Applications available for Legislative Youth Council

2009 Legislative Youth Advisory Council

If you're a teen, chances are you can't afford a lobbyist to represent your interests in Olympia, but laws passed under the Capitol dome have an impact on your life just the same.

Wanting to hear from Washington's young residents, legislators passed SB 5254 in 2005, which created the Legislative Youth Advisory Council (LYAC) to:

Examine issues of importance to youth, including but not limited to education, employment, strategies to increase youth participation in state and municipal government, safe environments for youth, substance abuse, emotional and physical health, foster care, poverty, homelessness, and youth access to services on a statewide and municipal basis.

In 2007, impressed with LYAC's great success, lawmakers passed HB 1052 to extend the program another two years. Finally, in 2009 they passed SB 5229, eliminating the program's expiration date.

LYAC is a 22-member council of 14- to 18 year-old students from across the state who serve two-year terms. Applications are reviewed by the Council and the Lieutenant Governor's office is in charge of making the final selection.

There are three to six annual meetings usually held in Olympia or Seattle and students are expected to attend all meetings and activities. Outside of the scheduled meetings, LYAC's members contact legislators to advise on pending legislation, draft letters and legislative reports, reach out to other youth and community organizations, and participate in Council conference calls.

This year's applications are due on June 25. Click here to download the Legislative Youth Advisory Council application.

Encouraging high-schoolers to study computer science

The demand for computer programmers exceeds the supply available to businesses in Washington that want to hire them. That's an opportunity that high-school students should take advantage of as they think about their future careers. But at the same time, they need to make sure they complete all the courses required for a high-school diploma.

Thanks to a bill by Rep. Drew Hansen that's nearing final legislative approval, it could soon be easier for high-schoolers to satisfy both those goals. House Bill 1472 calls for school boards to approve an advanced placement (AP) computer-science course as equivalent to a math or science course that counts toward meeting graduation requirements. Other states that do that, instead of treating the computer course as simply an elective, have seen more students enroll in computer science.

Read more about HB 1472 on Rep. Hansen's web page.

Read this story in Spanish.

Keeping kids in school is in everyone's best interest

Dropouts come in all ages. Sure, we know that as many as 20 out of every hundred schoolkids will never make it to commencement. But did you know that some youngsters, for all practical purposes, are actually "dropping out" of school emotionally in the first, maybe the second grade?

House Education Committee members this year have examined the dropout quandary at length, tackling it from a variety of real-world perspectives. Those testifying in committee meetings offered a number of observations, including the above-noted assertion that many of our very youngest students are checking out emotionally in their first years of school.

 

Hammered home time and again were the sad facts that dropouts tend to:

· Make up a big percentage of the ranks of the unemployed.

· Take home meager wages when they do work.

· All too often tumble into the criminal-justice system.

Consider also the fact that just as today's Washington businesses cry out for more and more skilled workers, dropouts are in no position to acquire the specific training and academic chops needed for 21st-century jobs.

Education Committee member state Rep. Kathy Haigh is the prime-sponsor of House Bill 1424, which is aimed at "enhancing the statewide K-12 dropout prevention, intervention, and re-engagement system." The measure cleared the House, 88-10, a month ago. Unfortunately, the legislation is stymied in the Senate and likely going nowhere near the governor's desk this year.

That is very unfortunate news, especially given the Washington State School Directors' Association (WSSDA) issued a summary recently of the big steps many districts have taken to keep young men and women in school. Their e-newsletter reviews the high level of success some of these intervention and prevention programs have worked in diverse districts around the state. The Sunnyside School District in the lower Yakima Valley, for instance, lifted its graduation rate an incredible 38 points in a recent five-year period -- from 41 percent in 2007 to 79 percent in 2012. The Spokane Public Schools worked to push on-time graduation up from a rate just above 62 percent in 2008-2009 to way more than 76 percent in 2010-2011.

Read this story in Spanish.

House doubles up on education

House Democrats unveiled a state budget that funds education without shredding the safety net for
kids, seniors, the blind, and disabled – and without resorting to accounting tricks or one-time spending.

Education

The budget set the high-water mark for education spending, adding $1.3 billion over predicted spending on public schools. If you compared total education spending to the current budget, the House proposal spends $1.9 billion more than the status quo.

