Gov. Gregoire addresses the Thinkfinity program rollout

July 29, 2008

AS WRITTEN

Good morning, and thank you Terry (Bergeson) for the kind introduction.

I�m honored to be here this morning. The Summer Institute is one of the great events for Washington teachers. And I�m grateful that you�re willing to spend part of your summer to come from all over Washington to be here.

I want to thank each of you for doing even more for your kids by being here to listen and learn, and I have no doubt, teach one another too.

I�m awfully busy myself these days, as I�m sure you can imagine.

On top of that, I am privileged to put on an old-fashioned and very fancy garden-party dress and hat to host the 100th birthday of the Executive Mansion on Friday. I can�t wait!

And a week later, the mansion will have its first-ever wedding when we see our oldest daughter � Courtney � take the sacrament of marriage after many months of planning and check-writing.

Mike and I are just thrilled! And we dearly love Scott, our soon-to-be son-in-law.

But I have to tell you. I can now say I�ve traveled far through the wedding-industrial complex and emerged on the other side!

Mike�s job, by the way, is to show up, shut up, and pay up!

Speaking of showing up, it came as a surprise when I recently learned � in a most unusual way � that there are people who worry that I won�t show up for scheduled events.

I always show up. It�s in my DNA, but apparently some folks don�t know that.

This morning I have a great announcement. The Verizon Foundation is providing a $75,000 grant to help train Educational Service District teachers to access and use the excellent teaching resources offered through Verizon�s Website � Thinkfinity.

If you�ve already visited this website, you already have had a glimpse of this great teaching tool�

�From ways to turn math instruction into a conversation about concepts, not just formulas and numbers � to creative approaches to teaching science courses.

The site contains well-put-together material from the likes of�

�The American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics�to the Smithsonian and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Verizon�s generosity is just one more example of how we and the private sector are partnering in Washington to build a world-class, learner-focused education system.

I�m especially excited right now about what we�re doing to make our kids ready to learn from the moment they enter kindergarten. I�m talking of course about Early Learning and how far we�ve come in the past three years.

And it�s partly through partnerships with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Boeing, Safeco, Quest and many, many more.

These private sector partners get it! They know as well as you that if we don�t start early, too many of our kids never catch up.

And those who start K-12 unprepared lose big time. And so do the teachers, who too often have to teach to the lowest common denominator, which isn�t a lot of fun. Check

And Washington loses an incredible opportunity to foster happier families, a stronger economy in the future � so we can maintain our place as one of the most educated and innovative in the world.

Indeed, wouldn�t it be great if we could build more schools and fewer prisons?

Every one of our kids deserves a chance at a good, rewarding life.

And I believe � in fact I know � that it absolutely starts with a good education.

And you know what, we�re getting there. I believe we have forever changed the conversation in Olympia about education -- and now we�re getting results.

And believe me, this is what Washingtonians want us to do. The latest proof is the voters� decision to amend the state constitution to allow school maintenance and operation levies to pass with a simple majority.

It�s about time we brought to our education system the same rules of fairness we apply to everything else we put to a public vote.

As I�m sure you know, 3 � years ago, voter-approved initiatives to cut class sizes and increase teacher pay were shelved.

But when I took office, we took them off the shelf, and we�re investing in smaller classes and paying more to keep and attract our great teachers.

We�ve helped thousands more children attend preschool and all-day kindergarten so they get the foundation needed to succeed in school, the job, their community, and life.


We�ve also made very large investments in math instruction in our schools, because I believe our kids need these skills to make it in a world economy.

Our kids no longer compete just with their peers in Seattle, Spokane, Idaho and Oregon, but with peers in Germany, Bangladesh, and Tokyo.

And we�re investing in students who might not otherwise ever consider college as a destination.

I�m talking about our new College Bound Scholarship � which guarantees that any 7th grader from a low income family gets free college tuition if he or she maintains a C average� keeps his or her nose clean, and graduates on time.

�Kids like Gerardo Alvarado (Jere-ARE-Doh All-var-AH-doh) and Maria Vallejo (Val-LAY-ho), two students at Park Middle School in Kennewick.

Both are determined to go to college. I really want them to make it for their sake and for the sake of Washington.

Our Running Start for the Trades Program is working.
We�re connecting motivated high-school kids to the trades, and increasing graduation rates, preparing kids for a good career, and meeting the need for these high-demand, good-paying jobs.

We are helping thousands more kids succeed and making our workforce strong. In the last three years we have nearly doubled the number of apprenticeships to almost 15,000.

For all our college-bound kids, we are making college more affordable by increasing the number of scholarships, and offering financial aid to more students.

We�ve also invested in teacher-excellence and it�s working. More than 1,800 Washington teachers now have national certification, which is recognized as a wonderful best measure of teacher effectiveness. Only four other states had more new certified teachers than Washington last year.

A record number will go through the certification process this year, and next year we expect a near doubling of national certified teachers.

Can any teachers here today who already are certified please stand up for a round of applause?

Congratulations to all of you!

Can teachers who are on the hard road to certification, or who plan to be, please stand?

Congratulations! May you be successful!

I�ll close by saying that I appreciate your passion to make sure every young person in Washington gets the chance to live in a world of learning � to live richer lives � and to compete with anyone, anywhere in the world -- for jobs in the new global economy found right here in Washington.

Thank you.