The Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee is hearing from state schools superintendent Randy Dorn about federal Race to the Top money.

“One of the things that is tackled in Race to the Top is the achievement gap,” he said. The good news: He said in about a week they’ll announce that the achievement gap in Washington “might be getting a little bit smaller” and the dropout rate might be in the same boat. The most current dropout rate is about 28 percent, he said.

One of the challenges of Washington’s education system, Dorn said, is that math and science performance is low.

On Race to the Top: The program, created by the Obama administration, creates a competition out of improving the education system. In a video played by Dorn, Obama said “the states who outperform the rest will be rewarded with a grant” — and not everyone will get funding.

The state could get up to $250 million in Race to the Top money, according to Judy Hartman, a policy advisor for Gov. Gregoire. The next application is due June 1. (The first application deadline is tomorrow and the state isn’t applying because Hartmann said the state didn’t meet enough criteria.)

Tags: Dorn, education, Race to the Top

Randy Dorn said he thinks the state is doing a good job with “the students who stick with us for 12 years.” But: “What are we going to do with the students who don’t make it?” He said the state needs to do more to keep students in school.

He said there’s even more work to be done: Students who graduate from Washington schools with a good SAT score and grade point average are still dropping out of University of Washington at a high rate after two years, he said. Those are all things the state should look into.

Go here for more information on the WASL results.

Tags: Dorn, WASL

Now state schools superintendent Randy Dorn is back up.

He said the WASL hasn’t gotten easier and won’t, but that the new standards will allow the state to go much deeper into understanding why students are failing the test.

“The one thing I want people to understand is we plateau,” he said. “I want people to understand that.”

He said the state’s done a good job with the top third of students. The second third was helped along by a statewide push. The bottom third, he said, is going to take more time and more money.

Tags: Dorn, WASL

State Schools Superintendent Randy Dorn is up at the WASL press conference: “Although this is a WASL release, it also has a lot to do with AYP… I really have a view about AYP and it’s basically that it’s going to give you the impression that we have way more schools that need improvement … actually, that’s not true,” he said. He said the schools in that category are getting better faster.

“The federal government is actually failing us in the actual law of No Child Left Behind,” he said, adding that it undermines the confidence in public education. “We have actually done a very good job. I have always had a firm belief in my life that you get a lot more out of people with encouragement and incentives rather than punishment, and that’s what AYP does: Punishment.”

You can watch the press conference LIVE at TVW.org now.

“We need to move forward on what I call ‘Reform 2,’” Dorn said. He said that includes resources and “more diagnostic information to teachers.”

“The last press conference that we held was on the WASL and I’ve heard many people say and it’s been talked about: Is it going to be a different assessment? Absolutely,” he said. Dorn said the WASL will not be given again. Now, it’s called “Measures of Student Progress,” or MSP. “I want to be real clear, high school students will still have to take an assessment, it will still be a graduation requirement.”

Tags: Dorn, WASL

Randy Dorn’s appearance before the House Education Committee — to explain his proposal to kick the WASL to the curb — finished up about early this afternoon.

During the hearing, he elaborated on his plans and why they were necessary. He also said cooperation with the Legislature was important — a slightly different message than his press conference last week, where he said he had the power to scrap the test.

I’m going over everything now. In the meantime, here’s one tidbit I found interesting: Dorn said the state shuffles around 700,000 test booklets for the WASL every year. With computer testing, that huge amount of paper vanishes. He said Oregon has recently scrapped paper-based testing, and he’s had conversations with them about it.

Watch the video here.

Tags: Dorn, education, WASL

Dorn’s proposal to replace the WASL includes a provision that the test is administered twice a year. That’s only half the story: Students who pass in the fall won’t have to retake the test in spring.

I talked to Nathan Olson, media relations manager for the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, about it. He confirmed that the test is like a check-up: Pass every year on the first try, and you’ll take the WASL seven times (once in 3-8 grades, once in 10th grade.)

However, if every fall a student does poorly, they can take the test in spring with the hopes of passing.

One thing: “Fail” and “pass” are another can of worms. Let’s just say “proficient” and “not proficient.”

Tags: Dorn, WASL

People are talking quite a bit about whether Dorn has the authority to making sweeping changes to the WASL without consulting the Legislature.

Here is the Code (28A.655.070) that Dorn’s office is quoting:

(3) (b) Effective with the 2009 administration of the Washington assessment of student learning, the superintendent shall redesign the assessment in the content areas of reading, mathematics, and science in all grades except high school by shortening test administration and reducing the number of short answer and extended response questions.

Well, that settles it, right? No. (more…)

Tags: Dorn, WASL

Tags: Dorn, education, WASL

Dorn’s press conference is playing on TVW right now. Go. Watch.

Not convinced? Here’s what Dorn just said on the technology:
“I don’t have to tell print journalists that the use of technology will rock your world. ”

And now for more on Dorn’s power to change the WASL without legislative approval: According to the draft schedule, there’s a 10 a.m. hearing next Tuesday when Dorn has the stage during a work session to present his “action plan” for the WASL.

We’ll have that live. Also, I’ll very soon have a clip where Dorn foreshadows this very day.

Tags: Dorn, WASL

Here’s a press release from Senate Democrats that I was forwarded just now. It’s from Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe, who has worked on the WASL since before it was created. Most recently, she worked over the interim with a group of legislators on a WASL reform bill.

Here’s what she says:

Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe, chair of the Senate Early Learning & K-12 Education Committee submitted Senate Bill 5414 this morning to implement the findings of the bi-partisan WASL workgroup that she created last year. She also responded to state Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn’s proposed changes to the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL).

McAuliffe said:
“Superintendent Dorn’s recommendations and those of the WASL workgroup share common ground. We both want to develop a balanced assessment system that parents, teachers and students can get real results from – not just test scores. We need a system that informs instruction and addresses each student’s individual learning needs.

The WASL workgroup recommends multiple testing formats to both enhance student learning and gather the data that we need to continue improving our schools. In whatever specific path we take, our common goal is to enhance student learning.

This will be a collaborative process with Superintendent Dorn. I’m looking forward to working with him to refine our state testing system to meet the needs of students, teachers and parents.”

Tags: Dorn, McAuliffe, WASL