By Aseela Galeeb
Imagine you’re a high school student, curious about your academic options as you begin the college process. Or, perhaps you’re a parent trying to help your child take advantage of the educational opportunities available to them. You’ve heard about dual credit programs and you know they can be a game-changer, so you begin searching on your school district’s website to find out more.
But what if, after searching through endless links and PDFs, you come up empty-handed? That’s not just frustrating and confusing, but it can actually limit a student’s access to these programs.
With this in mind, I decided to explore the dual credit equity information available on the second and third largest school districts in Washington State: Lake Washington School District-which serves cities east of Seattle such as Redmond, Kirkland, and Sammamish- and Spokane Public Schools- which serves the city of Spokane and the surrounding county. The opposing locations of these districts, as well as other factors discussed later, led to an interesting comparative study.
By contrasting how these districts present educational resources online, I wanted to see how accessible this information really was.
Lake Washington School District (LWSD)
In all honesty, the LWSD website was somewhat unfamiliar to me, even though I had recently graduated from the district. As with all internet searches, it’s best to go in with a goal, to avoid falling down a rabbit hole. My guiding question was about the district’s equity policy- does it include anything about equitable access to dual credit programs?
I clicked around for some time before finding what I needed. For example, the Equity & Family Engagement page led me to an “Equity Team Annual Report” PDF, which discussed anti-racism lessons, equity modules for teachers, and student affinity groups, but didn’t cover dual credit programs. The list of “More Ways to Graduation” featured a standard overview of programs and requirements, but had no mention of equitable access. I sifted through PDFs like “Academic Success Annual Report” and “LWSD Eligibility Changes”, as well as the 2019 Strategic Plan, where one of the district’s goals was to “increase dual credit course offerings”, but did not expand upon the point.
Taking a different approach, I began filtering through the administrative policies, which had plenty of statements about student well-being, leadership organization, and course adoption procedures, but my goal was still out of sight. Even if this policy exists somewhere, in the depths of the LWSD website, if it isn’t prominently posted and easy to find, it’s almost as though it doesn’t exist at all.
Spokane Public Schools
The Spokane Public School district’s Academic Acceleration policy was much easier to find. Within three clicks, I had on my screen a PDF which clearly stated a recognition of the importance of access to dual credit programs, as well as an automatic enrollment clause (a step that ensures students are placed in the next most advanced course, rather than opting in to it).
In comparing these two school districts, it becomes clear that there is a significant difference in the accessibility of information about dual credit programs. While LWSD’s website required extensive searching that led to limited results, Spokane Public Schools provided easily accessible information.
What are some reasons for this sharp contrast? In considering this question, I began with the demographics of each district. Both have about 29-30,000 students enrolled, but according to US News and World Report (a source that is popular for school comparisons and rankings), 6.3% of LWSD’s students come from an economically disadvantaged background, compared to 46% of Spokane’s students. As EducationWeek explains in this article discussing equity gaps in parental involvement in school, “there are still some important gaps between more and less advantaged communities when it comes to tech, including access to devices and reliable connectivity. What’s more, wealthier parents may be more likely to work a schedule that allows them to spend time helping their children”. While the exact reason for the difference in accessibility may be more complex, this stark divide between communities of varying levels of economic advantage must be highlighted in order to create changes.
Key Takeaways
It is essential for school districts to prioritize the accessibility of information about equity in their services, because it plays an important role in supporting students and their families. By advocating for transparency online, we can ensure that all students can benefit from these programs.
Aseela Galeeb is a graduate of the Lake Washington School District and is an incoming first year college student obtaining two degrees in Policy and Communications. She is a Guest Contributor for Stand WA.
