BOISE, BORAH, CAPITAL, TIMBERLINE

MAKE WASHINGTON POST LIST OF MOST CHALLENGING HIGH SCHOOLS...AGAIN

All four Boise District comprehensive high schools have made the 2016 Washington Post list of the "Most Challenging High Schools in America"  Seven Idaho schools were identified on this year's list: two high-income charters, Century High School (Pocatello) and the four Boise high schools. Approximately 11% of high schools nationwide were identified this year by the Post.

This is the 8th consecutive year that all four Boise District high schools have made the list. Capital has been on for 8 years, Borah 9, Timberline for 15, and Boise High School for 18 consecutive years.

The formula used by the Post's Jay Mathews, an education columnist, is simple - the number of Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate exams taken divided by the number of graduating seniors in the high school in a given year. The Washington Post list is intended to measure the access students have to rigorous coursework, and their willingness to participate in that curriculum.

Borah's Washington Post award plaque will be presented at Friday's Senator's Choice Academic Assembly in the Borah gymnasium..

"MOVING THE NEEDLE" WITH "GO ON" RATES?

YES WE ARE!

The State Board of Education has really just gotten started tracking "Go On" rates for Idaho's high schools using the National Student Clearinghouse, and has data back to the high school class of 2011. 

Luckily, the Southern Idaho Conference (SIC) Districts (Boise, West Ada, Mt. Home, Middleton, Nampa, Caldwell, Vallivue, Emmett, Kuna, and Bishop Kelly High School) have been tracking the data since the Class of 2007, and so have a wealth of information about "Go On" rates in the Treasure Valley.

These Districts are all members of the Treasure Valley Educational Partnership (TVEP), formed in 2011 by the Superintendents of the SIC to work with local businesses, non-profits, and higher ed institutions to promote education in the valley.

Following are some data about the college-going rates of SIC high schools, and the improvements that have occurred since we started tracking the data. TVEP chose as its goal to improve the percentage of students enrolled in college 2 years after high school graduation, upon which SIC districts were already focused. 

The overall SIC comprehensive high school "Go On"  rate for students who enroll in college within 2 years of high school graduation was 62% for the class of 2007. For the class of 2012, it was 69%. That's an increase of 7%. However, that growth figure is misleading - schools with high levels of free/reduced lunch showed much higher growth, and schools with lower percentages of freed/reduced lunch showed lower growth, simply because their rates were already quite high.

WITHIN 2 YEAR PERCENTAGES - SCHOOLS WITH

>40% FREE/REDUCED LUNCH

Let's start with schools with relatively high rates of free/reduced lunch. The statewide senior high average free/reduced percentage in 2013-14 was 41%. We'll use 40% as the indicator of poverty levels and "Go On" rates.

MERIDIAN HIGH SCHOOL

Meridian High School, in the West Ada District, has about 40% free/reduced lunch, and about 3% Limited English speakers.

Meridian's 2 year "Go On" rate has increased from 55% for the class of 2007 to 70% for the class of 2012 - 15%.

CALDWELL HIGH SCHOOL

Caldwell High School is the lone comprehensive high school in the Caldwell District. Caldwell High has 77% free/reduced lunch, and 6% of its students are Limited English.

Even so, Caldwell's 2 year "Go On" rate has improved by 10% since the class of 2007, from 50% to 60%. Even though the class of 2012 was 7 students larger than the class of 2007, 28 more students from the class of 2012 were enrolled in college after 2 years.

CAPITAL HIGH SCHOOL

Capital High School, in the Boise District, has 44% free/reduced lunch, and 3.5% Limited English. 

Capital's 2 year "Go On' rate has improved by 11% from the class of 2007 to the class of 2012, from 60% to 71%. Even though the class of 2012 graduating class was 40 students smaller, 20 more students were enrolled in college after 2 years than were in the class of 2007.

COLUMBIA HIGH SCHOOL

Columbia High School, in the Nampa District, has 59% free/reduced lunch, and 3% LEP.

Columbia's 2-year percentage has increased by 12% since the class of 2007, from 47% to 59%. Columbia's graduating class has increased by 50 since 2007, when it was a new school, but 129 more 2012 grads were enrolled in college after 2 years than were in 2007.

Certainly, those are impressive gains. Other schools that have shown strong "Go On" growth include Emmett (12%), Middleton (10%), Kuna (13%), and Vallivue (8%).

Borah High School's 2 - year rate had increased from 59% to 70% between the classes of 2007 and 2010, but has since dropped back to 62%. Much the same happened at Mt. Home High School, where the rate increased from 52% to 66% in the same period, only to drop back to 57%. The Nampa District's two other high schools, Skyview and Nampa, increased by 5% and 3%, respectively, from 2007 to 2012.

