Tag Archives: mathematics

Evergreen Speaks to Race to the Top Legislation

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A trio of bills were heard before the House Education Committee today that would better position Washington for Race to the Top dollars. The Race to the Top Fund provides competitive grants to encourage and reward States that are creating the conditions for education innovation and reform at the K-12 level.

Washington plans to apply for Race to the Top in the second phase. 

Evergreen weighed in on two of the three bills heard by the House Education Committee.

Evergreen expressed support with concerns regarding Senate Bill 3059. SB 3059 expands opportunities for teacher preparation by requiring all teacher preparation programs to provide alternative routes to earning a teaching credential.

Evergreen expressed concerns with regard to the lack of funding that accompanies the mandate laid out in SB 3059. Without additional funds to support this effort, Evergreen could find itself assuming the costs of developing and implementing an alternative route program at a time of declining resources for higher education.

In addition, Evergreen raised the strength to the state of the varied missions among higher education institutions. The requirement in the bill to create an alternative route program may require the Collee to move away from Evergreen’s mission and the mission of the College’s teacher preparation programs.

Evergreen encouraged the Committee to consider an amendment that would remove the mandate language in the bill.

Several other organizations and individuals, including the Professional Educators Standards Board (PESB) and the Washington Education Association (WEA), testified to the legislation before the House Committee.

Randy Dorn, Superintendent of Public Instruction, spoke to all three bills before the Committee. He stated Washington needs legislation that strengthens current accountability and data systems to allow the state to be a player in the arena of the Race to the Top.

He also recognized that the Race to the Top criteria is built on the priorities of  the federal government. He encouraged policymakers to keep in mind the need to determine what works for Washington and move these efforts forward.

Higher Education in the House Education Committee

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The House Education Committee, which focuses K-12 education, heard House Bill 2654 focusing on preparing teachers for a career in teaching during its hearing on Wednesday. Teacher preparation is one of many areas in which higher education intersects with K-12.

House Bill 2654 defines an Elementary Math Specialist as an elementary teacher with a specialty endorsement in elementary mathematics and directs the Professional Educator Standards Board (PESB) to adopt a specialty endorsement for Specialists, based on standards that include enhanced mathematics content knowledge for grades K-6 and instructional strategies.

The Evergreen State College testified in support of HB 2654 and offered two major suggestions for improving the bill. First, Evergreen believes that the current terminology in the bill, “widely accessible to elementary teachers across the state,” should be broadly interpreted to mean more than online coursework. A critical element of coursework in math education is that teachers learn math from teachers who model good pedagogy. Without this modeling the ability to learn effective teaching methods is limited.

Second, we encouraged legislators to push for more than the “minimum of additional coursework” required in the bill. If the state truly wants to scale up teachers in the mathematical and pedagogical preparation it is critical that teachers receive substantive opportunities to learn.