Terry Bergeson in Education Week
Hey, it’s our Superintendent of Public Instruction on page 3, and it’s not a negative story!
Two weeks back I went to the OSPI Summer Institute that they hold every year here in Spokane. It’s a great conference and one of the few professional development things I’ve done that is actually worth attending.
One thing that kind of sticks out about Dr. B, though, is her love of the word “suck.” Here are some quotes from her keynote speeches during the conference:
“Our science scores in Washington suck.”
“Our scores suck and will continue to suck if we don’t….”
“That really sucks.”
“You can see the sucky suckitude all over this sucky Powerpoint slide that my sucky assistant made over in Osuckia.”
OK, I made the last one up, but the first three are direct quotes. Not that they’re wrong, mind you—the science scores are not good at all—but I’d like the highest elected teacher in the state to say things a bit more…politically?
Eh, never mind. Part of the reason she’s been able to get as much done as she has is because she doesn’t gloss over things, and we’re a better state for it. Here’s to 20 more years of Terry as SPI.
Anyhow, the article is about the most recent round of 10th grade scores from March. 86% passed in reading, 84% in writing, but only 54% in math, which is where the concern lies. This is the first year that you have to pass all 3 sections of the WASL to graduate, so the best-case estimate is that half of the class of 2008 hasn’t earned their diploma yet.
There’s help coming. The legislature gave $28 million for summer school programs to help the kids who didn’t pass, and the option to count the SAT or ACT math score in place of the WASL score is a useful one. I like those alternatives a lot more than I like the “compare your GPA to kids who did pass” option, because the latter seems ripe for abuse.
On the whole it’s a good article. If you subscribe to Education Week you can read the story here.
Two weeks back I went to the OSPI Summer Institute that they hold every year here in Spokane. It’s a great conference and one of the few professional development things I’ve done that is actually worth attending.
One thing that kind of sticks out about Dr. B, though, is her love of the word “suck.” Here are some quotes from her keynote speeches during the conference:
“Our science scores in Washington suck.”
“Our scores suck and will continue to suck if we don’t….”
“That really sucks.”
“You can see the sucky suckitude all over this sucky Powerpoint slide that my sucky assistant made over in Osuckia.”
OK, I made the last one up, but the first three are direct quotes. Not that they’re wrong, mind you—the science scores are not good at all—but I’d like the highest elected teacher in the state to say things a bit more…politically?
Eh, never mind. Part of the reason she’s been able to get as much done as she has is because she doesn’t gloss over things, and we’re a better state for it. Here’s to 20 more years of Terry as SPI.
Anyhow, the article is about the most recent round of 10th grade scores from March. 86% passed in reading, 84% in writing, but only 54% in math, which is where the concern lies. This is the first year that you have to pass all 3 sections of the WASL to graduate, so the best-case estimate is that half of the class of 2008 hasn’t earned their diploma yet.
There’s help coming. The legislature gave $28 million for summer school programs to help the kids who didn’t pass, and the option to count the SAT or ACT math score in place of the WASL score is a useful one. I like those alternatives a lot more than I like the “compare your GPA to kids who did pass” option, because the latter seems ripe for abuse.
On the whole it’s a good article. If you subscribe to Education Week you can read the story here.
posted by Ryan at 2:02 PM
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