School District to form District Equity Team to close achievement gaps

Lake Washington School District is committed to ensuring academic success for every student and to achieving its vision of Every Student Future Ready.

As part of the Lake Washington’s ongoing strategic improvement efforts, the district is forming a District Equity Team to help develop an equity plan focused on closing achievement and opportunity gaps for students. Like many districts across the region, state, and nation, Lake Washington sees evidence of achievement and opportunity gaps in its data. Achievement gaps refer to any significant, persistent disparities in academic performance between groups of students, based on income level, race, or program participation. Opportunity gaps refer to gaps in access to resources, programs, and other opportunities.

Throughout the 2016-17 school year, the district has been working with the Puget Sound Educational Service District’s Equity in Education department to provide staff professional development, and to collect and analyze student achievement and perception data. The district now seeks members for a District Equity Team to help identify priority areas for the district’s equity plan.

The District Equity Team will include teachers, administrators and parents/community members. The District Equity Team will review and discuss data, and prioritize and advise the development of the district’s equity plan. The District Equity Team members will ideally commit to serving for two years.

If you are interested in serving, please complete the brief online application available on the district website (www.lwsd.org). Volunteer members will be selected based upon geographic location and diverse representation. They must be willing to participate for two-year term.

The district’s goal is to develop areas of focus and prioritization in closing achievement and opportunity gaps for students. To help meet this goal, it is important to have diverse perspectives and experiences represented on the District Equity Team.

District Equity Team meetings will be held on a quarterly basis, beginning in May 2017. Meetings will be held from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. at the Lake Washington School District Resource Center.

For more information on serving on the District Equity Team, please contact Dr. Jon Holmen, Associate Superintendent, Student and School Support, at joholmen@lwsd.org  or (425) 936-1310

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About Lake Washington: Lake Washington School District is a high-performing public school district serving Kirkland, Redmond, and Sammamish, Washington. It is the third largest district in the state of Washington, with 29,000 students in 51 schools.