Recent News Board of Education Standards Based Education Construction Updates

2011-2012 Federal Way Public Schools
Fact Sheet

District Facts:

• 37 schools (21 elementary, 2 Kindergarten – 8th grade schools, 7 middle schools, 5 high schools, TAF Academy (6-12), Public Academy (6-10), and Internet Academy (K-12))
• 21,696 enrollment (8th largest)
• 2,584 staff members
• Founded in 1929
• Our service area encompasses 35 square miles

About the Community We Serve:

• The district serves all of Federal Way and parts of three other cities - Auburn, Kent and Des Moines - and unincorporated King County.
• Over 89,000 people live within Federal Way city limits, and, according to 2010 census data, 130,061 live within the school district boundaries, including the portions of Des Moines, Kent, Auburn and unincorporated King County served by the district.
• The Chamber of Commerce includes about 550 members and business partners.
• Our community is richly diverse:
  • The Caucasian population is around 57 percent of the total.
  • The Hispanic or Latino population makes up 15 percent of the population.
  • Federal Way's Asian population is approximately 13 percent of the total.
  • The city's black population is around 9 percent of the total.
  • Another 15 percent said they were multiracial.

A Closer Look at Our Students Reveals:

• 61.57% are an ethnicity other than white
• 54.02% live in or near the federal poverty level (based on free and reduced lunch figures)
• 13.4% are  transitional/bilingual, also known as English Language Learners
• 113 languages are spoken by our students' families

Recent Accomplishments

• Superintendent Rob Neu joined Federal Way Public Schools in 2010. Superintendent Neu came to Federal Way with more than 20 years experience in education, and describes himself as a student-centered decision maker who firmly believes in educating the whole child. A comprehensive curriculum supported by extra-curricular programs, he says, is the foundation of American public education. 
• The district implemented a Standards-Based Education system beginning in fall, 2011. Teams of teachers and administrators worked together to align the curriculum through the development of selected power standards. The standards endure beyond the test, are applicable in other disciplines, and are essential in the next level of students' instruction. Students will have multiple opportunities and ways in which to demonstrate mastery.
• A year after the implementation of the Academic Acceleration policy, which automatically enrolls students who demonstrate ability into advanced classes, testing results showed a positive impact on student achievement.
• The district has updated its anti-harassment and bullying policies and procedures, and provided training to staff with an emphasis on intervening and reporting every time bullying is witnessed.
• The district's Beginning Teacher Assistance Program (BTAP) has twice received a highly competitive grant from OSPI to continue its much-praised work in supporting beginning teachers.
• All four of the district's comprehensive high schools were named among the country's top 1,500 high schools by the Washington Post in 2011.
• Four Federal Way elementary schools received the state's Title I, Part A Improvement Award for 2011 from OSPI. Adelaide, Camelot, Mark Twain and Panther Lake elementary schools each received an award of $5,515 to be used to support their continuing efforts to increase student academic success. 
• Saghalie Middle School opened the Math and Science Academy in the fall of 2011. The curriculum, based on a nationally-recognized program called Gateway to Technology (GTT), creates opportunities to learn by doing.
• The district continues its groundbreaking partnership with the Technology Access Foundation in operating the TAF Academy, a program focused on encouraging girls and minority students in grades 6-12 to study science, technology, engineering and math.

More Accomplishments by our Schools

• Newly built Valhalla and Panther Lake elementary schools received the Best Design in Public Award from the Interior Design Association of the Pacific Northwest in 2010.
• The Thomas Jefferson High math team has placed in the top ten nationally since 1995 in the National Mu Alpha Theta Contest. They also hold a series of state championships.
• Five new school and community gardens were constructed in 2010, including gardens at Truman High School and Camelot, Enterprise, Green Gables and Nautilus. The gardens are perfect places to learn about science, math, art, literacy, nutrition, social studies and cooking – all while providing a great community service by supplying food for community members in need. 
• In 2010, Star Lake Elementary School was named a School of Distinction from the Center for Educational Effectiveness for their long-term improvement in academics while facing staggering increases of students in poverty.
• In 2010, Sacajawea Middle School was named by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction as a role model for other schools in Washington State for the work they have done in closing the achievement gap.
• Federal Way High School and Totem Middle School's AVID programs were selected as Demonstration Schools, the "best of the best," by the AVID organization for a second time in 2010. Of 3,500 schools in the nation to offer AVID, only about 100 are designated as demonstration schools.
• The first West-coast site of the Cambridge Preparatory Academcy opened in fall, 2006, at Federal Way High School. In 2007, Lakota and Sacajawea Middle Schools added the Cambridge Checkpoint program for high-achieving sixth- through eighth-grade students.  In fall, 2008, Cambridge programs were implemented at several elementary schools. (In 2010, Lake Washington School District opened the second West-Coast site of the Cambridge Preparatory Program.)
• IB Middle Years program was implemented at Totem and Kilo middle schools beginning in 2010. Thomas Jefferson High School and Todd Beamer High School began implementation of the IB Middle Years program in 2011.* The program helps students develop critical thinking skills, work independently and collaboratively, and to take a disciplined approach to studying.
• With 2007 construction bond dollars, the district has rebuilt five schools, including four elementary schools and a middle school. The new Panther Lake and Valhalla elementary schools opened in 2009. Lakota Middle School opened in 2010. Lakeland and Sunnycrest elementary schools opened in 2011.  In addition, passage of the bond measure is allowing the district to rebuild the district's maintenance, transportation and nutrition services facilities in a location near Celebration Park. Finally, over $20 million in state match funding triggered by the passage of the bond measure is providing vital upgrades to all district facilities built before 1990 except for Federal Way High School and the district's central offices (ESC).

High Impact Projects

• The Board of Education implemented a new Policy Governance model of leadership in 2010, in which the Board tells administration the results they want to see, and allows the district to manage the work required to get there.
• The district continues to host one of the largest school-based AmeriCorps teams in the country, whose 70 members focus on supporting AVID formal tutorials and tutoring one-on-one, in small groups, and in before- and after-school programs in the schools.
• The district maintains an emphasis on professional coaching's role in our staff's development, based in part on the findings of the McKinsey Report.
• The district continues to focus on a district-wide math initiative that includes Algebraic Thinking in middle school.
• Beyond High School planning for all students begins in 8th grade.
• The district has an innovative partnership with the Technology Access Foundation via a public school/provide foundation operating agreement. In addition, the district has contractual agreements with College Board to offer Advanced Placement (AP) and Pre-AP classes, Cambridge University to offer the Cambridge Preparatory Academy, and the International Baccalaureate Organization to offer IB the Middle Years and IB Diploma programs.
• The design and construction and facility upgrades of 31 schools and district facilities over six years is being fulfilled on time and under budget through a 2007 construction bond.

* Todd Beamer High School, Thomas Jefferson High School, Totem Middle School and Kilo Middle School are all candidate schools* for the IB Middle Years Program. These schools are pursuing authorization as IB World Schools. IB World Schools share a common philosophy—a commitment to high-quality, challenging, international education—that we believe is important for our students.
 Only schools authorized by the IB Organization can offer any of its three academic programs: the Primary Years Program (PYP), the Middle Years Program (MYP) or the Diploma Program (and in addition the IB Career-related Certificate). Candidate status gives no guarantee that authorization will be granted. For further information about the IB and its programs, visit http://www.ibo.org.