Earlier this month, Seattle Public Schools released detailed new reports on 82 of its schools, including a ranking system rating each school from 1 to 5.
The results were staggering geographically, with not a single high-performing school in the city’s south-end, but a further analysis by the University of Washington reveals another disturbing discovery:
Only 10% of African American children are currently attending a high-performing (Level 4 or Level 5) elementary school. In contrast, 40% of African American elementary students are enrolled in Level 1 schools, while only 4% of White students are. More.
Discuss these and other related issues tonight at Southeast Seattle Regional Community Meeting on School Reports, from 7 to 8:30 pm at South Lake High School (8601 Rainier Ave. S.). From Seattle Public Schools chief Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson:
These town hall-style meetings will kick off a discussion about this data, and how we can work together on building a cohesive strategy to improve our schools. We have made progress, but many persistent challenges remain and improvement takes time. To succeed, we must work together as a community. We’re listening, and we want to hear what you have to say about the school reports and ways to improve learning for all students in our schools.
Families will have the opportunity to talk with district leaders, including principals and the Executive Director of Schools for the region, as well as leaders of the Parent Teacher Association of Seattle.
The school report cards recently issued by Seattle Public Schools shows that neighborhoods to the north are home to mostly Level 4 and Level 5 schools, while neighborhoods south of 1-90 have 75% of the lowest-performing schools (Level 1 and Level 2) in the city. Color-coded map of Seattle Public Schools courtesy of the University of Washington.
Related:
- Color-Coded Map Illustrates Striking Disparity Between North & South Seattle Schools (11/11/10)
- Raw Numbers: South-End Schools Plagued by Low Scores (11/9/10)
Who to know, where to eat & what to do in one of America’s most diverse zip codes!
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My advice to Seattle Public Schools is: take the lowest performing students out from Level 1 schools and open up a centralized new school academy/boot camp to help low achieving students learn how to read and write. Offer proven top notch teachers, special ed classes, concentrated ESL classes and mental health and family support network services.
My neighbors did some digging and learned that some of the schools rated as a 3 are misleading. An example is Thurgood Marshall since it has Advanced classes but the kids do not mix with each other, so the advanced classes bump up the ratings.
It would be interesting to examine the data from back when kids were bussed across town. Did kids from yellow and red schools attend blue and green schools? If so, did it seem to affect their performance? There may be some archived data on this.
Everyone should read this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Black-American-Students-Affluent-Suburb/dp/080584516X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291182289&sr=8-1
It is available at the Seattle Public Library
Oh, big surprises there (I am being sarcastic — in case you couldn’t tell
).
That’s a great book – it provides very interesting insights. Highly recommended.
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