Gov. Jay Inslee proposed putting $1.2 billion more toward education, while Senate Republican budget writers put forth a budget that adds only $760 million to meet our McCleary obligations.

The House proposal also:

• Invests in early learning
• Reduces class sizes in K-3
• Puts more money into high-demand college degrees
• Expands health care and protects the safety net

The House proposal fully embraces the savings and opportunities offered by Obamacare. The budget:

• Offers affordable health coverage to 385,000 more people by expanding Medicaid
• Helps small business with costs by implementing the health care exchange, giving business owners and employees affordable and portable options for health coverage

Tax reform and tax fairness

A citizens' commission, panel of experts, and the House Finance Committee all examined the massive number of tax breaks, exemptions, and loopholes. Hundreds of breaks and loopholes costs the taxpayers $24 billion, compared to the entire two-year state budget proposal of $34 billion.

Many of these breaks have been on the books since the 1930s. Do they still make sense? Do they actually create jobs?

The House proposes a series of reforms to shift tax dollars from loopholes that don't create jobs to funding education, which we know is the foundation of our modern economy.

The $1.3 billion in loopholes and revenue match up with the $1.3 billion invested in new education spending aimed at meeting our constitutional duty under the Supreme Court's McCleary decision.

To find out more about the our budget proposal, click here.

Read this story in Spanish.

HDC reactions to Governor Inslee's budget proposal -- it's all about the kids

Governor Inslee released his operating budget proposal today, which included $1.26 billion in new spending for K-12 education.

"I feel deeply that my number one priority is to help rebuild our economy, get people working again and take important steps toward building a workforce for the future," Inslee said. "And that begins with education."

House Democratic leaders agree. 

Said House Speaker Frank Chopp: “Taking meaningful steps toward better-funding of our public schools is a top priority, and many of our members have long argued for giving tax breaks serious scrutiny.  So we are heartened to see the governor call for closing some tax loopholes to fund the education of our kids."

Appropriations Chair Ross Hunter added: “Governor Inslee’s proposal focuses on funding education and responsible budgeting – these are the right priorities for Washington."

And House Finance Committee Chair Reuven Carlyle said: "We strongly agree that fully funding public education is a higher priority than continuing tax exemptions that may not provide a reasonable return on investment for the future of our state.”

Read this story in Spanish.

Do you live in a food desert?

​Just what is a food desert?

According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), it is an area with limited access to supermarkets, grocery stores, small retailers, or other outlets where fresh, healthy, and affordable food can be purchased. They are a major public health concern, as overabundance of processed food and lack of fresh fruit, vegetables, and meats make it much harder for these communities to choose a healthy diet.

The USDA is out with a new interactive map of food deserts across the country, and Washington has its fair share. Each green spot on the map represents a food desert. A scalable map for denser communities can be found here.

House Democrats are already doing their part to help eliminate these food deserts and ensure Washingtonians have the option to lead healthy lifestyles.

 

House Bill 1276, sponsored by Rep. Chris Reykdal, would create a state pilot program for farm engagement projects in our K-12 system. The bill – which passed the House on a bipartisan 89-8 vote – was inspired by Olympia’s GRuB Program, which for years has been re-engaging underperforming students by allowing them to earn credit by learning and participating in local food system development.

Not only will these pilot projects help communities across the state create more local, fresh and sustainable food choices, they will also help reduce high-school dropout rates among at-risk youth. That’s what we call a win-win.

Read this story in Spanish.

House OK for Hansen bills brightens job outlook

Rep. Drew Hansen

The state’s job market would gain strength for the future under four bills by Rep. Drew Hansen that cleared the state House this past week.

“There are signs we’re rebounding from the depths of the Great Recession, but we’ve got a long way to go,” Hansen said. “I want to protect the jobs we have and prepare our young people for opportunities in the 21^st –century economy. It’s very encouraging to me to get the strong, bipartisan support of my fellow legislators in that work.”

The bills are:

House Bill 1247, which makes it easier for small businesses to get money from a key state job-training program designed to help employees upgrade their skills. The bill also ensures that money from this program supports training that leads to degrees and credentials rather than dead-end jobs. The House voted unanimously for it Saturday, 98-0.

House Bill 1472, which helps students train for high-paying jobs in the computer industry by enhancing computer-science education in high schools and creating a statewide task force to address the computer programmer shortage. It was approved Friday 95-3.

