Seattle Schools News
Good News
Mark Perry, the long-time principal at Nova High School, was honored by the Alliance for Education's Thomas B. Foster Award for Excellence as a distinguished principal. Perry will receive a $50,000 cash grant for his school. He has been principal at Nova for 16 years.
The district arranged a fake fire alarm in order to get Perry and the students outside their building where he was surprised by a crowd there to congratulate him. I'm told the ruse worked well and there were many parents and past students in attendance.
Congrats to Principal Perry! He is the heart and soul of Nova and Nova saves lives like almost no other school.
The fourth and fifth graders at Bagley Elementary was the grand prize winners in a drawing from the Water for South Sudan's Iron Giraffe Challenge. According to the district, the students and their families raised about $6,000 for WFSS to help them drill more wells for clean drinking water for families in the Sudan. The head of WSS, Salva Dut, will be visiting Bagley sometime in the future. Great job, kids!
The Interagency Academy is working with Fare Start to give their students skills in the art of cooking.
The district is looking for volunteers to serve on the district's Preschool Task Force. Details here.
The deadline is Wednesday, May 14th.
Bad News
According to the FYI Guy column in the Seattle Times this morning, Seattle Schools is fifth in the nation for the widest gap between white and black student outcomes for grades 3-8. Number one is Washington, D.C.
White students in SPS are performing about two grade levels above the national average. But black students are testing about a grade level and-a-half below the national average and three and a-half-times below at the district level. (District-wide, Hispanic students are testing two and-a-half times below.) This information comes from Stanford University's Center for Education Policy Analysis and their study, The Geography of Racial/Ethnic Test Scores.
Interestingly, the Times interviewed the former head of Race and Equity for SPS, Caprice Hollins. Her job ended when the district got rid of that department. She was something of a flamethrower but she is right that things have come full circle and now the district is making more of the specific efforts that she had advocated for.
But she throws this out there,
Mark Perry, the long-time principal at Nova High School, was honored by the Alliance for Education's Thomas B. Foster Award for Excellence as a distinguished principal. Perry will receive a $50,000 cash grant for his school. He has been principal at Nova for 16 years.
The district arranged a fake fire alarm in order to get Perry and the students outside their building where he was surprised by a crowd there to congratulate him. I'm told the ruse worked well and there were many parents and past students in attendance.
Congrats to Principal Perry! He is the heart and soul of Nova and Nova saves lives like almost no other school.
The fourth and fifth graders at Bagley Elementary was the grand prize winners in a drawing from the Water for South Sudan's Iron Giraffe Challenge. According to the district, the students and their families raised about $6,000 for WFSS to help them drill more wells for clean drinking water for families in the Sudan. The head of WSS, Salva Dut, will be visiting Bagley sometime in the future. Great job, kids!
The Interagency Academy is working with Fare Start to give their students skills in the art of cooking.
Every eight weeks, students from the district's Interagency Academy trade in their more traditional classroom instruction for julienning shallots, chiffonading basil, and dicing carrots inside the kitchen at non-profit, culinary organization, FareStart.News
The district is looking for volunteers to serve on the district's Preschool Task Force. Details here.
The deadline is Wednesday, May 14th.
Bad News
According to the FYI Guy column in the Seattle Times this morning, Seattle Schools is fifth in the nation for the widest gap between white and black student outcomes for grades 3-8. Number one is Washington, D.C.
White students in SPS are performing about two grade levels above the national average. But black students are testing about a grade level and-a-half below the national average and three and a-half-times below at the district level. (District-wide, Hispanic students are testing two and-a-half times below.) This information comes from Stanford University's Center for Education Policy Analysis and their study, The Geography of Racial/Ethnic Test Scores.
Interestingly, the Times interviewed the former head of Race and Equity for SPS, Caprice Hollins. Her job ended when the district got rid of that department. She was something of a flamethrower but she is right that things have come full circle and now the district is making more of the specific efforts that she had advocated for.
