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Board hears graduation-rate trends; district points to alternative programs and ninth-grade support
Summary
Teaching-and-learning staff reviewed four- and five-year graduation rates, noting the district's rate is close to the state average and that alternative learning programs and late, credit-deficient transfers affect the district figure; staff described strategies including Center for High School Success for freshman on-track work.
Travis, on behalf of the district’s teaching and learning team, presented an overview of Battle Ground School District graduation rates and the measures the district is using to improve on-time graduation.
“Graduation rate is based on a cohort, so a group of students who start their ninth grade year together,” Travis said, summarizing the methodology used by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. He noted the district also tracks five-year rates, which include students who graduate within five years of the cohort start.
The presentation compared district and state rates and showed that the district’s 4-year graduation rate has historically been slightly below the state average; in the most recent year the district’s rate was about one percentage point lower than the statewide rate of about 82.8 percent. Travis emphasized the district’s highest-ever graduation rate occurred in the most recent reporting year and said the district looks at five-year rates as well because students who face life disruptions sometimes graduate in year five.
Officials and board members discussed how the district’s alternative-learning-environment (ALE) programs affect the overall district rate. Travis said River HomeLink and other ALEs often enroll students who are credit-deficient on arrival — noting an average incoming deficiency of about 6.5 credits for some River HomeLink students and that roughly 30% of some ALE enrollments arrive under boundary exceptions. Those students are more likely to take longer than four years to complete a diploma, which can lower the district’s four-year percentage even as the district serves those students’ needs.
District strategies and partnerships Travis described several strategies the district is using to raise on-time graduation, including unit recovery or targeted unit completion (allowing students to make up specific failed units), credit recovery classes, and scheduled support blocks at the comprehensive high schools (Falcon Support and Tiger Time). He also described a district partnership with the Center for High School Success focused on ninth-grade on-track metrics; the district is participating in the program through a state grant that covers the coach and services at no direct district cost this year.
Travis said five-year graduation rates are typically about three percentage points higher than the four-year rate, and that after year five the incremental increases are small because many students move on to GED or other programs. Board members asked about students who transfer away during the senior year and whether they remain in the cohort; district staff said transfers that are tracked to another school remove the student from the district cohort, but students who truly drop out remain counted.
Why it matters Board members and staff framed the graduation-rate discussion as part of larger efforts to support students across pathways. The presentation reiterated that while comprehensive high schools have high on-time rates (nearly 9 in 10 students at the two comprehensive high schools graduate on time), the district’s array of ALEs and options means the district serves students with widely varying needs — and that can affect headline graduation metrics even as the programs are designed to help students who otherwise would not finish.
What the board will see next Staff said they will continue to share cohort and on-track data, measure the impact of the ninth-grade on-track interventions and continue the partnership with the Center for High School Success if grant funding persists. No board action was required at the March 24 meeting.
