Federal Stimulus

The Impact of Effective Teachers and Principals

maureen — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 14:31:38 -0500

The Impact of Effective Teachers and Principals
State Board to Rule on New Graduation Requirements
Federal Education Jobs Bill Under Fire

Introducing Partnership for Learning’s New Policy Brief: The Impact of Effective Teachers and Principals

Partnership for Learning is pleased to announce the first in a series of reports on how Washington state can build an education system that prepares all students to succeed in college and world of work. Stay tuned throughout the summer as we release a new report every few weeks.

This week: The Impact of Effective Teachers and Principals

What matters most when it comes to increasing student achievement? Small class sizes? Whether a child lives in poverty? A fair and equitable state school finance formula?

While the above, and much more, play a role in raising student achievement, teacher and principal effectiveness has a greater impact on student learning than any other factor in a school system.

To learn more, read the report.

State Board to Rule on New Graduation Requirements

Next week, the State Board of Education will rule on the future of CORE 24 and the content of Washington’s new graduation requirements. Partnership for Learning, along with the Excellent Schools Now Coalition, has sent a letter to the State Board urging them to adopt college and work ready graduation requirements for all students. The letter states:

“As things currently stand, too many of our high school graduates are not prepared for community college or apprenticeships — and many do not even meet the minimum admission standards for our public baccalaureate institutions.”

“This is not the time to retreat on the strong graduation requirements that the 2009 Legislature put in motion. We have an obligation to ensure that we set all of our students up for success in college and careers. It’s not just about doing the right thing for our students and their families. Smart reforms to our education system will drive critically needed economic growth and prosperity.”
View the full letter.

The State Board will be taking public comment on the graduation requirements on Tuesday, July 13 at 4:30pm and Wednesday, July 14 at 11:45am at Anacortes ESD 189. Individuals who are unable to attend, but would like to express their written support of CORE 24 can email sbe@k12.wa.us.

Federal Education Jobs Bill Under Fire

Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the Education Jobs Bill—legislation that will provide $10 billion in aid to local schools districts to avert massive teacher layoffs and $5 billion to help the current shortfall in Pell Grants for college students. While the bill protects teachers’ jobs and scholarships, it has drawn significant opposition from the Obama Administration and Department of Education due to an amendment submitted by Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, which would trim $800 million from the following education reform programs:

Teacher Incentive Fund: cuts $200 million from total budget of $600 million
Designed to make grants to states or districts that agree to reform teacher compensation systems to reward student achievement.

Race to the Top: cuts $500 million from total budget of $4.35 billion
Competitive grant program that awards funding to states willing to make reforms surrounding four assurances: standards and assessments, teachers and leaders, turnaround schools, and data systems.

Charter Schools: cuts $100 million from total budget of $256 million
Provides grants to assist with start-up costs of establishing new charter schools.

With the bill now moving to the Senate, which is on recess until the week of July 12, the Obama Administration is urging Congress to consider alternative funding means that will protect both teachers jobs and the reform work being conducted by the Department of Education. Without an alternative funding proposal, the Obama administration has signaled that it will veto the entire education jobs bill stating, “The Administration urges the House to include education jobs funding in a version of H.R. 4899 that does not rescind education reform funding. If the final bill presented to the President includes cuts to education reforms, the President's senior advisors would recommend a veto.”

The Institute for a Competitive Workforce: The Education Stimulus Report

maureen — Wed, 19 May 2010 12:06:06 -0500

Check out this great report on where we are in the federal education stimulus from the Institute for a Competitive Workforce.

Help Washington Race to the Top!

maureen — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 15:25:37 -0500

You can play a role in ensuring Washington submits a bold and innovative Race to the Top application.

Right now, we urge all school districts across the state to participate in Washington’s Race to the Top proposal by signing the application’s Partnership Agreement. Districts must return the Partnership Agreement to the state by May 17.

