Of Rock Stars, Robots and Students

Saw two interesting K-12-related stories on Tuesday. Both involved great kids. Both involved rock stars (well, one rock star and one scientist being treated like a rock star). And both showed how motivated students can be when they find their groove.

Story 1: Pop star Fergie visited Seattle's Franklin High on Tuesday to give a free one-hour concert. Students there entered a fashion contest sponsored by the singer's cell phone sponsor. The challenge: Demonstrate their fashion style using cell phone photos the cell company representatives uploaded to the Web. Visual scanning software assigned points based on how closely they captured Fergie's style. Apparently Franklin's students are more fashion forward than any other high school in the country, thus the visit!

Story 2: NBC Nightly News showed how 8,000+ students from across the country (and across gender, ethnicity and income levels) used their passion for science and engineering in the FIRST Robotics Competition. Student teams build using robots they created to advance through a series of competitions. The program was created by Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway scooter. According to NBC's Bob Faw:

The assembled brainiacs treat organizer Kamen like a rock star because he believes that's exactly how the country should treat them.

"What we have to do is have them develop a passion and excitement to excel at things besides bouncing a ball," Kamen says. "You're a winner because of this experience."

Not sure we'll see Fergie and Dean join up any time soon, although that could be interesting! Nevertheless, two very different approaches to inspiring young people's creativity.

Veto Update

On Tuesday, Gov. Gregoire wielded her veto pen over what became known as "the WASL bill" this past legislative session. ESSB 6023 delays until 2013 a requirement that high school students pass the math and science WASL exams in order to graduate. The four sections she eliminated would have established end-of-course exams (section 9), regional appeals at the ESD level (section 10), a special exemption for ELL students (section 11) and an emergency clause (section 13) requiring an immediate effect. In her weekly newsletter to state employees this week, she noted:

“We must improve math and science teaching and learning, but we cannot penalize students when the system has failed them,” said Gov. Gregoire. “This bill extends to 2013 the deadline for students to meet the state math and science standards through the WASL or an approved alternative for high school graduation.”

You may recall reading here last week that AWSP sent a letter to Gov. Gregoire urging her veto of sections 2, 6 and 10. While the Association agreed with the vetoes that were enacted, we believe several of the the issues in section 2 (including the ability for students to access alternative assessments like the SAT, ACT and AP tests after just one attempt at the WASL) run counter to the state's education reform efforts. We also anticipate these issues will resurface in the 2008 legislative session. In the meantime...

High school administrators: How are you explaining the impact of this legislation to your students and their parents? How about staff?