It is that time of year. The mad dash to the school-year finish line: winding up projects, attending school concerts and award ceremonies, and preparing for summer activities. But for Washington state’s public charter school supporters, work will shift into high gear just as most students begin their summer vacations.

While the first public charter schools will not open until 2014, there is a lot to be done to prepare for their opening and ensure any new charter school is set up to help every student succeed.

This work is not easy. I know from my previous work in the charter school sector—as well as school reviews I have been a part of across the nation—that building high-quality charter school capacity starts long before the school doors open.

The good news is Washington state is well positioned to accomplish this. Last November, voters passed Initiative 1240, the public charter school law, to support the creation of 40 public charter schools across Washington state over the next five years. Charter schools are authorized by the Washington Charter School Commission, an independent state agency, or by a local school board that has been approved by the State Board of Education.

Charter schools are public schools. They are open to all students, and do not charge tuition. These new schools must meet rigorous performance goals and, if the goals are not met, may be closed. To ensure we are opening high-quality charter schools on day one, the Washington State Charter Schools Association has been formed. This new statewide nonprofit aims to support the start-up of these new schools.

A Washington State Charter School Leadership Cohort will be a prominent feature of the new Association. Year-long internships for new charter school leaders will focus on the use of data, cognitive coaching and best leadership practices. Cohort members also will participate in trips to observe and learn from the most successful charter schools that have made a real difference in students’ lives.

As a member of the Association’s board, I am excited to bring what I learned in California to my home in Washington. Working with teachers, school districts, local leaders, parents, and state officials, we can build a public education system that works best for Washington’s students.

As part of a diverse educational ecosystem, charter schools will extend high-quality school options across the state—targeting those student populations that, to date, have not had success within the more traditional system. Our goal is to ensure that the new charter schools in Washington state become part of a broader public school system that inspires our students, helps them succeed in school, and leaves them prepared for college and their careers.

Every child in the state must have equal access to high-quality schools. Washington’s position as a national leader rests on the skills and abilities of its youth. Charter schools serve a vital role in the public school system by improving educational outcomes for all students. Working together, we can ensure that all children in our communities have access to high-quality public schools.

Marta Reyes-Newberry is a board member of the Washington State Charter Schools Association

Collaboration.

It is a concept we instill in our children as early as possible, from sharing toys with siblings to being a team player at school. It is what makes good sports teams great. And what helps communities overcome tragedies.

We know that, when it comes to education, our state cannot help more students succeed if we don’t collaborate and share ideas. Teachers. Principals. Parents. Students. Communities. Funders. We are all in this together.

“Washington is in the fortunate position to learn from the most successful charter schools in other states that have made a real difference in students’ lives.”

Our goal is to bring this collaborative spirit to emerging efforts around charter schools in Washington state. Last November, voters approved the creation of up to 40 public charter schools over the next five years, making Washington the 42nd state to offer charters as another public school option for students. These public charter schools  will be open to all students and won’t charge tuition. Teachers and principals will have greater flexibility to adapt to student learning needs more effectively, using a variety of tools and approaches. Parents will have new choices to assure their children graduate from high school prepared for college and careers.

What does this new law mean for our state? For one, we are not starting from scratch. Washington is in the fortunate position to learn from the most successful charter schools in other states that have made a real difference in students’ lives. It means we can start with an unrelenting focus on quality, accountability, and a fearless willingness to close those schools that don’t work. We also know that new public charter schools have the greatest impact when they work hand-in-hand with the school districts in which they are located—so that ultimately all of public education is stronger.

One important part of that is the launch of the Washington State Charter Schools Association, which the foundation supported through a planning grant. The association will focus on three key areas: sharing accurate information about charter schools to parents and community members, helping charters develop leaders, and advising charter school operators on the technical aspects of Washington’s rules and laws.

 ”We know charter schools are just one piece of the puzzle of student success.”

We are particularly excited about the opportunity to learn from other schools that have been successful in supporting children historically been left behind. Students who have not been able to access to high-performing public schools—including low-income students and students of color—will have new options to explore. Charter schools are public schools and can provide choices for parents  to find the best school that fits their students’ needs.

We know charter schools are just one piece of the puzzle of student success. Our local education investments also support high-quality early learning programs, better feedback and professional support for teachers and principals, more meaningful learning assessments for students, community-driven and comprehensive efforts like the Road Map Project, and other strategies that increase personalized learning opportunities for all students and improve academic outcomes.

For the Gates Foundation, we also can learn from our grants and partnerships in other states and school districts. We have a long history of supporting the growth and replication of high-performing charter schools across the nation, and also encouraging their collaboration with district schools.

This work must reflect our sense of shared responsibility and mutual accountability to the one thing that matters most: our children and the educational pathway they must successfully travel.

Join the conversation on Impatient Optimists.

Under HB 1723

• Schools can use up to three days to meet with families of children entering kindergarten and participating in WaKIDS.
• *The Department of Early Learning (DEL) will be required to review and develop recommendations for child care and preschool compensation.
• *Legislators must fund the expansion of ECEAP.
• By 2015, ECEAP programs must participate in Early Achievers. DEL will also report on Early Achievers progress as defined in the Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge award.
• Subject to funding the Working Connections Child Care (WCCC) subsidy rate will increase ten percent and an additional five percent for improved quality.

