Adding blue . . .

The map below from Education Week shows Indiana, the first state to pull back from the Common Core State Standards in blue.  In the article it identifies two additional states, Missouri and South Carolina as the next states to possibly join Indiana.  What wasn't shared was the possibility of Oklahoma becoming the next state which happened on Friday when lawmakers sent a bill to the governor repealing the standards.  

If the governor signs there will then be two states with others seriously considering the same action. Just how blue will this map get and what will it mean to the federal education department's drive for common standards and common assessments?

I found the following statement from a co-sponsor of the bill interesting.

But instead, said Shannon, with Common Core "the federal government has disregarded parental rights, over-regulated teachers, and over-tested our kids. Parents, local governments and teachers are better equipped to meet the needs of their students than the federal government. Parents and teachers are the best leaders for quality education in Oklahoma communities — not bureaucrats in Washington, D.C."

It appears that their legislature is also moving forward on repealing the Next Generation Science Standards.

Sykes, meanwhile, said he and Breechen also succeeded in amending another bill to repeal Next Generation Science Standards, which "heavily promote global warming alarmism and do not prepare students for work in STEM fields.

NEWS responds . . .

As the plaintiff in the McCleary case, the Network for Excellence in Washington Schools (NEWS) filed their brief with the State Supreme Court in response to the what they see as the legislatures failure to meet the Court's demands by April 30 for a detailed basic education budget plan.  It is no surprise to any of us that they are not pleased with the legislative response and are asking the Court to hold the legislature in contempt once again ratcheting up the potential for major conflict between the two bodies.

(2) submit a “complete plan for fully implementing its program of basic education for each school year between now and the 2017-18 school year” – including “a phase in schedule for fully funding each of the components of basic education” identified in ESHB 2261 and SHB 2776.

January 2014 Order at p.8 (underline added).
That was an Order.
Not a suggestion.

As the following pages explain, however, the State’s 2014 filing did not comply with that Order.
Instead, the State did what it had been ordered to not do. It offered promises about trying to submit a plan and take significant action next year – along with excuses for why the State’s ongoing violation of kids’ constitutional rights and court orders should be excused this year. Plaintiffs18 respectfully submit that this Court should not condone the State’s violation of court orders or constitutional rights. Plaintiffs accordingly request that this Court take immediate, concrete action to compel compliance with the court orders and constitutional rights that the State continues to violate in this case.

In the brief NEWS is basically asking the Court if court orders really matter.

This Court must decide whether court orders really matter. The defendant in this case understood the January 2014 Order’s complete phase-in-plan requirement. But it did not comply. Just like it did not comply with the similar mandate in this Court’s December 2012 Order. A defendant’s violating court orders is perfectly fine if court orders don’t really matter in our State. But plaintiffs respectfully submit that court orders do matter, and that all defendants – even the government – must obey court orders.

They go on to make the following request of the Court.

Plaintiffs’ respectfully submit that the school children of our State need this Court to create that urgency by following through and firmly enforcing its rulings in this case. Strike one was bad. Strike two was worse. But strike three is completely unacceptable if court orders or constitutional rights matter in this State. Plaintiffs submit that at the very least, this Court should accordingly:

 Hold the legislature in contempt of court at least until the State fully complies with the Court Orders in this case.
 Enjoin the State from digging the unconstitutional underfunding hole deeper by imposing any more unfunded or underfunded mandates on its schools.149
 Declare that if the State does not fully comply with this Court’s January 2014 Order by December 31, 2014, this Court will in January 2015 issue strong judicial enforcement orders (such as those by other courts noted above) in order to compel the State to comply with this Court’s Orders and with Washington childrens’ positive constitutional right to an amply funded education.

Strong language and a challenge to the Court.  Now we wait to see how the Court will respond.  The response will have a significant impact on the 2015 legislative session and long term status of public education in our state.

Validating belief . . .

In this Seattle Times Education Lab Blog post, Claudia Rowe interviews Matt Chaltain author of  “Our School: Searching for Community in the Era of Choice.”  I haven't seen the book and don't see myself reading it, but the question and answer below caught my attention.

Q: What’s common to good schools — whether publicly or privately funded?
A: The truth is most schools are pretty good. Very few are truly great. But among those you see again and again that they create a culture among the adults that is collaborative, transparent and empowering. Kids pass through. Adults are the keepers of the culture. The way that you make lasting change is by valuing and supporting the adults, the educators. We may give lip service to this, but we lack sufficient examples of how to do it well. The reality is, we’re still more likely to be persuaded by the illusory hardness of the quantitative proof — test scores — even though there is an overwhelming consensus that reading and math scores are not enough.

