WHAT NEEDS TO CHANGE? WHAT NEEDS MORE SUPPORT?
Dear PTA/PTSA members and partners,
Please join your neighbors, your executive director for schools and your local school principals as we discuss school improvement plans at a series of community meetings.
As a district and a community, is Seattle meeting student need? What do we need to support? What do we need to change?
Seattle Public Schools recently released its annual District Scorecard as well as individual School Reports. These are designed to show where our schools are meeting state standards as well as district goals. There are some great successes; there is also a pervasive achievement gap in nearly every school in the district.
The Seattle Council PTSA is co-sponsoring these meetings along with Seattle Public Schools to help the greater community understand the challenge and to give community members an opportunity to speak directly to the administrators in charge.
We need your voices. The first meetings are this Monday (NE) and Tuesday (SE). Following are a meeting schedule, links to the reports, and links to tools and resources. Each school has an improvement plan, those can be found on page 2 of the School Reports.
Please attend. Please bring a friend. These meetings are open to all.
Discussions start Nov. 29
Northeast: Monday, Nov. 29, 7-8:30 p.m. at Roosevelt High School, 1410 NE 66th St., Seattle 98115
Interpreters: Somali and Spanish
NE schools include:
Nathan Hale HS, Roosevelt HS
Home School Resource Residential Consortium
Eckstein MS
AS#1 K-8, Jane Addams K-8, TOPS K-8
Bryant, Green Lake, Laurelhurst, Olympic Hills, Olympic View, John Rogers, Sacajawea, Sand Point, Thornton Creek, View Ridge, and Wedgwood elementary schools
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Southeast: Tuesday, Nov. 30, 7-8:30 p.m. at South Lake High School, 8601 Rainier Ave. S., Seattle 98118
Interpreters: Amharic, Chinese, Somali, Spanish, Tagalog, Tigrigna and Vietnamese
SE schools include:
STEM@Cleavland HS, Rainier Beach HS
Interagency, South Lake HS
Aki Kurose MS, Mercer MS
Orca K-8, South Shore PreK-8
Beacon Hill International, Dearborn Park, Dunlap, Emerson, Graham Hill, Hawthorne, Kimball, Maple, Martin Luther King Jr. (formerly Brighton), Van Asselt, and Wing Luke elementary schools
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Northwest: Monday, Dec. 6, 7-8:30 p.m. at Whitman Middle School, 9201 15th Ave. NW, Seattle 98117
Interpreters: Somali, Spanish
NW schools include:
Ballard HS, Ingraham HS, The Center School HS
Evening School
Hamilton International MS, Whitman MS
Broadview-Thompson K-8, Salmon Bay K-8
Adams, BF Day, Bagely, Greenwood, John Stanford International, Loyal Heights, McDonald, North Beach, Northgate, West Woodland and Whittier elementary schools
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Central: Tuesday, Dec. 7, 7-8:30 p.m. at Washington Middle School, 2101 S. Jackson St., Seattle 98144
Interpreters: Amharic, Chinese, Somali, Spanish, Tagalog, Tigrigna and Vietnamese
Central schools include:
Franklin HS, Garfield HS, Nova HS
Secondary Bilingual Orientation Center
McClure MS, Washington MS
Blaine K-8, Madrona K-8
Coe, Gatzert, Hay, Jophn Muir, Lawton, Leschi, Lowell, McGilvra, Montlake,Queen Anne, Stevens, and Thurgood Marshall elementary schools
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West Seattle: Thursday, Dec. 9, 7-8:30 p.m. at West Seattle High School, 3000 California Ave. SW, Seattle 98116
Interpreters: Somali, Spanish, Vietnamese
West Seattle schools include:
Chief Sealth International HS, West Seattle HS
Middle College
Denny International MS, Madison MS
Pathfinder K-8
Alki, Arbor Heights, Concord International, Gatewood, Highland Paark, Lafayette, Roxhill, Sanislo, Schmitz Park, and West Seattle Elementary schools
Links to data: School, district and national
School Reports: http://www.seattleschools.org/area/strategicplan/schoolreportslist.html
School Surveys: http://www.seattleschools.org/area/strategicplan/schoolsurveylist.xml
District Scorecard: http://www.seattleschools.org/area/strategicplan/scorecardintro.htm
Strategic Plan (district's 5-year goals): http://www.seattleschools.org/area/strategicplan/draft/index.dxml
How does your school compare nationally? Education Nation Scorecard: http://nbcscorecard.greatschools.org/
Tools for parents, community and schools
A Report Card for Parents
Supporting Learning at Home
Action steps for parent leaders
Family survey for schools
PTA's National Standards for family-school partnerships
Overview
Measuring success (How well is your school doing? Assessment guide includes standards, goals and indicators of emerging, progressing and excelling partnerships)
Implementation guide (Includes success stories, action steps and resources)
Our standards for family-school partnerships
The Seattle Council PTSA's work with Seattle Public Schools falls under the greater umbrella of PTA partnering. When parents team with teachers, families with schools, and communities with districts, kids do better. Here's what we base our work on:
Standard 1: Welcoming all families into the school community - Families are active participants in the life of the school, and feel welcomed, valued, and connected to each other, to school staff, and to what students are learning and doing in class.
Standard 2: Communicating effectively - Families and school staff engage in regular, two-way, meaningful communication about student learning.
Standard 3: Supporting student success - Families and school staff continuously collaborate to support students' learning and healthy development both at home and at school, and have regular opportunities to strengthen their knowledge and skills to do so effectively.
Standard 4: Speaking up for every child - Families are empowered to be advocates for their own and other children, to ensure that students are treated fairly and have access to learning opportunities that will support their success.
Standard 5: Sharing power - Families and school staff are equal partners in decisions that affect children and families and together inform, influence, and create policies, practices, and programs.
Standard 6: Collaborating with community - Families and school staff collaborate with community members to connect students, families, and staff to expanded learning opportunities, community services, and civic participation.
Your membership supports this work and funds development of resources for communities across Seattle, Washington and the nation. Thank you!
We want every child to reach his or her potential, and by partnering with Seattle Public Schools we're hoping to identify specific steps each of us can take to make that happen.
Sincerely,
Ramona Hattendorf, outgoing SCPTSA president
Lauren McGuire, SCPTSA executive vice president
Information is also posted online at www.seattlecouncilptsa.org
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