FWPS Equity & Achievement

What is Equity and Achievement?

Our work in the area of Equity and Achievement is focused on enhancing our education system in order to ensure all children can achieve academic success.  Some of the ways we’re doing that include having parents involved in more meaningful ways and providing staff with professional development opportunities so they can employ more effective instructional practices.

The district established the Office of Equity and Achievement in 2001. While our work is ongoing, FWPS’ staff have made substantial gains in transforming our school system so that all FWPS students have an equal opportunity for academic success.

Test Scores – The Gap is Narrowing

District data indicates that the achievement gap between minority groups and white or Asian students has been narrowed in Federal Way Schools.  In 2006, three of the district’s high schools -- Federal Way, Thomas Jefferson and Todd Beamer High Schools -- were among 51 Washington schools recognized for narrowing the achievement gap. Not only was Federal Way the only district in the state with more than one high school on the Standard and Poor’s list, two of them – Federal Way High School and Thomas Jefferson High School -- achieved the greatest reductions of all the South Sound schools.

Here are some of the ways we’re accomplishing this important shift.

Staff Training

Over the past few years, the Office of Equity and Achievement has been exploring professional development opportunities for staff in the areas of:

• Cultural Awareness
• Effective Instructional Practices based on research-proven models like those outlined in books such as No Excuses - Lessons from 21 High-Performing, High-Poverty Schools.
• Ruby Payne Training –Ruby Payne’s Understanding Poverty training was integrated with cultural competency training and was offered in two 3-hour workshops. 
• Culturally Responsive Teaching Practices
• Designing Groupwork
• Leading for Educational Equity

Staff development focusing on instructional practices and training around the issues of race and poverty is ongoing.  Equity audits have taken place in a number of our schools, and have helped identify the changes we need to make as a district to improve our delivery of instruction to make sure ALL Means ALL. 

Community Organizations and Businesses

When Superintendent Murphy created the Office of Equity and Achievement, he noted that this is not just a school problem. It is a problem that has roots at home, in the community and at school.

The Task Force affirmed this and noted that the Federal Way community needs to be educated about the nature of this problem and how they can participate as solution providers. The goals include:

• Promote a healthy community
• Improve the quality of life for students
• Increase parental involvement in schools and in the community.

An equity team, which includes staff, students and parents, is in place to give each secondary school an internal resource to turn to for guidance in equity issues.  A recent state grant has allowed the Equity and Achievement Director to focus more resources on this work.

The Office of Equity and Achievement partners with the district’s Family Partnership Office and Community Relations Department on community and parent projects.  

Related Information:

• AVID -- Advancement Via Individual Determination – is a program that prepares students for college by using a rigorous curriculum centered around WICR (Writing, Inquiry, Collaboration and Reading).  AVID was introduced to the district as an Equity and Achievement initiative.
• Pre-AP Classes – The research of the Equity and Achievement office confirmed that one of the issues impacting minority students’ acceptance into college was that they lacked a history of taking Advanced Placement classes successfully. Further investigation showed that they often hadn’t taken challenging classes in middle school and in their 9th and 10th grade years, which would have prepared them for the rigors of Advanced Placement classes in 11th and 12th grade and college afterward.  To increase the number of minority students taking AP level classes successfully, the district implemented “Pre-AP” classes to help students prepare for AP classes.
• View a graphic of the district's overall efforts (25K PDF)
• Additional Background Information about Equity & Achievement