But she throws this out there,
And white parents might start to say 'what about my kids?' They're not recognizing that their kids already have what they need," she said. "But just having this conversation becomes a very sensitive, political thing."I wish the Times had asked her what she meant by "what they need" because it is unclear if she means at home or academically or both.
Comments
PW
NW Mom
And MGJ's appointees have led the racist attack on Middle College, Courageous Conversations, and other efforts to address racial inequities in schools. They seem to believe that turning schools into test prep will address the problem, when evidence is clear from across the country that it won't: http://www.epi.org/files/2013/bba-rhetoric-trumps-reality.pdf
So while the article blames the school board (an attempt to rally support for a mayoral takeover?), the facts seem to implicate education reform-minded administrators. Of course, the ed reformers on the previous school board went along with that, but the voters fired those board members and replaced them with board members who do take this work extremely seriously.
Hollins's quote is interesting. There's no doubt that white families on the whole have access to more resources, but it wouldn't really be accurate to say "their kids already have what they need." We know that's not true if those kids are homeless, have special education needs, are twice-exceptional, have a chronic illness that requires a regularly available nurse, and so on. That said, while white kids in SPS do need more resources and funding, kids of color need a LOT more, and a one size fits all approach wouldn't be right.
So I was really disappointed, if not all that surprised, to not see any mention of funding in that article. The way WA funds schools is inequitable and unconstitutional, as the Supreme Court has found. While we make sure all schools get more funding, we ought to find ways to make sure schools with kids who have the most needs - especially kids of color - get the biggest increases in funding. All need more, some need a lot more.
Do schools want volunteer tutors from the community? If so, I'd be willing to split my time between my child's school and another. I think the real benefit here would be an increase in voluntary contributions to less wealthy schools as parents become aware of their needs.
Districts don't seem to have any better solutions for kids wanting challenge but they'd still rather make that programming error than have 'you perpetuated the achievement gap with your program' on their resumes. Addressing inequities in educational outcomes is a big reason many seem to go into education administration. Addressing the needs of highly capable students is not. In liberal Seattle, the issue closest to administrators' hearts, coupled with pressure from politicians, is going to win the priority pyramid every time.
I agree with others that killing the current self contained HCC model is also just a matter of time for the same reasons.
"Watching Closely"
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/School-district-pulls-Web-site-after-examples-of-1205162.php
Self contained is already gone away at MS (except science) and HS and now TM is blending soc studies classes. And yeah this all fell apart with MGJ.
-Ouch
Don't care whether the thought is to bring in other general ed students or HCC students. The result is the same. Disproportionate ill effects on the same population outlined in the Seattle Times article.
Get over your planning suppositions and fix the situation. Stat.
Done&Done
Of course, the article was about the horrendous acheivement gap, not about what this report may do to the standing of those whom the district is already serving well (by public school standards, which Speddie correctly states is not required to give you everything you want and need--that's for private school). But more naval gazing isn't surprising when it comes to this blog.
MGJ has run out of the statute of limitations for blame. Here's a sampling of the real blame:
segregated schools (that can't be blamed on segregated neighborhoods--look at Louisville after the Supreme Court case); schools that warehouse students with highly impacted numbers of students on free and reduced lunch; inequitable resources due in part to SPS reliance on PTAs and PTAs who don't share (look at the libraries); lack of emphasis district-wide on achievement gaps outcomes and data; advanced learning that does not include historically underrepresented students fairly and violates state law for HCC; lack of curriculum (particularly in elementary literacy) that is linked to success for at-risk students
The statistics should come as no surprise to anyone in this district. This is the direct result of the priorities of the district, and many of the power people (including parents) who only look at what is best for their own children. This is
about to change.
--about time
Racial disparities and income disparities (which are more to the point IMHO but that doesn't mean racial issues are not also glaring) need attention in this district and part of the the fix lies with Downtown. But let's not go back a decade and choose as a mouthpiece for the issues the same ineffective spokesperson 'leader' that we tried before. You'd think I wouldn't have to spell this out but with the crowd Downtown it is always better to spell it out for them.
