Bergeson Leads Pr Blitz On State’s Education Reform She Says Certificate Of Mastery Will Boost Meaning Of Diploma

Thu., Aug. 14, 1997

Grayden Jones Staff writer

Washington’s superintendent of public instruction is about to take you to school.

The subject: education reform.

Kicking off a statewide campaign that will use videotapes, gubernatorial speeches, parent meetings and direct mail, Terry Bergeson urged Spokane educators Wednesday to tell everyone from neighbors to chief executive officers about the merits of reforming the education system.

“The glass-half-empty people are going to be after us this fall, so gather all the chits you can,” Bergeson told 125 principals, superintendents and teachers gathered at Spokane Community College.

“This fall is our speed bump in the road, and we’ve got to get over it.”

Bergeson, who was elected schools chief last year, laid out a public relations strategy to tell taxpayers about the results of a revolutionary assessment test that 68,000 fourth-graders took earlier this year.

The results will be released Sept. 4 during a “State of Education” address by Gov. Gary Locke.

Bergeson said she expects the results will show serious deficiencies among students, which education reform will help correct by raising graduation standards.

For instance, students under the reform program may achieve a “certificate of mastery” that employers, universities and parents will recognize as a level of achievement that gives strength to the high school diploma.

But some parents are fearful that reforms are aimed at creating a system to stamp out obedient workers for industry.

Kathy Olfs, a Spokane parent who brought her sons Brandon, 11, and Scott, 8, to hear Bergeson, wondered if a certificate of mastery is a euphemism for a work permit.

“So you can guarantee me that my two little boys will not need a certificate of mastery to get a job?” she asked.

“There is no design in the state for the certificate to be a work permit,” Bergeson replied.

Winning public approval for education reform, however, is very much by design.

Bergeson said her office has hired Campaign Connections, a Seattle public relations firm that often works for Democratic candidates, to help publicize the results of the fourth-grade assessments.

A videotape and CD-ROM, titled “Mentor,” are being produced for administrators and others to use at public meetings. The superintendent’s office also plans to paper the state with education reform literature delivered to every parent and community leader.

“Once people get the idea in their head of what this is about, we’re going to be on the most exciting journey ever,” Bergeson said.

, DataTimes

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