KPLU Local News
(2009-11-20)
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Superintendent Randy Dorn lays out his plan to delay math and science graduation requirements at a meeting of the Washington State School Directors' Association in Seattle, Nov. 19, 2009.
Gary Davis photo.
On Thursday, the superintendent faced a room of polite but largely unenthusiastic members of the Washington State School Directors' Association, meeting in Seattle. There, he laid out his reasoning the delay. Dorn says that with 10th grade proficiency scores in math and science below 50%, enforcing the latest graduation requirements - in addition to reading and writing - is too much, too soon, for kids.
"And now we're going to give them new tests, with new standards, and require them to pass those tests in order to graduate in just two years. To me, that's not fair."
Dorn would delay math proficiency requirements from 2011 to 2015, instituting a two-tier level of tests. Science requirements scheduled for 2013 would be delayed four years, to 2017.
Outside the reception at the Westin Hotel, where Dorn addressed the WSSDA, people who've spent years working on the new standards were shaking their heads. Mary Jean Ryan chairs the Washington State Board of Education.
"We have to get more serious in our state about excellence in education and make the commitment. We need funding to drive student achievement forward. We certainly don't need delay. Delay is not a winning game plan," Ryan said.
Lisa Macfarlane, with the League of Education Voters, a political advocacy group, called Dorn's plans for delay "a race to the bottom."
Bill Williams with the state P-T-A says the delay may not be about the kids, at all. "That (the delay) punishes the students because the adults haven't gotten their act together to provide the level of instruction students are going to need to move into this 21st Century workforce."
Dorn's idea is getting a much warmer reception from the state teacher's union, which would like to see what it calls "high-stakes tests" eliminated entirely. Washington Education Association President Mary Lindquist says the real issue is not tests, but dollars. "How are we going to provide our students with a well-rounded education, with the skills that they need, when education funding is being so dramatically slashed?"
Dorn's plan needs legislative support to gain any traction. Governor Chris Gregoire came out in opposition Thursday, along with the State Board of Education. Still, Dorn plans to take his request to the legislature in January. Gary Davis, KPLU News, Seattle.
More information: OSPI Press Release and statement from Randy Dorn
HeraldNet article including Gregoire statement
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