We also strongly urge districts to participate in the Innovation Clusters featured in the state’s Race to the Top application. These Innovation Clusters are vitally important to Washington’s application because they incentivize the reforms and innovations necessary to make Washington more competitive for federal funding. Designed to provide districts additional assistance to implement targeted reforms, Innovation Clusters are focused on four key areas:

Improving teacher and leader effectiveness
Strengthening STEM education and achievement
Improving college and career readiness and closing the achievement gap
Turning around the lowest-performing schools

The more support we have from school districts, and the more districts participate in the Innovation Clusters’ bold reforms, the better chance we have of increasing student achievement, closing the achievement gap and receiving $250 million from the federal government.

Please help Washington race to the top by calling the Superintendent or school board members in your school district and urging them to participate in Race to the Top and join the Innovation Clusters. It’s the right thing for our students and state. To find the contact information for your district's leadership, please view this list.

Together, we can create real change and build a future for Washington state students. Let’s not miss this important opportunity for accelerating our education reform efforts. For more information about the Washington’s Race to the Top application, visit www.waracetothetop.com.

Washington Plans to Submit 52 i3 Grant Applications

maureen — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 12:10:56 -0500

Washington districts, universities, agencies and nonprofits submitted 52 letters of intent to the U.S. Department of Education over the last month signaling their intention to apply for a share of the federal $650 million Investing in Innovation (i3) Grant.

The i3 program, funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, is designed to foster and expand innovative education strategies at the local level in one of four areas:

Innovations that support effective teachers and principals
Innovations that improve the use of data
Innovations that complement the implementation of high standards and high-quality assessments
Innovations that turn around persistently low-performing schools

Applicants may apply for one of three types of grants under i3, each with different requirements and funding levels:

Scale Up, up to $50 million: requires strong evidence and ability to scale at the national, regional or state level;
Validation, up to $30 million: requires moderate evidence and ability to scale regionally or at the state level; and,
Development, up to $5M: requires reasonable evidence and the ability to further develop and scale.

To learn more about the Investing in Innovation Grant and see which Washington groups plan to submit applications, visit the Department of Education’s website.

In-depth Analysis of Race to the Top Finalists

maureen — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 11:54:36 -0500

Looking for an in-depth analysis of Race to the Top finalist applications? Curious why the finalists "Raced to the Top?" The wait is over.

Check out our analysis of the Race to the Top Finalists.

A Call to Invest in Innovation

maureen — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:58:40 -0600

A Call to Invest in Innovation
The Common Core Standards Initiative: Uniting States Around Student Learning

A Call to Invest in Innovation

The Department of Education released the final guidelines and rules for the Investing in Innovation (i3) grant program this week. The i3 program, funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, is designed to foster and expand innovative education strategies at the local level in one of four areas:

Innovations that support effective teachers and principals
Innovations that improve the use of data
Innovations that complement the implementation of high standards and high-quality assessments
Innovations that turn around persistently low-performing schools

The $650 million i3 fund shares the goals of Race to the Top to drive and stimulate reform, but also spur the systemic transformation needed to impact student achievement and bolster our economic competiveness as a nation. Unlike the Race to the Top grant program, however, the i3 fund accepts proposals from individual districts, or groups of districts, and from non-profits that are collaborating with individual districts or groups of districts.

In order to be eligible for an i3 grant, applicants must meet nine specific eligibility requirements including a focus on high-need students, demonstration of prior success, evidence to scale-up programs and the ability to secure 20 percent in matching funds from the private sector.
Applicants may apply for one of three types of grants under i3, each with different requirements and funding levels:

Scale Up, up to $50 million: requires strong evidence and ability to scale at the national, regional or state level;
Validation, up to $30 million: requires moderate evidence and ability to scale regionally or at the state level; and,
Development, up to $5M: requires reasonable evidence and the ability to further develop and scale.

Each of the three types of grants will be scored against the same 100-point scale, based on seven criteria:

Need for the project and quality of the project design
Strength and research, significant effect and magnitude of effect
Experience of the eligible applicant
Quality of the project evaluation
Strategy and capacity to bring to scale or to further develop and bring to scale the project
Sustainability
Quality of the management plan and personnel

It is expected that more than 1,000 districts and nonprofit organizations will submit i3 applications to the Department of Education by the May 11, 2010 deadline. All grant awards will be announced in September 2010. To learn more, visit the U.S. Department of Education’s website.

