Report to the Community: March 2003

Contents
Introduction
Important Initiatives Under Way
What Schools Are Doing
Next Steps
What You Can Do

“Changing peoples' hearts and deepest beliefs can often take generations, but changing behavior and beginning deeper changes can start now.”

Lessons from Exceptional School Leaders, Mark Goldberg [2001]

Introduction

When students start out four laps behind, they must work harder to catch up to the frontrunners. Seattle Public Schools is committed to enabling those students to not only catch up, but to excel in academics as well as in their personal and professional lives.

We are a district committed to academic achievement for every student in every school: producing graduates who are life-long learners. That is our mission and it guides every facet of our work.

Seattle Public Schools has met the problem of disproportionality head on. Eliminating the achievement gap is central to the district’s mission of academic achievement for every student. As Superintendent Joseph Olchefske said: "We are shining a spotlight on the problem and saying it is unacceptable."

Our goal is to eliminate the achievement gap by 2005. We have made substantial progress, but we realize we have a long way to go.

"It’s like a battleship," as Disproportionality Action Committee Facilitator Mickey Fearn said. "It doesn’t start to turn right way. It starts to turn in 10 miles."

While we have not yet eliminated disproportionality, we are making gains, thanks to you: parents, teachers, students, staff and community members.

Updated April 4, 2003