On Wednesday members of the Washington House arrived in Olympia for caucus meetings and committee hearings. They are expected to be in Olympia through Friday.

Assembly Days, as they are known, kicked-off Wednesday morning with a joint hearing of the House Education Committee and House Higher Education Committee. The hearing focused on teacher preparation in Washington.

The Committee heard from a variety of individuals and organizations regarding the recruitment of teachers in Washington and math and science instruction.

Vauhn Foster-Grahler, an Evergreen faculty member and the Director of the QuaSR Center participated in a three-person panel on math and science instruction and how to improve instruction in these areas in Washington.  Foster-Grahler was joined by reprsentatives from UW-Seattle and St. Martin’s.

In the afternoon House Ways & Means held a public hearing to listen to concerns from Washingtonians regarding potential reductions to programs and services in the current fiscal year and in 2011-13.

The Committee received a brief presentation on the across-the-board cuts issued by the Governor and the recommendations of the Governor’s Committee on Transforming Washington’s Budget.

Both Committee hearings can be viewed via TVW.