Message to the Northshore School District staff and community from Superintendent Larry Francois

Increasing the percentage of 9th graders on track for graduation is one of our district’s student achievement performance measures. Success in the 9th grade is pivotal to students’ success throughout high school, the likelihood of graduating on-time and opportunities to take a wide range of rigorous courses and electives. One of the continual challenges of our current grade configuration is instilling in 9th graders the realization that they truly are high school students, and their academic performance counts towards both graduation and college entrance. A poor 9th grade year can have significant long-term negative impacts on a student’s future options and opportunities. Conversely, a strong 9th grade year opens up the possibility of much greater access to our diverse range of high school course offerings.

Fortunately, our focus on increasing the percentage of students on track for graduation is paying off. To be on track, a student must begin 10th grade with a full credit of world history, algebra, English 9, physical science and meet the Washington state history requirement. For the class of 2013, this year’s seniors, 81.4% of students met all of these requirements when they began 10th grade. For the class of 2015, this year’s sophomores, 89.1% of students met this standard. And the percentage has improved at every junior high and high school across our district.

This hasn’t occurred by accident or chance. It has been the result of an intentional focus on the part of teachers, administrators, parents, and most importantly, students. Through increased opportunities for early intervention, mentoring, tutoring and credit retrieval during the school year as well as over the summer, we are slowly but steadily making measurable progress. The end result is improved achievement and increased opportunities for kids. That is the ultimate performance measure.