State Graduation Rates Released for Baker School District
By Shannon Weidemann (McKone) on Monday, January 25th, 2021 in Eastern/Southeast Oregon News More Top Stories
BAKER COUNTY – (Release from the Baker School District) The Oregon Department of Education released results for the 19-20 School and District Graduation Rates. Graduation rates provide an indicator of our schools’ preparation efforts and student readiness to transition to adulthood. Baker School District is proud that 3 out of 4 of our schools showed improvement in on-time graduation rates. Critically, Baker High School, our largest local high school, improved on-time graduation rates from 78.57% to 92.04%. This is a direct result of added investments in a Graduation Coach, our Future Center and a strong CTE program that engages students through hands-on learning.
Baker School District, including our online charter schools, has an overall graduation rate of 84.65%, which is above the state average of 82.6%. Graduation rates at Baker High School and Baker Web Academy were at a 5-year high for the 2019-2020 school year. At Baker High School, this is due in part to expanding our Career and Technical Education offerings through Measure 98, establishing a Future Center to assist students with planning beyond high school, and hiring a graduation coach to provide encouragement and support to students at risk. Baker High School also provides case management support for students with disabilities and students learning English as an additional language. This contributed to on-time graduation rates also being at or near a 5-year high for students in traditionally underserved populations.
Eagle Cap Innovative High School graduation rates were lower than in recent years. This is due primarily to a strategic effort to identify our community’s most at-risk students and offer alternative programs that better meet their individual academic needs. Eagle Cap has also specifically re-engaged former students in the community who had left high school before completing their education. Current data reflects small cohort sizes, ranging from 8-22 students, which underscores the effect just one student can have on the results. Eagle Cap continues to work with families to tailor a student’s schedule to meet educational goals, and provides students with the necessary wrap-around services to support both their academic and socio-emotional needs.
Baker School District class of 2020 outperformed the state’s on-time graduation rate.
The Baker School District will continue to invest in systems that support all students to graduate on time. It is a team effort to provide a quality learning program K-12 so that students can graduate on time. At the elementary level we are providing strong curriculum, Title I interventions and extended learning opportunities for all students so that elementary students have an engaging experience that provides the necessary skills to be successful. Our middle schools have put into place an early identification system to identify and support students at risk for not meeting graduation requirements. In addition, Baker HIgh School will continue to employ a graduation coach and Future Center staff to provide targeted support for students as they approach graduation and beyond. Case managers will support students receiving special education or language support. Teachers are working hard to keep all students engaged in learning and progressing in their coursework. While we take a moment to celebrate the class of 2020, as a district we will continue to strive for our vision where every child is included and has a great experience as they transition to the next phase in their educational journey.
