School District Improves Grad Rates For 2017

HILLSBORO, OR — The Hillsboro School District increased its 2017 graduation rates by nearly 2.5 percent from 2016, according to data released by the district on Wednesday. The same data also shows the district increased its graduation percentage by more than 6 percent above the state average.

Composed of four physical high schools and Hillsboro Online, the Hillsboro School District (HSD) registered 1,629 seniors from the 2013-2014 cohort — the students who should be eligible to graduate after four years of high school in Oregon, including students who transferred into district and subtracting students who transferred out. Of those students, 1,370 graduated on time, according to the district's data.

The 259 students who didn't graduate, however, should not necessarily be considered "dropouts," district spokeswoman Beth Graser told Patch Thursday. Many of them are students who needed more time or had other circumstances that prevented their timely graduation with the rest of their cohort.

Graser said the dropout rate is calculated as a total across grades 9 through 12 for the entire district. In 2017, HSD saw 167 total students dropout — a decrease from 2016 of about .5 percent.

"I am extremely proud of our students for their hard work in achieving these impressive graduation results," HSD Superintendent Mike Scott said in a statement. "I am also very grateful to staff members at all levels of our district for their commitment to educating, inspiring, and supporting students on their journey to graduation."

Individual grad rates for 2017 are broken down by school on the table below:

The discrepancy noted on the table was a result of HSD officials not fixing a change in number of students who actually graduated in time for the state to modify its report. HSD saw 88 more students graduate in 2016 than the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) calculated, Graser said.

The grad rate increase of nearly 2.5 percent for HSD can be attributed to many things, Graser said, noting three specific elements district officials feel played the biggest part in the change.

* A sustained instructional focus over time on the Five Dimensions of Teaching and Learning, with specific emphasis on Purpose, Engagement, and Assessment;
* Expansion of the District's Career and College Pathways program, including additional career-related and dual-articulated courses as well as greater access to internship opportunities; and
* Using data to track students who might be at risk of falling behind and intervening quickly.

While teachers are held accountable for all the Five Dimensions of Teaching and Learning, which also includes Curriculum and Pedagogy and Classroom Environment and Culture, the three on which the district focused were chosen based on their direct connection to the students themselves, Graser said.

Explaining purpose and staying engaged with students was a tremendous factor in how they responded to their individual educational experiences, and providing regular assessments helped students stay focused on their academics, Graser explained.

And as part of the assessment aspect, what's really helped has been a newly focused cooperation between the district's tech services and administrators "so direct intervention can be provided to at-risk students," Graser said.

By tracking each students' tardies, late assignments, absences, and overall grades — including test scores — the district has been able to better stay on top of struggling students and providing help before their interest in education wanes and becomes too tenuous to repair.

"It's been really helpful to have that data rather than having to go look for it anecdotally," Graser said.

Also helpful has been the district's ability to expand its Career and College Pathways program, which was bolstered specifically by the passage of Measure 98 — approved by 65 percent of voters in 2016, with only the majority of Malheur and Harney counties in Southeast Oregon voting against it.

For the first year since 2010, for example, Hillsboro High School's graduation rates exceeded 80 percent. Again, there are many contributing factors to the rise, Graser said, but the availability of engaging career-related coursework certainly helped. That career-related coursework is expanding, and this year includes a very popular bioscience class.

The instructor for the class, who'd hoped just to fill it, was shocked to find he needed to increase the one bioscience class to two, each with 40 students, and still had to turn some students away, Graser said. Next school year, a state grant to expand the bioscience class further will add a lab, more instruments, and more materials for experiments, she said.

"One of the most important things we can do as a system is ensure that students have the tools and supports they need to be successful at every grade level," Assistant Superintendent Dayle Spitzer said. "With our freshmen in particular, it is critical that they not fall behind in grades or credits earned, and the real-time data we've had access to in recent years has been extremely helpful in allowing us to reach out to our students and families for partnership and support."

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