“Future Ready” Plan and the Clearinghouse’s StudentTracker Help Kuna, Idaho School District Identify Student Success

Wendy Johnson, Kuna School District Superintendent

According to a recent Idaho news story, in 2014, Superintendent Wendy Johnson and the Kuna School District board of trustees decided that by 2023, 80% of students who graduate from the school district will graduate “future ready.”

To help with this goal, they redefined what “future ready” means. The school district once counted only students going to college in its “go-on rates,” it now includes a number of other paths, such as enlisting in the military or enrolling in a service program.

According to data tracked for the school district via the Clearinghouse’s StudentTracker^® for High Schools, from 2010 to 2017, the percentage of Kuna students who immediately enrolled in a university program after high school dropped from 50% to 42%. For the same time period, the percentage of Kuna students who enrolled in a university program within two years of high school also dropped from 59% to 51%.

Because StudentTracker offers verified data from more than 3,600 colleges and universities nationwide, it provides a starting point on which all parties can agree. Thus, everyone is looking at the same valuable data from the same source and presented in the same way. It’s easier to assess and evaluate progress and challenges, and to assess future decisions.

Each May, the school district gives every senior an exit survey to identify those students who report pathways other than college, though this method relies on students’ full cooperation. To further help students become “future ready” in the field that they value, the school district has also implemented more dual-credit courses and career and technical education courses. The district will also be employing AVID, a strategy intended to change schools’ cultures and improve student success, starting this fall.

According to Superintendent Johnson, all of these options are bolstering the meaning of “future ready” and preparing students for success after high school, whether that be through college or other options.

To learn more how Kuna School District’s “future ready” efforts and the Clearinghouse’s StudentTracker identify student success, read about their story.