DistrictWatcher
DistrictWatcher
SPS relies on PTAs because there's not enough state funding. Making PTAs share doesn't solve the problem - not having PTAs fund things in the first place is what solves the problem.
You want SPS to focus even more on "data"? Even though we have tons of evidence from all over America that focusing on test scores alone just reinforces the existing gaps?
The answers to this are clear. Give the schools as much money as it takes to help kids overcome the effects of poverty. Give the schools small class sizes, experienced teachers - especially teachers of color. Maintain and expand curriculum that teaches race and social justice - right now SPS staff are waging war on that curriculum because they think all kids should be treated like robots, trained only to take tests. SPS staff replaced Middle College with Bill Gates' "Big History" nonsense. It doesn't get more racist than that.
In other words, do what teachers of color and students of color all over the country are demanding, but aren't getting, because a bunch of privileged white people who work for ed reform groups think they know best what Black and Latino kids need.
PW
Looks like Seattle schools aren't doing that bad.
HP
neighborhood schools have been obvious. The parents who are benefitting from
from this plan and the district abettors have kept it in place. They could
have gerrymandered boundaries but have not. SPS could have made more schools
choice schools but haven't. They could have proposed overturning the plan. They
have not.
She is gone. Nothing has stopped anyone from changing what clearly is having
terrible effects on those it is not benefitting. Having no choice but a poor
school is wrong. Continuing to blame someone without fixing it is complacency.
Blaming Ed Reformers for these statistics isn't going to work. Neither is talking about state funding. The fact is that some students are excelling and others are suffering. If all students were not achieving, you could use this argument. However, I totally agree about Ed Reformers and the funding being huge problems. There are only certain demographics suffering these realities in their education, and they are the same groups who have suffered historically in this country. The blame for this significant gap is squarely on SPS, squarely in SPS.
Seattle Times, like many media, wants to create a drama, in part by quoting someone who is known for extreme comments and proposals. So what? The facts remain and they need attention.
Blaming the way the article is written doesn't change the statistics. They are appalling.
--about time
M.T.
CP
"...schools that warehouse students with highly impacted numbers of students on free and reduced lunch..."
There may be schools with high F/RL students but "warehoused?" Bailey Gatzert has the highest F/RL in the district and they have a fine and caring principal in Greg Imel and I do not consider them "warehoused." Tell me a school that is doing that.
"...inequitable resources due in part to SPS reliance on PTAs and PTAs who don't share (look at the libraries);"
What PTA has even been asked? Do you know of a PTA that was asked to share and didn't? We've had this discussion and it's a tough one but I will always be glad for ANY parent who raises money for their kid's school. It's on PTA leadership to talk about how we all might balance out those inequities but making it sound like PTAs don't care is wrong (see Soup for Teachers.)
District Watcher, I thought it interesting they talked to Hollins.
"Sending everyone back to their neighborhood schools and eliminating any choice?"
That plan limited choice but no, there are several choices parents can make for their kids. Options schools exist in every corner of the district.
I would agree that SPS has some real issues that seem to never get address for all the day-to-day operations issues there are. It's sad.
The Times seems like they have a plan but the FYI Guy is not the one they should be using to roll it out.
FRL have significantly lowered outcomes compared to those with similar
demographics in more integrated schools. Warehoused, ghettoized, take
your pick. All correlate to housing patterns. It would be more productive
to address the inequity other than your choice of my wording about the
inequity.
I have been bringing up PTA funding for years, both in the district and
on this blog. Most don't want to share and threaten to stop giving if
they have to.
Thankfully, Soup for Teacher is on this issue, like many other issue
having to do with equity.
--about time
Chris S.
FRL have significantly lowered outcomes compared to those with similar
demographics in more integrated schools."
