Tele-Town Halls on K-12 Education

The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) and Ready Washington invite you to join a telephone town hall meeting about Washington's K-12 learning standards and assessments. This is your opportunity to learn more and ask any questions you may have about learning standards and assessments in our state.

OSPI and Ready Washington will host a telephone town hall on the following dates and times:

• Friday, September 9th from 12-1 p.m.
• Tuesday, September 20th from 12–1 p.m.
• Wednesday, September 28th from 7–8 p.m.

To participate and live-stream a telephone town hall on your computer or mobile device on the dates above, please visit www.readywa.org/townhall.

To help ensure all students are ready for success after high school, the Common Core State Standards were established. Washington’s K-12 learning standards are aligned to the Common Core State Standards and provide clear, consistent guidelines for what every student should know and be able to do in math and English Language Arts from kindergarten through 12th grade. The Smarter Balanced assessment system, which is aligned to the new standards, provides a way for teachers to measure student progress on those standards throughout the year and make adjustments and interventions as necessary to ensure students are on the pathway to success. The assessments are administered in grades 3-8 and 11.

To learn more, visit www.k12.wa.us and www.ReadyWA.org.

Sources: OSPI and ReadyWa

Washington State Board of Education Community Forums

The State Board of Education (SBE) will hold a board meeting March 9-10 in Renton. Public comment is scheduled during the meeting; however, the Board recognizes that those times may not be the most convenient for community members, so the SBE will be hosting an additional open forum.

Please join board members for an open discussion about important topics, such as strategies for closing the achievement gap, standards, and college and career readiness. The community forum will be held Tuesday, March 8 at 5:30pm at the Renton Community Center.

Not able to attend? Visit the SBE board meeting page for the remainder of the 2016 board meeting dates, locations, and meeting materials.

This is a public meeting and all are welcome. You may bring guests or share this invitation.

If a quorum of board members are present, this will be a public meeting per RCW 42.30.030.

Location

Renton Community Center, Banquet Room

1715 Maple Valley Hwy

Renton, WA 98057

Contact

Stefanie Randolph, Communications Manager

Washington State Board of Education

(360) 725-6501

stefanie.randolph@k12.wa.us

Learn More and Get Your Questions Answered on Washington's K-12 Learning Standards and Assessments

The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) and Ready Washington (ReadyWA) invite you to join a telephone town hall meeting about Washington’s K-12 learning standards and assessments. This is your opportunity to learn more and ask any questions you may have about learning standards and assessments in our state.

OSPI and ReadyWA will host a telephone town hall for the communities below on the following dates:

Wednesday, July 22 | 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Southwest Washington, Olympic Peninsula, Kitsap Peninsula and Tacoma

Thursday, July 23 | 7:00 pm - 8:00 p.m.

Central and Eastern Washington

Tuesday, July 28 | 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Northwest Washington

Thursday, July 30 | 7:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Puget Sound area

Tuesday, August 4 | 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.

South Puget Sound

To participate and live-stream a telephone town hall on your computer or mobile device on the dates above, please visit the Tele-Town Hall on K-12 Education website.

To help ensure all students are ready for success after high school, the Common Core State Standards were established. Washington’s K-12 learning standards are aligned to the Common Core State Standards and provide clear, consistent guidelines for what every student should know and be able to do in math and English Language Arts from kindergarten through 12th grade. The Smarter Balanced assessment system, which is aligned to the new standards, provides a way for teachers to measure student progress on those standards throughout the year and make adjustments and interventions as necessary to ensure students are on the pathway to success. The assessments are administered in grades 3-8 and 11.

To learn more, visit the OSPI website and the Ready Washington website.

National PTA President Otha Thornton Shares Efforts and Resources to Support Parents and Students with the Common Core

National PTA was featured in a story on the Common Core that aired on NBC4 in Washington, DC. In the story, President Otha Thornton shares National PTA’s efforts and resources to help parents understand the standards and new assessments as well as empower them to support their children with their learning. The story can be viewed by visiting: http://www.nbcwashington.com/video/#!/news/local/Common-Core-Presents-Parents-With-New-Challenges/283280431.

