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The Milepost Community Edition: 75 by 35 Goal Progress

Posted Date: 5/07/25 (4:00 PM)
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Milepost

Making Strides in Our Journey

Progress on our 75 by 35 Student Achievement Goal

May 7, 2025
A collage of members of the Class of 2035 with signs reading what they want to do when they grow up

Our Student Achievement Goal: 75 by 35

In the fall of 2023, our Student Achievement Steering Team decided that our new student achievement goal would be 75 by 35. We are working to ensure that, by the high school graduating Class of 2035 (this year's 2nd graders), 75% of all W.F. West High School graduates will earn the credentials they need to be responsible, contributing citizens. This student achievement goal also aims to have 100% of our students leave our walls prepared for the journey ahead, recognizing that every student's passions and calling will be different and unique.
A graph showing rising graduation rates for the Chehalis School District between 2015 and 2024.

Student Achievement Goals

The roots of 75 by 35 actually reach all the way back to 2013. That year, the Chehalis School District began our initial student achievement goal of 60% of W.F. West High School graduates (rather than 30%) earning a postsecondary credential within 8 years of graduation starting with the Class of 2022.

The Student Achievement Initiative (SAI) has made significant strides and metrics are currently projecting that 65% of recent graduates will earn a postsecondary credential within 8 years.
A W.F. West graduates smiles while holding up his diploma during the commencement ceremony
The change has been so substantial, we no longer refer to it as an initiative. Our student achievement work has become part of our school culture.

To bridge the remaining gap, the district’s new student achievement goal, 75 by 35, is focused on ten recommendations from the BERC Group’s 10-Year Report (read the full report at THIS LINK) completed in the fall of 2024. These recommendations were ranked by the district student achievement steering
team shortly after the report was released.

Where Are We Headed?

When you're undertaking a journey, you need a map to follow. Our Student Achievement Steering Team recommended some of those next steps be:
  • Creating an early warning system that will help us assist students who need intervention before they are at risk of not graduating on time
  • Creating a K-12 Career and College Readiness (CCR) pipeline where topics of skills, passions, careers and training are part normal dialog throughout a student's career with us
  • Creating pathways for students to pursue industry recognized credentials while in high school, much like our College in the High School courses allow students to pursue college credits in high school
  • Having student achievement goals be part of the culture of our buildings by having discussions about our mission and goals be part of staff meetings
A graph of priorities set out by the student achievement steering committee