Minorities Make Majorities
This article appeared in today's Seattle Times about the rise of minority populations at districts in the Puget Sound area. From the article:
"But this past school year the Kent School District became the seventh Seattle-area district in which the majority of students are minorities, joining Seattle, Tukwila, Highline, Renton, Federal Way and Tacoma."
This follows an overall trend in the U.S. where minority populations will become the majority of the U.S. population by somewhere around 2040 (it had been placed earlier at about 2030 but recently got put further out).
From the article:
"With the exception of Seattle and a few small districts, all the school districts in King and Snohomish counties have a higher percentage of minority students than they did five years ago.
This, along with the recent Supreme Court ruling on special ed students being allowed to go to private schools after they are unable to get the services they need in public schools (paid for by public schools), has tremendous implications about how services will be delivered.
"But this past school year the Kent School District became the seventh Seattle-area district in which the majority of students are minorities, joining Seattle, Tukwila, Highline, Renton, Federal Way and Tacoma."
This follows an overall trend in the U.S. where minority populations will become the majority of the U.S. population by somewhere around 2040 (it had been placed earlier at about 2030 but recently got put further out).
From the article:
"With the exception of Seattle and a few small districts, all the school districts in King and Snohomish counties have a higher percentage of minority students than they did five years ago.
Tukwila, which had the highest percentage of minority students in the 2003-04 school year, has even more now — a nearly equal mix of whites, Asians, Hispanics and blacks. Earlier this year, The New York Times called it the most diverse school district in the nation.
Kent — the state's fourth-largest district — has undergone the most rapid change among Puget Sound districts, from about one-third minorities five years ago to about 51 percent this past school year.
No one tracks exactly why that's occurred, but district officials mention the efforts of area churches and businesses to bring immigrants to the area, the availability of low-cost apartments and Kent's reputation as having good schools."
Two school districts have hired Hispanic superintendents, Bellevue and Kent.This, along with the recent Supreme Court ruling on special ed students being allowed to go to private schools after they are unable to get the services they need in public schools (paid for by public schools), has tremendous implications about how services will be delivered.
Comments
But maybe, school districts will think twice when families try to improve the education for their kids.
The disproportionality is even more over-represented than reported when you consider the fact that white kids attend private school at a rate of about 50% in Seattle. None (or very few) of these private school attendees are disabled.
"And as he has done at his past districts, Vargas plans to send every Kent kindergartner on a field trip to a college campus, just to get them thinking about higher education early on.
"It's important," he said, "to put that belief in their head and drive in their heart."
I absolutely agree with this superintendent except that I would instead (1) require all teachers to put a copy of their college diplomas up in the class room and casually mention it from time to time starting in kindergarten and (2) take the 5th graders to a college campus. They'd likely get more out of it and middle school is a good time to get them motivated.
This guy has the right idea.