The FAPE Site

Thousands of Schools are Meeting Challenges

Working with parents and communities, NEA members and school officials in countless thousands of schools and districts throughout the country are meeting the challenges and making their schools places where students are learning. The following are just a few examples that demonstrate that careful planning, ongoing assessment, adequate resources and lots of long-term commitment can pay off.

Wyandotte High School

Kansas City School District
Kansas City, Kansas
Wyandotte High School, located near downtown Kansas City, Kansas, serves more than 1,100 students; more than 90 percent of whom are African-American and Hispanic. The school had the highest dropout rates and lowest reading scores in the Kansas City, Kansas, school district. The parent income level is the lowest in the entire state. But they're changing all that.

Pinellas County, Florida

Skyview Elementary School (Pinellas Park)
Azalea Elementary School (St. Petersburg)
Azalea and Skyview Elementary Schools are two of 172 schools in Pinellas County, Florida, where 74 percent of students qualify for free and reduced lunches and there is a 52 percent mobility factor. Skyview, which receives federal Title I funds earmarked for students in disadvantaged communities, was ranked a 'D' as a result of low standardized test scores under the statewide policy that issues performance grades to its schools. The school was under a desegregation order to keep racial diversity-only one-third of the students can be African-American. Many students are bused to and from neighboring schools. Azalea was ranked a 'C' by the state. Both schools changed direction and are now improving.

Edgewood Independent School District

San Antonio, Texas
Edgewood Independent School District, just west of downtown San Antonio, presently serves 12,000 K-12 students-nearly every student is eligible for free and reduced lunches. Edgewood's population is more than 95 percent Hispanic, and the annual per capita income is just over $5,000. Local property tax revenues are so low that more than 89 percent of the district's per-student funding comes from state and federal funds. Against long odds, Edgewood school officials, teachers parents, and community leaders are turning their schools around.

Around the country…

There are many more examples. For more information on the achievements of American schools and examples of success stories in specific states. That there are programs and strategies that are working underscores NEA members' conviction that with sufficient resources we can fulfill the American promise of quality public education for all.