Home › News › Archive for SKCE and Our Partners › Page 2

SKCE and Our Partners

Posts about our work with other community groups and non-profits

Reasons to Vote Yes for the Salem-Keizer Schools Bond Measure

SKCE wholeheartedly supports the Salem-Keizer Schools Bond Measure!

As our Executive Director says:

“I am proud to be a Salemite and I know my community will step up and support our 42,000 students and their families by saying YES to the Salem-Keizer Schools Bond Measure. Saying YES means that our schools will not be crowded and they will be safe, healthy places with the resources they need to produce successful students and be the best district in the state of Oregon!

SKCE is doing its part to increase student success for 39% of the district (Latino). Please do your part and vote YES on the Salem-Keizer Schools Bond.”

The YesForSalemKeizerSchools website lists 9 bullet points (copied below) for changes in the Salem-Keizer School District facilities that the bond measure would make possible. Notice that 5 of the 9 list items are expanding teaching areas to accommodate the increasing student enrollment in the school district. The last two listed items are to do maintenance for or replacement of worn out facilities. One of the items is to upgrade facilities for that expected major earthquake and one is to improve safety and security – badly needed, considering the nationwide death toll in our schools in the last several years.

  • Construct new vocational/technical classrooms
  • Make seismic upgrades
  • Construct additional space at elementary schools
  • Make safety and security improvements districtwide
  • Expand and construct additional space at all six of the district’s traditional high schools
  • Construct additional space such as classrooms
  • New science labs
  • Extend the life of existing facilities
  • Replace the district’s worn-out portable buildings

This Bond Measure was Created by Volunteer Citizens in the School District

The Salem-Keizer Schools Bond Measure was constructed by the Citizens Facilities Task Force, made up of 20 volunteer citizens who live in the district and who worked very hard to make it meet basic current and long-range future SKSD needs. They not only listened to other local citizens, but did a feasibility survey to make sure the citizens of the district felt that this bond measure – both the total cost and the areas of emphasis – was a measure they wanted and which could get their votes.

 

 

2017 Improvements in Overall and Latino Student Graduation Rate

The Improvement in the Latino Student Graduation Rate was “impressive”

In a Statesman Journal article, two interviews discussed the improvement in the graduation rates for Oregon students over the last few years. Acting Superintendent for the State of Oregon Department of Education, Colt Gill, and Annalivia Palazzo-Angulo, the Executive Director of SKCE, were interviewed about graduation rates.

Superintendent Gill discussed overall graduation rates and different ways to view the graduation rate data. Annalivia Palazzo-Angulo also discussed graduation rate data, but her information was more specific to the Latino student graduation rate, which was described as an “impressive” gain in the last few years.

“Class of 2017 Graduation” Salem Keizer School District

There was also discussion of how graduation rates change when graduation time is increased beyond 4 years, and when students who graduate through GED, online classes, or other methods are included.

On the Salem Keizer School District website, graduation rates are also discussed. The first paragraph leads to a more in-depth discussion of graduation rates, “According to the Oregon Department of Education’s recently released graduation rates for the 2016-17 academic year, Salem-Keizer Public Schools (SKPS) increased its graduation rate by nearly two percentage points. Additionally, the drop-out rate decreased by nearly one percentage point. The graduation rates were based on a four- and five-year cohort of students entering the ninth grade in the 2013-14 or 12-13 academic year. The dropout rate reports on students in grades 9-12.”

The increase in the number of students graduating was led by the Latino student graduation rate

In 2012, 59.5% of Latino students graduated. In 2017, 72.5% graduated. This is a substantial improvement of 13% in 3 years. Seen in number of students instead of percentages, for every 100 Latino students who should have graduated in 2012, only 59 graduated. However, for every 100 Latino students who should have graduated in 2017, 72 graduated. That’s 13 more out of 100 who graduated in 2017 than graduated in 2012.

Graduation rates must increase for Oregon

However, even with the good news, Oregon didn’t reach a 78% graduation rate. For the present, that means the state Department of Education goal of a 90% graduation rate by 2024 is not on track. (The state legislature has instructed the Oregon Department of Education to have a 100% graduation rate by 2025.) Our graduation rate is currently 49th in the nation.

 

 

Meyer Memorial Trust Has Awarded SKCE a 2-year Grant

Meyer Memorial Trust has awarded SKCE with a 2-year grant to advance equitable education. Our gratitude goes out to MMT for being such an incredibly strong supporting organization for our programs and civic activities!

MMT started their new Equitable Education Portfolio about 10 months ago, and they have offered grants to organizations across Oregon totaling $7.2 million over 3 years.

MMT’s vision is that all students have an opportunity to access meaningful public education. The focus of the portfolio is on Oregon students, so they can realize their academic achievement goals with disparities at all levels of  education removed.

SKCE works to remove these disparities through working with Spanish speaking parents who learn how to help their children succeed in school. We provide programming for parents of children from pre-k to 12th grade, covering parenting, literacy development, communication, school advocacy and partnership, adolescent transition and leadership development.

Our results speak for themselves; our first cohort showed a significant drop in chronic absenteeism – from a 34% to 67% reduction – for the children of our parent participants.

This $150,000 2-year operational grant will assure that SKCE can impact at least 800 families over the next two years.

