Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

No Excuses: Sustaining Success at a Former Turnaround School

Turning around a low-performing school is no easy task – and sustaining that turnaround over the years to come can be just as challenging. In this video, teachers and school leaders from Evergreen Elementary School in Spanaway, Washington explain how the implementation of a “No Excuses” model helped them improve and sustain their success over the long term. As teachers in the video explain, “We were a failing school and we stayed that way for a while”. But by changing their perspectives and taking on shared responsibility for school improvement, “we went from being the number 15 School in the district out of 15 elementaries to number 3, and we’ve just slowly progressed since then”.

Read a transcript of Evergreen Elementary School Transcript.

Read Evergreen Elementary School’s 2018 National Blue Ribbon School application.

School Information

Evergreen Elementary School

Mr. Jamie Burnett

Principal at time of Nomination

1311 172nd Street East
Spanaway, WA 98387-5916
(253) 683-8200
Student Demographics 2018
Number of students K-5550
Students eligible for subsidized meals65%
Limited English Proficient students18%
Students receiving special ed services10%
White students35%
African American students11%
Hispanic or Latino students12%
Asian8%
Hawaiian/Pacific Islander8%
Two or more races26%
Student mobility rate24%