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18
Community Council
Findings
Successfully completing
a postsecondary degree
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Full-time students have higher
rates of completion than part-
time
students, according to a study of
community college students in
south King County conducted by
the Community Center for Educa-
tion Results (as reported in The
Seattle Times, Jan. 13, 2016). The
authors of the report concluded
that if employers gave employees
more predictable schedules, then
students who work would be able
to structure their jobs around their
classes.
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Though WWCC has relatively high
retention rates, administrators
continue to develop ways to keep
students moving toward comple-
tion. For example, they have begun
to use proactive advising, which
addresses student persistence
proactively, allowing counselors to
make more timely interventions.
Additional staffing makes proac-
tive advising more expensive than
traditional “on-demand” advising,
requiring greater financial support.
In addition, WWCC calculates prob-
abilities to identify students that are
at risk of dropping out, and creates
targeted interventions to retain
them.
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●
Mira Gobel, Principal of Pioneer
Middle School, reported that some-
times students drop out of college
because they are not prepared
for the rigor of college. She said
the problem can be addressed by
increasing rigor at the primary and
secondary levels. Within WWPS,
increased rigor is provided in part
through honors and Advanced
Placement (AP) courses at the high
school level and Advancement Via
Individual Determination (AVID)
.
According to Rick Griffin, Direc-
tor of Jubilee Leadership Academy,
the problem of dropping out is part
of a larger set of challenges that are
intergenerational. He noted that early
trauma and stress can lead to learn-
ing disabilities, asocial behavior, and
diminished cognitive development.
From there, there is a significant risk
of substance abuse, which can result
in school failure and dropping out. As
adults, that population is more likely to
be unemployed, on public assistance
or in prison or have debilitating health
problems, which in turn puts the next
generation at risk to repeat the cycle.
NURTURING ENGAGEMENT
Many speakers commented on the
importance of student engagement,
and reported that lack of engagement
can lead to dropping out of school.
Roger Bairstow, Director of Corporate
Responsibility at Broetje Orchards,
defined engagement as an emotional
commitment to an organization and
its goals. According to a Gallup report
(2013), of full-time workers in the
United States, 30 percent are engaged,
50 percent are not engaged and 20
percent are actively disengaged. In
much the same way that worker en-
gagement is important to a successful
business, student engagement is im-
portant to success in school. Moreover,
just as active disengagement in the
workplace is costly for businesses,
active disengagement in education
can lead to long-term social problems.
Bairstow encouraged the Study Com-
mittee to target populations that are
struggling the most and pointed to
racial and ethnic disparities within the
dropout rate. According to the Wash-
ington state Office of the Superinten-
dent of Public Instruction (2015), the
four-year high school graduation rate
for blacks and Hispanics is 67 percent,
compared to 80 percent for whites;
for students with limited English the
rate is 53 percent. Speakers identified
a number of ways to nurture student
engagement.
Students with computer, Raspberry Pi challenge. Photo courtesy of Pacific
Northwest National Laboratory.