The state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction has released its list of 50 Washington schools categorized as the “persistently lowest-achieving” under federal guidelines, and one – Rainier Beach High – is in southeast Seattle.
There were a total of three Seattle schools on the state’s list, including Chief Sealth High School and AS #1 K-8 School.
According to the state, each school was placed into one of two tiers, Tier I or Tier II, and then categorized based on achievement or graduation rate.
The announcement comes on the heels of individual school report cards issued by Seattle Public Schools last November, in which many southeast Seattle schools were classified as low-performing, including Rainier Beach High.
Meanwhile, Seattle Times guest columnist Nora Liu and the Southeast Seattle Education Coalition argue that Seattle Public Schools has two districts, one that tends to be more affluent and the schools higher-performing and one that tends to be poorer. She says parents in the schools are tired of being told to be patient. They want action:
We have been told to be patient, that things will improve. We have been told that it’s not the school’s fault — it’s the children we send there. We have been told to be better parents. We have been told, because we are poor or immigrants or African American, that we shouldn’t expect academic success. Read more.
Photo/do communications
Related:
- Rainier Beach Parents Start Petition to Have New Co-Principal Removed (9/23/10)
- Only 10% of Seattle’s Black Students Attend High-Performing Elementary Schools (11/30/10)
- 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)
- SPS Community Blog Raising Money to Buy Textbooks for Rainier Beach High (11/13/09)
Who to know, where to eat & what to do in one of America’s most diverse zip codes!
{ 9 comments }
Unfortunately, this comes as no surprise. What specific Goals, Strategies, Actions Steps is the SSEC proposing. Because, frankly speaking, if your Strategy is to speak loudly and be heard… I can’t hear you. You’re not loud enough. Where’s the groundswell, where’s the social movement, where is the pasison about this injustice? If you take the lead, the Southeast Seattle community will support you. But you have to have a plan…
G
Its always blame the victim around here. Why do the non minority community members always manage to put down the people who have to suffer these indignities. I for one am a African-American female, married with two children. Our children live in a two parent financially stable ( we are both employed by major NW employers). We live in this community and are as involved as any two parents can be in their childrens lives. I believe you said you don’t hear the outcry from the community. Let me tell you my perspective on this. #1: Poorer people KNOW their voices are generally not heard and are too depressed to even try. #2: People in this community who have to Work to support their meager lifestyle DO NOT have the luxury of getting off work to complain to the school board, the mayor or you. Hell, they may have to work two jobs to keep their heads above water. #3: Besides the depression, not having a real voice in anything and not having the time to do anything, they don’t have the support, resources or money to invest in protesting their less than acceptable conditions. Another observation, non minority people who live in the community often do not support their community. They have the means to send their children to private schools and wouldnt be caught dead at their neighborhood school. I have lived in Capital Hill, the Central District and now Beacon Hill and have witnessed this first hand as I have always been involved with my childrens school’s PTA. What we need is help, if you know of any resources to help our schools please post. That would be more helpful than the put down posts to us who live here and want the best for our kids too.
How do we get some of these southend underachieving students ENGAGED to learn? Where is the strategic curriculum plan? It’s proven that throwing more money at a low performing schools like Rainier Beach does not get results.
One blogger in the Seattle Times mentioned Bellevue School District underachievers get sent to Robinswood. Seattle School District should think out of the box and follow –send the neediest low achievers to one school, provide them the academic help and services they need under one roof.
” Seattle School District should think out of the box and follow –send the neediest low achievers to one school, provide them the academic help and services they need under one roof.”
The movie “Dangerous Minds” comes to mind.
@garlic gulch
I think they probably do send them to one or two schools, they just don’t provide the services there.
Going to the open house at Nova!
Growing up, my mother would warn me that I would go to “dumb bell school” if I didn’t complete my school homework.
Nowadays, I give my children the same advice.
I challenge South Seattle parents to spend at least 5 minutes a day or more to encourage their child to do their homework before turning on the tv or playing a xbox game.
Trudy206:
Frankly speaking, you must be kidding. “Parents”?? A large percentage of South Seattle kids don’t have “Parents”. There were a couple of events that struck our community in the 80′s and 90′s that pretty much guaranteed that our kids would grow up without “Parents”. They’re called Crack and the War on Drugs. Does any of this ring a bell?
If you grew up in the inner city and your family wasn’t affected by it, then consider yourself one of the luck ones…
The crack epidemic was historically tied to inner city African American communitie. Those kids affected by it were still being raised by a single parent or guardian, or sent to foster care.
Visit your local Safeway or Asian grocer in South Seattle, there’s a high population of immigant and non-immigrant Asian, Mexican, Pacific Islander, Somalian, Ethiopian etc. These families with school age kids are large and contain one or both parents.
In complete agreement with G. Thanks for speaking up regarding this topic.
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