AWSP Blog

I recently attended the second of three convenings at the Gates Foundation with educational partners from every sector you can imagine. From early learning to higher education, various perspectives, organizations, community partners, and agencies were in the room—including students. Why are we meeting? To urgently address our state’s low FAFSA completion rates, decreasing number of students pursuing post-secondary educational opportunities, and how these trend data compare to our state’s current and future job market. We are not moving in the right direction as a system. Something must be done, and soon.

Not too long ago, our Executive Director Dr. Scott Seaman wrote his "I Am More Than a Test Score" blog. Along those same lines, AWSL Director James Layman has a couple of quotes in this piece from Knowable Magazine.

AWSP mentees find the mentoring program vital to their success. Read what one principal has to say about the power of mentoring, and as a bonus, check out her amazing morning mindfulness video.

How do you bridge the K-12 world with the world of higher education? Yokiko Hayashi-Saguil from the Washington Student Achievement Council joins Dr. Scott Seaman to discuss how WSAC programs, tools, and resources can get more students college-bound students and what their financial aid options are. A must watch for high school principals and counselors. And for a follow-up, WSAC Executive Director Michael Meotti joins our Scott Friedman to talk more about all the programs, tools, and resources the Student Achievement Council provides, as well as what college applications look like in the age of COVID-19.

My daughter was a 4.0 high school student with an impressive resume of accomplishments during her high school career. She went on to the University of Washington where she graduated with a 3.9 and two degrees in three years. While in high school, she tore herself apart studying and preparing for the SAT. As the testing date approached and her anxiety grew exponentially, I had to continually remind her that it's just one test, one indicator, one factor that colleges use for admissions, but certainly not the only indicator. That didn't matter. To her, because of such strong social pressures among her peers, the test was either the beginning of or the end of the world. "I'm forever labeled because of that score," she once said.