As we continue to do outreach as a staff, we’ve heard a recent uptick in comments and concerns about the norm-referencing that occurs in the Student Growth Percentiles (SGP) methodology which is at the heart of the revised Index proposal.  Recently, stakeholders – through our AAW feedback process, through WSSDA regional meetings, and most recently, through our conference call with ESD superintendents – have asked questions about why the move toward norm-referencing, instead of an alternative means of measuring student growth that sets objective standards of year-to-year growth.  After all, it seems we are less concerned with whether your growth is “above average,”; what we really care about is whether you are getting the academic growth you need to be successful — to be, in that famous phrase, “college and career-ready” by the time you exit high school. Continue reading »

Dear colleagues:

As the legislature considers significant new investments in K-12 education, we need to ensure that these investments result in improved outcomes for children. One certain way to achieve this is by strengthening high school graduation requirements.

Our school system should prepare students for the next step in life, whether it’s additional education and training, or direct entry into the workforce. Too often, however, students leave the K-12 system without the knowledge and skills they need to take the next step towards gainful employment. And too often, our minority students are left behind disproportionately. Continue reading »

When we look at the changes the K-12 system would undergo to fully implement the 24-credit Career- and College-Ready Graduation Requirements, it becomes clear that requiring 3 credits of science is a key change. Other changes remaining to be implemented, such as 2 credits of world language and an additional arts credit, are flexible credits—classes that students may substitute with other classes if they work better for the student’s education and career goals as described in the student’s High School and Beyond Plan.  But the additional credit of science is a core credit, one of the 17 mandatory credits in the Career- and College-Ready framework.

Three credits of science, with 2 laboratory credits, would not only help prepare all students for a full range of post-secondary options, but would also support a technologically prepared workforce in our state. Continue reading »

As many of you have read in the news lately, the Washington Policy Center has issued a series of A – F grades using our Achievement Index. For a number of reasons, the State Board opposes this approach. We testified against the bill in the state legislature, and we do not use A – F grades in our current Index framework. Board member Kris Mayer wrote a letter in opposition to this approach; it can be read here.

An Index, comprised mostly of test scores, is very useful as an initial evaluative screen. It helps us understand which schools are struggling, but not necessarily why. You can’t label a school or its staff a “failure” by merely looking at test scores in a spreadsheet. You need to understand something more about the school and why the data tells the story it does. Continue reading »

Senior Policy Analyst Linda Drake walks through the flexible options within the State Board of Education’s 24-credit framework for career-and college-ready graduation requirements.

These requirements were approved by the State Board at their November, 2010 meeting, but full implementation of the framework is pending legislative authorization and funding. The State Board of Education will only support moving forward on these requirements when they have been approved and fully funded by the legislature.

The Global Challenge States, generated from Washington Learns, comprise the top eight states on the Progressive Policy Institute’s New Economy Index [NEI, 2002].  They were identified for the purpose of creating a meaningful comparison group that more closely approximates our state’s socio-economic situation.
You’ll notice that in the first graph, our performance on NAEP substantially exceeds the national average except for 4^th grade reading, where WA is still on top but the margin is narrow.

This comports somewhat with the results in the 2^nd graph, in which our 4^th grade reading scores are on an overall downward trend since 2005, even before the transition from WASL to MSP.  I continue to argue that 4^th grade literacy scores should be a focus going forward.

Re: NAEP, In each case, our performance lags behind the unweighted average of the Global Challenge States.  For graduation rates, our performance falls below both unweighted averages (NAEP and national), which is somewhat anomalous; it will be interesting to see if that trend continues beyond the first year of the comparable 4 yr cohort data.

-Ben