WITHIN 2 YEAR GO ON RATES -  SCHOOLS WITH < 40% 

FREE/REDUCED PERCENTAGES 

Six Treasure Valley high schools have rates of free/reduced lunch that are below the state average - Boise and Timberline in the Boise District, and Eagle, Mt. View, Centennial, and Rocky Mt. in West Ada. Each of these schools have very high "Go On" rates.

EAGLE HIGH SCHOOL

Eagle High School has about 15% free/reduced students, and 1% Limited English.

Though Eagle High School's "Go On" rate after two years increased by "only" 5 percent between the class of 2007 and the class of 2012, the 2012 rate was 80%.

TIMBERLINE HIGH SCHOOL

Timberline High has about 22% Free/Reduced lunch, and about 1% of its students are Limited English.

Timberline's 2-year "Go On" rate has increased only slightly since the class of 2007; however, it stood at 76% for the class of 2013.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH SCHOOL

Rocky Mountain is the newest high school in the West Ada District, so we only have data since 2009. Rocky has about 18% Free/reduced lunch, and less than 1% of its students are Limited English.

In the four classes for which we have data, Rocky Mountain's 2-year rate has increased by 9%; for the class of 2012, it stood at 76%.

BOISE HIGH SCHOOL

Boise High has 23% Free/Reduced lunch, and has seen increases in its Limited English population recently. Boise's LEP population is at about 2.5% of the total school enrollment.

Boise's "Go On" percentage has increased by 7% since the class of 2007, and stood at 81% for the class of 2012.

Centennial (32% FRL) and Mt. View (25%) , the other 2 high schools in the Treasure Valley with percentages of Free/Reduced lunch below the state average, each stood at 76% in 2-year "Go On" rates for the class of 2012.

It's impressive to see the growth in "Go On" percentages among most SIC schools that are high impacted by poverty, and in which many students struggle with the financial burdens of college-going. We are proud of the progress we are making.

There are, to be sure, a few SIC comprehensive high schools in which "Go On" rates have grown more slowly, and most alternative high schools have low rates of matriculation - most of the students at our alternative schools face obstacles to high school graduation, as well.

The information in this report is taken from the database of the Treasure Valley Educational Partnership, which is comprised of the SIC Superintendents and administrators, higher education representatives, local business people, and volunteer and non-profit organizations in the communities we represent.

THIS AND THAT FOR APRIL

Here are several local  stories from the past few weeks.

AP COMPUTER SCIENCE ENROLLMENT SOARS

A new, more practical Advanced Placement Computer Science course will be offered in the Boise District next fall, and student requests have skyrocketed. 

The new course, Advanced Placement Computer Science Principles, attracted 215 enrollments, and the existing course, AP Computer Science, saw 60 enrollees. The total enrollment of 275 students, is a far cry form the average district-wide enrollment in CS over the past few years.

Enrollment by high school in Computer Science, by high school:

Boise             79

Borah            53

Capital          84

Timberline   59

BOISE'S SURPLUS COMPUTERS HELP AFRICAN STUDENTS

Local engineer, volunteer extraordinaire, and world traveler Todd Fischer recently journeyed to Sierra Leone, and delivered surplus District Thinkpad laptop computers to the Massory Community Learning Center. The Massorians have created the Learning Center and built computer tables, power, and networking for the laptops. Todd reports that the community is very excited about the donation, and is putting the laptops to good use, as you can see.

BOISE DISTRICT VISITS BSU CAREER FAIR

Hoping to attract the best teachers to the Boise District, District Supervisors and Human Resources Director Blas Telleria visited the Boise State Career Fair on April 4. Blas reports that the Boise District table was mobbed by potential District teachers.

Below, Social Studies/Science Supervisor Chris Taylor, Math Supervisor Dr. Teri Thaemert, and Special Education Administrator Dr. Betty Olson visit with prospective teachers:

Boise's table was the star of the show:

KAREN GILLETTE RECEIVES TWIN HONOR

Karen Gillette, Lead Teacher at Boise's STEP program for 18-21 years olds with disabilities, was honored last week as a leading "Woman in Industry" by the Women's and Children's Association of Idaho. Karen is a distinguished educator who has devoted her career to working with children with disabilities. Congratulations, Karen!

Here she is receiving congratulations from Mayor Bieter:

ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL PLAYS THE EGYPTIAN

Nine time Grammy winning Texas Swing band Asleep at the Wheel played Boise's Egyptian Theatre Saturday night. What this has to do with this blog? Nothing! But it was a fine night of music.