News Release-from Seattle Public Schools Sept 2010

 

Seattle Public Schools students named Semifinalists in 2011 National Merit Scholarships program Officials of the National Merit Scholarship Corporation named 31 students from Seattle Public Schools as Semifinalists in the 56th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. The Seattle students are among 16,000 students nationwide who earned top scores on the 2009 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for about 8,200 National Merit Scholarships, worth more than $36 million, that will be offered next spring. About 90 percent of the Semifinalists are expected to attain Finalist standing, and about half of the Finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar title. Listed below are the student Semifinalists from Seattle Public Schools:

Please use link below to see list…

http://www.seattleschools.org/area/news/1011/20100915_merit_semifinalists.pdf

 http://www.seattleschools.org/area/news/0910/merit_semifinalists.pdf

Not a single school in SE Seattle is represented here.

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Who we Are

South East Seattle 4 Excellent Education, SES4EE.wordpress.com , was created in response to the mandatory Student Assignment Plan (SAP)  introduced by the Seattle School Board and District in 2009. We are working as a community to bring a consistent voice to the urgent need for excellence in schools in Southeast Seattle. We demand parity in educational opportunity for all Seattle students, regardless of where their home is located. We welcome all people concerned about quality education and accountability to come together as one voice so that the message that we send is loud and clear:

EXCELLENCE FOR ALL – EVERY CHILD ACHIEVING IN EVERY SCHOOL IN SEATTLE

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2008 Seattle Public Schools Strategic Plan-Vision

At Seattle Public Schools (SPS), we see a city where   

1. All students achieve at high levels, receive the support they need and leave high school prepared for college, career and life    

2. Every school is a high quality school    

3. District leadership and staff model excellence and accountability    

4. The whole community is engaged as partners in supporting and strengthening the school system

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Reality in SE Seattle Public Schools

 % meeting WASL State Standards   

Rainier Beach   (2008 lowest score of 12 high schools)         

Math  17.6%, Reading 61.5%, Writing 82.4%, Science 9.8%     

Roosevelt   (2008 highest score of 12 high schools)     Math 71.5%, Reading 91.7%, Writing 96.0%, Science 62.7%      

Aki Kurose  (2009 lowest scores of 7 middle schools)    

Reading 64%, Math 39%, Science 35%       

Eckstein ( Top Performer 2009 of 7 middle schools)      Reading 82%, Math 78%, Science 76%        

 Based on 2008 WASL scores, Rainier Beach High School ranks 341st out of 389 WA public high schools and Aki Kurose Middle School ranks 372nd out of 449 WA public middle schools.

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SouthEastSeattle4ExcellentEducation

SES4EE requests

1. SPS to publicly define the Standards of a Quality School and post those Standards in a transparent, easily-understood form on the Seattle Schools website. 

The Standards of a Quality School  will identify every single element that is considered critical to ensuring that every school is offering an equally excellent education.

2. SPS to compare each SE School to those Standards of a Quality School and make those results available in a public manner.  

3. For each school that does contain the Standards of a Quality School, SPS to provide  

a. a public, written Plan with specific deadlines and timeframe to implement those Standards of a Quality School.  

b. this Plan to include identification of all necessary funding upfront and how funding will be guaranteed  

c. the SPS position or employee who will take ownership of the Plan and who will be accountable for it’s completion  

d. specific repercussions for any Plan failures.  

4. SPS to audit every school on an annual basis to ensure that Standards of a Quality School are being enforced and maintained. These results to be made public in a timely and

transparent fashion and posted on the Seattle Schools website.

4. Until the SPS can deliver the above,  students at schools where the Standards of a Quality School are not yet implemented will be given a choice of either  

a. attending that school and being part of the change  

b. attending a school of their choice until their local, assigned school fully adheres to the Standards of a Quality School.