House Bill 1245, which protects jobs in the shellfish and recreation industries by getting abandoned vessels out of our waters before they sink and cause pollution. It passed the House Thursday on a 96-1 vote.

House Bill 1660, which will lessen the paperwork burden on hospitals and colleges as they train new doctors and nurses. It won unanimous approval Tuesday, 96-0.

House approval of Hansen’s bills sends them to the Senate for action there.

To read a more extensive account of House action on these bills, click here.

Read this story in Spanish.

Student-centered education legislation heading to Senate

Dropout prevention, STEM education, and closing the opportunity gap took center stage in the state House Friday as a package of education bills was approved and sent to the Senate.

“Our priorities are clearly best for all kids and our public schools,” said Rep. Marcie Maxwell, the Deputy Majority Leader for Education and Opportunity. “The House is focused on support for quality teaching and learning.  We’re working on strategic policy and budget decisions that make significant investments in education funding and ensure successful implementation of the real reforms we’ve recently enacted."

Here's the press release for the whole package, which includes these key bills:

HB 1276 creates a pilot program with school districts and community organizations, like food banks and small farms to target at-risk youth.

HB 1424aims to close the opportunity gap by providing families, schools, and communities with the tools they need to increase the number of on-time graduations. This bill will give local communities additional resources to detect early warning signs of a potential and intervene with appropriate measures.

HB 1872, creates a STEM Education Innovation Alliance made up of leaders from business and education fields. The alliance will align STEM education initiatives in early learning, K-12, and post-secondary education and is a key piece of Governor Inslee’s Working Washington agenda.

HB 1252 will create an online framework for professional development opportunities for educators in Washington.

HB 1283  will lower the age for compulsory school attendance from age eight to six. Washington is only one of two states where children are not required to be enrolled in an education program until age 8.

Read this story in Spanish.

Education the focus on day one of the floor marathon

With the first round of committee work concluded, the House of Representatives approved a series of education bills on Monday. Improving schools to build a better future for children is the top priority for House Democrats. Here’s a sample of what was approved yesterday:

HB 1178 opens the opportunity door for more highly-motivated students to explore the teaching profession by giving colleges of education more tools to recruit and admit potential teachers. The bill aims to put more quality teachers in Washington classrooms.

HB 1251 expands membership of the Opportunity Scholarship Board from seven to nine. Members of the board are tasked with, among other duties, raising funds for student scholarship programs. HB 1251 will help the board raise more funds, which will provide opportunities for more students to achieve the dream of a college education.

HB 1336 aims to address the second-leading cause of teen deaths in this country – suicide. HB 1336 is designed to save lives by requiring certain school staff members to receive youth suicide training. It also requires school districts to adopt a plan to recognize, screen, and respond when students show signs of emotional or behavioral distress.

HB 1536 requires community college boards of trustees to include a member from business and a member from labor, a successful practice that is already in place with our technical colleges.

HB 1812 will give greater flexibility on spending grant funds to schools taking part in the Urban Schools Turnaround Initiative. The project is designed to accelerate student learning and close the achievement gap through research-based techniques in two Seattle schools.

Read this story in Spanish.

Where do those lottery dollars go, anyway?

Thirty years after the Washington State Lottery was created, there are still plenty of misconceptions on where the money goes.

In the 1970's, there were several attempts by the Legislature to create a state lottery that would have dedicated the revenues for education. A state lottery was finally authorized in 1982.

However, because the Legislature was dealing with a projected budget deficit that year, lawmakers elected to have lottery revenues go into the state's general fund. While education is the general fund's main expense, it's also used to pay for higher education, prisons, health care, and many other state services.

In 2000, voters approved a measure to direct lottery dollars specifically towards education. From 2004-09, lottery proceeds were used to renovate and remodel schools. In 2010, the Legislature re-directed lottery proceeds to the Opportunity Pathways Account, which supports access grants, work study awards, merit scholarships, and early learning programs.

Below is a chart that shows where lottery dollars went last year. Nearly 60% of the budget goes to pay prizes to the winners. After all, it wouldn't be much of a lottery if there isn't anything to win.

After prizes are paid out and other costs are accounted for, the lottery generates about $122 million for education. By comparison, state spending on K-12 and higher education is about $8 billion per year.

So, while lottery proceeds are an important part of education funding, they're only a small piece of the overall funding picture.

