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Achievement Gap Oversight Committee Begins Work
OLYMPIA — September 11, 2009 - The first meeting of the Achievement Gap Oversight and Accountability Committee was held Thursday.
The Committee is tasked with synthesizing the findings and recommendations from five studies completed in 2008. Each study detailed how to address the gap between the achievement of White students and students from racial and ethnic communities such as African American, Latino, Native American, Asian American and Pacific Islander.
In June, State Superintendent Randy Dorn reported that the dropout rates African American, Latino, Native American and Pacific Islander groups was significantly higher than that of white students. Native American students, in particular, dropped out at more than double the rate of white students (40.8 percent to 18.7 percent).
“Reducing the achievement gap and dropout rate is one of my five major priorities,” Dorn said, “so I’m excited about the work the committee is going to do.”
“But I want to emphasize the word ‘work.’ The studies have been done, and this committee isn’t going to produce another one. It’s going to do the hard work, which means it will make recommendations that will positively affect students in Washington.”
The Committee was created by the 2009 Legislature through Second Substitute Senate Bill 5973, which noted that the “Legislature finds compelling evidence … that additional progress must be made to address the achievement gap.”
The bill directs the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), the Professional Educator Standards Board (PESB) and the State Board of Education to recommend policies based on the committee’s work. In particular, the agencies will look at the following areas:
- Supporting parental involvement
- Enhancing cultural competency
- Expanding strategies to prepare and recruit diverse teachers
- Identifying data systems and needs to monitor progress
- Exploring successful innovative school models
The Committee also will review the work of the Cultural Competency Work Group. The group, convened by the PESB, is charged with gathering existing cultural competency standards from around the nation and making recommendations about the strengths and weaknesses of each.
The Committee comprises 13 members: chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate education committees; four members representing African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans and Pacific Islander Americans; and one member each from the following: the House of Representatives, the Senate, the Office of the Education Ombudsman, the Center for the Improvement of Student Learning (CISL), the federally recognized Native American tribes.
“What’s exciting about the Committee’s work is that it won’t be limited to the meetings,” said Erin Jones, OSPI assistant director of student achievement and director of CISL. “There’s an expectation everyone on the committee will go back to their communities, share the work and get feedback that they will bring back.
“This is one of the first times communities of color have been asked to have a voice on such a critical issue, a voice not just on paper but on a regular, on-going basis.”
The first report by the Committee is due to the Legislature in January 2010. The Committee’s next meeting will be held September 23, 2009, in Olympia.
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