Who Are These Groups?

In my effort to keep up with who's who in ed reform in Washington State, here's a list of some groups you may run into.

Campaign for Student Success (a coalition group)

We are a diverse group of education advocates, parents, community leaders and fighters for equity.

This group runs the gamet from Asian Pacific Islander Coalition, Coalition of Immigrants, and Refugees and Communities of Color and Statewide Poverty Action Network to DFER, LEV and Stand for Children as well as Washington State Charter Schools Association and the Washington Roundtable.

The group says:
Collectively, the coalition sees McCleary as a unique demand to positively impact public education on behalf of Washington kids.

And yet, over and over, we have seen virtually no visible support for McCleary action from the Washington State Charter Schools Association.  Beware of groups that make claims that have no real evidence behind that claim.

Our state legislators can create equal opportunity for our kids, and our coalition is urging them to create a sustainable solution based on three key pillars:

• Funding & Fairness: Sufficient funding must also be equitable and fair, meaning we must support those students who need it most; 
  
• Talent: Educator compensation must be funded with a focus on equity, growing the pipeline of excellent educators and matching them with students who need the most help; 
  
• Accountability: Funding and talent must be accompanied by a robust accountability system that sets clear goals, tracks progress over time, and provides appropriate supports and programs for under-performing schools and struggling students.

You can send them your e-mail address for updates but there is no contact info, no info on leadership or funders.  Their Facebook page has mostly generic kid shots.  The phone number there - one with a (415) area code actually goes to someone in San Francisco at a company called Rally.

RALLY is a communications firm that works to influence the way people think about and respond to political and social issues.

Rally is also the voice behind the group for charter school students in Washington State, KIPP,  and TFA in the Bay Area.

My money is on Washington Roundtable but that's just a guess.

Speaking of the Roundtable, their education arm is the Partnership for Learning.  

Partnership for Learning is a lead member of the Washington Coalition for Public Charter Schools, which placed the initiative on the ballot and is working to support effective implementation of high-quality charter schools.  

They partner with the Alliance for Education, the Gates Foundation, the Center on Reinventing Public Education,  Community Center for Education Results, Excellent Schools Now, Our Schools Coalition, Washington STEM and Washington Coalition for Public Charter Schools.  (The latter I believe is now the Washington State Charter Schools Association.)

No mention of McCleary at their site.


Excellent Schools Now (ESN) coalition

Led by Partnership for Learning, the League of Education Voters and Stand for Children, the Excellent Schools Now coalition includes more than 30 Washington education, business and community-based organizations.  

Excellent Schools Now, a group of dedicated parents, teachers, principals, community members and advocates created A+ Washington: A Way Forward for All Students. 

Among these are DFER, TFA, LEV, Rainier Scholars, Stand for Children, Washington Roundtable, Tabor 100 as well as Washington Alliance of Black School Educators, Washington State Charter Schools Association,Washington State PTA and Schools Out Washington.

The Excellent Schools Now coalition steering committee is comprised of: League of Education Voters, Partnership for Learning, Schools Out Washington, Stand for Children Washington, and Tabor 100. Partnership for Learning is managing the coalition work.

No mention of McCleary at their site.

Then there is Ready Washington.

Ready Washington is a coalition of state and local education agencies, associations and advocacy organizations that support college- and career-ready learning standards and assessments: Common Core State Standards, Next Generation Science Standards and Smarter Balanced assessments.

This is the group that sponsors the video contest for students about why they are "opting in" to state tests.

Members
Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction
Partnership for Learning
Stand for Children Washington
Washington STEM
Excellent Schools Now
Washington State PTA
Council of Presidents
State Board for Community and Technical Colleges
Department of Early Learning
League of Education Voters
ReadyNation
Democrats for Education Reform
Puget Sound Educational Service District
Equity in Education Coalition
State Board of Education
College Spark Washington
Schools Out Washington
Center for Strengthening the Teaching Profession
Washington Association of School Administrators
Washington Student Achievement Council
Washington State School Directors Association
Association of Washington School Principals
Washington Roundtable
Renton Technical College

It's kind of sweet how when one group creates a coalition, they all join in.  It must be confusing, though, going to all those meetings.  I mean if they do have meetings rather than have Rally define what they do.

Then there's Network for Excellence in Washington Schools (NEWS), the McCleary Coalition.

We are a statewide coalition of 430 community groups, school districts and education associations fighting for full and ample funding of K-12 education. Our members represent students, parents, teachers, administrators and other citizens who are united in advocacy for public school funding.

Nearly every school district and teachers association is represented.All those groups but no DFER or LEV or Stand or Washington Roundtable.  I do see the Washington League of Women Voters, though.

Compare and contrast.