Once shamefully low, Everett's graduation rate soars
Seven years ago, the Everett School District had one of the lowest graduation rates in the state. Through a concerted push, it has since significantly raised the percentage of students who earn a diploma.
Seattle Times education reporter
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STEVE RINGMAN / THE SEATTLE TIMES
As a "success coordinator" at Cascade High in Everett, Maureen Engnes works with students like Jordan Gerard who are considered at risk of dropping out. In seven years, the on-time graduation rate in Everett high schools has gone from 53.1 to 83.7 percent, one of the region's biggest turnarounds.
In his first two years of high school, Jordan Gerard failed four classes — the maximum number of Fs he could get and still earn a diploma in four years.
Graduation, he says, seemed a long way off. Left to himself, he says he might have fallen too far behind to graduate next June with the rest of his class.
But the Everett School District, as part of an aggressive, seven-year effort to raise its graduation rate from an embarrassingly low 53 percent, is making sure that doesn't happen.
Last year, before Gerard even worried about catching up, he got called to the office to meet with a "success coordinator," one of a handful of people the district hired about five years ago to work one-on-one with students at risk of dropping out.
Maureen Engnes wanted to stop Gerard's slide before it became too big a problem. Gerard was surprised someone noticed. He's met with Engnes about once a month since, and is passing all his classes except history, but is working on missed assignments that wil