The Common Core Standards Initiative: United States Around Student Learning

Washington students no longer compete with students across the classroom, county or state line, but with students across the globe. To maintain our competitive edge, we need every student to be well prepared to compete not only with their American peers, but with students from around the world. At its core, this means holding all our students to the same rigorous standards—and making sure that our standards are benchmarked not just nationally, but internationally.

This is the mission behind the “Common Core Standards Initiative” and the Initiative’s draft K-12 standards released yesterday for public comment. In a process being led by governors and chief state school officers in 51 states, territories, and the District of Columbia, these draft standards—developed together with teachers, school administrators and experts—seek to provide a clear and consistent framework to prepare our children for college and the workforce.

President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan have endorsed the Common Core standards. State adoption of the standards is part of the Race to the Top grant criteria and it is rumored that the Administration may tie adoption of the Common Core standards to Title I funding for disadvantaged students.

“Creating common standards hasn't always been popular,” said Sec. Duncan in July 2009. “Right now, though, there's a growing consensus that this is the right thing to do.”

Due to President Obama and Secretary Duncan’s endorsement, 48 states including Washington, have signed on to potentially adopt the standards and many states have taken legislative action to require implementation. Governor Chris Gregoire and Superintendent Randy Dorn have signed an agreement to participate in the development process and potentially adopt the standards. Washington’s Race to the Top legislation calls for provisional adoption of the standards.

Designated as a Race to the Top finalist, Kentucky has already begun implementing the standards. Thirteen of the other 15 finalists plan to adopt the standards by August 2010. And, for many states, the process of standards adoption is only the beginning.
With assistance from federal State Standards and Assessment Consortium grants ($350 million in total) and organizations such as Achieve, ACT, and the College Board, groups of states plan to band together to build common assessments around the standards.

Washington is currently a member on two such consortia: a formative assessment group working to design a measure of a student’s knowledge at the beginning of a course; and a summative assessment group working to design a measure of a student’s knowledge at the end of the course.

This movement represents a sea-change in national education policy that will ensure that students are receiving the same college-ready curriculum regardless of the state they live in and allow the federal government to truly compare student performance between states for the first time.

So far, the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers have received feedback from national organizations representing teachers, postsecondary institutions, civil rights groups, English language learners, and students with disabilities. However, both groups encourage those interested in the standards to provide further feedback by Friday, April 2, 2010, at www.corestandards.org. The standards are expected to be finalized in early Spring 2010.

Federal Investing in Innovation Grant Guidelines Announced

maureen — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:52:18 -0600

Secretary Duncan Releases Application for $650 Million to Support Innovation

March 8, 2010

FOR RELEASE:

Contact: Sandra Abrevaya
press@ed.gov
(202) 401-1576

WASHINGTON — U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today announced the Department of Education's final priorities and the grant application for the $650 million Investing in Innovation Fund (i3). The fund, which is part of the historic $5 billion investment in school reform in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), will support the development of path-breaking new ideas, the validation of approaches that have demonstrated promise, and the scale-up of the nation's most successful and proven education innovations.

"Many of our generation's greatest breakthroughs occur when people are willing to invest in small scale projects with big scale potential," said Duncan. "We need to identify these pockets of promise in the education community and give them the resources they need to grow."

Individual school districts or groups of districts can apply for the i3 grants, and entrepreneurial nonprofits can join with school districts or a consortium of schools to submit applications. To qualify for the competitive grants, applicants will need to address one of the four areas that are driving the Obama administration's school reform agenda: supporting effective teachers and principals; improving the use of data to accelerate student achievement; complementing the implementation of standards and assessments that prepare students for success in college and careers; and turning around persistently low-performing schools.

Applicants will receive a competitive preference if their project addresses one or more of the following priorities: improving outcomes for young children; expanding students' access to college and preparing them for success in college; addressing the unique needs of students with disabilities and of limited English proficient students; and serving schools in rural areas.

Unlike other federal grant programs where evidence is a selection criterion, in the i3 program evidence is a formal eligibility requirement. The i3 regulations also include specific definitions for what constitutes strong evidence, moderate evidence and a reasonable hypothesis and will award three types of grants based on these three levels of evidence. Development grants will require a reasonable hypothesis and will be aimed at helping develop fresh ideas, Validation grants will require moderate evidence and will be aimed at validating and spreading promising programs to regional scale, and Scale Up grants will require strong evidence and will be aimed at bringing proven programs to national scale. The Department expects to make Development grants of up to $5 million each; Validation grants of up to $30 million each; Scale Up grants of up to $50 million each.

