Guest Opinion

Attack on Reynolds undeserved

By Donna Edgley

, Nov 2, 2007, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (1 Reader comment)

Reynolds High School is not a “Dropout Factory.” The sensational headlines this week are but the latest attack on our public schools. Reynolds High is the only school in Oregon that fit the Johns Hopkins study conclusions. As a 20-year volunteer in the district, a parent whose three children have successfully graduated from Reynolds, and as a current member of the school board, I challenge this designation.

First and foremost, who is a dropout? Is it a student who enrolls as a freshman at Reynolds and then moves to another school in Oregon or elsewhere instead of graduating from Reynolds in four years? Is a student who gets a GED instead of a diploma a dropout? What about the student who goes from high school directly to a community college without a high school diploma? How about a student who enrolled one year and then chooses home school or a private school? Are these dropouts? They are according to the Johns Hopkins study. Where is the logic here? Isn’t the goal a diploma? Isn’t the goal readiness for beyond high school?

Enrollment figures are not a measure of graduation rates, yet this is the standard the researchers chose. The enrollment figures Johns Hopkins used included students in the freshman classes, which Reynolds defined as any student with less than six credits, regardless of the number of years attended. Other schools count students by year of attendance irrespective of credits earned. The study counted as dropouts all students who enrolled in Reynolds Learning Academy (our alternative high school) when it opened in 2003. Those two factors alone would have changed the percentages to exclude Reynolds High from the designation of “dropout factory.” Reynolds almost avoided the ‘dropout factory’ designation. For 2005-06, they say we promoted 59.8 percent of our students, just 0.2 percent under the 60 percent goal. Other figures in the study were rounded appropriately, up or down, but not this one. The state of Oregon says we graduated 69 percent, which is based on actual students in real schools or not. The state of Oregon counts a student as a dropout if he leaves one school and does not enroll in another. The Johns Hopkins study counts enrolled students by grade. If a student leaves Reynolds and enrolls in Madison, there are now two students in Johns Hopkins’ count. Does that make sense?

Students do drop out of high school. We worry over every one, but why do they drop out? There are volumes written on this subject. Since 2001, Reynolds has the highest graduation requirements in the state, requiring 27 credits instead of the state minimum of 24. The board of education set those standards to increase the rigor of the curriculum. Some students have trouble meeting those standards in four years, either because they didn’t start with us as a freshman or because they face a personal situation that requires work or family obligations. Students and families make choices; some attend night school, others finish by attending a fifth year, but Johns Hopkins calls them dropouts.

Thanks to programs of dual enrollment at Mt. Hood Community College, Reynolds students can and do graduate with college credits. Last year, 240 seniors, about two thirds of the class, earned 2,477 college credits. Reynolds High school is a career pathway school where students select an area of study that will lead to a career path after high school. When a student enrolls in Reynolds as a junior, or even a sophomore, many are surprised at how much we expect them to do for that Reynolds diploma. Some of these students choose to return to their first school. Other students take advantage of our wide range of classes, including our nationally ranked Automotive Technology program, our award winning music program and our career oriented charter school, the Center for Advanced Learning (a partnership with Corbett, Centennial, Gresham-Barlow and Reynolds). Opening in September 2008, our newest charter school, the Architecture, Construction and Engineering (ACE) Academy will offer career training in the construction trades on a level that acknowledges the skills and professionalism required from these workers today. It is a partnership with Reynolds, Centennial, Parkrose, Gresham-Barlow districts and the Oregon Building Congress. We continue to make high school relevant to students’ interests and continue to raise the bar for their performance.

It is much more sensational to have at least one school in a state, the largest high school in a state to be a “dropout factory,” than to report on a school that offers students a multitude of career-driven options, a wide variety of electives, college credits, programs of support for all students, and last but not least, a school that responds to current community standards and needs. Reynolds High school is a vibrant school, full of great kids and does not deserve to be called a “dropout factory.” I invite you to come tour Reynolds High, review our programs and meet our students and staff members. See what makes a New American High School. Oh, yes, we won that national award in 2000 and continue on that path of excellence.

Donna Edgley is a member of the Reynolds School Board.

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