Education

Education is the paramount duty of our state government and that means providing every child in Washington with a chance to graduate from high school ready for work or college. This has long-term implications on the economic prospects of those children and on Washington.

Gov. Inslee's education philosophy is: No excuses, no exceptions and excellence for all.

From early learning through graduate school, Gov. Inslee is focusing our resources and efforts on proven ways to help students succeed, including access to high-quality early learning, options for learning in innovative schools, skilled educators in every classroom and parental involvement.

Gov. Inslee's education priorities:

• Create more innovation schools for students around Washington. These schools provide unique opportunities for students who want to focus on the arts or science or who struggle in traditional classrooms. Currently there are 22 innovation schools in Washington. Gov. Inslee wants to expand these pockets of innovation across the state.
• Encourage continuous improvement of our educators and administrators. This effort includes a rigorous evaluation system and mentoring program for both teachers and principals. Gov. Inslee will implement a new teacher evaluation system statewide and give administrators the ability to make it a significant factor in personnel decisions. The evaluations will also help identify high-performing teachers who would be good candidates to serve as mentors to new and struggling teachers. Mentor teachers would be compensated for their expertise and mentoring work.
• End the unacceptably high number of students who drop out of high school. The current on-time graduation rate of just 75 percent isn't good enough. We will target chronically underperforming high schools with resources and an expanded corps of dropout coaches and outreach personnel to re-engage struggling students and help them earn diplomas.
• Eliminate the persistent opportunity gaps that have kept too many children from achieving their full potential. Nearly 40 percent of our students come from families of color. Studies show that Washington's economy would have $3.1 billion more by 2020 if students of color graduated at the same rate as white students. We need to recruit teachers who reflect the diversity of the community they serve, improve cultural competency among all educators and administrators, and expand the numbers of multi-lingual counselors and staff available to work with struggling families and students.
• Make sure all students graduate from high school prepared with 21st century skills. Gov. Inslee is committed to boosting STEM education (science, technology, engineering and math) in our K-12 system and ensuring students graduate from high school ready to pursue a career or continue on to an apprenticeship or degree program.