2010-11 Goals & Strategies

1. Re-professionalize the Field of Education.

Promote understanding among the public and political leaders that education is an expert profession like law, medicine, and science.

Action Plan

• Craft a courageous message.
• Commandeer the podium.
• Advocate for state and national education policies that are research-based and reflect best practices for student achievement.
• Create “Do You Know?” video regarding education in Washington State.
• Ensure that our practice matches our message.
• Advocate for accountability measures that are valid and sensible.
• Reframe the message by telling our stories; connect the heart/emotion/audience with the message through real student stories.
• Take a stand and develop unified talking points.
• Identify target audiences then strategize and personalize the message.
• Engage a professional campaign strategist.
• Upgrade the WASA toolkit and develop a communication toolkit.
• Provide a timely response to inaccurate public information or media statements.

2. Secure Ample Funding.

Create a unified voice among educational partners to demand that the legislature be accountable for delivering on the state’s “paramount duty” to provide ample funding for K–12 children.

Action Plan

• Demand implementation of the King County Superior Court findings in McCleary vs. State of Washington.
• Champion the work of the Quality Education Council and implement its recommendations.
• Invite legislators to visit or co-teach in our most challenged schools; promote a “Take your legislator to class day.”
• Support the Network for Excellence in Washington Schools (NEWS) through funding and communication as the McCleary case moves forward.
• Restart the political action committee (PAC).
• Define and establish an understanding of “ample” among WASA members.

3. Enhance Leadership Development.

Champion academic success for all children by nurturing knowledgeable and effective instructional leaders by:

• Delivering professional development for district-level administrators that yields powerful student learning.
• Empowering districts to identify and adhere to non-negotiable, research-based instructional goals to maximize learning for all.

Action Plan

• Engage in state process to revise professional evaluation procedures for teachers and principals.
• Deliver professional development through regional and state workshops.
• Provide focused, job-alike training for central office administrators.
• Empower new leaders in each component through intentional, focused training.
• Facilitate opportunities for WASA leaders to share successful instructional and assessment strategies to develop student success.
• Expand Washington State Leadership Academy with a new foundation of lateral and vertical teams of practitioners among districts across regions. Learning with and among ourselves is key.

4. Promote Collaboration.

Engage a broad spectrum of stakeholders by:

• Mobilizing a united coalition of partners to ensure an equitable and rigorous education for all children.
• Facilitate collaboration among the 295 diverse district school leaders and WASA partners to forge a unified voice regarding quality public education.

Action Plan

• Develop common ESD agenda items at regional WASA level across the state.
• Engage in a shared book study across the state (see Leadership Development).
• Foster a shift of mind that encourages the perspective that collaboration is not about sharing, but about learning.
• Strengthen inter-district communication.
• Identify a few statewide key issues for sharing, learning, and discussion, such as levy lid increase, Race to the Top, and levy equalization.
• Identify external and internal priority stakeholders.