Sorry, but yes, the outcomes are not as good but saying those kids are warehoused as staff valiantly try to help is just not fair. And it's certainly what I have seen.
Address the inequity? That's pretty much what Charlie and I have built this blog on - trying to get equitable outcomes for all students.
"Most don't want to share and threaten to stop giving if they have to."
Again, back that up with some real data. Because that's a wild and damning accusation. When we have discussed PTA sharing here, I've heard parent say they don't want to but never that they would not give if they had to share. Where did you hear differently?
-HS Parent
Dear 4th Grade Families,
We are very excited about the upcoming 5th graders for the 2016-17 school year! As you may know, the 5th grade traditionally attends the IslandWood Outdoor School on Bainbridge Island as a team building experience for our students. We applied to take our classes again for the 2016-17 year, but we did not receive a reservation. Although there are a few reasons for IslandWood’s decision, one of the primary reasons is our group size. IslandWood is limited in the number of students that they can host and our size limits the availability to other schools. We, the 5th Grade Team and Administration at Cascadia, understand and support their decision. But we also know that future 5th graders may be greatly disappointed. Please know that we are actively pursuing new programs for our upcoming 2016-17 5th graders.
As soon as a final program decision and reservation is confirmed, we will announce the program and details to all of you. We look forward to having a community building experience just as powerful as IslandWood with all of your children.
We appreciate your understanding in this matter and, again, we look forward to building a fantastic 5th grade community with you all this autumn!
All the best,
The Cascadia 5th Grade Team
-Cascadia 5th
You can search your blog about parents threatening to stop giving to their school if the PTA shares. It's been a response given time and time for years. I'm not sure why this seems like news to you.
Your observation about the dedicated teachers/staff in highly impacted schools is correct. I should know since I have taught in them for years. I'm talking about
outcomes, and the research is clear: Students fare significantly worse in schools past a certain FRL threshold. There are some instances that beat the odds,but they are few and far between.
Not sure why you are trying to rebut highly documented research and facts instead of focusing on the appalling statistics and what to do about them. Fortunately, this report is a wake-up call that the standard bearers in this district will no longer be able to avoid.
--about time
fiddle faddle
-SPS parent
Great idea.
"You can search your blog about parents threatening to stop giving to their school if the PTA shares. "
If you are the one saying this is true, then YOU go find and show us this. It's not on me to do that work when you are the one making the accusation. I am saying I do not recall this ever being the case.
And you are the one saying that kids are "warehoused." That's a not great phrasing for a school with majority poor kids and hard-working staff. The district has been told, by many people, that they should do everything they can to NOT create schools like this and they don't seem to listen. But "warehoused" makes it sound like no one cares and that's just not true.
And there have been commenters to this blog who described special ed students assigned to "recycling" class at a SPS high school.
LisaG
SPS Parent that is really the crux of what MC/About time is saying that the gen ed kids then have a higher percentage of behavioral problem kids when there are tracked programs. But lets be real, only science in MS really can't be called a tracked program especially when each school can decide how it is taught. So I wonder if the HC kids are the ones being warehoused as they are not getting nearly the education that they could.
As for the wide gap it works both ways. Two grades higher widens the gap right? What is the causation here verses other other places... Is it that Seattle has more SES disadvantaged AA than other areas? Which is what I would say is the root cause in achievement disparity.
-SPS parent
That too, -SPS parent. So true.
Second, Caprice Hollins said a lot of things that upset people but I was most bothered by her statement that the district should not spend one dime supporting students working beyond grade level until every student is working at grade level. That's a call for equality, not equity. We should be working for equity - in which every student gets what they need - instead of equality - in which every student gets the same.
