NSAP = Separate and Increasingly Unequal

As published in EdNews

Seattle's New Student Assignment Plan:

Separate and
Increasingly Unequal Schools

Forever

Testimony for January 19, 2011 ….

Directors, I am Dan Dempsey.

Tonight you consider more about the New Student Assignment Plan, but there is no mention of improving schools.

The NSAP shows that separate and increasingly unequal schools are the plan. Check the Data.

The NSAP was to make every school a quality school … but lacked any mechanism to do that.

Recent actions on the transition are about capacity and drawing lines. Not a single thought is given to school quality.

The following data screams separate and increasingly unequal:

May 2007 Everyday Math adopted and
'Achievement Gaps" increased and requests for increased explicit instruction and interventions were ignored.

May 2009 three southeast high school teachers testified that increased practice was needed and that the proposed adoption would fail their students. The Board approved a $1.2 million high school math adoption and lost in Superior Court.

Spring 2010 OSPI testing showed the 10th grade math test pass rate for Black Students in Seattle dropped to 12.5%. At Cleveland after 4 years of UW assistance that rate was 6%. At Rainier Beach after two years of UW College of Ed “math help” the Black student pass rate was 4% … down more than 30 points from 4 years earlier.

You’re operating two districts. The poorest section of the city gets the failing district.

The State constitution prohibits your actions but there is no enforcement. Instead of intelligently applying relevant data and research to increase student achievement, the Superintendent hires law firms to show the district is not operating illegally.

The actions of the Board and Superintendent might not be illegal but are definitely immoral.

Math adoptions, Failure to provide interventions, Teach for America "Newbies", NWEA/MAP testing, Carryover funds transferred away from 31 low income schools, Substandard math performance at every New Tech school, State Auditor Ignored, and the New Student Assignment Plan is for increasingly unequal schools.

The list is incredible …. yet the District fixes nothing.

The District’s response to horrible math pass rates for Black students is sending attorneys to Appeals court, while refusing to make changes.

How long will the inferior district continue?

Tonight is about drawing lines, not providing better programs.
Decisions are all politics, having nothing to do with improving learning. The inferior district is currently planned to continue forever.

The Superintendent regularly fails to intelligently apply relevant data. Instead of accountability the Board dances around the resulting chaos and ignores the public. Separate and increasingly unequal is the plan.