Seattle School District map illustrates achievement gap

Seattle Public Schools students living in the North End of the city do far better as a group on state math and reading tests than their peers who live in the South End.

While that's not news to most city residents, district-created maps released last week drove the point home vividly: Shades of red (the percentage of high-performing test-takers) bleeding through most of the census tracts in the North End, shades of blue (lower-performing test-takers) blanketing most of the South and Central areas.

The maps reflect test results on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) for fourth, seventh and 10th grades taken last spring. While the state reports student WASL results by school and by district, this is the first time in Seattle that the public has had a chance to see how those students fare based on census tracts.

And the graphic representation may help inform the debate over the strategies the district plans to adopt in a five-year academic plan to close the gap.

"This shows us very clearly, geographically, where our challenges lie," Chief Academic Officer June Rimmer explained to the School Board during a budget workshop last week. "Although we all know it, it reinforces the urgency of what we need to do."

In fact, the maps may understate the magnitude of the achievement gap. That is because the maps show the percentage of students in each tract who met standards (passed the test), not the actual number of students who live in that tract. More Seattle Public Schools students live in the South End compared to the North.

"In reality, it's a bigger problem than it looks," Seattle Superintendent Raj Manhas said during last week's meeting.

The draft plan Rimmer offered for discussion last week — which had no estimated cost attached to it — points to areas for the district to focus on during the next five years.

They include efforts to assure that all students are proficient in reading by third grade; a process for assigning the best teachers to the students with the greatest needs; systemwide tests of students in reading, writing and math at the beginning, middle and end of each grade; mandating extra time and instruction for students not making adequate academic progress; and early-childhood education for 4-year-olds in selected areas, with funding from the city and state.

Board member Darlene Flynn said that rather than take a punitive approach to low-performing students, the district should look at research that supports year-round schools.

Reacting to the red-and-blue maps, board member Dick Lilly told Rimmer: "Come up with a description of what it would take to turn a blue school into a red school ... so we actually have something concrete to look at."

The maps do not take into account the advantages that some students have over others, including stable families, fluency in English and highly educated parents.

Asked for her opinion on the maps, Robin Pasquarella, president of the Alliance for Education, an affiliate of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce, replied: "If you overlay the map with one that showed income level, would the pattern be any different?"

Research has indicated that family-income level is strongly related to student performance on tests.

Sanjay Bhatt: 206-464-3103 or sbhatt@seattletimes.com