Third, along those lines, there are a lot of students who are not getting what they need right now, across all demographics, ages, and skill levels. As we advocate for some students, we cannot pretend that they are the only students who are not well-served. The neglect of students with disabilities in Seattle Public Schools is literally criminal, the mis-education of African-American students is immoral, the refusal to serve students working beyond grade level is inexcusable, and the failure to offer meaningful curricula to all students is intolerable. It is not a zero-net-sum world and we can, as a society, work on multiple initiatives at the same time. Advocacy for one group should not be seen as neglect of other groups, should not be dismissive of the needs of other groups, and must not be contrary to the needs of other groups.
mt
Were they being placed on suspension or expelled at equal rates as their white peers prior to her tenure?
Only then can you place blame at her feet. Otherwise, teachers should sincerely start tackling the equity issues they went on strike for.
Even the school librarians are trying to integrate Bernie's policies for how money and library materials are distributed throughout the district. When the news proclaims Seattle Feels the Bern, it makes me chuckle.
L.I.N.O.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/05/10/the-incredible-impact-of-rich-parents-fighting-to-live-by-the-very-best-schools/?tid=pm_pop_b
Makes sense. Try mentoring and the reality hits. It's a challenge for poor schools to find parent volunteers in the classroom, form auction committee, have money making booster clubs, write grants, to chaperone on field trips, or come in to lead a genetic project based learning unit. All that stuff takes access, time and money. When you have parents working to make ends meet, there's not a lot left to write a $1,000 check or take off work to volunteer. Richer schools have enough parents able to pick up the slack for other parents who can't or won't. That's why schools with very high FRL struggled the most, but even those with 40-60% FRL are challenged too. For those successful schools profiled in the media, each one needed enough dedicated and motivated adults behind the students to succeed.
People say these poor schools get more money per pupil and that's the greater equalizer. Not really. That money is controlled by school admin and not all those dollars are well spent. The thing is when a school relies on parents for these differences, there's an odd power shift. While many may disagree and say parents have no power, the fact is they do. They act as a check. When people give personal money and time, people want it to mean something. Parents have more leverage, more public presence and more know how when they clash with a teacher or school admin. It's easier to dismiss concerns and queries when people don't know how to navigate the system or don't know their rights.
AP
the elite always gets to write the narrative
if only Lakeside didn't nab all our talented kids of color, HCC would be diverse!
No extras for HCC!!!not a thin Dime!
But that's what defenders say is a reason to perpetuate the program, remember?
It's not better! It costs nothing extra!
Get your story straight.
Also Human
Long-term issues of societal racism are certainly a, if not the, major factor. But racism and other issues driving poverty are at the root of the problem. How many words a child hears in the first 3 years of life is a major driver of IQ, that researchers find persists long-term. Some kids come from homes where parents are unable to provide the support, interaction, role modeling and motivation the child really needs to succeed in school. You compare the kids who have been read to, interacted with, talked to about school, shown the college where their parent attended, visited relatives at colleges, and had rich life experiences, to kids who have none of that, and you damn the schools for failing to achieve the same outcomes across the board. It's just not possible to offset the differences with school. It'd be nice to think so, but it's not.
The achievement gap is more an indictment of society as a whole than of teachers and schools.
IMHO
L.I.N.O.
http://blogs.seattletimes.com/fyi-guy/2014/11/12/as-seattle-gets-richer-the-citys-black-households-get-poorer/
Let's say that you are entirely right and students are arriving at the classroom with varying degrees of preparation, support, and motivation and the schools had nothing to do with any of it. Okay. Now what? Do we continue with a school system that doesn't do very much to address these deficiencies? That's not very helpful.
The action that people are asking for is not to find the right element of society to blame nor to continue to fail to educate students who lack the critical elements for success, but to start providing the necessary preparation, support, and motivation when it is absent.
It's not impossible.
We can replace the missing preparation with universal, high quality childcare and pre-school. Paid family leave would be another step forward as well as increased efforts to support and educate new parents. Schools can offer support for students such as Algebra support classes taken in the same semester as Algebra class to backfill the missing preparation.
