Friday, February 1, 2019 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com • A7
Graduation rates improve throughout Clatsop County
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Graduation rates across
Clatsop County and through-
out the state were on the
uptick last school year,
according to state fi gures.
The state defi nes on-time
graduation as taking four
years. Overall, schools state-
wide have increased the
graduation rate at least fi ve
years in a row, slowly creep-
ing up from 72 percent in the
2013-14 school year to 78.7
percent last year.
Oregon schools still
lag behind the 84 percent
national graduation rate
recorded in the 2015-16
school year by the National
Center
for
Education
Statistics.
Seaside, which had
dipped in the 2016-17 school
year, was back up to 73.4
percent last year. The school
district has commonly
posted a graduation rate of
around 75 percent.
Astoria High School
recorded a 77.7 percent
graduation rate, which Prin-
cipal Lynn Jackson said was
the highest in his 12 years as
an administrator. He pointed
Seaside Signal
Seaside High School’s class of 2018.
toward a focus statewide on
making sure students are
on track as they enter high
school.
“That transition in that
eighth- and ninth-grade year,
that transition is vital for stu-
dents creating a solid aca-
demic standing,” he said.
“It is very diffi cult to help
students catch up on credit
or skill defi ciencies when
they’re in their 11th year.”
Jackson also pointed to
Measure 98, passed by vot-
ers in 2016 to improve
career-technical,
college
credit and dropout pre-
vention programs in high
school. The measure has
helped fund a six-week sum-
mer school to help about 20
at-risk eighth-graders get
a head start, Jackson said.
The measure has also helped
the school district add more
diverse programs such as
agriculture and a Future
Farmers of America club.
“These are the type of
programs that excite stu-
dents in their passions and
interest, and in turn their
learning,” Jackson said.
Jackson also credited
partnerships Astoria has cre-
ated with groups like the
Northwest Regional Educa-
tion Service District and the
Lower Columbia Hispanic
Council to help low-income
and Hispanic students.
Warrenton High School,
with a 76.7 percent gradua-
tion rate, continued a steady
upward climb extending
back at least seven years.
The school district has been
lauded for academic suc-
cess despite containing more
than half the students in the
county considered home-
less.Knappa, which posted
a 20 percent increase in its
graduation rate in 2016-17 at
more than 90 percent, again
improved, last year reaching
94.3 percent.
Jewell School, a small
K-12 campus, posted a 78.7
percent graduation rate last
year, a 10 percent increase
from 2016-17 but down from
the last 100 percent gradu-
ation rate the school district
achieved in 2013-14.
Measure 98: Keeping kids on track, improving graduation rates
By KATHERINE LACAZE
For Seaside Signal
Seaside High School is
taking steps to improve atten-
dance, increase its graduation
rate, and enhance its offering
of certifi ed technical educa-
tion programs.
At the Seaside School Dis-
trict’s January meeting, Prin-
cipal Jeff Roberts gave a brief
update on how the school
administration has used grant
funds from the state, as well
as their plans for the future.
Measure 98 — or the Ore-
gon State Funding for Drop-
out Prevention and College
Readiness Initiative — was
approved by voters in Novem-
ber 2016. During 2017-18,
the fi rst year of implementa-
tion, school districts and char-
ter high schools received their
fi rst allocation from the state’s
High School Success fund.
In order to be eligi-
ble for the second distribu-
tion of funds, schools sub-
mitted a four-year plan. The
high school received approx-
imately $217,368 during the
fi rst year and $230,582 the
second year. Schools that
received funding, including
Seaside High School, have
until June 30 to spend the sec-
ond distribution.
The fi rst year emphasized
planning, Roberts said. This
year, the school is more vig-
orously putting the plan in
action.
A freshmen push
In the Seaside commu-
nity, Roberts said, “we have a
chronic attendance problem.”
To combat truancy, Roberts
and staff have shared ideas
with other school districts
about strategies that have
led to success. Area schools
work collectively toward try-
ing to improve countywide
attendance.
For the 2018-19 school
year, vice principal Jason
Boyd made home visits to
families, targeting incoming
freshmen who struggled with
attendance in eighth grade.
When he meets with fami-
lies, he welcomes them to the
school and discusses opportu-
nities available to students.
“Often times, these par-
ents’ contact with school was
as a result of negative inter-
action,” Roberts said. “We
wanted to try to get in front of
that, and make sure that initial
interaction was positive.”
When students miss class,
a staff member calls par-
ents or guardians, rather
than them receiving an auto-
mated message, which is eas-
ier to ignore. Additionally, the
school is taking opportuni-
ties to recognize students who
attend school regularly.
Going forward, Rob-
erts said, they plan to con-
tinue with family and com-
munity outreach; increase
recognition on an individ-
ual and classwide basis; and
reduce suspensions, or opt for
alternatives such as in-school
suspension.
Grad track
The high school also is
working to improve gradua-
tion rates as part of its fulfi ll-
ment of the state’s Measure
98 criteria. Freshmen are the
focus, although that doesn’t
mean they are unconcerned
with the other classes, Rob-
erts said.
“We had to start some-
where,” he said. “We had
to make a concerted effort
someplace.”
English teacher Ann Susee
is coordinating the freshmen
on-track team, which meets at
least monthly. Staff members
are assigned to reach out to
students who are not on track
and discuss what interven-
tions can be offered. In partic-
ular, students are considered
off-track if they are falling
behind in their core classes.
In 2017, seven freshmen
were off-track after the fi rst
trimester; in 2018, two stu-
dents were off-track. Rob-
erts acknowledged that num-
ber will increase throughout
the year— “we have a lot of
challenges in front of us,”
he said—but “the trend is
positive.”
The school also is imple-
menting a requirement for
all freshmen to take a whole
year of math as a response to
underclassmen struggling in
Algebra 1. After the fi rst term
last school year, 18 freshmen
had failed math; that number
was 10 in the 2018-19 school
year.
“Is 10 an acceptable num-
ber? No,” Roberts said. “But
again, the trend is signifi -
cantly pointed in the right
direction.”
The school also is offering
a credit recovery class led by
math instructors, rather than
putting students in the com-
puter lab without mentor-
ship. Additionally, the school
is considering implementing
an after-school math lab that
includes transportation.
Tech training
In the past, the school has
had two sustainable CTE
programs: Construction and
Information and Communica-
tion Technology. Under Mike
Verhulst, the Information and
Communication
Technol-
ogy program has morphed
into Business and Manage-
ment, with an added focus
on entrepreneurship, market-
ing and other business-related
subjects.
Teacher Jeff Corliss still
oversees construction and
other woodworking classes.
Roberts hopes to see the pro-
gram evolve by increasing
connection with local con-
tractors and giving students
opportunities for hands-on
work at project sites, as well
as developing a contem-
porary computer drafting
curriculum.
The state this school year
recognized the school’s culi-
nary arts program as an offi -
cial CTE offering through
2022. At the end of the previ-
ous year, about 190 students
— or half the student body
— had expressed interest in
taking a culinary arts class in
2018-19, Roberts said.
You can try, but you can’t
quit me. Providence has
made sure of that for 55
years and counting.
Staying the course,
Bob
prov idenceoregon . org / de a rnorthcoa s t