Federal Way Public Schools Equity & Achievement Task Force Submits Findings

Download the Task Force's full Report to the Superintendent - (1.89 MB PDF)

Federal Way Public Schools' Task Force on Equity and Achievement presented their report at the November 26 School Board Meeting. Superintendent Tom Murphy appointed the 26-member Equity & Achievement Task Force to explore the causes of academic performance disparities and to offer considerations for improvement.

"We know this is not just a school issue, but rather a community issue," said Murphy. "I commend this task force for their dedication and sense of 'community building' in tackling very difficult and sometimes uncomfortable issues of race and poverty."

At the May 29th meeting of the Federal Way School Board, Murphy released data showing disparities in African American, Hispanic, and Native American students’ achievement, and requested that the School Board establish an Office of Equity & Achievement to make improvements. Alma Dansby was appointed to head the Office of Equity & Achievement.

Here are the highlights of their findings and considerations:

FINDINGS:

• Poverty is the single biggest indicator of student achievement.
  ontributing factors: discipline, school climate, pathways of access, curriculum and instruction, cultural awareness, parent involvement and access, staff development, and community involvement.

• There is not open discrimination, but lack of cultural awareness among staff and students. Some staff are not aware how to interact or instruct students of color; teachers may not understand why a student behaves a certain way; race/cultural differences can create miscommunication; parents may be unsure of their role and how to interact with schools; students’ actions/word can be misinterpreted; some families are intimidated by school processes; language may inhibit student or parent understanding and involvement.

• There are few teachers/administrative staff of color as role models.
  Many staff have little or no experience with students of color; there is little professional development in diversity; discipline policies seem unclear/inconsistently applied, and are different from school to school; not equitable between races/cultures; and stereotypes about different cultures leads to assumptions, predetermined expectations.

• Parents sometimes can’t access school, teachers because:
  Parents have conflicting work schedules or language barriers.

• Curriculum doesn’t address cultural issues
  There are few minority figures used, few examples of multi-cultural perspectives; discussion or presentation about the impact of many cultures on present world; students are not afforded opportunity to share their culture.

CONSIDERATIONS:

• Comprehensive staff development for teachers and administrators in four main areas - the culture of poverty; cultural education; English as a Second Language (ESL); and discipline.

• Discipline must be improved - Providing students opportunities to bridge cultural norms, and understand exemplary behavior; create innovative and proactive strategies to engage parents as partners; provide opportunities for parents to understand behaviors necessary to help children learn and be successful.

• Curriculum and Instruction - All students, regardless of learning style, ethnicity or economic status, should be challenged academically and afforded the opportunity to succeed in the classroom. The curriculum must be reflective of a multicultural environment; principals must be held accountable for the performance of teachers and students; the district’s preschool needs to be expanded to provide greater access for low-income families who don’t qualify for Head Start or ECEAP (Early Childhood Education) services; mentors/tutors resources and/or programs play an important role for academic parity and to support students who would like to maintain academic eligibility to participate in extra curricular activities

• Customer Service – Minority parents and recent immigrants have difficulty accessing the education opportunities provided by schools – parent advisory workshops should be established so that individuals are able to examine their own culture while developing appreciation for cultures other students and parents. Schools should consider overhauling how they engage minority parents and immigrant families in the education of their children. Language assistance for recent immigrants with limited English proficiency is needed so they can be partners in their children’s education.

• Resources – The district must consider how it allocates resources and consider whether schools with higher numbers of disadvantaged children at risk of failing should be allocated a greater amount of resources to meet the higher educational need. The district’s most effective teachers and principals should be assigned to the schools in greater need of improvement. The district should consider the role of private funding in the unequal distribution of resources among schools, and devise a plan to ensure that students attending district schools in less affluent neighborhood are afforded the same education opportunities.

• Community Involvement – The Federal Way community needs to be educated about the nature of this problem and how they can participate as solution providers. The District should consider integrated partnerships with community-based organizations serving disadvantaged families, government, social service agencies, private businesses and foundations. The district needs to work with the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and the various institutions of higher education to (a) express the need and (b) provide information that will enable them to graduate more effective teachers.

The Equity & Achievement Task Force report will be available on the Federal Way Public School Website, beginning 8:00 p.m. tonight, www.fwsd.wednet.edu.

November 26, 2001