A Look at Shuksan Middle's Demographics

If you haven't heard of Katie Brown by now, you should know she's the impressive English Language Learning (ELL) specialist who won Washington State's 2014 Teacher of the Year. She's been at Shuksan Middle School since starting as a language arts teacher 2003, and for the last two years she has been the ELL Specialist. Each school in Bellingham has an ELL Specialist assigned to it - Cordata Elementary has its own Kristyana Mansfield.

When we have ELLs in class, we need a way to make sure they can understand what their teachers and classmates are saying. I found this document issued by the Bellingham School Board of Directors in 1994 that describes what its goals are with ELL instruction in the Bellingham School District.

Watch this video to see a short introduction to the basis behind ELL instruction.



Below, you can see the demographic data from OSPI Washington State Report Card over the last ten years. The increasing diversity of Bellingham schools is reflected in the number of minority students and Transitional Bilingual students (English Language Learners).

In the years since the 2002-03 school year, you can see the slow shift in demographics. In 2002, White students made up 73.4% of the population and Hispanic/Latino of any race (the largest percentage out of the minorities) made up 12.4%. But last year, White students made up 53.8%, and Hispanic/Latino students made up 23.3%. You can check out all the details in the table below.

School Year	Student Count	Free or Reduced-Price Meals	Transitional Bilingual	American Indian/Alaskan Native	Asian/Pacific Islander	Black	Hispanic/Latino (of any race/s)	White
2012-13	652	61.3%	10%	1.8%	11.2%	1.8%	23.3%	53.8%
2011-12	659	63.9%	10.9%	3%	10.9%	4.4%	24.7%	56.9%
2010-11	810	56.4%	8.2%	1.8%	11.2%	1.8%	23.3%	53.8%
2009-10	607	59.8%	11.4%	3%	10.5%	3.8%	23.4%	59.3%
2008-09	575	53.4%	8.9%	3.3%	8.9%	3%	22.3%	60.2%
2007-08	557	53.3%	8.3%	3.1%	9.3%	2.9%	20.6%	62.1%
2006-07	537	55.2%	8.1%	3.5%	8.8%	3.9%	18.4%	62.8%
2005-06	561	54.6%	7.2%	3.9%	10%	3.7%	16.2%	64.5%
2004-05	591	52.2%	8.9%	4.1%	10%	3.2%	14.9%	67.2%
2003-04	522	50.8%	6.6%	3.8%	10.2%	2.5%	12.8%	70.7%
2002-03	507	45.3%	0	3.6%	8.9%	1.8%	12.4%	73.4%

Welcome to Cordata Neighborhood News

Welcome! I am a journalism student and I'll be covering the Cordata Neighborhood in Bellingham, Washington this quarter. I want to voice the concerns and opinions of the people, not the politicians, of the area.

I began my venture into learning more about the neighborhood by researching primary documents such as the Neighborhood Plan, Cordata school websites, and other information found on the City of Bellingham website.

Throughout the quarter, I'll be updating Cordata Lately with articles about recent events and issues, under "News Events." I'll also have shorter blog posts, under "Word on the Street."

I encourage you to comment on posts - I'd love to hear from you. I'm always available by email at retaskc@students.wwu.edu.