Highline Public Schools Superintendent Susan Enfield announced Monday (Nov. 2) that its graduation rate grew at nearly seven and a half points in a single year, as the rate for the Class of 2015 is now at 70.3 percent, compared with 62.9 percent for the Class of 2014. This is the first year that the district’s graduation rate has gone above 70 percent since 2010, the year the state began using the current formula for calculating graduation rates. The 70.3 percent figure is a hike of more than nine percentage points over the graduation rate for the Class of 2010. Superintendent Enfield announced the jump in the graduation rate at her annual State of Our Schools address Monday morning, Nov. 2. “This represents a significant step forward for our students and our Highline community, and it is a testament to the hard work of our dedicated staff,†said Dr. Enfield. “This is proof that our students are capable of meeting the high expectations we have for them and that our bold goals for our students are achievable.†For more comments from Dr. Enfield, watch this video: The district’s strategic plan names ambitious academic goals, including a goal for 19 out of 20 students in the Class of 2017 to graduate prepared to choose their future.]]>
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30 % Do Not Make it. OUR schools need some serious HELP.
I think it would help graduating students if there teachers and counselor would not wait till a week or two before graduation. To tell you your son or daughter is not going to graduate because they’re missing a couple of credits or has poor attendance do to getting sick from being in a building for 6 plus hours a day 5 days a week with black mold in it. They should keep more on top of this so if a student runs into this issue there not up a creek without a paddle a few days before graduation.
Jimmy, I think it’s more a case of too many kids dropping out of school and not being required to attend school. It’s been going on nationwide for a couple decades now. No wonder we have so many 20-30 year olds who cannot hold down a job, much less take care of themselves or any children they may now have. They are a huge drag on our economy and our society that will continue to grow as they are less and less able to be productive or even care for themselves. The schools may be in serious need of up-dates and improvements, which I am absolutely for, but so were many schools over the past many years and if kids stayed in school, they were able to graduate and go on to be part of society.
Here are some links that show what’s been happening.
State statistics 2010 to 2014:
http://www.k12.wa.us/LegisGov/2015documents/GradandDropoutStats2015.pdf
Country’s graduation rate state by state 2010-2013 from the WASHINGTON POST.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2015/02/12/latest-high-school-graduation-rates-state-by-state/
That’s BS. It’s the parents responsibility to closely monitor their child’s progress through high school. If you’re a parent, and then you’re surprised two weeks before graduation that your child is short credits, or has some other sort of shortcoming, then you did NOT do a very good job monitoring your child’s education.
But way to play the victim card!
There is no way you found out two weeks before your child’s graduation. Didn’t he/she get report cards the 4 years of high school. Did you make contact with the school, teachers, counselors any time during the 4 years of high school or did you wait two weeks prior to graduation to point fingers? I’m sorry when you point fingers there are 3 pointing back at you!!! Did you work with the school? there is now electronic ways to keep in touch with your child’s grades on a daily, weekly basis……did you take advantage of the system? teachers are just an email away…..keep after them if they don’t respond…but give them at least 48 hours to respond……stop the blame game.
I always take these big jumps in graduation rates with a grain of salt, particularly when it comes with a new superintendent. It just always seems like there’s a possibility that they’re gaming the system – encouraging teachers to pass students who maybe shouldn’t, or lowering graduation requirement standards so that the numbers look better.
I have no proof of any of this, I’m just a cynical person when it comes to the state of education these days, especially HSD.
An improvement like this in just one year’s time is a VERY positive thing. Yes, there is still much more left to improve, but the improvement that has taken place so far is an achievement to be celebrated. It cannot improve to 100% overnight. This is a good sign that the new superintendent is a good superintendent.
True, Improvement is Good, but that the rate of graduation has been allowed to be so high nationwide for so many years is not only a disgrace, it represents a huge segment of our society that is under-educated. That’s part of our countries future that will be very hard to over-come. Aside from the obvious problems, think of what will happen should we need to arm our military. I fear we will soon be funding a free secondary education for these dropouts in order for them to re-enter society. UGH! Children need to attend school. Period. If they don’t like the school in their district, that has to be addressed as a choice of other schools, but not with the option to drop out. Parents and school districts need to be given the tools to keep kids in school.
I say celebrate the successes. The graduation rate didnt drop overnight, so raising the % to over 70% is a fantastic start. We all need to be in together and help make it better.
I wish I had gone to trade school. College and even most of high school wasn’t for me. But I should have gotten a trade instead of spending all that time in dead end jobs.
While the graduation rate is nothing to brag about, a 7% INCREASE IS. I just hope none of the kids listen to the negative comments made by the BTB Trolls.