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The first online-only news site in state history to get media credentials to cover the state capitol and Seattle city hall, PubliCola has been called a “must-read” by the Seattle Post Intelligencer and a hot “New Media Mover and Shaker” by Seattle Magazine—which also cited our own Erica C. Barnett as the city's No. 1 news nerd.

Washington State Gets Failing Grade on Education Reform Application

This Washington   August 24, 2010 at 3:36 pm Josh Feit

Washington State was knocked out of the competition for federal education dollars (Obama’s Race to the Top program) last month. Our application fell short on Obama prerequisites such as tracking teacher evaluation to student test scores and allowing charter schools.

Today, we got the first look at the actual score on our application. Washington got just 290 out of a possible 500 points, ranking us 32nd out of 36 state applicants. Also on the bottom of the list: Alabama, Maine, Mississippi, and Montana.

“We knew we weren’t going to do great, but we didn’t know we were going to get creamed,” said Maureen Trantham, spokeswoman for Partnership for Learning, a business-backed education reform group. (PFL warned state leaders about our underwhelming plan earlier this year.)  More specifics on our score, including where exactly we lost points, are due out later this week.

Gov. Chris Gregoire had tried to overcome our applications shortcomings on the Obama metrics by getting local school districts to sign on–demonstrating a measure of buy-in that other states (the ones that tracked closer to the reform standards) didn’t have. Her pitch: Our plan, though not as dramatic, was more likely to succeed while states that were ramrodding change (mostly over teachers unions, which don’t like the evaluation piece) were bound to fail.

For our coverage of the ed reform debate, which divides union-backed Democrats and reform-minded Democrats, start here.

Democrats, including state house Rep. Tina Orwall (D-33), hyped this year’s education reform bill after it passed,




  • Anonymous

    Did you try to get a quote from someone who might not be so invested in one side of the debate or was hyping the criticism of a ‘business-backed education “reform” group’ the point of this post?

  • http://twitter.com/rizzuhjj John Jensen

    What sort of money quote are you looking for from the teachers unions? I can only imagine, “We’re thrilled that Washington state lost out on federal money!!!”

    Federal education policy is favoring charter school expansion, teacher evaluations, and other education reforms. We can choose to turn our back on these policies, in a collective moment of wisdom with Mississippi, but we’ll be doing so at a real monetary cost.

    Here’s some reading interesting from NY Times Magazine about Race to the Top: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/23/magazine/23Ra… (though, to be fair, it leans more toward the reform side than teacher union interests.)

  • Barleywine

    So now that we lost that, where is the push for reform going to come from? We obviously don’t have the will here.

  • http://twitter.com/rizzuhjj John Jensen

    The Obama administration would like to have future Race to the Top phases, depending on Congressional funding.

  • Trevor

    Who cares? Even states that bent over backwards to get Race to the Top money got screwed. Because there isn’t enough money to even reward states for changing. It’s just a voluntary de-unionization plan, as far as I can tell, and it’s spreading a model that didn’t even work in Chicago where it started: http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/23_03/arne233.shtml

  • ivan

    The childless Josh and the childless Erica, neither of whom know jack shit about education except that they don’t have any, appear to believe whatever lie the corporate-backed, anti-union “astroturf” groups tell them. How does it feel, Josh, to be in the same class as the Seattle Times?

    I made it, Ma! Top of the world!

  • Johnscarroll

    Washington never should have applied for the Race to the Top grants. Charter schools: our citizens have rejected them multiple times, and several studies show student achievement on average is no better in charter schools than average achievement in public schools. Teacher evaluations: districts in Washington (including Seattle) are already planning and implementing more rigorous evaluations for educators. Those changes are coming (though controversial) at the behest of OUR state legislature. Parent/stakeholder opinion: A recent study shows 77% of American parents would give their child’s school a grade of A or B (the highest rating in 41 years! – see the PI report).

    In other words, leadership for education reform is already coming from within our state.

    There is a disconnect in this debate. Most parents actually like their local school, and national test score have been rising slow and steady for the last 15 years. Parents want kids tested, but they don’t want too much emphasis placed on test scores. Thus, our state tests are being revised and we have a new superintendent of public instruction. Apparently education “reform” has been moving ahead without Race to the Top.

    Here’s my question: Why do so conservative people complain about the power and reach of Washington DC, yet they think another money offer/power grab is something Washington state should buy into. Race to the Top? good riddance! We don’t need it. Washington can and has been doing this work on its own.

  • Norm

    Education reform is no reform at all. The system has hijacked the reform. We are getting a corporate takeover of education instead.