Report to the Community: March 2003

African American children who failed to meet the state’s reading standards doubled their pass rate after spending two or more years with teachers who had completed our Literacy Initiative.

Important Initiatives Are Under Way To
Eliminate The Achievement Gap

School transformation. In one of the most fundamental changes in the district’s history, every school is responsible for developing and implementing a detailed plan to eliminate disproportionality. Principals and staff are evaluated on their progress. In addition, we are displaying and analyzing disproportionality data and targeting strategies to eliminate the achievement gap.

Results: Test scores are going up in most Seattle Public Schools. Students are becoming more active in academic school programs.
[Learn more.]

Teaching training. The Literacy Initiative is the largest and most significant professional development program ever launched by the district. The program, which began in 1999, trains teachers to infuse literacy across the curriculum - a strategy proven to improve learning for students from diverse cultural backgrounds. Since the training program was launched, 1,300 of the district’s 3,000 teachers have enrolled in the two-year, 72-hour training given by the National Urban Alliance, based in Lake Success, N.Y.

Results: African American children who failed to meet the state’s reading standards doubled their pass rate after spending two or more years with teachers who had completed our Literacy Initiative. An analysis by the district shows that among pupils who failed the reading and writing portions of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning in 1999, literacy-trained African Americans made the greatest gains in 2002 - 26 percent passed the reading portion of the test, compared with 12 percent without literacy trained teachers. Thirty-one percent of African American pupils who spent two years with literacy-trained teachers passed the writing portion, compared with 22 percent of pupils without the literacy-trained teachers.
[Learn more.*]

Courageous conversations. In August 2002 more than 5,000 Seattle Public Schools employees embarked on an unprecedented training program aimed at eliminating the achievement gap, mainly by encouraging race-related discussions among teachers and students. In a four-hour session led by Glenn Singleton, a nationally recognized expert on diversity, the staff at every school and department in the district gathered to engage in “Courageous Conversations About Race.” These discussions continue today with more than 50 schools participating throughout the district. During the programs, participants address how race impacts students and what teachers, principals, instructional aides and others can do to improve student learning across racial lines. In addition to the Courageous Conversations, Glenn Singleton is training administrators, staff, the Action Committee and community members on understanding race, culture and ethnicity.

Results: Student/teacher relationships are improving. Students and teachers have a greater understanding of institutional racism and how it impacts academic achievement

Raising the bar. We developed stringent performance standards for students, teachers and administrators. The district has clear and consistent goals with uniform methods of reporting progress toward those goals. These are: Leadership Standards for principals, assistant principals and central office administration; Professional Practice Standards for teachers; and Academic Standards for students.

Results: Test scores have risen dramatically. For example, Thurgood Marshall was rated among the top Washington state elementary schools by GreatSchools.net*, a nonprofit online guide to K-12 schools. The group said Thurgood Marshall has made well above average improvement on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) reading and well above average improvement on WASL math compared with other Washington schools. In 2002, 61 percent of 4th graders met or exceeded state standards in WASL reading and 46 percent in WASL math.

Uniting schools, parents and the community around a common goal. The district has convened a Disproportionality Action Committee, with representatives from a broad spectrum of the community, to devise a multi-faceted strategy to solve this problem. The committee’s challenge is to create a blueprint for the schools to eliminate disproportionality. At the same time, the committee wants to synergize the resources of the community to support what the schools are doing in the classroom. To do this, the committee is galvanizing the activities of schools, parents, community, public, private and non-profit institutions to provide resources and direction for leadership in the schools.

Results: Parents and community members are playing active roles in eliminating the achievement gap.

Sending dollars where they are needed most. We are allocating more dollars to schools with larger numbers of poor children and are hiring more teachers of color. The district also publishes detailed annual records on the achievement gap and offers various forms of staff training. In 1990, the School Board funded a $7.9 million, 10-point program advocated by the Black Community Coalition and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People* (NAACP).

Results: The schools with the most need are receiving additional funds. Also, the district is creating new schools, such as the African American Academy.

Working with the community. We recently created the Office for Community Learning to lead initiatives in three primary areas:

1. To provide learning support services that integrate the programs of before- and after-school care providers, pre-schools and summer programs with school learning standards.
2. Removing barriers to learning with programs to prevent dropping out of school, delinquency, teen pregnancy, violence, drug and alcohol abuse, and other risky behaviors.
3. Building family and community participation in our schools by recruiting, welcoming and training volunteers; advising families on ways to create a home that’s conducive to learning; encouraging them to join in leadership decisions at their schools.

Results: We have seen a dramatic increase in participation from parents and the community.

Fostering accountability. We use evaluations of staff and school effectiveness profiles to ensure accountability. Academic achievement represents 50 percent of the principal and assistant principal's performance evaluation. Position Descriptions of principals and assistant principals are aligned with their performance evaluations. The evaluation process has significantly changed to reflect today's student needs.

Results: We have assigned the strongest principals to the most challenged schools. Principals have taken on larger roles in increasing cultural awareness.

Track results. We use data, broken down by race and gender, to analyze performance, drive planning, and track progress toward established goals at both school and district level.

Results: Students who need more help than others are identified and assigned tutors. Academic achievement is improving across the board. For example, in 2002, 59 percent of Garfield High School 10th graders met or exceeded state standards in WASL reading and 54 percent in WASL math - well above the average.

More learning opportunities. We have provided more full-day kindergarten and created homework centers in many of our elementary schools. In addition, Seattle Public Schools is developing and implementing the Testwise program to increase students’ attitude, confidence and skills in test taking for 4th, 7th, and 10th grade students in six schools: Concord Elementary, T.T. Minor, M.L. King, African American Academy, Aki Kurose and Rainier Beach.

Results: Students’ academic achievements improve.

Learning from the experts. We have hired preeminent speakers on eliminating the gap for district-wide seminars and workshops - Asa Hilliard, Glenn Singleton, Rudy Crew, Geneva Gay and others.

Results: More intimate learning environments have been created and instruction has been tailored to the individual needs of every student.

Creating new schools. We built new schools - and renovated old ones -- in neighborhoods with large populations of high-needs students. The 2001 Building Excellence levy included $280 million of new capital projects in South Seattle out of a total $400 million.

Results: Students have a better learning environment.

On the cutting edge of technology. We have bridged the digital divide by providing every student with access to technology tools for learning (PDF file). In December 2002, high speed Internet access became available in every classroom.

Results: Students have more opportunities to learn through and about technology.