[Vision2020] Speaking of Public Schools . . .

[Tom Hansen]

>From today's (February 22, 2007) Moscow-Pullman Daily News -

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Moscow school administrator earns top honor
Balancing act helps Bechinski earn Distinguished Service Award 

By Kate Baldwin, Daily News staff writer

Thursday, February 22, 2007 - Page Updated at 12:50:45 PM

Cindy Bechinski wanted to be a teacher since she could hold a crayon. She
also wanted to be a "plate-spinner" like the ones she saw on the "Ed
Sullivan Show" as a child. 

Little did she know that pursuing a career in education would allow her to
be a success at both. 

Bechinski, 54, was the only person in the state to receive the 2006
Distinguished Service Award from the Idaho School Superintendent's
Association for her work as the Curriculum Director in Moscow School
District. In this position, Bechinski keeps a separate "plate" spinning for
each of the different tests the state requires students to take. 

"It's the original multi-tasking," she said with a laugh. 

Bechinski began teaching in 1973, but throughout her career she's also
worked as a migrant resource teacher, a university instructor and adjunct
professor, a gifted and talented program facilitator and a counselor. During
this time, she followed a path through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Texas
before stopping in Moscow, where she has been since 1989. 

"To know Cindy is to love Cindy. I know that is echoed throughout our
district," said Candis Donicht, superintendent of the Moscow School
District. "There is nothing that gets her down for more than a minute or
two. She can always figure out a solution or put a positive spin on any
situation and any problem." 

The Distinguished Service Award, which was presented to Bechinski last week,
is special because it typically goes to superintendents or principals. 

"There was not per se a curriculum director of the year award," said
Donicht, who reviewed the ISSA's nomination requirements closely and
determined that Bechinski might fit. "We decided to give it a go because she
is such a quality educator and does so much, not only for the district but
she acts for our community as well." 

In addition to her work as curriculum director, Bechinski designed the
district's K+ Program, which is a self-funded kindergarten program for the
second half of the day. She initiated Title I parent nights. She also
coordinates with the University of Idaho to bring better programs into
science classrooms. 

Bechinski sits on numerous state-level committees to review testing and
standards. She even served on the State Board of Education's Assessment and
Accountability commission when it decided to establish a statewide testing
system in the late 1990s. 

Bechinski remembers when the commission selected Northwest Evaluation
Association to deliver these tests in 2001 and they decided to call it the
ISAT, or the Idaho Standards Achievement Test. 

"We were all excited but it wasn't a part of No Child Left Behind or
(Adequate Yearly Progress) at that point," she said. 

Just a year later, President George W. Bush pushed the No Child Left Behind
Act into the spotlight. 

The federal legislation was meant to improve primary and secondary public
education by raising the standards of accountability and using testing as
measurements to evaluate student and district success. 

"Then everything just shifted," Bechinski said. "We watched an era of
accountability roll in." 

Now Bechinski serves as the president of the Idaho Association for
Supervision and Curriculum Development. At the same time, she is frequently
operating behind the scenes. 

Bechinski works with the Idaho Department of Education and Idaho Board of
Education to make sure that each new change doesn't overlook what is in the
best interest of students. She has done this by working with the new ISAT
vendor to make sure there is a smooth transition. She also works on the
alignment of the state's teaching standards with the test questions. 

Moscow High School Principal Bob Celebreeze said his school stays up to date
because of Bechinski, and the results are there to prove it. 

"She has brought about a complete change in the district by allowing
kindergarten through 12th-grade teachers to fully understand the entire
spectrum of what is going on in the district in reference to curriculum," he
said. 

In the future, Bechinski will do the same as testing continues to evolve.
She predicts that if the federal NCLB policies are reauthorized and follow
current trends, the country will move to a set of national standards and a
national test to measure basic skills. She expects this would allow a
standardized measurement across states. 

Right now, she said educators are comparing states on "totally different
testing systems." For example, there is no way to make a comparison even
between neighboring states like Idaho and Washington when one uses the ISAT,
and the second uses the Washington Assessment of Student Learning. 

"We'll see what happens," she said. 

For now, her focus is helping the state find a balance. 

"That's what drives me every single day," she said. 

Bechinski wants educators to remember that whenever an important decision or
recommendation is made "to literally see the face of a child at the end of
it, so we can make the best decisions." 

"Kids are our most valuable resource," she said. "I believe they deserve a
quality education to discover the love of learning, to discover what they
have inside of themselves . to give them confidence, to find success, to
literally become all they can be. And a system of quality public education
can do that."

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"I think one of the best ways to support education is to make successful
private schools like Logos prosper through tax exemption."

- Donovan Arnold (July 11, 2005)