AWSP Members Visit the "Other" Washington - D.C.

Ten practicing principals from Washington state participated in the NASSP/NAESP National Leaders' Conference in Washington D.C., July 25 - July 28. The 10 principals are leaders of the Association of Washington School Principal's component groups. July is not necessarily the ideal time to be in the District of Columbia, but these veteran principals made the best of the humidity and heat when visiting senators and representatives at the Nation's capital. They met as a group with Senator Maria Cantwell and Senator Patty Murray's education aide, Kathryn Young. Individually, they met with Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rogers, Congressman Dave Reichert, Congressman Brian Baird, Congressman "Doc" Hasting and a staff member of Jim McDermott's.

The message they took to their elected officials dealt with the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act also known as "No Child Left Behind." The call to change to a continuous growth model of measurement and to provide relief for special education students and English language learners was well received by Washington's elected officials.

The AWSP members representing over 2,500 principals in Washington D.C. were:

• Rick Nebeker - Principal at Prospect Point Elementary School in Walla Walla
• Dwight Cooper - Principal at Reardan Elementary School in Reardan
• Kathleen Morrison - Principal at Island Park Elementary School in Mercer Island
• Kathi Wight - Principal at Nisqually Middle School in Lacey
• Karen Owen - Principal at Nisqually Middle School in Lacey
• Thomas Schend - Vice principal at West Valley Junior High in Yakima
• Ken Schutz - Principal at Odessa High School in Odessa
• Philip Brockman - Principal at Ballard High School in Seattle
• Boyd Keyser - Principal at Cle Elum-Roslyn High School in Cle Elum
• David Montague - Principal at Washington Elementary in Kennewick

On a personal note, the highlight of the trip for me was seeing a graduate of Centralia High School, Nicole Brener-Schmitz, working as an executive assistant for Congressman Brian Baird. She graduated from CHS in 2002 and I was her principal during her years as a "Tiger" at CHS.

Benefits and Costs of K-12 Education Policies

This morning the Washington State Institute for Public Policy, http://www.wsipp.wa.gov/, presented their findings about the benefits and costs of K-12 education policies to the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee. Senator McAuliffe presided at the work session and ask most of the questions. The results of the review of 38 statistically-sound studies indicate class size reductions:

(1) Boost test scores in the K through second grade
(2) Raise scores but less so in grades 3 through 6
(3) Have little or no impact at the middle and high school levels
(4) Benefit low-income students

My personal take on these findings are two fold. First, the study didn't come to the conclusion about the ideal class size but only the impact of how changing the class size by one student per class changes test scores. That begs the larger question, "What is the ideal class size to get the most student growth?" Second, as a high school principal I have seen the same class taught by the same teacher where, because of a scheduling quirk, one class had less than 15 students while the other classes were over 25. Class size did not make any difference in student success when the instruction was the same in large and small classes. I believe class size can make a difference in student achievement only when instruction is more personalized because of fewer students to teach.

The economics of reducing the class size across the state by one student per class would be over $200 million. There must be a better way to get more bang for the buck than by reducing any class by one!