Out of 167 competitive applications, SKCE was one of 49 organizations awarded a grant. Read more about the Meyer Memorial Trust Equitable Education grants for Oregon

SKCE is Awarded the Community Partner of the Month by Salem Keizer School District

At the School Board meeting on September 12th, Salem Keizer Coalition for Equality was recognized for our partnership with the district. We were nominated by Four Corners Elementary staff, a school we have worked with for eight years. The award announcement for SKCE starts at video time 9:23 and ends at 12:12.

Pictured from left: Four Corners Elementary Principal Phil Decker, Instructional Assistant
Rosa Garcia, SKCE representatives: Lucia Sanchez Caballero, Yadira Juarez and Javier
Quiroz, with Board Chair Paul Kyllo. Photo courtesy of SKSD.

As the Salem Keizer School District said in its Spotlight on Success post, we were nominated by the Four Corners School staff. We’ve worked with Phil Decker, Rosa Garcia and many other Four Corners staff members for years, and enjoy their enthusiasm and support.

Excerpts from the award presentation

“The Coalition has worked district-wide to support our non-English speaking community. Last November, they sponsored an appreciation dinner and cultural night for the district’s bilingual teachers. Over 150 teachers and family members attended the event held at Stephens Middle School.”

“For two months this past summer, the Coalition co-partnered with the school district to put on the District’s first Summer Language and Culture Institute. Hosted at the Coalition’s offices, it consisted of 15 days of activities, events, field trips and guest speakers, to expose Salem-Keizer Schools staff to the local Hispanic culture in our community.”

The written text for the award presentation is in the Spotlight for Success post above (we are the second group awarded on that page).

Thank you to the Salem Keizer School District for the recognition!

Moms, Dads, Help Prepare Their Children for Kindergarten

Aprendiendo Avanzamos (Learning Together We Advance) delighted families twice a week for 13 weeks from April to June with the help of generous supporters. Moms, dads and kids had so much fun learning together through developmental activities that they asked for more classes!

    

SKCE early learning facilitators led children and parents through a variety of experiences twice a week – singing, art projects, learning games, sensory experiences through play, and literacy development. Parents attended parenting classes one day each week and parent-led preschool the other day. Families attended from 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM and received a hearty breakfast and snack. Babies and toddlers received developmentally focused childcare.

By the end of the course, 24 parents had been through a 10-week parenting program called Abriendo Puertas (Opening Doors) on Thursday mornings, while their children received learning-rich preschool. On Friday mornings, parents learned how to make low cost learning activities at home, and then practiced those activities with their child in this second day of preschool each week. Finally, parents attended three trainings of the “Ready! For Kindergarten” program. Each family received and learned to use a $200 “Ready! For Kindergarten” kit of developmental education materials and activities, generously provided by the Marion Polk Early Learning Hub.

 

The impact of Aprendiendo Avanzamos can affect generations.

             

Spanish speaking immigrants from rural areas in Mexico with farm working backgrounds are less likely to have had access to school in their childhood. They tell us of having no books in the home, going to school sporadically as rural teachers sent by the government came and went, and having immediate family needs that often took priority over building the future. The simple act of learning how to provide educational experiences to their children and getting them ready for kindergarten changes the way parents think about the future of their child and family. Parents embrace their role as first teacher, mentor and coach of their children. A domino effect occurs throughout the child’s school career as parents continue to stay involved, learn to advocate for their children, and envision high school graduation, college and/or career accomplishments and improving the family’s income. Thus old cycles of poverty and low literacy are set aside as the new cycle has begun, and is passed down in parenting the next generation.

 

Other supporters that made this session of Aprendiendo Avanzamos possible are:

the Oregon Parenting Education Collaborative, William S. Walton Charitable Trust, Oregon Community Foundation, and the Atkinson Graduate School of Management (AGSM) Grants Program.

Our 2017 Raising the Bar for Oregon Luncheon was a success!

Thank you to our generous business sponsors and supporters who made the luncheon not only possible, but successful.

 

Our 2017 Luncheon theme was

Partnerships for Student Success: Parents, Schools and Community

Our business sponsors are:

Two videos and a slideshow of the luncheon.

The following 11-minute video was shown during our luncheon:

 

And our excellent speakers, Professor Ann Ishimaru and Emilio Solano, as well as our Executive Director, Annalivia Palazzo-Angulo, are available in the 1 hour video.

 


Photos of our generous supporters at the luncheon can also be found on our

Facebook page.

Thank you Nonprofit Insurance Alliance group!

Father and Daughter

At the end of January, we entered the ANI/NIAC member photo contest. Voting was open for a week, many organizations participated. Although we didn’t win the online voting portion of the photo contest. They loved our photo and was chosen to be featured in their 2014 annual report! A check for $100 was made for us!

logo_Nonprofit Insurance Alliance Group (ANI)SKCE Logo with transparent logo

 

SKCE and the Latino Partnership Project of Oregon Community Foundation

lppSKCE has been part of the Latino Partnership Project of Oregon Community Foundation since it started in 2002. OCF’s LPP helped SKCE become a stable and growing nonprofit with statewide impact through technical assistance grants, mentoring and encouragement to engage in the statewide civic process.

This year, LPP has begun an Oregon Latino Leadership Development Program, which kicked off its first convening at Oregon State University. The second convening was held in Salem at the Joan and Ray Kroc Salvation Army Center, with the theme of “Writing and Telling your Story,” an effort to help Latino led nonprofits share a common story about the Latino community in Oregon and incorporate data and research to strengthen the impact of that story. Peer to peer networking helps emerging Latino organizations to strengthen and build Latino leadership.

To learn more about the Latino Partnership Project, visit their site.