Superintendent’s Bulletin
A newsletter from Superintendent Matt Utterback
North Clackamas Schools – January 2016
Dear Parents and Community Members,
This month’s bulletin focuses on several exciting results – graduation rates and student attendance.
In addition, I’ll share an update on full-day kindergarten implementation, community partnerships,
and Sabin-Schellenberg Professional Technical program expansion.
Graduation Rates Reach All-Time High
The District’s 2015 four-year graduation rate increased by 5 percentage points to a four-year
graduation rate of 83 percent. This graduation rate is 17 percentage points higher than five years
ago and is an all-time high for our school district. With a five-year average of 1,480 students
eligible to graduate each year, North Clackamas is graduating 252 more students every year than
it was in 2011. Graduation rate is one of the District’s six key performance indicators.
4-Year Graduation Rate
State of Oregon
North Clackamas
2011
--66
2012
69
72
2013
69
74
2014
72
78
2015
TBD
83
Also impressive is that our traditionally underperforming populations are closing the graduation
gap when compared to all North Clackamas graduates. Graduation rate gains made since 2011
with our students with disabilities (+24 percent), African American/Black students (+52 percent),
and Hispanic/Latino students (+23 percent) are the most encouraging. Of note is the 89 percent
graduation rate in 2015 for the District’s African American/Black students. Also notable was the
narrowing of the graduation gap between males and females – from 11 percent in 2014 to 3
percent in 2015.
Why are we seeing these improved graduation results? Although it’s hard to pinpoint exactly why,
we believe that the following have played an important role.
• Focused training and attention to affirming all students' identity, equity based practices,
and identifying/removing barriers for students who represent historically underserved
groups (e.g. students of color, students living in poverty, students who speak a home
language other than English)
• Implementation of our high school summer school program
• High schools tracking students' grades routinely to identify students' lack of success and
taking steps to intervene
• Implementation of 21st Century Learning Centers (partnership with Metropolitan Family
Services) at Milwaukie High School and New Urban High School
• Focused work around attendance that causes schools to intervene with attendance earlier
and more consistently district-wide
• Inclusion as "graduates" of Clackamas Middle College (CMC) students who have met
graduation requirements and are remaining at CMC to work toward/completion of an
associate’s degree
• Improved internal student data tracking systems that have created better efficiency and
accuracy throughout the District
Outstanding Attendance Rates
We know that attendance plays a significant role in student achievement. When students are not
at school, they do not learn. For attendance purposes, schools are closely tracking students
through an equity lens by utilizing family problem-solving meetings, implementing interventions,
and using Truancy Court as needed.
For the 2014-15 school year, North Clackamas ranked second of the 15 districts in the state with
over 8,000 students with 86.9 percent of our students not being identified as chronically absent.
Not chronically absent means a student must attend school at least 90 percent of the time.
Full-Day Kindergarten Implementation
One of this year’s most significant strategic plan action items targeting student achievement is the
implementation of Full-Day Kindergarten (FDK). This year marks monumental changes in the
way we provide the kindergarten education for our youngest students. It is our belief that an
investment in the first year of formal schooling will support long-term school success. The goals
of our Full-Day Kindergarten program are to provide a warm and caring school environment that
welcomes all children and their families and to promote a strong foundation that will allow all
children to access rigorous academic outcomes and set them on the road toward college and
career readiness.
The move to Full-Day Kindergarten (FDK)
more than doubled the amount of
instructional time for kindergarten and
allowed us to develop an innovative,
inclusive, and developmentally appropriate
educational program. To meet the needs of
our 1,154 kindergarten students we added 22
additional classrooms and welcomed several
new teachers to North Clackamas.
NCSD kindergarten teachers are engaged in
additional professional development and are
a strong collaborative team, growing together
to provide exemplary early learning
opportunities for each student.
Registration for the 2016-17 school year starts on February 1st. Our goal is to have all future
kindergarten students registered by June 1st. This month we are beginning our early registration
campaign and will have events at all of our elementary schools on March 10th at 9:30 -10:30
a.m. and 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Please help us by getting the word out to friends, neighbors, and coworkers with children who will be starting kindergarten next September.
Emerging Technology Program Coming to Sabin-Schellenberg
As part of the District’s strategic plan, we have a goal to build a variety of learning paths and
school options to accommodate the diverse needs of students and to enhance student retention
and attendance. One of the ways we do this is through the incredible opportunities students have
at Sabin-Schellenberg to learn college and career readiness skills and content in sixteen
professional-technical programs.
This month, we are excited to announce that Sabin-Schellenberg was one of the recipients of a
Career and Technical Education (CTE) Revitalization Grant from the Oregon Department of
Education for $323,884. This grant will be used to create an Emerging Technologies CTE program
at Sabin-Schellenberg, beginning with the implementation of a semester coding/design class fall
of 2016 and summer camps in 2016 and 2017.
School-Community Partnerships
Schools can’t be expected to meet every student need on our own. In North Clackamas we strive
to development partnerships with community agencies to provide services and address student
needs. This year, Western Psychological and Counseling Services has been expanding their
partnership with NCSD schools. Students and parents in need of counseling services can now find
a resource right in the school, during the day. Western currently has expanded to four schools
with plans to expand to up to three more this year. Western clinicians are skilled in working with
students and within a school environment. Confidentiality for these services is important.
Therapists provide services on location, removing the barriers to care for many students and
families. Their mission is to provide quality mental health services to students within the school
environment. Western collaborates with the school to develop a cohesive and collaborative
model of care. The services are provided at no cost to the school, as Western is contracted with
the Oregon Health Plan and nearly all commercial health plans. Western is capable of offering
these on-site services without requiring grants or
other outside funding.
Have a tremendous second half to the school
year,
Preparing graduates who are inspired and empowered to strengthen the quality of life in our local and global communities.