Superintendent urges tougher grad-plus metrics and reframed guardrails to close gaps
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Summary
Superintendent Scholdner told the board Seattle Public Schools ranks near the top in aggregate outcomes but trails on measures for low-income and multilingual students; he proposed revising goals (including considering third-grade SBA rather than second-grade MAP) and rewording guardrails from prohibitions to affirmative commitments focused on equity, attendance and safety.
Superintendent Scholdner urged the Seattle School Board to broaden and tighten the district's goals and guardrails, arguing the system can be academically rigorous while also sharpening measures that reflect equity and postgraduation preparation.
"We are among the highest performing school systems on the entire West Coast in the aggregate," Scholdner said, but added a caution: "However, that is not true when you look at different groups of students." He pointed to district data showing large achievement gaps for low-income students and multilingual learners and said the board should consider new or reworded measures that better capture progress for all groups.
Scholdner floated several substantive changes the board might consider, including moving literacy goals from second grade to third grade to favor SBA testing over MAP (he noted MAP's national-percentile re-benchmarking can make year-to-year interpretation harder), and tightening the district's "grad-plus" metric to require not just course-taking but demonstrable outcomes (for example, passing AP/IB exams rather than merely enrolling). He said that if the district adopted a more rigorous grad-plus definition, the metric would initially fall (Scholdner estimated a illustrative drop to about 59% under a stricter definition) but would provide a clearer accountability target.
On guardrails'language, Scholdner recommended a shift from negative "superintendent shall not" statements toward positive commitments the district can show evidence of: "Instead of the superintendent shall not, the district led by the superintendent shall work towards offering equitable outcomes and promoting the things we value," he said, arguing affirmative language would make it easier to prove progress.
Board members broadly welcomed revisiting goals but emphasized trade-offs. Director Song urged a strong focus on gap-closing metrics for student groups that have fallen behind. Director Rankin cautioned against conflating operational metrics (for example, balanced budgets) with top-line outcome goals; Rankin said operational measures should support, but not substitute for, an outcome-focused agenda. Vice President Briggs urged ambition and suggested setting a long-term aspirational target as a rallying point.
Several directors asked staff to ground proposed goal changes in the district's prior community engagement data; Director Mizrahi specifically asked that outcomes for students with IEPs remain visible in any revised reporting. The board directed staff to return with a draft of revised goals and guardrails in one to two months for further public and board review.
Ending: The discussion concluded with the board agreeing to continue work on goals and guardrails and to monitor progress through the district's regular progress-monitoring schedule.