students—those with higher income and prior achievement—had significant negative effects on math test scores.
  • Some operational features of charter middle schools are associated with more positive (or less negative) impacts on achievement.

This study looked at popular charter schools (presumably among the more effective) and found that they produced student gains in low-income urban areas and declines in student performance in higher-income populations.

I don’t find this surprising. In many lower-income urban areas that are served by charters the traditional public option is not compelling. Higher-income suburban areas often have much stronger schools.

It’s worth reading the executive summary of this study for the somewhat obvious insights – some schools are better than others, regardless of the charter/non-charter distinction. It’s up to us as policy makers to figure out how to make all the schools better – we should all have above average schools. (I understand that we can’t all live in Lake Woebegone, but we can hope, can’t we?)

 

 

Education Data

For a number of years we’ve been working on improving the collection of data about education. This has been painful – there are 17 different data systems across K-12, plus different systems in each of the higher ed silos and no data collection at all in early learning. We’re trying to make sure we understand what works and what doesn’t. Good data is like History – without it we’re likely to repeat what we’ve been doing, regardless of how well it works.

Of course, none of the individual people who control their existing system want to change, so this has been a bit painful. We just got a big grant form the feds to improve our system. The following is from the Governor’s press release on the topic:

Washington Awarded $17.3 Million for Education Data System

For Immediate Release: May 21, 2010

OLYMPIA — Washington state was awarded $17.3 million for the design and implementation of a statewide data system, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced this morning.
The money is being funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Known as a statewide longitudinal data systems grant, the money will support the development of an integrated data system from early childhood education to adult employment.

There’s more – click here: http://www.governor.wa.gov/news/news-view.asp?pressRelease=1504&newsType=1

Important Education Bills Signed

I sent out the following press release today on the signing of several key education bills. We mostly stayed focused on the budget, but stayed the course on ed reform, both financial and structural. THese bills don’t do all that I want, but are a step in the right direction.

———————–

AUBURN – Rep. Ross Hunter (D-Medina) joined Governor Gregoire and dozens of education advocates at Auburn High School this afternoon to celebrate the signing of more than a dozen education bills passed by the Legislature this session.

“Despite the enormous focus on our state’s budget challenges, we haven’t let that distract us from our ongoing work to reform and improve our schools,” says Hunter who has been extensively involved in education finance and reform efforts. “I can’t think of any other issue we’ve made this much progress on in the past two years.”

Of the numerous bills signed today, four were passed in the final hours of the regular 2010 legislative session when breakthrough compromises were negotiated between the House and Senate.

HB 2776 sets in motion five recommendations from the Quality Education Council, the group tasked with implementing the reforms outlined in the education funding reform bill Hunter played a key role in passing last year. The bill:

  • Establishes a new prototypical school funding model that will simplify the budgeting process and increase transparency.
  • Requires a phase-in of smaller classes of 17 students in kindergarten through 3rd grade by the 2015-16 school year.
  • Requires increased funding for maintenance and operation costs, costs the state currently only provides about half the funding for.
  • Implements a new pupil transportation funding method.
  • Accelerates the workgroups focused on local levy and teacher compensation issues.

“The recent King County court ruling confirms we haven’t been meeting our constitutional obligation to fund our education system,” says Hunter. “But ultimately, it isn’t just about more money but the best use of our money. We made some big promises with last year’s reform bill and these next steps prove we’re serious about making sure every one of our children gets the best education possible. There’s still much more to do but we’re moving in the right direction.”

Reform was also the intent of SB 6696, a bill designed to make Washington more competitive in the Obama Administration’s competitive education grant program known as Race to the Top (RTTT). SB 6696 outlines reforms related to accountability, educator evaluation and educator preparation. Major provisions include a new accountability system to turn around low-performing schools, an updated evaluation system for teachers based on student achievement, and expanded teacher preparation opportunities to help more people who want to become teachers find quality prep programs.

Hunter also pointed out the significance of the Governor’s approval of HB 2731 which expands quality pre-school across the state and secures early learning as a new state entitlement program.

“When we crafted last year’s education reform bill it was important to us that we find a way to get more children into quality early learning programs,” says Hunter. “The research is undisputable – there isn’t any other investment more worthwhile than quality early learning programs. Children who enter kindergarten ready to learn are far more successful in school and life, saving us millions in remediation, welfare and criminal justice costs.”