We already offer support in form of breakfast and lunch for students living in poverty. We also offer some healthcare in schools, including mental health. We should offer more support in the form of before- and after-school care that provides a snack in the afternoon as well as safe, stable, and supported study and homework time. We should expand the public health function of our schools by extending the healthcare services available to students to include dental and vision and to bolster the mental and behavioral health services. We should also greatly expand the number of field trips students take. Show them a wider world.
The most critical element, motivation, is, I'm afraid, the least developed. We're not going to do much with Spirit Week or codified cultures like "The [school name] Way". Honor student rewards are not the way to go. The Teach for America motivation plan of putting college banners on the wall and talking to students about "When you're in college..." doesn't do much either. We know what motivates people to do cognitive work and it isn't carrots and sticks. People are motivated to do cognitive work with autonomy, the opportunity to achieve mastery, and a purpose greater than themselves. Our traditional schools, however, do not allow students much in the way of autonomy. You might think they are all about mastery, but they are really only about proficiency - sometimes only familiarity. And there isn't enough done to give students the idea that their schoolwork is in service to a Purpose. This is where we have the greatest opportunity for change and improvement.
Given that, it would seem like the best approach is wrap-around services for kids in their neighborhood schools, rather than attempts to balance school populations. If you try to balance populations, you run out of middle class kids (even before some of those kids choose private school options instead).
Lynn's casual comment that "if most of our short children or left-handed children were living in poverty, they'd have a huge achievement gap too" does nothing but trivializes this VERY damning finding of SPS's failure to address the educational needs of students who are the most in need. Seattle's benefactors don't need to look beyond 20 miles for a worthy philanthropic cause--there are kids who need time and materials and concern NOW, right here in Seattle.
Charlie's right, we shouldn't get so hung up on where the blame lies. We should be asking: where does SPS go from here? But for those who would like to just write this study off because of "poverty," don't stop there, go deeper. Why are certain peoples growing up in poverty? What, in their families' histories happened to where their life circumstances don't match yours? (Hint: Slavery.) How will poverty eventually be eradicated? Everyone chime in here: EDUCATION!
If Seattle continues to just shrug off its African American students, then prepare to be embarrassed (like I am) next year when the results come back the same. In the words of Sheryl Sandberg, lean in SPS, lean in.
L.I.N.O.
Education is not the key to eradicating poverty - it's MONEY! When children have financially secure families, they are more likely to be successful in school. The premise that if schools just did the right thing in the right way, we'd have no more poverty is false. Here's an interesting study on the affect on children when their parents are given cash: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2891175/.
How do you propose SPS starts eliminating the white-black achievement gap Lynn? Because your comments are fatalistic, as in poor African American families here will always stay that way and there's nothing that Seattle or its school district can do about it.
Is Seattle and its citizens just waiting until the poor African American families move out so it doesn't have this problem or ranking anymore?
L.I.N.O.
Does that mean when the legislature gets around to increasing education funding, that we should give the money directly to low income families instead of to school districts?
Or do you think that the money should be given to schools with high FRL student rates because increased school spending has a larger effect on students from low income families than on other students? http://www.nber.org/papers/w20847
LisaG
I think it is worth saying that the root cause of the gap is inequality because no matter how much money we spent in schools on the gap- if we spent literally all of the dollars on only that- we would never close it there. And we do still have to educate everybody. We should continue to spend more on lower income kids for equity reasons, because they are more expensive to educate and we should bear that cost, but as long as we have widening inequality, the achievement gap will continue to grow. Nothing we do in the schools will help that.
-sleeper
It's a great idea but who's going to do it?
"Nothing we do in schools will help that" is not only incorrect,
but is a way of washing one's hands of responsibility.
There is no single response that is enough, but research
proven approaches have increased outcomes, including:
more integrated schools, better teachers in schools with
vulerable children, fair access to advanced learning, smaller
class sizes for highly impacted classrooms, wrap-around services,
and authentic community involvement.
The effects of poverty may still exist, but we can certainly
mitigate them and increase the achievement of our students.
--about time