Washington Lottery Fun Facts:

• The Washington State Lottery sold its first ticket in 1982.
• Since then, it has paid almost $6.5 billion in prizes.
• In fiscal year 2012, over 28 million winning tickets were issued ranging from $1 to $11 million.

Read this story in Spanish.

Zero, zip, nada driving fatalities for teens ages 16 - 17 in first half of 2012

While teen driving fatalities were up nearly 20 percent nationally in the first half of 2012, here in Washington no lives were lost behind the wheel among 16- and 17-year-old drivers.

That's according to the preliminary Teenage Driver Fatalities by State Report released today by the Governors Highway Safety Association.

The good news might have something to do with the fact that Washington has the highest seat-belt use rate in the nation.

Or perhaps it's because last year 46 schools across our state signed up for the Distracted Driving grant project offered by the Washington Traffic Safety Commission and State Farm Insurance. Program Manager Jonna VanDyk said they expect about twice as many schools to participate in 2013.

Whatever the reason, we're lifting our water/soda/juice glasses and cheering "hear, hear!" for Washington's smart teen drivers.

Read this story in Spanish.

Sequester on your street corner

Last week, Senator Patty Murray visited with House Democrats and discussed some of the effects of sequester - the looming automatic cuts to the federal budget that will be triggered if Congress fails to strike a budget deal by March 1st.

This week, the White House released more detailed information on what these automatic cuts would mean for Washington state.

Among the low-lights:

• Washington will lose approximately $11,606,000 in funding for primary and secondary education, putting around 160 teacher and aide jobs at risk. In addition about 11,000 fewer students would be served ad approximately 50 fewer schools would recieve funding.
• Washington will lose about $3,301,000 in environmental funding to ensure clean water and air quality...
• About 440 fewer low income students in Washington would recieve aid to help them finance the costs of college.
• In Washington, approximately 29,000 civilian Department of Defense employees would be furloughed, reducing gross pay by around $173.4 million in total.
• Washington will lose approximately $1,053,000 in funds that provides meals for seniors.

For the complete list of potential cuts, follow this link.

Read this story in Spanish.

Welcoming a wide variety of visitors to the 2013 Legislature

​Legislators are always happy to welcome visitors from neighborhoods and communities all across Washington. Private citizens, students and teachers, businesspeople, local-government and civic officials, specific-interest stakeholders -- you name it, folks from all over our Evergreen State come by every day to give Olympia a piece of their mind. And rightly so!

A young gentleman named Daniel Gronvold, for instance, dropped in recently for a very good conversation with State Rep. Jake Fey. Daniel is a client at Trillium Employment Services and talked with Rep. Fey about legislation being considered this year that involves the School-to-Work transition program. The legislative proposal, which is contained in Senate Bill 5706 and House Bill 1753, directs the state Superintendent of Public Instruction to set up some important interagency agreements involving the Department of Social and Health Services, the Department of Services for the Blind, and other state agencies whose mission embraces transition services for high-school students with disabilities.

Trillium, according to their website, helps businesses recruit, train and retain employees with disabilities, and currently serves King, Kitsap, Pierce and Clark Counties.

Read this story in Spanish.

Washington students can attend a "Capitol Classroom"

Representative John McCoy recently appeared on a new TVW program called Capitol Classroom. The TVW program included a discussion of an important legislative proposal advanced in McCoy's House Bill 1107, which concerns children of military parents.

Capitol Classroom is a new educational program broadcast by TVW, our state's public-affairs network that was founded in 1993. The program allows students to personally join in the legislative process by way of these video connections. Young people communicate directly with the lobbyists who testify in committee hearings on their behalf for legislation that the students have selected. The young men and women involved in the program also hear perspectives from:

• Bill sponsors, such as McCoy.
• Other bill proponents, as well as opponents.
• And their local legislators.

The bill reviewed on the latest episode of Capitol classroom has received a public hearing, and is awaiting a vote in the House Judiciary Committee. McCoy's bipartisan measure concerns residential provisions for children of parents who have military duties. He wants to make it less cumbersome for military parents to seek delegation of residential time with their children when they are on a temporary-duty assignment that involves being away more than one night during scheduled residential time or visitation.

Read this story in Spanish.

 

 

Want to add your two-cents to the charter school process?