"This fund awards three different grants to programs at three different stages of development that all share one thing in common- evidence of success," said Duncan. "We will award modest grants for new ideas, more for programs with moderate levels of evidence and significant funds to those with the strongest track records of success. There is no argument for investment more powerful than a program that is making a difference in the lives of our kids."

Once identified as an award recipient, successful applicants will need to demonstrate how their programs will be sustainable after their federal grants are completed as well as find a 20 percent cash or in-kind match of the federal award from the private sector. To assist recipients in their efforts to find private matches and to serve the larger purpose of creating an innovation community, the Department of Education has launched an online community, the Open Innovation Portal. This is the first national forum within which entrepreneurs, education stakeholders of all types, and funders can partner to develop and fund innovative ideas in the education sector. Through this portal, the Department will hope to facilitate partnerships by convening like-minded individuals to accelerate the development, identification, and broad use of innovative products, practices, and processes to improve education in schools.

Applications will be due in mid-May and grants will be awarded in September. In the coming weeks, officials from the Department's Office of Innovation and Improvement will hold informational workshops in Atlanta, Baltimore and Denver that will be web-accessible. President Obama has proposed an additional $500 million of the i3 program in his fiscal 2011 budget.

Applications available here: http://www.ed.gov/programs/innovation/index.html

Round One Race to the Top Finalists Announced!

maureen — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 12:30:10 -0600

And the finalists are....Colorado, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Check out the U.S. Department of Education's announcement and letter to governors for more information.

More analysis from the Partnership coming soon!

Race to the Top Finalists Announced

maureen — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 11:56:24 -0600

The End is in Sight for Round One Race to the Top Finalists

Bold Finalist States Represent a Call to Action for Washington

Sixteen of the 41 applicants that applied in Round I of Race to the Top were identified today as finalists for the federal competitive grant program, which will award a total of $4.35 billion in stimulus funds to states that present the most promising education reform plans. The finalists are: Colorado, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Applications were evaluated against a 500 point rubric and a nationwide network of 58 peer reviewers that included teachers, principals, superintendents, college professors, scholars, business leaders and education advocates advised education Secretary Arne Duncan in his decision. All finalist states scored over 400 points.

The road ahead for the 16 finalists includes a trip to Washington D.C. to meet with Secretary Duncan and senior staff from the Department of Education to verify and clarify the states’ reform plan to ensure that implementation is possible. The winners in Round I of Race to the Top are scheduled to be announced in April and, following the announcement, the department will publish the scores and comments for each applicant. According to the Department of Education, less than 10 states will likely win in the first round and no more than half of the total grants will be awarded to ensure robust competition in Round II.

Given the decision by Governor Gregoire to apply in Round II of Race to the Top, Washington has a slight advantage in that the state can reference all Round I applications and closely review those of the finalists in the development of the state’s application. Furthermore, the decision to apply in Round II provides the state legislature the opportunity to implement policies that align to those in Race to the Top. To this end, it is critical for Washington to pass crucial education reforms this legislative session that will help Washington’s application shine, including:

Provisions to allow for state intervention and turnaround in low-achieving schools;
Adoption of the Common Core Standards;
Expansion of alternative routes to certification for teachers and leaders;
And, implementation of a new four-tiered teacher and leader evaluation system with student growth as a significant factor.

With Round II applications due on June 1, the state is gearing up to develop an application that allows Washington to demonstrate boldness and innovation against the four assurances: Standards and Assessments, Great Teachers and Leaders, Turnaround Schools and Data Systems to Support Instruction.

View PFL’s spotlight on bold state finalists.

For more information on Washington’s current Race to the Top policy legislation, SB 6696, please read this helpful analysis.

To access the Department of Education’s Race to the Top criteria and guidelines, visit t heir website.

Greater detailed analysis on the Race to the Top Round I finalist applications will be provided shortly. Check back soon!

