The Chehalis School District has met the goal it established with the beginning of the Student Achievement Initiative (SAI) over a decade ago, which was to raise the percentage of W.F. West High School students who went on to earn a postgraduate living wage credential from 20% to 60% by 2022.
The district and its partners aren’t resting on their laurels or basking in the success.
Instead, new goals are being set.
“I think none of us would be satisfied with the status quo. We want to continue always being the best we can be and doing what we can do for (students),” Chehalis School District Superintendent Rick Goble told The Chronicle. “Even though we’re into this a decade and we’ve had great results, everybody realizes there’s more to do, there’s better ways to do things.”
Going into the second decade of the SAI, the district and its partners have set a new goal: to have 75% of W.F. West High School graduates earning a living wage credential within eight years of their graduation, starting with the class of 2035.
That graduating class is in first grade this school year.
“We really hope to watch that grade as they move,” Chehalis School District Public Information Officer Carrina Stanton said.
Student Achievement leaders set that goal based on research done through Georgetown University, which has since been reaffirmed through the Washington Roundtable, according to Goble.
To help Student Achievement leaders reflect on the work done within the last decade and determine what strategies the district and its partners should implement to reach its new 75by35 goal, stakeholders commissioned the Baker Evaluation Research Consulting (BERC) Group to prepare a 10-year report on the SAI.
“The results of the SAI in the last decade have been promising. Through widespread effort of teachers, support staff, administrators and community members, it is projected that 65% of recently graduated (W.F. West) High School students will earn some type of living wage credential. This includes college degree, industry certification, apprenticeship or military enlistment,” the BERC Group said in its report.
The BERC Group first evaluated the Chehalis School District’s teaching practices as part of the Student Achievement Initiative in 2013 and has been conducting regular evaluations in the years since.
Goble presented the findings of that 10-year report at the Chehalis School Board’s regular meeting on Nov. 19.
When asked what stood out for him in the report, Goble said, “Number one is that when a school district has a common goal and a mission and they stick to that for a long period of time, things change. And that’s, I think, rare in education.”
Among the successes of the first decade of the Student Achievement Initiative noted in the BERC Group report are the partnerships between the Chehalis School District, the Chehalis Foundation and Centralia College.
“This work can’t be done without those things,” Goble said, adding that the partnership with the BERC Group has also been valuable.
“Having them provide the reports they’ve created for us, we can make our decisions based on data, just like other places from around the country, and you know what’s worked and what hasn’t worked,” Goble said.
One of the aspects of the SAI that data show has worked tremendously is the position of the student achievement specialist, a full-time staff member, Becky Moon, who stays in touch with W.F. West graduates for six years after they graduate.
Centralia College also has support systems set up as part of the SAI to check in with W.F. West graduates receiving degrees through the college.
“That’s one of the ways that we’re making sure that these graduates are able to actually complete these degrees, because some of them do run into problems,” Goble said.
While the Chehalis School District and its SAI partners are aiming to have 75% of W.F. West graduates go on to earn living wage credentials, “We wanted to recognize that within those 25% of students that don’t go on to earn a credential, those students still bring great value to our community,” Goble said. “...That’s one of the things we really made sure we pointed out when sharing this with staff, because it’s important.”
That 25% includes stay-at-home parents, missionaries, entrepreneurs and others who pursued goals outside of traditional career pathways.
“Of course, getting a credential the data says that’s going to be super important for jobs in the future, but there are going to be exceptions, and we value those students,” Goble said.
The BERC Group report includes a list of 10 recommendations for achieving the 75by35 goal, which a steering team consisting of Chehalis staff, teachers, counselors and principals will go over in the coming weeks to develop an action plan.
“That work will create a guide for us for the next decade,” Goble said.
The district intends to have that action plan done before the start of the 2025-26 school year.
