“Washington state is in the cellar of national education statistics,” writes Mary Jean Ryan, chair of the Washington State Board of Education. “We are 44th in total expenditures per student, 35th in high-school-graduation requirements, and the list goes on. We are veritable front-runners in the race to the bottom. It's time we climb out of the cellar.”
Her column, which ran in the Seattle Times earlier this week, draws attention to two bills under review that seek to redefine basic education, House Bill 1410 and Senate Bill 5444.
It enacts CORE 24, the state Board of Education's new plan to boost college- and work-readiness for high-school graduates. It demands stronger accountability, more effective teaching, and replaces the confusing array of hard-to-follow formulas with straightforward budgeting parents can understand. These bills offer a new investment strategy for a vastly better K-12 system.
The bills also take steps in the right direction to tie teacher evaluation and compensation to effectiveness in the classroom and strengthen accountability for improved student performance. Having an effective teacher makes all the difference for a student. And the time for accountability reform is now. The bills still face funding questions, but their importance remains a top priority for the 1 million public school students in Washington.
The last time basic education was redefined in Wash. was in the late 1970s—and how times have changed. Six months into 2008 there was roughly 100 billion text messages sent in the U.S. alone. Cell phones didn’t even exist in the 1970s. We live in a rapidly advancing digital age, and we need to make sure students are getting the education they need to be prepared for college and 21st century careers. And, with all students needing some sort of post-secondary education to compete in a growing global economy these bills deserve attention.