June 15, 2003

Hello AP/IB Boosters!

Newsletter Contents

• No Child Left Behind Newsletter Article Submitted to the PTSA
• Required Summer Reading at Jackson HS
• WASL Reading Performance of Schools in the Everett School District
• Summer Learning Opportunities

No Child Left Behind Newsletter Article Submitted to the PTSA

The following is an excerpt from the June 1, 2003 "No Child Left Behind" Newsletter http://www.nclb.gov/index.html

"During summer vacation, children who are economically disadvantaged experience reading achievement declines, while attainment for children from middle and high income backgrounds improves. Summer reading loss occurs because disadvantaged children spend their break in neighborhoods that lack academic and culturally enriching resources. They visit few museums, often do not play organized sports and make infrequent trips to the public library. In addition, disadvantaged children are much more likely than their advantaged counterparts to live in households with a scarcity of books, magazines and other print materials. All of these conditions contribute to the fact that summer for disadvantaged children is often an academically and culturally lean time."

The AP/IB Boosters would like to encourage all students in all grades to read over the summer. As an added incentive, Governor Locke has a Summer Reading Challenge program for all students under 18 with possible prizes.

Here is the link:
http://www.governor.wa.gov/summerreadingchallenge/default.asp


The professional women's basketball team in Seattle, "Seattle Storm" also has a Summer Reading Challenge, "Read to Achieve" . . . Students could earn two free Storm game tickets!

Here is the link:
WNBA.com: WNBA Read to Achieve


Our local baseball team, in Everett, "AquaSox," also has a fun Summer Reading Challenge, "Hit a Home Run" . . . Students can win free tickets to an Everett AquaSox baseball game.  For more information contact: Cathy Bierman at 425/258/3673.

The AP/IB Boosters are currently engaging the Everett School District to construct a Summer Reading Program for K-12 starting in 2004 that is aligned and coordinated throughout all of the schools in the district.  We are very willing to help the District articulate the program. We have looked at "best practices" at other school districts across the country and have develop the below proposal:

http://www.apibboosters.org/SummerReadingLists.html
 
Happy reading!


Required Summer Reading at Jackson HS

All entering sophomores and juniors at Jackson HS have required summer reading. Our web site has some of these assignments listed.

http://www.apibboosters.org/SummerReadingEverettSDTeachers.html

More to follow as they are made available to us.


WASL Reading Performance of Schools in the Everett School District

The Everett School District elementary schools, based on the WASL reading assessment, perform near the average of all public elementary schools in Washington - some above the mean for their demographics, some below. All ESD middle schools perform just under the mean. All ESD high schools perform well below the mean 2001/2002 WASL data plots for all public schools in Washington can be found at:

http://www.apibboosters.org/GuideWASL.html 

We encourage the Everett School District to compare apples to apples when they present student assessment information.  Comparing Jackson High School (JHS) to Seattle Public District High Schools is not a fair comparison due to JHS very high socioeconomic demographics.  JHS population of "free lunch" students (very common statistical filter) is below 10%.  Similar conversations occur when someone brings up Mercer Island School District . . The first conversation line you usually hear is, "Its not fair to compare our students to Mercer Island . . they have a lot more resources than we do."  

It is not a fair comparison to compare JHS Students (5% free lunch: 2001/2002) to Washington State averages (33%) or National averages or even comparing JHS to Cascade High School (14%).  If student assessment statistics are going to be presented to the community, we feel they should be compared to their like peer group to be able to compare apples to apples.


Summer Learning Opportunities

The following items are some of the summer learning opportunities in our community.

• Middle School Short Courses at UW
  For students entering 6th - 8th grade. $300 - $350
  • In the Courthouse July 14-18
  • The Wright Stuff – Kids Invent Toys July 7-11
  • Kids Invent Robotics July 28-Aug. 1
• Middle School Academy at UW Middle school students. $440
  Students explore topics in art, drama, science, math, creative writing, and technology. Arts, Session A: July 21-August 1
• Cougar Quest, Washington State University Grades 7 - 8. $395 July 20 - 25, 2003 June 24, 2003
• Cougar Quest, Washington State University Grades 9 - 12. $395 July 27 - August 1, 2003 June 24, 2003

Link to JHS June calendar
http://www.everett.wednet.edu/schools/high/hmjackson/calendar/june03.htm

Link to AP/IB Boosters Scholarly Events listing
http://www.apibboosters.org/events/Events.html

Link to latest JHS PTSA newsletter
http://www.jhsptsa.org/news.html

Thank you,

Todd Aagard
Chairperson
AP/IB Boosters
Advanced Placement Opportunities for All Students
www.apibboosters.org
info@apibboosters.org