Promoting Post-Secondary Opportunities: College of Ed Alum Instrumental in Pathway to Promise

Formal Partnership with University of Washington Tacoma Allows Qualifying Puyallup School District Graduates to Directly Matriculate

The Puyallup School District and the University of Washington Tacoma have agreed to a new “Pathway to Promise” partnership that will expand post-secondary educational opportunities for all Puyallup School District graduates. Puyallup Superintendent Timothy S. Yeomans, a College alum from the L4L program, was critical to this partnership, which will enable Puyallup School District graduates to automatically be accepted as freshmen at the UW Tacoma campus if they meet agreed upon admission requirements.

Click here to read a Puyallup press release about the partnership>>
 
Through the partnership, students are expected to have a more seamless transition to a four-year university with the overall objective of increasing the number of high school graduates from Puyallup who earn a college degree.

Read on for Q&A with Dr. Timothy S. Yeomans:

As a district leader and L4L grad, what do you believe to be the most exciting elements of the "Pathway to Promise" partnership?

I believe that one huge piece of social justice is “access”.  To align our school system in Puyallup with supports that allow us to partner with the UWT, and their willingness to provide access based upon the assured supports , will allow hundreds the opportunity that may not have been there prior… “Access”.

How does this work resonate with your own educational philosophy?

Personally, I benefitted greatly from the expectations that my family held that I would attend post-secondary education beyond high school. My hope is that such an expectation can be imparted by a public school system, and be supported with agreements such as this.

What does this mean for the Puyallup region?  Do you see broader implications for educational systems beyond Puyallup?

Lastly, we have 5 L4L graduates and another in the program working together in our district to support this work.  The synergy and focus has spread throughout our team as we work to align the relationships, systems and culture to build the capacity of our principals and teachers to improve instruction.. the partnership with UWT is a system and culture step that , again, we hope to provides access to our students in a way not previously available.