The League of Education Voters has been pushing for education reform and funding for a decade. The New School Foundation has been working to improve learning in Seattle schools for 13 years by supporting schools that add a year of pre-K for 13 years – most notably with the South Shore PreK-8 school.
Now the two organizations are merging, effective July 31, with the goal of reducing the achievement gap between children of color and white students by integrated high quality pre-Kindergarten programs into public education.
Washington State is one of the few states where the academic achievement gap is widening, and both groups base their work on evidence showing that with the right strategic investments and support, every child can succeed, regardless of background. Over the past decade, an increasing number of studies have shown that quality early learning that includes pre-kindergarten to third grade lays the foundation for a child’s ongoing success in school and life. The greatest gains are among low-income children where academic achievement gaps are most pronounced and student needs are highest.
“Reading by third grade is a key predictor of school success and is a shared goal of our organizations,” said League of Education Voters Foundation CEO Chris Korsmo. “Together, we can make sure more kids meet that benchmark. The New School Foundation has been a leader in this work, and we share their commitment that all kids in Washington deserve the opportunity to succeed.”
The New School Foundation has been at work in Seattle schools since 1998, fine-tuning a comprehensive approach to public education that focuses on high quality schooling that begins with a year of pre-kindergarten and extends through the early elementary grades and beyond. Its approach is demonstrated at the South Shore PreK-8 School, a public school in Southeast Seattle where student achievement has historically surpassed performance at demographically similar schools in the state.
“We know how important early learning is for the success of our students,” said Dr. Susan Enfield, Interim Superintendent of Seattle Public Schools. “Thanks to our partnership with the New School Foundation at South Shore PreK-8 School, we are seeing significant gains by focusing on curriculum designed to begin before kindergarten, and extend throughout elementary school. I am hopeful this merger will help provide our students in other schools with similar opportunities.”
The New School Foundation sought to magnify the impact of its work at South Shore through replication and policy advocacy. Joining forces with the League of Education Voters Foundation made perfect sense. Over the past decade, the League of Education Voters Foundation has helped to improve education policy and increase education resources, both in localities and statewide, for early learning, K-12 and higher education.
“The League of Education Voters Foundation is ambitious for Washington’s children and impatient with status quo practices that we know are not serving kids,” said Laura Kohn, Executive Director of the New School Foundation. “This merger blends the New School Foundation’s on-the-ground expertise in early education with the League’s skill at spreading the best ideas for improving public education in our state.”
Bette Hyde, the Director of the Washington State Department of Early Learning supports the merger. “LEV has a great track record of getting things done, including in the area of aligning pre-kindergarten through third grade efforts. We are delighted about this merger, which will support improved learning for children in Washington.”
The merged organization will keep the League of Education Voters Foundation name. In addition to the League of Education Voters existing work, the new organization will focus on the administration of an annual grant to South Shore PreK-8; staffing Seattle’s PreK-3rd Partnership; and working statewide on policy, advocacy and implementation related to PreK-3rd alignment projects.
