Twice The Chronicle has reported “School of Distinction” awards received by Centralia High School for sustained improved graduation rates, accurately reporting what the district shared with the newspaper. It’s questionable, though, if the awards were deserved and if fraud helped the district receive them.
The CEO and director of research for the Center for Educational Effectiveness, which issues the awards, explained the process: “From its first year we realized there may be boundary changes, structural changes or programmatic changes which impact the award. However, the only repository of this information is at the local level. The preliminary award list is rolled out to the ESD Superintendents who are in most cases aware of changes that have occurred at the local level.
“They, in turn, can work with superintendents to opt out of the award. Each year, there have been schools which opt out. Most often this is due to a boundary change that dramatically impacted the demographics of the students served, or a programmatic change (such as a school becoming a Gifted/HiCap magnet school).”
In Centralia, Futurus is such a magnet school with a specialized curriculum to deal with the unique needs of students, especially in regard to graduation. It altered demographics of CHS. Over 70 students switched to Futurus.
Did superintendents at the ESD or Centralia not see the change significant enough to opt CHS out of the process? Maybe.
I know the district was aware the change impacted CHS’s graduation rate. As a principal, I sat in meetings where creating Futurus was discussed. One goal was to improve CHS graduation rates. I was on the school board when the first award was given. We discussed that no longer counting students at Futurus impacted graduation rates at CHS.
With the second award, the newspaper reported, “According to a press release from the Centralia School District, 71.8 percent of seniors graduated on time in 2014, while 87 percent of seniors at CHS graduated on time in 2017,” and “the school of distinction award honors the highest improving schools, staff and school leaders in Washington for improved student performance.”
The release further stated, “It has been a top priority of our staff at CHS to do whatever we can to increase the number of our students who graduate on time. The effort by our staff is beyond impressive.”
Over the same time frame, if all students were counted as before, the district’s overall four year graduation rate went from 71.8 percent to 75 percent. Does that make it one of the highest improving? It sounds nice, but an inaccurate public relations ploy.
The school district was fully aware creating Futurus brought significant changes in graduation rates at CHS. Was the district superintendent supposed to opt CHS out of the nomination process? I would think so. Did the ESD superintendent do his role right? I don’t know.
But the district knew the impact of Futurus and knew the misinformation it put out. Not opting out on this award borders on fraud.
Neal Kirby,
Centralia