Making the Case for Student Growth

maureen — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 17:19:08 -0600

Washington Superintendents Call for Reforms to Teacher and Principal Evaluation
Making the Case for Student Growth in Teacher Evaluation

Washington Superintendents Call for Reforms to Teacher and Principal Evaluation

Yesterday, the Superintendent of Public Instruction and 38 school district superintendents from across the state sent a strong message to the state legislature: support bold Race to the Top education reforms by overhauling Washington's teacher and principal evaluation system to include student growth data.

The letter outlines specific reforms the state needs to approve in order to compete for its share of the Obama Administration's $4.35 billion Race to the Top grant and, more importantly, increase student performance, close the achievement gap and prepare our kids for college, work and life.

View the letter

Making the Case for Student Growth in Teacher Evaluation

Great schools cannot exist without great teachers. In fact, research increasingly confirms that an effective teacher is the single most important factor in increasing student achievement. If Washington wants to ensure that every student graduates ready for college and the workplace, our state must ensure that every public school classroom is staffed with an effective teacher that increases student achievement.

But, what is an effective teacher and how can “effectiveness” be identified? Education leaders across the nation, including Education Secretary Arne Duncan, agree that the key measure of an effective teacher is the ability to drive growth in student achievement over time. By incorporating student growth measures in principal and teacher evaluation, teacher effectiveness data becomes readily available.

As Washington considers the role student growth will have in the development of a new, statewide teacher evaluation system, lawmakers must consider the current condition of teacher evaluation in our state.

In theory, teacher evaluations are critical sources of information throughout a teacher’s career. In practice, however, evaluations are often meaningless actions that do not support a teacher’s development or credibly differentiate the various performance levels of teachers. Not only do struggling teachers slip through the cracks, but excellent teachers receive no meaningful recognition. Meanwhile, districts miss important opportunities to communicate to their newest teachers a culture of high expectations and standards. Our weak evaluation system disrespects the hard work and dedication of Washington’s teachers and turns a blind eye on the real and urgent academic needs of our students, many of whom continue to fail to meet basic academic standards every year.

While there is no existing perfect system for Washington to look toward, waiting for that perfect design to be developed and implemented will only guarantee that we continue to provide inadequate education to students for years to come. It’s time for Washington to take bold and ambitious steps to do things differently.

This spirit is present in the priorities of the Obama administration, particularly, in the Race to the Top competition, and in emerging news about the direction of Title I funding and the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act. The federal government is setting a vision and direction to vastly improve public education and, by doing so, has created a safe space to have conversations once regarded as difficult or impossible. And states, whether unionized or right-to-work, southern or midwest, are acting on this vision and committing to develop a better system that focuses on what we know matters most – teachers and school leaders.

In Illinois, a state with strong representation from the Illinios Education Association (IEA), Governor Pat Quinn passed a bill addressing these reforms in January 2010, in time to support the state’s Race to the Top application. Senate Bill 315 requires school districts to make student performance at least 50 percent of the teacher evaluation criteria and it prohibits school districts from seeking to waive or modify the use of student performance data. Districts will be charged to develop new ways to evaluate teachers together with their local unions, however, if agreement on a new system cannot be reached within 180 days (90 for Chicago Public Schools) districts will be required to use the state-designed model.

In Tennessee, Governor Phil Bredesen led through the legislature Senate Bill 7005, which requires teacher evaluations to be comprised of 50 percent student growth data. Through a collaborative process with the Governor, school district leaders and the Tennessee Education Association a common vision, goal and commitment to improving teacher effectiveness was established. With shared leadership, the state was able to successfully pass one of the most rigorous evaluation models in the nation.

The work done in Illinois and Tennessee offers a roadmap for states like Washington that are still debating the use of student growth data in teacher evaluations. Both states have demonstrated that, through collaboration and a willingness to be bold, common ground can be found among institutions historically thought to be at odds.

At the end of the day, we must remember what reforms to teacher evaluation are all about: establishing a stronger and improved education system. Washington’s students deserve no less.

To learn more about what other states are doing to reform teacher and principal evaluation, please read this summary and the visit the U.S. Department of Education Website to view the Race to Top applications of other states.