I recently had the privilege of talking with two of the key Tukwila School District administrators charged with ensuring our kids in Tukwila succeed.
JoAnne Fabian is director of assessments for the school district and Gwen Estes-Zuehlke is the district’s director for special services.
I interviewed them about two significant grants the Tukwila School District received from the Road Map Project.
One grant, for $121,380, will strengthen the programs designed for pre-kindergarten through third grade. Such a program is critically important in Tukwila because it’s estimated that only about 30 percent of kindergartners last year were ready to start learning from Day 1.
There are many reasons for that, but the goal is simple: “Success breeds success,” says Fabian.
The City of Tukwila recognizes the importance of pre-kindergarten learning. This fall, the city will offer a preschool program. On Thursday (Feb. 20), there’s an open house at 6 p.m. at the Tukwila Community Center to explain the details.
The second grant is for $200,000 and is geared to students in middle school and high school. The grant is designed to strengthen course rigor (I love that word) and add college-readiness classes to better prepare Tukwila’s students for college and beyond.
A goal for Foster is to boost its graduation rate and a focus on a more rigorous curriculum (and the addition of a success coordinator) will surely help make that happen.
Turns out, just one edition of Tukwila Reporter is not big enough to contain all the success stories in Tukwila. (Check out the wonderful and inspiring story of Thong and Chiev Ung in this month’s Tukwila Reporter.)
So, next month, I am going to write about the impact those two Road Map grants will have on Tukwila’s students, from beginning to end.
