W.F. West english teacher Allison Geeslin talks about 'The Old Man and the Sea" during her 11th-grade english class on Thursday afternoon at W.F. West High School in Chehalis.
Chehalis Middle School math teacher Stephanie Fox makes the rounds as her eighth-grade algebra students work on an assignment during sixth period at the Chehalis school on Thursday afternoon.
Tiana Parker, left, and Rilee Viggers, center, listen to english teacher Allison Geeslin after answering a question in a group activity in class on Thursday afteroon at W.F. West High School in Chehalis. The class was in the midst of a discussion about American heroes. Behind the two students are white boards that Geeslin uses to outline the learning goals for the day and an explanation of what that specific day's class will cover. Geeslin updates the boards daily for each english class.
Chehalis Middle School algebra teacher Stephanie Fox goes over a lesson in her sixth period class full of eighth graders at the school in Chehalis on Thursday afternoon. Fox said that all of the eighth graders in her class are getting high school credit for taking the algebra course.
Nickolas Crawford checks the answers on the guide attached to the white board in Miss Stephanie Fox's 8th-grade algebra class on Thursday afternoon at Chehalis Middle School.
Middle school students work with para educators in the Chehalis Middle School commons which is part of an after-school tutoring program at the Chehalis school on Thursday afternoon.
As the educational and employment landscape continues to evolve in Lewis County, one local school district has started an initiative to stay ahead of the curve and better prepare its students for college and eventual careers.
The Chehalis School District has implemented the first steps in a new program known as the Student Achievement Initiative, a 10-year plan that aims to raise the bar for educational standards with the ultimate goal of 60 percent of Chehalis graduates earning a four-year college degree.
Chehalis Superintendent Ed Rothlin, Assistant Superintendent Mary Lou Bissett and local attorney J. Vander Stoep, representing the Chehalis Foundation, spoke with The Chronicle Wednesday about the district’s revamped effort to increase graduation rates and prepare more students for success in college.
Chehalis administrators and staff invited The Baker Evaluation Research Consulting, or BERC Group, an educational research and consulting firm from Bothell, last November to study classroom practices at all six schools in the district. The group’s study, which cost $42,000 and was funded by the Chehalis Foundation, gathered a large set of data from surveys of parents and students, conducting focus groups, observing practices in the classroom and analyzing data from students who attended in years past.
According to the district, BERC came back with findings that showed several strengths and weaknesses across the district. The group praised Chehalis schools for having a supportive community, dedicated staff and an “environment conducive to improvement.”
The group recommended the district work on increasing collaboration and professional development among teachers, and fine-tune instruction to promote critical thinking among students. The final recommendation is perhaps the district’s biggest focus: to build a culture in the district that promotes readiness for college and a career.
Rothlin said the district wants to prepare its students for the rigorous demands of a workforce that continually demands more of job applicants. He pointed to data that showed 25 percent of employees across Washington state with bachelor’s degrees came from inside the state — that means 75 percent are being brought from other states, and that’s something Chehalis leaders hope to have a hand in changing.
“Because of the requirements of the jobs out there, educational needs are changing,” Rothlin said.
The Chehalis School District’s goal is rather aggressive: within the next few years, they want to increase the graduation rate from 87 to 90 percent, bump up college eligibility rates from 36 to 60 percent, and ensure half of all the district’s eighth-graders pass an algebra end-of-course exam. Long-term, they want to bump that goal even higher: increase four-year college eligibility rates to more than 80 percent, keep the graduation rate above 90 percent and ensure 80 percent of students meet standardized test scores.
“It’s all about training our students to be productive citizens,” Rothlin said.
The initiative brings with it a large amount of work for staff at all schools. Rothlin said teachers across the district have begun to collaborate and work to tweak their respective courses to include more student interaction and involvement, giving the students a sense of ownership in what they learn.
Just a few months after the BERC Group’s initial review, staff at Chehalis’ five schools are buzzing about the changes — and more importantly, buying in, Rothlin told The Chronicle.
“It’s showing up in how we run our admin and staff meetings,” Rothlin said. “The conversations among staff so far have just been great.”
The district is homing in especially in improving test scores in middle-school math; state data showed just fewer than half of seventh-grade students in the 2011-12 school year met state standards in math standardized tests. To that end, the district wants to increase professional development time for all middle school math teachers, give more access to eighth grade algebra, welcome before- and after-school math tutors and institute a Summer Math Academy in which students can learn math in a more hands-on fashion that includes field trips with life-applicable problems they must solve.
English is also another major point of emphasis for the district. The Chehalis School Board this year passed a resolution requiring four years of English for students to graduate, and the district will take that requirement into overdrive in the 2014-15 school year as they offer a college 101-level English class.
The district also wants to increase awareness among students and their families of available scholarship money, including the College Bound Scholarship program that provides financial assistance to low-income families. Rothlin said a major goal is to get more low-income students across the district to know they can still get the support and help they need to obtain their diploma and ultimately a four-year degree.
As an indicator of just how big the message of college readiness is, W.F. West High School staff have decorated the classroom doors with the college logos of each teacher’s alma mater. That move alone has sparked discussion between staff and students about their teacher’s college of choice — something that could plant the seed in a student’s mind about their four years of education after high school.
“It’s getting the conversation going,” Rothlin said.
The community has bought in to the process also, with the Chehalis Foundation funding the BERC Group’s visit. The Orin Smith Foundation donated $300,000 to the Chehalis STEM education, which entail such classes as molecular genetics and programs that include the award-winning robotics program, which recently returned from the FIRST World Championship in St. Louis, Missouri.
As the initiative progresses, the BERC Group will monitor the district’s progress and help guide them along the way over the next two-and-a-half years.
Chehalis attorney J. Vander Stoep, part of the Chehalis Foundation, has helped work with the district in its goal so far. He said that even though some students don’t go on to earn a four-year degree, he believes the improvement to instruction and learning will raise aspirations among students.
“This is going to have a great long-term effect on our communities,” Vander Stoep said, noting many students who don’t go on to get a four-year degree eventually end up getting some form of technical education after high school.
Rothlin echoed Vander Stoep’s comment, also saying he hoped the changing culture in the school district can be seen by people across the area — especially to businesses and people who choose Lewis County as their home.
“We’re really hoping that people see this as a place to land because of the culture,” Rothlin said.
•••
Christopher Brewer: (360) 807-8235
