By Nina Huang
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY

Amy Kiyota (Photo credit: Kristina Curran)
Under the leadership of CEO Amy Kiyota, Impact | Puget Sound Elementary has emerged as a standout performer in Washington’s education landscape. In the 2023 report released by the Washington School Improvement Framework (WSIF), which tracks outcomes from all of Washington’s public schools, the school achieved a score of 8.0 out of 10, positioning it within the top quartile statewide.
Scores are generated by combining student outcomes, like graduation rates, attendance, and math and English Language Arts (ELA) proficiency, to create a holistic picture of a school through two lenses—the performance of all students and specific student subgroups. While the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction uses these scores to determine the state’s support for schools to improve outcomes, schools with high scores are meeting student academic needs.
Founded in 2018, Impact is a charter public school in Tukwila that is free and open to all K-5 graders in the area. The school’s mission is to prepare a diverse student population to succeed in college and impact communities as the next generation of equity-driven, innovative leaders.
Kiyota took on the role last July and has been with the team in various capacities since 2018.
Growing up in Baltimore, a tale of two cities, Kiyota experienced the haves and have nots.
“Seeing that as a child was a jarring experience. You know it’s wrong but don’t know how to address it,” she added.
When she became an adult, she kept finding herself back to education as something that could help solve systemic racism.
“School is a place where kids have openness to other cultures when they’re young and a deep desire for friendship and connection. School has always been a special place for me and if I’m going to devote my life to one thing, it’s going to be education,” she said.
Kiyota shared that community is really important. Most of the scholars live in areas such as Tukwila, SeaTac, Highline, and Skyway, but some do commute from Federal Way, Des Moines, and even Puyallup.
“There’s a sense of belonging infused through all of our schools. We work really hard to create a sense of safety and belonging. I was raised by two immigrants, and school was a beautiful and confusing place to me. I found a lot of commonality but I also went to school where no one looked like me. Here at Impact, it’s about finding ways for scholars to bring their authentic identities into the space that is truly valued; which is one of the magical pieces of belonging,” she said.
At Impact, students are referred to as scholars.
Photo credit: Kristina Curran
“We believe scholars are academics, we use different languages to talk about the students so they can begin to see themselves as scholars. We want to empower them from a young age to view themselves as the stewards of their own education and the word ‘scholar’ communicates that to them so they can control their own destiny,” Kiyota shared.
“I am deeply proud of our scholars’ success to lead in the top 25% for the WSIF. Our scholars work so hard every day and they’re so committed to their learning. It’s something I’m so proud of—the kids and the teachers did all the work and it’s just wonderful to be a part of that.”
Kiyota shared that folks have a misconception that charter schools are akin to private schools.
“The way we lead our schools is by creating a tight knit community with our families. We like to be very close with families, inviting them into our classrooms to be part of lessons, special events, and fun activities like talent shows or movie nights. When parents are deeply involved in school, that leads to positive life outcomes, we view ourselves as partners with families, not a separate scary institution. We want to be known and our scholars to feel known and our families to feel known,” Kiyota explained.
In addition to welcoming the preschool program for 4-year-olds for the 2025-2026 school year, Impact will continue to deepen their support for scholars who need it the most and advance the literacy curriculum so even more students can become excellent readers.
Kiyota is also excited for her oldest to enter kindergarten at Impact this coming school year.
From a parent’s point of view
Kabri Lehrman has two children who attend Impact, an 8-year-old in the third grade and an 11-year-old in fifth grade. They have been there since kindergarten and second grade, respectively.
During the height of COVID, her older child was at Seattle Public Schools, but they were looking into different schooling options.
With a lot of the unknown, they needed a place where both kids would be on the same schedule and Impact had an incredibly well laid out plan. They were able and both kids attended virtually which led to an incredible experience.
Photo credit: Kristina Curran
“The clarity of communication and the platform of communication, not just from school to parent, but parent to individual teachers, has been always very accessible and they’ve always been on top of communications from what they’re teaching in that week, to family expectations to upcoming changes,” Lehrman said.
She added that the school provides a lot of personal attention for her children and has been understanding what parents and families need.
“Impact had a progressive curriculum and the way inclusion was incorporated into a multilingual student base was interesting to us. The amount of energy to teach in a space where they’re trying to understand history and how to be welcoming and work within social emotional teaching requirements. It looked like a space that met the values that we really wanted for our children,” Lehrman said.
Her older son is autistic and her younger child is doing math two grades ahead. Lehrman said they’ve had an amazing experience working together with teachers to create personalized learning plans, which was really appealing and a high point for them.
“My children are getting exposure to different languages and a curriculum that honors different backgrounds in a way that our local school doesn’t. From the recognition of all sorts of holidays to recognizing what’s going on in the world, and talking about recognizing perspectives, different religions represented, I’ve never seen a situation where teachers weren’t well equipped to answer students’ questions that I felt was open and appropriate.”
Impacting the next generation
Fiona Dang, 11, is a graduating 5th grader at Impact and has been there since first grade. Dang’s favorite subject is math because she likes solving problems and if she gets it wrong, it’s fun to get the answer right.
“My teacher is very funny, calm, nice, and smart. She helps us with everything and she will always be there for us when we need anything,” Dang said.
There are about 25 scholars in Dang’s class. She said that her classmates speak a variety of languages, including Arabic, Somali, Spanish, and Vietnamese.
Impact | Puget Sound Elementary serves a majority of students from low-income households and more than a quarter of the students are multilingual learners.
“My classmates are respectful to me and they’ll help me if I need anything. We have table groups in the classroom and we work together on math or ELA,” Dang said.
Dang feels bittersweet about moving onto a new chapter in middle school, but she’s looking forward to summer as she will be attending summer camps and her and her family plan on visiting Hawaii and Vietnam.
Nina can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.
Interesting article but a few items to note.
1) Ms Kiyota is not the principal at that school. I think your headline is a bit misleading as the Impact schools operations is under her but the principal at the school described in a white woman.
2) “They were able to test their younger child in and both kids attended virtually which led to an incredible experience.”
What does that mean? Because charters are open to all so why did they need to take any test?