So much of what I believe is embedded in this answer to what makes schools good.  It is at the heart of our consensus decision making in two Association agreements.  It captures the importance of the focus on culture and my belief in the need for transparency in our work.  It shares our belief in the need for teacher voice in major decisions impacting classrooms when the doors close and it demands capacity for adults to sustain conversations on difficult and emotional issues driving the need for our foundation of communication knowledge and skills.  I would say that we are good and are on the organizational learning journey to the great that Chaltain refers to in his answer.

Consider joining us . . .

This evening I was on a conference call with other board members of E3 Washington.  If you know me well, you know that I am not a joiner especially at the board level, but when asked I found myself saying yes.  On the phone call this evening, I found myself asking why as I am the budget representative and we are experiencing, as many non-profits are, significant budget issues. As I now reflect, I know why and it is in the focus of the work which is on sustainability and our aspiration to work at the state and regional level to bring other organizations and individuals together to promote sustainable communities and education for sustainability.  I believe that there is no other organization in our state positioned to perform this important clearinghouse role.

An event that we sponsor is the E3 Summer Evening Experience where we honor individuals and organizations in the following categories; Informal Educator, Tribal Leader, Diversity in Action, Government, and Student Leader.   The information for the evening is below.  Please consider attending and supporting our work, tickets are $30 for an evening of celebration, networking, learning, and food and beverages.  If you are interested in sponsoring the event please let me know.

Some personal sharing . . .

It has been quite some time since I last posted about a "last", but they keep occurring as my retirement date is right around the corner.  What Bruce shared with me last year has proven to be true, with each passing month the time seems to accelerate.  The next few weeks will be filled with them; last work study session, last board meeting, last ELT meeting, last office barbecue, last TEA bargain, last Director breakfast, last . . .  They just keep coming.

As the day gets closer I find myself becoming more comfortable and accepting of my decision.  With the leadership in our system supporting the Board and Rob, our learning journey will continue.  The bond passage has presented us with unprecedented opportunities for adaptive changes to create learning experiences for young people and adults that meet the external demands placed on the system and those embedded in our Future Ready initiative.   I am proud of who we are and what we have created and know that over time Tahoma will be an even better place for young people and adults to share learning experiences.

Yet, there will be much that I will miss especially the interactions and opportunities to support growth with my colleagues.  There will also be many hours in the day that must be filled.  I keep being told not to worry because there will be "things" to occupy my time, my worry is that they may not be as rewarding and energizing.  I guess I'm looking forward to when I feel as good about a "first time" as I do about going to work every morning.   I know that day will come and hope for it to be soon.

Competing with the best . . .

The results of last month's We the People competition in Washington D.C. were released this week and we have much to be proud of and thankful for.  Though our team didn't reach their goal of finishing in the top 10, they won the Western Regional Award as the top finisher in the west for only the second time in our We the People history.  With release of the national scores we now know that we finished 11th, one point away from the coveted 10th place and 25 points better than the 12th place team.  Sad, but also affirming as this shows that our team can consistently compete with the best in the nation.

You may be wondering why the focus on finishing in the top 10 instead of being number one.  After two days of competition, the top 10 teams are then invited to compete on Sunday where the championship and other places are determined.  You can't win without making the top 10 cut and competing in the last round.

Way to go Tahoma!  I'm so very proud of you and continue to be in awe of the commitment and expertise that our unbelievable coach, Gretchen Wulfing brings to this year-round program and to our kids.  We are very fortunate to have this competent and caring individual providing leadership for this program.  I'm sure she is already thinking about what needs to be done for next year's top 10 finish.

We may have company . . .

I thought you might like to know that Wyoming may be joining Washington in losing their NCLB waiver.  According to this report from Education week they are in jeopardy because the state's accountability model does not meet federal expectations and they have taken the position that no changes will be made to the state plan to meet the requirements of the federal department.

The letter also quotes this statement from the education policy adviser to Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead: "[A]bsolutely no change to the Wyoming accountability model may be undertaken in order to satisfy the feds in exchange for a (sic) NCLB waiver."

We know from experience that if you push back with the wrong button you get slapped with a waiver loss.  It will be interesting to see how it plays out in Wyoming.  in a previous post I shared how Indiana's waiver is also in trouble.  If both states were to join us that would be thousands more letters to parents about "failing schools" that might be enough to force action at the federal level to limit the department's reach and finally reauthorize ESEA the driver behind NCLB.