The Silent Epidemic

In April of this year, Bill and Melinda Gates announced the launch of the STAND UP campaign in front of millions of viewers of The Oprah Show, calling attention to the alarming national high school dropout rate in the United States. At a July 12th forum organized by Alliance for Education, more than 100 community members joined together in conversation about what the crisis looks like in Seattle and how the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is working to build awareness of the problem across the country.

As a STAND UP coalition affiliate, we at Alliance for Educationalong with our partners throughout the communityare calling attention to our local dropout problem and focusing on solutions. Seattle Public Schools' dropout rates mirror closely the national rates which have hovered around 30% over the past several years.

In Washington State, dropouts earn a quarter of a million dollars less than high school graduates and nearly a million dollars less than college graduates over their lifetime.

Nationally, dropouts are twice as likely to be unemployed as high school graduates, twice as likely to live in a household that receives government assistance, and three times more likely to have children that drop out of schools. The costs to our nation in terms of lost income and taxes of just one years dropouts is $192 billion, or 1.6% of the gross domestic product.

In an effort to promote discussion about what the Seattle community can do to help keep kids in school, the Alliance on July 12 held the first of a series of forums addressing this Silent Epidemic. More than 100 community leaders heard from and interacted with Steve Seleznow, Education Program Director at the Gates Foundation, Paul Hill, Director of the Center on Reinventing Public Education at the University of Washington, and Carla Santorno, Seattle Public Schools new Chief Academic Officer. Santorno, in particular, was resolute in her belief that schools must do more so that students arent pushed into dropping out by new higher academic standards.

Superintendent Raj Manhas made a strong statement about the urgency of this issue as he recounted a recent conversation with several past dropouts of Seattle Public Schools who now are inmates at the Monroe Correctional Complex. He drew a direct line between their choices to drop out of school, the failure of the school system to keep them enrolled, and their current status as incarcerated convicts. In addressing the audience, he stated that all of us, parents, schools, and communities can and must do better to address this issue. Our kids, all of our kids, deserve better.

For more information on the STAND UP coalition or future forums to engage with the community, please contact Stephan Blanford.

Swain Teacher Awards

In June, Alliance for Education was thrilled to present the Philip B. Swain Excellence in Teaching Award to two teachers that make all the difference for their students.

Wendy Miller, the first recipient (pictured below with Principal Princess Shareef), is a 7th-grade math teacher and math department head at Meany Middle School.

When Ms. Miller pursues change and new ideas, its always with the benefits to students in mind. So strongly does she believe that all students can learn, that those she teaches build confidence in their own abilities. The atmosphere she creates, wrote the person who nominated Ms. Miller, enables students to take risks in her classroom because they know they can achieve.

Victoria Bernstein, the second recipient, is a 9th, 10th & 11th-grade language arts teacher at Cleveland High School. She is always going above and beyond. On her own initiative, Ms. Bernstein gathers humanities colleagues to discuss topics of importance such as WASL preparation and reading strategies. As a teacher leader, she regularly attends district-wide language arts meetings to both learn from and share knowledge with her peers. Ms. Bernstein is unrelenting in her drive to provide an equitable curriculum to her charges, according to the individuals who nominated her for the award.

Shown in the picture above are Cynthia Swain Stafford, daughter of Philip Swain; Sylvia Odom, a retired, award-winning elementary math teacher; Victoria Bernstein; and Suzanne Erickson, Senior Partnership Manager, Alliance for Education.

The Philip B. Swain Excellence in Teaching Award honors exemplary middle and high school teachers with a $1,000 stipend for educational or personal purposes. Mr. Swain was a passionate advocate for public education and civic leader who served 14 years as a member of the Seattle School Board.

For more information on the Swain teacher awards, contact Suzanne Erickson.