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Marshfield High reports attendance gains, senior passing rate above 90%; math and AP seminar flagged for targeted support
Summary
Marshfield High principal presented data showing regular-attender increases, a 92% senior passing rate, stronger CTE completer numbers and rising AP enrollment, while noting persistent math weaknesses and rollout challenges with AP Seminar.
Marshfield High Principal Eli Ashton told the Coos Bay School District 9 board that the high school’s regular-attender rate rose from 52% last year to about 67% this fall and that seniors currently have a 92% passing rate. "Currently, we're sitting at, 67 percent, almost 68 after today," Ashton said.
Ashton said the school has focused on attendance outreach and classroom celebrations to boost presence and credited staff efforts for the increase. He also presented course- and cohort-level academic data: overall passing rates are high for seniors, but math remains a district-wide challenge and the sophomore cohort shows lower outcomes in some core subjects.
Why it matters: Attendance and course-passing rates affect graduation and state accountability measures. Ashton highlighted that sustained attendance gains helped academic recovery after COVID-era declines.
Supporting details: Ashton said the math department has raised its passing rates through alignment work and collaboration with our SWAC partners, but the school still sees low performance on state math measures. He described possible curriculum adjustments, including offering college-level courses split over a year for some seniors and discussing parallel pathways for students not on advanced math tracks. On CTE, Ashton reported multiple completers and new certificates: "manufacturing had 27 completers with 15 certificates," and broadcast journalism is rebuilding after staff instability.
AP and standardized testing: Ashton flagged AP Seminar as a first-year program with "performance tasks" that count toward final scores and require group work; he said this format has created implementation challenges. He also reviewed preACT/ACT results: Marshfield students scored slightly above the national ACT average (a reported 20.1 average vs. 19.4 nationally for last year’s test-takers), and preACT score scales differ across grades (PreACT 8/9 uses a 30-point scale, while older preACT versions use a 35-point scale), which complicates direct comparisons.
Board response and next steps: Board members asked for slides that are clearer for families, disaggregated counts (number of students behind each percentage), and more contextual language about key performance indicators. Ashton and the superintendent said administrators will refine slide language, add counts for each percentage, and return with more disaggregated data at a future meeting.
Provenance: Principal Eli Ashton presented these results during the high school data segment (start 00:06:12).
