Dear Friends,

Thank you for visiting my web site.

My name is Terry Bergeson, and for the last 11 years, I’ve been your State Superintendent of Public Instruction.  I’d like your support to continue my work on behalf of the students and educators of Washington State.

I began my career over 40 years ago as a classroom teacher, working with a diverse group of students. I saw first hand how challenging and rewarding it is to work with struggling students.  I’ve been a school counselor, school district administrator, president of the WEA and I led Washington’s A+ Commission.  

The focus of my entire professional life has been improving student academic achievement.  Ensuring that our students graduate from our public schools able to read, write and perform math at a high level is vital to their futures and the future of our state.

Our world is changing at a fast pace, and our schools must change too, which is why high standards are so important.

I support high standards and meaningful graduation requirements.  I also support, and have worked to fund, programs that ensure every student can meet Washington’s high standards.

High standards are working.

This year over 91% of seniors met or exceeded Washington’s graduation requirements.  Ten years ago Washington was in the middle of the pack nationally for academic achievement, today we are a national leader.

Washington has the highest SAT scores for states where more than half of all students take the test.  Our AP class enrollment is up over 400%, and our AP pass rate is up 14% -- this is remarkable because in almost every other state higher AP enrollments have led to reduced pass rates.

Standards have benefited every type of student.

When you dig deeper into the data we find some of the most important details.  Every ethnic group in the state has seen improvement in meeting standards, with the most notable improvements for traditionally under performing populations.

Every range of student performance has improved, with kids at the top, middle and bottom all seeing improvement, with the largest gains for under performing students.

Our next challenges.

First, we must defend our state’s high standards from those who would end meaningful graduation requirements.  The politics of education reform are daunting, some are tempted to put the interests of the adults who run our schools over the needs of students.  I will always put students first.

Second, I support a major reform of the federal No Child Left Behind act, many of the complaints about standards in Washington State are in fact motivated by some of the punitive and overly burdensome aspects of this law.

Third, I have presented a proposal to the legislature for a significant restructuring of how we fund education in Washington State.  This includes higher pay for teachers, greater accountability and more support for struggling students.

Please write.

In the comings months of this campaign I’ll be crossing the state to talk directly with the students, teachers, parents and everyone who cares about our kids and our public schools.  I hope you will write me at Terry@TerryBergeson2008.com with your thoughts.

Sincerely,