Washington voters approved the creation of public charter schools in our state with the passing of Initiative 1240 last November.  The State Board of Education (SBE) has started work on timelines and rules for opening these alternative schools, and they want to hear from you as they move forward.

The SBE is holding a public hearing on draft rules pertaining to our state's first charter schools at their February 26 meeting in Olympia, and you are invited!

 But you don't have to attend the meeting in order to participate - you may offer comment by writing to them directly at sbe@k12.wa.us

Here is more information on the public charter schools and the ongoing process.

Read this story in Spanish.

Homeless student population now over 27,000

As of yesterday, there are 1,397 more reasons the “fund education first” plan isn’t as great as it may sound.

Washington state now has 1,397 more homeless students bringing the total to 27,390.

Those numbers come from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), who says homeless students increased by 5.1% increase compared to the 2010-11 school year.

Why the increase? Job loss, unforeseen illness, increased housing prices and foreclosures.

Here’s an excerpt from the OSPI news release:

Districts cite many reasons for the increase. The overall job market is still struggling, in addition to local economic factors, such as the closing of a paper mill in Everett and the decline of the logging industry in Shelton and elsewhere. More students are living on their own. And funding for services that help prevent homelessness is being cut.

In the proposed Fund Education First plan, how much funding would go towards:

• Job creation and worker retraining: $0
• Health care for low and middle-income families: $0
• Housing assistance: $0

Sick, hungry or homeless kids can’t learn.

Read this story in Spanish.

Who’s behind the reform agenda?

Fmr. Gov. Jeb Bush
(photo courtesy ThinkProgress.org)

Over the last several years, House Democrats have championed legislation to reform our public schools. The status quo wasn't working and changes were necessary.

Two of the biggest reforms were passed a few years ago- HB 2776 and HB 2261. These measures redefined "basic education" and provided a road map for fully funding basic education by the year 2018. Full compliance with these two measures will get us back on the right track with keeping our promise to fully fund our public schools- an opinion reaffirmed by the state Supreme Court in the McCleary decision.

We also haven't been shy to enact additional reforms to other parts of public education when problems emerged that needed fixing. We enacted a new Teacher/Principal Evaluation Program that will ensure a great teacher is in front of every student in every school. We adopted Common Core Standards that will ensure our students are learning what they need to know so they can be successful in life after high school.

But despite adopting these sweeping reforms, some lawmakers are looking to take our public schools in another direction.

An article from the Washington Post today may shine a little more light on that new direction and where those directives are coming from.

Here's an excerpt from the article:

A nonprofit group released thousands of e-mails today and said they show how a foundation begun by Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor and national education reform leader, is working with public officials in states to write education laws that could benefit some of its corporate funders.

A call to the foundation has not been returned.

The e-mails are between the Foundation for Excellence in Education (FEE) and a group Bush set up called Chiefs for Change, whose members are current and former state education commissioners who support Bush's agenda of school reform, which includes school choice, online education, retention of third-graders who can't read and school accountability systems based on standardized tests. That includes evaluating teachers based on student test scores and grading schools A-F based on test scores.[...]

Washington state is not referenced in the Washington Post piece, although bills have been introduced in our Legislature that would hold back third-graders, make changes to our newly-reformed teacher/principal evaluation program, and give schools an A-F grade.

Here is the entire Washington Post piece.

Read this story in Spanish.

People are talking: Good turnout so far for Pollet's 'Traveling Town Halls'

Rep. Gerry Pollet

State Rep. Gerry Pollet's Traveling Town Halls are proving to be a pretty decent ticket for folks who have something to get off their chest on Saturday mornings.

The46^thLegislative District meetings stem from Pollet’s past experience organizing carpools of parents and others into a three-to-four-hour weekday excursion to Olympia -- for just a few minutes of face time with legislators. These Traveling Town Halls allow constituents to meet with Pollet most every Saturday morning from 10 to noon at various locations around the district, instead of trekking to Olympia.

Pollet has already welcomed three-dozen citizens to his first two meetings earlier this month: the premier 2013 get-together at the U-Village Burgermaster and his most recent constituent-conversation at the Lake Forest Park Town Center. Pollet's informal meetings -- you might even call them "Flash Town Halls" -- start at 10 most every Saturday morning. The next one is this Saturday, Feb. 2, at Diva Espresso, which is located at 8014 Lake City Way Northeast (between north 14th Avenue and north 15th Avenue). Pollet and Kenmore Mayor David Baker will hold a joint Traveling Town Hall on Saturday morning, Feb. 9, at Espresso Works, which is located at 6734 Northeast 181st Street in Kenmore.