Also approved was a critical school levy bill, HB 2893, aimed at boosting school districts’ ability to collect local, voter-approved funding. Most districts can currently use levies for no more than 24 percent of their budgets. Last year the Legislature suspended funding for I-728 and I-732, voter-approved initiatives for class size reduction and teacher cost-of-living increases. The reduced funding meant school districts were collecting less levy money. This legislation allows school districts to calculate their levies as though that funding were still in place, temporarily offsets cuts made by the state last year by allowing a temporary four percent raise in the levy lid, and increases levy equalization funding for property-poor districts.

“This allows school districts to collect the full amount of money their voters approved, instead of allowing it to be reduced by arcane funding formulas from Olympia,” says Hunter. “We allow school districts to cash a check their voters have already approved.”

Other bills signed by the Governor today include HB 2621 which expands resources and assistance for creating more STEM schools (science, technology, engineering and math), SB 6403 to establish collaborative new models of reducing dropout rates and re-engaging dropouts, and HB 2801 to update and strengthen anti-harassment and bullying policies in schools.

# # #

Contact: Rep. Ross Hunter – (360) 786-7936 or hunter.ross@leg.wa.gov

Media staff: Jaime Smith – (360) 786-7631 or smith.jaime@leg.wa.gov

How Much is Enough?

A constituent asked me the following questions in email this week and I think the answers are worth pointing out.

1) Can you show me the studies that indicate there is a correlation between money spent per student and student achievement? It would be good to know that spending more money would get better results.
2) How much money is enough? The common cry is that the state doesn’t spend enough money, but I wonder how we define “enough”. Is there some percentage of the budget or dollar amount that would be satisfactory and get different results from what we get now? (refer back to above question)

 

I pointed her to the results of a study we did in 2008 – the Basic Education Financing Joint Task Force. We used the Washington State Institute for Public Policy to examine the research in education, try to weed out the questionable work, and quantify what we proposed and how it would affect student learning. I warn people that reading too much into the details here can lead to absurd results, but I think they did a good job.

The results for our proposal, which is about a 40% increase in spending are below. More detail on their methodology is available in the actual report, available here. See appendix B.

Results

At the December 8, 2008, meeting of the Task Force, we presented preliminary long

run effects of the Task Force portfolio on high school graduation rates in Washington.21

We update these estimates here. According to the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, the current high school graduation rate in Washington is about 72.5 percent. This is a cohort on time graduation rate.22 We used the procedures described earlier to project two estimates: how both the Task Force proposal and the zero based option could be expected to affect this rate. These effects are estimated 14 years after full implementation of the options to reflect the estimated long-run effect of investments in pre‐school and the other grades at the end of the education cycle in 12th grade.
Task Force Recommendation
We project that the Task Force recommendations would increase the modal graduation rate to about 81 percent from its current level of 72.5 percent. Exhibit B‐1 plots these two figures and also indicates the significant amount of uncertainty around our estimated effect of the Task Force portfolio. The total area under the curve represents all cases from our simulation modeling. For example, in a small number of cases, the graduation rate could be expected to be much higher—over 90 percent; in most cases, however, it would be in the 78 percent to 84 percent range, with the modal case of 81 percent. The range largely reflects the underlying uncertainty in the expected effect of additional educational resources on student outcomes.

 

 
 

 

 

 
 

 

School Funding post-McCleary

A broken piggy bank filled with money.I have not yet completely read the long opinion Judge Erlick issued yesterday in a court case brought by school districts, parents, and educator groups but I’m excited by the summary and the implications for a positive impact on school funding in Washington. The judge ruled that the state does not adequately fund public education and that we are not meeting the constitutional requirement that we “amply provide for the education of all students.”

Like most judicial opinions that require the state to do something, rather than an opinion ruling some action of the state unconstitutional, there is a lot of deference given to the legislature in how to carry out the ruling. For example, when the US Supreme Court ruled in the Brown vs. Board of Education case the ruling phrase was that we should use “all deliberate speed” in eliminating segregation in schools. This was pretty ambiguous, but served as the basis for many actions, including federal protection of children attending previously forbidden schools and much court supervision over desegregation plans.

Judge Erlick ruled that the plan we passed last year (HB 2261, the result of our Basic Education Financing Task Force) was an acceptable framework for clearly stating what basic education entails and determining the cost. I’m pleased that the plan we produced meets the court’s approval, but now we will have to both close down the details of it AND determine a funding plan.

Continue reading “School Funding post-McCleary”