Lake Washington School District (LWSD) Superintendent Dr. Chip Kimball announced an initiative to change the configuration of grade levels within schools, shifting away from the current K-6, 7-9 and 10-12 model and turning high schools into grades 9-12, at a press conference Friday morning.

“Choice” schools, serving special needs or interests, would also remain an option within the district.

WHY ROCK THE BOAT?

The impetus for the change is directly tied to the LWSD’s Vision 2020 plan to ensure that all students are college-ready and prepared to compete in the global workforce by the year 2020.

“Across the state, most high schools are 9 through 12,” said Kimball. “The question has been asked ‘why not?’ here.”

He admitted it is “a complex issue, driven by facilities and philosophy.”

The main driver of the initiative is making sure that students in grade nine, a time at which they are already accumulating credits and a grade-point average for their high school transcript, are being treated — and seeing themselves — as freshmen in high school, rather than junior high kids.

“How do they take high school seriously when they’re sitting inside a junior high?” Kimball said.

In addition to influencing their study habits and attitude toward college, putting freshman on the same campus as high school sophomores, juniors and seniors allows advanced students to take higher-level courses without being bused to another location. Furthermore, it allows skilled athletes to compete at the high school level. Under the current school configuration, a ninth grade athlete can not “play up” at the high school level if the junior high campus has a program for the same sport.

STARTING EARLY

While strengthening college pathways is the No. 1 reason for the proposed reconfiguration in the LWSD, Kimball mentioned other factors to support the initiative.

All-day kindergarten is increasingly in demand and legislators are seeing the importance of providing this educational advantage to all students on an equitable basis. To make all-day kindergarten viable for all students, “we need more room,” Kimball stated. “Do we build more elementaries? Or make more capacity by moving grade levels around?”

Vision 2020 — preparing every student for college and success in the workplace – has to be considered in every phase of a child’s development, not just when he or she is on the brink of high school graduation.

HOW AND WHEN?

A decision to proceed with the school reconfiguration initiative must be made by June 2009, in order to put a possible bond levy on the ballot by 2010.

If that occurs, voters in the LWSD will be asked to vote on a bond levy to fund the expansion of the four existing high schools (Redmond, Lake Washington, Juanita and Eastlake) or to build a fifth high school to accommodate the larger student populations of 9-12 high schools.

No dollar figures or percentages have yet been proposed, as this is very much in the preliminary talking stages, Kimball emphasized.

He’s aware that many citizens will demand to know how or why they could be asked for more money in this very challenging economy.

The timing is critical, Kimball explained, because the next opportunity to ask for a bond levy would be in 2014.

“It would be about four years from the time of funding until we can build the capacity to make the change,” he explained. “If we wait ’til 2014, that takes us to 2018,” before students in the LWSD can gain the competitive edge that he believes will be gained from the reconfiguration.

Feasibility studies will include engagement from parents, the community, district staff and teachers, he promised.

Kimball said he’s been in contact with the Kent and Federal Way School Districts, which have implemented the switch to 9-12 high schools in the last 10 years.

“We’ve asked them about what worked and what didn’t,” he said. “We’ve also looked at population trends and where we’d need to build. No school configuration is ideal or guaranteed to improve grades. … You still must have a personalized approach, adequate challenges. But the 7-3-3 configuration, K-6, 7-9, 10-12 is outdated.”

STUCK IN THE MIDDLE

Yet another major consideration is how the shift to 9-12 high schools will affect students in middle schools or junior high schools. There are several different options, Kimball stated.

Research has shown that a 7-8 configuration is the worst; 6-8 is the most common and supported by a large body of research; 5-8 is growing in popularity and research is becoming more supportive; and K-8 is seeing significant movement, especially in large urban and smaller districts. That’s because elimination of transition time provides up to eight months of additional learning for students who need more help.

Kimball noted that “the junior high model looks and feels more like high school with seven periods and seven teachers,” whereas a middle school model can be a mix of one teacher all day or block scheduling that allows a few teachers to split various subjects. And a “homeroom” is usually seen at the middle school level.

In Kimball’s opinion, there’s a better transition from elementary to high school if a change in configuration is accompanied by cultural or structural changes that better define the college pathway.

SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL HURDLES

While some parents may worry that a sixth grader doesn’t belong with seventh or eighth graders, Kimball said that research has shown that older kids can be effective mentors for younger ones.

“Socially and emotionally, ninth graders are more like 10th graders than eighth gradersb and sixth and seventh graders act more alike,” he added.

One of his favorite options would be to have schools configured as K-4, 5-8 and 9-12. But again, facilities would need to be changed to accommodate the different needs of the youngest and middle school children.

FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

As it stands, the LWSD has 48 buildings in a far-reaching area that encompasses Kirkland, Redmond, Sammamish and a small portion of the Redmond/Woodinville border.

Enrollment in the Juanita area is declining, is flat in Kirkland and is growing in Redmond and Sammamish, said Kimball.

Along with balancing populations, there are geographic concerns. Some Education Hill (Redmond) residents don’t want to cross the Sammamish River Valley; and some people on the Sammamish Plateau don’t want their kids to leave the plateau.

“How much variability do we want?,” said Kimball. “Is it okay to have high schools of different sizes?”

In the end, he believes “9-12 is in the best interest of students and I’m pursuing that with clean feeder patterns.”

Whereas Evergreen Junior High School in Redmond now feeds some students into Redmond High School and others into Eastlake, “there is a huge benefit of kids staying together,” said Kimball.

Those benefits include better relationships and more consistency in curriculum.

YOU WILL BE HEARD

The LWSD will use focus groups, surveys and public meetings to gather input from the community. Kimball said that district staff and the PTA Council have literally applauded the concept of the new grade configurations, especially as they relate to more cohesive and academically solid high school programs.

He knows that parents and teachers in the district’s diverse communities will all have their own memories of their school experiences and what worked well or didn’t.

“The biggest challenge is to use that to help others to understand what is in the best interest for our kids. I think the system of 7-9 and 10-12 puts freshmen at a disadvantage. … And why do the bond levy in this economic climate? Because we don’t want to wait another 10 years. … Change is always hard, but we want to provide lots of support, rationale and reasons and transition support. The driver is being college-ready.”

Not convinced?

“College grads today make 80 percent more money,” Kimball concluded. “Not all kids are meant to go to college, but we need to give all kids skills to be college ready.”

Updates will be posted on the LWSD Web site, www.lwsd.org and on the Kirkland Reporter Web site as they become available.