Washington Learns, the NBPTS, and You

I'm really interested to see just where Governor Gregoire's Washington Learns initiative goes. She's a good friend of the WEA (see here and here), but some of the early materials coming out of the task force are certainly things that the WEA isn't going to approve of.

Take, for example, the differentiated pay proposal that you can find here. It still has the steps and lanes that we're all accustomed to, but the difference between emerging career, career, and master teacher will depend on classroom performance. They also are including a $6,000 a year bump for teachers who pursue National Board Certification, which is a strategy that I have to question (see here for an explanation of why). If it's a choice between paying people for certification or paying people based on results, I think the latter is a better option. After all, aren't we trying to get away from a system where certification is everything? I understand that the process to get National Board certified is rigorous and meaningful, but isn't classroom performance far more tangible?

The Washington Association of School Administrators has done the best job of reporting about Washington Learns through their excellent "This Week in Olympia" newsletter. You can read the back issues right here. The Governor's office has also done a really good job of keeping the Washington Learns website linked to above updated with the most current meeting materials; it's worth checking out.