Senate Early Learning & K12 Committee

February 1, 2011

Good morning, Madame Chair McAuliffe and members of the committee. And I�ve asked Judy Hartmann, my policy advisor on education to join me this morning.

Well, together, for six years, we have been engaged in an ongoing effort to improve outcomes for our students. Along with teachers, principals, presidents, trustees, parents, students of all ages, we have sought to help all Washingtonians succeed in school and succeed in life.

We live in the most competitive environment for jobs in our lifetimes. You can�t design new medicines, you can�t assemble cutting-edge airplanes, you can�t drive the green economy; you can�t develop new computer technology without a good education.

We know that in 2009, those with bachelor�s degrees had an unemployment rate of 4.6 percent.

It was twice that for those with a high school diploma, of 10.5 percent.

We know now that two-thirds of the new jobs that we create over the next eight years will require a certificate of some sort or a college degree.

So, the status quo, in my opinion, is simply not meeting the educational needs of our students for the 21st Century.

Let me give you some examples:

Too often a student starts kindergarten today not ready, and that student then falls behind, never catches up and ultimately drops out. We need to have a seamless transition and working relationship between early childhood education and kindergarten.

Too often, students fall between the cracks. For example, we were wondering several years ago why students weren�t graduating from high school and our immediate thought was, well, because they didn�t pass their exams. Well, that wasn�t true. They didn�t transition well from middle school to high school. And in the first year of high school they failed so many classes they fell behind in their credits and never caught up and therefore were not eligible to graduate.

Too often, students are stalled when they enter college. They must take remedial math or English, rather than the courses that count towards their degree. Students, parents and the state cannot afford these do-overs.

Let me give you an example. High school graduates in 2007 � of those who went to community college, 53 percent had to take a remedial class. 46 percent had to take remedial math.

Too often, students don�t know whether their advanced high school work will qualify for college credit because it�s decided all too often institution-by-institution whether to accept that credit, or department-by-department within an institution, as to whether to accept that credit.

Too often, our teachers are not prepared to teach the math and science our students need. In fact, today in our high schools, in our middle schools and grade schools, far too many of our teachers in math have neither a major nor minor in that subject.

Too often, there is a lost connection between who our schools need at the front of the classroom and who our colleges of education prepare. We need to ensure our colleges of education are preparing our workforce for early learning all the way through K through 12, so that we have at the head of the class the best that we can get to educate our students.

Lastly, STEM is the international language of economic competition � science, technology, engineering and math. Yet we produce far too few students interested and proficient to compete in the 21st (Century) jobs that are out there for our students.

So, if we ask students, parents, business � if we ask ourselves if the status quo is working, I think we would have to admit it is not.

How this recommendation came about, candidly, is up to me. I � last summer, thinking about all the work we had done together over the last six years � asked myself, why is the system not improving? Why are we not getting better outcomes for our students?

It was then that I had my own, personal �ah-ha� moment. And it was: because we don�t have an educational system in Washington state. We have silos, educational silos. Eight different agencies. Fourteen different major educational plans. No bringing those all together.

I have proposed we create a Department of Education to accomplish that.

It will be seamless � from preschool to grade school, from grade school to middle to high school, from high school to community college, from community college to a four-year university.

It will be student-focused. Everything must focus on the students and what�s good and right for the students � not grade levels, not seat time, not turf, not institutions, not preserving the status quo � but designing learning programs that meet students� needs so they can succeed in the 21st Century.

We need to have one strategic plan that crosses the entire system and supports students from birth to career.

For example, let�s talk about math curriculum. Something we�ve been working on for six years � but we need to make sure what happens in preschool translates to kindergarten, translates to K through 12, on to college for our students. We need a system to make that happen.

And finally we need to have a nimble system. We are in a time of dramatic change. Technology is running that change. We need to be able to make sure we can have a system-wide response, when we must, to the kind of technological change that we are seeing around the globe.

We will share best practices and use them. All too often we find one school or silo has found a way to meet a student�s needs in some respect or area but we have no way of making it on scale. No way that that good that has happened can translate across the entire system and make sure everybody benefits from that success.

At the same time, we need to make sure we are looking at best practices, not just in the United States. We can�t compare Washington state to the rest of the country. We are the most globally competitive state. We need to be looking around the globe and asking where the competition is and making sure that were adapting and our students are prepared.

For example, our community colleges are using online text books. These cost-effective practices will be implemented system wide.

Finally, we have to have unified accountability, and a system where we know who will be held accountable as to whether we are succeeding or not.

The only clear, effective to way create system-wide accountability is through a single secretary of education � one leader who is accountable to the governor, to the Legislature and ultimately to the public at large.

I want to be clear: this is not about one governor. This is not about power. It is not my friend with whom I work and get along very well, the superintendent of public instruction. It�s not about those things.

This is about our students. It�s about succeeding, and us recognizing we�re not just any old state in America. We�re Washington state. Our geography demands us to be at the cutting edge of making sure our children are ready to succeed and compete in those 21st Century jobs.

My message today is, let us unite with one goal in mind. That goal is: how do we meet the needs of our students? How do we create a real, true education system, so that our students with be able to succeed in school and in life?

And with that, madam chair, I would be happy to answer your questions.