Santorno and co-panelists Terry Bergeson, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, and Seattle School Board Member Darlene Flynn offered these suggestions for closing the achievement gap:

• Early learning programs and all-day kindergarten for all students. These help to ensure that children have the language and literacy foundation to be proficient readers, as well as the social and emotional skills to succeed in school. Santorno referenced the Alliance's Read Aloud 20 campaign as an example of how the community can pull together to promote early learning. The Read Aloud 20 campaign encourages parents to read aloud with their children for 20 minutes every day. Bergeson said that she is advocating for state support for all-day kindergarten for all students.
  
• Funding. We can talk about all kinds of great programs, but we have to be honest about funding—and there not being enough of it, Darlene Flynn told the audience. All three panelists emphasized the need for more state funding in order to accelerate closing the achievement gap.
  
• High-quality teaching. Panelists emphasized the need for more teacher professional development, aligned with student and teacher performance standards. These are the kinds of teacher and instructional supports (including teacher coaches and rigorous curriculum) for which the Alliance has advocated and raised funds over the past decade.
  
• Intervention. Students who need more help should get special help—and early. Many students need extended time for learning—during the summer and/or after school—in order to reinforce or retain their learning.

The Alliance gives special thanks to Terry Bergeson, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Seattle School Board Member Darlene Flynn, and Seattle Public Schools Chief Academic Officer Carla Santorno for being on the panel.

Since 2003 Bank of America has given Seattle Public Schools $200,000 to help new teachers pay for professional certification courses. Teachers are required by the state to complete a professional certification program within their first five years of teaching; Bank of America's grants to the Alliance, including the recently announced $50,000 grant, help Seattle teachers defray the cost of enrolling in courses at the University of Washington and Seattle University. Awards to this year's group will target math, science, and special education teachers and also teachers in identified "high need" schools. Eleven fellowships ($2,500 each) and 29 scholarships ($500 each) will be awarded by mid-December. Bank of America has supported Seattle Public Schools students by contributing nearly $700,000 to the Alliance over the past ten years.

Boeing's $336,000 grant to Seattle Public Schools is also giving a big boost to teachers. This fall Seattle Public Schools rolled out a new middle school math curriculum which replaces outdated instructional materials and textbooks. Boeing is helping that curriculum come to life by funding school-based instructional coaches to support classroom teachers as they build their skills in teaching the new math curriculum. In the past decade, Boeing has given nearly $3 million to support student achievement in Seattle Public Schools through the Alliance.