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Special Education In Washington
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Helping Your Child Excel
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When parents are involved in their children's education at home, those students will do better in school.
 Washington is blessed to have excellent public schools and dedicated, professional school staff. WEA's members are devoted to helping every student reach their dreams. But the simple fact is that school employees see your child for seven hours a day at best -- and your child is one student in a larger class.
That?s why your focus on education is so crucial. As your child?s first, and most-important teacher, you are the one who can help a child gain a curiosity about the world and develop a love of learning. Your example will be the strongest factor in your child?s success at school: Studies show that attitudes at home and the importance placed on learning are more important to student achievement than income, education level or cultural background.
WEA knows that our members can help students the most when they come to school ready to learn. That includes understanding basic skills as your child enters kindergarten, but it also means working to foster attitudes that will allow your child to listen, participate, problem-solve, explore and collaborate in his or her classroom.
WEA has included several resources to help in your journey: | |
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School Quality & Funding
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 WEAs mission is to make public education the best it can be for students, staff and communities. We share your desire to rest assured that your child -- and all of Washington's children -- can attend a quality public school.
Research shows there are some essential elements in achieving those goals.
- Nothing is more important to improving the quality of public schools than having well-trained, well-qualified educators teaching our children. With higher academic standards than ever before, our schools must provide competitive compensation to attract and keep great educators.
- Research also shows that smaller class sizes improve student learning. Recent class-size reduction efforts have helped, yet Washingtons class sizes remain the fourth largest in the U.S. Small class sizes allow teachers and aides to provide the individualized attention students deserve.
In Washington, the state makes key decisions that affect teacher pay, class size and school funding in your local district. That's why WEA believes stable and adequate funding for public education is essential to the continued success of local schools -- and your child. The Legislature must continue to invest in public schools, while local school administrators need to make sure their budgets give priority to students and teachers in the classroom.
"If public education is freedom's classroom, voting is democracy's test," notes Virginia B. Edwards, editor and publisher of Education Week, a national education journal. "The public believes it has a bigger role to play in improving the quality of schools by becoming more informed and more politically engaged."
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