e-Newsletter
September 24, 2014
Issue No.33
In This Issue
Upcoming Events & Key Dates

10/1 Read To Succeed Work Team Meeting (Deep Dive 1)

10/16 Executive Committee Meeting

10/21 White Center Education Initiative Meeting (Deep Dive 2)

Quick Links


About the Road Map Region Race to the Top Grant

In 2012, seven King County, Washington, school districts joined forces and won $40 million in federal Race to the Top funds over four years. The participating school districts are Auburn, Federal Way, Highline, Kent, Renton, Seattle and Tukwila. The districts dubbed themselves The Road Map District Consortium, a reference to their participation in the Road Map Project, a community-wide effort in South Seattle and South King County to drive major educational improvement with a focus on personalized learning.

Dear  ,
We are pleased to share the news that Pioneer Elementary in Auburn earned fantastic MSP scores! A video contest is encouraging students to share how they might use STEM skills to address a pressing problem in the world. Finally, a new parent involvement pilot program in Seattle is training parents to take on a larger role in their children's schools. 

Pioneer Elementary Posts Extraordinary Math Scores
We are very happy to share that Pioneer Elementary in Auburn has received top math scores on the Measurements of Student Progress (MSP). The school has 4th grade scores that are 22nd in the state, 3rd grade scores that are 4th in the state and 5th grade MSP math scores that are first in the entire state! Pioneer is a Race to the Top high-need school, and is is 76% students of color, 84% low-income and 43% transitional bilingual. Congratulations to the staff and students at Pioneer Elementary!

Gildo Rey Elementary in Auburn also received outstanding MSP math scores, although not the highest 5th grade scores in the state, as was stated in our last newsletter. Congratulations again to Auburn on the strong results of both schools, and its commitment to improving student achievement and closing the opportunity gap.

STEM Superheroes Contest
Young people aged 8- to 17-years-old are being invited to participate in a nationwide video contest to create innovative ideas using science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics to tackle the biggest challenges in schools, communities, and the world.

The Disney Big Hero 6 XPrize Challenge is inspired by Disney's new animated feature Big Hero 6 and is trying to find real-life student counterparts to the film's animated heroes. Contestants are asked what one problem they would take on to change the world, and how they would do it.

Six winners will travel to Los Angeles to attend the Hollywood premiere of Big Hero 6 in early November, meet creative minds at Walt Disney Animation Studios and Imagineering, and join a special "Visioneering" experience. The deadline for submissions is October 12. For more information, please see the contest page.


Pilot Program to Train 20 Seattle Parents
A pilot program to train 20 Seattle parents for a larger role in their children's schools was recently featured in the Seattle Times "Education Lab" project.

Community and Parents for Public Schools, a local parent-involvement group and member of the Road Map Project Community Network Steering Committee, recently secured grant funding for the pilot program. The program is modeled on a local community association in Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood. Although many parents in the neighborhood do not speak English at home, hundreds have been trained to volunteer and tutor in their children's schools.

The program will train 20 volunteers as classroom aides. The first 10 will be deployed at Seattle's Dearborn Park International School--a Race to the Top high-need school--later this fall. Beyond that, five other schools with high populations of Latino or Somali families are under consideration for the second wave of parent mentors, expected to begin work in the spring.

For more information, please see the Education Lab piece.


Please visit the Race to the Top Website!
Please remember to share the Road Map Region Race to the Top website with friends and colleagues! We regularly update content and add new resources. To access the website click here!

Stay Tuned!
Thank you for taking the time to read the Road Map Region Race to the Top grant e-newsletter! The next e-newsletter will be released in October. Click "Join Our Mailing List" on the left to receive future e-newsletters!


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