Additionally, President Thornton was invited to record a podcast as part of Learning First Alliance’s Get It Right campaign on the Common Core. In the podcast, President Thornton shares efforts undertaken at the local, state and national levels to ensure parents have an understanding of the standards, including what they are, how they came about and how they will help children graduate ready for college and today’s workforce. Visit http://www.learningfirst.org/get-it-right-podcasts-otha-thornton to listen to the podcast.

Source: National PTA

59th Day of Legislative Session E-Wire - Sine Die Tomorrow!!!

Hi folks,

The E-Wire has had a rough week trying to keep priority PTA Bills in play down in Olympia. Veteran lobbyist, Nick Federici, described the situation concerning several of these bills as “Schroedinger’s Cat” Bills.  Dead, yet alive at the same time.  For the most part, we consider most of these priorities very much alive and their ability to remain so at the waning hours of the session depend on PTA members burning up the wires telling their legislators to keep moving ahead on these issues.

This is where we are at so far:

CTE - Alive, and not subject to Cut-off.  The House Bill is in the Senate, but is not likely to move anywhere.  The Senate Bill is part of SB 6552.

Breakfast – now likely dead, but it is still in the House Budget.  It is not subject to cut-off, but unless there is agreement in the Majority Caucus, it will not be passed this session.   

Rural Schools - Endangered, but still alive and not likely subject to today's cut-off being that it is in the House Budget.

Omnibus Education - Endangered, but still alive.  It is rumored that the legislature has embraced an amendment offered by Representative Sam Hunt.  Information from the striker is listed below.

Foster Care Expansion - in Senate - Alive, and currently in the Senate. It is a budget item, so not likely subject to cut-off.

Capital Budget - Funding School Construction – there are competing bills to address some of the needs this year.  Their likelihood of passage is unclear at this writing.  We report on them below.

If you are reading this – and have not contacted your legislator this year – you need to – we’re close to hitting the mark on most of the bills we prioritized this year and, hey, we’re greedy for kids – let’s get them all out!

E-Wire for March 3rd - Counting down to the Close!

Guess what happened over the weekend?  Yes, the Senate pulled together a series of bills to move forward on the Transportation Budget.  Senator King has offered 13 votes and is asking for 12 votes from the Democratic Caucus to pass the bill.  It has no referendum clause and it has some issues that may be non-starters in the House.

Guess we will see, eh?

Last Friday also seemed to be the witching hour in the Senate.  The move in committee to kill a bipartisan supported bill raised eyebrows among members.  This led to a floor fight, which the Democrats lost.  Here is the transcript of hearing that led to 9^th Order Move by Senate Democrats.

On a lighter note, the Senate is currently hearing a proposed solution to the Teacher Evaluations issue that has bedeviled the legislature all session.  The House has its own version.  Nothing doing,  but doesn't anyone remember that the vote against this bill concerning teacher evaluations was bipartisan?  Just wondering.  Here is the House Version and the Senate Version.

The Washington State School Directors Association will be hitting the hill tomorrow in an attempt to push the legislature towards addressing a long-standing unfairness in the way the state funds rural districts.  The goal would be to adopt language which lets school districts keep timber subsidies for counties that have Federal Forests and Parks in their jurisdiction.  Washington State is the only state that takes the money into the General Fund and doesn't allow school districts to keep the additional funds for school programs.  WSSDA will try to get the State to change this long-standing practice.  The PTA supports their efforts and supports the policy to allow these communities to be compensated for the tax revenue loss created by our ability to enjoy their bounty. 

Do you agree? Funding, gaps are big K-12 worries

Americans weigh in on public education in 44th Annual PDK/Gallup Poll

• Americans not so sure high school grads are ready for work (more than 4 out of 10 say no)
• They feel good about teachers (7 out of 10)
• They are split about using students' state standardized test results in teacher evaluations

• Press release
• Full report