College Spark Washington funds programs across Washington state that help low-income students become college-ready and earn their degrees.
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Resources |
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To help families better understand student score reports, Ready Washington and GreatKids developed the
Washington Test Guide, available in English and Spanish. This guide provides information on how to help your child in school and sample questions to ask his or her teacher.
Highline Public Schools developed a helpful
infographic showing the actual amount of time students spend on testing. Out of 1,170 school hours, a typical student spends less than 20 hours on district and state testing.
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Shuksan Middle School offers alternative discipline to keep students in school
When students aren't in school, they aren't able to learn. Administrators at Shuksan Middle School, in the Bellingham School District, took this phrase to heart and developed an alternative to out-of-school suspensions to keep students in school and learning. Hear about how they reduced suspensions from 114 in 2011-2012 to 15 in 2014-2015 in this short video.
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Restorative Justice at Shuksan Middle School |
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Bridge to College applications
Bridge to College Math and English Language Arts courses are available for seniors who score below the college-ready level on the Smarter Balanced Assessment in 11th grade. Students who pass the course will be considered college-ready by the majority of colleges in Washington and permitted to enroll in college-level math courses without additional placement testing. Applications are now available to teachers who would like to offer this course in their school through grant support from College Spark.
Visit the recently launched Bridge to College website for more information and resources for students, parents, and educators.
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Academic Youth Development and Intensified Algebra grants
School Year Academic Youth Development
(SY-AYD) and
Intensified Algebra
are programs developed by
Agile Mind
in collaboration with the Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas at Austin. Researchers who have studied program outcomes have found significant probative changes in student and teacher attitudes and beliefs, as well as student achievement in mathematics. College Spark will provide funding for 60 schools to implement SY-AYD and/or Intensified Algebra.
- Intensified Algebra is aligned to the Common Core, and both programs support higher-level problem-solving skills and are designed to improve students' scores on the Smarter Balanced Assessment.
- Over a seven-year period, 60 schools will receive four-year grants to implement SY-AYD and/or Intensified Algebra. Schools with be selected to receive SY-AYD and IA funding in three cohorts.
- Schools with strong advisory programs will be given priority for SY-AYD grants.
Information about grant funding to implement SY-AYD or Intensified Algebra will be available this spring.
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