"We’ve covered local issues, for sure," he said of the meetings so far, "such as the red-light-camera authority at the 'Five Corner' intersection of Sand Point Way Northeast and Northeast 45th Street. And we’ve engaged in spirited discussions on statewide issues, such as potential reforms in the revenue system, funding for education, and reducing gun-violence."

Pollet launched his traveling-office tradition last year, holding Saturday-morning meetings all over the 46th District during the 2012 legislative session. With the 2013 session now in full swing, he said he wants residents from 46th District neighborhoods to have an opportunity to speak their minds without having to travel to Olympia.

Folks can always find information on Pollet's in-district meetings -- as well as information about a wide variety of community, legislative, and state-government issues -- at his legislative website.

With 58 programs so far, STEM is proving successful

Did you know Washington ranks fourth in the nation in technology-based corporations, but 46th in participation in science and engineering graduate degree programs?

Rep. Tina Orwall said that this disparity has to be fixed because those large employers need high-skilled workers and, if our state can’t provide them, they are bringing them from out of state. She stressed that these are Washington companies so those good-paying jobs should go to Washington workers.

That's why in 2010 she sponsored, and the Legislature unanimously passed, House Bill 2621 directing OSPI to designate six "lighthouse" schools each year to promote and develop Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education, including technical assistance and advice for other elementary, middle and high schools that are creating their own STEM environments.

In the 22 months since the law went into effect, 24,000 students and 800 teachers have participated in 58 STEM programs across Washington.

Rep. Tina Orwall

This week, the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction announced the schools that will receive STEM funding in 2013:

• Delta High School (Kennewick)
• Bremerton High School (Bremerton)
• Stevens Elementary School (Aberdeen)
• West Valley Junior High School (West Valley Yakima)
• West Hills STEM Academy (Bremerton)
• WF West High School (Chehalis)
• San Juan School District

Read the OSPI press release here.

Learn more about Washington STEM here.

Read this story in Spanish here.

Rep. Pettigrew tours South Seattle schools

During the 2012 session, the Legislature allocated funds in support of creative and innovative programs designed to boost student achievement in a handful of struggling schools in South Seattle. On Friday, January 11^th Rep. Pettigrew took some time out of his schedule to check-in on two of the schools that received funding and to see how they’re putting the dollars to work in the classroom.

First up was Rainier Beach High School. RBHS is using the dollars in a wide-variety of ways- from collaborative planning to professional development to parent engagement. 

Rep. Pettigrew (r) and RBHS Principal Dwane Chappelle visit an algebra class

They’ve implemented a staff-wide collaborative planning program that fosters structure and teamwork among educators. RBHS also partnered with the National Training Network for both professional development and to provide extra assistance to students struggling with math.

Understanding that the classroom can’t alone provide the necessary support to a student, they’ve hired a social worker and a family outreach and engagement coordinator. Among the family outreach and engagement coordinator’s job description- making “sunshine calls” to parents to share good news about their students when it’s merited.

After RBHS, Rep. Pettigrew traveled a few miles up the road to Aki Kurose Middle School. Aki Kurose is also using the dollars to focus on closing the achievement gap at the 97% minority middle school.

Rep. Pettigrew (r) and Aki Kurose Principal Mia Williams (l) chat with a City Year Corp member

Their efforts are focused on four critical areas: extra hands in the classroom, extending the academic day, professional development, and for improved technology and books.

Among the improvements- they’ve hired six extra people to increase classroom participation. The extra educators are tasked with re-teaching to target students, supporting the counseling department, and reading intervention. They are providing extra time to teachers so they can analyze student data and make necessary adjustments to the curriculum. They've also created a professional development calendar that provides training to staff on pertinent subjects.

Aki Kurose Principal Mia Williams also shared her data wall with Rep. Pettigrew. Two large charts hang in her office. The charts track each student’s progress on reading and math skills on a red-to-green scale. Often times, students begin the school year in the red and move to green as the school year goes on. The chart not only shows what students need attention, but the impressive progress that’s being made at Aki Kurose.

>Both schools have made efforts to ensure that the improvements made with these grant dollars are sustainable over the long-term.

Read this story in Spanish here.