Despite its tiny staff of three full-time employees and a modest yearly budget of $800,000, Washington state鈥檚 Partnership For Learning gets high marks for spelling out the ABCs of school reform to the public.
The influential Washington Business Roundtable formed the partnership in 1995 and charged it with raising awareness and understanding of the state鈥檚 school improvement efforts.
And while some states have blamed poor community outreach for their failed or slow-moving accountability efforts, Washington has sustained a standards-based reform movement for nearly five years now. And the partnership is getting a lot of the credit for the broad public acceptance.
鈥淲hat we are trying to do is stay in touch with the movers and shakers of the state,鈥� William Porter, the executive director of the Seattle-based group, explains. 鈥淲e were not set up to be permanent. Our purpose is to help get over this hump.鈥�
The partnership鈥檚 tools include a 26,000-name mailing list of leaders and opinion makers at the state and local levels: elected officials, journalists, business owners, and others. A quarterly newsletter on school reform is mailed to each person on the list. And the group hosts community workshops on school policy.
The partnership also produces reports and guides on new standards and tests as references for noneducators, as well as ready-to-use materials that help local school officials explain the reforms to parents and other citizens.
鈥淣obody else does this,鈥� Porter says. 鈥淚鈥檓 not sure that the state has the resources to do it.鈥�
One of the group鈥檚 first tasks was to gauge public opinion about the state鈥檚 learning goals, which were adopted in 1993. The bottom line, according to polls, was scattered skepticism and a widespread lack of awareness that the goals had even been adopted.
鈥淏ut when we talked about the idea, the responses were out the roof,鈥� Porter stresses. 鈥淭he ideas were popular.鈥�
That鈥檚 no surprise to Nancy Belden, a partner with Belden Russonello & Stewart, an opinion-research firm in Washington, D.C.
鈥淚鈥檝e seen some states view public involvement in reform simply as hoops they鈥檝e had to jump through,鈥� she says. 鈥淚f we have something valuable, we have to do the job of explaining it better.鈥�
In Washington state, Partnership For Learning has done just that, says Ellen L. Wolf, the superintendent of the 6,000-student Walla Walla schools in the southeastern portion of the state.
Wolf regularly refers local residents and parents to the group for additional information about school changes.
鈥淚t also gives me another level of credibility of not looking at this just from inside of education, but from outside,鈥� she says of the business-backed endorsement of the state鈥檚 school policies.
Admittedly, the biggest challenge may come this year, when the legislature takes up the issue of consequences for schools and students that do poorly on statewide assessments.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a general sense we鈥檙e headed in the right direction,鈥� Porter says. 鈥淏ut there鈥檚 still a long way to go, especially when we get to accountability.鈥�
