Bills Target K-12 Math, Science Instruction

Mar 30, 04:45 PM

Current Headlines: By Kathie Durbin, The Columbian, Vancouver, Wash.

Mar. 30--Lawmakers look to set new standards

OLYMPIA -- High school students would be required to take at least three years of math and local school districts would have less discretion to pick math curricula for their students under legislation that is on the fast track to passage with strong bipartisan support.

House Bill 1906 and Senate Bill 5558 sidestep the debate over what test will replace the Washington Assessment of Student Learning in math and science. Those tests will be deferred for at least three to five years under other pending bills.

Instead, legislation passed Thursday by the Senate K-12 Education Committee addresses what teachers should teach and what students should learn to allow them to compete in a global economy.

"We have taken the testing element out of this bill," said Rep. Ross Hunter, D-Medina, the prime sponsor of HB 1906, which passed the House on Wednesday. "This is not a testing problem; it's an instructional problem."

The bill would allow high school juniors to take a free college placement test that would tell them where they need to improve to meet college entrance requirements before they graduate.

"They will learn what deficiencies they have when they still have 18 months to go," said Rep. Glenn Anderson, R-Fall City. Anderson is a co-sponsor of HB 1906 and served on the Washington Learns panel that recommended more rigorous math and science standards for Washington students.

The WASL is not and never was intended to be a college placement test, Anderson said.

"We don't want to create the assumption that passage of the 10th grade WASL indicates college readiness."

The bill requires the State Office of Public Instruction to develop new "essential academic learning requirements" and grade level expectations in math and science over the next two years.

The State Board of Education, with help from expert consultants and advisory panels made up of parents, teachers and representatives from academia, business and industry, would revise the math standards by September 2007 and the science standard by June 30, 2008.

By Dec. 1, 2007, the state board would change high school graduation requirements, increasing the number of math courses required from two to three. At least one of the math courses could be a career or technical education course.

By May 15, 2008, the Office of Public Instruction would be required to identify no more than three math curricula for elementary, middle and high school grades that align with the new math standards. At least one of those curricula would have to be available online at no cost to schools and parents.

A year later, the office would identify no more than three science curricula that align with the new science standards.

Local school districts would not be required to use those curricula, but districts that purchased them would be reimbursed by the state for the cost, and the Legislature would reserve the right to require their use later.

Limiting the number of math curricula used in the state should help focus math instruction, Hunter said. Presently, hundreds of different math curricula are in use in Washington schools.

Sharon Hanek, a parent from Bonney Lake, said she objected to taking decision-making on curriculum away from local school districts. "I believe it is at the classroom level where schools best know their children," she said. Having the state dictate curriculum could be a problem for a child who needs something that is not on the state list, she said.

Julie Wright of the Washington State PTA praised the effort but said her organization favors using independent, objective advisors. She said she would prefer to have the Legislature, rather than the state board, select the members of the advisory panels to make the process more transparent.

However, the state board chose the members of its math advisory panel this week.

The bill also authorizes grants to community-based organizations to provide after-school instruction in math and science to middle school students; creates an instructional coaching program to help classroom teachers sharpen their math and science teaching skills; and provides scholarships to help nontraditional students, including classroom teacher aides and non-teachers, earn teaching certificates in math and science.

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Copyright (c) 2007, The Columbian, Vancouver, Wash.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

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