Our history of the fight for progressive reforms spans our six policy goal areas: 

​

Resource Equity

​​​

• Our work on the design of Every Students Succeeds Act, resulted in a requirement to ensure that an equitable mix of experienced teachers are in front of students who are historically underserved .

• Our work with the Washington State Legislature delivered $18.5M in new money to the State Need Grant program

• We fought for a transformative funding and reform package that added $970M per biennium to the K-12 public education budget that settled the landmark McCleary Case.

• We helped develop implementation guidelines to school districts across the state for the creation of ESSA plans.

​

Teacher Quality and Preparation

​

• We helped Congressional education champion, Senator Cory Booker develop the the STRIVE Act to overhaul federal loan forgiveness programs for teachers and created incentives for working in high poverty schools and in demand subjects like STEM and Special Education. 

• We helped the Obama Administration increase national accountability and academic standards for teacher preparation programs.

​

Accountability

​​

• We pushed Congress and the U.S. Department of Education to rigorously monitor how our state is implementing ESSA its plans. 

• We continue to monitor and measure our State's compliance with the requirements of its ESSA state plans.

• Our coalition work prioritizes our value on high academic standards, acceleration policies, standards and assessments, differentiated learning experiences, and high school and beyond planning.

 

Public School Choice

​

• Our Federal work resulted in $400 million – a historic 17% increase in Charter Schools Program funding in 2018

• We secured funding to replicate and expand high-quality public charter schools, as signature program of of the Obama Administration

• We became the 42nd state to authorize charter schools, and emerged victorious through various supreme court challenges.  

​

Higher Ed Affordability and Post Secondary pathways 

​

• We are shifting the narrative to reform America’s higher education system through deep policy research, white papers, and opinion pieces.

• Our state level advocacy delivered an increase to the State Need Grant, created a new opportunity grant program for working families, and a signature Career Connect Washington program to implement quality vocational and technical pathways after high school.  

​​

Transparency

​

• Our advocacy in the United States Congress resulted in a requirement for every state to disclose per pupil spending.

• In 2020, we added a follow the money series to help stakeholders, community groups and policymakers understand how  education dollars are spent.

​