ETHNICITY:

American Indian or Alaskan Native: 1.6%

Asian or Pacific Islander: 14.2%

Black: 24.4%

Hispanic: 13.5%

White: 46.4%

SPECIAL PROGRAMS:

Free or Reduced-Priced Meals: 40.9%

Special Education: 14.6%

Transitional Bilingual: 4.8%

Clover Park High School is a very diverse school with a complex set of needs. There may be many contributing factors in how different ethnicities and students that meet low-income criteria perform on the WASL. Due to the diversity at Clover Park High School, there may be some cultural barriers that inhibit students understanding of certain academic concepts that would hinder their performance on the WASL. This high school has 4.8% of their population that is transitional bilingual, which could be a stumbling block for those students who only know English as a second language. Students that receive free or reduced-priced meals may be considered low income, which can bring about other issues that may hamper the way they perform academically. Low-income students may have difficulties receiving medical care because they don’t have insurance. If a student has medical needs that are not attended to, it can cause problems for them to thrive academically because some of their basic needs are not being met. Another issue for low-income students is that they may not have access to food services outside of school. Even though a student may have a free or reduced-priced meal for lunch, they may not have enough food at home for other meals such as breakfast. Students coming to school hungry could definitely be a hindrance to their ability to perform in a school environment. Schools should provide services or refer students to outside resources that would enable them to have their basic needs met. If cultural barriers and low-income needs are addressed we may see some improvement on WASL trends.