Under SB 5595

• DEL/The Department of Social and Health Services will provide improved consumer service, meaning they will return all phone calls within 2 business days, develop a process to submit forms online, notify parents and child care providers 10 days before loss of WCCC benefits, and provide consumers with a document that is easy to understand regarding what services they are eligibile for, etc.
• Creates a task force comprised of legislators, representatives from various early learning stakeholder groups, and child care providers. The task force will develop recommendations for creating a tiered-reimbursement model for WCCC and a mixed delivery system for ECEAP.
• DEL/DSHS must work to design a more flexible subsidy system that accounts for small fluctuations in family circumstances, ensure that minor changes in parent’s work schedule(s) don’t interfere with their WCCC authorization, enable parents who participate in 110 hours of work or related activities to be eligible for full-time child care services, and simplify the requirement to count child support as income.

* This is void if not funded by 6/1/13.

Governor Inslee signs House Bill No. 1723
Relating to expanding and streamlining early learning services and programs.

Governor Inslee signs Senate Bill No. 5595 Relating to child care reform.

More than 35 Seattle students, parents, and community members came together at last night’s school board meeting to share their message with Seattle Public Schools’ leaders.

Several Seattle University students attended the school board meeting and talked about the discipline issue in depth.

Attendees thanked the district for its recent public commitment to include disproportionate and exclusionary discipline as topics of focus in its framework for the upcoming teacher contract negotiations.

More than 35 students, parents, and community members attended Wednesday’s school board meeting

They also urged school board members and Superintendent Banda to improve student achievement and school climate through several key strategies including:

• implementing Article II: Partnering to Close the Achievement Gap from the last negotiation cycle, and using targeted strategies that acknowledge racial bias in academic settings and in behavioral referrals;
• training teachers and principals in effective, culturally responsive discipline practices that minimize bias in the classroom; and
• using comprehensive, uniform data reporting systems so teachers and principals can ensure best practices.

Organizer Andaiye Qaasim with a sign encouraging SPS to use “solutions not suspensions”

Activists took time to submit written testimony to school board members on the issues that matter to them.

On May 17^th, advocates from across the state will need to submit paperwork to their county elections office if they wish to be considered for this upcoming election cycle.

Help us fill this table. Who is up for re-election in your district? Who is planning on running for an open chair? E-mail info@educationvoters.org and let us know—we’ll keep this table updated as we approach the May 17^th deadline.

The Founders of the Washington State government had a vision for us.

It is embedded in section 1 of Article 9 of our Washington State Constitution:

It is the paramount duty of the state to make ample provision for the education of all children residing within its borders without distinction or preference on account of race, color caste or sex.

Allowing Dream Act kids to be eligible for state need grant for higher ed in this state falls squarely within the intentions and vision of this state’s founders.

These students are not foreign students, but children residing within our borders, children who have grown up in Washington, have gone to school here, graduated from here and have their homes here. Many know no other home.

We are in a major battle in the other Washington to confront the broken immigration system in this country that has resulted in the Dreamers’ current status as members of a caste imprisoned in a Kafkaesque  limbo.

We in THIS Washington should do what we can now to fulfill the vision of our state founders to make today’s needed education, which does not end at high school, available for all children residing within our borders without distinction on the basis of race, color, caste or sex.

We need to support the future of these children. Making higher ed. available to low income Dreamers keeps faith with our past and invests in our future.

This is a favorite mantra of LEV’s CEO Chris Korsmo, who is known for her impatient optimism.

Community leaders and legislators agreed that it was time for our state to do something about persistently low-achieving schools. The time for hoping the problem would get better was over.

Today Governor Inslee signed SB 5329, which gives the state a larger role in school accountability and turnaround efforts. The legislation calls on the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) to design, a statewide system of support, assistance, and intervention for persistently low-achieving schools.

The legislation implements the second level of an accountability system created in 2010 to assist the ten most persistently lowest-achieving schools in Washington to become more accountable. School performance is based on the Achievement Index, a State Board of Education-developed accountability framework.

Thanks to SB 5329, persistently low achieving schools will receive additional support from OSPI to implement a three-year required action plan. OSPI will develop the action plan criteria and the corresponding system of supports for each level of challenged schools. If schools do not improve in three years, OSPI, working with local districts, will require additional actions to increase student achievement.

LEV worked with our partners Stand for Children and Partnership for Learning and a bi-partisan team of legislators in both chambers to develop the legislation.

KIRO News reports on the growing movement in the community to push Seattle Public Schools to address disproportional effects of discipline on students of color.

Join us Wednesday, May 8 at the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute for Stop School Suspensions: Solutions for safe, secure classrooms without removing kids to learn about alternatives to punitive discipline that are working in our community right now.

Kicking things off on Saturday at 3:15 p.m., Kelly will be hosting an hour long parent- to- parent class. The class will be divided in to six modules, allowing parents to give ten minute presentations focusing on an aspect of education funding.

The following day, Brooke and Maggie will be doing a joint presentation on discipline. During the class, attendees will learn about the failures of zero tolerance policies and their ill- prescribed punishments as well as solutions like Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) and culture competence awareness training. The pair will also discuss the importance of good, accessible, and disaggregated data and how it can help transform school discipline. The presentation is from 12:15 p.m. to 1:15 p.m.

Registration information for the convention can be found here.

Equal Opportunity Schools (EOS) Executive Director Reid Saaris detailed how his organization is helping districts get more black, brown, and low-income students into Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, and Cambridge courses and programs. Saaris announced that Seattle Public Schools has agreed to partner with EOS in four high schools to be named soon.

The next regular meeting of the Black Education Strategy Roundtable will be Tuesday, May 28th from 5:45 to 8:00 p.m. at the new Technology Access Foundation headquarters, Bethaday Community Learning Center at 605 SW 108th St, Seattle, WA 98146. All are welcome.

Below are some pictures from the event: