Yakima Public Schools:  Yakima School District Number 7
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Yakima Schools: Building Community through Education

Enrollment
(2007-08 as of 10/01/07)
Total Enrollment 14,660
Grades:  
K-5 6,729
6-8 3,050
9-12 4,881
Ethnic Distribution:  
Hispanic 61%
White 32%
Black 3%
Native American 3%
Asian 1%
Personnel:  
Certificated Teachers 910
Classified Personnel 741
Administrators 72

Did you know? . . .

Supt. Benjamin Soria was named Washington State's 2006 Superintendent of the Year.

Yakima School District is the largest employer in Yakima County, with approximately 1700 employees.

Eleven teachers have earned the prestigous National Board for Professional Teaching Standards certification.

Yakima is the 18th largest school district in Washington State and the 2nd largest in Eastern Washington.

Kindergarten students across the district attend class all day - and are reading!

Committment

Benjamin Soria

In 2001, the Yakima School District took a hard look at the achievement of our students, the practices of our teachers and our overall policies. Our investigation turned up a few key facts:

  • We lacked an instructional focus around which all teaching revolved.
  • Achievement data was only minimally analyzed.
  • Teachers and principals had limited opportunities for training.
  • Classroom decisions and curricula were based more on intuition than research.
  • Resources were allocated with little regard to a bigger picture.
The result was a call to action: to do things not just differently, but better, to improve the education we provide our students. To begin with, we refocused our efforts and resources by developing the district Roadmap, which laid out our goals, targets and areas of focus for the next eight years. The eight areas of focus fell loosely into three broad categories:
  1. A new approach to education
  2. Evidence-based classroom decisions
  3. Research-proven curricula and programs
Click below for a five-year retrospective that outlines:
  • Our primary activities in each of the three categories listed above
  • What we’ve learned
  • Our continuing challenges
  • Activities for the 2006–07 school year
I encourage you to spend some time reading this report and to call us if you have any questions. As always, your involvement in the education of Yakima’s children is critical to their well-being and that of our community.

Sincerely,
Benjamin A. Soria


Yakima School District Annual Report
  • YSD Annual Report 2006-07 (English)
  • YSD Annual Report 2006-07 (Spanish)